"Oh, what a beautiful morning...Oh, what a beautiful day..." Opening lines for the well-known song from the play, or movie, "Oklahoma". But, I just had to say it as this morning is just glowing with radiance. Each morning I think the Lord for bringing me to Alaska, when I was trying so hard to remain on the Mojave Desert in California. I'd gotten out of overseas orders to Guam and Japan, but I just wouldn't be released from my orders to Alaska. Someone in the Air Force decided 4.5 yrs at Edwards was enough and sent me north. God bless them. Within two weeks of arriving, and this was February, I had fallen in love with our 49th state and now working on my 42nd year in this beautiful and wild land.
Temperatures slowly rising with each spring day, except for that brief two-day storm we had last week. Everytime we drive down the highways I think of the men and women who forged their way through our wilderness to survey the routes for the building of our highways. First they were only dirt roads, single lane and in time they were widened out and paved. Even now, each summer our highways receive major improvement as the roads our widened to handle the increase in tourist traffic, going from two lanes to 3 and 4 lane highways. Fences are installed to keep the moose back from entering the highways and risk being involved in an accident. For the moose will follow the trails their ancestor have and this is why it is normal to see moose in downtown Anchorage. I once saw a beautiful bull moose walking a long a highway near the Anchorage Airport, must've weighed close to 1500 lbs or better. Big guy. I don't hunt anymore, I haven't for sometime, but I am unable to eat the meat anymore. Moose was my favorite of all meats, but admittedly most of the moose meat I consumed I gained from roadkills- moose hit by cars and donated by the state to different charities and organizations.
We once obtained a moose struck by a locomotive and my brother-in-law and his son, with me along, harvested the animal and it took us all day to get it ready for hanging and then another day to prepare it for the freezer. Being game meat you need to hang it for 3-7 days to get the gamey taste out of it. It was well worth the time. I tried eating a small bit of moose the other day, given to us by a dear friend, but my system wouldn't tolerate it. I'm confined to chicken, a bit of pork and fish. Now being a bit unusual for an Alaskan, I do not like salmon, but I do love halibut. I refuse to eat shrimp because of all the radioactivity leaking out of the Japanese nuclear plant over the last 10-yrs or more. I've seen what some of the wild fish look like coming from the fishing grounds- real ugly things. Just this week they finally began removing the nuclear fuel rods out of the leaky Fukushima's reactor. Took them long enough. But, for 10 yrs it has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean and spreading. Nasty stuff and not something I want in my stomach, so my fish intake has dropped off some. Lake trout is still a winner and I hope to do a bit of fishing this year in our local lakes, as I have a beautiful lake a 100-yards behind my house.
I've started my new book and now working on Chapter Two. I get up early in the morning, spend some time in the Word of God and then pray for a while over a wide range of subjects- family, events, needs and health, and for the lost. Then I feel I'm able to begin writing. Afterward I sometimes grab a nap, Mona and I watch a lot of TV, right now were going through the 8 seasons of "Blue Bloods", which has become my favorite cop show. There's a 9th season, but it hasn't come out yet and now the show was canceled. Makes me wonder if Tom Selleck, the main actor, will retire or try something new. He took to writing, going on with the Jesse Stone novels after the previous author passed on. Tom starred in 8 of the Jesse Stone TV movies and we own all of them. If you are a Tom Selleck fan I recommend them. Tom Selleck became famous for his Magnum P.I. series and now it's being remade with new actors. Haven't seen it yet, so I cannot recommend it. But hard to imagine the series without Tom Selleck. He's done pretty well for once having been known as the Marlboro Man in the old cigarette commercials.
Our birch and cottonwood trees look pretty naked right now, stripped by the winds and the new leaves haven't begun their growth spurt yet. As for the Spruce, they always look the same. I have several spruce trees on the land that I kept from when they were babies and now after 18 yrs they are standing pretty tall. Sadly, one of them is right beside the house and I'll have to cut it down this summer as it has become a fire danger. Need to clean out some other trees for the same problem. Being a home owner for the first time I've discovered how much work is involved, especially with two acres of trees and a small creek. I had a small road constructed in the back of the property for access, but didn't stay on top of it and its now overgrown with alder. That's another project and will involve bringing a Cat in to do the work again. Hope to someday build a small house on the back of the property. Another dream.
