Sent to the Weekly from Mitch Levy, on behalf of Tucson Originals: 

"I am writing because of the report of the chain restaurant Krispy Kreme folding its tents in Tucson.  As you are may be aware, the Tucson Originals, a group of 40 independently owned restaurants in Tucson are all about helping the community.  It is this group that supports local schools and local fundraisers and local charities (ie Dine Out For Safety for SACASA, Primavera Cooks for the Primavera Foundation, Puttin’ on the Dog for the Tucson Humane Society and many, many more). 

We are based in the community and we take care of the community.  The member restaurants range from breakfast places like Frank’s and Francisco’s to fine dining restaurants like Janos, Cuvee and Kingfisher to casual dining like Pastiche and Feast to family style restaurants like Mama Louisa’s.  The Originals are very diversified in styles. 

At this point, I as the Tucson Originals Vice President would like to once again do everything I can to help the community.  The closing of Krispy Kreme has left many Tucson restaurant workers jobless in the middle of the slow season here in Tucson.  As we have done in the past, we are opening our doors to our neighbors and helping them in times of need. 

I am in the process of putting together a list of the available jobs with the Tucson Originals and will try to have them posted on our web site.  Until that is active (which may be a few days) the workers can contact me at [email protected] or call Cuvee at 881-7577.  We will be updating the list as the Tucson Originals restaurants get their information about their available positions to me.  These jobs could very likely become permanent.

We are here to stay, this is our community and we are here to take care of it."

If you know any Krispy Kreme employees, please tell them about this opportunity.

Krispy Kreme in front of El Con Mall is closed. I wonder what will happen to that ugly structure? Will they tear it down? Will another business move in and make it look different? Or will it just linger vacant for a long time?

Nonie is closing tomorrow Aug. 12. More about that in next week's Noshing Around column.  

As I mentioned yesterday in my silly post, I had the opportunity (?) to travel from Tucson to Chicago (with a stop in Phoenix along the way) yesterday. Since most of you have not had such an opportunity since the new restrictions were put in place because of the reportedly thwarted bomb plot, here are a few thoughts:

-- If you're traveling and want to take any fluids/gels at ALL (shampoo, deodorant, over-the-counter medicine, toothpaste, anything), check your luggage; don't carry it on. They aren't kidding when they say that it will be confiscated and not allowed on board.

-- I was overall impressed with how everyone handled the mess yesterday. In Tucson, the Transportation Security Administration screeners—who were now facing double duty (they did both the X-ray screening and a hand search of ALL carry-ons at the gate; for some reason, they didn't do the screenings at the gate in Phoenix, but from what I understand, ALL airports are starting today)—were polite, diligent and hard-working. They were even patient with the occasional sniveling knucklehead who protested that their deodorant was being thrown away.

-- Most travelers were understanding and patient, too. Except for the occasional aforementioned knucklehead.

I could go on—and I am not even broaching the subject of whether this whole hubbub is necessary—but this is the new travel reality for now, folks. And we have to deal with it.

But that does NOT mean I am looking forward to dealing with the mess they call O'Hare on Sunday.

This Saturday, Aug. 12, get your dog washed for a good cause. Sponsored by Arizona Greyhound Rescue, some of the hardest working volunteers I have the pleasure of knowing will be behind the Veterninary Specialty Center at 4909 N. La Canada Drive @ River Road from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The cost for washing is $10, for nail trimming $10 or splurge on both for $15. Such a deal!

All breeds are welcome (usually the really hairy dogs show up in the last exhausting 30 minutes) and dogs are taken on a first come first served basis; payment is by cash or check.

If you wake up Saturday morning and feel like playing in the cool water and interacting with lots of dogs and friendly people, c'mon down. We never have enough volunteers for this event. You will need to sign a volunteer liability waiver.

-- Gads. Think this will effect my flight to Chicago today? Crap.

-- And in other news, the Weekly's Southcentral Bureau is waterless due to a flood. I woke up this morning to almost zero water pressure. While investigating, I discovered water running both outside in the front of the house AND inside in the laundry room, which is in the back of the house. Being awake for all of 32 seconds, I couldn't quite process this. Finally, me and the Significant Other decided it would be prudent for him to call the home warranty company while I shut off water to the entire house.

