2-1-15

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Almanac: Week: 06 \ Day: 032 
February Averages: 45°\19°
86004 Today: H 38°\L 33°
Average Sky Cover: 95%  Ave. humidity: 100%    
Wind ave:   3mph\Gusts:  10mph
Ave. High: 44° Record High:  60° (2003)
Ave. Low: 17° Record Low:  -23° (1985)

Month long Observances In February:
Adopt A Rescued Rabbit Month 
AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month
American Heart Month
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Bake for Family Fun Month
Barley Month 
Beat The Heat Month
--

Dog Training Education Month 
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February is Fabulous Florida Strawberry Month
From Africa to Virginia Month
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Grapefruit Month 
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International Boost Self-Esteem Month
International Expect Success Month
International Hoof-care Month
International Prenatal Infection Prevention Month 
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Jobs in Golf Month 
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Library Lovers Month
Love The Bus Month 
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Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month
Marijuana Awareness Month 
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National African American History Month
National African American Read-In  
National Bird Feeding Month
National Black History Month
National Care About Your Indoor Air Month
National Cherry Month
National Condom Month  
National Children's Dental Health Month
National Haiku Writing Month 
National Hot Breakfast Month 
National Laugh-Friendly Month 
National Mend A Broken Heart Month
National Parent Leadership Month
National Pet Dental Health Month
National Prevent A Litter Month 
National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month 
National Therapeutic Recreation Month 
National Time Management Month
National Weddings Month
National Women Inventors Month
North American Inclusion Month (NAIM) 
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Pet Dental Health Month
Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month
Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month
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Relationship Wellness Month
Responsible Pet Owner's Month  
Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
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Spay/Neuter Awareness Month
Spunky Old Broads Month
Sweet Potato Month 
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Wise Health Care Consumer Month
Worldwide Renaissance of the Heart Month
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Youth Leadership Month

Observances Today:
Car Insurance Day…Change Your Password Day
Decorating With Candy Day
Freedom Day
G.I. Joe Day
Hula in The Coola Day
International Face & Body Art Day
National Girls & Women in Sports Day
Popcorn Day
Robinson Crusoe Day
Serpent Day…Spunky Old Broads Day…Super Bowl XLIX

Observances This Week:
Feb 1-7
African Heritage & Health Week
Burn Awareness Week
Boy Scout Anniversary Week
Children's Authors & Illustrators Week
International Coaching Week
Just Say No to PowerPoint Week
Solo Diners Eat Out Weekend
Women's Heart Week

« »  « »
Quote of the Day 


US Historical Highlights for Today
1810 - 1st insurance co managed by blacks (American Insurance Co of Phila)
1834 - State of Georgia has begun the process of seizing CHEROKEE property.
1839 - CHEROKEE Chief John Ross, and 228 other CHEROKEEs arrive in Little Rock, en route to the Indian Territory
1860 - 1st rabbi to open House of Representatives, Morris Raphall of NYC
1861 - Texas secedes from the Union
1862 - Julia Howe publishes "Battle Hymn of Republic"
1893 - Thomas Edison completes worlds 1st movie studio (West Orange NJ)
1898 - 1st auto insurance policy in US issued, by Travelers Insurance Co
1904 - Santa Rita Hotel opened at midnight in downtown Tucson. The largest hotel in Arizona at the time, the five-story Santa Rita had 200 rooms with their own baths, a roof-top garden and a ground-floor, courtyard patio.
1906 - 1st federal penitentiary building completed, Leavenworth, Kansas
1909 - US forces withdraw from Cuba after liberal Jose Miguel Gomez becomes president
1917 - By Executive Order, PAPAGO Indian Reservation in established in AZ
1920 - 1st commercial armored car introduced (St Paul Minn)
1935 - 1st "March of Time" newsreel premieres at the Capitol
1951 - 1st telecast of atomic explosion
1953 - "You Are There" with Walter Cronkite premieres on CBS television
1958 - 1st US satellite (Explorer I) launched
1960 - 4 students stage 1st civil rights sit-in, at Greensboro NC Woolworth
1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. & 700 demonstrators arrested in Selma Ala
1972 - 1st scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) introduced ($395)
1978 - Harriet Tubman is 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp
1982 - "Late Night With David Letterman" debuts on NBC-TV
2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
2004 - Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl

