I'm proud to announce that...
THIS BLOG HAS HIT AN ALL-TIME HIGH!
...further proof that I've got my head in the clouds, I suppose...

Twelve thousand feet up? Okay, from where you're at here in the CDA Area, look straight up, and imagine someone being almost 10,000 feet above you! Someone in Denver is about 3,000 feet above you. And you are about 2,000 feet above someone in Portland, Oregon. The "highest" I've been (without being in a plane) is when I went to Crater Lake, Oregon once upon a time...the road that goes around the rim of the lake is over 7,000 feet high.

I was doing some calculations once, and I estimated that the BOTTOM of Crater Lake is almost 3,000 feet higher than the surface of Coeur d'Alene Lake. Those are some of the things my brain tortures itself with sometimes. If you look at the top of Canfield Mountain, that's about the same level that many people in Southern Idaho live on. Well, it's a warped perspective, but it IS a 'different' perspective!

But, let's dispense with "thousands" of feet, okay? Let's talk about "300 feet". That is quite a difference in elevation, especially if you fall that distance. (ouch!) But, according to maps I've seen, Coeur d'Alene is at about 2100 feet up, while Spokane is about 1800 feet up. I don't feel like I'm going that far downhill when I drive to Spokane! But if you're the victim of a "traffic sting" over there, you do feel like you're in the PITS!

Of course, on Spokane's other side, that's quite a steep climb up Sunset Hill, and at the top of that, you're just about at Coeur d'Alene's elevation again. When I went to the ocean this fall, I thought, "Cool...I'm at ZERO feet above sea level". And at that point, I was still 282 feet higher than the bottom of Death Valley, California. A lot of New Orleans is slightly below sea level. Not sure I'd wanna take a chance rebuilding there again.
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Fine Dining Ages Ago dept.: Quite a while back, I posted an old '50's view of Fowlers' Cafe, which was located at the southwest corner of 4th and Lakeside here in our one-of-a-kind City by the Lake. (That's not "City on the Take"...yet). Anyway, I've included that photo again, because, well, hey, I thought it was the thing to do...anyway, one of my 3 faithful readers told me that the place burned down, back in the early 70's. I never had a chance to eat there, but I do remember seeing it!

On a recent posting, I'd found a photo of the inside of Templins' Restaurant and posted that. Well, here, is the inside of Fowlers' Cafe! And, it sure looks like a comfortable place to have a cuppa coffee and chew the fat with your cronies, or just sit down and have a meal. This looks like the kind of place I would go to; I like the atmosphere of the little independent restaurants in the area. Yeah, I admit I do go to Denny's once in a while, but for the most part, I like the little hole-in-the-wall-type cafes; they all seem to have a "homy" atmosphere; great places to B.S. or to sit by yourself and read the noozepaper. They usually have the best food, too.

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On a totally unrelated subject dept.: What am I going to do with all of my Elton John records? For years, he was one of my favorite musicians. His singing and playing are still unique, and I loved his old albums like "Tumbleweed Connection", "Honky Chateau", and especially his two-record-opus, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". I must have 25 of his albums in my collection. I thought he and his lyricist, Bernie Taupin, were so cool. But lately, he and his "domestic partner" have had their faces splashed all over the news; yep, they got married! Ack! It seems England has legalized sanctioned "couplings" with members of the same sex. I just am not that liberal, sorry. Elton and his male "wife" (or is it the other way around), smiling, holding hands, posing for the cameras...ack ack ack ackthptffff....

Look, I don't want to make anyone of an "alternate lifestyle persuasion" feel bad, but this image of Elton I have now just makes me go, "Bleccch"! And I don't think I like Elton as much as I used to. And I know that's not a good attitude either. So I'm confused here. I had no idea the "Tiny Dancer" he held in his hand was MALE! My illusions are shattered. Now, every time I play "Crocodile Rock", am I supposed to feel guilty because I still LIKE the song? Does that mean I approve of his lifestyle? I think the world as we know it is coming to an end, basically. Maybe it is ME who is the "Madman Across The Water". Wot a deal...

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Other little insignificant tidbits dept.: The temperature has risen as of late! Yaay! Remember I posted that the cold-water pipe in my shower had frozen? Well, it thawed. I can now take showers! Which probably makes the board of health and everyone else very happy! (don't you wish everyone ELSE had used "Dial" today?)

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum dept.: The City of Coeur d'Alene ain't pickin' up old Christmas Trees anymore. I wonder if the City will be getting kickbacks from the manufacturers of artificial Christmas Trees (that you don't throw away). So, another longtime tradition bites the dust. Next predicted budget-cutting move: The Street Dept. will stop picking up leaves. Are we supposed to feel fortunate that we still have sewer and water service?

Fill 'er up now, you never know when the next disaster will happen dept.: Gas is still holding steady at $1.97 for unledded up at ye old A & D Mini-mart. It's amazing to think that gas has actually fallen a dollar per gallon in the space of 3 months. Too bad the same thing doesn't seem to apply to heating bills! While there today, I looked across at the old burned-out shell that used to be the 7-11 "strip mall". It's just absolutely gruesome looking.

Prime time becomes prime-CRIME dept.: How about this for a really STUPID TV show: Sponsors buy air-time on it, and (allegedly), people actually watch this monstrosity. It's called, "Dancing with the Stars". Huh? What? Why would I want to see some egocentric Hollywood manufactured-human-being attempt not to step on their dance partner's toes? I'd rather go to a barnyard and watch pigs slosh thru the mud. More entertaining.

Meanwhile, football widows everywhere will have lingerie parties dept.: Coming up, Saturday Afternoon, and it should be grrrreat!!! The Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts will proceed to rip each other apart in Seattle, on Saturday Afternoon; I think the start time is 1:35pm. On Monday Night Football this week, John Madden said something about no one noticing how good Seattle is; he blamed that on Seattle being "way up in the corner" of the nation. Hey, we're not all spud farmers and goat ranchers up here, y'know!

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Well, this post started out at an elevation of 12,090 feet. I think we're just about at sea level now. In short, I can't sink much further; this is about as "low" as it gets. Death Valley, anyone?