The week 8 tallies are in. The Photo of the Week with the most hits, likes, shares and/or comments is Rocky’s Portrait with a total of 27 points.
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Category Archives: animals
The Frenchman Orleans
Leaving Kansas City to stew for a bit, the next state with an exchange is Louisiana. Now I think if I want to go to Louisiana that I should plan that for the winter or it will be hot and humid! When I talked about visiting Louisiana I mentioned New Orleans and low and behold that’s where the exchange is!
Sure enough the 1 timeshare exchange is in the Frenchman Orleans. The web site describes it as ” Bridging the French Quarter and the Faubourg Marigny, the Frenchmen Hotel is located on Frenchmen near everything: nightspots, hip cafes, and some of the world’s finest restaurants. Just steps away, you’ll find exquisite shopping, museums, and a bunch of excitement! The Frenchmen Hotel is truly the place to start and end your days of French Quarter discovery!”
That sounds exciting! But then the web site goes on to say they are undergoing renovations. 🙁
I can think of a few friends that wold love to be in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras so I’m pretty sure I’ll have company on that visit.
If I/ we can tear ourselves away from the partying I’d like to visit the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. The Aquarium is located on the edge of the French Quarter, facing the mighty Mississippi River at the foot of Canal St.
Not far away Audubon has a Butterfly Garden. Those are always great places to visit.
New Orleans also has a Zoo and I always try to visit zoos when I travel. I even visited the Zoo in Hawaii!
Of course I’d have to visit the swamps and bayou and there seems to be a ton of tours to chose from. There are City Tours, Swamp Tours, Cemetery Tours, Ghost Tours and plantation Tours. I want to do them all!
I’ve missed Mardi Gras this year but many of the comments on various travel sites downplay Mardi Gras and recommend Springtime around May.
Something to think about.
Buddy’s Annual Physical
Can it really be a year since Buddy came to stay with me?
Must be. Vet records don’t lie. So out came the carrier and to my surprise , in went Buddy. No coaxing, no teasing no stuffing. He just walked right in. We are off to a great start!
Carrier goes into the car. During the short drive to the vet I only heard one soft mew. I could see Buddy’s face pressed against the slats facing me but he didn’t seem agitated.
The wait in the office was short and wonder of wonders, the vet tech we had was Diane, our pet sitter so someone Buddy knew well. It just keeps getting better and better.
I opened the carrier door and Mr. Bud strolled out like he owned the place. Very confident. Unfortunately that didn’t last long. As soon as Diane started to clip his nails he turned into “Hell Cat”! I’ve seen Buddy in a bad mood but never anything like that! I told Diane to forget about a nail trim. No point in upsetting him or getting her scratched or bit because he was trying both. She then managed to get him onto the cat scale, basically a glorified baby scale. 16+ lbs. not quite 17. He’s a big boy!
We set Buddy loose and let him roam the exam room to calm down. Diane went to get the Vet who soon arrived with another technician in tow. Buddy seemed to be on his good behavior at first but then scooted under the exam table and wouldn’t come out. I volunteered to sacrifice myself to get him and sacrifice I did. Blood flew and it wasn’t the cat’s. I’d have been a good candidate for Jackson Galaxy’s My Cat From Hell, a show on animal planet. So much for being a “Cat Whisperer”.
They wrapped Buddy in a towel and the tech had on leather gloves that went to her elbows for protection.
They let me wash off my blood in the sink but there were no bandages so I watched from the sidelines with paper towels on my scratches.
As expected I was told to put Buddy on a diet (Fat Chance pun intended) and we laughed about how hard it is to lose weight. Buddy got his rabies shot and distemper drops and was pronounced healthy and whole. (More than I can say for me)
I was embarrassed. In all my years of owning cats I have never had one misbehave so badly. Diane told me not to worry about it. After all, I found Buddy and who knows how much handling he had before I rescued him.
Back home Buddy headed to the food bowls first (A Stress eater?) then to me. He sniffed my arm, now covered with Band-Aids and gave me a series of kitty kisses. I guess I’ve been forgiven. The sweet cat that I know was back and that devilish one was long gone… at least for another year.
Photo of the week~ 6
The week 6 tallies are in. The Photo of the Week with the most hits, likes, shares and/or comments is Outdoor Gazing with a total of 33 points.
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What to do 2014 Vacation?
Here we are well into February and the only decision I’ve made about vacation this year is that I need to use my time share and that I want to be able to cross another state off my To Be Visited list.
Sandy tells me she’s staying home this year so I’ll be flying solo. My time share just launched Club Solo, an additional membership which has been developed to provide a range of benefits for those members of THE Club® who vacation alone on a regular basis. Of course there’s an additional annual fee but it might be worth it. Some of the perks of membership are: For reservations for studio or club suite accommodations at a Diamond Resorts International® resort booked 10 months to 6 months prior to arrival, you will receive a 25% discount on the points values quoted. When booking from 6 months prior to arrival, you will receive a 50% discount.
That kind of discount would open up more resorts. Something to think about for a future add on. I think this year I’ll stick to my regular membership.
I plan to make a return trip to New York in September to try to get more photos of hot air balloons. Now that I’ve done it once and can see how it works, I think I can improve my shots.
So the question now is where do I want to go and what time of year to use the rest of my vacation time. I compared my list of Must Visit States to the states with timeshare exchanges and that only narrowed it down a little.
There were 30 states on that list and of those 30 my timeshare has exchanges in 17 of them. If I were to tackle the list alphabetically then the first state on the list with a time share exchange is Colorado.
Colorado has 2 exchanges, one in Steam Boat Springs and the other in Estes Park. My initial reaction is that the Estes Park location is more to my liking but when I did a search about the best time to visit (for wildlife viewing) the recommended months were June for baby animals or September for the Elk Rut. July and August didn’t even make the list!
I’m interested in wildlife photography first and landscape photography second. Often they kind of go hand in hand anyway.
Do any of you live in the area? Has anyone visited? When time of year did you go? Any suggestions? I would plan to rent a car to get around. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.