Category Archive:Moose Nuggets

What is missing in this sentence?

The historic cabin relocation, the Russian Orthodox Church restoration, the new soccer fields, lessening the effects the dipnet fishery, and dealing with the bear problem areas are all possibilities that have been put on the list.

Nergh!!! Our local newspaper seems to have lost the use of a teensy, two-letter word . . . OF. It’s small . . . doesn’t take up much room in a line of type . . . seem innocuous . . . but is so important to the flow of a sentence.

(the sentence should read lessening the effects OF the dipnet fishery . . . )

To top it off . . . Word doesn’t even highlight the grammatical error. We’re becoming an age, I fear, of dumbing down our language. The nuns who taught me back in the day (1956-1968) would surely be reaching for rulers to apply a measure of learning just as soon as they read that sentence.

I remember “you” being understood at the beginning of a sentence (i.e. “Go get a tissue.” would mean the same as “You go get a tissue.”), but I do not remember the word “of” being understood in a sentence.

Call me old school . . . call me old . . . call me whatever you desire . . . but, please forgive the shiver I exhibit when I spot such errors in our local rag. My journalism teacher taught us to write to a sixth grade level as that is where most readers are comfortable. It appears we are now writing to an even lower grade level than that.

This happens more often than not with one reporter. I should note that there are spelling errors in the paper every day – some days I want to take a pencil and blue line them all, then send the paper back to the paper makers. Likely it wouldn’t help.

Just smiling and shaking my head . . .

Yesterday I mentioned hubbymoose and I went to the prosthetic specialist to get a mold made for his new boot. I promised pictures – and have permission from Eric O’Guinn of Advanced Biomechanics Inc. to post them here.

First a long tube/sock was placed over hubby’s foot and leg – then a yellow tracked plastic piece was inserted. I missed that as I ran to the car quickly to get my camera. The plastic piece was inserted to make taking the form off more easilyl

Then the wrapping began. It’s the same fiberglass material used for casts.

After two layers were put on we waited for it to dry and harden – Eric checked also manipulated hubby’s foot to give him some arch – that way when the boot is made it will support his foot in a more natural position.

After the cast was hardened – it was time to remove it – that’s when the yellow plastic piece came in handy. (you can see it in the first picture – click for larger versions of the pics.) It gave a groove to guide the scissors and the exacto knife. Yup – exacto knife.

We should hear by the middle of next week that the boot is ready – this will look similar to the boots people wear when they have ankle surgery – or broken ankles. And, yes . . . there will be pictures of the completed project, too.

Hubby’s toe is healing . . . not at a full-on-stampede rapid rate, but it is healing. We go to the wound clinic at the hospital twice a week for dressing changes allowing the nurses and techs to check up on MY dressing changes over the week. They take pictures for comparison – size of the wound, etc.

Today we changed tactics a bit – again – to use a different type of healing solution. The prescription gel was not doing what they had hoped. The tech kept saying – that yellow stuff should be going away with this – don’t know why it isn’t.

Today it was decided that MAYBE that is NOT infection . . . but the tendon on his toe. Tendons need to be kept moist – the prescription was drying it out – thus a change. Okie dokie – we can do that.

Then off to the prosthetic guy for a mold of hubbymoose’s foot and leg – a special boot will be manufactured to help heal/get ahead of the Charcot’s Foot problem I talked about earlier. I will put pictures up in the next post of that process.
🙂

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and you thought I was stuttering! The sentiment fits what I saw today.

Took a lunchtime drive today . . . Mt. Redoubt was putting out some steam and the skies blued up so I hoped for some good shots. Not as good as I’d hoped, but still fun.

This is a great place to pull off the road and grab a shot – it’s atop the bluff over a beach site. (set-netting salmon site).

Spotted some boats out on the water – didn’t think it was a commercial drift fishing day . . . but apparently I was wrong. So, after work I drove to the top of the bluff near Olde Towne and checked out the scenery.

Some of the fleet coming home on the low tide: (click for larger)

The last shot shows a telling sign . . . Dangerous bluff. We used to be able to drive along the bluff – back in the late 70s. Then chunks of the bluff started to fall down towards the water – and soon chunks of the road went with it. Now houses and a church that used to sit several hundred feet back from the edge of the bluff have a ringside seat.

These last two shots are just for fun:

The picture on the left is blurry, but I wanted to show you what some of the dipnetters will do . . . they don wetsuits and then FLOAT on the tide – brrrrrr – and silly, too. Would be pretty hard to get a fish in to shore if they got one while floating.

7-22: Footnote on the above picture: Man disappears in Kenai. This happened earlier in the day – same day as I took the pictures. Body has not yet been found. Sad. (the man floating in my picture is NOT the missing person)

The picture on the right shows an abandoned dipnet. The plastic jug helps the handle float, I’m guessing.

So, I smell all smokey from the beach fires – and I was way up above them. The mixture of the smoke, fish, and salt air . . . ahhhh summer in Kenai.

I’ve missed getting shots of a couple of funny tags – but do have these for you. Love getting behind them at traffic lights – hate when I can’t get to the camera fast enough.

be honest, now . . . who among us is NOT singing “baby you’re dah 1!” ??

and then . . . . there is the neighborhood

’nuff said. :0

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