It was a long 4th of July weekend, I was sick, and here comes alotta stuff!

Wildlife: Two Horned Griebes were out on Middle Foy's Lake with their two new chicks riding on Mrs. Griebe's back, while Mr. Griebe was diving and feeding them all! Three Loons have taken residence in our lake since the 4th, making beautiful music. A Bald Eagle flies over the lake every morning. Two families of ducklings regularly visit our feeder. We sighted our first deer in months across the lake, near a neighbor's paddle-boat, and a fairly rare Goldfinch (for us) right outside the kitchen window.

Weather: Rain almost every night -- we're still officially in a drought, but the local moisture is helping keep the fire danger down for sure.

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Media Watch: Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital is definitely on life-support. Some things kinda happened in Episode 11, but not even the return of the headless guy could enliven Episode 12. I'm hoping they edit-out all their worthless padding and do one or two wrap-up episodes so the show can die with dignity, for Lars Van Trier's sake, if not King's.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy took on beer and poker. Carson finally dressed someone up so they didn't look like they were going in for a job interview at Ringling Brothers Circus.
CSpan's Book TV doesn't go well with fevers and body aches -- talk about a blur of opinions. I couldn't read a damn thing either. I could finally lie still enough for Nicholas and Alexandra, thirty-odd years after it's making. Tom (Dr. Who) Baker was an oddly charming Rasputin, otherwise it was mediocre history, and an unconvincing try at humanizing a family of unfortunately doomed people who were probably clinically qualified as psychopathic isolates. "A pale, unromantic imitation of David Lean's Dr. Zhivago," has been said, and I agree.
The History Channel told the story of the wreck of the whaler Essex in 1820. I very much doubt that a Sperm Whale actually ATTACKED the ship, but it crashed into the ship twice, and stove in the side. (My guess is panic on the creature's part -- and bad sailorship on the part of the men.) I skipped the details of the horrific trip in longboats, where the few survivors only lived because of cannibalism.
We eventually got the book Moby Dick out of this terrible occurance after Herman Melville read a crewman's memoir.

Media Watch: That Bollywood crib of Strangers on A Train is called Soca -- The Thought That Kills "Soca to me! Soca to me! It ended up being a pretty lousy movie.
Speaking of "Sock It To Me!" I enjoy seeing Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on Trio Network. The earlier shows are MUCH funnier than the later ones -- they started "Jumping the Shark" by 1970. Jump The Shark - Chronicling the Moments of When TV Shows go Downhill
Lily Tomlin breathed a little life into it, but she's critical of her contributions, saying: "I think there was something in the water then."
Ain't nearly as bad as Pink Lady and Jeff from the late 70's, which Trio is running as part of FLOPS Month. Jump The Shark - Click on SEARCH - they have this show as one of the WORST!
Tomlin was a major stage and screen star when that waste of video was on the air, but she damn near sank her career doing a crappy flick with John Travolta, though. Luckily she was in Nine to Five and All of Me before the 80's were over.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: Thunderstorms and rain seemed to wake up EVERYBODY last night. More on the way!

Wildlife: Bears were sighted near the Old Steel Bridge public fishing spot on the Flathead River, about five miles to the east of us.