This is my son-in-law, Homer, I am so very proud to have him in the family!

If you are reading this, you will be one of the first to hear about this news story. Got a phone call from Brother Bill just a few minutes ago. Thanks to the new age he was calling on his cell phone from Flagstaff, Arizona. As in all our industries, the electronic era has also influenced the trucking industry. The large truck companies have all of their trucks equipped with computers and GPS systems so they can track each of their trucks, set up fuel stops, make changes to routes depending on road conditions and normal communications with the driver. The story that he relayed to me will most likely be on the national news media outlets on Thursday.

A few days ago, Bill was taking a load of cardboard boxes from Denver, Colorado to Phoenix, Arizona. While off loading in Phoenix, he checked his computer system to see where he was going to pick up his next load and his destination. There was an alert for any of the company drivers that were in the Phoenix area who had experience in hauling livestock to contact the dispatcher. Bill responded to the alert that he had hauled livestock before but not in a big rig. He was the only driver to respond to the message so he was dispatched to pick up the load.

The truck that was hauling the load had mechanical problems with the tractor and all they needed was a different tractor to pick up the load. It had originated in San Diego and was destined for Albuereque, New Mexico. When Bill arrived to where the disabled truck was parked, he quickly discovered why it was an emergency pick up. The trailer was a light aluminum trailer in order that it would be cooler when traveling as the livestock were very sensitive to the higher temperatures in the Phoenix area. It was only then that he discovered what his new load would be, four adult elephants! The elephants were part of a circus traveling between California and the midwest, since it was a load of unusual livestock to be hauling, a animal handler had to accompany Bill on the trip.

Bill got the trailer hooked up and checked everything out, it was not a normal trailer but nothing out of the ordinary. He said it was quite a site to watch as they loaded the elephants, said it was much easier than some of the mules and horses that he has seen loaded. They were about six hours behind the remainder the circus convoy and got out of Phoenix at about 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The interstate traveling north of Phoenix is pretty level, until you start increasing altitude as you get closer to Flagstaff, Arizona. As a side note, Flagstaff is a beautiful area, rolling hills, large Ponderosa Pine and just south of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, one of my favorite areas.

Going north of Flagstaff, you have to take a state highway across the Navajo Indian Reservation which intersects with an interstate highway and straight shot into Albuereque. The area north of Flagstaff is hilly and the highway has a lot of curves so Bill pulled onto a rest stop just north of Flagstaff to check his tires and do a walk around on the truck. As Bill was walking around the trailer, thumping the ties with his bar, the ride along trainer opened up a small door on the trailer and went inside to check on how his elephants were enjoying their ride. Unknown to Bill, the trainer had left his truck door open. Bill has a full time riding companion, a very small black dog by the name of Spike. Since Bill was out of sight and the door was open, he took it upon himself to go relieve a little water.

Evidently, Spike picked up a scent that was new to him, most likely the scent of elephant so he went to explore while Bill was on the other side of the trailer. He slipped through the small door that the trainer had left open. When he entered the trailer, he saw something that he had never seen before, big gray animals with long noses. Being the typical guard dog for the truck, he had to sound the alert of intruders in the trailer. Bill heard Spike barking and yelled at him, about the same time one of the elephants trumpeted, this really set Spike off and all hell broke loose. Bill said all he knew was that the trailer was jumping up and down as if it were in a terrible earthquake and then out the front of the trailer the largest of the elephants, a bull came plowing through the light aluminum skin of the trailer followed by the other three elephants and Spike!

Bill took this picture and a couple of others with his cell phone and emailed them to me. The hole in the front of the trailer is the one the elephants made for an emergency exit. He had to disconnect the trailer to return to Flagstaff.
Bill rounded the rear of the trailer about the time the trainer was coming out the man door, screaming at the top of his lungs to grab a hook and help him stop the elephants. Bill said he grabbed the same kind of pole the trainer had, something that looks similar to a boat hook and took off on a run after the trainer. If you have ever seen Bill run, he is not the fastest or most graceful of runners. The sun was just setting as they started their round-up, which most likely would have been successful if Spike had not been ahead of them 100 yards and chasing the elephants. Bill thought they could have perhaps caught up with the elephants, but with the trainer screaming at them, Bill screaming at Spike and the Bull elephant trumpeting at the same time, the elephants had but one thought and that was to put some distance between themselves and the chaos that was transpiring around them. When the two of them finally came to the conclusion that they were not going to catch up with them, they slowed their pace to a walk and tracked the elephants,not a difficult task in the desert sands of Arizona. They did catch up with Spike, he was sitting in the middle of the elephant trail, looking into a small canyon which is an arm to the Grand Canyon.