Today’s Events through History
1587 - Queen Elizabeth I signs death warrant for Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots
1669 - French King Louis XIV limits freedom of religion
1884 - 1st volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, published
1920 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police forms as Royal Northwest Mounted Police merge with Dominion Police
1948 - Federation of Malaysia forms from 9 sultanates
1958 - Egypt & Syria announce plans to merge into United Arab Republic
1972 - Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter
1991 - President F W de Klerk, says he would repeal all apartheid laws
 « » « »
  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today

My Rambling Thoughts
Holy Moly…the first month of 2015 is over…and I am still occasionally still writing 2014 on papers.
A little upset as my Roku stick isn’t working, but I’ll figure it out…eventually. That means no Netflix today. Guess that’s good, as I got some extra cleaning done throughout the day.
It is still basically overcast and raining, or as they say in Oregon, it is misting. All this moisture is sure good for our forest. I would prefer snow at this time of year, but will settle with rain…it is certainly better than nothing. Mary texted me this morning and said that she drove to Phoenix yesterday afternoon and had the windshield wipers on the entire way. Cheryl called and Williams is just like Flag. In AZ, this is news. Wetter states, not so much.  
« » « »
Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
You mix and disrupt me,
But it makes me stronger.
You just ignore me,
But I get harder the longer.
To cap it off,
It's surprising to see,
You end up walking
All over me.

What am I?

« » « »
Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
« » « »
Easter Eggs…check it out…
--Searching for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, gay marriage, LGBT, LGBTQ, PFLAG, or GLAAD in Google Search will turn the search input field’s borders rainbow colored, which is the LGBT campaigns’ theme, presumably showing support for the communities.

Eye Facts…
--Sectoral heterochromia is an eye condition where one part of the iris appears different to the rest. It's generally a result of excessive pigment.
--There are glasses which allow a red-green color-blind person to see colors the way everyone else does.

Flagstaff, AZ History…
--25 YEARS AGO The new Walgreens on Cedar opened on Tuesday. They’re offering groceries as well as drugs. The new Safeway joins them this Sunday.

Harper’s Index…
46
--Percentage increase in requests by world governments for Twitter user data since the beginning on 2014

Rules of Thumb…
BATHTUB TOYS
--Bathtub toys from Singapore generally last longer than those from Taiwan.

Unusual Fact of the Day…
--The medical term stroke comes from the 16th century, when a person suffering a cerebral hemorrhage was thought to have been hit by "the stroke of God's hand."

Valentine’s Facts…
--Every year around 1 billion Valentine cards are sent. After Christmas it's a single largest seasonal card-sending occasion.
--In Finland, Valentine's Day is called "Ystävänpäivä" which translates into "Friend's day".

« » « »
Joke-of-the-day
Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn’t have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn’t have to hear about the way his mother cooked.
           
Yep, It Really Happened
HOUSTON (UPI)
UPS officials said they have fired a seasonal driver recorded by Houston security cameras throwing packages over a fence and urinating on the home. Ben Lucas said he checked his surveillance cameras after arriving home Jan. 8 to find his packages -- .22 caliber ammunition, chemicals and a machine for cleaning gun parts -- were on the inside of his locked fence and appeared to have been damaged. Lucas said the video, which he later posted to YouTube, showed the UPS driver throw the packages over the locked fence before unzipping the fly of his pants and urinating on his home. "So basically I paid someone to come to my house and pee on it," Lucas told KPRC-TV. Lucas said he posted the video to UPS' Facebook page when officials seemed unwilling to watch it or give him an apology. He said the move led to a phone call from a UPS supervisor. "She was apologetic and wants to send me a 'we're sorry' gift," he told KHOU-TV. "That's what I kind of wanted. I just wanted someone to say, 'yeah he shouldn't have done that we'll try to make sure that doesn't happen again,'" Lucas said. UPS issued a statement saying the driver, a seasonal employee, was fired. "UPS was dismayed by actions that violated decency and delivery care. The local management team did take action to terminate the individual who was a seasonal delivery helper. However, they were wrong if they did not clarify this resolution with Mr. Lucas at the time. UPS sincerely apologizes to our customer. No behavior like this is acceptable." 

