30 CENTS

An unemployed computer programmer from Vancouver with his retired Dad from Quebec, who breeds exotic birds - and doesn't speak English.


St. Michael the Archangel slays his enemies in Sedona!

MATHER POINT LOOKOUT

There are people in this picture. Just left and above center.

Looking back from the abyss.

At the end of the day, ONE of these six gave me a five dollar bill. The rest, ZERO.

Did I really work for 30 cents an hour today? Really?

On a different and perhaps happier note: more pictures from Florida. Terry and I stumbled on to the ruins of a sugar plantation and mill that had been destroyed by Seminole Indians in the 1830's. The "stones" were quarried from a layer of "rock" that actually the shells and skeletons of sea creatures.

A walk in the Jungle:

Sky Juice!

At the airport in Phoenix, so far this year, we have seen almost 3 inches of rain. THREE INCHES. Everyone has seen the blue skies in my blog photos.



Today we got almost .25" in Central Phoenix. It's a big deal. I know you can't see it in this video, but there really really is "stuff" falling from the sky into the swimming pool

In the high country, it's a wash out. I was scheduled for Grand Canyon tomorrow, but it ain't going to happen.

Back From Vacation!

Terry and I had a great trip to Florida to see Lara. Here are a few pics.....

Lara - after a few cocktails - telling stories on her mom.

At a Twin Piano Bar

Roommates:

MY DAY WAS SAVED

BY AN EIGHTH GRADER!

Cindy is a HR Director in her county in Pennsylvania. She had to lay off another 22 people this week. When she got the chance to attend a conference in Phoenix, she signed Kevin out of school and jumped on it!

Kids just want to know the adults enjoy their company. We have stacks of research that says they just want to be "with" their parents. Kevin hugged on his mother and loved her all day. They were refreshing.

They got the "special visit" to the airport overlook in Sedona, one of the spiritual "vortexes".





Kevin thinks he took the right picture of his mother, but I really took the one that shows how they enjoy each other. See me in the picture?

At Indian Garden, I ordered their lunch and tried to talk Kevin into a "scorpion lollipop", but he wasn't ready for that adventure.

By the time we got to the volcanoes in northern AZ, Kevin explained that he learned in his earth science class that volcanoes with more silica in them produce bigger explosions...... . Whatever - the point is he was conversing with adults who enjoyed having him. She sat next to me and he was behind me.

We stopped and collected lava rocks for his science class.

On the Navajo Res., I gave them an extra stop at the overlook of the Little Colorado River, an 800 foot gorge:

I found him a fossil imprint of a frog.

Here Cindy thought she was getting the real picture, but it was I who got the real picture!

A single mom and a teenage boy who love one another. There's hope.

They ended the day with a helicopter ride over Grand Canyon. She said she's terrified of heights, but had to overcome herself for Kevin. He sat in the front seat.

You're doing good, Cindy, you go girl! Goodbye , Kevin, my young friend. Come back to Grand Canyon someday with children you love - and remember me.

TWO FOR TWO !

Now we're on a roll. They each got on the van and politely introduced themselves and made friends. By the end of the day they had traded e-mails and posed for group pictures. That's more like it. Lynne and Andrea are vocational rehab specialists for the blind. Lynn is the assistant director of the program for the State of Massachusetts. She currently has four openings and would hire me "in a minute". I got her card and will send a resume. That would be a cool way to get a new job.

Grand Canyon was on Andrea's bucket list (left).

Lynn with Fred and Eleanor at the church in Sedona.

Fred and Eleanor were with me for their 37th wedding anniversary. Rock out, Fred!

Pam and Sylvia are two sisters from Montreal who commented several times through the day that they have never ever seen a perfectly cloudless, azure sky.

Brit kids often take a "gap year" to travel, either before they start university or after they graduate. Jonathan just finished University, a History Major. All the adults adopted Jonathan. Dear Lord, protect that boy, he's going to Las Vegas next.

A HAUNTING!!!!

I knew this was coming. I've been waiting for it.

Several weeks ago, I arrived at the Sheraton to pick up a family of three. Unfortunately the husband was too rotund to board the bus. He yelled at me for arriving in "too small" bus. Understand, it's a standard 15 passenger bus that fits standard sized asses. His was too big. So, he removed his horrified wife and teenage daughter from the bus. (I wonder what the little girl will think of when she someday gets to go to Grand Canyon. )

As I predicted, he expected a "Too-Fat-To-Sit" refund of all three tickets. ($450) Hell, no, you don't get a "Rotundus Refundus." Half of America would be claiming the Portly Discount. And if you could get a Fat Refund, what does that have to do with the other two tickets for the wife and daughter who weren't too fat to fit?

Luckily, he booked his ticket through one of those online travel agents. (Read: he found the cheapest possible price by doing business with someone in Mumbai, India). On the face of their e-ticket are bold letters: No refund under any circumstances. (People always want a refund when it rains or snows.)

I satisfied our part of the contract by arriving (albeit I did not have earth moving equipment with me), so we got our $450. I had to write a memo for the Travel Agent.

They always think they're going be clever and challenge the charge with the credit card company -- and the credit card company always sides with the customer. Fine, then the Travel Agent will send him to the Lap-Band Collection Agency for $450. As tight as credit is right now, no one needs a "ding" on their credit report. I 'm afraid you're going to pay, Mr. Tubbs McTubbville. You're going to pay an obese surcharge because my bus is too small.

Goodbye!