Scribblings

1. Taking an active four year old boy to the state fair is like taking a herd of cats and trying to keep them contained.

2. Buy that same four year old a ninja stick bat (appropriately soft and not really harmful) and it’s like walking through the fair with a herd of angry cats who are attempting to claw everything that walks by.

3. To whoever that young man was who saw me standing in line as he exited and gave me his extra fair ticket, thank you. You probably have no idea how that simple act of kindness

The weird little man who runs North Korea decided that a couple of entertainers crossed some line in his mind about propriety. The entertainers included a women he once dated. Two weeks after he decided this, they were all executed.

Yep, give me America, any time, any place. I can’t even imagine living someplace where you never know when your weird little leader will decide you should die and then boom, you’re dead.

Pepe’s, the Mexican restaurant dear to the heart of any resident of the North Slope over the past 30 some years, burned to the ground yesterday. A true iconic building is gone. Thank god no one was hurt. More in my column this week as I go back over my 30 years in Barrow and remember all the wonderful times with Fran Tate and Pepe’s.

Watched little Joe Stuermer on his scooter outside of his aaka’s house yesterday. If there is any joy in aging, it’s watching the children of children you once watched growing up being able to also grow up happy, secure and full of enthusiasm for each day. All children should have that. Sadly they don’t. But they should. So “Go, Joey, go! Peddle that scooter as fast as your little feet will push you. All too soon you’ll discover that the world is not always full of people who live to keep you safe, secure and happy. But until then, ride

I’m so glad to hear the Palins have signed on to a grassroots effort to defund the Affordable Care Act. Nothing like waiting until three months before it takes full effect to jump on the bandwagon. Sarah is a true leader… she waits to see where her people are going, then runs like hell to get in the front of the line so it looks like she’s leading them.

The only carpeting left in the house is on the stairs so the dogs don’t kill themselves sliding down them. So why is it, with puppy pads all but covering every other surface in the house, Snowy chooses to poop in the middle of the night on the stair landing… just where my foot would go as I came down to let them out in the morning if I wasn’t smart enough to check before I stepped. It’s a good thing he’s so damn cute!

When you volunteer at Bird TLC here in Anchorage, and especially if you are a caretaker for one of their many education birds that like to eat little dead things, you sometimes find yourself walking around with frozen mice in your pockets as you get ready to go feed the bird.  You should not accidentally pull the frozen mouse out of your pocket to get to the tissue you need for your runny nose while in the company of friends and family who do not also volunteer there. They may not understand.

And you’ll always be my baby sister no matter how grey you get and how many wrinkles appear… not that any are… well, not that you can really see unless you look closely… and that hair dye is doing a great job for the head…

Anyhow, you’ll always be young at heart and that must count for something.

I had a great experience with a carpet cleaning company here in Anchorage named Thermax Carpet Care LLC. They not only cleaned what little carpet I have left in my house after removing most of it because of animal traffic, but called to let me know that they didn’t think cleaning my area rug was worth what it was going to cost me. Imagine a company so honest they called before costing me a huge sum of money that they could have just pocketed.

Anyhow, if you want an honest carpet cleaning company, I highly recommend them. You can find

You know all those places on Facebook where you are invited to “like” something. Why is there never a “dislike” button available?