In-N-Out is a family owned business, founded in 1848. The first In-N-Out Burger opened in Baldwin Park, California with the idea to offer freshly made burgers and fries at a drive-through hamburger stand where customers could call in their order through a two-way speaker box — a COMPLETELY new idea at the time. Now with over 100 stores in California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, they are still family owned, with no franchises. Why are In-N-Out burgers so good?  Well, they have total quality control over all their ingredients. Everything is still made fresh to order in their Baldwin Park facility, nothing has been frozen. They buy their own meat and butcher it themselves. There are no additives, fillers, or preservatives in the meat; it’s fresh, 100% pure beef, fries are handcut from fresh potatoes. There are no microwaves, heat lamps or freezers in their shops. And the shakes are made from real ice cream. They say, “Since we only serve burgers, fries and drinks, making a high quality hamburger patty is everything to us.”

Now as to that urban myth – the “not so secret menu.” The menu board already lists the “double-double,” BUT you can also order a “triple-triple”, or even a “4 x 4.” Also, if you are on a no-carb diet, just order the “protein burger” and they’ll wrap your burger and fixings in a lettuce leaf. And here’s the one the guys love – the “Animal Style”! It’s got lettuce, tomato, pickles, extra spread, and grilled onions instead of fresh sliced onions. Don’t eat meat? Order the grilled cheese (two melted slices) with fixings on a bun.

To see their great tee shirts (there’s a new design every year, available the week after Thanksgiving), go to www.innoutburger.com.  Oh, and one last thing, if you are traveling on an interstate within their range, you can call In-N-Out at 1-800-786-1000, tell them approximately where you are and they will tell you where their next store on your route is coming up! The In-N-Out Burger in the Palm Springs area is in Thousand Palms; from S Palm Canyon, just go out Ramon Road to the I-10, cross over to where Ramon intersects with Varner Road,  look for the yellow arrow on a red background and there it is! Just one more reason to live in Southern California and especially here in our beautiful oasis that is Palm Springs.

The conventional wisdom is that Canadians can stay about six months; that is generally accepted to be true. I’d never seen anything in writing about it, so I searched the internet and found a couple of official US government sites that explain the law on this subject.

As it turns out, Canadian citizens can indeed “visit” for up to 6 months, as long as they maintain their foreign (Canadian) residence. No visa is required for them as Canadian citizens. Visits can be (and usually are) undocumented. If Canadian citizens spend time in Palm Springs, or really any place in the US, for longer than 6 months, there is a danger for them in being deemed taxable residents of the US, thus they would be out of status and would be considered deportable. If a person is reentering the US after the end of his last stay, and it appears to the Canadian Border Patrol Officer that the person applying for entry is spending more time over-all in the U.S. than in Canada, it will be up to them to prove to the officer that they are not de-facto U.S. residents.  A further danger in overstaying in the US is in potentially losing their health insurance eligibility in Canada. This factor alone takes most Canadian snowbirds home in timely fashion each spring!

For a definitive answer regarding your specific situation, it’s best to seek advice from the US Immigration authorities. For more information, here are a couple of useful US government Web sites – Visiting the US and Six Months Club.

First, plan a stay at the Orbit In (notice that the innkeepers spell the name of their inn with only one I), then grab a cocktail and dinner close by at Melvyn’s, located in the Ingleside Inn, where Frank Sinatra and his “rat pack” often hung out. They made Palm Springs their “getaway from LA” home. Melvyn’s is still very much what it was when Sinatra and his pals celebrated there and continues to offer dancing nightly. If you are planning a visit to Palm Springs soon, check out the whole article at Retro Palm Springs, (click forward to 4th page where Palm Springs is featured). Our great weather and proximity to Los Angeles continue to be a big draw for stars and others alike.

