Carribean Cruise

We've been on a little cruise to the Caribbean. We only made two stops, Grand Cayman and Key West. Actually we like the cruising aspect so much it really doesn't matter where we go. The food and service on Celebrity is just so good we could sit in Miami and have a good time. One "highlight" of the trip is that I got bit on the finger by a stingray at Stingray City. He mistook the index finger on my right hand for a squid. I had a squid in my left hand but he missed by a little. It wasn't much of a bite but there was lots of blood so Jean thought I was looking a little like shark bait.
Other that that we just did the normal cruise stuff, ate fancy dinners, ate sushi, ate canapes, drank rum. You know, the usual.
The boat we traveled on is the same one we will be on in July when we go to Norway to celebrate our 40th. It's an older style boat than the new megaships but we like it a lot, very relaxing.

And now for somthing completely different......

This from my friend David Ascher in South Africa:

EUROPEANS HEIGHTEN THREAT LEVELS

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent
terrorist threats and have raised their security level from 'Miffed' to
'Peeved'. Soon though security levels may have to be raised again to
'Irritated' or even 'A Bit Cross'. Londoners have not been 'A Bit
Cross' since the blitz began in 1940 and tea supplies all but ran out.
Terrorists have been re-categorised from 'Tiresome' to 'A Bloody
Nuisance' The last time the British issued 'A Bloody Nuisance' warning
level was during the great fire of 1666.

Also the French government announced yesterday that it has
raised its terror alert level from 'Run' to 'Hide'. The only two
higher levels in France are 'Collaborate' and 'Surrender'. The rise was
precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag
factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

It is not only the English and French that are on a heightened
level of alert.

Italy has increased the alert level from 'Shout Loudly and
Excitedly' to 'Elaborate Military Posturing'. Two more levels remain:
'Ineffective Combat Operations' and 'Change Sides'.

The Germans also increased their alert state from 'Disdainful
Arrogance' to 'Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs'. They also
have two higher levels: 'Invade a Neighbour' and 'Lose'.

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual and the
only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to
deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new
Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Perfecting My Hobby

I subscribe to a site: kimkomando.com.

In her "Tip of the Day" she directed me to a PCWorld article showing how to do this trick with a digital photo. Nifty, huh?

We spent Sunday, October 7th watching the 26th annual Twin Cities Marathon. What a scorcher! It was almost 80 degrees at the start with very high humidity. In spite of that, both Kirk and Anne did a great job. Kirk finished 54th overall in a group of nearly 8,000 runners, third in his age group division. (The winner of the race was in his division). His time: 2:50:02. Anne finished 374th overall and 12th out of 485 in her division. Her time: 3:31:44. I've included a picture of the finish area to show what a crush of people participate in this event.

Infrequent Visitor

Here is a bird that we have never seen while living in Minnesota. (Since 1974). Although we have seen many Nuthatches, this is a Red Breasted Nuthatch which, according to my book would usually hang out further north. Just shows that it's always worth looking. You may see something new.

A Trip to Bone Lake

We traveled to Bone Lake in western Wisconsin this weekend to visit our friends Jim and Jeanne. When we visited Chateau St Croix to do a little wine tasting we happened upon the owners' hobby: polo-crosse, a combination of polo and lacrosse. Unfortunately we were only able to witness a training session but it was still interesting and a verification that we don't just drink wine.....
The last picture pretty much captures some of the allure of the "up north" lake experience.

Minnesota Symbols

We had the opportunity to travel to Bemidji last week for a stay in a housekeeping cabin at Finn n Feather resort. It was a trip down memory lane as our little family used to vacation there every summer back in the 70's and 80's. These pictures were taken at Bemidji State Park just north of down on the "Bog Walk". We had never before seen the Minnesota state flower (Showy Lady Slipper) in the wild. There were probably fifty plants or so as well as numerous other wild flowers. The second one is a pitcher plant which forms a little bowel, secrets liquid into it, and entices little critters like ants into it for a nice dinner. The loon needs no explanation although if you click for a closer look it shows the green band on its neck quite nicely. The last picture is of Jack, Cindy, Jean, and I on the Bog Walk. They were able to get away for a few days to join us fishing and enjoying the great north woods.