Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for May 23, 2014

Me, I’m down at the end of the bar.

Carl’s adventures make me thirsty for a tequila sunrise for some reason.

You know how festive the Fireman gets…

Fenton, whiskey for me and beer for my horses, please.

Where’d everybody go?….

While doing a little office cleaning this morning, I came across this old issue of BALLARD LIFE Weekend Magazine from last fall (October 5-6, 2013). It is the Costume Issue…now a collector’s item on BallardEAuctions&Swaps!

Ballard LIFE weekend magazine supplement of the Ballard Bugle(larger version)10-6-2013

All Dressed Up To Stay Home

Domestic Cowboys Part One

Domestic Cowboys Part Two

Of Mice And Men And Women And Cowboys

The Ballard Zoo Part One

The Ballard Zoo Part Two

Out In Public Part One

Out In Public Part Two

Social Clubs And Ballard St. Part One

Social Clubs And Ballard St. Part Two

StelBel’s WWOI and the Costume Annex

Nosy Neighbor News by beviek

Cowboy Carl can’t count contentious cacti.

I can hardly wait to read Stel’s news but I want to eat my oranges before the bars come out of the oven. I see Bev’s butterfly is now busy opening boxes.

I’m glad to see that Cowboy Carl has at least 2 thermos’ of water; the desert can get very thirsty. I’m doing my baking while the morning is still cool enough to have the doors open (69-70F right now).

If Carl has the cacti, he might as well use them.

StelBel – the Nosy Neighbor News – really cute!

Well after the “Swamp Fiasco” in ’04…….

Carl in his younger days…

back when we lived in Texas and had a few head of cattle, a few horses and the must have chickens, this sign hung outside the back door…

for Stel

Lillian remembers this song, and groans….

Its time to renew my subscription to Ballard Life methinks…

Some of our gentlemen DO make most of their own armor and ladies make their elegant gowns. The intricacy of some of the costumes is amazing. I was describing the outfit of one of our former Barons to my man (with cod piece and silk britches) – very appropriate for rapier fighting. My man is taking a Viking persona, but I may convince him to try some of those others once he gets used to the game. I’m glad that he would rather teach (as I do) than take part in beating each other with sticks.

At least the rapier and archery events are more civilized.

I decided to display part of an award for Rapier Champion that I drew for Our Kingdom. The small lettering is just 1/8" tall.While these costumes are not as elaborate as that Baron, one of these days I’ll catch some as good

OR we may do them ourselves.

More cowbell??How about this…. the original SNL “More Cowbell” skit with Christopher Walken and Will Ferrill?

(BTW, I’m sure you’ve noticed that many things posted here have absolutely nothing to do with the strip , and that my posts usually are related to the topic. Actually, lately, I rarely post things that are off-topic! I happened to come across the Walken dance videos, and thought people might enjoy them. I guess today is my lucky day that you chose to ask me your question!! I’m honored! LOL)

Also, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now that I get a “kick” out of your user name! Very clever!!

Thanks, Donkey!I just finished the only outdoor errand for today (driving over to refill 10 gallons of water and hauling them in from the car). I knew it would take a while to read all those links from Stel,but also knew I’d enjoy them.

I read the Dressed to stay home one earlier (hence my comment) but now have read them all. The 2 parts on the oddball clubs DOES remind me a little of all the clubs in Sun City (where I plan to move). They have about 6 community centers scattered around and dozens of clubs that meet in all of them -

Something for everyone, even me.And I plan to find a house with sufficient open space to give classes (and still have big dinner parties).

I have yet to try brewing, but I’ve heard it can be messy, and has to be left for a while, so I plan to use one interior room mainly for that storage.

Our comments are driven by the strip and thereafter driven by the responses. Let’s not disturb the status quo and enjoy the moment. We left school a long time ago.

That comment should have been on the Andy Capp page, sorry. I’ll leave mine here so that you don’t look silly.

“I love to watch Walken acting as well.”+++++++++++++++++I do, too. I just watched The Power of Few (2013) yesterday …a very… interesting film, but nowhere near a great one and not on my list of favorites, yet Walken’s performance was, in my opinion, excellent, as usual.

Relax. You should really sit down with a good magazine!

Today’s random rabbit. But, not so random.

Deep in Saguaro Gulch.

WIth a shootout at the “Ouch I’m OK Corral”