Having been involved in the private business sector for many years, I have enjoyed the independence that it gives you rather than working for someone else. To start a business is simple, it takes just a dream or a concept to meet a market that no one else is adequately providing.

Although, I am trying to eliminate my responsibilities as a business owner, I look around and there are so many opportunities just waiting to be discovered. For instance, just 10 - 15 years ago who would have ever thought that the consumer would be willing to shell out $3.50 to $5.00 for a cup of specialty coffee.

Recently, I came up with a concept that I feel deserves merit for consideration. A business that can be established with minimum cash reserves and limited space. A converted garage could even be utilized dependent on your location. The market potential is non expiring and something that is needed in every location. With very little effort, this particular business could be developed into a franchise.
The market is the most important factor. The most important and valuable item that a family has is their children. As the parents get older, their children leave home and at some point in their lives they adopt pets. This is always a problem, especially if the retired couple have any desire to travel. The age old question, what do we do with the pets?

Any working couple will tell you how expensive day care is and if you have ever boarded a dog at a kennel, you also know the cost involved with this. The concept is a multi-purpose business catering to both day care for children and the kenneling of dogs, cats or other small animals. They are compatible and based on the size of your business, one person could easily care for a combined quantity of 20 - 30 occupants per day at $25.00 per eight hours for each boarding participant. A daily gross of $750.00 per eight hour day could be achieved. On a monthly basis, the gross would come in at $22,500.00 per month or at 25% operating costs, a net of $16,875.00 per month. This is based solely on an 8 hour day. When was the last time you found a baby sitter that would care for your child for eight hours at $3.13 per hour?

How does one person care for 30 children, dogs and cats by themselves, that is the beauty of this business plan. You install a large screen television so you can watch your favorite shows or a computer so you can do your daily blogging, knowing that those you are responsible for are safe, secure and in a clean environment.

With the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend coming to a close, I can now start concentrating on my favorite holiday of the year, Christmas. Had a very nice Thanksgiving. I ate so much turkey this year! I did not realize how much I had consumed until this afternoon while outside playing ball with "Dutch". Feeling a touch a gastric build up and with no one being around, I sparked off a "Flatulent Disorder". It even scared me, it sounded like a flock of gobbling wild turkeys! Although, he is a highly trained retriever, Dutch has never been exposed to turkeys so he headed to the safety of the underside of the old snow plow truck. I did not think anything about it until a few minutes later, three shot gun toting hunters came wandering through the yard looking for a flock of turkeys that they had heard. Sure glad the "Golden Granny" decided not to bake a ham to go along with the turkey. But it did give me a good idea for duck season next year. I will eat a half dozen ducks before I go hunting and then I will not have to use a duck call.

We have commenced our preparation for Christmas, Sissy and Butch were down from LA for Thanksgiving, I heard Sissy putting the con on her grandmother on Thanksgiving morning. The following day, the Christmas tree appeared from the basement. The 25th was spent decorating the Christmas tree, but they had a grand time putting on all the trim, so much for the tradition that the tree was not go up until after the birth date of the Bull Moose.

The Bear Clan was also out for Thanksgiving dinner, you will never recognize Blonde Bear, I have never seen anyone grow as fast as she has. She is four inches taller than she was this past summer. We had a tough football game to watch that evening, our favorite team lost, again! Hey, there is always next year and we still have a shot at a wild card spot in the play offs, you just have to be flexible to be a Bronco fan.

Has been a very slow news weekend, why is it that no news ever happens on holidays? All the top news commentators take the holiday weekends off. Who takes it upon themselves to cancel the news?

In fact the news was so sparse this weekend, the only thing of interest I could find was the following;




The pictures of the dogs were taken at a recent dog show in Japan, the cat was not in the competition but just happened to wander in to see what was going on when thirty nine of the these little ankle nippers took after it. The cat won the jumping competition but they could not find her to award her the ribbon. Not that I am a jealous type person, but I see these little cross breeds between dog and cat getting international attention because they jump over a bar that is about six inches off the floor. The last dog show that "Dutch" was in, he won Best of Show by clearing two four foot fences while retrieving a duck decoy. He never got his international fame and glory! Don't the Dog shows in Anchor Point, Alaska count?

