Lita and I are at our house in Scottsdale. It is located in a gated community where the rules require that the landscaping stay natural and there is a lot of space between homes. As a result there are a lot of wild animals and birds who make their home in this area. You often see a line of Quail with their bobbing heads rush across the road. Small rabbits dash across the property at top speed and then freeze at the first…
Flying faster then the speed of sound was unthinkable when flying first began. As airplanes flew faster from the 1930's on pilots began to experience problems due to the increased speed. One example was the Lockheed P-38, used in World War II, which flew normally in level flight, but if they went into a high speed dive there were control problems that often led to crashes and death of the pilot. The military became interested in planes that could safely…
Home – finally. Traffic to the airport was intense due to several accidents on the freeway and a soccer match. It was a long ride to the airport with the usual mechanical ballet of car movement with clearance only by inches. The South American airports have a number of stands where the machine wraps your suitcase with layers of plastic wrap. I have seen a lot of people get their luggage wrapped and always assumed it was to protect the…
Not only is this city a treasure house of architecture, language and culture, but it is equal to European standards for wine and food. We have eaten so much food and had a bottle of wine with lunch and dinner so often we will need help when we get home. Yesterday, Monday, was a holiday – Columbus day. For lunch we ate at a nearby Italian place that was highly recommended. T he talk around us was Spanish and the pasta and wine very…
We were up early for our flight from Mendoza t o Buenos Aires. After coffee and were driven by Alexandro to the airport some forty five minutes away. Born and raised in the city of some 100,000 people he is very proud of the area. When we asked if he had been to the U.S. he told us he had traveled to Minnesota in his youth to visit a friend in the dead of winter. He forgot about the reverse seasons and…
We left Santiago to go to the famous Argentine wine country, Mendoza. We took a commuter plane, about the size of a Horizon to Spokane, which was absolutely full, to Mendoza, Argentina. A bout a forty hour flight we flew over the beautiful Andes mountains to the very small Mendoza airport in the Argentina wine country. We got in the long line to clear immigration with only one man reviewing passports. I realized I had my passport in my carry…
The weather is pleasant in this city of over six million people. There are tall buildings you would expect to find in a city of this size along with structures from an earlier age. Huge gothic like Cathedrals the Spanish were so fond of building and modern sky scrapers. Under construction is a huge shopping and hotel area that will have the tallest building in South America. The Ritz Carlton is a high service hotel with elegant interior furnishings. The…
On Monday October 5, 2009 Lita and I left Seattle on American Airlines on our way to Dallas and there to switch planes to go to Santiago, Chile. We were to catch a 9:00 pm flight from Dallas to Santiago. Our plans called for us to spend three days in lovely Santiago and then fly to Argentina for several days in the wine country. From there we were to go on to Buenos Aires for a plaintiff trial lawyers meeting where I…
I am reading The Last Coach, a life of Paul "Bear" Bryant by Allen Barra. An interesting book by a very good writer. Bryant has been everyone’s image of who is a great football coach and his life story confirms why. Here a few stories from the book that I thought were worth repeating. Bryant grew up dirt poor in Arkansas and he remembered all his life when he was able to afford to have cleats attached to the shoes…
Do you remember the 1969 Woody Allen classic movie Take the Money and Run? Allen plays such a total loser that he even fails at trying to rob a bank because his handwriting is so bad on the hold up note the bank teller can’t read it. They argue about what the note says and Allen finally just gives up. That scene from the movie came to mind while reading the Spokesman Review newspaper in Spokane the other day. Lita…
