Birds in the Air

 

I make fudge maybe once a year, usually around Christmastime. I generally use the recipe with just three ingredients: a can of sweetened condensed milk, a 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. It cooks a minute in the microwave and chills for an hour or so before cutting. If I decide to up my game, I’ll go with this:

 

“Famous” Fudge

 

2 cups miniature marshmallows

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Line 8” baking pan with parchment. Combine sugar, butter, milk, and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Continue cooking and stirring 6 minutes; remove from heat. Add remaining ingredients and stir until marshmallows have melted. Spread in prepared pan and chill until firm enough to cut into cubes.

Nine Economy Blocks

 

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was meant to destroy the entire American Pacific fleet in one fell swoop. While the Arizona and the Oklahoma were damaged beyond repair, three more battleships – the California, West Virginia and Nevada – sank upright in relatively shallow water. These three were eventually salvaged and returned to service. The death toll on the Arizona was 1,177. Those who survived numbered 334 (some sources say 335). Of these, only two are still living. Survivors are offered the option of joining their lost comrades and making the Arizona their final resting place. Crew members who served onboard the ship during the attack can choose to have their ashes deposited by divers beneath one of sunken Arizona’s gun turrets. To date, 44 sailors have chosen this option. Other military survivors can choose to have their ashes scattered wherever their ship was located during the attacks. The last person to be interred in the Arizona was in 2019.

Four-Inch Diamond Stars

 

“Each day, we can approach the throne of God in humility and honesty. We can ponder our actions and review the moments of our day—considering our will and desires in light of His. This time of introspection is an opportunity for recalibration. It is a garden of reflection where we can walk with the Lord and be instructed, edified, and purified by the written and Spirit-revealed word of our Heavenly Father. It is a sacred time when we remember our solemn covenants to follow the gentle Christ, when we assess our progress and align ourselves with the spiritual landmarks God has provided for His children. Think of it as your personal, daily restoration. On our journey as pilgrims on the path of glory, we know how easy it is to fall away. But just as minor deviations can draw us out of the Savior’s Way, so too can small and simple acts of realignment assuredly lead us back.” – Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Nine Jewel Boxes

 

Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool in 1939. He grew up in much the same time and place as the Beatles. In fact, Brian’s high school English teacher also taught Paul and George. Brian credits his father with sharing a love of literature. He had fond memories of his father reading aloud from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Kenneth Grahame. Brian became a milkman. The Royal School for the Blind happened to be along his milk route. One day when Brian was in his late forties, he was invited inside the school for a spot of tea. He decided to read to the blind children in his spare time. As he read, he became more and more dissatisfied with the choice of books available, and vowed to write what he called a “proper story.” Redwall was published in 1986, and became the first installment of a 21-volume fantasy series.

Four Inch Anvil

 

In 1982, Gary Larsen drew a Far Side comic featuring cavemen attending a lecture. The lecturer pointed to a picture of the south end of a north-facing stegosaurus. The caption read, “Now this end is called the thagomizer . . . after the late Thag Simmons.” At the time, there was no specific term for the distinctive arrangement of four spikes at the end of stegosaur tails. In 1993, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science used the term “thagomizer” when describing a fossil at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Since then, the word has been adopted as an informal anatomical term. Admitting dinosaurs and humans didn’t exist at the same time, Gary Larsen has suggested a confessional where cartoonists could seek absolution for drawing them together. The world of science seems to hold no grudges, though. A species of louse has been named in his honor: the Strigiphilus garylarsoni.

Four Economy Blocks

 

In late February, 2019, Kelly Stewart was searching for lost treasure in the yard of an abandoned house not far from his Richfield home. Over the past 50 years, he’s found dozens of trinkets with his metal detector, but none more impressive than what he dug up on this particular day. It was a large ten-karat gold ring from the Colorado School of Mines, class of 1943, in mint condition. The only clue to the owner was a set of initials – R.W.D. – inside the band. That’s when the real hunt began. Kelly purchased a 1943 yearbook for the school on eBay, and inside found the name Richard William Deneke. Kelly was hoping to return the ring to one of Richard’s descendants. But a social media search turned up the man himself, living in a nursing home in Georgia. Richard will celebrate his hundredth birthday soon. When he does, he’ll be wearing his gold class ring.

Prairie Queen

 

Sally was born in the Bannock tribe in or near 1840. Some historians list her birth name as Kahpeputz. When she was around seven, she was abducted and tortured. A slave trader called Batiste took her and a boy to sell to the pioneers who’d just arrived in the Salt Lake valley. When they refused to buy, Batiste killed the boy and threatened to kill the girl, too. One of the men traded a rifle for the child, and gave her to his sister who was married to Brigham Young. They named her Sally Young, and she grew up in the Lion House. The 1860 census lists her as a household servant. In 1877 a Ute leader named Kanosh met Sally during a meeting with Brother Brigham. He offered several ponies for her. As the story goes, she initially refused, but later changed her mind. She lived with Kanosh as one of his wives until her death about decade later.