Wild Pigs Beware

Wild pigs hunted in defense of natureBy Denis CuffCONTRA COSTA TIMES

SUISUN MARSH - Save the flowers. Save the birds. Kill the pigs.

This was Ted Champagne's mission deep in a maze of tule-covered islands and twisting sloughs where he steered his shallow hunting boat and waited for his Catahoula hounds to catch a whiff of wild pigs. The dogs, Butch and Porter, held their bodies taut and sniffed furiously.
Champagne kept his 12-gauge shotgun close.

He kept his 10-inch-long knife closer, strapped to his side and ready for use in case he found a pig in thick grass and reeds where it could be hard to tell if he was shooting a pig or his dogs.
"Once the dogs smell something and jump out of the boat, things move fast," Champagne said. "You want to get in and finish it fast."
Champagne is no ordinary hunter in this big marsh, but rather a guardian of endangered flowers and plants.
He hunts to protect nature.
Champagne volunteers his hunting services for a conservation group, the Solano Land Trust, one of a growing number of California public and nonprofit landowners who kill wild pigs to prevent them from damaging or killing native plants and wildlife.

Medical Jolt

My Kaiser MD informed me this am that I have a problem with Atrial Fibrilation. He prescribed Cumadin and bunches of other actions. I am a bit anxious about all of this. However, for the moment it is not life threatening. Hail Mary, pray for me.

More on Time

Time

What is time? Time to live.Time to think.Time to dream.Time is a measure of our existance.Time never stands still.Time moves on.Time never retraces its steps.Time is continuous.Time can never stop.Time can heal wounds.Time can bring death.You can kill time.You can take time out.You can keep time. you can be behind time.Time marks the progression of growth and decay.Time governs every single act we are capable of.I had better fill in that tax return.Do'nt want to DO time. sid john gardner

The Puzzel of Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To every thing there is a season,and a time to every purpose under the heaven:A time to be born, a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;A time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;A time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;A time to get, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;A time to rend, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;A time to love, and a time to hate;A time of war, and a time of peace. Anonymous

A Day To Remember

Sixty-five years have passed since December 7, 1941. The memory of the events of that day is still vivid. We had returned to our farm after services at Zion Congregational Church in Manvel, North Dakota at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I was doing something in the barn when my father called me to come to the house where I found everyone clustered around our radio listening to the reports of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I knew our lives had changed and would never be the same. I remember thinking about the coming Christmas and wondering if we would celebrate as usual. I remember wondering about my cousin Jack who had gone to Canada to join the Canadian army and about my close friend Warren, our hired-man, who enlisted in the Navy a few months earlier and was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Christmas came but was different, Eventually V-E and V-J Day came. Jack came home and so did Warren. For me December 7 remains a day to remember.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of you from all of us at the Crockett Museum and Historical Society

Moving On

We again celebrated Veteran's Day at the Museum with food, drinks, music (Aaron Cargo on the accordian) and lots of visiting. It was somewhat lighter than usual partly because of rain in the morning and because WWII vets are getting older. John Swett lost it's final game to St. Pat's. The Benedictine Ravens won.

I Like This Pope

Vatican City, Nov. 06, 2006 (CNA) - Meeting today with members of the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, Pope Benedict XVI said that, “Christianity does not posit an inevitable conflict between supernatural faith and scientific progress,” and assured the scientists that the Church supports their scientific research so long as it is a sincere search for the truth.

IT'S ABOUT TIME

Multiple ceremonies to honor Korean veterans
TRI-VALLEY: One event's organizers say they want to recognize the war's troops before it's too late
By Meera Pal
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
The Korean War is referred to as the "Forgotten War," as it is often overshadowed in history by World War II and the Vietnam War.
"It was the first war in which American veterans came home without receiving the welcoming accolades and recognition from the American people," said retired Maj. Gen. Dan Helix, a Korean War veteran.

Preserve Our Past

Every day, all over our country, there is mounting evidence that we lack a sense of our past.

