POSTCARDS ONLY YOU COULD ENJOY

CUBERO--MaryAnn and I left Albuquerque somewhere in the late morning. We headed west on I-40 but left the freeway before we even got to Grants. Here sits Cubero, on old Rt. 66, in the lap of towering Mount Taylor. And our dilly-dally vacation is off to a great start.

CUBERO--My God. Look at this stunning relic. Tell me your heart isn't beating faster.

CUBERO--You know, Route 66 is more than a highway...and a lot of it is disappearing fast, never to be replaced. This gas station appears in an old postcard, along with the accompanying motel. This is all that is left. Even so, it fills me with joy to see it.

GALLUP--If you haven't left the freeway to cruise Gallup, maybe the lobby of El Rancho Hotel will inspire you. Incredible. Lining the walls of the balcony are over a hundred photos of movie stars from the last 70 years. And just look at that graceful swoop of the double staircase. The stair railings are made of curved juniper branches. The stone is local lava rock.

HOLBROOK, AZ--Low gas milage in your RV bugging you? Don't give up. Solutions are out there.

HOLBROOK,AZ--Would you believe a wigwam with internet connection? I didn't think so. Besides, they were dark and smelled bad. We looked a little bit farther down the road.

HOLBROOK, AZ--After a satisfying meal at the Butterfield Stage Steakhouse, we were ready to head back to The Arizonian Motel.

Spring Break Means We're Outta Here And Lookin To Relax

SMITH'S @ YALE & COAL SE--MaryAnn starts to fill up the cart with items for a short vacation. No, we didn't get any potato chips. :) We might, however stop at the gas station on the way out of town to pick up a package of LCD's...Little Chocolate Donuts, that is. They are so covered with that waxy chocolate stuff that they are permanently sealed against mold or going stale. They actually do last forever.

This trip is to Arizona: Pertrified Forest, Sedona area, then maybe south to get warm. We camp out half the time and stay in motels the other half. So we have to take a lot of stuff, including food.

The camping box my dad made 50 years ago is packed with kitchen stuff and ready to go. Also packed are sleeping bags and pads, 2 tables, my 50 year old Coleman stove, 2 chairs, a dry box of food, a box of misc. equipment, tent, tarp, 8 gallons of water, and the box with shovel, lantern, dutch oven, gas, frying pans, griddle, and griller. Everything but the dog. Hope to post soon...with postcards from Arizona.

An Open Letter To Larry Ahrens

SAN MATEO & GIBSON SE--Years ago, when this piece of sculpture, known locally as the "Chevy-on-a-Stick" was first unveiled, Larry Ahrens, an Albuquerque radio icon belittled it and insulted the artist mercilessly day after day. He was on 770-KOB. Day after day without letup I listened to the ignorant, hateful, and self-serving comments by this morning announcer, trying to boost his own standing in the community by demeaning the honest efforts of another. Eventually I couldn't take it any more and quit listening both to him and to KOB.

There was a time when KOB was The Voice of Albuquerque. Indeed, it was the Voice of New Mexico. If you needed to know the story you turned to KOB. Even if we were under nuclear attack, KOB was the place to go. KOB loved to be here. KOB echoed the hopes of our people. It spoke for the people...many felt it WAS the people. Mike Roberts is a case in point. He is one of us: respected and loved.

At some point the station brought on Rush Limbaugh. And Larry Ahrens became mean-spirited to get laughs. It became a niche station...a big niche to be sure, but no longer was the soul of New Mexico.

Now Larry has a new station. But he seems to be operating in the same mode. At least there is an email post in the Sunday Journal talking about his berating the Lobo men's basketball team. Come on Larry. Start over. Become that great figure that we would all love to see.

But the specter of the sculpture incident won't seem to stay in the past. I took the picture of the "Chevy-on-a-stick" Friday night, thinking I might bring it up somehow in the Jim Scarantino show, since Mr. Ahrens is connected with the same station. But I didn't. I don't go looking for a fight. But it seems to have come to me in terms of this morning's news. Larry Ahrens has a talent for getting laughs by criticizing what others do. How wonderful it would be if we were all together, even consoling each other through laughter, instead of laughing AT someone. And for a talent like you, Larry, it wouldn't be that difficult.

