In order to keep busy in my pre-retirement, I decided that I should indulge myself with a few additional hobbies. Throughout the spring and early summer, I saw my grandchildren get so excited in capturing and raising frogs. Unfortunately, the fatality rate was quite high in the transformation stages between a "wog" and "frog". One granddaughter, after loosing two wogs made the decision to raise mice. She had a match pair of beautiful white mice, but again unfortunately one of those passed away. Despite the losses, I saw how much fun they were having and such joy that these small creatures brought into their lives. Being that I am 61 years old, I knew that everyone would laugh at me if I pursued such a hobby, I have been a "closet wogger" since early June. When I saw the picture of my granddaughters white mice, I though that they might also be a good outlet for my boredom so I got a mouse. Like my grandchildren, I also suffered from the loss of several "wogs" with only one surviving to the frog stage of life. I could not find any white mice, however, with a little effort I was able to capture a "wild" one. With a little patience and trust, she has learned to take food out of my hand and sit on my lap. Being that the frog and the mouse are both housed in my little "workshop" they eventually had an encounter, fortunately this encounter turned into a friendship and now they spend most of their spare time together. "Millie" the mouse has learned to trust "Leapy" the frog, although being a mouse, she is not particularly fond of the water, however, she has learned to trust "Leapy" for a little swim around his pool.

The small community of Anchor Point, Alaska, has always enjoyed being the "destination point" for visiting sport fishermen. The Anchor River and lower Cook Inlet is world renown for their excellent salmon, trout and halibut sport fisheries. Although the sport fisheries will remain the largest attraction to this rural community, only recently, a new, professionally designed golf course has become operational in order to provide additional recreational opportunities for visitors and local residents alike.
On Thursday, additional recreational opportunities become available to those visiting the area. It is believed, this attraction is the first of it's kind in Alaska. It is believed that this new opportunity will become very popular for those desiring to participate as well as those who will simply enjoy viewing the participants.
On Thursday, under sunny and near calm sea conditions, those fishermen that participated in the late run marine troll fishery for King Salmon was pleasantly surprised by this new attraction. Although, those fishermen that troll for the large King Salmon in the shallow waters north of Anchor Point found the fishery to be very slow, none of them returned to the beach disappointed with a few even forgetting that they were suppose to be fishing.
As the opening of the new attraction spread by "word of mouth" throughout the lower Kenai Peninsula, the Alaska State Troopers had to reinforce their daily patrols to control the traffic congestion created by the new recreational outlet. Having always been a favorite viewing area for soaring eagles, visitors to this area will now have additional viewing opportunities with the opening of the Whiskey Gulch Nude Beaches. Members of the local Anchor Point Chamber or Commerce nor the Mayor of Anchor Point could be reached for comment as they were enjoying the sunny weather and sandy beaches of Whiskey Gulch.

Ref: July 25, 2006 (Health Day News)
If you or a loved one needs to drop a few pounds, insure that you pick up a copy of the September issue of the "American Preventative Medicine" magazine. In that issue you will find the conclusion of a new study that reveals that obesity is created by our tableware and the role this plays on how much people will eat. This study involved 85 food and nutritional experts invited to an ice-cream social.
"Just doubling the size of someone's bowl increased how much people took by 31%" according to the lead author of this study. As this study indicates, if you utilize smaller plates, bowls and silverware, you will eat less, consequently you should loose weight.
I do not know how much federal or state grant money was utilized in this study, however, my common sense tells me that if I am going to be invited to a free ice cream social, I am going to eat as much ice cream as I can, despite the size of the bowl or spoon. My second thought would be, I do not care how big the plate is, if you serve me on a plate the size of a tea cup saucer, I am going back for seconds, thirds and possibly even fourths, or until I have satisfied my hunger.
Based on this study, I can see a big change in our fast food industry, the "Big Mac" will be downsized to a "Little Mac" in order to fit into the little Styrofoam container as suggested by this study. Never fear, if the Little Mac does not satisfy your hunger, eat the Styrofoam container as it will provide your daily allowance for fiber.
I would also suggest that if you have someone in your family that is overweight, break all the china in the house and go out and buy smaller plates, bowls, glasses and convert your silverware to chop sticks. "Just a thought to ponder"

