Can you pig out at a vegetarian restaurant???

It’s been a busy few months.  Working, travelling the country, taking care of all sorts of stuff.  It’s been keeping me busy and off line.  Hope everyone is well and doing fine. 

There’s a few posts below to give you a quick look at the last few months.

R.

For the Sebring Race Fans out there… Here’s a few pic’s.  I’ll have the final edits for all of my pictures up on the Flickr site in the next few days.  Enjoy.

Icy road to no where.  Actually, this is the road to Virginia City, MT from Ennis, MT.

How deep is the snow on the side of the road???  This deep…

On a recent trip out to Montana to play in the snow, I got the opportunity to drive a Hummer H3.  Never drove one before and was curious.  When the rental car agent heard me make the comment I had never driven one and wanted to try it, she fixed me up.

Overall, it drives pretty well.  Smooth ride, power when you need it, and needless to say will roll over most things without too much trouble.  Of course, that’s when your driving on warm, dry pavement.  When you get into the snow/freezing rain, that’s another story. 

First, the rear door seam is in the wheel well.  So, when you get a build up of ice, the rear doors tend to freeze shut.  We almost ripped the rear door handles off when we tried to open the door.  After a day of running through the snow and wet roads, we had built up about an 1 1/2″ of ice.

The other issue we had is that with the standard all season tires, it isn’t worth a damn in some situations.  We were driving down a dirt road and came across a drift of snow and I decided to plow through it.  It was only about 15 feet wide (went across the whole road) and only looked to be about two feet deep.

I guess the snow had melted and refroze a few times because instead of going through the snow, we went over it.  Until we got half way across.  Then we heard a crunch and we cracked through the top layer of ice into the snow down to the dirt road.  If you look closely on the left side of the picture, you can see that top layer of frozen snow is about 2 - 3 inches thick.

Well, long story short, it took us about 20 minutes to dig the thing out and get going.  Rocking it back and forth and the usual methods of getting a truck out didn’t really work.  It was a dog.  It should have been able to dig through something that simple.  I’ve done it with other vehicles, no problem.

The H3 seems to just be a fancy soccer mom (dad) truck and made for the dry weather.  Using it in the cold, snowy weather is a waste.  I don’t even think changing the tires would help much.

Oh, for you tall guys, no matter what you do you’re going to whack your knees on the steering column when you get in.  Run away!!!  There are other options better suited for this type of environment..

R.

From the Feb 2008 Eclipse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Through the clouds and a little haze.

I was watching CNN this morning and they were doing a countdown of the best dances of 2007 (of all things).  They showed a clip of this cadet in the Air Force Academy and  I was able to find it on YouTube.

This is the way to start the new year - dancing, jumping, and just having a good time for the heck of it.

I wish everyone a safe and happy New Year.  I especially send out my thoughts to the men and women in the military still overseas.  We hope to see you back home soon.

R

I don’t recall seeing this in the news.  But I was out on the TSA site looking something up for an upcoming trip and thought I would pass it on.

From their Website:

Effective January 1, 2008, spare lithium batteries - extra batteries not installed on devices - will no longer be allowed in checked baggage. Spare lithium batteries may be packed in carry-on baggage and lithium batteries installed in a device may be packed in either checked or carry-on, as long as the battery is installed in the device

The link to the page can be found here.  Thy also point to a DOT site that talks about battery saftey tips.

Depending on the length of the flight, I will usually have a spare laptop battery with me and I always bring spare batteries with me for the camera gear.  Both camera batteries and batteries for the flash units. 

It will be interesting to see if they put any limits on the number or type of batteries you can carry-on.  Or, if they too will get the Ziploc treatment.

R

I know.  It’s a little late.  OK, very late, but better late than never.  Saw this over on Helen’s site, I Forgot Where I Was Going with This.  Here’s my contribution…

Wrapping paper or gift bags?I like paper.  Nothing like the sound of that paper tearing off the gift.

Real tree or artificial? Real.  The fakes are getting better, but there is nothing like a real tree.  I’m a northerner.  I’m used to real trees.

When do you put up the tree?Depends.  This year we did it just after Thanksgiving.  Other years we wound up with a Charlie Brown tree because we didn’t get around to it until Christmas Eve. 

When do you take the tree down? When I get tired of cleaning up the needles.

Do you like eggnog?Yes, along with the extras that go in it.

Favorite gift received?Hmmmm….  They were all pretty good.  Hard to pick a favorite.

Do you have a nativity scene? No.

Hardest person to buy for? Until recently, my father-in-law.  Now that we have found “his thing” (music), it’s a lot easier.

Easiest person to buy for? Everyone else.  I can usually come up with a good idea for just about everyone.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Clothes.  Especially when they are a size or two too big.  Oh, I did get a fruit cake once.  but, that was actually pretty good.  Is that weird?!?

Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail them.  We also use one of the services where we can put our own picture on the card (not us, but a picture of a landscape or some other item).

Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Storywith Darrin McGavin and Peter Billingsly.  I also like the claymation movies.

When do you start shopping for Christmas?   Tends to be last minute.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Ummm…. Errrr….

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas cookies/deserts.  I see a lot of stuff this time of year that you don’t see the rest of the year.

Clear lights or colored on the tree? Depends on the mood.  Last year was clear, this year was colored.

Favorite Christmas song? Aren’t they all good??  LOL!!!

Travel at Christmas or stay home? I try and stay home. 

Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes.

Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? OBNOXIOUS SHOPPERS!  <– Yeah, what she said.

What I love most about Christmas? Everything - music, food, lights, most people are happy/nice.

I came across this sign in the restroom of a local grocery store the other day.  I’m hoping it’s a proactive attempt at inform people and not a reactive response to an issue… (Yuck!!). 

Just click the pic and check out the bottom left…

R