July 16, 2007
AC went out last night. A ceiling fan saved my life. Checked the breaker, three times, but it won't start. Called Desert Foothills Air Conditioning Service (that's a $150 call, if I'm lucky), and the service rep is coming out "sometime today."

Last night my neighbors, Bob and Lynn, came over for tacos and beer. It was their 40th Wedding Anniversary and so we talked about how they pulled that off. Bob worked at NASA and assisted the moon landing, so I had him look at my DVD player, which ate "The Horse Soldiers" and wouldn't cough it up. Bob easily opened it up with a small Philips screwdriver and jerry-rigged it to open at my command. Amazing.

Called my Aunt Jean in Fort Sumner. Got Uncle Bud on the phone. He was just in from bailing hay (he's 76!). Jean is up in Clovis where they are starting a trailer park. Something they were quite successful at in Kingman. A couple of dynamos, really.

Got inspired to add another layer to the Endurance painting. Probably ruined it, but here it is, (before, at left) and finished at right:



Seth Hoyt sent me a photo of our own Johnny Boggs in Northfield for a book signing. Pictured with the author are, from left, Chuck DeMann, Chip DeMann and Hayes Scriven, executive director of the Northfield Historical Society who organized the event.



Actually started storyboarding the Top Secret Project yesterday. Used typing paper so I can squelch my uppity, over-producing tendenies. Got two pages in the can, crude text balloons and all. Watch this space (actually, watch out for this space) when the whole mess, or a good part of it, appears right here, starting July 26.

Finished a book I got at Hon-dah Resort at the Joint Arizona-New Mexico History Conference last April. "Sometimes The Blues: The Letters And Diaries of Frank Hammon, A Lonely Frontiersman In Globe And Phoenix, 1882-1889" is about a Globe, Arizona part-time deputy who probably arrested The Apache Kid. I say, probably, because in his diary entry for October 23, 1889 he writes, "I went to San Carlos with Deputy Sheriff Ryan after some indian prisoners. Called on the ladies at the school. Met Williamson and the other boys." He goes on the next day, "We left San Carlos with three prisoners and seven witnesses. Arrived in Globe all OK. Capt. Johnson gave us an escort of four soldiers and an uncommissioned officer."

And that's it! No mention of the Kid or any details. It would be like being at Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 and writing in your journal, "Rode in motorcade. Saw some cute babes. Met Lee Harvey for drinks afterward. Arrived home OK."

Great photo of Eugene Middleton though. The book by Susan Clardy is published by The Arizona Historical Society and we are reviewing it in the next issue (Sept.).

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Cost Of Living Now Outweighs Benefits

"If you are afraid of loneliness, don't marry."
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov