Polar bear I not accept!

Another story from 1001 Minute Stories by H.S. Chapman

A Frenchman went to an American and said to him, "What does a polar bear do?" The American answered, "What does he do? I don't know. Why he sits on the ice, I suppose." "Sits on zee ice?" "Yes," said the American; "there is nothing else to sit on." "Vell, vat he do, too?" "What does he also do? Why he eats fish." "Eats fish-- and sit on zee ice and eats fish. Then I not accept." "Why, what do you mean? You don't accept? What do you mean?" "Oh, non, non. I does not accept. I was invite to be polar bear to a funeral."

(I thought it was funny.)

Got a minute?

A few months ago I picked up an old book at a junk store titled "1001 One Minute Stories" by H.S. Chapman. I'm going to share them with you if you have a minute!

A delightful little story is told of Prosper Merimee, the French author. He was once guest at a royal hunt, when hares, pheasants and other game were driven before the emperor and his followers, and the servants picked up the victims of the sport. Among all the members of the hunting party, Prosper Merimee alone had no trophy to display. "How does this happen?" asked some one. "Where game is so plentiful, the merit of the marksmen seems to me to lie in hitting nothing," replied Merimee, with grave courtesy, "so I fired between the birds."

Sadness

There is sadness at Cris' house. Her dear mother passed away last night. Please keep her and her family in your hearts.

Dating Montage

Lucky ladies that find these guys!

Rick's Thrill Ride!

Each year on the day after Thanksgiving there's a phenomena called Black Friday - where everyday normal people turn into crazed shoppers. Guess what? It's happens at Lowes Motor Speedway too! NASCAR teams bring their merchandise to the race track for some end of the race year deals. To encourage buying, Lowes Motor Speedway offers shoppers a chance to drive your own vehicle around the racetrack for 3 laps when you spend at least $50. I knew Rick wouldn't pass it up - in fact LMS probably could have told him, he needed to spend 3x that and he would have jumped on it. Of course you need to sign a waiver and they gave you a set of rules - but it didn't take long to realize that rules were meant to be 'bent'. On paper you weren't supposed to go over 70mph. The official on pit row told us that we would be driving at least 90mph. In reality, 90mph was the speed going into the high banked turns. And it was over 100mph on the straight-aways. I was in the back seat screaming my head off, the dogs were shaking and Colson was laughing his head off in the front seat watching Rick live out a fantasy. I was happy for Rick. I'm sure he'll be back.

A Trip to be Thankful for!

The week of Thanksgiving, Rick and I took a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit our daughter, Katie, and her fiance, Colson. We drove the 15 hours over 2 days to get there. We've done this before and it is a beautiful drive through Kentucky and Tennessee, and of course North Carolina. There were several memorable moments during the trip so I'm going to post the events of the trip over a few days.

Today I'll start with going to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Katie wanted to take her dad there for his birthday, Nov. 24. If you check out the website http://www.nascarhall.com/ it looks really cool! Race cars, memorabilia, interactive features and there's a restaurant too. You can purchase your tickets online to save yourself from waiting in line. When you pull into the parking garage there's a sign for early bird parking - park before 9:00am for only $7. There's only one problem....this place doesn't open until May 2010. So I took a picture of Katie and Rick standing under the sign 'Opening May 2010'. Katie is giving the 'thumbs up'.

It was pretty funny if you were there. We were all so excited temporarily.

I LOVE A PARADE!

... especially the kind of parade that evokes the image of 'Americana'! Every year on the second weekend of September, the city of Marion, Iowa hosts a series of events as part of the Swamp Fox Festival. The festival includes a variety of activities with music, food, a craft show, a 5K run/walk, golfing, picnicking and a parade!
The Swamp Fox Festival draws it's name from Marion's namesake, Revolutionary War hero, Francis Marion. I don't know how long the festival has been in existence but what I do know is the parade meets all the expectations of parade-goers!
There is a stream of wacky vehicles, clowns, a shower of candy being tossed from parade participants, a marching band, political candidates passing out leaflets and the Shriner's Foot Patrol!
We attended the parade this year to watch my 77 year old mother-in-law ride her bike, along with others from the Marion Physical Therapy office. Weather permitting, she rides her bicycle several miles a day so riding the length of the parade route was a piece of cake for her and her side-kick, Pansi. Pansi is her 2 year old Yorkie that sits in the front basket and watches the world go by her.
The weather was perfect for the parade. We had a great time and here are the pictures to prove it!