Bill did manage to snap a couple of pictures of one of the elephants while he was taking a break to catch his breath and to call Spike. He said this is the youngest of the four elephants, a young female.
They continued to track the four elephants, until they come across a torn down fence and a big wooden sign that had been trampled by the herd. The words on the sign was "Property of the Navajo Indian Nation, No Trespassing". Already having a herd of angry elephants on the loose, they definitely did not want to get the Indians angry and after them as well, so they retreated back to the truck and wrecked trailer. When Bill called in the report to the highway patrol, I guess it took a lot of convincing to get them to believe his story and what his cargo had been. He was told to drop his trailer as a marker of the scene and return to the patrol headquarters in Flagstaff. Prior to it getting dark and Bill's return to Flagstaff, they did manage to get a plane in the air to locate the elephants, they were spotted on the slopes leading into the Grand Canyon. When he called me from the Patrol Headquarters in Flagstaff, they had already called in all parties concerned to determine how they were going to retrieve the elephants. Bill said the biggest thing discussed was jurisdictional responsibilities as the problem is compounded. Since the incident occurred on a state highway with a commercial truck, both the Arizona Highway Patrol and Federal Department of Transportation is involved. The elephants are in the Grand Canyon National Park, so the U.S. Park Service is involved. Since the elephants crossed into and destroyed the fence on the Navajo Indian Reservation, their Council is involved, not to mention two different counties each having their own Sheriff's Department and the Flagstaff City Police Department. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also involved because it has jurisdiction of livestock transported across state borders. He said the insurance companies, lawyers of all parties are yet to arrive in Flagstaff but they should be in by morning.
They are now waiting for daylight, however, I guess the plan of action will be to get the Arizona Air National Guard helicopters in the air to locate the elephants. Once they are located, which should be along the Colorado River in the bottom of the canyon, they will then go in from the canyon rim on mules with some Indian trackers, park personnel and assorted other agency personnel including Bill and the trainer. I guess their primary concern is if the elephants do cross the river, how they are going to get across to retrieve them. Typical of Bill, he is cool and undaunted, his comment was "you know, I have always wanted to ride a mule into the bottom of the canyon, this will be my opportunity to live a dream". Sounds to me as if it is more of a nightmare! As for Spike, he is now restricted to the sleeper on the truck for a few days. Don't know how it will all turn out, Bill promised to keep me posted on any new information but I doubt he will have cell phone access in the bottom of the canyon, so perhaps we will see the rest of this story on the news tomorrow.

The cowboy philosopher, Will Rogers, once told an audience, "I do not make up these stories, I just read the news". Knowing, that all of you lead a hectic life, I thought that perhaps I would go through a few of the most recent news articles that I have seen, which you may never see on your main stream news media.

$1,000,000,000
The next time you hear your favorite politician make a comment like, "It will only cost $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars)to build this highway, foot trail and bridge", you may want to consider just how much one billion dollars really is. In this day of age of common millionaires, the sum of one billion dollars does not seem to be that much, considering the national deficit is around three trillion dollars. Last evening, while watching the Neil Cavuto Report, he brought this sum into proper prospective. If you equate one billion dollars to the measure of time, you will discover that:
One Billion Seconds ago, it was 1959!
One Billion Minutes ago, Jesus was still alive!
One Billion Hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age!
One Billion Days ago, no one walked on the earth, at least on two feet!
Yet, a Billion Dollars ago was only 8 Hours and 20 Minutes, at the rate our government is spending!