Bloggers Spill The Beans On Real Side Radio

106.3 FM--Three of us showed up to be on Jim Scarantino's maiden voyage of Real Side Radio this morning: Mark Justice Hinton, Pika Brittlebush and me...Johnny_Mango. It was the first time most of us had ever seen each other in person. I had met Pika, but not Mark or Jim. Mark and I comment on each other's blog quite a bit...especially about poetry. But I felt like I knew him pretty well. Great guy.

Never underestimate Pika Brittlebush. Pika doesn't have to say too much to make her presence felt. Just mentioning her posts on Greg Payne and Mark Boitano got the audience aroused.

Pika Brittlebush had such a sexy voice Jim Scarantino's wife called in to remind him he had marital obligations. By the way, Pika's boyfriend must have felt the same thing because he called in too. Meanwhile, Mark went over the finer points of starting a blog. Yours truly, Johnny_Mango just soaked it all up.

Mark Justice Hinton and Jim Scarantino listen as Pika offers up the dark and husky sound of her blogroll.

Okay. Snow's Gone. Take Out The Maps.

NOB HILL--Everyone needs a dream. In the spring I need a big dream. For the last 10 years I have dreamt of hiking the Continental Divide Trail. I even started it once...in Mexico. More about that some other time...Now is the time to take out maps...dream about the trail...all 3100 miles of it.

Larry Goodell To Read In Placitas This Saturday

PLACITAS--When The Artist Ken Saville was finding his way through New Mexico in the fall of 1972, the first person he met was Larry Goodell. Ken was hitching from Bernalillo to Placitas. Larry stopped and gave him a ride. Goodell was an icon of the Central Ave. scene from the Living Batch Bookstore which occupied one of the rooms currently used by the Frontier Restaurant. His reputation is that of the number one performance poet in the state. And he is reading this Saturday in Placitas at the Anasazi Winery along with Jim Koller and Stefan Hyner. If you are the kind of person who needs a reason to get out of town for a while, this is it. Here is a poem by Goodell from the on-line poetry mag, Rough Road Review.

		Love Letters From Above Hello atmosphere the stratosphere & ionosphere send you love. We are teaming partners, working in the same company, companions for eons, evolving atoms for the Earth raining down air, oh lovely atmosphere, bathing globe to the nurturing globe air of life, life particles of air, plaything of the sun dance of warmth, day air of sight, opening of eyes, seeing night vision, dark whirring of currents, as the Moon reflects down through. Oh how is anything anything but an energy of love, nighttime, daytime beaming down through. Concentric layers of the happy dance, and the Sun-Daddy the pivot for all, seeing eye to child, Earth kid & the building atmospheres of precious breathing, oxygen life-giving & going live giving & going. Mother warmth, the bed & the garden, the barrenness & the depth the oceans & the deserts, forests & sunken caverns, the precious vistas the gifts of love to the humans, at last, the human: what are they doing with it there. larry goodell 8Feb2004

Further information about the reading: Anasazi Fields Winery & La Alameda Press present Jim Koller, Stefan Hyner, and Larry Goodell, poetry reading, Anasazi Fields Winery, Village of Placitas, 5pm Saturday, March 19th. Free. Take I-25 to the Placitas exit 242, drive 7 miles to the Village, turn left at the big sign near the Presbyterian Church, follow Camino de los Pueblitos down a country block or so to Anasazi Fields Winery. Further information: call Jim Fish at 867-3062.

Jim Scarantino To Grill Pika, Mark, and Yours Truly, Johnny_Mango

NOB HILL--I don't know what to think. I have been asked to appear on the premiere broadcast of Jim Scarantino's talk show this Saturday morning at 11:00 along with Pike Brittlebush and Mark Justice Hinton. I will surely be found out to be a fool. Help me. It is a call-in show. Listen and call in. Ask me softball questions...like "Where'd you get your chard?" Please don't ask anything embarrassing like, "Aren't you a little old to be commenting on Lindsey Arndt's shorts?" Thanks.

