Didja feel it?

 

The 2026 Autumnal Equinox happened Tuesday at 5:05 pm (Mountain Standard Time) here in Phoenix.  Didja feel the rush of cool fall air at 5:06?  Yeah, me neither.  That marks the official astronomical start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere.  We are just a bit more than equal hours of daylight and dark, being a bit south of the mid-latitudes.  The hours and minutes of daylight have been getting shorter since the Summer Solstice, and will continue to do so until the Winter Solstice.

Contrary to popular belief, we do have seasons here in the Arizona desert.  It's about 2 months of autumn, 2 months of winter, 2 months of spring, and 6 months of the Gates of Hell.  I was excited to see that the weather weasels updated the 7 day forecast this morning, with only one day of triple digit high temperatures this next week.  We'll see how that plays out.  Hurricane Polo is off the west coast of Mexico, but the upper air in the southwest will be affected by this... that may account for our cooler (99º??) temperatures and a chance of precip by Thursday.  

In the meantime, early morning temps in the (upper) 70s to 80s.  That's a nice change.

 

--------

A thin overcast this morning, so no blazing sun when I took Murphy outside.  I cleaned filters and added some water to the hot tub.  Some breeze this morning, so we didn't put any umbrellas us.  More wind and a chance of rain this evening, so Joan and I put away cushions and took the fabric off the cover over the hot tub.

Stella was at the patio door the whole time we were out there, watching what was going on.  I'm thinking she may be getting curious about going outside.  Joan put a leash out on the floor in the living room, so she can see it isn't anything bad.  "Oh, look - a new toy!"

 Baby steps.

 

Quokka...

 

If you said," The quokka (Setonix brachyurus) is a small cat-size marsupial, native to Western Australia, famous for its smiling face," you get 20 bonus points.

 

I had never heard of a quokka before seeing it on the Today Show this morning.  It prompted me to do some research.  Did you know that quokka excrement is highly toxic to humans?

OK, I just made that up.  That is a quokka shit.

Yes, I am ashamed of myself for making up that really bad pun.  And that is a big fat lie.  I laughed out loud when I told that pun to Joan.  Sometimes I crack myself up.  She laughed... not at the pun, but at the fact that I couldn't keep a straight face when I said it.  Sometimes it is about the delivery.

--------

And just because he is so handsome...

 Murphy looking good in the early morning light.

 

Whippersnapper...

 

A new primary doctor, so she has to do "some tests"... one of those tests was scheduled for this morning; an ultrasound.  I always thought an ultrasound was something done on a pregnant woman.  Pretty sure I am not pregnant.

Of course, they don't do that in their office, so you go to a place where "imaging" is what they do.  Like most everything around here, a half hour from our home.  As requested, I was 20 minutes early for the appointment and only had to wait 18 minutes before they took me in.

A very nice young lady took me back to a semi-dark room, and asked me to lay on my back on the table.  I've read about things like this: somebody gets an organ harvested.  Fortunately, no harvesting happening today... she had me raise my shirt and squirted some stuff on in and started moving the device around.  Probably checking my organs to see if there are any worth harvesting.  Pretty sure I have mostly worn them out.

As mentioned, the young lady was pleasant and conversational - no doubt that makes the time pass quicker while she is "scanning" mostly older bodies.  She had me spell my last name and give my date of birth.  When I got to the year, after telling her that, I said, "I remember when you just gave the last two digits of the year."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

I said, "Well, you were probably born after 2000, right?"

"Yes, 2001."

You will be fine give just the last two digits of your birth year... but, we older folks have to say '19' in front of the two digits... just adding to the fact that we are older."

"I never thought about that," she said.

"Because you are young."

I remember being young.  I thought about that when I rolled over on my side while she was scanning... and rolled onto my titanium hip.

She said, "I see you don't have a gall bladder - when did you have that removed?"

"About 50 years ago"... that must have really made me seem old.  And then to add to that, I asked, "Do I get a discount since you don't have to scan a gall bladder?"  Of course, I was just kidding.  You know - old guy humor.  Who cares?  An old guy benefit: Medicare.

When I was done there, Joan and I went out for breakfast - First Watch.  I was ready; I had to fast before this ultrasound.  My old guy belly is on a regular meal schedule.

Then, we ran some other errands; making efficient use of time and gas.  'Cause I remember when gas was 19¢ a gallon.  "Why, back in my day..."  ;-)

 

Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance...

 

If you said: "The 1974 novel by Robert Pirsig, that explores the meaning of 'quality' through a cross-country motorcycle trip," you get 20 bonus points.  Yes, we do literary trivia here (as long as it pertains, somewhat, to the topic of the post), as well as music, film, and TV trivia.

It was a delightful start to the morning - only 78º.  The average high temperatures right now are in the 100º area.  Today is supposed to be a high of 98º; of course, it isn't going to stay below triple digits in the near term.

It would have been a good morning to get out on one of the bikes.  But, I am not a big fan of being a "Sunday rider," because of the potential for crowds on the fun roads.  Besides, the bikes need to have tires checked, oil checked, and the chain on the CTX lubed.  So, while Joan went to the store, I messed about with bikes...

 Not as much fun as riding them, but better than no bike content.  Hopefully, we are getting to that time of year where a morning ride will be thermally possible.

I can't tomorrow, thanks to an early medical appointment.  An ultrasound; pretty sure I am not pregnant, but if the tech hears a heartbeat besides mine, I am outta there.

