Stuff to do today! I got into my car and found that a bee was

about to hitch a ride to town on my windshield.

The last time this happened, the little feller rode pretty near

all nineteen miles to town with me. I had felt bad about taking

him away from all his friends and besides, we need all the

bees around here we can get, so I gave this guy the

windshield wiper treatment and off he flew.

First stop, yep.... favorite place. Coincidentally, while

I was taking this picture....

....a bee landed on my finger. I jumped and he jumped and I

took a picture of the side of a car. I had no idea

until I got the picture home....

....that the guy was in the frame. A split second ago

he was up on my finger. I wonder, could this be the same...
Naw, couldn't be. This must just be Bee Day.

Anyway.... Rogue One! I've been waiting for this. With

popcorn, Diet Coke and 3D glasses in hand, I'm a' goin' in.

All I'm going to say is, Rogue One was GREAT. If you are a

Star Wars fan, it is a must see. I rate the first half of this movie

8.5 Death Star Plans, and the second half, 10 Death Star Plans.

So overall.... TEN DEATH STAR PLANS. I now cannot

WAIT for it to come out on Blu-ray so I can watch it a few

more times. To me, an outstanding "Star Wars" movie.

I was so excited after seeing this movie I went against my

better judgment and a promise to myself that I would not

do this and I went over to Toys "R" Us to see if there was

something Rogue One I could buy to remember the day.

I found nothing that was worthy of Rogue One, but I did

find a good sale on two die cast helmets with stands. Kylo

Ren's helmet and Poe Dameron's helmet from The Force

Awakens. Didn't need, should not have purchased,

but I am ten.

One more thing for today. I walked by a Baskin-Robbins

ice cream store and thought "What the hay,

it is just after the holidays....

....I have not been to a Baskin-Robbins for more years than

a lot of folks have been alive, and I am betting they have

egg nog ice cream."

Yes, yes they did. And it was good. Beyond good.

Got to get back to El Rancho De La Tex for now.

More birthday week doin's for tomorrow.

I cannot believe all this time I have off.

It feels.... weird, but good.

- Prologue -

I requested a couple of days off for my birthday this week and

they gave them to me. And to my surprise they cut back on hours

this week after the holidays and I was given a BONANZA of time

off. I have more than a few days. I have at least one or two things

planned for every single day. FUN things for the most part.

No wasted time off here.

 

Today I made a drive over to Temecula California to visit their mall.

Years ago I used to go to this mall every once in a while to...

 

...buy a Coke, sit in the food court for hours, people watch and

listen to the sounds. I did that today and listened to my iPod. Busy

today. I had forgotten that everybody had today off. I thought school

would be back in session and folks would be heading into work.

Not so...

I also spent some time admiring the Lucky Coin I bought in one of

the shops. It will reside in the bottom of my purse to be seen perhaps

once every few weeks when I clean out the change. Don't judge.

Later, on my way out of the mall...

...I stopped back into the Disney Store to buy a die cast Stormtrooper

that I was thinking about buying. This guy is awesome. He will live

at home next to my die cast Darth Vader. "Look sir, droids..."

The sun is going down and it looks a little stormy. Time to head on

home. I have more plans for tomorrow and I have to get up early.

~ Happy New Year 2017 ~

The year 2016 ends with rain beautiful rain here in

Southern California. I took this picture at about 9 PM

on my way home from work tonight. Bring on the rain.

I bought this Western move "In a Valley of Violence" starring

Ethan "Magnificent 7" Hawke and John "Bud Davis" Travolta.

I saw the previews for it on another DVD that I have and it looks

interesting and maybe promising. This is John's first Western.

I pretty much cannot wait to see it.

~ Merry Christmas, 2016 ~

And thank you for the candy treats

from my friend at work!

I finally found a plucky little droid in a size that is bigger

than teeny. Hasbro's R2D2 figure from "The Force Awakens".

This figure fits right in with 12 inch figures. I found him

at Big Lots for ten dollars. Go figure.

Maybe one day I will stumble upon C3PO as well.

The issue with most 3POs is that they are not a

shiny reflective gold, but a dull gold.

