Ship Wrecks, Hunting Cats, and Monsoons in Iowa.

I'm not sure what made me remember this, but a couple of weeks ago, something triggered a memory I had about a trivial story I "somehow" knew.   Who really knows how trivia manages to manifest itself?   The same story pushed its way back to the front of my mind today, following a different trigger.   And so I decided that that would make a good blog post.

It is about a ship wreck called the Diamond Knot, a freight hauler coming from Alaska with a hold full of canned fish.  On Aug 13, 1947,  it  was struck by another ship and in heavy fog.   The two ships were locked together and they had to be cut apart by rescue vessels and towed back to port.  On the way, the Diamond Knot ran into trouble and sank.   Luckily, no one was injured during the event.

Recovery of the Cans of Fish!

And here is where the interesting part comes in...  The Ship was carrying 1/10 of the gross yearly catch of fish from Alaska.  The insurance company paid for the ship, but to help offset the loss,  the company used revolutionary techniques to recover the hold.  Basically, $22,000.00 in fish oil was recovered by pumping water into the holding cell. ( forcing the oil to rise into a hose to the surface.) and then they cut large holes in the side of the ship and vacuumed up the 5,700,000 cans of salmon from the cargo bay. The entire project recovered $2,100,000.00 worth of salvage!   The fact that the cargo was worth more than the ship and the fact that that amount of fish was worth recovering is what stuck with me.  (I believe those are 1947 numbers....think about inflation to today's prices!)  The shipwreck is still a popular diving place for recreational dives.

Now, the Diamond Knot is a brewing company with a historic story behind the name.  I can't really tell if they know about it, because their own web page is missing the "about our history" section.  I'm sure an employee will make something eventually.

Mid Day Rain! 

In addition to the haunting trivia that "must be blogged about",   Cheryl and I have been running and biking.   The weather had been pleasant...until the beginning of this week.   The heat and humidity has returned, keeping our distance and times fairly short.

This happened at 1:45 today!

Kind of heavy....

"Sheets" of rain on the neighbor's roof!

Today,  the temps are supposed to drop, and along with that, came the rain.   It had been looming all day, but right as we finally arrived home,  it began!  The rain was coming down so hard and fast ( and sideways!) that it looks like there is a fog outside.   I tried to capture the "sheets" of rain hitting the driveway and house across from us, but the fog and mist seemed to interfere.  Luckily,  it did not last long and things are "almost" back to normal.  The clouds are still pretty dark, but at least the temps are down a bit.   Hopefully it will dry up a bit before tomorrow.  We shall see.

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Wednesday.   Nothing like having the work week half over!  Unless you don't have a job, that is.   Some of us are just lucky that way, I guess.   Thanks for stopping in!

My Alaskan Soaps!

I'm very excited tonight! We got our Alaskan Soaps and I just tried out the apple pie amber soap and love it! We got it in the mail today and part of the package was open so I thought we might be missing a bar. But everything was there and then some! She gave us a complimentary Spruce tip jelly. Cheryl just toasted up a slice of bread and buttered some on. Its really good! We are trying to compare it to something we have tasted before, but can't! It's like a totally new flavor. Sufficiently sweet, with not too much tart. Very smooth and jelled. Anyway, the soap was a thick block slice( perfect fit in my hands) smelled good enough to eat! It was like I was back in Alaska for a few moments. Cheryl wants to try the pumpkin pie one later tonight. The only thing that is an observation, not a complaint, was that we had to wait 7 days for it ( hello! It was from Alaska! 4-5 days to get a letter to and from there) But the soap was worth the wait! You can find her shop here on etsy. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15932720 It makes me miss Ak. I worked up there for two summers while in college. Then I requested to be stationed up there when I was in the Army. ( Ft Wainwright Battalion Mortars baby! YEAH!) There are soo many and yet not enough words to describe Alaska. If you look at some of my workshop photos, you will see some moose antlers and caribou head from there. ( don't worry, I never shot the moose) We sold three seats today for a total of 4 as of right now. I will most likely carve them up tomorrow. I did score three more cupboard doors from Holland MI. Resale store ( Solid oak $1 each! ) Cheryl says I have to build her her coffee table before I can carve up another one though.