I’m beginning to accept the fact that I‘m now officially retired.

I’m getting used to watching daytime TV or should I say early morning television.

I’ve discovered three shows I used to watch as a kid in Oklahoma years ago. First, at 6 a.m. is “To Tell The Truth,” hosted by Bud Collier. At 6:45 am. is “What’s My Line?” hosted by John Daly and Garry Moore’s “I’ve Got A Secret” at 7:15.

The three programs are on Cox Cable Channel 96. I got a surprise one morning when I was watching an episode of “What’s My Line?” The first contestant signed in as Allan D. Cruickshank. His line of work was the head of the Audobon Society. An authority on birds, he has written several books on the subject.

I had heard of him and had seen his books on the shelves of my middle school library.

While he didn’t spell either his first or last name like me it was still interesting to see someone else on television with my same name.

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Well, I am writing this in Henderson where they’ve been having record highs since we got here last week. Usually the temperatures run about 10 degrees cooler than Phoenix.

It was 79 on Saturday in Las Vegas setting a record that had been set in 1935. It has been in the high- to mid-70s there this week. I know, it has been in the 80s in the Phoenix area, but it’s nice to have good weather in both places.

Incidentally, the talk of the weather made me think we haven’t had any rain totals for the year in our wraps of 2017. So here we go:

We had one of our wettest years in Fountain Hills even though we ended the year with a dry spell. Rainfall totaled 9.15 inches.

We had a moderate year

for temperatures.

It never got down to freezing. The lowest temperature for the year was 36 degrees on Jan. 24 and Dec. 21.

The highest recorded temperature in 2017 was 116 on June 24.

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That was some Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles, led by U of A grad Nick Foles, were focused on their mission of winning Super Bowl LII. Foles was named the game’s MVP.

He’s been in the league for 10 years, strictly as a backup quarterback. He got his big break a month ago when the Eagles’ starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, suffered a season-ending injury.

Talk about making the most of a situation. He led the Eagles to victories in all their playoff wins. The Eagles were underdogs in each of those games.

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Congratulations are in order to the newly-elected members of the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame.

They were announced in late January.

The new inductees from Fountain Hills are Mike Archambault, Joe Bill, Sandy Davis, Sami Jack and Dwight Johnson. From Fort McDowell we have Hiawatha Hood. The Verdes inductee is Burdena “Birdie” Pasenelli.

Congratulations to all of you. The induction dinner is on March 28.