Neighborhood sights

Several of the homes in our neighborhood have large saguaro cacti in the front. We've given some of them names.
We call this one the "Praise Jesus" cactus.
This is "Patrick" from Sponge Bob Square Pants.I can't come up with the right name for this one. I'm taking suggestions, so if you have one, please share!A couple of days ago CNN.com added a new feature to their site. Some of the story headlines under "Latest News" have a little T-Shirt icon next to them. Click on it and it takes you to an order form where you can order a T-shirt with that headline on it. I can't figure out why anyone would want to do that. Why would someone want a shirt that says, "Arms Cache Found in Girl's Treehouse?"

I don't have a dog in this fight, so I find it interesting to watch the Democratic race as it heads toward the convention. Indiana and North Carolina never figured that their end-of-the-string primaries would have any bearing on the outcome of the nomination process. It was supposed to have been decided months ago. Now it could go all the way to the convention. That's what I'm pulling for just because it would make fascinating political theater.

Yesterday was Earth Day. Tomorrow is "Administrative Professionals" day and Friday is "Take Your Daughter or Son to Work Day." I'm old enough to remember when we didn't have an Earth Day, and they were called Secretary's Day and Take Your Daughter to Work Day.

I don't think either of us could be described as Greenies but we're trying to do our part. We use compact fluorescent light bulbs, Pam carries fabric bags to the grocery store, and I take the motorcycle instead of the van as often as possible. (A real sacrifice, huh.)
Today Pam asked about putting up clotheslines. Makes sense in a place where we have sun 360 days a year and the relative humidity is typically below 10%. An electric dryer draws between 5,000 and 7,500 watts of electricity, more than the three ton AC unit on our roof.
Unfortunately, the Sun City CC&R's don't allow clotheslines. When they wrote the CC&R's back in the late 60's electricity was cheap and laundry hanging in a backyard was considered unsightly. The electric dryer was the way of the future.
Well, the future is here and so is our electric bill. A clothesline makes sense ecologically and economically. But what makes sense has never been a strong suit of the Sun City HOA.
Cf. Stealth Reliabity.