Lift Off For Fact Checking & Daisy Doc Stands Tall

 August 31, 2025

   On the run on the hunt. Still intrigued by that tall cloud over New River Mesa when I got back from Payson two weekends ago. Took another run at it this morning.

Daily Reworked Whip Out: "Lift Off"

  My Kid Compadre Buckeye Blake shared with me his first pass at a death mask and it is just excellent.

Buckeye's Death Mask of Billy the Kid

   Meanwhile, tis the season of great clouds.

Morning Glory

      So many of the great lines Val Kilmer emotes in the classic film "Tombstone" are the creation of the talented screenwriter Kevin Jarre, but as hard as it is to believe, some of them come right out of the official record. In fact, here is one of them.

A New BozeCard on Daisy Doc

"A common fallacy is the belief that things were better in some imagined past. Someone is always spinning in their grave."

—Zach Helfard, on the history of fact checking in The New Yorker, September 1, 2025 issue

Drawing On Emotion

 August 30, 2025

   On our  last day on the beach, last Wednesday, the grandkids and I decided to do a drawing together. Frances took the sky, Weston took the bottom lands—actually the beach house—and I took the horse and rider. And we all contributed to the color.

Daily Grandkids Whip Out: "Funny Rider"

   Speaking of beach mysteries, I told my grandson I would give him $10 if he stopped the Mysterious Asian guy with the boom box and found out his background. So Weston saw him coming and ran out and stood right in the middle of the boardwalk and held out his hands. Here's how that worked out.

Mysterious Asian Guy Blows

Right By Grandson

   Working on a set of drawings to capture a certain horseback rider.

   I'm on a mission to capture the Mustang Mountains in southern Arizona. You know, these unique outcroppings near Elgin and on the road from Sonoita to Tombstone. If I'm not mistaken, these are the same Mustang Mountains behind the Duke, in this still from "Red River."

"Red River"

   It calls for a dynamic design and a skilled drawing execution and I'm still on the hunt.

"Drawing is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do."
—Vincent Van Gogh

Bleached Blanket Bingo

 August 28, 2025

   Flew back from San Diego yesterday after a cool four days on Mission Beach.

A Line of Clouds Along the Mexican Border

(on the flight home to Phoenix.)

   Here I am actually wearing a sweatshirt in August! Damn, it must have been 70 degrees out with a sea breeze. B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!!!

G-Paw Ha Ha With The G-Kids

   So my grandson Weston asked me to show him a "hippie" and I confidently said I would. I just assumed we would see one within two minutes, but alas they have disappeared off the boardwalk. Sure, I saw old surfers who might have been hippies back in the day, but they had somewhere along the line cleaned up and got a haircut, put on some shoes and otherwise left the Hippie Trail. 

   Here's my daughter Deena and her kids and me wearing my straw beach hat. The word "Studio" on my shirt is an inside joke with Kathy when I asked her where she was going and she replied, "Jazzercize" and I said, "Thank God you have that shirt on that says "Jazzercize" or I would never know. So, for my birthday she got me the "Studio" shirt so she will know where I am going when I walk out the front door. In this next part of the story, just know that this is the hat I have on.

All Day And Still No Hippies?!

   At the end of the day, the kids went down to Belmont Park to ride some rides and I was sitting outside alone looking at the waves and daydreaming about a day without deadlines when I heard a voice behind me. "Nice hat." I turned to see this old hippie guy flashing a peace sign.

Peace Out Amigo!

   Almost gone, but not forgotten.

"Today a hippie flashed me half a peace sign. Weird."

—Old Zonie Observation

Queens of The Rollerbladers & Mission Beach Mystery Man

 August 24, 2025

   We have been escaping to San Diego for a week in August for the past 45 years. Both our kids grew up rollerblading and boogie boarding on Mission Beach and now our daughter is doing the same with her kids. Here is Deena with her daughter on the boardwalk this morning.

Queen of the Rollerbladers

   Of course Mission Beach is full of eccentric characters and there is this one guy who we look for every year who comes by on a motorized skate board with a boom box in his hand blasting great tunes all the while looking regal and aloof, posing in two semi-robo-positions as he rides by.

Mission Beach Mystery Guy

   I want to say he has been a daily presence at least for the past five years, perhaps even longer. Does he have a job? Does he have a life? Hard to say. I have tried to interview him but he just keeps going. And smiling.