TESTOSTERONE
Researches, recently discovered something that most women have know since early childhood. On Tuesday, researchers revealed that too much testosterone in the male can kill brain cells. The next time you accuse your mate of being "brain dead" you will at least have some documented proof. To be fair, the same researches decided to compare hormones of both men and women. In the study is was discovered that Estrogen is neurprotective and there is less cell death in the presence of Estrogen. The problem of to much Testosterone can be created by those athletes or males wanting to become "buff" by using additional amounts of Testosterone or Steroids to increase their strength and stamina in athletics. This research answers the questions that I have maintained about some of our professional athletes, they are indeed brain dead!

THAT "MONA LISA SMILE"

The "Mona Lisa" is most likely the most notable work of art in our history. Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in the 16th Century. Duplicates of the picture are seen in most art galleries as well as songs being written about the smile of "Mona Lisa". Researcher's that have been studying the painting using 3-D images have discovered several things about this painting that were not previously known. Perhaps, "Mona Lisa" should be re-named to "Mama Lisa" Scans turned up evidence of a fine, gauzy veil around Mona Lisa's shoulders, a garment women of the Italian Renaissance wore when they were expecting a child. As the painting aged, the veil darkened and even made it difficult to tell what color of dress she was wearing, black, brown, or green.
The scans also make clear that Mona Lisa does not have her hair down, as it appears. Most of her tresses are pinned back into a chignon and covered with a veil. In 1950, Nat King Cole asked in a song lyric if she was smiling to "tempt a lover" or "to hide a broken heart", now we know the whole story, she was glowing with child.

PINK CONVERTIBLE PURCHASED
Recently, a Pink Convertible (make and model unknown) was purchased on eBay for $17,000. For a collector of fine cars, this does not seem like a large amount of money for a "collectors item". However, one would have to wonder how much the individual that purchased the car actually knew about the value of such items. Jack Neal was the high bidder on the Pink Convertible when the time expired for bids, however, he was the owner for just a short time, before his mother discovered that he had purchased the automobile. The problem is that Jack Neal is only three years old! Jack's mother had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the "buy it now" option to complete the purchase. The seller of the car was amused by the bid and agreed not to force the sale. The next time, your child throws a potted plant in the aquarium or sneaks an extra cookie, you may want to consider, it could be worse, he could be on eBay!

For the first time ever, all of my fall chores have been completed at the Anchor Angler, Hole In the Wall Recreation Area, and even the homestead. The only remaining chores is to clean out the tomato vines, cover the peach patch, and a little maintenance work on the snow plow rig, hoping that I do not need it this winter. I figure the chances of that is at about five per cent.


The Steelhead fishing has been slow but spending a few hours on the water is well worth the effort, even though the hook-ups are few and far between. It is a great time to spend a few hours watching the change of seasons.

The campground is slowly making it's transition for the onslaught of the winter months, but the "campground stage" is set for yet another Clan Talent Show with a different style of background. It will be interesting to see if the Magpie family and Mr. Jay return to their haunts when the leaves once again green.



To be an effective Prattler, one must first set the stage and then follow up at a later date with additional documentation of what you originally prattled about in order to substantiate that you are actually prattling and now spreading bovine excrement.

Nineteen days ago on September 7, I posted a picture which no one was able to recognize but it did provide some interesting thoughts. Since some time has elapsed, perhaps you can now recognize the subject for which it really is, a baby Panda Bear.


I do not intend to make light of this situation, but one has to wonder where the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA)is at or even the unions that are suppose to insure the proper safety standards are being adhered to. It is evident that the individuals that judge Javelin throwing competition are not protected by either. I think, if I was judging such competition, I would be watching the Javelin a little more carefully and paying less attention to the person throwing the spear and definitely never mark the field with your toes to where you want the Javelin to land. In the same type of sports, have you ever seen a judge for the "shot put" competition where a safety helmet? Someone should be governing these dangerous sports.

Perhaps, the only thing that all of us would agree upon is that we have had a very wet summer. We have had our fair share of rain this season, which has a tendency to dampen the enthusiasm for camping, picnic's, fishing, and other wise just enjoying the great outdoors. The typical rain gear is cumbersome to wear and not the most attractive attire. You show up on the river to go fishing with an umbrella, you risk the chance of being ridiculed the remainder of your life. However, someone finally realized the problem and developed a solution. The concept is simple, rain gear that can be used both as outer wear or in the event it rains, you are also protected. My only suggestion is that if you wear this new style of outdoor clothing, that you are purchase the product the my daughter, Heidi, recently discovered, disposable underwear.




