The Easter Candy Experience

Jake has been making stop motion pictures like a Banshee. Here's one he made Easter night.

And Now: From the Bizarre File!

Gotta love the tension!

Today's RANT: PIOUS = People for Insect Opportunity and Unconditional Security.

(Some of our insect friends...lost.)

There is a huge problem right now with the bug population (duh, like I need to tell you!). More specifically, the flying insect population of bugs. If you feel like I do (and I'm sooo sure that you do) then you will be overjoyed to know that someone is doing something about this horrible problem. That "someone" is me: Clive Brent Hope Jr and the springboard I'm using to advance this platform is "The Daily Item." I've decided to use "The Daily Item" for obvious reasons.


The Issue:
Too many bugs (flying insects) are perishing each year from moving vehicles. This loss of bug life is putting a strain on the next class of animals and bugs (crawling insects) birds, snakes, turtles, etc. The strain on these animals will result in bad things: See below!

(Way too thin Robin)

The Facts:
In these United States we have 143,781,202 automobiles. There are approximately 800,000 big trucks (semi tractor-trailer) on the road at any given time. The average miles driven by a trucker in one of those big rigs each year is 150,000 miles.

800,000 (trucks) x 150,000 (miles) = 120,000,000,000 miles driven each year collectively by all truckers.

(close up picture of bug on window. Sad, I know.)

Personal Data:
Last weekend I drove a Penskie 20 foot diesel moving-truck from Tacoma Washington to Hailey Idaho. Miles = 644. I encountered roughly (and quite conservatively) 5 squished bugs per mile on my windshield during the entire drive. That means in 644 miles driven I sent 3220 bugs to the netherworld. These bugs were gone in an instant! Poof! Or rather SPLAT! and Gonzo! One minute these bugs were flying innocently around performing innocent bug errands for their innocent bug wives and the next thing they know is they are shouting bug expletives right before being sent to the next existence! This is hardly any way for us as humans to act. What if the tables were reversed? What if we were flying and the bugs were driving? Yeah, now your beginning to see my point!

Calculations and an alarming realization:
If we take the average miles driven by truckers each year, 120,000,000,000, and times that by the number of bug hit each mile (5 per) we come out with a number equalling: 600,000,000,000 bugs killed each year by obnoxious human medling. That's right folks, WE are killing 600,000,000,000 bugs each year through our own selfish designs. Now folks, these numbers don't even include the miles driven each year by casual motorists in their casual autos. 600 Gazillion is way too many bugs being killed needlessly each year. These numbers are beginning to have an immediate impact on the animals, birds and bugs that rely on these flying insects as their food supply. Now is the time to act.

I know the problem is serious: WHAT CAN I DO?!!

I would like each of you to send me your donations and join our special group called:

PIOUS = People for Insect Opportunity and Unconditional Security.

YOU can help and make a difference. There are many things that can be done right away but I will need your support.

Please send a $20.00 check or money order to:
Brent Hope
P.O. Box 3337
Hailey, Idaho 83333

We are aiming to get all of the truckers off of the road and back into horse and buggies or hand carts to pull their "needs." This will eliminate the huge surface area traveling at such high velocities that is now killing our insect friends.



We can make this happen!!

Nunchuck Demonstration: FAIL

Before anyone out there thinks I like pain or seeing others in pain think again. The reason I'm posting this video is that I absolutely love this guy's bound determination to, "The Show Must Go On" attitude!

That, and it makes me laugh soooo hard every time I see it.

Enjoy!

Memories of Elementary School

The first time I saw this comic I chuckled at the reaction of the young man getting the "shot."
The next time I looked at it I laughed as I could see the young man's comrades amused at the reaction of their buddy getting the "shot."
This morning I smiled at this picture as I remembered my own elementary school buddies and how carefree our lives were back then.

I'm reminded of playing football with Dan at recess in Colfax Washington during the 1st Grade and reading the book "Touchdown for Tommy." I remember laughing a lot.

I'm reminded of my eyes meeting "Karla's" eyes at the drinking fountain (my first time noticing the opposite sex) and being teased incessantly by Dan and my other buds in 2nd Grade (also in Colfax). I remember laughing a lot.

