A few years ago at this location not far from where I live there was a

big "DANGER! QUICKSAND!" sign much like the one that I made

for today's post. I'm really sorry I didn't get a picture of it because

I don't see things like that every day. As a matter of fact, that was

the only sign like that I have ever seen.

A horse walks into a bar. Bartender says, "Why the long face?"

Old joke, but it seems to fit this picture. This horse is plastic
or some such thing and kids can climb up on him and
have their picture taken. From my trip to the Autry Museum this week.

I went to the Gene Autry Museum in Griffith Park, California again

today. I love that place. I don't get to go enough. I was in there from

10 AM when they opened until 4:30 PM when they closed. I could have

used another 3 hours, easy. It's quite a drive for me. I got up at 5:30 AM

to get there by opening. Totally worth it. Always.

 

And by crackee thar's GOLD in thar!

Actually, it's just a 3D pan with an illusion in the bottom.

You can SEE the gold, but you can't. quite. have any.

Anyway, in the coming weeks I will (perhaps to your chagrin)

be posting some of the photos I took on my visit. Cause

you know by now, I LOVES me some cowboy.

In the early-mid-eighties, I drove over to Universal Studios Hollywood and

took the tour. It was a good tour in those days, none of this "take a boat ride

so you can get your ass soaked for the rest of the day" stuff. Anyway, I have

two little not so great scans of not so great film photographs that I took.

The Cleaver and the Bates residences, respectfully.

 

I am posting the little guys just for fun.

 

I'm not real good at a whole lot of things these days, but here is one

thing that I was pretty good at for more than a few years. A little

unorthodox perhaps, but it was my thing and I loved it. Here is one of my

drum kits. An all Gretsch set with a vintage Ludwig Super Sensitive snare,

Pearl hardware and Zildjian cymbals.

 

This set actually had two kicks but I didn't always use both. I wasn't great

at two kicks, but I had fun with it every once in a while. Anyway, another

side to Lizzy that is not well known and something I used to be good at. But

good drummers are a dime a dozen in Los Angeles. So, so much for that.

 

The picture quality sucks because it is a scan of a lousy photo.

 

My mom took this picture when she went to Hawaii earlier this

year. I don't know what this place is called, but if I were going

to name this photo, I'd call it, "Damn it! I dropped my watch!"

That middle skull with the swords behind it is a bank I bought at the

Disney Store just after the first (I think it was the first) Pirates

of the Caribbean movie came out. It's a bank. When I spotted it

in the store I was like, "Should I? Shouldn't I? Should I? Shouldn't I?

I shouldn't. Should I?" But I did and years later I'm glad I did.

I think it's cool.

When these signs were first created and placed on the streets,

I suppose they were aimed at the drivers of automobiles. But if you ask

me? Today they should be directed more at the folks on their bicycles.

This park in San Diego has what would otherwise be some beautiful

cacti. Unfortunately, it has been turned into a vehicle for graffiti. This will

never heal. It is a damn shame.

In this neck of the woods, people don't need a holiday to

fly the American flag, which is very cool.

I did go to Denny's for dinner tonight. I had breakfast though.

Denny's makes a mean breakfast. At least cowgirls think so.

I like this Denny's sign, but I could not capture it the way I

wanted to. Maybe next time.

~ Main Street, Julian California - Circa July 2009 ~

Professor Robinson: Engage Jupiter 2 solar shield..... NOW!

Major West: Engaged!

Robot: Danger Will Robinson! DANGER!

Anyway... That's what our car's sun thing reminds me of.

That's right... Just a couple of minutes ago at 12:05 AM it was/is still

76 degrees outside. And yeah, it's flippin 88 degrees inside. Oh man.

I sure wish we had a pool here at Casa De Tex.

My son took this picture in the treehouse at Disneyland in

California. I am assuming that this is Tarzan being raised by

an ape named Kala. I'm pretty sure that in real life, this would

not be cool. But hey, it's Disney. And even though I am not

a Tarzan devotee, I'm all over Disney.

Yep, went to the mall today for a little R&R and got a really good

deal on a couple of Star Wars Titanium figures/vehicles. The first one

was one that I really wanted to have. It's a "battle ravaged" Millennium

Falcon, my first or second favorite Star Wars ship. I had thought the supply

of these guys were gone as they usually sell for much more than I paid.

The second one that you can kind of see in the back is a Death Star, another

awesome ship/station that I thought was history. Hoo-rah! I took the picture

with my not so great iPod camera.

"C'mon everybody! Here we goooo!"