Wishing all of you a Happy Birthday.

Within a few months, I will have attained the utopia era that we have all heard about, paid into yet always doubted that we will ever see any net return, the Social Security Era. I look into the mirror, seeing before me a face that has changed through the years, a few wrinkles and the graying of the hair. To me, these are only minor changes, very similar to the changing of the seasons. However, to my children and especially my grandchildren, I have grown older. I recall one summer day, my granddaughter Heather and I were planting trees, she was busily helping me dig the holes, place the trees and refill the hole. Taking a break she asked me how long it would take for these trees to be big. I explained to her, that it would take many years and that I would probably never see the trees get big, but someday when she was older she could sit under one of the trees and remember the day that we planted them. She replied, "oh, that will be along time". I asked her, how many years do you think it will be, she replied, "oh, at least three years". From this, I learned that when you are young, three years is forever, at my age it is tomorrow. We planted those trees three years ago this past August.

For the sake of my grandchildren so they can equate from their history lessons in school, I was born during the Presidential Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since my birth there have been twelve Presidents: Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, G.H., Clinton and the current President George W. Bush. Perhaps, my political philosophy was developed from these administrations since six of them were Republicans and six of them Demorcrats. In this span of Presidential history, President Kennedy (Demorcrat) was assassinated and President Reagan (Republican) was wounded in an assassination plot but survived to fulfill his term in office. President Roosevelt passed away while in office, from health problems that he had prior to being elected.

If my grandchildren have aspirations to become the President of the United States, you might want to keep in mind that of these twelve Presidents, nine of them served in the military while Roosevelt, Reagan, and Clinton saw no military service. President Roosevelt was not eligible for military service due to medical reasons. President Reagan wanted to join the military during World War II, however, since he was a very popular movie star, he was encouraged to make patriotic movies and commercials for war bonds. President Clinton chose to go to school. The nine Presidents that were in the military, our current President served in the Air National Guard. Two Presidents served in the Army, President Truman was an artillery officer in World War I and President Eisenhower was the Allied Supreme Commander in Europe during World War II, retiring as a five star general. The remaining six Presidents that served in the military service were in the U.S. Navy. I assume it is coincidental that of the twelve Presidents during my life, six of them were of the Republican party and six of them were in the U.S. Navy.

To my grandchildren, at almost 62 years of age, I am old, but each day as they walk to school they see trees much older than I and never give it a thought. But how many of us really consider our age and how it compares in the overall scheme of life on earth. My sixty two years of life is but a spec on the screen of life, this is old:


This is "Lucy", a full scale model of the skeletal remains of a female hominid who lived 3.2 million years ago. Currently in a museum in Bidon, France. This year, she will go on her first-ever foreign tour. If Social Security was paid to her retroactive back to her retirement age at the national average of $500.00 per month, she would be entitled to over $18,120,000,000.00 Now "Lucy" is old, but what about her mother and father? Or how about:




This fish is a Coelathan, caught in Kenya in the year of 2001. This particular fish dates back to the time when marine animals made their first excursion onto land. However, even this timeline was set back to an even earlier age when a study of rocks collected near Buchan Victoria, East Gippsland yielded a fossil of a lung fish or Coelathan more than 20 million years than earlier finds. That is at a minimum of 16.8 million years older than "Lucy".

So to my grandchildren, on the overall spectrum of life, your Grandpa is just a youngster, I will be there to sit under the trees with you. My love to all of you.

It is a beautiful day outside, the warm rays of the sun shimmering through your windows as you prepare to make a posting to your Blog Site. The laughter of the children playing safely in the fenced backyard, the neighboring dogs in the next yard barking from the excitement of the children. As you stroke the keys, you tell yourself that all is well in the backyard or is it? As a parent, you never know what lurks in your yard that may put your children in harms way!



This "thing" inhales its food, taking less than a quarter of a second to identify the food, grab it, and eat it! Are your children really safe in the yard? Can you identify this creature?