Speaking of dogs, who does this remind you of?



I must start preparing for Christmas, I have to start composing my annual Christmas letter, so much to tell, so little time and space.

On this Thanksgiving Day and throughout the Year, this is what I am most thankful for, a great family that extends over five generations, all living within driving distance of one another, still talk to each other on a daily basis, play together, and always there to lend a helping hand to their family, and not afraid to say "I Love You".

We once again enter the eve of Thanksgiving. Prior to working a shift this evening, I spent the day in the kitchen preparing the traditional platters of fresh fudge. I accomplished the task early this year, normally this all takes place under the cover of darkness and into the wee hours of the following morning. I am done and now mentally preparing myself for the consumption of my favorite foods, candy, pie, turkey and mashed spuds with giblet gravy.

To thoroughly prepare ourselves for the big feast, we did host a small get together for friends on Sunday evening. The prelude included all the ingredients except for the pre-dinner fudge. Family was not included, however, the only male member of the Bear Clan somehow caught wind of the "big feed" and showed up unannounced and looking for a free handout, according to him, "I just happened to be in the neighborhood".



Thanksgiving and Christmas always brings back fond memories of the past, they were always special days in our home when I was growing up and to this day many of the traditions continue. Last winter, while outside, my niece and nephew gave me a Cook Book that was in my mothers belongings. It was produced by the Homer Homemakers Club in 1967. Today, while leafing through the cookbook, looking at the names of the past, I came across two handwritten recipes on scraps of paper. I immediately recognized the handwriting of my mother. I do not know if any of you can recall having it at your grandparents home, it was always so good and I thought the recipe had been lost. It is as follows as she wrote it:
Fruit Cake (Unbaked)
"1. In a 3 qt pan heat 2/3 cup Pet Milk 2 cups miniture marshmellows 6 table spoon orange juice remove from heat.
2. Stir in 3/4 cups dates 3/4 cup raisens 1 cup nuts 1 cup mixed candied fruit mix 4 cups graham cracker crumbs 1 tsp cinnimon 1 tsp nutmeg
3. Press into a lined pan & chill 2 days Makes 3 lb"

Thanks for the memories mom!

Now that we have a regular visitor to our blog sites, perhaps it would be a good time to learn a little about the communities outside of our own paradise of Alaska.
Wamsutter, Wyoming is located adjacent to Interstate 80 at Exit 173. It is a small community, the latest census reports indicates a population of 750 people residing in the immediate area.
Recently, Wamsutter came to the national attention with the "boom" of the development of gas wells in the area, the predominant industry. Currently, the local labor force is not strong enough to provide enough employees, consequently they are being recruited nation wide to move to Wamsutter.
Prior to the upheaval of your family and you go dashing off to Wamsutter to build your assets, you may want to consider the assets that are availalble in the area. Mayor Hippe, which should tell you something did an extensive interview pertaining to the community. Wamsutter is approximately 130 years old, first being founded by the railroad in 1886. Prior to the development of the oil and gas fields, the area was predominantly ranching and the capture of the wild horses that inhabited the area. In your planning stages, you may want to consider that there is a current housing shortage. Approximately 98% of the population of Wamsutter lives in mobile homes. Shopping and other services that the majority of us take for granted, really do not exist. The truck stop appears to be the focal point of the community along with one bar. In Wamsutter, there is no grocery store, no bank, no high school, no doctor, and no cemetery. I assume once they get a doctor, they will then need to locate a cemetery. If you are planning on dying, don't move to Wamsutter. Like our smaller communities in Alaska, you can find these services by traveling to Rawlins (40 miles) or to Rock Springs (70 miles).
After a review of Wamsutter, Wyoming I do not want to hear any additional snide comments about Anchor Point, Alaska. We also have no doctor, but we do have a cemetery, a professional golf course and most importantly we have trees and water.

