Riddle #33: The Older Twin

One day Susie celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin brother, Sam, celebrated his birthday. How is this possible?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Iditarod Fantasy Photos

I had some time on my hands one day, so at the suggestion of one of my Iditabuddies at the bssd forum, I decided to make some Iditarod Fantasy Photos. I used Printmaster, which is pretty easy to use. Come join me on my fantasy trip to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race:

Here I am as an Iditarider on Dee Dee Jonrowe's sled. Dee Dee is one of my favorite mushers. Although she has never won the race, she has come in second place twice, and she always runs a competitive race. In everything she does, you can sense her kindness, the love for her dogs, her joyful spirit and her strong Christian faith. She participates in one of the toughest sports, but she's always a lady. A breast cancer survivor, she wears pink for breast cancer awareness.

Every year, people bid for the privilege of riding with a musher for the 11 miles of the race's ceremonial start in Anchorage. Bidding for the 2009 race starts December 1, and it will be interesting to see how high the bids go. However, even if I could afford it, I don't have a chance of being Dee Dee's Iditarider in 2009. That privilege has been purchased in advance of the auction for a "mere" $7500.

A quote from Dee Dee: "I don't want to live safe, I want to live full."

While on my fantasy trip, I met Martin Buser, another one of my favorite mushers. Originally from Switzerland, Martin decided to become a U.S. citizen on 9/11 because "this country is worth fighting for." Martin holds the record for the fastest Iditarod ever (8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds, "but who's counting?"), which he raced in 2002, right before being sworn in as a U.S. citizen under the burled arch at the finish line.

Like anyone who is successful, Martin works hard to achieve his goals, but he always keeps a good sense of humor. In 2008 he caused quite a stir when he gave his GPS unit to a pilot and fans wondered what was going on. One of my favorite photos of Martin is when he came into a checkpoint doing a Hula dance after a particularly frustrating run. He whistles and sings to his dogs to encourage them, and he even rigged a giant hamster wheel ("doggie wheel") to help his dogs exercise in the kennel. He and his wife named their sons Nikolai and Rohn, after two Iditarod checkpoints.

A favorite Martin quote: "If everywhere you go is your favorite place, you 're always happy to be there."

Well, I decided that cats can have fantasies too. Here are our two precious kitties, Misty and Moggle as lead dogs . . . er . . . lead cats in the Iditarod. Do you think that if I shook a treat can, like a carrot on a stick, that I could get my cats to run a thousand miles through the snow?

This last photo was created by Brian, an Idita-buddy from the forum. It's a picture of several Idita-buddies under the famed burled arch finish line with mushers Martin Buser, Melanie Gould, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and Lance Mackey (the reigning Iditarod champ). It does seem to be rather strange that the fans are dressed for nice weather, but the mushers (except for Martin) are dressed for an Alaska winter.

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Riddle #32 - The 911 call

Late at night an old man was driving on the freeway in a big city when he felt a pain in his chest. "It's a heart attack!" he groaned, and he pulled off at the next exit. He found himself in the middle of a residential area, and he had no clue where he was. He didn't remember which exit he took or even which direction he was going. Unfortunately, he did not have On-Star. He did manage to find his cell phone and call 911.

"I'm having a heart attack," he said to the 911 operator.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"I don't know. All I know is that I'm in a residential area, with cars parked in front and behind me."

"Can you see any street signs?"

"I can't see any from here, and I can't move," he replied. The pain from the heart attack had essentially paralyzed him.

"Try honking your horn and see if someone comes out," she instructed.

Nothing happened.

Then she asked him one more question. After he answered the question, the ambulance was there within minutes. What was the question?

NOTE: The correct answer to the riddle has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

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Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Time for a New Profile Picture

My previous profile picture was modeled after a Daughtry album. I liked it, but if you want to know the truth, I didn't even own the album.

So when the new David Cook
album came out, I decided to celebrate my creating a profile picture modeled after his album, which I do own.

My daughter took the photo of me. It was hard getting that serious look down. Then I used a program called Printmaster to create the album cover. Does this make me a fangirl?

The original is below. What do you think?

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Riddle #31: The Phone Call

Here's the latest riddle. I'm thinking this one may be a bit harder and may require some questions and answers, but you never know. Here goes:

A man is having problems sleeping. He makes a phone call, says nothing, hangs up, and after that he is able to sleep. Why?

NOTE: The answer to the riddle has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

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Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Pleasure Driving

For my birthday this year, our friend Ben took the whole family pleasure driving with his Suffolk draft horse named Red Rock Surge.

It was one of those fall days when you wanted to stay outdoors forever, and the leaves were just starting to change in the park where we went riding. People stopped to observe this strange sight: an old-fashioned horse pulling a cart, which incidentally was designed by the Amish for agricultural use.

The Suffolk draft horses are bred for agriculture, Ben explained. They are smaller and shorter than other horses, and they "pull like crazy." Surge certainly seemed to enjoy pulling us as much as we enjoyed the ride.

Ben tries to go out driving as much as he can. He says it's relaxing to spend time outdoors and be by himself with nature.

It was fun to watch him interact with Surge and see how the horse responded to him. Because I'm a big fan of sled dog racing, I thought it was pretty cool to hear him use the familiar terms "Gee" (right) and "Haw" (left) that I've heard on Iditarod videos.

Afterwards, we waited at the stable, while Ben washed and fed Surge. Taking care of a horse is quite a responsibility. The wait gave me a good chance to chat with Ben's wife, RoJean, who has become a great friend.

And then? We all went out for good old Nebraska barbecue. A satisfying way to celebrate my birthday.

Riddle #30: Only One Obeyed

Here's the next riddle:

A woman told all four of her children to do something, but only one obeyed. But the one who obeyed had to go sit in a chair, while the other three children got to continue the game they were playing. Why?

NOTE: The correct answer has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

Riddle #29: Water and Milk

You have two buckets: one is completely filled with water and one is completely filled with milk. Your goal is to fill each bucket with one half water and one half milk. When you are done, each bucket needs to be completely filled -- you cannot lose any of the liquid in this task. What makes this task difficult is this: You are not allowed pour the liquid into any other container. (And before you ask, no you cannot hold any liquid in your mouth and then spit it out.)

How do you complete this task?

The answer to this riddle has been guessed. To read it, see the comments section.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.