New wheels

FluffyDuf and the Dawg just stopped by on their way home with their new (2004) Jeep Grand Cherokee. What a nice car. It's a gorgeous dark gray-green, nice and roomy, in excellent shape - Fluffy is going to enjoy driving this! She's psyched to have air conditioning. Dawg was showing PopPop and I the way-back and discovered a ten disk CD changer. They didn't realize it was in there when they bought the car. Now that's a nice surprise!

The grapes are more or less ripe now and the bees are all over the ones falling onto the driveway. It's getting messy. We've seen the Baltimore Oriole in the vines helping himself. He's got his new feathers and he looks beautiful.

Happy anniversary, DamCat!

I think I missed it, I think it was yesterday, but Happy Anniversary to Deacon and Damcat!! This is the first one you get to celebrate in your new home, so that doubles the congratulations and happy wishes for you to have many, many more!

Creatively Empty

This past week I've been creatively empty.. some call it a funk. I hope it passes quickly because I feel like a zombie right now. Most everyone I talk with is in the same state of mind, which doesn't help, but consoles oneself with the knowledge that "you are not alone". I guess I need a couple days of quiet mind because trying to think is making me worse!

I had a wonderful time kayaking with my friend at sunset yesterday. It took about half an hour to finally paddle straight and smoothly in the bay without giggling at our inability to perform such an easy task. Good upper body workout and we plan to do it at least twice a week for the beauty of the bay and the beautification of our upper arm swagger. It's a promise we hope to keep and make time for due to its importance!

Other than that, the ending of summer always depresses me with the act of life becoming ritualistic again... that dreaded time table of structured bedtimes and breakfast, nagging homework issues or even the scheduled cleaning days. Gosh it's boring, and I'll miss my freedom as I see it. I love the freedom of summertime when "the living is easy" as I've said before. So with all that said, this general takes command again, with heavy heart. Wish me luck!

Start each day with a smile

How to start each day with a positive outlook:

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it George W. Bush
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of George W. Bush?"
6. Firmly Click "Yes."
7. Feel better?

Tomorrow we'll do Dick Cheney...

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face...

Andy Rooney

Am I the only person who doesn't think Andy Rooney's recent column is in the same ballpark as Don Imus' remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team? Have people gotten so hypersensitive that they actually actively look for these kinds of things?

In case anyone missed it, Rooney wrote a column in the Stamford Times about his lifelong dislike of baseball as it exists today. In the second paragraph he says,

I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me. They’re apparently very good but they haven’t caught my interest.

How is that even close to "nappy-headed ho's"? Have I completely lost my sense of perspective? Perhaps this reveals Rooney to be a slightly ditzy old guy, but how exactly is it racist in the derogatory sense of the word? Suppose he had said 'Smith', or 'MacTavish', do you suppose the UK would be up in arms? Seriously, should he be tarred and feathered by the pitcher's union for saying in the same op-ed piece, "the player who starts the game as pitcher should have to play all nine innings without a substitution"?

Rooney is backtracking now, no doubt at the behest of his employer. And I'm wondering when we'll see an apology from Manny Ramirez...for what, you ask? For saying, "Those Japanese guys know how to paint" in a recent comment about the Red Sox pitching staff.

It's call op-ed for a reason. It's his OPINION. Sheesh.

OOSIK!

Word for the day: Oosik. From Wikipedia:

Oosik is a term used in Alaska to describe the baculum (penile bone) of walruses, seals, sea lions, and polar bears. Sometimes as long as 60 cm (2 ft), it can be polished and used as a handle for knives and other tools. It is also frequently sold as a souvenir to tourists by Alaska Natives, the only people permitted to hunt the walrus today.

Now how often do you get to use a word like that in a sentence?! I know Key Dear will get a kick out of this, having just gotten back from Alaska. I wish I had asked her to shop around for an oosik while she was in Ketchikan. Alas, maybe next year.

Meanwhile, this baby is going to the folks who run Ripley's Believe It Or Not, so look for it to be on display in a town near you! The auction listing from I.M. Chait Gallery looks interesting, they had lots of fun bits and pieces up for sale. Nothing I could afford, but interesting nonetheless.