Prior to your perusal of this writing, please refer to the "Cautionary Statement" that is clearly posted directly to the left of your screen. This cautionary statement has always been posted on this site to warm those readers that the author does possess the tendencies to embellish or conjecture in his writings. However, the use of deceit, lying, untruthfulness, or Bovine Excrement is not utilized in these same writings.
I bring this to your attention, as it was just brought to my attention in recent days that there is a particular site that some of us will visit on a regular basis that practices a flatulently style of writing. The site that is being referred to "Flatulant Disorder". The name in itself should warn you that this site practices Bovine Flatus as it is incorrectly named, the correct spelling should be Flatulent. In the event that you are not aware, Flatulent is marked by or affected with gas generated in the intestine or stomach and normally expelled through the anus which is called flatus, however, in this particular case the mouth could also be considered a suitable orifice.
And why do I bring this to your attention? In recent weeks, a Bovine Excrement story was generated on this site pertaining to the authors mother getting into trouble on a recent visit to the LA area. The story continued, that she was cited and had to appear in court and was sentence to community service. Considering that she is a very respectable lady, in her early 70's and highly regarded in the community of Homer, I immediately wanted to go to her defense. In the process, I discovered that this was a story contrived by himself and my daughter with support from a couple of other siblings.
Being the honest person that I am, I do have to admit that they did pull it over on me and had me convinced that it was reality. That is good, but I learned a long time ago that if you give you can expect to receive . Your fallacy was convincing, however, allow me to tell you of a warning that my late brother Don advised my niece when she decided to pull a practical joke on me. "Prior to doing it, give it some serious thought, as you might get him but I will guarantee that he will not get even, he will get ahead". Time is not of the essence.

As a youngster growing up, I was taught to fully appreciate and enjoy the value of a family. This is something that I have carried forth into my adulthood as family is the most important and rewarding unit of humans that can be assembled. The blood of family always runs deep and true.
Recently, will perusing through a variety Blog Sites, I came across a comment on the site of "Erotic Screaming" which caught my attention. In part it stated, "I hope Valette wasn't to afraid during her stay with us because I am sure she got a good dose of my family". Having linked "Valette" as a source in the statement I immediately linked to this particular site to discover the following statement; "But, I have to be careful with the Anchor Point bashing because my in-laws live there, as do Heidi's family. And while I'm not to terribly afraid of B's family, Heidi's family scares me."
I really find this remark very offensive! I am sure she will not mind that her remarks pertaining to the community of Anchor Point and two very respectable families in the community are posted on the community bulletin board at the Post Office, along with a picture of her that I recently acquired from a source that attended a wedding reception in Anchor Point which was also attended by Valette. She should have been more aware of what was showing when she bent over the table. I am sure it will get a lot of attention. However, that is not the subject of this blog. I would like to keep you a breast of how comments like this can affect a sensitive person such as myself.
I do not find it strange that my children run around disguised as a variety of animals, often wearing hats, furs, and feathers that resemble these animals. I do not find it offensive that my children have married and from those marriages have born children that also enjoy dressing up and taking on the names of animals. I do not find it offensive that this family enjoys camping out in a gravel pit in a variety of trailers and campers, some with doors and some not. I do not find it strange that one of the most prized Christmas gifts can be a sausage with a bite taken out of it! I do not find it strange that adults and children take great delight in sledding down a hill on a tobaggan on the 4th of July. I do not find it strange that the family outhouse in their campground is also a museum dedicated to a family member and it might be added, a outhouse that my grand daughters found great delight in using as a playhouse! Oh, I forgot, they are also related to Valette! I do not find it strange that my family stores their deck chairs and personal belongings on the top of their campers at night nor that I have a "lanai" set up on the top of my tool shed! I do not find it strange that a man can collect bra's as a hobby or take great delight in receiving a little red wagon on his 60th birthday with a custom paint job, labeled "Tissy-Tissy-Tight Ass. The list could continue, however, lets take a look at the other side of the coin!
Isn't it a little strange for a member of Valette's family to receive national recognition because he goes around "beating Eagles with a stick" or perhaps a brother that has a 22 foot t.v. antenna constructed out of copper tubing which also is the same person that collects "dunnage" as a hobby and sells "copper" on the side. How about all the brothers that worked countless hours of inventing a variety of "bombs" in their younger years. These are just a few, but if you want I can go a little further back as you see, I spent a lot of time at the McLay home in the mid 50's through the mid 60's so I know some very strange things that perhaps we could discuss, if you think we scare you! It wasn't just I that stole the "outhouse" and had to go back out in the middle of the night and reset it! It wasn't just I that set the Volkswagen on blocks in the parking lot!
So as the good book so states, "ye who have not done strange things, be the first to cast the first stone"

