Why Its Good To Be A Grandpa

Johnny Boden wishing me a happy birthday. He calls his grandpas - "papa". He got on the phone and wished me a happy birthday 4 or 5 times. He is too cool.

I had a good b-day. I got up and went cross country skiing with Farley the dog. We went to our favorite spot and saw the moose again. I skied for about 3 hours. I went back and got a massage at the Z-spa. A nice mild looking gal named Michelle worked me over like a professional wrestler. It hurt at times but felt great after. Then Tasha came over and we ordered out and had dinner and my favorite desert that Lisa makes it is not cake but a kinda of a pie thing. They gave me some great gifts, especially an I-Pod, I finally realized how damn cool these things are and wanted one to take to the gym. Every one was nice and I talked to Adam and Gordo and got emails from Andrew in Alaska and Ben in China. Of course ma and pa called and Ty, Sloan and Bodie. I might be an aging sorry ass but I have a great family - thanks guys.

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Hear 'em singing happy birthday
Better think about the wish I make
This year gone by it's been a piece of cake.
Every day's a revolution Pull it together and it comes undone
Just one more candle and a trip around the sun.
I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning
And it's good to know it's out of my control.
If there's one thing that I've learned from all this living
Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go.
No you never see it coming, Always wind up wondering where it went.
Only time will tell If it was time well spent
It's another revelation,
Celebrating what I should have done With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun.
I'm just hanging on while this old world keeps spinning
And it's good to know it's out of my control.
If there's one thing I have learned from all this living
Is that it wouldn't change a thing if I let go.
Yes I'll make a resolution
That I'll never make another one.
Just enjoy this ride on my Trip around the sun.

Jimmy Buffet

Words of Wisdom

This Popular Drink May Delay Aging!
Sip a glass of red wine with dinner most nights, and it may buy you a longer life as well as delay the onset of aging.
That's the word from scientists at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, who have shown that red wine can actually delay the onset of aging thanks to the ingredient resveratrol. At least it works in fish, and the researchers think the findings could apply to humans as well.
Resveratrol, an organic compound found in grapes and particularly enriched in red wines such as pinot noir, is part of a group of antioxidant compounds known as polyphenols. Scientists have shown through previous studies that resveratrol can help prevent inflammation and cancer. The Italian researchers, led by Alessandro Cellerino, added resveratrol to the daily diet of 150 Nothobranchius furzeri fish, a breed that typically lives about nine weeks in captivity. The result? It not only significantly prolonged their lifespan, but also delayed the onset of age-related problems, including loss of memory and diminished muscular performance.
The fish that received a lower dose of resveratrol lived on average 33 percent longer than fish fed their normal diets, while those fed the higher dose lived more than 50 percent longer. Previous research showed a similar effect in fruit flies and worms, making resveratrol the first compound to consistently prolong life in three very different animal groups. The hope is that resveratrol could someday be used in drugs that would help prevent age-related diseases in humans. The study findings were published in the journal Current Biology.
This isn't the first research to show the anti-aging qualities of wine. Women who drink one glass wine daily tend to have sharper minds into old age than do women who abstain, reports Reuters of a large study of 12,500 nurses from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Light to moderate drinking has also been shown to prevent heart disease and stroke.
Led by Dr. Meir Stampfer, the team found that female drinkers aged 70 to 81 were 20 percent less likely to experience a decline in their thinking skills over a two-year period than women who did not drink at all. Specifically, women who drank daily tended to have the mental agility of someone a year and a half younger than abstainers.
Just in case you have any ideas about beefing that up by imbibing more, forget it. Drinking more than one glass of wine a day didn't provide a greater cognitive benefit.

I Report - You Decide

Lunch Peak Lookout

This old fire lookout will be my vacation home for four days in July. I reserved it through the Forest Service, it sits on top of Lunch Peak in the Bitteroot Mountains near Sandpoint overlooking Lake Pend O'rielle. It is at 7,000 feet elevation which is high for this area. Most fire lookouts have been deactivated due to satellite technology and they have made these available to the public on a first come basis. I reserved it on the first day they were available and it should be fun. The road goes right to the lookout but has a gate miles down the road that is locked so it should be pretty private. It is near some trails that go to some high country lakes that should be fishing well about that time of the summer. I'll be hanging out like Ed Abbey hisself. Ty said he would try and come up then and Lisa might even spend a night or two. One thing for sure, its gonna have a great view.

Moose Deuce

I went cross country skiing again, I realize this is in danger of becoming a ski blog but I don't do much else. I went up in the mountains and took off up an old logging road and it was a good day to be skiing, about four inches of fresh snow and the conditions were good. I noticed some huge tracks going up the road and took a closer look, moose. The tracks were sinking in about a foot and there were two sets of them. I thought they looked fresh so I called Farley back and made him stay behind me and started looking ahead hoping to catch a glimpse of the aformentioned meeces. I had gone about half a mile and the tracks were were veering side to side as I could tell they were trying to get off the road, but it was a steep slope and deep snow on both sides so they couldn't. Then I saw a steaming pile of droppings and I knew I was getting close. I skied as quietly as possible and finally came around a corner and snow flew as a cow moose and a large calf took off. They were only about 25 yards away and they trotted ahead, I watched them as they headed up the road, they can really cover ground even at a trot. Finally I could see the big one head up into the trees off the road. It took me about 15 minutes to ski to where it disapeared (uphill all the way) When I got there I saw the tracks of the big one go up into the trees and the tracks of the smaller continue up the road. Hmmmm. Didn't really like this scenario. So now I was in between a cow moose and her calf on a narrow little logging road with nowhere to hide and skis on that would make me a sitting duck. Farley wouldn't be much help, he didn't seem to even notice them, and I think if they charged he would be running like hell. Oh well, I continued on up the road and kept pushing the other moose ahead of me. I would stride, breathe, look over my shoulder. I wasn't scared, but I did want to avoid getting the shit kicked out of me by a pissed off 2000 lb. mother ungulate. After a couple more miles of uphill skiing I was tired and decided to head back, downhill glide the whole way. Never did see either moose again, but I'm glad I got to watch them. I felt a little bad about seperating them so far, but it wasn't a small calf - it was almost half the size of its mother. More like a teenager - as soon as it needed some money it would find its way back to mommy.