The 3rd 4th and hopefully not the 5th of July

I’m officially too old to enjoy DIY fireworks. 

I have no problem with fireworks put on by professionals, as long as I’m not directly paying for them. Indirect taxation from the city is fine by me.

I think I get this from my dad who was never a fan of fireworks.  He always had a stick in his craw about them being “dangerous and too expensive”.  As a kid I thought that is how every dad was but as I got older I realized it wasn’t. 

However, at my current age I couldn’t agree with him more, you might say I have a whole lumberyard in my craw.

If you don’t know what a craw is its insect and bird related and if I were either an insect or bird mine would contain sticks. 

Continuing on…..

We apparently live right by the beach where everyone in Kodiak comes to let off their DIY fireworks, pipe bombs and other homemade explosives.  Keep in mind that it doesn’t get dark enough to light fireworks in Kodiak until approximately 12am.  We have the pleasure of sporadic fireworks from about 9pm until 1:30am. 

I thought it was the price of the fireworks that I hate, but I’m not buying any of these I just have to listen to the windows rattle when they are set off…..at 1:30am.

Incase you are wondering these fireworks are not the ones that go boom and make pretty colors; they just go BOOM!

My other firework related irritation is children under the age of 21 setting off fireworks. I know someone who now has the luxury of a glass eye due to fireworks.  I don’t want the same luxury and can’t stand children lighting fireworks from the campfire I am trying to enjoy.  I am a big kid so I move away from the fire, because you can’t explain to children they shouldn’t light fireworks right next to your head and they have no appreciation of expensive water proof clothing that lack holes.

Eventually these same kids follow you to your new destination and you have to pretty much leave the party if you want to keep your eyes and clothes in tact.

I’m done, I thought this was give me some relief but I’m getting irritated all over again.

I can’t wait to see how many patriots storm the beach tonight.

Happy A Parental Units

My parents have been married for 29 years and I decided to celebrate by hiking termination point with my pals Orlando, Ashley and Wilbur.  Wilbur is the dog.  It was a great hike and great way to celebrate my parent’s commitment to one another.

Thanks for sticking it out Muther and Daddy-O.

Lord of the Flyswatter

This past weekend we took a skiff ride over to Long Island for some camping.  It was a great time with a hike over to some old WWII bunkers.  I’m not sure what the purpose of the bunker was but it sure was fun to go in and snoop around.  We found an old phone switchboard, but other than that it was just a bunch of old rooms. 

Welcome Home

Welcome Home Again

This photo was taken in complete darkness. I just hit the shutter release on the camera and shined my headlamp all over to illuminate the room.

Housing of Plane Buster

Base for the Housing

This thing was for plane busting but I don’t think it was ever used and is currently in disrepair.

On a side note a new for of corporal punishment was invented, or relived.  Apparently there are groups on the island that are responsible for monitoring the debris washing up on the shore from the Japanese tsunami.  There have been boats and docks, but we didn’t find anything that large.  Apparently there was a flyswatter warehouse or some kind of large supply of flyswatters that have washed up on the shore.  These flyswatters were used for party fowl punishment.  The way it works is sort of like a modified tooth for a tooth system. 

For example if you poke in the fire while I am roasting a mallow and you get ash on my mallow I am legally obligated to swat you, or have someone else swat you.  The place where you get swatted is up to you, but it must be bare flesh that is exposed.  Generally offenders take their swat on the back of the hand, but some may elect the stomach or buttocks.

There is much debate as to which swatting location generates the most laughter from the jury.

I was successful in not receiving any swats.

Thinking of the Prodigal Church

The Wife, not to be confused with the Shema

This is a picture I took outside the Kinda-cottage.  It is not the Shema, but the picture below is.                    

