it actually feels like thanksgiving here in phoenix. 2 weeks ago it was in the 90′s. today, the forecasted high is 59°. burrrrrr.

so i pull into my street tonight on the way home from work, and drive into a war zone. of course, all i had was my cell phone camera, and this was the best pic. there were cops everywhere, in full swat gear, carrying their glocks and ar-15′s. apparently, they were looking for someone. turns out to be my neighbor. at least according to the block gossip. perhaps i’ll read about it in the news. maybe it’s time to move…

so i got this notice in the mail yesterday.

apparently, we have a level 2 sex offender moving into the neighborhood. there was more info inside. this guy apparently “maintained a consensual sexual relationship with two girls, ages 15 and 16, who were known to him”. good to know that he probably would not be interested in a 54 year old. though it never hurts to keep a vigilant eye.

someone decided to have at it on my hubby’s windshield last night. the police seem to think that it’s because the kids are off for the summer. oddly enough, they were by our neighbor’s house last week, as their car was broken into. and someone also stole a grille from our car port around the same time frame.

i’m getting close to pulling a “clint eastwood”, and hanging in my front yard with my 12 gauge grumbling “get off my lawn”…

i found this image of a texas mailbox on boing boing. the reason i was looking for mailbox images, is that our mailbox was broken into a few days ago. someone stole an envelope that had some of those access checks that the credit card companies send you in an effort to entice you to use the account for balance transfers, purchases, or anywhere you’d use a regular check. for a fee of course.

fortunately, our credit card company saw it as fraud, called us, and put a stop to it. i called our other credit card companies and turned off the access check mailings on all of our other accounts. i’d advise that anyone who has a credit card do the same. i’m inclined to use this as an excuse to turn off the statement mailings as well. but i sure like them as a reminder that the bill is coming due.

update:
i got an email from my credit card company this morning. apparently the asshole who stole my hubby’s access checks also stole mine and tried to use them. for what it’s worth, i put a fraud alert on my credit bureau, and i’ve found that it’s a lot easier to do that with equifax than it is to do with transunion…

you may remember a series of articles in the examiner suggesting that transsexuals are in the mainstream these days, thanks to tv (no pun intended) and the internet. well, i came across the above ad in the phoenix new times, our local free culture & entertainment weekly newspaper – i’d equate it to the village voice, for those who read my blog on the east coast.

on the up side, there’s no “shemale” or “chick with a dick” verbiage, and compared to the rest of the ads for, um, escorts, it’s rather, well, mainstream. is there a downside? i suppose that depends on where you stand on the sex work issue. while i like to imagine that no woman should be forced to engage in sex work, i also understand that for many trans women, especially those of us who are not white and educated, as i am privileged to be, there are sometimes few other options. i just hope she does well, and doesn’t get hurt.

we went to the arizona mining and mineral museum today and saw quite a few interesting items, including the above big shovel, and the below big tire.

we also saw a few dinner items made entirely of rocks.

and these meteorites

then we went over to cooperstown for some lunch

good food and lots of paraphernalia

apparently, they’re having a party across the street, complete with a castle.

namoli brennet is back, with a new cd and tour. she’ll be in phoenix at mama java’s on july 18th. yeah, i’ll be there. and yeah, i’ll be buying her new cd.

on the way to laughlin, we drove through the joshua tree forest along us 93, between i-40 and us 60. click on the picture to see a larger version, but be careful, the graphics are rather large.