Spring Has Sprung - Fire Up The Crossfire

As you can see from the latest pictures, we've added a new set of wheels to our collection. This one, a Chrysler Crossfire (06 vintage, but with only nine thousand miles on the odometer) is basically a "toy" for occasional outings to interesting places that invite a top down driving experience. I've been looking for a roadster for quite some time and this one met my criteria for just about every area that I considered significant when purchasing this type of vehicle i.e. price, year registered (I only considered pre-owned vehicles), warranty, options that come with the car beyond the standard features of a basic model (such as upgraded stereo, power/heated seats, engine size, etc) and, of course, projected reliability. The Crossfire doesn't score the highest in any of these areas, when compared to other sports cars, but for the price (I bought it from Car Max - our fourth Car Max purchase over the last five years), it beat out the competition.

The Crossfire has a significant percentage of Mercedes parts, the engine in particular, but also many of the interior components are from the Mercedes SLK of that era. The car is basically an Americanized version of the Mercedes SLK model. Chrysler will no longer manufacture Crossfires after this year. Who knows, Chrysler may not be in business after this year, if the economy doesn't improve.

We are looking forward to our first Crossfire outing this weekend. We'll just take a short drive (top down, of course) this first time, but after returning from our Vegas trip next week, we plan to take a longer excursion to some intriguing location. Can't wait! Check out the pictures to the left and at the bottom of the blog page and let me know what you think of the Crossfire.

Additionally, the below You Tube link provides a good video presentation of the Chrysler Crossfire Roadster Convertible Limited.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gx-OyRIv88

Time for Chicken and Dumplings

I recently had a craving for a "back in the day" meal, one that I typically ate for Sunday dinner, a southern meal that is quick and easy to prepare, but taste as good as a rib eye steak prepared in a fine dining establishment. At least that is how I remember my Mom's recipe for chicken and dumplings. I still have the recipe, but Nancy and I had not cooked up a pot of chicken and dumplings for more years than I care to remember. So, a couple of weeks ago, we decided to give it a go. It was just as I remembered - a delicious way to prepare chicken, in a sauce that comes right out of a can. It's really that simple. Mom's method took a little longer and the outcome was better, but our chicken and dumplings are pretty tasty too, especially for how little time it takes to prepare.

We took a few liberties in the preparation of our southern meal. As mentioned, there was no laboring or constant taste testing of the sauce - Mr Campbell took care of that, with his readily available, at any grocery store, cream of chicken soup. As for the dumplings, flour tortillas seem to work as well as biscuit dough, and they too are easily found at your local super market. Just cut the tortillas into small strips and drop them into your hot chicken broth. All that is left to do is to add as much cut up boiled chicken breast meat as you like, we prefer the Foster Farm brand chicken, prepare your salad, and you have a delicious dinner meal. You can see the results of our effort from the pictures posted to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Bon Appetit!

Friday Night at the Movies

We had an enjoyable Friday Night at the Movies get-together last week. Dave purchased some fabulous rib eye steaks from the Apple Market in Lodi. They grilled perfectly, with great flavor and just the right amount of marbling. They were over and inch thick! Nancy fixed the baked potatoes, salads and asparagus and I cooked some garlic flavored mushrooms to top off our steaks. We ate our meal outside on the patio. What a feast!

Afterwards we watched the movie "Milk" and deliberated as to whether or not Sean Penn was deserving of the Oscar he won for his portrayal of Harvey Milk. Penn is a very controversial actor, so there was no consensus, but there was agreement that Milk is an excellent film and not to be missed.

Chili Dog met the guys for the first time. Other than wetting on Terry's suit pants, there were no gaffes on her part during the entire evening. She went to sleep while we watched Milk. I guess it was past her bedtime. We didn't conclude our gathering until after 1:00 am.

I've added a picture of Brandon Jr sitting in our stairway with Chili. Kelley brought Brandon by the house on Sunday and he got to play with Chili and walk her around our neighborhood park. Brandon did a great job! He is a natural for dog walking, just so long as the dog doesn't weigh over ten pounds and isn't more than about a foot tall. I think he really got a kick out of playing with the "puppy", the word he uses to describe Chili. Actually she is almost seven years old, and except for some gray whiskers she does kind of remind you of a puppy. Brandon also got a chance to ride his ATV up and down our driveway several times. This appears to be another of his favorite things to do. At two years of age he is discovering something new everyday and he loves to explore. By evening's end he was sleepy and ready for the trip back to Fairfield. All and all, it was a great weekend!

Our Canine Companion

We are now the proud caretakers of Chili, the dog we adopted this week. Chili, a Chihuahua and Mini Pinscher mix, has touched our hearts, in a way that only a dog is able to do. She is an older dog, about seven years old, according to her vet. Needless to say, we already think that she is the best dog in the whole wide world, but we just might be a little bias, since we have become infatuated with every nuance associated with pet ownership. More about Chili, later.

Kindle Update

My Kindle usage increases daily, as I find more and more publications to read from my home page. The books download exceptionally fast, in less than a minute, and you can read sample passages prior to purchasing, to make sure that the book is to your liking.

I have been able to read the electronic ink on my Kindle, even in very low light, without any eye strain. That's definitely a plus for a device of this type. So far I have not experienced any glitches in the performance of the Kindle. The next generation Kindle will probably include color, but so far I have been pretty much satisfied with the high quality black and white photos that I've seen. The electronic ink works quite well. It's a new way to enjoy reading, in a format that simplifies the process of procuring your favorite publications. Thumbs up for the Amazon Kindle.

Amazon Kindle

My long awaited Kindle has finally arrived. Shipping was only three days from when I ordered the electronic reader, but I say long awaited because I've thought about purchasing a Kindle since the first day that the generation one Kindle debuted. Amazon now has a second generation of this device and that is the model I purchased. It's only been out a few weeks and although it isn't all that different from the first offering, it does have improved graphics and the system has been tweaked to make it even more competitive with a similar product from Sony. The new Amazon Kindle does add a new dimension for an electronic reader - text to speech. It's not like an audio book voice, in fact it's not even close to that format, but it's usable and a nice upgrade from the first generation Kindle.

I can't say that I ever considered the Sony version of electronic readers. It seemed to lack some of the features that I felt were important in such a device. Price wise the Amazon Kindle is a little on the high side of what I think an electronic reader should cost, but when you download a best seller in less than sixty seconds, from anywhere that you have a 3G wireless connection, and for less than ten dollars, the price doesn't seem unreasonable.

I'll do an update on my new Kimble after I become more familiar with all the features of this new electronic reader. I can say that the out of the box experience has been good - two thumbs up at this point. We'll just have to see if there are any glaring deficiencies to be found during the next week or two. I've posted a picture of my new Kimble to the right and at the bottom of the blog page.

Tim's Pups

My good friend Tim, whom I grew up with in the West End of Louisville and who now resides in Tampa, Florida, has a neat way of chauffeuring his "guys" around town. Whether it's a trip to a nearby dog park or a journey to the beach, his recumbent bike, with a trailer attached, makes for a comfortable ride for his much pampered pets. Riding around on a recumbent will get you plenty of inquisitive stares in itself, bring the pups along with their heads popping out of the cool looking trailer and you have a unique mode of travel that curious onlookers just can't help but want to ask some questions about. All the "guys" seem to have great fun during the outings.

Tim often shares with me photos of his canine buddies. You can see a picture of Mickey D, Suzzy Q and Teddy B on their way to the beach for some frolicking in that year round warm Tampa sunshine. Thanks for sharing, Tim.