It is a good thing that I stay up late to monitor Blog Sites while the blogger is asleep, unaware what their sites are doing when they are not looking. It appears, my daughter in law, Ms. Moose, is leading a double life, one in LA and also posing as a male in India! Upon the discovery, I called the "tinker" to notify her of the emergency, which led to my second discovery, the Alpha Female Wolf does not like to be called at midnight! Before you rush to this site to see what has transpired, you may want to go slowly as I cannot guarantee that you will not catch something you don't want. I took a quick peek and ran, but was there long enough to see what I assume is two sites mingling with one another and I do not want to go there! Those are the great pictures that Erica took and posted to her site, asking that they not be used, but unless Erica has grown a beard since I saw her last, that is not Erica in the profile picture. I can hardly wait to hear the rest of the story.

In the event that you failed to read in my comments, we will be seeing another person appearing in our comments and hopefully will find the time to set up a blog site, but this may take time since he is on the road most of the time. I am assuming that the DOT frowns upon the truckers that drive our highways when they drive an eighteen wheeler and blog at the same time. Brother Bill, using the handle of Ranger Bill, is now on line and appeared in the comments section on my site today. Looking forward to a future Blog Site, as he is driving across our nation, he is going to have some great stories and plenty of time to write some of his Cowboy Poetry.

In other, Harrington News, we can expect to see a new family of Harrington's moving to Alaska. Bill's son, Matt and his wife Amber will be moving up within the next several months. He is in the Army and will be returning home from Baghdad. At this time, it is not know whether he will be stationed in LA or that other town up north.

I was doing some serious thinking today, I came to the conclusion that when I die, I want to die like my Grandpa, peacefully in sleep, not screaming like all the other passengers in his car.

I was also thinking of Shana, I am never one to give advice, however in this case, Shana if you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirian bottle, "Take Two aspirian" and "Keep Away From Children"

After looking at our National Test score averages for our high school students, I am really concerned. Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student, at least they can find Afghanistan and Iraq.

While sitting on the phone today, listening to the menu, which I detest even more than Word Verification, I got to thinking, "Why in the hell should I have to press 1 for English when I live in America"

The Plumma and Homer are so cynical, but I finally figured out something that they can both be positive about, "I believe I'll have another beer"

And, just so Homer does not think that I forgot his Birthday, give me call big guy and Happy Birthday to you!

It appears that Monday, 9/18/06 was a slow news day, as the primary lead stories revolved around fish. If you recall, the area of Indonesia went through a very large tidal wave two years ago following a major earthquake. Scientists that are doing research in the barrier reefs around Indonesia have discovered over fifty (50) new species of new fish and coral. After watching the movie, "Jaws", and thinking it is safe to go into the water again. You might seriously consider your safety when walking on the beach. One of the fish that was discovered was a new shark that actually walks on its fins.



For those of you whom are interested in frogs and like to eat shrimp, a new shrimp was also discovered and is very similar to a Praying Mantis, in that it can camouflage itself into it's environment. I am sure this specie will be a great hit with the Female Alpha Wolf, as she loves both frogs and shrimp.

I have stocked "My Picture" library with all the pictures of these new species, each time the Plumma does a trivia fish identification posting, I am going to flood the blog with species that even he will not be able to identify.

The second "fishy news" that was released today was that one of our most popular fish has joined the "War on Terrorism". The common Bluegill, also known as Sunfish or Bream has joined the ranks. Small numbers of fish are kept in tanks, constantly replenished with water from municipal supplies. Sensors in each tank track the fish around the clock to register changes in their breathing, heartbeat, and swimming patterns. These patterns will change if the fish are in the presence of toxins. Bluegills are considered more versatile than mechanical devices used by most treatment plants and are highly attuned to chemical disturbances in their environment. The City of San Francisco recently installed this type of system which safeguards a population of one million or more people. The fish are protecting the residents from water containing contaminants such as cyanide, diesel fuel, mercury and pesticides. Slight changes in the actions of the Bluegills, the computerized system generates an e-mail alert. New York City has been using this system since 2002 and in one case caught a toxin before it made it to the water supply of this city. The system is called Aquatic BioMonitoring System, which was originally developed by the Army and the cost starts at $45,000.

I am sure that if your want to monitor your personal water supply at home, a tank full of Guppies hooked up to a Mac computer will be just as affective and less costly. Each year when we switch back and forth from daylight savings time, you are suppose to check your smoke detectors. You could also use this reminder to check and feed the Guppies that are protecting you 24 hours a day just like your smoke detectors. Hopefully, all will be safe and you will never get an e-mail from your Guppies.