The Shema, not to be confused with the Wife

This is the picture of the Shema on our door to the outside world.  We have one on the other side of the door so that we can say it both leaving and coming. You know talk about the Shema when you sit in your Kinda-cottage and when you walk along the road by your Kinda-cottage, when you lie down in your Kinda-cottage and when you get up in your Kinda-cottage. We decided to write the Shema on the door to our Kinda-cottage.Apparently our group back home has been studying the Shema.  I can't wait for Dr. Chiro to tell me what it means.  You should look up the Shema in the bible and you might get the joke from above. I won't put in on the blog, I'm not going to be that easy but I will tell you where it is.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Thinking of you Prodigal Church

Shelfishness

My wife does not read this blog so I can post a plea for help.

She checks the mail everyday and sees all the post cards and packages all the other college aged counselors get.

She told me she wishes that she would get something from back home.

She has not been feeling that well this week and could sure use some words of encouragement.

Just saying.........

Kodiak Baptist Mission
1944 East Rezanof Drive
Kodiak, Alaska 99615

KBM VIDEO FUN

I would suggest watching these videos on the regular YouTube channel.

The Kids get to see this one every Monday to remind them of what they forgot over the weekend.

This is a video that was made last week.  Sunshine comes every few weeks in Kodiak, last we we had 9 straight days of sunshine.

Every day in the afternoon we participate in a challenge against other counselors. I couldn't get the balloon to pop with the razor so I just pulled out my ball point pin and finished the job off.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Woody Island

Today is the birthday of my eldest nephew, but I have been unable to contact him in the Motherland.  If he reads this I hope he knows he is loved and missed.

This weekend we decided that we were going to go camping on Woody Island.  We headed over around 9 and looked for a secluded spot in the woods to pitch our tent. 

Remember we had three good hours of daylight left so 9 was not that late of a start.  The group of us then sat by the fire eating hot dogs, marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey’s bars.  I’m not the biggest fan of smores in the world; I lean toward solo mallows.  I did however make a discovery that if you take a hotdog and cut it into four pieces you can load a roaster stick up the following way.

Mallow-hotdog-mallow-hotdog-mallow-hotdog-mallow-hotdog-mallow

Of course you have to put the hotdog pieces on perpendicular to the stick to make it all fit.  You end up with perfect marshmallows buffered by hotdog pieces that are hot on the outside and cool on the inside, just like a good rare steak.

Sweet and salty heaven!

After consuming mass quantities of campfire food we bedded down for a long night of sleep.

It was grand.

We awoke and wandered back to the fire with the coals still glowing. Coals are perfect tool for boiling water and preparing breakfast.  However, the rest of the group was huddled around two jet boil devices.

If you are not familiar with the jet boil look it up. It is a self-contained backpacking apparatus that can boil a little more than a cup of water in about five minutes.  I used my camping pot to boil a liter of water (4 cups) in about three minutes and I didn’t even have to use the compressed gas that the jet boils run off of (they are expensive and I am cheap).

Oh well, whatever makes you happy.

We had a delicious breakfast of oatmeal and tea. I brought two kinds of loose-leaf tea and two tea balls, but I could only get Miss A. S. to drink tea with me.  If you are that person, you are awesome and are welcome to my tea stash any time.  This same person woke up with her eye-swelled shut and we never figured out what happened to it. I prayed that she would be healed and several days later she is almost back to normal. 

She didn’t even take a picture of her swollen eye, and it was awesome.

The plan was for the skiff to pick up counselors at around 11 a.m., but it did not show up until around 2 p.m., which irritated a lot of the counselors.  I don’t know why they wanted to get back so fast.  The only thing to do in Kodiak is to sit by a fire and eat or go hiking and we had both of those things to do on Woody.

Again, whatever makes you happy.

As for my wife and me we stayed on the island with some friends who came over on the skiff (not counselors) from Kodiak to feast and hike.  It was a beautiful day full of fellowship and we even celebrated what would have been (the groom passed away a few years ago) a 50^th wedding anniversary with sparking grape juice and home made rhubarb cake. 

I really think the people that did not stay missed out on a lot of fun.