Deacon's kitchen

Deacon had a busy weekend. While DamCat and the Peas were in Maine for a few days, he installed the new stove/oven they got at Building 19 a couple weeks ago. PopPop spent Saturday helping out, but said Deacon did the bulk of the work himself. DamCat will be happy to have a proper size oven for baking, and the little wall oven space will be great for storage and/or a microwave.

Sistah ...

I've renamed the blog and cut it back to us sistahs for posting. I hope everyone will continue to leave comments, you don't need to be a "contributor" to comment, but now nobody need feel guilty for lack of participation. I will carry on posting the family news from here regardless.

So, sistah, I'm looking for a subheading. Any ideas?

A new driver!

DamCat just called with the news, the Elder Pea got her learner's permit this morning! I'm sure nobody will be surprised that she passed the written test. Now for the hard part - convincing her to actually get behind the wheel!

New York City in Bloom

I've watched with interest the inspiring projects that Portraits of Hope has done. I love any project that gets the public involved and Garden in Transit is such a great one. The link can show you so much more than I can write here.

I'm sure you've heard or even seen some of this project. The first week in September they'll need volunteers in NYC to do the panel application of the art onto the cabs trunks, hoods and roofs. There is a Get Involved! Taxi Sign-up to volunteer. I would love to be up there being part of this project, or be there when the taxi's are all in full zoom (bloom). Very cool!

It would cost to get there to volunteer for the day and return, but even if it was $100.00 it would be money and time well spent on a day to remember.

A new tooth, knees and Ozzie

Queenee had her tooth implant prep work done yesterday. She said it went very well, the dentist got it in the first try, after much cutting and scraping. It's ugly to look at now, but will be fine once it heals.

Our knees got the seal of approval from Dr. Sheehan last Friday. I remembered to take a photo of my x-rays this time, something I've been meaning to do for a while. Photographs of x-rays actually come out pretty well.

Deacon, DamCat and the YoungerPea went to the Ozzfest yesterday. I expect it will be a day or so before they have recovered enough to tell us how it was. Hopefully all bats and birds kept their heads.

Sophia managed to sneak out on PopPop yesterday. Actually, that isn't quite accurate - she did a very convincing impersonation of Ebony and he let her out. Try as we might, the ElderPea and I could not catch her to get her in the house. She spent the whole night out and finally came in this morning. Needless to say, she has been right with me since. She's exhausted from her big night. I'm just happy that she stayed out of the street.

Filene's Basement

Filene's Basement, the original one, is closing at the end of the month. Renovations are scheduled for the building, and the Basement will reopen in early 2009. Meanwhile, everything is on sale, 60%-80% off the lowest marked price. Queenee and I went in and scored some great bargains. I got a beautiful Calvin Klein cashmere sweater, originally overpriced at $639, for $43. Queenee is holding a perfume she has wanted forever, but couldn't afford - she ended up getting about $2000 worth for less than $100. Unreal bargains to be had.

The first floor is now on the street level, which used to be the first floor of Filene's. As always, nothing is organized by size, it's a bargain hunt, but this floor has almost everything on racks. They also have dressing rooms and a long line of inexperienced shoppers waiting to get in. Filene's Basement veterans can be spotted trying on clothes in the aisles between the racks; they do not bother with dressing rooms. The next level down is where things start to look familiar to those of us who remember the Basement from thirty or more years ago. Crowds of bargain shoppers, tables piled high with clothes, counters with not much jewelry remaining, and racks of purses and men's clothing. There is an escalator where the staircase was back in the 1970's, but the small back stairwells are still there. Finally, the bottom level is mostly sheets and towels, and the display furniture that is being sold.

Anyone in Boston during the next two weeks should get in there asap, before the closing. It's worth the trip, if only to reminisce.