Here's some headlines: Congress held hearings on "White Nationalism", reportedly not the same thing as "Nationalism", as "White Nationalism" is aimed at vilifying Trump and the GOP's "Nationalism" that the President supports to put Americans as a priority over other countries. "White Nationalism" is reportedly putting White Americans over other American ethnic groups, which Trump does not support. (Headline didn't quite explain it very well, so I wrote out this longer version) But, no explanation given as to why is congress discussing "White Nationalism" as supposedly there is no growing threat of "White Nationalism", nor is President Trump supporting such a movement, though it seems the democrats want to accuse Trump of racism through this discussion .... "New Jersey Becomes 8th Assisted Suicide State"...."Trump Announces 'We're Giving Strong Consideration' to Placing Illegal Immigrants into Sanctuary Cities".... "Japan Accuses U.S. Serviceman of Murder/Sucide in Okinawa".... "Fisher-Price Recalls Millions of Infant Sleepers After More Than 30 Babies Died"..... "UCLA Accused of Knowing About Cash-For-Admissions Deal Years Before Scandal Appeared In The News"...."Ecuador Protected WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Even As he Threatened to Leak Damaging Information About Its Government" (They have dropped his asylum cover and Assange was arrested in their embassy in London by British Authorities). "U.S. Appeals Court Said The Government Could Temporarily Continue to Force Migrants Seeking Asylum to Wait in Mexico"....."Over 2,700 Central American Children Would be Allowed to Reunite With Their Parents in the United States Under a New Agreement"...."Pro-Choice College Students Argue Babies Who Survive Abortions Shouldn't Get Healthcare"....."Schools in Michigan Banning Pizza Delivery During Lunch".... "CDC Says Recent E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Ground Beef".... "Congo's Ebola Outbreak Might Be Declared Global Emergency"....."Woman Steals Electronic Scooter From Walmart, Drives it to Waffle House to Get Coffee".... "Man on Flight Touched Faces of Passengers, Sprayed Them, Then Jumped to Tarmac" (Strange, there's been no additional news into this story)..... "Arizona First State to Accept Out-of-state Occupational Licenses".... "Michigan Farmer Banned From City's Farmer's Market After He Posted Blog Affirming Catholic Church's Teachings on Marriage"..... "Ohio Government Signs Into Law Pro-Life 'Heartbeat' Bill ".... Louisiana Governor Calls For $9.00 Minimum Wage ".... After More Than 10-years, Japan Begins Removal of Nuclear Fuel Rods From Their Fukushima's Melted Nuclear Reactor....."Protesters Begin Blockade of London"...."Israel to Deploy Thousands of Police in Jerusalem For Passover Holiday"
House is starting to wake-up. Time for me to move back over to my manuscript and get some work done before it gets too noisy. Writing about my time with the Seward police Department is bringing back a lot of memories, old cases and such. Some good and some not so good. But, I try to use my actual police cases, but with fictional characters in my "Badge and the Cross" series. Thankfully, my long term memory is working quite well, but short term.....that's another subject completely. I seem to lose a lot of things, but I do find them when enough time has gone by. Our memory system must be located on two different sides of the brain and one begins to fade with time, and the other....I guess it joins in when you reach a certain age. My mom, who almost made it to 92 yrs, held on to her long term memory to those last few months. She lived with us for her last 22 yrs and took 10-months before she was ready to let go and head home. Tough old lady. Grew up in the Great Depression, was a Rosy the Riveter in the World War Two Defense plants and outlived 4 husbands, while raising 4 kids.
Got to go help and make the bed, I'm being summoned. God Bless, BILL
We once obtained a moose struck by a locomotive and my brother-in-law and his son, with me along, harvested the animal and it took us all day to get it ready for hanging and then another day to prepare it for the freezer. Being game meat you need to hang it for 3-7 days to get the gamey taste out of it. It was well worth the time. I tried eating a small bit of moose the other day, given to us by a dear friend, but my system wouldn't tolerate it. I'm confined to chicken, a bit of pork and fish. Now being a bit unusual for an Alaskan, I do not like salmon, but I do love halibut. I refuse to eat shrimp because of all the radioactivity leaking out of the Japanese nuclear plant over the last 10-yrs or more. I've seen what some of the wild fish look like coming from the fishing grounds- real ugly things. Just this week they finally began removing the nuclear fuel rods out of the leaky Fukushima's reactor. Took them long enough. But, for 10 yrs it has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean and spreading. Nasty stuff and not something I want in my stomach, so my fish intake has dropped off some. Lake trout is still a winner and I hope to do a bit of fishing this year in our local lakes, as I have a beautiful lake a 100-yards behind my house.
I've started my new book and now working on Chapter Two. I get up early in the morning, spend some time in the Word of God and then pray for a while over a wide range of subjects- family, events, needs and health, and for the lost. Then I feel I'm able to begin writing. Afterward I sometimes grab a nap, Mona and I watch a lot of TV, right now were going through the 8 seasons of "Blue Bloods", which has become my favorite cop show. There's a 9th season, but it hasn't come out yet and now the show was canceled. Makes me wonder if Tom Selleck, the main actor, will retire or try something new. He took to writing, going on with the Jesse Stone novels after the previous author passed on. Tom starred in 8 of the Jesse Stone TV movies and we own all of them. If you are a Tom Selleck fan I recommend them. Tom Selleck became famous for his Magnum P.I. series and now it's being remade with new actors. Haven't seen it yet, so I cannot recommend it. But hard to imagine the series without Tom Selleck. He's done pretty well for once having been known as the Marlboro Man in the old cigarette commercials.