1867 Mormon Tabernacle Pews Are Casualties of a Face-Lift
By MARTIN STOLZ
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 25 — When the historic Tabernacle, the egg-shaped building that is home to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, reopens next year after a lengthy face-lift and seismic retrofit, visitors will find something new: the pews.
The loss of the original, and uncomfortable, pine pews, handmade in 1867 and meticulously etched and painted to look like oak, angers many Mormons, whose religion is strongly defined by its history and its forebears’ hardships.
Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, released a two-sentence statement saying some original pews — Ms. Farah would not say how many — would be returned and that others would be replaced with oak copies “to maintain historicity.” “No determination has been made on what will happen to the unused original benches,” the statement said.
Church officials would not give an explanation for the change, Ms. Farah said in an interview.
“The church is circumspect about the pews, because it is a work in progress,” she said of the Tabernacle renovations, including the pews.

SAD and Discouraged I May Root for the 49ers

Winless Raiders are in a league of their own: "Oakland, at 0-5, is now the only team without a victory this season
By Steve Corkran
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

DENVER - And then there was one. One, as in only one NFL team remains without a victory this season. One, as in, can the Raiders just win one, baby?
Four teams entered play Sunday without a victory. Only the Raiders awake today without anything to show for their efforts through the first six weeks of the NFL season."

Prisoners transferred to new jail

Prisoners transferred to new jail: "Prisoners transferred to new jail

And just in time for winter! Who would have thought there were as many as 120 criminals in Grand Forks county!!

GRAND FORKS (AP) - Prisoners have been moved from the old downtown Grand
Forks County jail to a new $16 million correctional center on the county
fairgrounds.

The 120 prisoners were transferred by bus Friday night and
early Saturday morning, said Gary Gardner, jail administrator.

'The
inmates are settled in,' he said. 'It went pretty smoothly.'"

Call for ‘herring war’

Call for ‘herring war’

I wonder if this has anything to do with lutefisk. It could be disasterous!

Maybe We should Change Crops??

U.N. Official Targets Afghan Opium
The Associated Press
By CONSTANT BRAND
September 12, 2006
Its clear the mission of NATO in Afghanistan has evolved into a full-fledged attempt to eradicate Taliban
The United Nations urged NATO forces Tuesday to take military action to destroy the opium industry in southern Afghanistan, saying cultivation of the crop is out of control in the embattled Asian country.
U.N. anti-drug chief Antonio Maria Costa said opium production was being used to fund terrorist groups, and that eradicating it was crucial to establishing order in the south.
'In the turbulent southern region, counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics efforts must reinforce each other so as to stop the vicious circle of drugs funding terrorists and terrorists protecting drug traffickers,' Costa said.
He urged NATO countries to give the alliance the mandate and added resources to expand its mission in southern Afghanistan and take action against production of the crop used to make heroin.

Border Agents: 'We're Never Going to Stop Them, Never' - Los Angeles Times

Border Agents: 'We're Never Going to Stop Them, Never' - Los Angeles Times

Some revisions are needed. We seem to be aiming at the wrong target.

View From my Museum Desk

Clayton Bailey took this picture and put it on his "Port Costa Camera" web site.

Cease Fire

"Pope leads day of prayer, renews call for ceasefire
VATICAN CITY, July 24 (CNA) - Pope Benedict XVI, making his Angelus address from the mountain retreat in the Italian Alps where he is vacationing, led Catholics in a worldwide day of prayer and penance for peace in the Middle East. The Pope reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire and his insistence on the rights Lebanese, Israelis, and Palestinians.

Pope Benedict reminded the thousands of pilgrims and local residents at Les Combes in the Italian region of Valle d'Aosta that, following the worsening of the situation in the Middle East, he had proclaimed this Sunday as a special day of prayer and penance, inviting pastors, faithful and all believers to implore from God the gift of peace. The Holy Father said: 'I forcibly renew my appeal to the conflicting parties to begin an immediate cease-fire, to allow the passage of humanitarian aid and, with the support of the international comm! unity, to seek ways to begin negotiations.

