June 26, 2009
Really a scorcher today. Did get a couple rain drops last night (in Arizona a six inch rain, is one drop every six inches).

Went home for lunch and turned on the chicken misters and watched the rooster, Cocky, stretch out in the sauna with a babe under each wing. He appeared to be sipping on a spaghetti noodle cocktail but I couldn't quite see under the umbrella.

Worked on ten sketches, then got the call from Carole that the legendary Gus Walker, The Mapinator, was in the house, so I motored back to the office to meet the Man who makes our maps so distinctive. Here's a photo and Abby's take on the visit:

Abby and Gus in front of Abby's computer.

Gus used to work in our offices, but he and his wife Patty moved to Alabama a couple years ago and we really haven't seen him in a long time, even though we all email back and forth almost every day. It's weird how more and more we have these relationships with so many people we do not see (and in some cases we don't even know what they look like).

I get a ton of mail and Lynda is trying to help me organize it and answer each and every one in a timely manner. For example, got a sweet hand-written letter from Virgiline (not Virginia, it's Virgil-line) Spencer a couple days ago. Here's what it said:

Editor,
I read your magazines thru cassettes from the library in Port Huron, Michigan.
Heard your recipe for Griddle Cakes on my cassettes. This one is much simpler. Most of the people I cooked it for didn’t like sour milk, so I made it with fresh milk & self rising flour.

Flannel Griddle Cakes
2 cups – Bread Crumbs
2 cups – Sour Milk (can use fresh milk)
? teaspoon – Salt
1 teaspoon – Baking Soda (omit if using fresh milk)
1 cup – Self-rising flour
1 – Egg

Soak bread crumbs in warm water. Add milk & flour and let stand overnight. In the morning add rest of ingredients. Bake on hot griddle.

This was taken out of a book my mother had: International Cook Book, page 349. It has pictures of lots of chefs from different countries menus.

—Virgiline Spencer
Carsonville, Michigan

Ain't that the sweetest? She's responding to Sherry Monahan's new column in True West which features Old West recipes for drinks and food, among other things. Good work Sherry!

Not so long ago, Fred Nolan sent me an illustration in a British newspaper that emulated the American flag serape that Mickey Free wears. Well, when it rains, it poaches, here's Dilbert, by Scott Adams, with a clearly Mickey Free inspired cartoon:

Well, maybe, not inspired, but certainly an eyeful, eh?

This morning, Robert Ray whipped out the first Eight-Page-Mickey and it is so bitchin' I can't stand it. He's tweaking the images even as you read this and I'll have samples to hand out to anyone who wants one for their very own pocket—as soon as it's ready.

What Was I Doing Ten Years Ago Today?

June 26, 1999
A day of rest [it was a Sat.] Bob McCubbin went to a hotel in Scottsdale [he came over from El Paso for my art opening in Wickenburg]. Tommy is working at the Caddyshack. Deena is working at Ice Breakers. Matthias is off shopping and Kathy is seeing clients. I made pancakes, went for a walk with Kathy. Had a financial talk and it wasn't miserable. She thinks we should take [my father's] estate and pay off the house and buy True West. Her rationale: that's how our portfolio would look. That's our investment: this house and the magazine. Pretty exciting, really.

The previous day, I wrote this:

Mattias [our German foreign exchange student] had a party in the studio. Left the roof open [the hatch to the crow's nest] and the fan on. He leaves the refrigerator open, with food out all the time and when he went to Kathy's class, he told them, "You Americans waste so much." Ha!

Tommy came in at 3 with JJ. More hickies and open condoms. Sigh.
—BBB

"A man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his life as if he were recounting it."
—Jean-Paul Sartre