Our birch and cottonwood trees look pretty naked right now, stripped by the winds and the new leaves haven't begun their growth spurt yet. As for the Spruce, they always look the same. I have several spruce trees on the land that I kept from when they were babies and now after 18 yrs they are standing pretty tall. Sadly, one of them is right beside the house and I'll have to cut it down this summer as it has become a fire danger. Need to clean out some other trees for the same problem. Being a home owner for the first time I've discovered how much work is involved, especially with two acres of trees and a small creek. I had a small road constructed in the back of the property for access, but didn't stay on top of it and its now overgrown with alder. That's another project and will involve bringing a Cat in to do the work again. Hope to someday build a small house on the back of the property. Another dream.
Here's some headlines: Congress held hearings on "White Nationalism", reportedly not the same thing as "Nationalism", as "White Nationalism" is aimed at vilifying Trump and the GOP's "Nationalism" that the President supports to put Americans as a priority over other countries. "White Nationalism" is reportedly putting White Americans over other American ethnic groups, which Trump does not support. (Headline didn't quite explain it very well, so I wrote out this longer version) But, no explanation given as to why is congress discussing "White Nationalism" as supposedly there is no growing threat of "White Nationalism", nor is President Trump supporting such a movement, though it seems the democrats want to accuse Trump of racism through this discussion .... "New Jersey Becomes 8th Assisted Suicide State"...."Trump Announces 'We're Giving Strong Consideration' to Placing Illegal Immigrants into Sanctuary Cities".... "Japan Accuses U.S. Serviceman of Murder/Sucide in Okinawa".... "Fisher-Price Recalls Millions of Infant Sleepers After More Than 30 Babies Died"..... "UCLA Accused of Knowing About Cash-For-Admissions Deal Years Before Scandal Appeared In The News"...."Ecuador Protected WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Even As he Threatened to Leak Damaging Information About Its Government" (They have dropped his asylum cover and Assange was arrested in their embassy in London by British Authorities). "U.S. Appeals Court Said The Government Could Temporarily Continue to Force Migrants Seeking Asylum to Wait in Mexico"....."Over 2,700 Central American Children Would be Allowed to Reunite With Their Parents in the United States Under a New Agreement"...."Pro-Choice College Students Argue Babies Who Survive Abortions Shouldn't Get Healthcare"....."Schools in Michigan Banning Pizza Delivery During Lunch".... "CDC Says Recent E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Ground Beef".... "Congo's Ebola Outbreak Might Be Declared Global Emergency"....."Woman Steals Electronic Scooter From Walmart, Drives it to Waffle House to Get Coffee".... "Man on Flight Touched Faces of Passengers, Sprayed Them, Then Jumped to Tarmac" (Strange, there's been no additional news into this story)..... "Arizona First State to Accept Out-of-state Occupational Licenses".... "Michigan Farmer Banned From City's Farmer's Market After He Posted Blog Affirming Catholic Church's Teachings on Marriage"..... "Ohio Government Signs Into Law Pro-Life 'Heartbeat' Bill ".... Louisiana Governor Calls For $9.00 Minimum Wage ".... After More Than 10-years, Japan Begins Removal of Nuclear Fuel Rods From Their Fukushima's Melted Nuclear Reactor....."Protesters Begin Blockade of London"...."Israel to Deploy Thousands of Police in Jerusalem For Passover Holiday"
House is starting to wake-up. Time for me to move back over to my manuscript and get some work done before it gets too noisy. Writing about my time with the Seward police Department is bringing back a lot of memories, old cases and such. Some good and some not so good. But, I try to use my actual police cases, but with fictional characters in my "Badge and the Cross" series. Thankfully, my long term memory is working quite well, but short term.....that's another subject completely. I seem to lose a lot of things, but I do find them when enough time has gone by. Our memory system must be located on two different sides of the brain and one begins to fade with time, and the other....I guess it joins in when you reach a certain age. My mom, who almost made it to 92 yrs, held on to her long term memory to those last few months. She lived with us for her last 22 yrs and took 10-months before she was ready to let go and head home. Tough old lady. Grew up in the Great Depression, was a Rosy the Riveter in the World War Two Defense plants and outlived 4 husbands, while raising 4 kids.
Got to go help and make the bed, I'm being summoned. God Bless, BILL
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