We are back, after spending a few days in the LA area. This was the first summer in the past twenty one years that I have made a summer drive to LA. I had forgotten, what a beautiful drive it is and as well, I had forgot how bad the traffic is on the Sterling Highway and Seward Highway at the height of the visitor season. However, it was a very pleasant trip and we got so spend some time with the Wolves, Buffalo, and Woodpecker Clan. The big event was that I got to see my youngest daughter evolve into a new year. While at home it was difficult to visit when we first arrived, the noise level was so high, but then I remembered it was nearing her birth date and the noise that I heard was just her biological clock ticking! Upon returning home, I made a quick security tour of the HITWRA, although her clock is ticking, her Beach Daises that she planted last year are now in blossom in time for her birthday.
No sightings of wild game on our little drive, although there were plenty of wild drivers. Just north of Sterling we discovered a lane blockage because some guy tried to launch his 35 foot boat a little prematurely, he was still twenty five miles from Cook Inlet but he got his boat off the trailer and parked in the trees about forty feet off the highway.
If you were expecting some freight to be delivered by Carlile Freight, you may want to check on that. Just a mile south of the Russian River and Kenai River confluence, the traffic was jammed up for miles. A Carlile Truck had hit the ditch, all we could see was one 50' trailer sitting on a low boy that was completely destroyed. Never saw the tractor, but a full work crew with several other Carlile trucks, backhoes, and excavators were burying beams in the barrow ditch, not being able to rubber neck to see what was going on, I can only assume they were building a bridge into the trees where the trucker had park his rig. It was not a pretty scene, by the time we got through that, it was a steady stream of cars going south, bumper to bumper all the way to Soldotna. The north bound lane was just as bad, about six miles long and everyone walking around their vehicles trying to figure out what was going on.
The majority of the southbound traffic was most likely fishermen heading to the Kenai River to fish red salmon as it is normally the peak of the run. Today, they all got a little surprise because as of this Saturday, the daily limit will be reduced to one fish and dip netting has been halted. To date, the Sonar Counter has enumerated 83,000 fish, one year ago on the same date the seasonal count was almost a half million fish so I would say the run is a little weak - but it will pick up. Currently they are shutting down both the commercial and sport fisheries.
In all it was a great trip but as we all know, it is always nice to return to the sanctuary of the little village by the river.