Somewhat Useless Information
--Cheddar, England, a village in the southwestern county of Somerset, is home to the famous geological site Cheddar Gorge. Beginning in the 16th century, visitors to Cheddar Gorge tasted cheese at local inns and started taking home "cheese from cheddar." 
--Cheddar is so important to the English palate that during World War II, it was illegal to commercially produce any other variety of cheese in England.
--Cheddar cheese is naturally white or pale yellow. These days, much of it is dyed orange with seeds from the annatto plant, and early cheese makers used carrot juice and marigold petals.
--"American" cheese is a young, pasteurized cheddar that undergoes additional processing to become the easy-to-melt variety.
--According to historians, President Andrew Jackson once served a 1,400-pound block of cheddar at a White House party.
--"Squeaky curds" refers to fresh young cheddar in its natural shape, before it's pressed into a block and aged. Fresh curds are considered a delicacy - and they actually make a squeaking sound when you eat them.

« »« »
Birthday’s Today
Billy Mumy, California, actor (Will Robinson-Lost in Space) is 61
Lisa Marie Presley Keough Jackson, daughter of Elvis is 47
Pauly Shore, comedian (Encino Man) is 47
Brian Krause, actor (Charmed) is 46
Harry Styles, British pop singer (One Direction) is 21
« » « »
Remembered for being born today
Muriel Spark, Edinburgh, novelist (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) 1918-2006@88
John Ford, director (Stagecoach) 1894-1973@79
Boris Yeltsin, Ural Mts USSR, president of Russian SSR 1931-2007@76
Sherman Hemsley, actor (Jeffersons), 1938-2012@74
Victor Herbert, Dublin, composer (Babes in Toyland) 1859-1924@65
Langston Hughes, poet (Weary Blues) and playwright (Mulatto) 1902-1967@65
Clark Gable, actor (Gone With the Wind) 1901-1960@59
Rick James (James Ambrose Johnson Jr), funk musician 1948-2004@56
Brandon Lee, Emerson Colo, actor (Showdown in Little Tokyo) 1965-1993@28
« » « »
Historical Obits Today
• • • • •
Michael P. Anderson - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @43
David Brown - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @46

Kalpana Chawla - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @40
Laurel Clark - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @41
Rick D. Husband - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @45
Willie McCool - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @41
Ilan Ramon - crew Space Shuttle Columbia disaster @48

• • • • • 
Ed Koch, American congressman\NYC Mayor, 2013, @88
George Cruikshank, English illustrator (Grimm), 1878, @85
Hedda Hopper, [Elda Furry], gossip columnist, 1966, @80
James G MacDonald, cartoon voice (Mickey Mouse), 1991, @84
Mongo Santamaria, Cuban percussionist and band leader, 2003, @80
Jack Bailey, TV host (Queen for a Day), 1980, @72
Piet Mondrian, abstract painter (Composition in Blue), pneumonia, 1944, @71
Joseph Francis Buster Keaton, comic (General), cancer, 1966, @70
Mary Shelley, novelist (Frankenstein), tumor, 1581, @ 53
« » « »

Brain Teasers Answers
Don't worry too much
Or my feelings lament
For in fact what I am,
Is simply cement.

« » « »

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.
§…And That Is All for Now…§


1-31-15

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!
Almanac: Week: 05 \ Day: 031 
January Averages: 43°\16°
86004 Today: H 41°\L 36°
Ave. humidity: 99%     Average Sky Cover: 99%
Wind ave:   3mph\Gusts:  18mph
Ave. High: 44° Record High:  63° (1971)
Ave. Low: 17° Record Low:  -25° (1916)

Observances Today:
Independence Day- Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) 1958 from Australia
<> 
Appreciate Your Social Security Check Day
Child Labor Day
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day
National Popcorn Day
National Seed Swap Day
Street Children Day
Observances This Week:
25-31
Catholic Schools Week

Clean Out Your Inbox Week
Meat Week 
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week
National Medical Group Practice Week
National Nurse Anesthetists Week
World Leprosy Week 
28-31 
US National Snow Sculpting Week