I'm reminded of sleep-overs and playing basketball early in the morning before school with Tim West and Joey Grant in Mrs. Barth's 3rd Grade class in Phoenix Arizona. I remember laughing a lot.

I'm reminded of the dark days of 4th grade, the year after my parents divorced. The school I attended in St, Anthony Idaho was very, very old and everything in my vision that year seemed dark and dreary and black and white. I remember being bitter because Mr. Leonard (my teacher) couldn't pronounce the words right in "Charlotte's Web." Mrs. Barth had read this book to us during my third grade year in Phoenix, so I KNEW how the words were supposed to be pronounced. Instead of saying "Mr Zuckerman" like Mrs. Barth, Mr. Leonard would say "Mr. Zookerman." When I pointed out to him that his pronunciation of this name was all wrong and that it needed to be pronounced "Mr. ZUCKerman" not "Mr. ZOOKerman" I was met with stares. From that moment on, every time he saw "Zuckerman" in the book he would stop and over annunciate "ZOOKerman" while looking at me up over his book. There was no laughing.

I'm reminded of moving into a new school (they tore the old one down) having a fantastic teacher (Mr. Weaver), being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and playing and riding bikes with new friends: Chris Heintz, Brad Gothard, Mark Miller and Gary Paynter while in 5th Grade. I remember playing "king of the mountain" on the huge snow piles in the parking lot of the school. Things were in color again! I remember laughing a lot.

I'm reminded of my friends Paul Jensen and Kelly Coburn in in Mr. Howards 6th grade class in Sugar City Idaho and how the young men were divided into two classes: Cowboys and Cool-dudes. Guess what one I was!

In 7th grade there were no more recesses. No more "king of the mountian." Teachers no longer read us books like, "Charlotte's Web" "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," or "The Box-Car children." Kids started using tougher language. Some were experimenting. There was a realm of innocence that had been left behind from my elementary years. A time that I miss and look back fondly upon.

Right as Rain

Where did you think Storm Troopers came from?

Saturday Hike in Hailey

Saturday, Penny, Jake, Brent and I hiked up Carbonate Mountain in Hailey. Our starting point was around 5400 feet. The summit of Carbonate is at 6500 feet.

Starting out at the base. Penny and her nice walking stick.

Jaker with the mighty Wood River in the background.

Brent and Jacob looking north up the Wood River Valley.

Brent III with the Sawtooth Mountain range in the background.

Brent III at the 6500 foot summit.

Brent the older at the summit with the Haily airport and our neighborhood in the background.

A Family of Cliff-Dwellers

My full name is Clive Brent Hope Jr.
Looking up my name in the "baby-book of names" long ago, I discovered that:

Clive means "Cliff-Dweller"
-and...
Brent also means "Cliff-Dweller" as well as "Steep."

Those are particularly apt names for someone who LOVES high places.

I remember as a younger man I really enjoyed climbing water-towers. No kidding, if there was a water tower in your town, and if I could access a way to get onto it's built-on ladder, I would climb the thing. I've climbed a lot of water-towers. Once all grown-up I was a tower safety instructor for Comcast, climbing and training others how to safely climb towers. Still today at Cox, I'm the guy that climbs the tower at work if there is a problem with our local reception.

OK. I love it.


Of course I've never been sky-diving (I would hate to go tandem) but would love to go solo!
I haven't always been so bold in high places. I used to be afraid of heights. In the town of St. Anthony where I grew up there was a modestly high bridge that crossed the snake river right in the middle of town. Everyone I knew would jump off of the thing except me. I sooooo wanted to jump off of the "city bridge" as we called it. I would just stand up on the bridge wishing I had the nerve to jump while everyone else was having a blast jumping. Finally, at the age of 18 I got up the nerve to jump and it was nirvana!
Since then I've jumped of everything I can find. Furthermore, my love of jumping has been passed down to my children. Not only do and have all of my kids jumped off various cliffs and bridges but they've done it way younger than I ever was.

Case in point: I jumped off of the St. Anthony City Bridge at age 18. Brent and Jessica each jumped off of that same bridge when they were 9 years old. Penny May set the family record of jumping off of a bridge last summer by jumping off of a cool railroad tressel in the Wood River Valley...at the age of 8!! (shown above)

As a family we've even picked up a few cliff-jumping converts along the way, Brett and Travis my son's in-law also like to jump when we go swimming too.