For those that enjoyed the capture and watching the biological change of tadpoles as they made their transition into frogs this past summer, we have a problem! If you reference my posting of August 24th of this year, I made an attempt to warn everyone. The incident occurred while I was shopping with my grandson, "Butch" at the local Safeway store. His frog escaped from his pocket. It was found several days later by a consumer and reported to the Department of Health.

Evidently, "Froggy" was a busy little guy because now we have a plague that has spread over a ten state area making dozens of people sick with one confirmed fatality to date. The cause of this is the E-coli bacteria found in bags of spinach from the local supermarkets. E-coli bacteria is created from animal manure. All packaged spinach has been ordered to be pulled from the shelves of markets.

Being a typical kid, "Butch does not like spinach, but I do not think he would go to extreme measures such as this to get it out of circulation. The one thing that I find ironic about E-coli bacteria, if it is spread by animal manure, isn't that the same stuff that is spread in vegetable gardens? I can remember hauling wheelbarrow loads of "horse manure" to my mothers garden. Less than 36 hours ago, after having a dismal garden this year, I was telling Golden Granny that next year, we will find someone with horses and get some good "horse s_ _ _" for the garden. I may give this concept additional thought, but I am also going to watch out for frogs from now on.

We made it through the first wave of storms moving through the area, we had monsoon rains the majority of the day with flood warnings posted on local rivers. But the great news is that everyone in the metro area and surrounding inhabited valleys are also getting just as wet. Had one littler chore to do today at the HITWRA, stupid me I made the comment, "Boy, I am sure glad we got the campground finished before this rain". The comment that I received in return, "See, I told you so"! Why do women always have to say this to their husbands?

After reading the comments from the blog that I posted yesterday, I was real concerned that the Plumma would worry about his dimensional lumber all winter, so to make him "worry free", I called the "Bill the Woodman" to bring in another load of firewood with assorted dimensional boards included. He had to have his trailer back by tomorrow morning, so in the middle of the monsoon, the Golden Granny and myself are unloading firewood and stacking it on the Plumma's dimensional lumber so it will not warp. Although, that was not our main reason, we knew the Plumma would want his lumber upon arrival, but now he will have to cut the firewood to get to his lumber!


I had a great find today, if you have not downloaded Google Earth yet, "get er done", it is a great program and so much fun to play with. You can take the earth somewhere out in space and tell it to find Anchor Point, Alaska and you go zooming through space and land in the "Little Hamlet By the River". I had a great vacation today, in less than two minutes I flew from the White House to downtown Baghdad, back to Montrose, Colorado before returning to Anchor Point. It provides you with some great detail, for instance the Buffalo Wallow is located at 61 Degrees 11'32.19" North 149 Degrees 45'28.83 West at an elevation of 316 feet. The Wolf Den is at 61 Degrees 11'19.90 North 149 Degrees 44'33.77 West at an elevation of 352 feet. The clarity is great, you can see some great detail, for instance in the back yard of the Buffalo Wallow, their apple tree is laden down with fruit. The Apple tree in the backyard of the Wolf Pack is void of any apples except a few right at the top. The Wolf Truck was in the driveway but I did not see any sign of life so I will assume she wolf was napping. The Buffalo Bus was in their driveway, but no sign of life except the neighbor lady was looking out her window. By the way, both of you may want to start preparing your yard area for winter - get a few things picked up!

We can all rest easier now, our favorite planet Pluto has been reassigned a new name, a really cute name so from hence forth, the ex-planet will be called 134340. I want to contest the awarding of a blue ribbon to Dicky Rogers when I was in the third grade! His project in the science fair was the galaxy, showing all the planets and all of the data pertaining to each planet. It was the best display that his dad could make, it was great. My ant farm did not stand a chance and I had some great ants, I even had one that I had trained to turn somersaults and shake hands. He stupidly listed Pluto as a planet, I think they should now go back and reverse their decision and take the ribbon away from him and award it to someone else, like me!