« »
Quote of the Day 


Historical Highlights for Today
1696 - Revolt by undertakers after funeral reforms (Amsterdam)
1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital
1846 - After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1851 - Gail Borden announces invention of condensed milk
1855 - Western railroads blocked by snow
1865 - Congress passes 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (121-24)
1870 – 1st acts are taken to establish the White Mountain\San Carlos Camp Apache Reserve in western Arizona territory
1876 – US orders all Native Americans to move into reservations
1890 - Empire Ranch, Arizona started driving 1,000 head of cattle to California to escape excessive freight rates
1905 - 1st automobile to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), A G MacDonald, Daytona Beach
1915 - 1st (German) poison gas attack, against Russians
1919 - The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland: troops deployed against protesters for fear of a Bolshevik uprising
1920 - 1st Ukrainian daily newspaper in US (NYC) begins publication
1928 - Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company
1950 - President Truman publicly announces support for development of H-bomb
1958 - James van Allen discovers radiation belt
1961 - Ham the chimpanzee is 1st primate in space (158 miles)
1968 - Viet Cong Tet offensive begins
1972 - British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling makes statement to the House of Commons on the events of 'Bloody Sunday' "The Army returned the fire directed at them with aimed shots and inflicted a number of casualties on those who were attacking them with firearms and with bombs"
1982 - 10 Arabian oryx (extinct except in zoos) released in Oman
1990 - 1st McDonalds in Russia opens in Moscow, world's biggest McDonalds

« »
  Birthdays Today:
How many can you identify? Answers below in Birthday’s Today


My Rambling Thoughts
It rained most of the night and most of the day. Did a few errands and had to use the low setting on the windshield wipers, rather than the usual intermittent slower speed. Lots of much needed moisture fell on our town today. Even had to get out my rain jacket that I bought in Maine a few years ago. I saw a lot of umbrellas as I went into several stores. For much of the US this is not unusual, but for Flagstaff, especially in January, at 7000’, this is very unusual for January. We are much more prepared for snow at this time of year.
I have to admit, I used to think it would be fun to have one of those small drones with a camera to fly around here in our little mountain town and maybe even on a grip or two. Now that I see the problems, I will hold off on that dream for a while. This week some drunk Federal worker ‘lost’ his private drone about 3am when it just ‘flew off’. It landed on the White House lawn. As Lucy would say ‘you got some splainin’ to do.’ The local and now national news crews are talking about the concern about drones at the Super Bowl in Phoenix, actually Glendale, this weekend. The talking heads are talking about precautions to keep drones away from the game and suggesting that bombs or air-borne poisons could be dropped on the spectators. Harder than one would think. They are controlled, like so many things, by radio signals. Jamming is impossible, unless they know the frequency the drone is using, since all on-field communications is via radio signals as are the many HLS/FBI radios throughout the stadium. Scary world we live in.
« »
Brain Teasers
(answers at the end of post)
Based on the clue in parentheses, find a four-letter word that can be inserted backwards into the blank to complete a longer word.

Example: di____ve (a defeat)
Answer: dissolve ("A defeat" gives you LOSS, which is placed backwards in the blank: di_SSOL_ve.)

1. mu____ds (rodents)
2. fro____g (young lice)
3. con____s (flightless birds)
4. ta____le (flying mammals)         


Found on You Tube with some relevance to today
« »
Paraphernalia 4 the Brain:     
70’s Inventions…
1979
Cell phones invented
Cray supercomputer invented by Seymour Cray
Walkman invented
Scott Olson invents roller blades

Easter Eggs…check it out…
Searching for horror or halloween related terms in Google Search returns the result along with three bats on the upper right corner of the page which fly away as soon as the mouse cursor hovers over them.

Flagstaff, AZ History…
25 YEARS AGO
Remember the new Ordinance. Christmas lights are to be off by Jan. 15 to protect our sterling night sky viewing.

Harper’s Index…
74
Percentage of US smartphone owners aged 18-24who check their phones immediately after waking up each morning

Rules of Thumb…
COMPARING MEN AND WOMEN
For every hour married women spend in paid employment each week, their husbands spend five more minutes working around the home.

Unusual Fact of the Day…
Only 17 existing paintings are attributed to famed artist Leonardo da Vinci.
« »
Joke-of-the-day
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Isabelle
Isabelle who?
Isabelle necessary on a bicycle?  


