• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

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    Posted 08/15/2025
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Camping is fun

Laura Fopiano

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Dear Mom And Dad,

Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the
flood on TV and are worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2
sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because
we were all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened.
Oh yes, please call Adam's mother and tell her he is okay. He can't
write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and
rescue jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found Adam in the dark
if it hadn't been for the lightning. Scoutmaster Keith got mad at Adam
for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell
him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you
know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas will blow up? The wet wood
didn't burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes.
Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Keith gets the bus fixed. It
wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left.
Scoutmaster Keith said that with a bus that old you have to expect
something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance. We
think it's a neat bus. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's
hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders. It gets pretty hot with

45 people in a bus. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until
the highway patrol man stopped and talked to us. Scoutmaster Keith is a
neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching
Jessie how to drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any traffic.
All we ever see up there are logging trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out
in the lake. Scoutmaster Keith wouldn't let me because I can't swim,
and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast, so he let us take
the canoe across the lake. It was great. You can still see some of the
trees under the water from the flood. Scoutmaster Keith isn't crabby
like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets.
He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not to
cause him any trouble.

Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Andrew
dived into the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet
works. Steven and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Keith said it
probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said
they got sick that way with food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got
out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get
things done better while he was doing his time. By the way, what is a
pedal-file?

I have to go now. We are going to town to mail our letters and buy some

more beer. Don't worry about anything. We are fine.

Love, Chris
 
Oh boy! I hope I don't get a letter like that from one of my kids (but I think I'd like to be ON that camping expedition!)!!
 
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