SAD! SCHMAD! I'm in Scottsdale for the...

Fabulous Shopping! 

So what if I mentioned SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) drove me south to the deserts of  Arizona.  http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2015/11/i-playing-dirty.html

So untrue. The real reason is the plethora of art galleries, luxury auto dealerships and boutiques which reside amongst the new money wealth of Scottsdale. It can't be old money since Arizona is barely over a century old. I fit right in. 

NOT! 

OK. So it's not the shopping. 

It's the water. Phoenix and its booming Metropolis would not exist without the huge supplement of liquid from the Colorado River. This massive engineering scheme is called the Central Arizona Project. The Bureau of Reclamation provided the dams, the pumping stations and the canals to make it happen. Look at these photos: its a virtual Venice in the desert. 

So what if Coloradans are forced to go on water restrictions in drought years? Daily showers and brushing ones teeth are so overrated. We'll take one for the team! 

Coloradans will do our part so Phoenix can keep their golf courses green, the cotton? plantations productive (5,300 gallons to produce the equivalent of one shirt and pair of jeans) and their cars spic and span clean. 

Anyone who has lived in the dry part of the west knows these two maxims are spot on.

"Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting"

"Water flows to money." 

The second maxim is the truer of the two.

OK. So it's not the water rights.

It's the baseball and the warm weather. http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-arizona-desert-folks.html

America's Pastime and the toasty temps will bring me back to Scottsdale. Play Fall Ball!

Next to Last photo: I purchased a pocket pooch to fit in better with the locals. Fifi over Fido. 

Final Photo: Score! 

Cheers! 

Jeff

In the Arizona Desert the folks...

here call it "Fall Ball" However when an El Niño inspired cold front blew in with droopy clouds and wind chill breezes; it felt like winter. Finding a seat was no problemo when the Scottsdale Scorpions took on the Surprise Saguaros. In fact only the brave and or stupid (I lean toward the stupid side over brave) were on hand to see the cold contest. 

The ball players had to attend. There were MLB scouts on hand. The scouts came equipped with speed guns and stop watches to check out the local talent. This is where the long road to the "Biggies" begins. 

Today the weather was more muy buen. I had a toasty frolic among the rock formations and the cacti. 

This sure beats real winter.

Stay warm,

Jeff

It's not the years but the...

miles.

I've got a lot of mileage on this minute body of mine.

Back in the day prior to my accidents, (http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2015/07/four-years-ago.html), I reckon I rode a bicycle over a quarter of a million miles. I had a ten year stretch where I pedaled over 100,000 of those Old English measuring units. Now that my love of the two-wheeled vehicle has been beaten out of me; I hike and I do it a lot. As an astute old buddy of mine once said, "Jeff hikes like a monkey on crack." 

The scratches, gashes, soreness and sprains keep coming. But I have an Rx for all those maladies and complaints. I ignore them. This is how I fight the good fight against aging. I keep moving. I'm a believer of Newton's Laws of Motion. 

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

I think that external force is A-G-E. 

Yep, I'm 61 today, and I'm afraid of slowing down. 

Cheers on the ides of November,

Jeff the Birthday Boy.

PS. The photo of the Milky Way was graciously provided by Amber Lyle. It gives me perspective that I'm not that old in the Big Picture. 

PPS. Fido didn't score any Alpo from my ad campaign. Poor porcelain Pug.

http://jeffsambur.blogspot.com/2015/11/poor-fido.html