Why Men Should Not Own Action Figures

Why men should not own action figures.

Here's a funny sent by a friend in Colorado. Thanks Eva.

Downtown Memories

My sister GITSY started a few of us down memory lane with her blog about shopping downtown. We lived in Dayton Ohio. Dayton has a great bus system. We could easily and safely take the bus downtown on the number 9 and be dropped off in front of Rike's, Beermans, the Arcade and McCrorys.

My memories of Rike's are of their Christmas display window. They usually had some stuffed animals and Christmas elves that moved robotically while Christmas music played on the street. Winter downtown was cold and I can remember my nose hairs freezing while watching this spectacle.

One of my sisters and I loved to go to the furniture department. They had small vignettes of decorated rooms and we would dream that these were our rooms. "I have dibs on this room", "This is myyy room". It gave me an experience of glamorous decor that I did not experience at home. We did not buy much from Rikes. For our family that was an expensive place to shop.

Elder Beermans was another store we liked to visit downtown. I remember this store because I had a school chum whose mother worked as a store detective there. I thought that was so cool. She would catch shoplifters. I don't know how incognito she could be as she was six feet tall, bright red hair and large and in charge. I thought she was fantastic. I always wanted to see her in action cuffing someone.

The Arcade was a beautiful building. When I was growing up it was always a bit rundown. That was before the series of renovations and being sold and resold. (BTW buying and selling the Arcade is a scam people) There was a grocery market, a cheese shop, a meat market and a fish market. I would eventually work at the fish market.

One of the entrances to the Arcade was McCrorys. This was a crazy two story five and dime. We liked to go and have our photos taken in one of those photo booths. You would go in with a friend or a sister and it would take about 4 black and white photos of you that would develop in a strip and come out the side of the machine. McCrory's had a soda fountain where you could buy banana splits. They had a balloon popping system where you picked a balloon to pop and it would determine the price of your dessert. My sister and I went shoe shopping one day and were so enthralled with our stop at the soda fountain that we accidentally left our purchases there. Alas when we came back the shoes were gone. Somethings never change as I leave items at stores and restaurants to this day.

Dayton has done a good job of trying to attract visitors downtown. They have renovated much of the area. Alas Rike's was imploded a few years back and has been replaced by a nice Arts center. That block will always be Rike's to me and I will always be eleven years old with frozen nosehairs, looking through the window on that corner watching elf robots making toys.

About a Cat

I was going through some of my photos today and came across some of my art photos of the cat who adopted us. Here is his story.

We were living in South Carolina. We sometimes kept our garage door open. We had a large bag of cat food in the garage for our cat Bart. Bart was our first beloved cat. I will tell his story sometime also. We noticed that something had nibbled through the cat food bag. I figured it was mice.

We soon discovered that it was an old cat that had figured out where we kept this convenient food source. He was very friendly and mellow although we could see he was neglected and hungry.

From speaking with neighbors I found that he had been making the rounds around the neighborhood eating from outdoor cat bowls and peering in windows and looking for handouts. He had an odd look and one of my neighbors nick-named him Lucifer.

Needless to say, we started feeding him. We realized that his owners lived down the street but were not taking care of him. I already had a cat and he was ill. He would be so jealous if we brought another cat into the house so we sort of let him be our outdoor cat.

It was January and could get cold at night. I had a little Christmas tree on the front porch sitting on a little trunk. I put a little cat bed behind it near our front door and he took to it right away. Our neighbors called him Porch Kitty.





I would crack the door a little and let Bart smell him and check him out. At first Bart would hiss but one day he just sniffed at him and then went back inside. No hissing. Bart was dying and I think he knew that I would need this old decrepid cat to get me through his leaving me.

After Bart died I opened the door and let the outdoor cat now named Silver into the house. I was not sure what he would do. He tentatively walked in. Made a circle around the inside of the house and then walked back out to the front porch.

Eventually he would come in for longer periods of time. It took him awhile to relax enough to sit. The next breakthrough was him laying down inside. It was like he did not know that he was allowed to do this.