Here are the details:

• Talk Radio with Jim Scarantino
• This Saturday @ 11:00
• 106.3 FM KAGM

Judge Nakamura's Stand Against Gun-Totin' Lawmen In The Courthouse Looks Prudent Now

ROUTE 66 DINER--I was talking to Metro Court Judge Judy Nakamura tonight about the tragic shootings in the Atlanta courtroom. You might remember how Judge Nakamura stood up to the Sheriff and Police departments in ordering that their officers could not wear their weapons in the new Metro Courthouse. In fact, she was sued in the New Mexico Supreme Court by Sheriff Darren White and ABQ Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos. Judge Judy sure looks right on that issue now. More guns in the room does not necessarily lead to a safer situation.

Last night on TV a judge in Texas was showing off her shoulder holster and her .45 with a smile. She wears it under her robe. I can just imagine what it would be like with the judge, the accused, and all those lawmen drawing iron at the same moment...bullets whizzing, people diving under chairs and tables. I bet they could get off somewhere around 50 shots before things got sorted out. Considering all that, maybe that Texas judge had better pack an Uzi.

March Madness Grips City

NOB HILL--I know. I know. But this was only two days ago. The Artist Ken Saville and I were listening to the Lobo Women playing basketball...outside on the front lawn...in t-shirts. It takes me back to my boyhood days in northern Illinois, listening to the White Sox with my dad in the back yard on a Saturday afternoon...Billy Pierce, Virgil "Fireball" Trucks, Chico Carasquel, Nelly Fox, Sherm Lollar, and Jungle Jim Rivera.

The Motorola Ken and I are using is an older tube-type radio. It has a kind of "squeezy" sound. The dog "Baby" hangs around with us. She's no basketball fan, but she is a fan of Ken. Ken is wearing his lucky Sweet Sixteen shirt. It was lucky indeed.

I was no supporter of women's basketball until the men got so bad that we all bought season tickets to the women's team. Just to try it out. And there are differences...but most of them are good. Check out the Lobo women on TV this week. You might be surprised how much you enjoy them.

Nob Hill at 7:00 A.M.--On the way to the Flying Star for my morning cup of coffee I snapped this shot of a jogger up the street. These snowstorms stay in our collective memory for a long time. In fact, this whole wet winter will be a landmark on the mental landscape of the state of New Mexico.

End of World and Possible Rapture Conditions Force APS to Declare a 2-hour Delay

NOB HILL--Albuquerque is cut off from the rest of the world to the north and east. To the west, I-40 is probably shut down somewhere around the New Mexico border. To the south there was a fatal rollover accident caused by the weather. There is already enough wet snow on the tree branches and power lines to wreak havoc by morning, including power outages. Police are saying not to bother reporting car accidents. Most employers and governmental offices sent their emplotees home early. The forecast is for up to a foot of new snow in some parts of the school district, and the high tomorrow is supposed to be only 5 degrees above freezing.

No wonder APS has issued a 2-hour delay for tomorrow.

Chavez Takes Credit For Late Season Snow Storm

TIJERAS CANYON--In a hastily called press conference, Mayor Martin Chavez cut a ribbon welcoming this mid-March snowstorm to Albuquerque this morning. "I would like to credit our westside developers for "greasing" the way for this precipitation by plowing up a lot of the vegetation on this west mesa. We are convinced this sucked the snow through the canyon." He also stated that city sponsored rebates may be available for any developer that produces evidence that their home-building has a beneficial effect on weather patterns. The mayor concluded the ceremony by riding through the canyon in a bubble-topped white Hummer "MayorMobile."

One Of Many Jewels In The Valley: The Owner-Built Adobe Solar Casita

SOUTH VALLEY BIKE TRAIL--Some of you may recognize this scene from that part of the trail up on the diversion channel. On the east side of the channel one finds an area referred to as the "Tour de Junkyards." On the west side of the ditch is a mixture of mobile homes and permanent structures. It is in these sorts of mixed neighborhoods...outside the city...where one is likely to find that most New Mexican of all housing structures: the owner-built adobe.

Adobe is the building media of the very rich and the very poor: only the very rich can afford to have one built for them...almost everything has to be custom made, and it is very labor-intensive. As for the very poor, well, they have the time to build one themselves...and in that case it is very, very cheap.

