Thursday Morning Edition - 2456743

Happy Thursday.  As you can see, our Countdown Clock shows only 21 days until we skee-daddle North once again.  If past years are an indicator those 21 days will be gone in a blink of an eye.

Well, readership here at the Morning Edition has dropped off a cliff in the last couple of days, down nearly two-thirds from the average!  In fact, readership is barely above single digits each day for the past two days.  Methinks the novelty of the Morning Edition is well worn away and only a few Very Loyal Blog Readers (LBRs) are checking in each day.

That's perfectly fine and dandy with us because, as those LBRs know, we do this thing first for ourself, second for the LBRs and third for anyone else who might drop by.  By entertaining ourself first and foremost, we know that each Morning Edition has been a success even before we press the "Publish" button.  Even if only a very few LBRs come by each day, we also receive the singular pleasure of knowing we have perhaps helped brighten and maybe even enlighten a few of our Dear Friends in the process.  Thank YOU for reading!

First it was Hank The Brewers Dog and now along comes "The Big O."  Sometimes, ya have to roam far and wide to find out about stuff in your backyard.  We were perusing the San Francisco Chronicle and began reading an article about the Oakland A's last Spring Training game in Phoenix Muni Stadium.  next year the A's are moving to Hohokam Park in Mesa.  Sweetie Susun's brother, Roger is very much involved in how the move of the A's will play out in Mesa...hence my interest in reading about the A's.

So, we're reading along in the article and we come to this paragraph and say "HUH?" and scratch our head.

"A reminder: Big Orange, the stadium cat, might need a new home, though it is my hope ASU keeps the current staff on along with Big O, who is superb at keeping rodents away."

So, who's Big Orange?  Read On:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/42282206/meet-the-oakland-as-unofficial-spring-training-mascot-cat

Here's the original article that prompted our search for Big :

http://blog.sfgate.com/athletics/2014/03/26/as-say-goodbye-to-phoenix-muni-vuc-throws-out-first-pitch/?cmpid=hp-hc-sports

Ironically, sometimes, our hometown newspaper back in Lafayette, Indiana, brings up to date on a story we've missed from right smack dab in our backyard here in Arizona.  This one started off in the Phoenix newspaper and then went to USA Today and then got pickup by b\"The Journal & Courier."  If you know Flat Stanley, you're gonna LOVE this article!

http://www.jconline.com/usatoday/article/6762359

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley

Back in 2004, during our first summer at Idaho's truly remote Bowery Guard Station we met a fine young man who was doing range monitoring work for the Forest Service.  He lasted only one year with Smokey and then went to work on a Sage Grouse crew.  He told us about driving through the desert at night in a jacked up pickup truck blasting Pink Floyd out of huge speakers.  Well, finally, 9 years later along comes a story that captures the essence of what Aren E. was trying to describe to us way back when:

http://magicvalley.com/lifestyles/recreation/nighttime-abductions-vital-to-sage-grouse-research/article_a4fe7279-1c35-5bfe-b0e0-f3085bcf44df.html

Gotta admit, I NEVER thought I'd see the words "Rock Star" in the same sentence with "astrophysicist."

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57729290-78/science-tyson-culture-astrophysicist.html.csp

Here's your "Aw..." story of the day and as the headline says--Love is Truly Blind!

http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_25427073/this-closeknit-denver-family-love-is-truly-blind

While we were visiting the Denver Post, we spotted this great aviation video.  We know we have several LBRs who are Big Time aviation fans so this one is for YOU!

http://photos.denverpost.com/2014/03/26/video-wildfire-battles-go-high-tech-helicopters-and-air-tankers/

Yesterday, we got all raptured by videos of ships in outrageous wind-whipped seas.  We're putting some of our key links here for archival purposes.  Many of the videos we watched yesterday came from a guy who serves on an ERRV.  What's that?  It's a rescue vessel that's required to be on duty 24/7/365 no matter what the weather.

http://www.errva.org.uk/rescue.php

Here's the guy's 15 videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/Bigwavemaster1/videos

By and by, we found a great video of a French naval destroyer.  Here's a couple of links to that video.

http://www.wimp.com/warshipwaves/

http://youtu.be/YuIO4Cyni-w