I bought this little Peter Pan a few weeks ago. That must be the
rooftop of the Darling household that he's standing on. He's not real special

as collector stuff goes, but I think he's fun to look at. He's made

of that hard rubbery plastic stuff, or whatever that stuff is made of.

I bought a new backpack today. I didn't really need it, but it has skulls

on it. Lots of skulls. So it might as well say Lizzy Tex all over it. I don't

even know when I'll use it, but I know where I'll use it, I just don't ever go

there. But it has skulls all over it.  Lots of skulls.

It's a YAK PAK brand. $20. I've never heard of YAK PAK, but it has YKK
zippers and those are great, so it must be a half way decent bag.

I took this picture of the Lawrence Welk Theater at the Welk Resort

in San Diego. They have some pretty popular entertainers there at times for such

a small out of the way venue. No, not Alice Cooper, not Eminem, not Lady Gaga

or Willie Nelson or Rammstein, but names like Shirley Jones, Mitzi Gaynor,

Cloris Leachman, Debbie Reynolds, The Lennon Sisters and Freda Payne. The

Welk Resort is primarily for the retired set, and the shows reflect that.

But give it a few years, I am betting that Billy Idol and Peter Frampton will

show up. If I am lucky enough, I will be able to attend.

Above is a firefighting aircraft that was battling a blaze behind our

place not too long ago. Below is a helicopter with a full tank of

water roaring past to assist that plane. All was well in the end.

No structures were lost, thank goodness.

This is a bit of decor in a Mexican restaurant called The Bank. It's located in

Old Town Temecula, California. This actually was a bank at one time. It was the

Temecula First National Bank and was built in 1914.  The first bank robbery

in the history of Riverside County California that anyone can remember occurred on

August 14, 1930 right here.  And.... the food is really good.

Old Town is pretty touristy but it's fun to visit. It consists

of a lot of 1890 style buildings but in my experience, not too much

real 1890 stuff is inside of any of  'em.

If you have ever held a position in retail.....

I spotted this bumper sticker while out and about yesterday.

Well, I'll be darned. That's what it is. Another one of my many skulls.

This is a very common glow-in-the-dark skull found at most stores

during Halloween. I have a couple of these. One of them sits right next to

my computer monitor. These are "knock around" skulls. I just knock 'em

around from place to place.

I wonder what THIS is? Every time I see this photo I took, I have to

stop for a minute and try to remember.

This is my Rob Zombie's Halloween II Michael Myers Living

Dead Doll. I have two of these. The other guy is still in his box.

I have this guy because I got a great deal on him. So I opened him.

I have a few Living Dead Dolls but I have only opened Michael. I was

really happy to discover that they are very well made.  I really want to

buy a few more LDD's. When I find good deals, I'm gonna.

If I ever had my own business (not likely), and I had to surround it

with this stuff, I'd sure wish I could move it (my business) to another town.

(Or maybe, just maaaaaybe, they aren't trying to keep us out, but perhaps

they are trying to keep something in. Mwaa ha ha haaaa.)

In keeping with the theme from yesterday's picture, here is a photo of a cool

drive-in movie speaker that I've had since I was probably 12 years old. A

friend of ours and her daughter were over one day and they asked of I wanted

to have the speaker. "Of course I do!" said I. They had gone to the movies the

night before and driven off without removing it from the window. If you've

ever been to a drive-in you know what happens when you do that.

If I remember right, that action was preceded by a small family argument which

in turn led to the hasty speaker modification. This took place at a Pacific Theater
in the San Fernando Valley. I am not sure which one.

I think Jiffy Pop is the best popcorn you can make for home movie viewing. When I was little my mom and dad use to take me to the drive-in. We used to go to quite a few different theaters but my favorite was the Olympic Drive-In on Olympic and Bundy in Santa Monica. The street side of the screen had a huge mural of a guy and a girl surfing the waves of Santa Monica, or Malibu, or Zuma or wherever on it. This drive-in was torn down in maybe 1974 and a Cadillac dealership took it's place.

The above picture was in the Santa Monica Evening Outlook

newspaper along with the story of the theater's closing

When we would go my dad would pop some Jiffy Pop, put it in a covered metal container and wrap that in one of the quilts that my great grandmother made (my great grandmother came out West in a covered wagon I am told, so these were some serious quilts don't ya know) and we would have warm popcorn at the movies later on in the evening. We never did the snack bar thing for some reason.

I've never had CARN ITAS before. Del Taco has 'em.

This Toys R Us may not look like much from the outside, but

inside? The smell of the clamshell packaging and the roar of the

action figures screaming "Tex! Tex! Come adopt us!" is one big

treasure chest of awesomeness.

How's THAT for putting a positive spin on my nerdessence?