Wednesday Morning Edition - 2456686

This year will be the 5th annual such event.  We really hope to go.

We actually dug out our Remington "Quiet-Riter" yesterday to do a little typing.  Yes, typing, like on an ancient mechanical device was manufactured long before Steve Jobs was born.  Back when this Baby was used, the MacIntosh's were people who lived down the street.  So, today we being the Morning Edition with kind words for Old Friends--Typewriters.

We've been Big Fans of typewriters our whole life so it stands to reason we keep one of these Old Iron Horses safely stabled in our Man Cave shed.  Yesterday we have to put put a lot of information on a very small piece of paper that won't fit into a computer printer.  That's when the typewriter rides to the rescue like something out of Perils of Pauline.

Many years ago, we were traveling who knows where and found a typewriter at a yard sale.  We lugged it back to our campground and put it on the picnic table and started merrily typing cheery gibberish.  Some children walking through the campground flipped out and ran back to their Daddy and Mommy and pointed off at us as if we were fossilized space aliens.  Daddy dutifully brought the kiddies over to see a genuine antique in action.  Daddy and we explained this crude former form of communication to the kiddies.  At first, they held back, reluctant to even touch the suspicious mechanism.  Finally, they relaxed and actually tried the use the keys.  Every time one of them pushed down a key, they would laugh loudly together like it was some sideshow in a flea circus or something.  Everybody should keep one of these things around....and actually USE them once in awhile.  Just using a typewriter for a few minutes will give you huge new appreciation for your computer, smartphone or tablet keyboard!

When we were down in Mesa last week, we happened to drive by one of the last remaining typewriter repair shops on earth--The Mesa Typewriter Exchange.  Here's a 2009 article on Bill Wahl's business.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/01/10/20090110biz-mr-typewriter0110.html

And here's a great little 3 minute video: http://youtu.be/sBiis9MaIJc

And finally, a seldom updated but still interesting Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mesa-Typewriter-Exchange/123867749753

Arizona will run out of water someday, eh?  What a surprise!

http://cvbugle.com/main.asp?SectionID=74&SubSectionID=114&ArticleID=41251

The last time it was this dry in Flagstaff, this is what Jerome looked like.

"Today is forecast to be the 39th consecutive day without precipitation, which would tie the seasonal record set in 1917. If the precipitation holds off Thursday until midnight again, the winter record will be broken, Bohlin said."

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/flagstaff-races-toward-winter-drought-record/article_b8aff4ac-88ab-11e3-990e-0019bb2963f4.html

Meanwhile in Montana: "Heavy snow is expected in the mountains of western Montana through Thursday evening, the Weather Service says, particularly over Lolo and Lost Trail passes. Snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour are possible at times, with total accumulation of 10-18 inches possible."

Source: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/wednesday-s-weather-winter-storm-warning-heavy-mountain-snowfall/article_86408032-88e1-11e3-a7aa-001a4bcf887a.html

Here's the one-day (24 hour) QPF for today.  Looking good up on Cold Country.
Source: http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/qpf2.shtml

We just learned about Andra Rush this morning.

Andra Rush sat with The First Lady last night at the State of The Union address.  We never heard of Andra before.  Now we're going to be keeping an eye on her.  She started her own business when she was 23 and it has grown to be the largest Native American owned business in the country!  Here's the Indian Country Today article about last night.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/28/mohawk-entreprenuer-andra-rush-join-first-lady-state-union-153299

Here's the Guest List for the address last night:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/white-house-announces-additional-guests-first-ladys-box-state-union-addr

And here's the Rush Trucking website:   http://www.rushtrucking.com/home.aspx

What is it about guys who like to play "dress up?"

From the Voice of America website, we found the above photo in the "Pictures of The Day" thingie.  Here's the caption that accompanied the photo:

"Participants dressed as Vikings prepare to participate in the annual Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, northeast of Britain. Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian Vikings in the Shetland Islands and culminates with up to 1,000 'guizers' (men in costume) throwing flaming torches into their Viking longboat and setting it alight later in the evening."

We wonder if "guizers" rhymes with geezers?  Ya just never know what the male gender will do next, eh?

The VOA website: http://www.voanews.com/


And finally--these cows raised the roof!
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Gassy-German-cows-blamed-for-barn-explosion-5181695.php