If you can't sleep at night thinking about Pluto, rest easy. Today, our science people released their research on a new planet they discovered in the constellation of Lacerta, which is 450 light years from earth. It seems there is a planet out there that is orbiting a star that is so light, that it would float on water. They named it, HAT-P-1. Now how original is that, scientists need to lighten up and get a sense of humor instead of labeling everything with a number, you would think they work for the social security administration or a video store where no body has a name, just a number! Why is it that they can discover these things and get great pictures from millions of miles out in space, yet I cannot get the TV channels from LA when we are just two hundred miles away or I can not get TV from my satellite when it rains? Just a few thougths to ponder.

With the leaves turning colors and the Sand Hill Cranes overhead, the final chore of closing down the Hole In the Wall Recreational Area for this season came to a close today with the retiring of the colors.


I have spent the last two days at the HITWRA completing the close down chores, it was great with a fire in the pit, it was just a great atmosphere to button things down. The "Duck House" serves yet another purpose as a multi-purpose room. Not only was it used for the original intention, as a place to rest and a museum, the kids loved it as a playhouse and in the end, it is great for a storage room. If you arrive early next year and want to put up the "cook Tent", it is neatly stowed away in the "Duck House".


The "Moose Camp" has been buttoned down for the winter, hopefully with the measures that has been taken, no little animals will find their way in to make themselves at home during the long winter.


The "Krok Pond" landscaping project that Mother Moose worked on during the summer came out very well, the flowers are in full blossom. After looking at them for two days, I would not be surprised if just a few of them end up in my perennial garden next spring.


The "Wolf Den" was an ideal spot to stow some extra gear, the master suite bungalow provided a great place to stow the picnic table and other items in order to keep them dry for the winter. They should come through the snows in good shape, if the "Wolf Den" does not collapse.

"Arnies Garden" is in good shape, the flowers have went to seed. The "Hammer Plant" should make it through the winter, I mulched it real good. The Snake and Mouse voted to remain outside for the winter and have made a little home in the logs. Mr. Blue Jay was there this morning when I arrived, but left abrutly when I started the fire.

The "Bear Den" got a winter cover as well and is ready for the onslaught of winter, although I think if Blonde Bear has her way, it may still be used prior to the first snowflakes. Remember the sign (Bear Clan) that everyone thought was stolen, well today while covering the den, I found the sign in the grass so it is now appropriately displayed in the event a salesman comes buy and wants to know who lives there.

The Buffalo Clan took their "Wallow" home with them to avoid the slide zone next spring. With all the rain we had last week, things were just drying up nice so as my last chore, I took the opportunity to see if I could level off their wallow spot just a little more. It was not as dry as I thought, but by going into four low, I was able to get unstuck twice before I gave up on it. We can clean it up next spring.

We all know how reverantly excited the Plumma Wolf gets over dimensional lumber and dunnage, I insured that all of the dimensional lumber was neatly stacked on a platform above the high water mark so he will be able to sleep this winter, knowing that his beloved lumber is high off the ground and won't have any root rot next spring.

With the "Duck House" being used for storage, if there are any winter visitors that need to use the facilities, I have set up a temporary facility using Grandma Mary's Bench and Arnies Toilet seat. It will not be as warm and cozy, but it should work for the winter months.

Everything has been tarped over for the winter, however, if you are missing a tarp next spring it is up to all of you to sort out who has who's tarp as I used them as I needed them knowing that you would not mind.

As Golden Granny was scaling the Granny Trail up the bluff to the Eagles Nest, Dutch, Fred, and I drove out of the recreational area with memories of one of the best summers that I have had in many years - Thanks for the memories.

Until the next gathering of the Clans:

It has come to my attention from several feminist's that my Blog Site (Hyperbole Prattle) is to masculine and of no interest to the female gender. If this is the case, my sincere apologies because I do consider myself as a Sensitive New Age Guy (SNAG). It is my desire that anyone that visits my site feels welcome and free to comment on my personal views regardless of their sex. I feel that my site is well balanced and provides a variety of topics to make comments.

Being a New Age Guy, I can understand the feelings expressed by those who feel that I have slighted or offended the female gender. Therefore, I dedicate this posting to all the ladies out there, hoping that you will find something of interest to you in the latest fashions, hair styles, make up, beauty hints, and entertainment suggestions that I have enclosed.