Just a friendly reminder that you only have thirty one days to prepare for this show of unity for global peace. The organizers, Sheehan and Reffell of San Francisco wish to have "a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to get people to channel their sexual energy into something more positive." "Our dream is to have everyone in the world take part and if that means laying down your gun for a few minutes, then hey, all the better."

Hi, my name is Stan, I am a news junkie! I thoroughly enjoy the news, it is interesting, at times even humorous, and on rare occasion educational. However, if you accept things at face value or as represented by the source, you may have a problem.
For instance, is it just me or are there others out there that really do not give a damm if Tom Cruise and Kate Holmes got married? Who cares about the lavish castle in Italy where they held their wedding or their honeymoon to the tropical paradise of Tahiti. Why is this news worthy and how will it affect my life? I would have been more interested in the closing price of Pepsi on the stock exchange, that really affects my life! I am really tired of seeing their pictures.

Several years ago, the nation was glued to the television networks as we watched the O.J. Simpson trial. For eighteen months, whether we wanted it or not we were enlightened with trials and tribulations of O.J. Simpson. Now, because he writes a book "IF I Killed My Wife, This Is How I Would Have Done It", we will once again get to review all the court tapes, get all of the opinions a second time, and in our own minds the same conclusions that were rendered several years ago. You are guilty, you got a "Do Not Go to Jail Card" and I do not want to hear anymore about you. Take the 3.5 million dollar book deal and go away! Although, I do find it ironic that O.J. is found guilty of the deaths of two people by a civil court, the family is awarded $30 million dollars in the wrongful death suit of which Mr. Simpson has not paid a penny. Today, he remains in the Professional Football Hall of Fame as an inspiration to our youngsters.

Is there any particular reason that we really need San Francisco in our United States. There is a large number of military installations in and around the area of San Francisco including a large number of naval ships homeported there. These establishments pour billions of dollars into the local SF economy. However, time after time, their city council has demonstrated their anti-military attitudes. The latest ruling that came from their council was the elimination of all Jr. Reserve Officer Training Corps classes in their high schools. These are the same classes that you have in the high schools in the LA area, Army, Navy, and Air Force are represented in each of your schools. They are volunteer classes and fully funded by the Department of Defense, including the instructor positions. However, the San Francisco City Council feels that these classes put unwanted influence on the students and their rights. However, the establishment of "Gay" Clubs are permitted. Today, I read that two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration on the first day of winter in San Francisco. But, the two activists do not want you marching in the streets, they would much rather you stay at home. As quoted, "The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76 and Paul Reffell, 55, whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm December 22nd while focusing on world peace" I am really sorry, I did not make this up! At any rate, I know what I am going to be doing on December 22nd but I do not know if I will be able to focus on world peace at the same time! I do know that any future travel plans that I have will not include the San Francisco area.

News items to watch in the future includes one that Representative Charles Rangel, Democrat, New York State announced today. When the new congressional session opens, he will introduce a bill to "Reinstate the Draft". It is my humble opinion that Rep Rangel is an idiot. He has introduced this same legislation in the past in order to stir the masses of the younger people who would be acceptable to the draft. This introduction is strictly a method to fuel the fire of the anti-military and anti-war movement. The last time he introduced this same legislation was 1n 2002, it was soundly defeated by a house vote of 402 - 2, he voted against his own legislation. I think it is also time for Charlie to go away.

The good news is that it is almost Thanksgiving and the ten days of the National Rodeo Finals will commence on December 1st, my two favorites once again qualified for the finals, Eddie Etbauer in the bronc riding and Fred Whitfield in calf roping. Updates to follow!

A belated happy Birthday to my younger brother today, if 51 is young! Happy Birthday Brother, would have mailed you a card but I don't know the address to your truck.