The Mink of the Bay

Our little mink was elusive when we tried to snap his pic each day. He was always there sneaking around grabbing a scrap of fish when the boats came in. Morning was a good time to see him, but nobody ever had a camera in hand heading off to breakfast and planning the day at 6:30 am. Bob from the Park and Game services happened to be on the dock one afternoon uploading on his computer and caught the little guy jumping up on the cleaning station. He gave us all a disk of his pictures and videos of the mink, his cabin and work place. He and Jill, his intern, stay up around the bay in a park cabin. They have to hike about a half hour up a stream. It is very remote and the bears always keep them on their toes due to all the easily available salmon. They can never turn their backs for a minute and have to keep their cabin secured by fence the best they can. We've found out that you never cook and eat near where you sleep or you'll be in danger of bears visiting you. The trash burning and compost areas were far from the lodge and cabins, to keep the bears from wandering into the immediate area.

As you can see from Bob's videos, his work is quite a set up. They block the stream with steel bar cage and let the salmon group, then they lift a bar or two and the salmon swim through, enabling a count. And repeat the process over and over. Bears find this the perfect spot to gather for a quick bite, not to mention a curious thing, so they are always around. One even got up a tree just above the cabin to see if he was missing anything one morning. They look friendly but definitely are not.

Bob and Jill are welcome guests at the Lodge as neighbors, invited for dinner, lunch, breakfast or a stayover if the weather is bad. They are a bevy of information and wonderful company, a real joy to meet.

More video!! Here is a 2-1/2 minute video of the seals - who knew Mr. B could speak seal?! And here are a couple videos of a bird island, where the little baby harlequin ducks run the beach area until they grow their flight wings and learn to fly.

Totem Raising at Misty Fjords Lodge

Hello Everyone! We are back on island here on Cudjoe, after our magical stay on the islands of southeast Alaska in the Misty Fjords. The remote location and the mountains majesty is still buzzing within us. Thanks so much to Wabbit for posting while we were gone.

From Misty Fjords, Alaska

Above is one picture and a short video from the Totem Raising ceremony at the Lodge. There are a lot more photos of the Totem raising ceremony, and if you click on the small photo, you'll be able to see a bunch of other photos. There is also a map that you can click on to see where Mink Bay is located.

Our eyes welled in tears as we left with memories in our hearts that will last forever. We cannot describe the beauty and feelings a person can have while in such a place. We are both tired from the long journey home and feel there is still a piece of us back up there in Alaska. We have so many new friends up there to revisit and many that want to come visit us here. One of the special things we love about the Keys is the welcoming spirit, kindness and generosity of the people here and we experienced the same exact way of life there. For myself, I couldn't help feeling I was home up there, the land and waters felt as though I've been there many times before. Watching the movies of Nan and PopPop in Alaska gives you the nagging to go there. Fifty years later the magic remains. I hope ya'll enjoyed your virtual vacation with the pictures, we'll all be together up there, this I know.

I'll post more tomorrow, I have to read up what I've missed and get things back to normal here at the house. We've brought home 100 pounds of seafood and will enjoy many more meals over the next months. Come on down and share some with us! October brings Fantasy Fest and the theme this year is "Through the Looking Glass" - any takers? More later gaters!!

Last day of fishing

This morning's activity was going fishing for halibut again. Salmon are everywhere, they practically jump into the boat ... silver - king - coho - pink ... all kinds of salmon, just jumping everywhere you look. People say that last year they had a hard time catching salmon, but halibut was everywhere, they had a huge catch of halibut, but this year they are the elusive ones. Little dog sharks are what you catch this year, but very few halibut.

I've added a Ratfish to my list of catch. LingCod, Ratfish, Halibut, Silver Salmon, King Salmon, Coho Salmon, Pink Salmon, Rock Fish, Dog Shark, Black Bass, and a couple I can't remember the names of, but you can include shrimp, crab, and scallops in there, right?

Did you ever wonder how scientists come up with the numbers of fish there are in a given location? Well, here's how - this is how they count salmon...

Six a.m.

It's mid-August and yesterday the heat came on in the house. Unbelievable. Just a few days ago it was unbearably hot and humid, this morning it is 50F. I love this temperature, but I could do without the oil bills for another couple of months.

