Is Oscar Home?

The lowly trashcan

Too many sunsets, flowers, pretty pictures ’round here, time for some ugly. Following up on yesterday’s broken door I present you with…….The Trash Can. I suppose if this were Oscar’s home, this would be his McMansion and he wouldn’t have to live on Sesame Street alone in his little can. He could invite enough muppets to have lavish parties in this joint, I think there’d even be enough room for Barney. Heck, MTV Cribs might want to check out the bling in this posh joint on prime land in tony Scottsdale, yo yo yo.

I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff

Attempting to break into this electrical room some criminally minded idiot fails to pry open the heavy duty steal protecting what's inside

I’ll huff and I’ll puff and then resort to a crowbar to pry your door open. This is the unfortunate lock that was attacked by an idiot. What could be of such great value in an electrical room to deserve the rage of the moron who with obvious futility went berzerk trying to rip open this heavy-duty steal locked door? Too bad the wanna-be criminal didn’t apply such determination to his education.

The Newspaper Machine

A local newspaper machine

Streetside newspaper machines, you have got to wonder just how much longer will these continue to exist as fewer and fewer of us read the daily paper. This K-Jack model from 1988 appears to have weathered the ravages of street life and vandalism with just a small amount of rust starting to show on the edges. Not so strange is that this was made in America, amazingly though – they still are! I’d be willing to bet most everyone has seen and could recognize the familiar USA Today newspaper machine, well that is the KJ-25 model, I never once before today wondered from where do these lowly mechanical boxes come from. Now I know, a small company in Gardena, California.

Save Your Feet

Scorching black asphalt burning under the desert sun in Phoenix, Arizona

Late in the day after baking under the 110-degree desert sun, this parking lot asphalt is too hot to walk barefoot on and nearly hot enough to cook carrots. The egg thing has been referenced once too many times and you don’t cook sushi so I had to come up with something novel – carrots seemed different. People in Arizona have to be careful with their dogs too as these surfaces will blister a dogs’ paws in seconds. Outlook for the next week: getting close to 115 (46 celsius).

Minding the Store

Shamil Patel watching over Indo-Euro Foods grocery store

Meet Shamil Patel, he’s watching over Indo-Euro Foods, the grocery store owned by his aunt and our friend Sonal. Sonal is on vacation in India, probably shopping for more than she can carry home. While she is away, a number of family and friends are caring for her shop. Shamil has been the main guy watching the counter the past couple of weeks with his sister, mom, and former employee Gautam sharing the responsibilities. Next week, Rinku and I will take the helm until Caroline and I leave for a weekend in Utah followed by our departure for vacation in Texas over the 4th of July.

Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa

Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa

Jay Patel of Mumbai, India, joined Caroline and me on a cross-country road trip in May 2004. We spent some time up in the Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks before making our first visit to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. In Minnesota, we dipped our toes into Voyageurs National Park and walked barefoot through the headwaters of the great Mississippi River at Lake Itasca. On our way home, while moving down the path of the Mississippi, we took in Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, that’s where today’s photo of the day came from. The image was taken on May 21, 2004.