He had a nasty flea collar that his previous owner had left on too long. We removed that right away. He was losing hair and I took him to the vet to be checked out. He also had a limp that came and went. We got him on some vitamins and shortly he was looking greatly improved.

He had a very interesting look to him. I figured he was some sort of short haired Persian or a British Shorthair. He was old as the hills. He had a great craggly old half of a meow. He loved being outdoors and would sit under the tree in our yard or on the porch and keep an eye on the neighborhood. All of the neighbors now knew him and loved him.

His previous owners eventually moved away and did not even search him out. I didn't care, he was now my cat.

I was experimenting with vintage SX-10 polaroid cameras and a technique called polapainting. I took a few photos of the cat and new that he had missed his calling as a cat model. He was gorgeous and photographed beautifully.

Alas, when we moved from South Carolina to Arizona we brought Silver with us. He did not do well. He was pretty ill to begin with but the previous vet had not figured this out. Our new vet in Arizona told us he was even older than we thought and sicker. Sadly when he got too ill I made a tortured decision to put him to sleep. I hated the decision but felt it had to be done as he was obviously in pain.

Silver got me through the hard times of losing my beloved cat Bart. He was so special. I don't know how his previous owners could have neglected him so. He was wonderful, Silver my supermodel cat. He was a true gift. I think of him often and am glad that he came into my life.

Free Stuff for Catholics

I had a little giggle this morning. I was up early perusing Craigslist. I love looking at the Pets category and also the Free category.

There was an ad with the title "Framed Pictures for Catholics". The ad read: "We are moving and have some pictures of Mary and Joseph that we can't take along with us. Will give to any Catholics who would want them. Available on June 1st only since we are moving. "

First thought - Why so exclusionary? Other people might love Mary and Joseph too. I guess they don't want those framed prints to get into the wrong hands.

Second thought - So sad that they did not have enough room to take their holy pictures.

Third thought - It's so nice that they did not throw them away and offered them for free on Craigslist.

I love Craigslist and love the fact that you can still get something for free in this world. God Bless Craigslist.

Memorial Day Rememberance

I have many relatives and friends that I should be remembering this Memorial Day. I was surprised to find that I did not have photos of many of them, especially the old timers.
I did have some photos from 2004 of family members putting flags on the graves of our loved ones.On this day I would like to remember a few of my relatives and friends who have served our nation.

Patrick Bayham

Stephen Wassenich

Ralph A. Bochenek

Henry Bochenek

Joseph T. Boksza

And all of the others that I have not mentioned.

Dziekuje and Rest in Peace.

Get Smart

Happy Memorial Day weekend. Gas in the area has risen above $3.80. I get pretty excited when I see a Smart Car on the street. They look so cool. I would love to have one.

I have no travel plans this weekend. I'm sure that with gas prices as they are it is deterring some folks from traveling on this long weekend.

It has rained in the Phoenix area for a few days. It's overcast today and we are hoping that the sun comes out for the weekend. I'd love to get in the pool. I burned by butt last weekend when I fell asleep on my raft face down. I'm totally itching now and expect my skin to peel any moment now.

If the sun does not come out, I hope to curl up with a cat and a good book.

HOV Commute, over 10,000 Served

In Arizona some of our highways have what is called an HOV lane. (High Occupancy Vehicle). To drive in this lane during rush hour you must have at least two people in your car.



Those of you who know me have heard me speak about my long commute to work. Last year I bought a hybrid car. With fuel prices rising I needed a car that got better gas mileage. When I bought my car I got in on the bonus plan, an opportunity for a tax credit AND a chance to drive in the HOV lane thus reducing my daily driving time.



The Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles had a program for alternative fuel vehicles whereby if you had a certain type of hybrid car you could purchase a special license tag that would allow you to drive in the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane without meeting the 2 in a car criteria.


The DMV was offering this special plate with a limit of 10,000 plates to be offered. This week they sold the last plate! Wow, that did not take long.



I am so appreciative of owning this tag. It has made my life just a little easier. Thank you DMV. (Never thought I would say that)