I woke up way too early and couldn't get back to sleep, and despite the multitude of channels, there was nothing of interest on TV, so at 4am I got up. PopPop came down at about 5:30am and while we were waiting for coffee to brew, we spotted the deer in the backyard. He's been spraying some sort of deer repellent to keep them out of the garden, but the doe came right up to the back of the garden anyway. Maybe it's working, since she didn't go in and eat anything. She had her twins in tow and she was busy keeping an eye on them, as well as watching me.

The early morning birds were in full voice by 6am, including the tiny Ruby-throated hummingbirds. Aside from the hum/buzz of their wings, they do a fair bit of chirping. I haven't seen the male for quite a while now, I don't know what's happened to him, but I saw two females on the feeders this morning. Not much light and shot through the kitchen window, so the photos aren't very good, but the birds are readily visible and identifiable.

Salmon fishing

We went halibut fishing today, but ended up with too many sharks, so we switched to salmon fishing. Man we "slayed" them!!! We caught our limit of Salmon, over 80 lbs! What can I say, another beautiful day in the last frontier!

I printed a few T-shirt for folks here. Little Brandon wanted a fish painting - he loves art and ME. I told him I'd make him one, so we did it together. Three other people here wanted one too, so today I did them.

This afternoon, Mr. Bill napped while Charlie and I went and set his crab traps up at the end of Mink Bay, past the river where we ventured to see eagles and catch salmon standing on the river bed (sorry, no pix). Then we set out to another bay area to recheck the shrimp traps again, and had over 150 lbs of shrimp! I can't believe tomorrow is our last fishing day, we need another week at least. Tomorrow we're going to do an abalone dive and go kayaking.

I have to get a picture of the Blue Jays here, they are called Steller's Jay, I'm pretty sure. Deep blue, large and real characters, they are great!

Ketchikan

Today we went to Ketchikan for shopping. I took some pix of Annette Island which is a native owned island preserve. Our float plane pilot Jerry grew up there on the reservation. The summer has not melted all the snow on top of the mountains as yet, so the tops are shining in the sky. It's a cute little town. The cruise ships are docked, three today, and boy they pack the place quickly. We had lunch and checked out the old town, got groceries and headed back again.

We plan on going fishing again, for salmon this time. Every time we are in the boat, we see humpback whales. I'm not fast enough to get the camera and get a shot, but a picture wouldn't really show it all. I haven't seen an orca/killer whale yet, but the other boat caught into a great pod of killer whales, all jumping out of the water to warn the boat about the orca having young with them, and they got fantastic shots of them airborn.

Well, time to get my boots on again and head out. This is such a great adventure! My love to everyone...

Shrimping day

We pulled the shrimp traps today and got about 142 pounds of beautiful shrimp - came back, de-headed them, bagged them and went fishing again, out beyond Prince of Wales island. The weather was perfect and smooth seas. We caught halibut, ling cod (best eating fish anywhere and a limit of one per person for non resident and two for residents), rock fish etc.

Before heading home we went out to "seal rocks" to see the sea lions and harbor seals. There were hundreds of them! I took many pictures to try to capture the whole of it. The large bull sea lion that has a harem of about 20 looked to be about 1500 pounds - he is HUGE! The harbor seals are easy going, but the sea lions go into attack mode. They jumped into the water and came shouting at us, with the big daddy on the rocks watching the action. We went on the "foul" smelly side and I'll tell ya, they can stink it up!

A Lucky Guy

Last Monday was my day off. I planned to catch a late movie at the local cinema complex that evening, an action flick I was looking forward to - the Bourne Ultimatum. The Bourne Identity had hooked me. The Bourne Supremacy convinced me. So I had a late supper and left the house around 9:30 to catch the 10:10 feature. I like going late on weekdays when the theater is unpopulated and quiet so I can devote all my attention to the movie.