'I take this opportunity,' he added, 'to reiterate the right of the Lebanese to the integrity and sovereignty of their country, of the Israelis to live in peace in their State, and of the Palestinians to have their own free and sovereign homeland.'

The Holy Father expressed his particular closeness to the 'defenseless civilian population, unjustly involved in a conflict of which they are only victims: both those in Galilee who are forced to live in shelters, and the great multitudes of Lebanese who, once again, are seeing their country destroyed and have been forced to abandon everything to seek refuge elsewhere.

'I raise a sorrowful prayer to God that the vast majo! rity of people's aspiration"

UND Fights for "Fighting Sioux"

Complete tribal support? - News

Only in Norway

Female rapist sentenced: "Female rapist sentenced
The 24-year-old woman found guilty on Thursday of forcing sex on a sleeping man has been sentenced to eight months in prison by a Bergen court.
The woman was sentenced according to rape laws, for having obtained sexual access to a sleeping man. This was the appeals trial, after she had been sentenced to nine months for the same offense.
The assault took place at a post-party gathering in a Bergen apartment on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2004. The woman admitted to taking the man's erect penis in her mouth but claimed that he was awake and approved.
The man awoke and became extremely upset and has had psychological difficulties as a result of the incident. The appeals jury again found in favor of the man's version, the woman having suffered a severe loss of credibility by changing her story just before the first trial began.
She had originally denied that any sexual contact took place, but then said it was consensual after a DNA report emerged.
This is the first time in Norway that a woman has been convicted for rape as the sole assailant. There is one prior case of a woman being convicted of being an accessory to rape, along with two male co-defendants."

And We Grow

"Updated: June 16th, 2006 12:05 PM PDTAmerican Sugar Refining Acquires Hansen Specialty Sweeteners


American Sugar Refining, Inc. has purchased the specialty sweetener division of Chr. Hansen, Inc. for an undisclosed amount. The transaction includes the specialty sweetener product line of molasses, malt, rice syrup, oat extract, honey, and invert and fondant sugar, as well as production facilities in Louisiana and Illinois.
Shortly after PAI Partners acquired Chr. Hansen last year, it was decided to divest the sweetener activities of the company.
'As we reviewed our business strategies with a determined focus on growth, we realized that sweeteners are not within our core product areas,' said David R. Carpenter, president and CEO of Chr. Hansen in North America, in a prepared statement.
'Thus, we decided to divest Sweeteners, and further strengthen our expertise in developing and supplying cultures, dairy enzymes, natural colors, and flavors.'
American Sugar Refining, Inc., based in Yonkers, N.Y., is the largest cane sugar refiner in the U.S. Its products are marketed by Domino Foods, Inc., which offers a full line of sugar products under the Domino®, C&H® and Florida Crystals® brands.
Brian O'Malley, Domino's president and chief executive officer, said 'the acquisition adds to Domino's offering of specialty sweetener products, which includes natural and organic sugars and rice syrups, molasses, and fondant, icing and brown sugars. We intend to continue to grow the specialty ingredient business through the development of new and unique products that meet our customers' needs for specialty sweeteners.'
The sweeteners business wa"

Norway still the world's best place to live

Right after North Dakota

"Norway still the world's best place to live For the fourth year in a row, the United Nations has ranked Norway as having the highest standard of living in the world. Sweden, Australia and Canada are next in line, while the United States is further down the scale"

Maybe a Lesson for the US

PROFILE / Felipe Calderon -- savvy, gritty centrist: "'At least by U.S. standards, Calderon is a centrist, very much in the middle of the road,' said Arturo Sarukhan, his chief foreign-policy adviser. 'He would be like a liberal Republican or a moderate Democrat. He knows he will have to negotiate with the other political forces.' "

Keith at work

 

View From The Hill

I intend to post as the mood strikes.