Being a Conservative Republican, I typically do not make political endorsements but recently I had the opportunity to read an article in one of the two weekly newspapers that is published in the Little Hamlet By the Sea. Fortunately, I live in an unincorporated community, consequently we are fortunate not to have any local government elections. However, I do enjoy watching the local politics in Homer, on any typical day it is more humorous than watching cartoons on television. The City of Homer is preparing to have local elections, having the need to fill two seats on the City Council. Vying for these two seats are two incumbents, Dennis Novak and Val McLay, while Bryan Zak has also entered the election for one of these seats. The Homer Tribune presented a set of questions to each of the candidates with those results being published in the September 6, 2006 issue of the paper. After careful review of the results from this questionnaire, although he has served a term on the City Council I cannot endorse incumbent Dennis Novak as he failed to respond to the questionnaire. That leaves two individuals for the remaining two seats on the council, however, after reviewing one particular question, I would suggest to the good people in Homer that you have a "write in" candidate to fill these two seats. I strongly support Val McLay, I have known him most of my life and his responses to the questions presented to him were to the point with valid answers. As for the candidate Zak, I will let his response to one particular question speak for him.
The question presented was, "What will you do at the city level to see that pedestrian access and trails in Homer are improved? Or should they be?The responses are as follows: MCLAY: "As development takes place, we need to do what we can to provide access through these developments, to open space areas by requesting pedestrian access easements. As money becomes available, these accesses could be up-graded, as funds allow"
ZAK: "At the city level, I will require large developments to plan for inclusion of trails. I will also support a Kenai Peninsula Borough Trail that will extend from Anchor Point around to Seldovia and further support and encourage more eco-tourism"

One has to assume that candidate Zak is making attempt to get the 8th Wonder of the World established in the Little Hamlet By the Sea. A trail system from Anchor Point to Seldovia sounds wonderful, it will only be approximately 85 miles long! A large section of the trail will need to be carved out of the face of the bluffs or the "trail users" will need to wear hip boots during periods of high tide. Crossing the Fox River and the flats at the head of Smokey Bay is going to be an additional challenge through vast acres of critical wet lands and a multitude of small streams. Once the bridge has been extended to the south side of Kachemak Bay, a great deal of engineering is going to be required to get bridges across a large number of streams and small rivers. Once this is accomplished, one has to contemplate how the trail is going to cut across a minimum of fifteen bays and coves that dot the shoreline on the southerly coast. If the trail goes around each bay and cove, it should extend the trail system to about 300 miles. For some reason, I cannot picture Bill and Louise from Midtown, Nebraska having a great deal of interest in hiking the Kachemak Bay trail that is 300 miles long just to visit Seldovia. They had better pack a lunch but that may not be a problem since they will most likely become lunch themselves to any one of the number of Brown Bear and Black Bear that roam the countryside.
Based on this conception, I think the good folks that reside in the "City" should write in another choice for Councilman or vote twice for McLay, I am sure he can fill both seats.

"Lest We Forget" how we felt on September 11, 2001. Today, we should not only reflect upon the cowardly attack that was delivered to our nation, but these images should live with each of us each day of the year.

Leading up to the attack on our nation, the U.S.S. Cole (DDG 67) was attacked by the same terrorist group on October 12, 2000 at Aden Harbor, Yemen. The attack upon one of our naval vessels resulted in the loss of seventeen sailors with an additional thirty nine men and women wounded. An attack upon a naval vessel constitutes an act of war, however, no retaliatory effort was made by our Commander In Chief, Bill Clinton.



On September 11, 2001 the United States of America suffered from the largest loss by an attack on our nation, surpassing the loss from the attack on Pearl Harbor which resulted in our Declaration of War with Japan. We should never forget the statement that President Bush made at the site of the Twin Towers, standing on top of a car and a rescue workers shouted "We Can't Hear You". President Bush replied through a megaphone that he had borrowed from a firefighter, "I Can Hear You And Soon Those That Did This, Will Hear From Us" and they did. Perhaps if the proper retaliatory measures had been taken with the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, the death and destruction of September 11, 2001 may have been prevented.

The Twin Towers


The Destruction of the Towers


The Pentagon


"God Bless America"