We did a test run on our custom fit sunglasses business at the Duluth Gun Show. If you have never been to a gun show, do yourself a favor and go to one. This is the second one I had attended and Susie's first. There were over 400 tables set up will all sorts of guns and gun related items. The people watching is at it's finest, but different than I expected.

You would figure that, if some guy showed up with a ponytail hairdo, there would be someone who would pop up and cut it off faster than a necktie at the Trail Dust Steakhouse. This however, was the biggest gathering of guys with ponytails and pigtails that I have ever seen. My favorite was a two-foot long pigtail with a sausage look. He had the thing tied every four inches with rubber bands, making it look like link sausages.

There were some great guns too. If you needed a grenade launcher, you had choices. The showstopper for me was a Grizzly Bear size leg-hold trap. This thing was 4 feet long and made out of ½ inch steel. I couldn't even lift it. I can not imagine actually trying to set the thing. All you have to do is hold down on the two end springs while prying the jaws to their full open position, all without getting some of your own parts in harms way. I can picture myself going back the second day to check the trap and find that I had caught a lawyer, or a bouquet of kids. Something to think about the next time you are tromping around in the woods.

The gasoline prices have dropped noticeably since out arrival in Duluth. When we got here it was $1.83 a gallon, but has dropped to $1.37 (6-30-01). My first fill-up at $1.83 set a new record. I had been checking gasoline prices at the NYMEX exchange. When we got up here, unleaded was selling at $1.13 per gallon at the N.Y. harbor. That price is for 42,000 gallons without any federal or state tax or transportation charges or profit for a retailer. The current price is $.77 per gallon, so things are looking up.

I am steadily recovering from Carpal Tunnel Surgery. My hands still hurt but improve each week. Recovering from the loss of muscle mass will be the next task at hand. I used to be able to hold my arms up with my hands in front of me at a torch for 8 hours with no problem. My deltoids have melted away, so I have some work to do. There is no room for free-weights, but we have Thera-Bands left over from Susie's medical supply business. (She bought them second hand so they could not be resold) They are giant rubber bands with different strengths, which I can use to simulate weight lifting. I'm very anxious to get back to beadmaking.

I'm going to repaint the Jeep this summer. I'm even going to do some body work. I'm torn between doing it in silver, or doing a camo pattern. If I redo it in silver there would be a great likelihood that it would look like I had painted it with a broom. A camouflage pattern would be complicated but the paint job would be forgiving.

Well, I've dragged out the completion of this update. Yesterday (7-10-01), Susie was turning left into our RV park and someone two cars back decided to pass everyone. There were no injuries, except to the Jeep. When setting in the driver's seat, you can see the bumper sticking up over the hood. Jeep had chosen the front bumper for storing a vacuum canister. With it mashed, the Jeep's vacuum system is not working. It runs rough and I can't figure out where the air conditioning is going. The tow bar mounted to the front of the Jeep was mashed, but not before it extracted its revenge on the encroaching vehicle.

Their insurance company has already started to jerk me around. The front of the Jeep will look nice again, as there is no way to match the paint. You can't buy paint that looks as bad as the paint on the Jeep.

We had a successful jewelry show last weekend at Two Harbors, about 20 miles up the north shore from Duluth. It was an outside show so we set up our Archtop tent and showed up Friday morning ready to go. I wore shorts and a pullover shirt so I would be cool on the torch. About an hour after we got there a front moved through, it started to rain and the bottom fell out of the thermometer. By the time the temperature got into the 40s, I was the only one not wearing a parka. I provided amusement for a couple of hours until the temperature improved. "Not (pronounced 'newt') from around here, eh?" The kiln and torch provided a little relief.