It appears that yet another holiday has come and passing rapidly without any phone calls or cards from my loved ones. That is o.k., I celebrated on my own with a big bowl of Caramel Swirl Ice Cream topped with raspberry preserves. But a phone call or even a little card would have made it so much nicer.
July is National Ice Cream Month as decreed by President Reagan. As President, he later decreed that the third Sunday of July would be National Ice Cream Day, which I think I was the only one that celebrated it!
In the event this gets you to pondering the subject of Ice Cream, each year as Americans we consume 1.6 billion gallons of this cold treat. Further research reveals that Vanilla remains the number one choice, followed by Chocolate, Peach, Strawberry, and Banana. However, the younger generation prefers the more exotic flavors like Coffee, Coconut, and Green Tea???????
As to where we go to get our fix of this creamy delight. Cold Stone Creamery is the top spot. Baskin-Robbins came in at 3rd with ole Ben & Jerry at 4th. The startling thing about this popularity poll is that Dairy Queen came in as the 7th most popular yet Haagen-Dazs was way back in 11th place - must be the price!
I am sorry that all of you missed the holiday, perhaps I will go back and have second bowl of ice cream since I am celebrating all by myself. Thank you President Reagan for your contribution to man kind and a very big thank you for making Jelly Beans a popular candy once again. You will be remembered well in my history book.

No one knows where he came from, the big Rhode Island Red chicken just wandered into Scio, Oregon in the bed of pickup in 1998, no one knew who belonged to or why he was in the pickup.
He jumped out of the vehicle and wandered into the Scio Feed and Country Store, owned by the Heikkila family. He made his home in the warehouse of the store and crowed each morning at 8 a.m. to be let out.
Named "Big Red" by the townspeople in this rural community with a population of about 700. "Big Red" developed a familiar routine, when being let out in the morning, he would pause at the steps of the warehouse and then head across the street and down an alley to the Scio Food Center / Deli on Main Street where he awaited a cinnamon roll and tiny ceramic dish filled with water.
After finishing breakfast, "Big Red" would return to the feed store, making several stops along the way for sliced grapes and popcorn.
He always returned to the grocery store around lunch time looking out for handouts from students. Shortly before 5 p.m., he would return to the warehouse to be locked up for the night. The mysterious rooster caught the attention of the Oregon news media and eventually his story reached a national audience via CNN and Fox News. Tourists soon started arriving in town just to see "Big Red"
This past Tuesday, while walking to his home at the Scio Feed Store, a dog leaped through the open window of a parked car and pounced on "Big Red". Heikkila said "Big Red" staggered for several steps and collapsed at the front door of Veterinarian Sally Cole's office. His cause of death was broken ribs and internal bleeding.
Though residents will miss having "Big Red" walk the streets of their town, they will still be able to stop in see him, as the Heikkilas plan to have "Big Red" mounted and on display in their store. After eight years of bringing joy to this small town, "Big Red" is gone but will never be forgotten.

"BIG RED" is gone but will not be forgotten!

Having been a connoisseur of fine chocolate in almost any form since very early childhood, I find as much delight in a good chocolate bar now as I did as a kid. Recently, I was surprised to learn that chocolate is not widely consumed in the tropics, even though that is where most of the cocoa is produced.
The reason is simple, the tropics is to hot and we all know what happens to fine chocolate when it gets to warm, it has a tendency to melt. This problem first came to light during World War II, when our military forces were in tropical places such as Australia, Philippines and other locations in the south Pacific. Chocolate was a mainstay in the old K-Rations used by the military, but it most cases by the time the G.I. got to his desert, it was melted. The War Department commissioned a research project to develop a chocolate that had a lower melting point. Conseguently, the Chocolate M&M, that we enjoy today was developed, the hard candy coating kept the chocolate from melting and the slogan "Melt In Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand" was adopted.
It was only recently that two food scientists in Nigeria believe they have come close to achieving the holy grail among chocolate manufacturers, a heat resistant chocolate that actually tastes like chocolate. Most brands of chocolate melt at temperatures between 77 to about 91 degrees Fahenheit. The new concoction which has been developed in Nigeria stays firm up to 122 degrees, utilizing cornstarch as the secret ingredient.
During Operation Desert Storm, Hershey's Chocolate tested a high temperature candy capable of withstanding 140 degrees, however the reaction to it was mixed as it would not melt in your mouth, as you have to chew it and leads to a waxy or chewy characteristic.
I find all of this very interesting, because I vividly remember as a child that my mother, although one of the finest cooks that I ever ate after, would occasionally make fudge when her fixens were limited to Hershey Cocoa in a can, milk and sugar. This particular fudge would have surpassed the "melt test" of any study group, typically it would be a about a quarter inch thick and we would have to break out the old hatchet to cut it. Most likely, it was the first fudge brittle ever invented, but bless her, it was good and today, I would trade the biggest Cadbury Bar in the world, for just one more piece on mamma's fudge.