"I see by your outfit you are a robo-skateboarder."

—Old Surfer Observation

The Four Stages of False Photo Identification

 August 22, 2025

   Sometimes it seems as if everyone I meet has an old photograph they insist on showing me that they claim is worth "at least a million dollars." 

   Ever since Bill Koch paid $2.3 million for the only known tintype of William H. Bonney back in 2010, the floodgates have opened and stayed open like you would not believe. 

BBB interviewing Bill Koch

after he won the bid to buy the Billy photo

in Denver

(the gent in the red circle is my friend Buckeye Blake)

The owners of these "priceless photos" invariably come to True West hoping we can help them substantiate their claims. These encounters go roughly like this:

   "I greatly admire you and what you have done to preserve our history and I want to show you a photo no one has ever seen before of [fill in the blank of a famous Old West character]."

   They show me the photo and I look at the photo and then I invariably say this: "It's an intriguing photo, but what is the provenance?"

   "This photo came from a prominent family and the facial recognition software confirms it is a 99.9% match."

   Well, for starters, "a prominent family" is not provenance, unless you have the paperwork showing who had the photo when and where it came from. And, for the record, facial recognition software may be good for solving crimes but it's an absolute joke when comparing facial features on historic photos. Examples to come. . .

   As soon as they find out we are not going to support their claims, the insults begin and have not stopped until this very day. In fact, it has gotten so bad, here is the blanket form response one of my Billy the Kid compadres sends out when they get an image sent to them:

Thank you for writing.

Billy the Kid's Historical Coalition can offer you no certain claims for or against this particular photograph.

If you are unable to show that the picture originated at a time and place Billy the Kid was known to have been, or that it was taken by a photographer in a similar area, etc., and have a clear line of descent and ownership, then every expert will tell you they can do nothing with it. Facial recognition software, AI, and facial similarities are not conventional standards by which the historical field establishes provenance.

We wish we could do more for you, and we agree that it's a fascinating photograph! But we can neither disprove it nor be the conduit for its authentication.

Thanks again for writing, and if you have any more information that may contribute to the authentication standards noted above, please send them on!

Thanks! 

—James Townsend

Billy the Kid's Historical Coalition

"Sometimes a picture is not even worth 500 words."

—Old Provenance Saying

Hutton's New Book Hits The New York Times Bestseller List!

 August 21, 2025

   I interviewed Paul Andrew Hutton this morning on his new book and he told me it is already in its second printing and here's the new cover.

    Yes, the book just entered the New York Times bestseller list at #12.  Our interview will be on our True West YouTube Channel in a couple days. I'll give you a heads up.

  Okay, I've received a little angst and blowback around the Triple B Bunkhouse about portraying my grandson Weston as such an anti-Old West curmudgeon. Personally, I think he was just being funny—like his grandpa wants him to be!— and most of us get it that he is just a typical kid who turns up his nose at anything his parents or grandparents find even mildly entertaining. 

   Meanwhile, I asked the boy to find some Old West history from his world that he might like and he showed me an animated take on the O.K. Corral fight that was semi-accurate and semi-amusing. So I asked him if he wanted to read what really happened and he gave me one of those, "If-You-Insist-Grandpa" looks.

Weston Reads BBB's Doc

   In all honesty, after he put it down he told me it was a 7.5 on a scale of 1 to ten. Which is a C and if you can see Uno's reaction I think the dog agrees with the grandson.

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." 

— Marcus Aurelius

An Interview With A Man of The West. Well, Actually He's A 12-Year-Old Boy

 August 20, 2025

   We have a grandson in the house and he is named Weston because his mom and dad wanted him to be a Man of The West. So without further ado, here is an interview with said kid.

Weston, age 12

Are you interested in the Old West?

   No, I'm not interested in the Old West. It's too old if you know what I mean? I don't find it very relevant—too many old people like it. For example, Billy the Kid is dead to me. He's not relatable. I feel like he would have to do something interesting to be cool.

What about Jesse James?

   Never heard of him.

What about Crazy Horse?

   No clue.

What about Geronimo?

   I think he sounds like Geronimo Stilton, a character in a book my sister used to read.

What about Custer's Last Stand?

   Reminds me of buttery pancakes.

Calamity Jane?

   Cancer?

Do you know any stories from the past?

I do know a story. Did you know there was a virus called pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis and it killed everybody in 1857?

Is that true?

   No, I made it up.