Not good. Not good at all.

One of the galleries in the Gene Autry Museum in Griffith

Park, CA. These are all authentic artifacts. From my 2014 visit.

I went over to Big Lots and found a couple of movies

to buy. Moneyball on DVD, and Terminator 3 on Blu-ray

and DVD for only $2.88, a Black Friday leftover.

Earlier I had pizza and you know I have to put a picture of

it here because I love to look at pizza, almost as much as

I love to eat it. But I'm thinkin you know that.

I have not been to an El Pollo Loco restaurant in years. Fifteen years

maybe? And I have only been there twice counting today. It was

a nice change of pace. It is quite festive in there.

I had a 2 piece meal: breast and wing (pretty darn good), two flour tortillas

(pretty good), rice (good), corn (REALLY good) and their hot sauce

which is hot and great and you can have as much as you wish. Overall

I would rate my meal today about 6.5 out of 10 Crazy Chickens.

I will go there again someday.

~ Happy Thanksgiving, 2016 ~

A present my mom bought for one of those

"Toys For Tots" type programs. I would WANT this.

~ Jaws - Universal Studios, Los Angeles - 1987 ~

Go away, fish! Scat!

SHAAAAARRK!!

 

Wait, what is that? What IS that??

Hey! Mr. Fisherman! You could be in...

Although, everything LOOKS peaceful enough...

Well, THIS doesn't look good.

It is expensive, but I finally broke down and bought "Alison

Krauss & Union Station Live". This is a two disc set and it is

pretty fantastic. It has to be for me to buy a "live" album. I don't

like live CDs. A real highlight of this CD set is "Baby, Now That I've

Found You". I am sure that this song is a favorite of many folks.

This CD was recorded over two nights and I sure would have

liked to have been at those performances.

Sometimes clouds are just so cool.

Just like trees.

San Diego, California.

There was another brush fire around here. I had to zoom

in with my camera so the photo is not so great.

Firefighting helicopters flying by us...

...to get over there. They had so many planes and helicopters

on this fire it was amazing. Thank you SO much to our firefighters

for being on top of all these fires and saving us and our homes.

You cannot even imagine what these folks do. They are fantastic.

 

I bought this pin from Virginia's Gift Shop at Knott's

Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. Must of been

about 25 years ago. The gift shop was named after

Virginia Knott, the eldest of the four daughters of

Walter and Cordelia Knott, the founders of  Knott's

Berry Farm. Virginia was also the proprietor

of the gift shop from 1939 until 1997. Holy cow.

Virginia passed away in June of 2003 at 90 years old.

~ Veterans Day, 2016 ~

Just a random picture today.

Myself, I could not make one of these.

 

Broham, yer pokin' my eye out.

~ I Voted - November 8th, 2016 ~

And to celebrate Election Day and all that that entails,

I bought a new Buck knife. This is the Buck Trio 373.

I love Buck knives. The only thing that bothers me about

this particular knife is: Made in China. Every time I see

"China" on the blade I cringe a bit. But this is a great sharp-

out-of-the-box knife and I like it. Three blades: clip, spey

and sheepsfoot. Centered nicely and no play. With tax and

a (reusable) bag I had to buy over at Walmart now, this knife

ran me $16.01. Nothing much else to say.

Redundant, but I LIKE seeing this on my knife. I have a

few Buck knives that I have had for some thirty-five

years and they are soon to be heirlooms.

I will just present the picture and remain silent.

Sometime back I had posted a photo of this machete type deal that

I have. I needed to safely store it but I never had a sheath for it. I have

a friend, Duane, who has a YouTube channel. In one of his videos he

displayed a sheath that he had made out of cardboard and duct tape

for one of his knives. I decided to try it.

Ta-daaaaaa!

Now I can store this thing without fear of cutting myself

when retrieving it. I am posting this photo of the sheath

to show to Duane. Duane has all KINDS of great ideas.

He is The Master.

Thanks Duane!

Click here to visit
Duane on YouTube

An Agave Americana on our property is starting to bloom.

Outside.

Inside.

Food.

(Beijing Beef and Black Pepper Chicken at Panda Express.)