Much of the charm of the buildings comes from looking at the ways the builder solved whatever problems he encountered. In a commercially built house everything looks "right." In most owner-built homes, the eccentricities are largely a function of somebody without a lot of experience trying to figure out how to build it. So one gets windows at varying heights, awkward roof lines, curving floor plans, and extensive use of materials at hand. Some owner-built homes are so beautiful they might bring tears to your eyes. Some others might bring tears to your eyes for different reasons. These were not built by architects, carpenters, laborers, corporations, etc. They were built by the owner...and his family...at night, weekends, during the summer, whenever...with practically no machinery and very few tools. I know. I built one myself.

The north side of this adobe features a cantalevered balcony and overhanging "shed" roof: certainly an economical way to build. If it starts to sag, you could just add supports. The round corner shows not only its adobe construction, but also dates the house to the organic curves of the early 1970's. This was the high-point of owner-built adobe homes. Many, many of these homes were passive solar in nature.

This house has no style except its own...the individual owner trying to enclose space efficiently, with style, and with an eclectic approach to problem solving that shows in his work. The ground level is solid windows (for solar gain). The cheapest way to do this is to buy sliding door replacement glass. It comes in standard sizes and is double paned. Otherwise, you have to make a double paned window by hand. Having it built for you in a custom size is beyond the pocketbook of most do-it-yourselfers. Also, look at the chimney rising next to the clerestory. Probably cement blocks around flue tile: too hard to stack adobe like that. The owner had to go that high because the clerestory was probably causing downdrafts from swirling wind. Notice the built-in structures that serve as awnings over the clerestory windows...giving a little shade in the warmer months. It is so typical to have the extremes of intensive labor and cheap or free materials juxtaposed like this. Basically, in most parts of the valley, adobe dirt is free (or dirt cheap). Rough-cut lumber, rolled roofing, and stucco round out the essentials for a dirt cheap but charming casa.

One of the hallmarks of an owner-built home is the presence of labor-intensive ecentricities such as this wonderful stone and bottle entranceway. The owner most probably found the rocks in the arroyo next to his property. They certainly look the same as the ones in the top picture. As for the bottles set in mortar that form the parapet, there is no reason to assume that the owner acquired them when they were already empty. This re-use of materials, and the adaptation of old materials to new uses, puts the owner-built house at the forefront of the recycling movement...even though it was probably necessitated by a lack of money.

Bukowski Is Baaack!

NOB HILL--Bukowski: Born Into This is back at the Guild this weekend. Sunday is the last day (1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:00). As I said before, "If you got your poetry education in school, you missed this!" I posted a piece on this film last October 16th. It's in the Archives. I can't link you to it. What I can do is give you this. It's from Bukowski: Love Is A Dog From Hell, Poems 1974-1977.

how to be a great
writer

you've got to fuck a
great many women
beautiful women
and write a few
decent love poems.

and don't worry
about age

and / or freshlyarrived
talents.

just drink more beer
more and more beer

and attend the
racetrack at least
once a
week

and win
if possible.

learning to win is
hard--
any slob can be a
good loser.

and don't forget your
Brahms
and your Bach and
your
beer.
don't overexcercise.
sleep until noon.
avoid credit cards
or paying for
anything on
time.

remember that there
isn't a piece of ass
in this world worth
more than $50
(in 1977).

and if you have the
ability to love
love yourself first
but always be aware
of the possibility of
total defeat
whether the reason
for that defeat
seems right or
wrong--

an early taste of
death is not
necessarily
a bad thing.

stay out of churches
and bars and
museums,
and like the spider
be
patient--
time is everybody's
cross,
plus
exile
defeat
treachery

all that dross.

stay with the beer.
beer is continuous
blood.

a continuous lover.

get a large
typewriter
and as the footsteps
go up and down
outside your window

hit that thing
hit it hard

make it a
heavyweight fight
make it the bull
when he first
charges in

and remember the
old dogs
who fought so well:
Hemingway, Celine,
Dostoevsky,
Hamsun.

If you don't think
they didn't go crazy
in tiny rooms
just like you're doing
now

without women
without food
without hope
then you're not
ready.

drink more beer.
there's time.
and if there's not
that's all right
too.

