Meeting Martin Buser

Everyone should have the experience once in their lifetime of meeting someone famous they admire. For some it’s a rock star or politician. For me it’s Martin Buser, four time Iditarod-champion who holds the record for the fastest Iditarod at 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds (but who’s counting?) I never dreamed that I’d ever get to meet him in person, even for a few minutes. After all, Alaska is a long ways away. But this week some other fans and I got to spend an entire evening with him in—of all places—Des Moines, Iowa.

Martin was in Des Moines as the keynote speaker for the Public Works Association Snow Removal Conference, and he needed to borrow some huskies to make a grand entrance. One of the Iditabuddies from the bssd forum let him use her huskies, and she also arranged a special fan gathering for the night before. My favorite Idita-hero only three hours away from me! That was a no-brainer. Although I’m not much of a traveler, this was an opportunity I wouldn’t miss for the world.

Part of the fun of a gathering like this is meeting other fans. The Idita-buddies are the best bunch of fans in the world. Right before the meeting I meet three other fans for supper: Cindy, fellow Martin Buser fanatic Diana, and Diana’s husband, Philip. We told the waitress we’d never met each other before, which must have seemed strange to her, since we were talking a mile a minute.

Finally the time we had been waiting for arrived. We walked into the small auditorium and saw Martin Buser “in the flesh.” He noticed our matching Buser Booster T-shirts right away (the best $20 I ever spent), and that got us talking. I thought I’d be starstruck, but he has a way of making everyone feel at home. He spoke for nearly two hours, but it seemed like a few minutes. Afterwards he stayed around and shot the breeze with us fans for a long time, tirelessly signing autographs and posing for pictures. The die-hards stayed until the end. We talked about Switzerland, writing, his family, and of course sled dog racing. His sense of humor was priceless. By the end of the evening, he felt like an old friend.

Truly an unforgettable experience! For more pics, see this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91109&id=629661480&l=8717040f6e
And if that wasn’t enough, my picture was even posted on Martin Buser’s blog: http://www.buserdog.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

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No riddle this week

Sorry, no riddle this week. I'm too busy getting ready to be a fan girl. Expect a complete report when I get back. (For those of you who don't know, I'm keeping you in suspense.)

Riddle #49: what word?

This riddle is a bit different, but it's fun (besides, I'm running out of the lateral thinking puzzles that I prefer). Here goes:

What word contains all five vowels: a, e, i, o, u -- but only has 7 letters total?

It's not a trick question or anything. There really is such a word -- and it's one I'm pretty sure you know.

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.

Our Church's Tea and Fashion Show

Our church had a new tradition: a spring tea for the ladies. This year we added a fashion show. I hosted a table, pictured here. I used the china I inherited from my grandparents and decorated it with pottery my girls had made.

Believe it or not, I also modeled for the fashion show. The first category was "Fashion Favorites." My favorite outfit? Of course, it's my cap from Martin Buser's Happy Trails Kennels, my jacket that says "Nome, Alaska" on it (complete with an embroidered sled dog team), and my Buser Booster T-shirt, with a picture of Martin Buser and his dog team.

The next category was "Fashion Frugal." I'm all about frugal. I modeled an outfit that came about by accident. My daughter needed a 1920s dress for a melodrama, so we found a sleeveless dress at the Salvation Army, which I was planning on redoing into a dress that fit Monica. But after purchasing it, we decided on a different dress, which left me with a dress that I couldn't return, but one that I didn't feel comfortable wearing alone. About the same time, I was shopping at another one of my favorite stores, Goodwill, when I found a suit consisting of a jacket and slacks. The slacks were too big and needed to be altered, but the jacket fit perfectly. Then I discovered that the jacket matched the dress. I wore the outfit to a production at the performing arts center, where I ended up having dinner with the mayor at a special gathering beforehand. I was glad I had put together this professional outfit just in time for the event.

To see more photos of the event, click here.

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A Parody: Hey There You Nav Girls

I'm a big fan of parody poetry and songs. (If you look around my blog, you can find a few parodies I've written.) There's something pleasing about taking a familiar poem or song and tweaking the words a bit. I stumbled on this parody to "Hey there, Delilah," which was performed at a gathering of the Navigators, a Christian college group, which is often called "Nav" for short. Here's a link to the words and a video:

http://jaledwith.com/2009/02/15/hey-there-you-nav-girls/

Lord of the Dance

Here's a video of a dance that my daughter Monica choreographed and performed with some children at my friend's church. It combines elements of modern and Irish dancing.

Riddle #48 The Graffiti

A teacher found some graffiti written on the wall of her classroom. No one owned up to doing it. How did the teacher find out which student wrote the graffiti?

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.