Earlier in the day I had prepared a package to mail to my friend Linda so I stopped off at the post office to get postage from the new automatic machines using a credit card. After stamping the package and depositing it in the letters slot, I headed back out and continued on to the theater a few miles away. But upon entering the parking lot there I noticed that my wallet was missing. I panicked. It was not in my pockets, on the seats or under them either. Immediately I reversed my direction and sped back to the post office. A middle-aged couple was there, dawdling at the postage machine. I asked whether they had seen my wallet. They easily convinced me they had not, so I performed a search of the post office, looking under and behind trash cans and machines. Nope, nothing. I searched the car. Nope, nothing there either. I turned on my headlights and zigzagged the post office parking lot. Uh-oh, no wallet. Scratch the movie. I returned home and began calling all the banks and fuel companies to cancel all my cards. So far, at least, I learned that nothing had been charged against any of them. But you know how it is. Still a lot of work to do. Drivers license, insurance card, medical cards, social security card, assorted membership cards, and the rest.

Next day after work I contacted all the credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Transamerica) to insure against misuse of personal identity information. I would have to wait until Friday, my next day off, to replace my drivers license. But I thought I may get lucky. Someone from another world may just have found the wallet and dropped it in a mail slot at the post office. I'll check it out there on the morrow. Until then I'll just nurse my chagrin.

I could easily attribute this lapse to my deteriorating mind and concurrent lack of attention. Only this is too typical of behaviors I have evidenced over the course of my whole adult life. Most of the time though heretofore I have managed to get away with it.

So this morning I got out of the house early. First stop the post office. The lines were typically enormous and it was hardly moving. I didn't have all day, so I rang the bell by the door where folks can pickup packages that they have to sign for. No response. I rang again, and waited. Still no response. I rang again. But this time I heard a muffled but evidently aggravated voice yelling from inside. I waited. Eventually a nice lady opened the top of the Dutch door. Anybody turn in a lost wallet, I asked? She asked that I wait. The look on her face was encouraging. She came back pretty soon and began to ask, Have you any identification..., when she saw my picture badge with my name on it. It was my wallet! Whoopee! But I had lost a lot of time and it was now late. I had to get to work. I thanked the nice lady, jammed the wallet in my pocket and ran to the car, and screeching jetted off to work.

Not until I made it inside and settled down did I have time to take out the wallet and see what was left inside it. It was ALL THERE -- credit cards, membership cards, ID cards, everything, including twenty bucks in cash. Ain't I a lucky guy?

Happy Birthday Miss P!

I hope it's a doozy!

Battle at Kruger

I was watching something on TV when this came on. I guess some guy was on a safari and caught this on tape. Not many have seen something like this, there haven't even been a lot of professionals able to capture it. Anyway, National Geographic found out and paid good money to have it, so the family must have made some good cash! Kind of long, but I believe it's worth it. I know this video seems awful, but hang in there, it gets better.

X♥X♥
☻THE WASABI PEAS☻

Today in Alaska

So here's how this is going to work ... so far, Key Dear hasn't been able to get a good enough internet connection to get to the blog and post or upload photos, but she can send email, so I'll put any photos she sends at Photobucket and make posts for her. If you click on a photo, you should be able to see all the photos she sends in the Alaska 2007 folder.

This morning we took the "jet boats" (small aluminum johnboats with great engines on them) up the way and up a small river. There are at least six or seven eagles with their young nesting in that part of the river. They are molting and you can find the primary feathers in the high tide line. I took two feathers and gave them to our pilot Jerry, who is native Alaskan. He will in turn favor them to me, and I am going to hang them in the woods as prayer feathers. I'll be finding more and get a whole tree of them before I leave - you know me!!!

Key Dear did this day trip with the "Pumpkin Girls", so named for their bright orange survival suits. She didn't say whether she caught any fish, or even tried to, but I've no doubt we'll find out soon enough.

I asked her about the feathers, because I know it is illegal in the lower 48 to have them if you are not Native American...

Jerry will gift me some feathers. It is indeed illegal to have them unless you are native. I'm telling ya, having the feather will be just a feather up there, honestly, it's like you don't even want to disturb a thing here, everything is so amazing. We boated everywhere and didn't see one single other boat. It's unbelievable, a different world and planet.