A Big, Somewhat Beautiful Sign...And Nothing To Shine About

ROUTE 66, EAST CENTRAL--Nobody cried when they knocked down the Zia Motor Lodge. And I am sure that there was enough heartbreak and violence surrounding the Zia in the last years of her life to make any other feelings irrelevent. But maybe there was something here worth saving. Maybe we should look a little closer at these places before we blast them into oblivion. Maybe we could create a "corridor" of something like a National Cultural Monument that would followe Route 66 through town...help restore neon that has no business to support it...light it all up like it used to be when the lights of Albuquerque were an oasis on the narrow, dark, and dusty road of dreams.

The Life And Death Of The Zia Motor Lodge In Pictures

HILAND DISTRICT--This is a story of a building. It was erected about 1938, right after Route 66 was realigned to come straight through Tijeras Canyon rather than detour up through Santa Fe. The smallish Zia symbol fit in nicely with the understated, yet regionally appropriate architecture. There are open carports next to each unit. Also notice the green fields in the background. It must have been a wet year! Above all, the Zia Lodge looked well kept. The year of this postcard was probably 1940.

A Triple A endorsement has been added...as well as "Recommended by Duncan Hines." The trees are bigger as are the bushes in full bloom. Mountains in the background and beautiful skies added to the magical feel of this exotic looking motor lodge. You could send this postcard to your relatives and they would say, "You lucky ducks!" I imagine this picture was from about 1945.

The Zia added more neon, a canopied entrance, and enclosed the carports to keep up with the competition. The sign is higher and a flasher sits at the very top. This kind of flasher, along with most animated and large signage along Route 66 in Albuquerque was eliminated as a result of LadyBird Johnson's "beautify America" campaign. The Zia sign was eventually replaced with an extremely large panel with the letters Zia Motor Lodge. This panel used to be in front of the Hiway House down the street. I would love to see it lit up again...even without a motel to go with it.

Notice that even in this picture, the Zia is surrounded by a lot of empty space. Also, notice that the shrubs seem overgrown and untended. The trees seem weedy. The grounds worn out. I bet that canopy looked terrible even when new. I have a feeling that the Zia needed it to be dark and with a lot of neon zig-zags in order to rent rooms. Tired travelers...vacancy.

This picture taken by Bohnsack shows the Zia Motor Lodge surrounded by barbed wire and a chainlink fence awaiting demolition. It had become a home for druggies, criminals, and various travelling street people. The mayor's task force had the property condemned as being substandard housing. Almost any vintage motel on Central Ave. would fall into the same category. What it amounted to was tearing down the motel to get rid of the people. Unfortunately for the motel, it was much too hard to clean up the neighborhood.

For about the last half of the 60 year life span of the Zia Lodge, the carports were cemented and enclosed to make more rooms. Here we see 3 distinct layers of vinyl tile around the opening for the commode. But these "upgrades" could not postpone the inevitable. The motel was demolished a few months ago.

Curbcuts on the sidestreet show some carports faced that way. Other units had carports that opened from the center of the court.

These curbcuts are probably all that will be left of the Zia Lodge. I imagine the sign will be torn down, the concrete pads broken up and hauled away. One by one these motels don't seem to be much. But all together, they become part of the neon bejeweled ribbon of light that bisects the city. If only one or two are left, think about how much of that impact we would lose.

Ironically, we are building new motels on Central even as we tear these vintage buildings down. What are we doing to protect our new motels that we can't do to protect these older properties?

European cities realize the importance of historical buildings...even if they don't meet current building codes. Americans travel across oceans to see them. Interestingly, Europeans travel to America to drive Route 66 as well. One or two buildings are nice...but a 10-mile-long corridor of vintage Americana...well, let's just say those Scandinavians are already making their motel reservations. And not at the Motel 6.

Serving Up Fish In The 208

NOB HILL--The 208 Gallery on Dartmouth featured Richard Thompson's works Friday night. And there were several other galleries in the area with special openings as well. Here are a couple of shots from the 208.

The Artist Russell Adams toasts The Artist Richard Thompson at Thompson's opening Friday night. It was quite an opening...especially for those who like to browse with a glass of wine in their hand. Actually everyone knows there is a reason why galleries offer free wine at openings...just look at the red "sold" dots next to the paintings. Maybe I should add that this blog reads a lot better if you, dear reader, browse with a glass of wine in your hand as well.