Yep, It Really Happened
Stockton, CA
You have heard of the Italian Necktie (sometimes called the Columbian Necktie) and the Chicago Smile. Now some innovators in California have come up with a new, diabolical punishment for the victims. It is being called the Stockton Duck Face.
It all began when robbers in Stockton, California assaulted their victim in a painful and unusual way. 
According to a statement from the Stockton Police, a 26-year-old man was walking on Pacific Avenue when he noticed he was being followed by three suspects. One suspect called out to the man, and as the man was trying to get away, was hit on the back of the head and knocked to the ground. 
Two of the suspects held the man down while the third suspect went through his pockets and took his money. 
The suspects then reportedly pushed the man's face into the side of an abandoned shopping cart, forcing his lips through the mesh. They then ran away. 
The man lost consciousness and was later found by paramedics who had to cut the cart from his face.
The man's condition is unknown, but it is feared that the opportunity for an epic selfie was tragically missed. 
           

Somewhat Useless Information
Quotes about rain
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
--Dolly Parton
My sorrow, when she’s here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.
--Robert Frost

A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long.
--e. e. cummings
You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.
--Denzel Washington
It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.
--George Eliot
The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.
--Lucretius
I don’t consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.
--Leonard Cohen
It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.
--Dave Barry
It is no use to grumble and complain;
It’s just as cheap and easy to rejoice;
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain – Why, rain’s my choice.
--James Whitcomb Riley
One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.
John Steinbeck
« »
Today’s Events through History
1627 - Spanish government goes bankrupt
1865 - Gen Robert E. Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies
1871 - Millions of birds fly over western SF, darkening the sky
1930 - 1st US glider flight from a dirigible, Lakehurst, NJ
1971 - "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hit #1 on UK pop chart
« »
Birthday’s Today
Carol Channing, actress (Hello Dolly) is 94
James G Watt, Colo, US Secretary of Interior (1981-83) is 77
Nolan Ryan, MLB pitcher (Mets, Angels, Astros) is 68
Anthony LaPaglia, actor (Murder One) is 57
Minnie Driver, British actress and singer-songwriter (Good Will Hunting) is 45
Portia de Rossi, Australian actress, married to Ellen DeGeneres is 42
Justin Timberlake, singer-songwriter (Sexyback, My Love) is 34
« »
Remembered for being born today
Franz Peter Schubert, composer (Unfinished Symphony) 1797-1828@31
Zane Grey, American West novelist (Riders of the Purple Sage) 1872-1939@67
Anna Pavlova, St Petersburg, ballerina/choreographer 1881-1931@49
Eddie Cantor, comedian (Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater) 1892-1964@72
Tallulah Bankhead, actress (Lifeboat) 1902-1968@66
Don Hutson, 1st NFL wide receiver (Green Bay Packers) 1913-1997@84
Garry Moore, [Thomas Garrison Morfit], host (I've Got a Secret) 1915-1993@78
Jackie Robinson, 1st African American major league baseball player 1919-1972@53
Stewart L Udall, St Johns Ariz, US Secretary of Interior (1961-69) 1920-2010@90
Mario Lanza, actor/singer (Great Caruso) 1921-1959@38
Norman Mailer, novelist (Naked & the Dead) 1923-2007@84
Jean Simmons, actress (Thorn Birds, Guys & Dolls), 1929-2010@80
Ernie Banks, "Mr Cub" Chicago Cubs, Hall-of-Famer 1931-2015@83
Suzanne Pleshette, actress (Emily-Bob Newhart Show) 1937-2008@70
« »
Historical Obits Today
Samuel Goldwyn, Polish/English/US film magnate (MGM), 1974@91
A.A. Milne, English author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, 1956, @74
Bonnie Prince Charlie, English pretender to the throne, 1788, @67
Guy Fawkes, convicted in the "Gunpowder Plot", executed, 1606, @35
Eddie Slovik, 1st US executed for desertion since Civil War, 1945, @25
« »

Brain Teasers Answers
1. mustards + (RATS - mu_STAR_ds)
2. frosting + (NITS - fro_STIN_g)
3. consumes + (EMUS - con_SUME_s)
4. tastable + (BATS - ta_STAB_le)

« »
Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.
All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site contains mistakes and sadly once the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.
§…And That Is All for Now…§


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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
I retired in '06--at the ripe old age of 57. I enjoy blogging, photography, traveling, and living life to it's fullest.