Okay, I don't see a career for you in history, but you probably have a shot at standup.

"I'm done with Billy the Kid!

Done.

Done.

Done.

Enough.

I am considering dropping my subscription.

Why? Billy the Kid."

—Curt Beckner, Chino Valley, Arizona

Royalty All Around

 August 19, 2025

   The Goose and I spent five hours today going into the Beast to pick up this guy.

Deplaning Royalty

   Weston gets a standing ovation from the flight crew as he deplanes at Sky Harbor this afternoon. Of course, he's not so hoity-toity that he can't pose with a Geezer, or two.

G-Paw Ha Ha And His Second Tier Offspring

   Speaking of royalty, last Saturday, Dan The Man and I got to hang with one of the most patient women in Mohave County and that would be this lovely woman.

Dan The Man, Zibby Campa and BBB

"Someday I hope to write a book where the royalties will pay for the copies I give away."

—Clarence Darrow

Between The Yin And The Yang And The Angle of The Dangle

 August 18, 2025

   Ran into my stepbrother Walt Bridges last Saturday in Kingman.

Stepbrothers Kingman Style

   After my mother and father divorced in 1970 my father met a transplanted New Yorker who bought property out at Red Lake in Mohave County and later worked at the bank. Her name was Shirley Bridges and she brought her New York son with her and he was—and is—a very handsome bastard.

"We're all here via the yin and the yang and the angle of the dangle."

—Old Chinese Saying meets Old Vaquero Saying

   "The universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of primordial qi or material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang, force and motion leading to form and matter. 'Yin' is retractive, passive, contractive and receptive in nature in a contrasting relationship to 'yang' is repelling, active, expansive and repulsive in principle; this dichotomy in some form, is seen in all things in nature and their patterns of change, difference and transformations."

—Definition of Yin And Yang via Wikepedia

Doc Holliday Gets His Prescott Due And The Class of '65 Is Older Than Hell

 August 17, 2025

   Back from Kingman and my 60th high school reunion.

   We had a full house at the Hassayampa Inn Conference Center on Saturday morning for my talk on The Truth About Doc Holliday. Here's the crowd I was facing.

   What I like about this photo is all the people who are smiling. We had some fun.

   This wasn't my first visit to the Mile High City to talk about Doc. Here is my blog from 13 years ago:

July 6, 2012

Drove up to Prescott yesterday at three. Had a speech for the Prescott Westerners Corral, a group dedicated to authentic history. The last time I spoke to the Prescott Westerners (2005) I mentioned that a young medical student had interviewed Doc Holliday's girlfriend in 1940. A buzz went through the room. So much so that I asked what the matter was. Several people pointed to an elderly gentleman sitting near the front who was now smiling broadly at me. the entire room said, almost as one, "Dr. William Bork is seated right there." I literally jumped off the stage to shake his hand like some gushy Justin Beiber groupie. I mean, holy guacamole, HE actually talked to Doc Holliday's girlfriend!
   After the speech I had a nice talk with him about the encounter, but as happens so often when you get to actually talk to someone who glimpsed history, he didn't really have any earth shattering news to tell about it. She was merely an old woman trying to cash in on her story and she had things mixed up, didn't tell a very good story and had unrealistic ideas about getting paid for it.
   Still, it was a thrill to talk to him.

______

   Back to the present. We took off for Kingman after my talk and made it to Metcalf Park a little after one p.m. where Dan gave us our matching T-shirts he had made up for the 60th reunion. We talked to the survivors (we have lost 70 out of a class of 125) and solved some life, what's left of it.

   Here I am with two of my MCUHS baseball teammates  Philbert Watahomogie (a first class pitcher), me and Paul "Chapo" Torres, first baseman extraordinaire.

Philbert, BBB and Chapo

The Wikieup Twins

   We had some fun and came home this morning.

"Hope I die before I get ridiculously old."

—The Whom (It May Concern)

Fred Nolan's Work Comes Home to New Mexico

 August 15, 2025

   The lifework of our late, great friend and formidable Lincoln County War historian has just arrived in Las Cruces at the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections and will soon be available for scholars to study and use. The department head, Dennis Daily, asked me if I would like to say a few words about Mr. Nolan and I said I would very much like to do that. 