Richard Thompson is a fisherman...as is Russell. You would think that the gallery would be serving white wine with these trout. Actually I love this painting.

As if one needed a clue that this painting was humorous, the jets and contrails flying amongst the saucer-shaped clouds behind a dollop of a mountain won't let you think anything else. These paintings have a decidedly serious price...in the $2000 range.

Mescalero Apaches, guarded by troops, built the adobe officers' quarters at Ft. Sumner, 1866.

A Visit To Fort Sumner

Fort Sumner--I signed up for a "This Week In Peace" calendar to be emailed to me every Monday through a link in Democracy For New Mexico. Later this week in 1884 marked the beginning of the forced walk and encampment of the Navajo and some Apaches at Bosque Redondo near Fort Sumner. Here is a poem I wrote about it after I visited it some 20 years ago.

TWO TINTYPES: AN INTERPRETIVE TOUR OF FORT SUMNER STATE MONUMENT, EASTERN NEW MEXICO

1. a smart fence
of soldiers:
blurred Apaches
making adobes
for the Officers' Quarters

Nothing marks the route the Apaches used
when they finally crept away: the dark
beginning to a hundred stories.

And nomonument to the Navajo either--
Manuelito pleading, through the ten-year-old
boy who had learned some English,
with the Peace Commission from Washington:
five years of rationed famine.

And where are the graves of the three thousand
who died here waiting for an answer?
No tintype? No marker? No plaque?

2. distant Navajos
standing in blankets
before empty fields:
the earth rises
in clouds of cutworms and gray dust.

A Tale Of Two Teachers

NOB HILL--Jeff Diamond is a retired kindergarten teacher. I hang out with a couple more retired men kindergarten teachers: Bob Evans and Pete Ziegler. In fact I taught kindergarten for 9 years myself. We have about 90 years of kinder experience between us. What do all four of us have in common as people that would drive us to such an unusual profession for men?

• We like to play.
• We are pretty even tempered.
• We like to play.

Jeff is just back from Yellowstone...on his way to Michigan...then onto South Padre. Last year it was Washington, Europe, and Baja.

Jeff is a legend in APS...mostly for being a good, innovative teacher with a social conscience. The only time he ever got in real trouble it was for disobeying the "no Christmas tree" rule with a large classroom tree decorated with underwear for the homeless. His face still betrays something of a crafty smile over that episode. He does seem a man at peace with himself.

On the other hand, retired midschool teacher Mike Ritchey seems somewhat ambivalent about his years in education. He just got back from Panama where he probably chilled out. Probably. Well...maybe not.

Johnny_Mango Foretells The Future: APS Test Scores Plunge! Parents Ask For Reason.

NOB HILL--Testing season is here in APS. And these are stories from the front. Are scores going to plunge? This is more than a prediction: this is a certainty. Here is a sample of what 4th graders are being asked:

• You go to a party. There are 3 drinks, 2 sandwiches, and 4 kinds of candy. How many combinations of all three are possible?
• You have the sides of a rectangular prism flattened out. How many faces and how many total cubic inches are there?
• You have a carpet and a runner of certain dimensions. Is the rug 3 square feet more than the runner?

Problems?

Let's not even talk about kids, especially esl kids, not understanding that particular definition of "runner."

These are IQ test questions, not questions to see if a child is making satisfactory progress in 4th grade! It has all the hallmarks of an IQ test masquerading as a mastery test: extreme secrecy, tricky problems and syntax, higher numbers added to a problem to make it a little harder, a test that seems way too long to measure just 4th grade curriculum, abstractions not supported by any classroom practice. The end result is that we will by definition see a bell curve of results. That means that by definition some kids and schools will fail. It is built into the test itself. Failing schools and kids are built into the test.

Let's look at the length of the test: 11 hours for 9 year olds and up. The reason the test is so long is that the test seeks to find differences, small differences, between the children tested...not whether the kids have learned a common subject. That doesn't take twice as long as any test given to adults to establish proficiency: like the National Teachers Exam.

And by the way...OOPS!

The 11 hours that the testing company said were necessary to give the test is likely going to be about 16 hours. While the test is not timed, everything is taking about 50% longer than planned.