--------

Cat Content...

Yeah, it why we're all here.  Well, maybe not you, but, for sure, me.  Stella has been a bit antagonistic this morning.  Not with the humans, but she has been pouncing on Murphy.  He takes it until he doesn't.

The most recent cat toy has been very popular with both of them.  It started out as a thick felt oval with a cardboard scratcher insert and two noisy balls under the cardboard.  There are slots in the thick felt structure, where a cat can get a paw in there and knock the balls around.  That didn't last long: both cats figured out how to pull the cardboard out of the felt base and knock the noisy hard plastic balls with bells in them all around the tile floors.  We had to hide the balls in order to not be awakened at 2:00 am.

Since both cats like this new toy, they took turns sitting in it and scratching the cardboard.  Until that turned into "King of the Mountain."  I am not sure which cat did this, but when I looked down, the cardboard was completely out of the base - Murphy was laying in the base, Stella was laying in the dished cardboard.  OK, that takes care of the "It's MY turn!" arguments.

Until Stella decides to antagonize Murphy...

 If you look close in that photo above, Murphy has his paw sticking out of the slot and Stella is biting him on that paw.  Stella is scrappy, but does not realize Murphy is twice her size... when he is tired of taking crap, he can grab her with one paw and flip her around and body slam her.  She immediately comes back, looking for more.

Stella did get scolded for "picking on her brother."  She does not take well to being told "No!"  We put some space between them, until they can play nice again.

Here's Murph with his paws through the slot...

 Yeah, the boy has big paws.  

Downtown...

 

Where all the lights are bright.

If you said, "Petula Clark, 1964," you get 10 bonus points.  If you added, "The song was written and produced by the English composer Tony Hatch," you get an additional 50 bonus points.

Joan was feeling like a walk through a Farmer's Market today.  The one we have been to in the past is the Uptown Market, and it is LARGE.  It also closes down at 11:00 am this time of year.

"Um, let's look around."

 She found the Downtown Farmer's Market.  In, of all places, downtown.  We go downtown when we have to, as in: going to a big name concert.  Or some kind of ball game besides football (that stadium is in Glendale).  Otherwise, downtown, for us, is a bit too crowded, with expensive parking.  For us.  Yes, I know there are plenty of people who think living downtown is hip and happening.  They don't even need a car.  Because: see that "expensive parking" above.  But, being the agreeable kinda guy I am, we headed for downtown.

After one loop around, I found an empty parking spot on the street.  Bonus: it even had some time left on the meter.  This Farmer's Market wasn't huge...

 This being hip and happening downtown kinda thing, there was a few too many "all natural, vegan, gluten free... all that stuff that makes you wanna throw up.

"I used to eat natural foods... until I learned that most people die of natural causes."  "Health nuts are going to feel stupid one day, dying of nothing."

We didn't buy anything.  Also, there wasn't a single farmer for sale.

--------

It was getting to be time for lunch when we left.  Joan did a quick search for "the best BBQ" and came up with Bobby Q, about 8 miles away.  BBQ sounds a lot better to me than any of that vegan stuff.

I didn't take any photos, but Bobby Q's was outstanding.  I would call it "upscale BBQ" - a nice restaurant, upscale prices, but great service and really good BBQ.

 

Cat Grandpa...

 

No, neither of our kitties have become parents.  You may have heard me mention that I feed Steph and Dan's cats when they are running late.  Today is one of those times.  Dan has a late meeting at school, Steph is going to a Guide Dog for the Blind meeting directly after work.

Steph writes it in our appointment book and I step in to do my job, making sure the grandcats are fed on time.

They are sweet cats.  Alfie is their special needs boy; he has a neurological disorder that causes seizures, so he has to have meds at specific times - that is the main reason I get called in if they are running late.  4 pills, twice a day.  He takes the pills without much fuss...

 The other two cats waiting while Alfie gets his meds...

 Food prep...

 Proof that the cats are getting their meals...

 I also send Steph a photo when I give them a treat during the day.  Steph has accused me of just using the same photo more than once.  Yes, that is bullshit.  A new photo each time, but the cats generally take their food and treats in the same position.  Today's shot above, is an exception, since Tango (the orange boy) is usually on the left.  I do the photos so she can see that her kitties are being well cared for, because I am that kind of a caring guy.

I told her that I would sent a photo of me, instead of the cats.  She welcomed that.  Probably didn't think I would.  My selfie skills are not sharp, but here is a photo of me after the kitties have been fed...

 I am dependable help.  And my only charge for this service is the opportunity to tease Steph a bit, telling her that I will be "charging extra for short notice" or some other smart-ass comment.  Mostly to make her feel guilty about taking advantage of my good nature... but, she doesn't feel guilty and I don't really have a good nature.  ;-)

Yesterday, I put a book that she has recently acquired in the photo of their treat time so she could see that I wasn't using the same photo over and over...

 Of course, she hasn't considered my Photoshop skills and how easy it would be for me to put any item into an image.  Which I wouldn't do.  But, I could.  ;-)

 --------

And, because I like kitties... and photos of kitties... here are a couple shots I took today of our sweet little Stella...

 

It's Also A Jungle In Here...

 

If you saw the post from two days ago (It's a Jungle Out There), you may get this title.

Joan got another silk plant - well, actually, more of a small tree.  I have no idea if it will eventually go outside, but Stella was pretty excited to see a tree in the house...

 She's so cute.  As always, I am biased.  But, look at that cute little face.