Frederick Nolan at Ruidoso Downs

(Photo by BBB)

   For me, Fred Nolan was the nimble prince of the Billy the Kid field, which can be quite petty and contentious. Fred blew the doors off of all that because he could be just as snotty and petty and contentious as any pompous American historian. And he was hilarious doing it! Damn, he was funny. But he was much more than that. Generous to a fault, gracious and kind, he gave a decorum and first rate scholarship to our efforts that is sorely missed today.

   About ten years ago, Fred and Heidi came to the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso and I gave a talk on Billy the Kid in a small tent on the infield of the racetrack at Ruidoso Downs. There were perhaps 35 people in the tent with Fred choosing to sit in the first row, directly in front of me. I started to give my usual talk on Billy the Kid, but at almost every juncture, I would look down to see if he agreed and he would nod and smile, or, add in his two cents. After about five minutes of this, I threw up my hands and introduced him to the audience and asked him to join me on stage. He hopped up there and we regaled that audience with a flurry of ribald opinion and humor and we absolutely killed, as the comedians are fond of saying. In fact, some of them said to us after the show that we reminded them of Laurel & Hardy. I'm still not sure if that is a complement, but he was a showman as well as a top rated historian. He is sorely missed by me and many others.

—BBB

"Fred participated in the McSween Site Dig in Lincoln during the 1980s loving every minute of that time. He also played the piano with a vengeance and with a special style and grace depending on the music. He was a giant and now, he's gone. Vaya con Dios amigo."

—Lynda Sanchez

The Man Who Created All Creatures Great And Small

 August 14, 2025

   Got an assignment last night to lean on chaos and Quixote. Hmmmm. Details to come.

Sunrise Over Ratcliff Ridge

   And, here is the same sky looking north. . .

Monsoon Morning Up On Morningstar

   Got some thunder last night but not sure we got any rain. Saw this dramatic little display at dawn on my walk. I tried to get Uno to look but he was smelling some dead mouse and had no time for lollygagging.

   Here's the other side of the AI disruption:

   "I’ve been following your recent posts about the AI book theft problem, and I want you to know I’m right there with you—I don’t condone, support, or take part in anything like that. My use of AI has one purpose: to help preserve history and bring to life the stories of people the history books often leave behind. That’s the heart of what I do with my music.

   "I was raised to believe your name and your word are everything, and I treat this new technology as a gift that comes with responsibility. I’ll always use it in a way that’s honest, respectful, and true to the spirit of the past.

   "I’m grateful for the spot you gave me in True West Magazine’s “What History Has Taught Me,” and I want you to know that if we ever work together again, you can count on me to uphold the highest ethical standards."

—Rick Kennerknecht

   And, it must be said, Rick is the guy who used AI to create this little dittie:

The Ballad of Bob Boze Bell

   Yes, Rick is very creative and he is using the same tools that the book creators are using, so it's nice to realize a good part of it is to our benefit and some of it is for nefarious purposes, just like, well, you know anything else on the planet!

   Man, I missed this show—All Creatures Great And Small—in the eighties. Sorry. My loss. Craig Schepp sent me this interview with the creator of the show and it is a joy to watch.

Interview with James Herriot

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." 

— Marcus Aurelius

AI: Game On Or Game Over?

 August 13, 2025

   Hang on to your footnote receipts, here comes the AI knockoff books. Our friend Peter Brand has a new book out on Sadie Earp which we are excerpting in the next issue of True West.

   And, here is one of the AI knockoffs, utilizing all the primary sources that Peter used and then spinning it out just different enough to avoid plagiarism charges.

   And, here's Brian Burrough's new book:

And here's the AI knockoff:

   You'll notice these guys added the "inspired by Bryan Burrough" so they get a by, but I think you know where this is all going. Thank god biographies are still legit.

An AI produced biography on PAH

   So I called PAH and he laughed and told me he already bought the kindle version and read it and laughed all the way through the 33 pages. Essentially, AI scrapes up everything off of the web that mentions him and then spins it out with a wide but somewhat non-specific narrative. As Paul puts it, "They didn't have anything about my previous relationships. And the AI avoids anything that might be liable, so it's pretty safe and bland."

"What irritates me is that I’ll spend years researching the primary source material at archives, museums, etc., and once my book is published as an eBook, someone can instruct AI to regurgitate that information into their own book, in little or no time at all. The authors who should be really worried, though, are those who don’t do primary research and write books by simply reading other books. That’s exactly what AI does. Actually, that’s what it’s already doing."