I have now discovered why we, as humans, have our children when we are young and do not wait for the "Golden Years". It takes a lot of energy to keep up with them! I have had to stretch my after dinner naptime to an hour before dinner and two hours after dinner. But, we have had a lot of fun and regardless of what we do, it is always an adventure to watch them. The four of them have been getting along great and seem to include each other in just about everything they do.
Yesterday, we had out Homer adventure. Started out at the City Park playing on all the neat toys and having a picnic lunch. From there we explored the Homer Spit, I pointed out all of the historic sights on the spit that I could remember from my youth, but they were not impressed. Now the ice cream parlor, that was a big hit!
We were sitting out on the boardwalk enjoying our cones, my back was to the bay so I had not noticed the railing around the boardwalk. It was made out pipe, a little rusty, in fact one spot was rusty enough that only the top pipe was in place, the lower pipe had rusted off. As I was busy licking my ice cream and Golden Grammy had disappeared to get some napkins, I heard something behind me and turned around just in time to see Devyn do a complete handstand and one complete turn around the bar. After my heart stopped pounding and she had both feet on the deck, I got up and walked over to look down, yep, it was a good thirty feet to the beach rocks below! I can see her excel in gymnastics! The beach walk along the fishing lagoon provided many treasures of shells, rocks, and one full size crab which now sits on the deck table. I figure, we are going to have to pack light on our trip north to LA since we now have several tons of collections to haul home. Seems to be a lot of sticks, stones and shells. Golden Grammy had to do a little grocery shopping, so we dropped her off and headed to Black Beard Bishop, it the name it is not familiar, that is Bishops Beach. Someone told them that a pirate by the name of Black Beard Bishop buried all of his stolen treasure there. Did not find any of that, but we did discover where the pirates burned all of their hostages! The new nature trail across the wet land was new to me, we also had to explore that. The old leg was a hurtin, but we made it.
Today, we once again explored the river. Wanted to work the dogs in the picnic hole, but there were several fisherman on that hole and I don't think they would take to kindly to two dogs bailing into the river. So we had a picnic downstream and they played in the river. Terry and I was sitting on a log, watching them play along the edge of the river, I heard Kymber and Heather say something about catching little fish and after a bit, I heard Kymber remark that she found a fish. After a bit, she shouted at me as to what kind of fish it was, so I told her to bring it to me so I could see it, she and Heather presented my with a very fine Steelhead Trout smolt about six inches long! They had pronounced it dead by the time they got it to me. They were only in a couple of inches of water so I assumed it was dead when they found it. I asked them if it was moving when they found it and Kymber, she explained to me that it was alive but then it ran into a rock and died! I worked on it several minutes trying to revive it but I am assuming it was most likely dead and the water current was making it move. It received a proper rock grave burial along with a couple of wild flowers. Next time JD goes fishing, me might want to consider taking her to insure he gets a fish. From there, we headed to the beach, the dogs got to swim and we collected another half load of rocks and shells.
Tonight, they are camping out on the decks of the AA with their cousins, it works out well, as Heath set up the tent that they can use the store window to get in and out of their tent, just like an extension bedroom.
Not sure what we are doing tomorrow - but I am sure it will yield a couple of more stories and I hope a few memories for them.