Just got back from fishing for Halibut, no success, but we only had 2 hours so we mostly went boating around. Lots of mist today. I did catch a real nice 31 lb Rockfish (LOL)! Really enjoyed today. We'll eat Halibut, Salmon pie, crab cakes, and all the fixin's. Just came in to shower up and write a quick post - I still cannot get good web access so I am having the wabbit do my updates for me.

love to all! more later gaters!!! I'll take more Spirit Lodge and inside photos tomorrow... oxoxoxxoo

♥Bruno♥

While sitting on one of the couches in Building 19, this little leaf bug (i believe thats what he is) just came crawling next to me. I decided to name him Bruno. Old WP ended up getting good pictures even though he never wanted to stay still. As soon as i put him down he started to eat a leaf. i guess he didn't get any food in 19. I think he was sent to me by my mothzilla Alice. I know the slide show goes kind of fast, so if you just put your mouse over it, you can pause it :]

The Alaskan is in Alaska!

I got a brief email from Key Dear, she arrived at Misty Fjords and all is well. She sent a few photos...

It's so beautiful. I'm completely floored just from flying in on the float plane. We are in the middle of the largest national forest!! A rain forest at that. Gorgeous. I'm pretty sure from what I am told that this is the ONLY private residence in the entire national park ... so welcoming and beautiful. Here are a few pictures I took from the float plane coming into Mink Bay. oxoxo to everyone

She must be beside herself, I can't even imagine how thrilled she is to be there!

Gettin' your groove on at Best Buy

This just made me smile. Here's a guy shopping at Best Buy, someone probably close to my age, who gets caught up by a great Smokey Robinson tune and starts to boogie. He's not a bad dancer, either, though I'm sure the younger gen would think differently. I've stopped myself from doing this in Shaw's in the past, but I promise, if I ever see someone dancing in the aisles anywhere, I'll join them. Y'all consider yourselves warned...

Like Mark Twain, or whoever, said, "Work like you don't need the money. Dance like no one is watching. And love like you've never been hurt."

Appendectomy for Uncle Max

Aunt Flo called this morning to tell Queenee that Uncle Max had to have his appendix removed yesterday. He had been having pain in his side for a couple days, and once a doctor did some scans, it was determined his appendix had to go. The surgeon told Aunt Flo he had never before removed an appendix from an 87-year-old! Uncle Max is recovering nicely, with no fever and no post-surgical problems. Aunt Flo thinks he'll be able to come home today*. Imagine having surgery at that age and only having to spend one night in the hospital. Uncle Max and Aunt Flo are pretty amazing.

* 8/5 10:00am - Or Sunday ... Aunt Dottie says they decided to keep him an extra night, just to be sure everything was ok. See the comments for any more updates.

Giant Crystals

I love my large crystal from Brazil (pictured here). It measures 15"x7". But after seeing these crystals in Mexico, I guess mine is small in comparison! I'd love to go to this crystal cave, I'd be in heaven for sure!

Hidden Painting

DamCat and I (the WP #1, you know, the awesome one) were just watching the news and saw an interesting segment and thought of Web Wabbit. It is very cool and fascinating that something could be there so long and never be found. To see the information on the Van Gogh painting click on the link: Missing Van Gogh painting found

July recap

It's a steamy hot day today, in the mid 90s and humid. The Peas are here: the ElderPea is weeding Queenee's garden for her and the YoungerPea is shoveling out the poo from the chicken coop. I'm surprised the chickens aren't standing right next to her supervising, they follow her around like puppies. Queenee and the Peas will go to Bev's pool when Queenee gets home from work.

Except for the family visit and Harry Potter, July seemed like a bad news month to me. Drunk astronauts, no progress in Iraq, and too many stupid athletes to count. A lot of famous people died this past month. Beverly Sills, Tammy Faye, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Bill Walsh, Tom Snyder ... they were probably the best known, but there were others. Now there is a website for deceased MySpace members, called MyDeathSpace. The wife of one of PopPop's golfing buddies, Phyllis Caswell, died this past Monday. PopPop, Queenee and Deacon are going to the service tonight.

August didn't get off to a good start either. The death toll is rising in Minneapolis, where the eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during rush hour Wednesday evening. Let's keep our fingers crossed - no more Big Dig tunnel collapses, no post-All Star Game collapse by the Red Sox, and no hurricanes in the Keys!