—Mark Lee Gardner

All Creatures In Hell Great And Small

August 12, 2025

   On the drive home from Payson on Sunday I spied a very tall cloud formation over New River Mesa. This morning I tried to capture what I saw on paper.

Daily Whip Out:

"Sky High Thunderhead"

   If I had to guess, the phenom seems to be activated by mountain clouds drifting over New River Mesa and when they hit the hot air of Cave Creek they go straight up 40,000 feet to get away from the heat. I can relate and it's pretty spectacular to see. Not sure I captured the massiveness of it.

   Someone asked me how my weekend in Payson went and I said, "Long drive, too hot but I hung out with great people." Which, when you think about it, is probably a good analogy for hell.

   Speaking of hell, have you watched tv lately? Is it just me or is it wall to wall crap?

Yearning for Civility

  I believe there is a longing for civility. How else could you explain my infatuation with this PBS show? 

   It's a clever little show set in the countryside of England in 1936. When Kathy recommended it, I was like, "Whatever" which is code for I am going to absolutely hate this! 

   On the show we hear ominous radio news reports from Chamberlain about Hitler ("Peace at last") but the events in the show are centered around a family of veterinarians dealing with primarily dogs, horses and cows (thus the title). The show is a balm for our current strife and I absolutely love it! I am so exhausted by the overwrought sound effects and raunchy behavior on all the shows and movies currently bombarding us with "damaged" characters writ large and plot twists that wring our collective necks every fifteen seconds. On one of the All Creatures shows, I swear, the punchline to the entire episode is a gentle kiss while sitting on the roof of an old barn.

   Damn sweet if you ask me and just what the doctor ordered.

"If you really want to piss people off, you can do two things; attain some happiness or tell the truth."

—Tennessee Williams

The Muse of The Mustang Mountains

 August 11, 2025

   Had a tequila based encounter yesterday with a notorious Arizona troubadour.

Two Zonies Telling Stories at El Encanto

That, my friends is the legendary leader of Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers

   Of course Roger and I got to talking about him growing up on a ranch down Sonoita way, and I told him about visiting the set of "Tombstone" back in the day and I showed him the photo I took of Jeff Morey and Kevin Jarre near Sonoita and on set and Roger said, "You see those two peaks back there?

June 9, 1993
Jeff Morey and Kevin Jarre on the set of "Tombstone"

"That's on my dad's ranch" he told me. So, this morning he sent me this photo.

Roger Clyne in the corral of his dad's ranch 

   And those are the Mustang Mountains behind him which are visible in the movie set photo I took 35 years ago. Small world, yes?

   We talked about maybe doing a project together and so he sent me three new songs and while I can't share them yet, suffice to say, I smiled and played desk drums all the way through a rockin' little dittie called "Like Lightnin'." Stay tuned. It's gonna get loud in here.

"It's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it."

—Steven Wright​​

Cuttin' A Rug In Old Town Payson

 August 10, 2025

   Do you want to know what desperation is? I drove up to Rim Country where it's eight degrees cooler than Cave Creek. Yes, It was 108 when I left the Triple B Ranch and when I got to Payson it was 100. That didn't stop us from having a bang up time at Macky's where they were having a pre-rodeo dance outside on the patio. The Blue Sky Band was fantastic and when a pretty girl at the next table asked me to dance, well, you can take the boy out of Kingman but you can't take the Kingman out of the boy.

Cuttin' A Rug With My Eyes Closed!

(photo by Rooster Rob)

   She goes by Jesse (she's a real estate agent), but her real name is Yessenia Storing. She's originally from Costa Rica and she spent time in Wickiup, so we bonded over that. Oh, and she knows Toby Orr from Kingman so that practically makes us kin!

   I'm dancin' like nobody's watchin' but I kindah think they were. Oh, and she was a charmer. I bought a house from her. Not really, but you know,

   And, of course Rooster and I sat in with the band and did two songs. Can you guess which ones?

  

"And her name is G-L-O-R. . .Ay Yi Yi Yi Yi. . ."

—Gloria, by Them

Payson Tonight Tombstone Tomorrow

 August 8, 2025

   Heading up the mountain today to join my friends in Payson for their second annual film festival. Stuart Rosebrook and I will tag team the introduction to this tried and true Western.

   And, I will be signing books and back issues in the lobby of the Sawmill Theatres at 1:30 on Saturday, August 9th -- before the showing of TOMBSTONE on the big screen at 2:00. Tickets to the film are only $8 at the box office. You may want to buy them as soon as possible before they sell out!