We love the special system of getting scheduled times at various rides in order to avoid the long lines. All you have to do is register your park admission ticket into a machine located near the entry of your chosen ride, and you’ll get back your admission ticket along with a new ticket for a fixed window of time to return. With this new ticket, you can then walk right in, bypassing the line. This can save you an hour or more and you can do a lot more with your time.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people of every age wearing mouse ears, Goofy hats, Merlin the Magician tall pointy hats, and princess tiaras. There is a tradition in many families of little girls coming to Disneyland in their princess gowns and tiny tiaras. So cute! (Disney feels a little like Mardi Gras in New Orleans.) Disneyland is a place where it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still ride the rides and wear a costume and be a kid all over again!

From RE/MAX Headquarters, Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice President for RE/MAX of Western Canada says,”Our Associates should be proud and honored to receive the confidence of Canadian consumers. It’s an inspiring merit that the best trained and most experienced agents have received for providing valuable assistance to so many families.”  We can be proud that Canadians also look to us at RE/MAX here in the US for their Palm Springs real estate needs.

Joining RE/MAX on the survey list were top brands such as Apple, Holiday Inn, Kellogg’s and Campbell’s. See all 2010 Winning Brands. The results are featured in the May 2010 issues of Reader’s Digest and Sélection du Reader’s Digest, the French edition. To read more, go to Reader’s Digest Survey.

It’s an annual event when each spring a couple returns to a Madagascar palm tree, planted in a large urn just outside our kitchen. Here they refurbish their nest from the previous year and get down to business. Once the mother bird has laid her two eggs, she is not to be budged from her nest. This year they were back again to their same tree, at the beginning of April. This particular tree is only a few feet from our house, and we can easily watch them from both the kitchen side door and from a living room window around the corner. It’s easy to tell when the parent birds come and go as they make a funny series of twittering sounds each time. We’ve been watching the parents come to the nest with food, and then the baby birds take it from the parent’s mouth. It always seems that the larger one gets the most food.

Here are the two baby birds in the nest with their mother on Tuesday night, last week at about 6 o’clock when I came home from work. I stood outside on a kitchen step about four feet from their nest to take their picture and they didn’t move at all, not even to blink an eye. A little later, the mother bird flew out and left them alone for a while. Then Wednesday night, she flew out and left them alone again. I felt sure that it was about time for them to fly and that she was preparing them.

Then Thursday night, at about the same time, 6 PM or so, the mother bird suddenly flew in and shooed the babies out of the nest. They flew a short distance and landed on our raised fire pit not far away. They sat there for a few minutes and then were gone, and I couldn’t find them anymore. The babies still have a mottled coloring in their wings to help camouflage them. Soon they will turn all gray like the mom and dad as they mature.
The next morning they were to be seen on the roof top and chimney with their mom, and they were practicing short flights. It’s such a miracle.

But back to the SI issue – to see Damaris Lewis and Genevieve Morton in a video as they pose atop several fighter planes brought out from the hangars just for this shoot, go to GIRLS AND PLANES, then scroll down to video.

We are so blessed here in the valley to have rain, while much of the country is literally digging out from several feet of snow. Yes, snow is pretty, but we do like the sun and the temperate clime that we enjoy here in Palm Springs almost daily year round. Right now it is 59 degrees. No shovels here. No drawers filled with wool scarves, gloves and mittens; no closets by the door with heavy coats and snow boots at the ready. Actually, when the rains first come each year, Dick and I have to dig out our umbrellas, as they’ve been in retirement for ten or eleven months!

We will likely see new snow on the distant peaks at higher elevations, when the skies clear. (Of course, to enjoy snow, one need only take a tram ride up to the mountains at 8500′, less than a half hour from the heart of the Village of Palm Springs.) To watch our weather, go to PALM SPRINGS WEATHER, click on Ten Day Forecast to see more.

It’s most likely that when the skies clear again, we will see a new blanket of snow on the mountains at  higher elevations. This spectacular view will be juxtaposed against palms and pools being enjoyed here on the desert floor.

Right now it’s fifty eight degrees which is, believe it or not, rather cold for us. What’s the temperature where you are today?