After finally completing a "trouble ticket" (which required pushing 1,467 buttons on the home warranty's satanic phone system), the S.O. got the name of the plumbing company. He called said plumbing company -- which said they could not do anything unless we had our reference number for the home warranty company. We didn't have that. So after another call and 1,751 buttons pushed, we got that number from the home warranty company and called back the plumber.

There, the operator asked us if we needed someone paged NOW, or if our problem could wait until later in the day when the plumbing company officially opened. We requested someone be paged NOW, not appreciating the fact that BOTH SIDES OF OUR HOUSE had flooding issues. She said she'd page the on-call person.

Almost an hour passed. There was no word. So we called back, and the plumbing company said that, well, gosh, someone would be out SOMETIME IN THE MORNING.

Thank goodness the shut-off valve worked.

... can be found over there to the right: A new issue of the Weekly's out. And what an issue it is. There are endorsements! Positive movie reviews! And there's even a meatball recipe—yes, a meatball recipe.

Please try to contain your excitement while reading. Thank you, and God bless.

-- Today, the Star gives a thorn to gas prices. And OPEC quakes in fear. And they criticize bad parents, too. How relevant!

-- Joe Lieberman sucks. He could cost the Dems a Senate seat by splitting the Democratic vote. Maybe he really IS a Republican!

-- If you're a circumsized dude, um, feel lucky?

-- And finally ... feeling waterlogged?

I've been taking advantage of the recent cooler weather and I am re-landscaping my front yard. See, my front yard is what's commonly known as First Generation Xeriscape, aka two palm trees, and gravel. Lots and lots of gravel. And the icky, gray kind, too, the kind that is only good for driveways.

So I've been carting extra soil from my backyard 'round front, raking up gravel (which I call Gravel Abatement and Removal: Stage One), and laying some extra bricks around the palm tree to make it look less, well, like a relic of the 1970s. And the plan is to create water-harvesting slopes and plant plants that don't need to be watered, like, ever, and then put down the pretty red gravel that looks more natural even though it isn't natural. There will also be rocks.

But I've come to an interesting crossroad at this point in my re-landscape transistion from First Generation Xeriscape to Next Generation Xeriscape: I'm out of dirt. Unless I dig up more from my backyard and create massive holes, I'm going to have to ... gulp ... BUY DIRT.

I mean, I've bought mortar sand before, plenty of times, for loose-laid brick patios and the like. That's different. It's fancy dirt. But I need more actual stupid nasty everyday desert soil so I can finish creating the little hills and slopes that are half-started, and I fear I am going to have to go the way of the consumer and somehow purchase dirt. Next thing I know, I'm going to have to buy air.

Anybody have any free dirt they want to dump at my place? We're talking actual dirt. Not metaphorical. I don't need more of that, thanks.

Oh, and while we're at it, I found this site, TucsonGardner.com. Whoever writes it actually makes fun of people who do not appreciate the natural landscape. I loves me some of that.

Okay, so I'm a Democrat, so it narrows my choices.

What really bugs me is when a volunteer for any candidate calls and says, "Can we count on your vote?"

No. You cannot. One: I'm a flake. Two: It's none of your business. Even if my mind is made up, I don't like to be asked. Don't ask and don't tell is my policy on the matter.

Someone asked me if I could post an announcement for a Jeff Latas party. Quite frankly, I have not heard that much about him, so I went to his Web site and kind of like him. In his issues, he mentions animal welfare, and neither Patty nor Gabby do. He already has 10 points in my book. Now if I could just interest him in keeping the Tucson Greyhound race track accountable, I'd be on the streets asking people if they wanted to vote for him. Some politician has got to see the importance of this issue sooner or later.

Here's a good list of Jeff Latas events. There are several this week, but the one that I was asked to post is Friday (Aug. 11) in midtown.

Gabby is not nearly as busy as Jeff.

And Patty is more busy than Gabby but nobody seems as busy as Jeff.

-- It's odd that even with our Seattle weather we had there for almost a week, the state was still hotter than normal in July.

-- Suckiness continues in the Middle East.

-- Gabrielle Giffords has a podcast out. Um, OK.

-- Meanwhile, Randy Graf's getting ready to welcome Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who's batty as all hell, as well as Chris Simcox, at Trail Dust Town next week. Is it just me, or is that creepy/alarming and hilarious, all at once?