E. A. Mares Reads Thursday @ UNM. It's Free.

UNM--Poet E.A. (Tony) Mares will read Thursday at 7:00 PM in UNM's Student Union Building, Santa Ana Room. Tony has a new book out: With The Eyes Of A Raptor (Wings Press, 2004). Part of the book deals with the death of his daughter.

Like a burning man in a sea of fire
I grab on to a plank of memory,
recall you and your sister
traveling with me when I acted
on make-do stages everywhere in New Mexico
I want to go on the road with you again,
play all those towns once more.
Drive, drive on forever into the sun.

That's tomorrow, Thursday, 7:00 @ the SUB, Santa Ana Room.

I Dug Seven Holes Today...And Buried All The Mail

NOB HILL--My trees and grapes arrived by mail today from Stark Bros. They sell bareroot products. I bought several things from them about 20 years ago and had real good luck with their trees. So I went online and ordered a catalog a month ago and eventually decided on what I wanted to buy. The biggest reason I buy from a mail-order house is the tremendous variety of trees that they do carry...for instance they offer 24 different peach trees. And they tell you the salient features of each of them: when their fruit is ready, whether they bloom early or late, how large the fruit is, whether it is good for canning, freezing, cooking, or eating fresh.
Anyway, my 4 dwarf trees came today along with 3 grapevines (all different, all seedless) and 10 strawberry plants. I already planted everything. Here are the trees I planted:

1. Earliblue Prune-Plum (I used to have one of these. The absolute best tasting, easy to grow plum ever. Withstands late frosts.)
2. Intrepid Peach (Late bloomer, extremely hardy)
3. Starkrimson Sweet Cherry ("Produces its heart out in a small space." Fruit over an inch in diameter)
4. Harglow Apricot ("This tree is compact, late blooming,productive, disease resistant, and cold-hardy.")

All the above varieties are self-pollinating. I also wanted to get an Aprium: 75% apricot, 25% plum...maybe later.

Here is a little bit about the nursery from their website.

The Beginning:

In 1816, James Hart Stark and a small band of pioneers moved west from Kentucky and settled on the west bank of the Mississippi in a place that would later become Louisiana, Missouri.

James Hart Stark brought with him a bundle of apple scions. From this bundle grew a thriving nursery business which became the world famous Stark Bro’s Nurseries and Orchards Co.

By carefully selecting and propagating only the best varieties, James Stark started a tradition. Dedicated to earning a reputation for quality, Stark Bro’s gained world leadership as a developer and promoter of outstanding fruit varieties. The most famous of these was the Stark Red Delicious Apple in 1893. In 1914, the Stark Golden Delicious Apple was discovered and developed.

This work led to an association with famed plant wizard Luther Burbank. He selected Stark Bro’s to carry on his work and willed over 750 varieties to the company.

Johnny_Mango Entertains The Stars On Oscar Night At His Nob Hill Digs

NOB HILL--There was another Oscar Party last weekend that didn't get as much publicity as the ones in Hollywood so ably documented on Yahoo's Party Patrol. Yes...I did have a few people over to the Mango Mansion for drinks. But I only invited couples who seemed to have a lot in common. Take Larry King and the missus...they talked about nothing but dress material the whole time they were here. Sometimes one has to wonder, though, who got the best of the deal in these relationships. For instance Larry, handsome though he may be, has had a couple of heart attacks. Poor woman...no wonder she tries out all those black outfits.

Matthew Carnahan and Helen Hunt bounded into my living room in something of a hurry. It seems Matthew was accosted by some guy who couldn't believe he had no money for panhandlers. The panhandler felt sorry for him so they traded clothes.

Donald Trump and Melanie dropped in for a cocktail. They sure were a fun couple. Melanie said she had to go to school to learn how to stand like this.

Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton stopped by Johnny_Mango's for a quick one. What a pair. On the surface one might think that they had nothing in common, but they assured me that was not the case. In fact they are thinking of doing a film together...if only they could find a male co-star that met their stiff standards.

Kelsey Grammer and wife Camile pause for a moment on their way to La Casa Grande for the $4.25 red enchilada special. Besides being thrifty, Camile has extremely good posture. I admire that. Good Luck Kids. See you same time next year.