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Thursday, December 9, 2010

I Got A Brand New Car!!!

2011 CRV (Opal Sage)
I got a brand new car


 and I have the key!


I go slow and don't go far!







Mine was Desert Sand,
8-cylinder with
T-Tops (no yellow)

This has to be my favorite all-time car...right up there with my 1984 Camaro Berlinetta.  I loved my Camaro, but alas, it was stolen, stripped and burned to a crisp.   My CRV makes up for my loss.  We called it "KITT" after car on "Knight Rider", 
TV show




I learned to drive on a 1953 Aqua Packard with automatic transmission and power steering.  


Over my lifetime I have had:
1963 Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Corvair
Studebaker Lark
Ford Pinto
Ford Grenada
Delta88 Oldsmobile
1984 Camaro Berlinetta
Dodge Van
Chrysler Cirrus


I love my CRV!!!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

THE CAT WHO....

The Cat Who Went Bananas (Cat Who..., #27)
#27  
The Cat Who Went Bananas 
by Lilian Jackson Braun


My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Yea! I finally reached my goal. I have now read 1-27 of "The Cat Who..." books. 


 As I read "....Went Bananas", I thought it seemed to be back on track. However, toward the end one character disappeared and we never heard of him again. Is he dead or did he fear for his life and run? The supposed villain died. We will never know if he was a villain or just wrongly accused.  A man and his wife died before the story began and there was no solution on this front either.


This is my stopping place. I will imagine my own ending for the series. Qwill and Polly continue their relationship; he continues his newspaper column and life-long friendship with its editor; and Koko and Yum-Yum live to a ripe old age before going to their reward in "pet" heaven.


There is a #28: "The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell". I found it to be completely out of sync with the rest of the series. It seemed that someone was trying to wrap the series up and did so with horrific endings, in my opinion. I read on Wikipedia:Lilian Jackson Braun that the publisher had canceled the next book: "The Cat Who Smelled Smoke". Also, found a good blog with info about Ms. Braun, the series and the publisher. There was a place on the blog for comments. Several people shared theirs..


http://plattekilllibrary.wordpress.com


I can't promise, but I think this will be my last reading of "The Cat Who..."      Never say "Never"!


View all my reviews

Thursday, December 2, 2010

North to Alaska...No. 39*

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would get to Alaska.  I got there by combining business and pleasure.  At the time I was working at a State University managing a NASA Grant Program-The Space Grant Consortium at our State level.  What an opportunity!  



He can now lay claim to playing
the "World's Northernmost Golf Course".  


The annual National Conference was held in Fairbanks.  My husband joined me at our expense.  There was no way I would let him pass it up...although, he is not fond of flying.  However, he was rewarded.

We saw the most amazing flowers, took a paddle wheel boat trip on the river and were treated to a performance by Native Americans at the Cultural Center.  

We did not see the Aurora Borealis.
This was the season and the hotel kept a watch for the guests, but a "no show". 


After the Conference we stayed over to take a side trip to Denali National Park.  We were really brave to even think about this as both of us are extremely afraid of heights. We went for it..after all it was a "once-in-a-lifetime" event!  
View from train entering the town of Denali
We took the train from Fairbanks to board a tour bus.  Private cars are not allowed into the park without a special license...too many people have to be towed out after they freeze with fear of the heights and can't continue. 


After a 14-hour round trip to Mt. McKinley and Wonder Lake, snow at Ptolemy Pass, a one-lane road we didn't get to see the mountain.  

This is view we missed!
Beware, if you go, you only have a 20%-25% chance of seeing the mountain. It is so large that is makes its on weather system and is shrouded in clouds most of the time.  

We did see some beautiful scenery and actually met up with a grizzly bear family.  We were so close to them that we could have reached out and touched them.  Awesome..so glad we went.

We came back through Chicago on September 9, 2001.  I don't have to tell you what happened on September the 11th of that year.  We narrowly escaped being trapped at O'Hare Airport...still glad we went. 
BTW...we finally saw Mount McKinley from the plane as we looked back...there She was...

*For "new to my blog" people...on May 17, 2010, I visited Wisconsin.
 I can now say that I have been in, to, or through all 50 United States.
 I am committed to make an Artist Trading Card "ATC" for each of
 the 50 States. Hence, the label, 50 States