Nutcrackers

You have heard the old saying: It all started with one...... Well, in my case it all started with my wife giving me one Nutcracker for Christmas. Since then, my collection has started expanding. I just acquired 2 more a couple of days ago. I am increasing my number by 2 to 4 a year. Some day, I hope to acquire some nutcrackers from the Black Forest in Germany. Right now, I am content with the offerings in the local shops.

Christmas Toy Run

Every year the Cappuccino Cruisers car club has a car show and toy run at Les Schwab tires to benefit the Folsom food bank. Due to the great weather, this year was a resounding success.

















This is the mechanical singing Santa at the display.




















Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in their 57 Chevy!











































The old grey mare, she IS what she used to be.















Yes, that is Santa's real beard.











This is the pile of toys that were collected.

Towe Auto Museum Christmas Tree Trimming

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we can start thinking about Christmas, unlike the stores who started a couple of months ago. Every year the Sacramento area car clubs gather at the Towe Auto Museum to decorate a Christmas tree and enjoy a pot luck dinner.

The photo at the left is the one that our Mustang club decorated.

The following are trees that other clubs decorated. If you look close, you might catch a glimpse of Elvis.

BMW Ultimate Drive

Monday, Sept. 25 & Tuesday, Sept. 26, I participated in the BMW Ultimate Drive. Monday I was at Roseville BMW and Tuesday I was at Niello BMW in Sacramento. Tuesday evening I was one of the drivers who helped transport the cars to Sonnen BMW in San Rafael. We were given box lunches to eat before the trip and then were transported by shuttle bus back to Sacramento. We were also told that we had to stay behind the lead car and in front of the support van at the rear and that we were responsible for our own speeding tickets. Of course, none of us were speeding!!!

Following is the description of this years drive. I raised about $200 in my 2 days of driving. It was great fun. If they ever come thru your town, take the opportunity to drive some of the cars. You would have to inquire at your local BMW dealer (if you have one) as to the dates or you can search for BMW Ultimate drive on the internet. There are 2 fleets of cars each year, one goes across the northern half of the U.S. and the other goes across the southern half. This year they are going from the east coast to the west coast. Next year they will probably go the other direction.

Come celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Ultimate Drive® with BMW and our partner, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, by driving a new BMW vehicle of your choice. Choose from the sporty 2006 3 Series or the luxurious 7 Series, or better yet take them both out for a thrilling test drive! For every mile you drive BMW will donate $1 on your behalf to Komen. Since the program’s inception in 1997, The Ultimate Drive® has raised over $9 million dollars for breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment programs. In 2006 you can continue to make a difference by taking a test drive to help us reach our 10th Anniversary goal: donating a grand total of $10 million!

This is the signature car. Everyone that participated signed their name on this car. It holds about 34,000 signatures.

It is hard to take a close-up without a tripod! For what it's worth, this is my signature on the car.

Following are some of the cars that were available to drive. We made quite a hit with the colorful paint jobs.

The following pictures are views from the X3 at the start of our caravan to San Rafael.

Animal Ark

I recently visited the Animal Ark wildlife sanctuary and nature center which occupies 38 acres Northwest of Reno, Nevada.
The sanctuary provides a safe habitat for non-releasable wildlife and allows the public a unique opportunity to view the animals in natural habitat. It was established in 1980 and continues to grow with acquisition of more wildlife.



















One of the sanctuary's programs involves rehabilitation of orphaned black bear cubs so that they can be released back into the wild.
























Since I visited the facility on a hot sunny afternoon, most of the animals were sleeping so there wasn't much of a chance to take photos. To learn more about the sanctuary, go to www.animalark.org

Reno Balloon Festival

The 25th anniversary of the Reno Balloon Races was held September 8th thru 10th. There were 120 balloons entered and approximately 140,000 spectators attended over the weekend. I am part of the chase crew for a balloon called Bob's Cat. The pilot is 82 years old and has flown all over the world, including Antarctica, Russia, Nepal, and most recently, China. This was his last balloon event and he is retiring from ballooning and turning over the reins (and the balloon) to his grandson. Each balloon has a sponsor. This year our sponsor was the first place winner of last year's photo contest. She received an $800 sponsorship that allowed 1 person to ride in the balloon each day.

The winning photo

The dawn patrol took off at 5:30 am on Saturday and Sunday. They are operated by 5 specially trained pilots. They take off in the dark and then cannot land until the sun starts to come up so they can see where to land. They have special burners that allow them to light up the balloons. The whole thing is set to the music from Chariots of Fire and is quite spectacular as the balloons light up on cue either individually or all together.

Following is a series of photos showing the balloon being inflated.

Obtaining clearance to fly from the launch director (lady with the yellow stripes)

Bob's Cat in the air.

The little bee balloons, Joey and Lilly. These are the hare balloons. These balloons take off before the other balloons, land somewhere away from the launch site, and put a target (usually a large white x) on the ground. The other balloons (the hounds) try to navigate as close as they can to the spot and drop a marker. Points are given according to the distance from the x. At the end of the week, the pilots with the most points win. They are competing for $20,000 in prize money!

This is "Sushi" one of 13 special shape balloons at the event.

Packing the balloon back in the bag after a successful flight.

The basket with the burners on top prior to loading it onto the truck. The pilot, Bob Kinsinger, is on the right. His grandson Justin, who piloted the balloon on Friday and Saturday, is in the yellow vest.

This was one of the most successful weekends we have had in quite a few years. The flights on Friday and Saturday lasted about an hour and one half. Our sponsors were great. The crew consisted of the sponsor and her husband, her mother and father and two other friends. We flew her on Friday, her mom on Saturday, and her husband and father on Sunday. We flew one person and then landed, changed passengers and went up again. The pilot's son Bill, his wife Diane and I were really happy to have all of the help. Our sponsors in the past have just come for the ride, but this year they pitched in and did most of the work.

The weather was outstanding, no heavy winds so the balloons hung together real well giving a great view to the spectators.

For more about the Reno Balloon Races, go to www.renoballoon.com