If you want to take a deep and entertaining dive into the story of the gunfight at the OK Corral and the making of the film, Bob and his friend Stuart Rosebrook will be talking beforehand at the Rim Country Barbeque on Main Street! Come join them at 11:30 am for a delicious luncheon, the talk, and then go to the screening of TOMBSTONE at the Sawmill. Tickets for this package are $100 so reserve yours now by calling 928.978.0490 or go to info@rimcountrychamber.com

BONUS: this purchase entitles you to 3 free tickets to any other festival movies -- just get them at the Sawmill Box Office.

The Western Heritage and Film Festival is here!

#PaysonWFF

when Kathy Married George Harrison And Virgil Shot Billy Clanton

 August 7, 2025

   Most people forget that for a time, Kathy Sue was married to George Harrison.

The Serious Beatle Impregnates

Local Teacher

   No, wait! That's not George Harrison, that's some Kingman kid trying to be too cool for school.

"Damn. You had me going there for a moment."

Even Leslie Nielsen is like "Damn, Dude!"

   And then we bought some land in Cave Creek and the next thing you know we had a brand spanking new custom built adobe that looks right into the cave that Cave Creek is named for. I wonder if there is any photo of us celebrating that?

New House Euphoria

(The dog's name was Dusty)

Speaking of O.K. Design

   Our crack designer, Rebecca Edwards, and I are working on a big O.K. Corral sequence—"30 Shots In 30 Seconds" and we are rounding up most of the many sequences I have illustrated over the past 35 years trying to capture those infamous thirty seconds from every angle possible.

"30 Shots In 30 Seconds" opening

 This morning, she found a specific moment of mine at about the 22 second mark, where Virgil moves Doc's cane to his left hand, pulls his revolver out of his waistband (he wasn't wearing a holster and neither was Wyatt) and fired at Billy Clanton, who is seen here slamming against the Harwood house.

Daily Whip Out:

"Virgil Shoots Billy at Street Fight"

   Other specific details captured in this complicated scene are Frank McLaury, at center, gut shot by Wyatt and bent over, still trying to hold onto his sunfishing horse, and about to shoot Virgil in the left calf. Behind Frank is Doc Holliday about to get a clean shot at Tom McLaury hiding behind his bucking horse, and across the street in that window is Addie Bourland who was sewing and witnessed the start of the fight and became an important witness in the Spicer Hearing that followed the infamous fight.

"I live on the opposite side of Fremont Street from the entrance to Fly's lodging house."

—Addie Bourland, testifying at the Spicer Hearing

Old Vaquero Sees Right Through You

"It's not what you look at, it's what you see."

—Old Vaquero Saying

A Majestic Morning And A Memorable Afternoon

 August 6, 2025

   This is one of the happiest days of my life and I'll tell you why in just a minute.

The Majestics

Yes, this morning begat a majestic morning, complete with a majestic sky, majestic twin saguaros and a majestic Uno. Oh, and a majestic temperature (79 at sunrise) before the furnace kicks in. Oh, and I didn't meet anyone on the road (I'm not anti-social but it's just nice to walk and not have to make small talk). And Uno had fun with the buffalo babies, running along the fence and acting all tough, when, deep down inside he knows any one of them could kick his ass in a street fight.

Muscle Memory vs. Happiness

In my experience, happiness is a muscle that needs to be exercised. So I do morning reps (I think of them as mental push ups) where I focus on the things that are right in my world and I celebrate them with superlatives and on my walks I list them out loud, which is another reason I'm glad I didn't meet anybody on the road.

"Who is that old man talking to himself in such a loud voice?"

"I don't know but he seems to be scaring that poor dog."

Here is just a smattering of my morning pep talk to myself:

• How did I get so lucky to see New River Mesa at first light?

Daily Whip Out:

"New River Mesa at First Light"

• Thank you for a great dog who likes the same books I do.

• Thank you for making my childhood friend such a talented graphic designer.

Sneak Peek at the next issue

with a mockup by Dan the Man Harshberger

• And thank you Universe for also making Dan a good BozeCard designer as well.

   And, so, by the time I return from my walk with Uno at 6:15 in the morning, I am fired up to attack the day and not squander such an incredible opportunity. And for just that alone, today has been one of the happiest days of my life.

"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid."

—Epictetus