AZ Flashback II: Thanksgiving in the Grand Canyon

In the fall of 1984, not long after starting work at Hughes Aircraft in LA (my first job out of college), my good friend Mark called from Phoenix and asked if I would be up for hiking the Grand Canyon, and I immediately said, “Yes!”  We chose to make a two-day hike over Thanksgiving holiday weekend (some of us didn’t have vacation days built up yet).

Bright and early the day before Thanksgiving, five of us left Phoenix and reached the South Kaibab trailhead, where a light snowfall had fallen overnight.  Mark made sure we were well supplied, and we started off on the first day of our hike.

(from Google Earth: south is at the top)  the two day hike began at [S] South Kaibab trailhead to [C] Colorado River, then up to [I] Indian Garden campgrounds, and ended at [B] Bright Angel trailhead

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Pop! Goes the Friday Random 10

Well, I set WMP to the “Pop” genre, but I’m not sure I agree with all these songs’ designations; may have to do some adjusting…

1. “Water is Wide” – James Taylor, New Moon Shine
2. “One of Our Submarines” – Thomas Dolby, The Golden Age of Wireless
3. “Under African Skies” – Paul Simon, Graceland
4. “Strawberry Letter 23” – The Brothers Johnson, Right on Time
5. “True Colours” – Go West, Aces and Kings: The Best of Go West
6. “Sex Symbol” – Marc Jordan, Living in Marina Del Rey and Other Stories
7. “Love So Right” – Bee Gees, Here at Last…Live
8. “Something We Can Do” – Vitamin Z, Rites of Passage
9. “Girl in the Moon” – Icehouse, Man of Colours
10. “Walk on the Ocean” – Toad the Wet Sprocket, PS: A Toad Retrospective

Toad the Wet Sprocket is one of those groups I never appreciated at the time but enjoy now.  And Vitamin Z was a great 80’s pop group that never quite got off the ground.

Thorzul Will Rule: Trade Me Anything III

Well, this is one baseball card trade that was a bit different. Thorzul over at Thorzul Will Rule is in his third incarnation of his “Trade Me Anything” series. Noticing that he had a Twins card that I lacked, I took him up on his offer and traded him a Eugene, OR to Vancouver, BC Amtrak schedule (plus a couple Brewers items). As the sixth person to trade on this go-round, here is what I received in return:

2009 Topps Update Gold #UH166 Mike Redmond [677/2009]

I’m really surprised this card is an update; didn’t Topps have enough cards in their base set to include the backup catcher, particularly one who’s a veteran and been on the team for several years? I guess not.

Anyway, this was a lot of fun, Thorzul, and I’ll look forward to it the next time it comes around.  Best of luck in your collecting!

Night Owl Cards

Monday’s mail brought a package from Night Owl over at Night Owl Cards, the latest trade over the web – this time Twins for mostly 1971 cards from my childhood.  Night Owl whacked a few cards from my wantlist, plus a few that hadn’t made it onto the list yet.

clockwise, from upper left: 2009 Topps Toppstown Blue #TTT26 Joe Mauer; 2007 Bowman’s Best #6 Joe Mauer; 2006 Topps Gold #78 Nick Punto [359/2006] – not often you see “Punto” and “gold” together; 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection swatch #SM-FL Francisco Liriano

It turns out that there is a Toppstown Blue parallel, too.

clockwise, from upper left: 2008 Tristar #110 Ben Revere – my first Revere card?; 2009 Upper Deck 20^th Anniversary #2221 Joe Mauer; 2000 Upper Deck Gold Reserve #101 Brad Radke, I’ll take any excuse to post Brad; 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee #129 Carlos Gomez – GoGo, sad to see you go

Night Owl has a whole lot going on at his website — check it out, and make a trade with him, while you’re at it.  He has the Runner Seal of Approval (whatever that is).  Thanks again, N.O.

Pandora Friday the 13th Random 10

Let ’em rip!

1. “Interesting Drug” – Morrissey, The Best of Morrissey
2. “Roundabout (live)” – GTR, King Biscuit Flower Hour
3. “Are We Ourselves?” – The Fixx, The Fixx: Ultimate Collection
4. “Keep Talking” – Pink Floyd, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd
5. “Major Tom (Coming Home)” – Peter Schilling, The Different Story (World of Lust and Crime)
6. “Masque of Love” – Go West, Dancing on the Couch
7. “You Can Tell” – Colonel Knowledge, Reconnaissance
8. “Eminence Front” – The Who, It’s Hard
9. “Birthright” – a-ha, Analogue
10. “Any Colour You Like” – Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon

re: #2 – I was at the Wiltern Theater in L.A. when this concert was recorded on July 19, 1986.  Most memorable part was the series of acoustic solos and duets performed by Steve Hackett and Steve Howe to open the concert.

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Insect Photo of the Day:

I went out to get the mail the other day, and noticed the Carolina Mantis at the side of our front step, so I nabbed the camera and got a few pics. When I finally dumped them to the computer and checked them out, I noticed she was laying an ootheca! Now I feel like a heel for disturbing her work. I’ll have to be on alert next spring for when the young ‘uns start appearing.

female Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) laying an ootheca

Pandora Friday Random 10

Mixin’ it up again this Friday…

1. “Photos of Ghosts” – Premiata Forneria Marconi, Photos of Ghosts
2. “Back in N.Y.C” – Genesis, Archive 1967-1975
3. “Used to Bad News” – Boston, Don’t Look Back
4. “Hard on Me” – Asia, Asia: Gold
5. “My Only Swerving” – El Ten Eleven, El Ten Eleven
6. “Closer to Heaven” – Alan Parsons Project, Gaudy
7. “Kyrania” – Bjorn Lynne, Wolves of the Gods
8. “Birthright” – a-ha, Analogue
9. “Love Strikes” – Escobar, A Thousand Last Chances
10. “Jungle Love” – Steve Miller Band, Greatest Hits 1974-78

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Insect Photo of the Day:

Mo and I were by the breakfast nook yesterday afternoon, and I was annoyed to see a green lacewing laying eggs on the sliding glass door.  On closer observation (with my myopic, non-bifocalled eyes), I noticed the “raptorial” front legs, and ran to grab my camera.

Green Mantisfly (Zeugomantispa minuta)

The Phillies Room, World Series-style

There’s nothing like receiving a load of Twins cards in the mail to improve one’s day, and that certainly happened Friday.  Jim from over at The Phillies Room took a big swipe at my wantlist and swapped several Twins for a bunch of Phillies stuff, mostly 1974 singles and some fun oddball stuff.  Jim even threw in a few extras; most that I already had (but that I can find a new home), but a couple neat ones though.  Here are some highlights:

clockwise, from top left: 2003 Fleer Tradtion #77 Harmon Killebrew, one of the few times he isn’t smiling; 2009 Upper Deck Starquest #SQ-47 Emerald Super Rare Justin Morneau; 2004 Fleer Authentix #34 Torii Hunter; 2004 Bowman Gold #169 Matt Moses

In addition, a few others caught my eye:

clockwise, from top left: 2004 Topps Total #580 Jacque Jones “It’s outta here!”; 2006 Upper Deck #698 Matt Guerrier, a nice photo of Shaggie; 2006 Topps Heritage #13 Lew Ford – okay, this pose is just plain dumb; 2003 Topps #501 Cristian Guzman kicking up the dust and making the SAFE! call

Trading with Jim gets two thumbs up from me; I’m sure we’ll work out another swap sometime.  And for him (and all of us), I’d sure love for the Phillies to take things in hand in the World Series, too.