At the bottom of this post I have a video of Brent III and Travis running and jumping off of a bridge along I90 at milepost 70 in Washington.

That's right, we'll stop anywhere to jump off of a bridge.

Elise, Brent, Sarah, Penny and myself are shown jumping from different places in these pictures.

Fabulous Easter Weekend

Special guests arrived at the Hope house in Hailey this weekend. The visitors were: My Mom and her boyfriend Robert West and also my brother David Hope and his girlfriend Kristi Bisti. We did lots of stuff over the weekend including:

• Bocce Ball at the Elementary School
• Touring up and down the Valley including a trip to the Sun Valley lodge.
• Easter Dinner at the Hope's house.
• Easter basket extravaganza.
• Guitar playing.
• Apples to Apples game playing.
• Computer tutorials
• Hiking
• Sledding

Now Kristi, Dave's very sweet girlfriend (and already part of the family forever) had never been sledding before. Dave asked me if there was something I could do about it and I said,

"Get in the car!!"

I have a couple of tractor inner-tubes that we inflated, Penny, Brent, Dave, Kristi and I loaded up the truck and we headed to world famous "Rotarun" ski area (OK, it's not "world famous").

There were just a few problems at Rotarun; the snow was somewhat sparse and at the bottom of the hill was a water-runoff from the heavy spring melting that we have been experiencing here.

It didn't matter!

Captured on the video below is Kristi on her maiden voyage sledding down the Rotarun ski hill on a tractor inner-tube that she is sharing with my brother Dave Hope.


Press Play!

Ruth, Maralyn, Kristi, Penny, Robert, Brent and Dave

Dave and Brent

Dave, Kristi, Penny and Brent (and flippin sweet inner-tubes)

Penny looking very somber realizing that she is about to go screaming down the hill with her brother Brent on the inner-tube. She only wimpered.

Beautiful Sarah at the Sun Valley Lodge.

Mom was crazy tired from the hectic pace and fell asleep on the beanbag. While sleeping we all gathered around her for a "funeral shot."

And Now: From the Bizarre File!

Get em now! They are selling like hotcakes!!

Easter Egg Contest on the Daily Item!

Easter Eve we had a pretty heated family contest on whose egg had the best design. Because we couldn't pick one clear winner I have decided to put the top ten eggs on the "Daily Item" and have my usual readers decide which three eggs they like most.

The Contestants:

• David Hope (Brent's Brother)
• Kristi Bisti (David's Girlfriend)
  
• Penny May Hope
• C. Brent Hope III
• Jacob D. Hope
• Sarah Anne Hope
  

Ruth and I didn't have an egg entered into the contest.

The rules:

Pick the top three eggs by number and post.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

Number 5

Number 6

Number 7

Number 8

Number 9

Number 10

Timelapse: Franklin Street after North Carolina Victory.

Link.

Pretty cool timelapse here after the Tar Heels won the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament.

1984 - Home Computer's and a Perm.

The World's Most Extreme Par 3!!

South Africa's Legends Golf & Safari Resort has a very special hole 19-- a par 3 with a tee box that sits 1,400 feet above the green. The 630-yard hole requires a helicopter to reach the tee and a ball takes nearly 30 seconds to drop to the green below!

Playing all 19 holes runs about 2,000 South African rand, or about $220 in American bills, but for that you get the helicopter ride, plus a bunch of souvenir swag and a DVD of your shot.

Sweeeeet! Nailing a hole-in-one on the the 19th nets you a cool $1 million.

Hit play for an amazing video of the hole.

First, Disco and now the "Anti Hip-Hop Movement."

It's an epidemic and as seen in this brutal video, if you sing any song from the Hip-Hop genre (even in your shower) this mean guy who is real cross will sneak up and paste you in the mouth. This "punching guy" is the same guy that ended Disco back in the day. BLAST!! (Why??)

Now if we can get this guy to hate the real twangy "Country Music" genre.

Not Cool!

The Daily Item Goofball Move Of the Day

April Fools Day of My Youth - Or when I completely stopped trusting adults

Ah yes April Fools Day. I can remember many times being gullible enough to believe some of the outlandish stories that were presented to me on this day (OK so I'm trusting!).

Here's a gentle April Fools story from my youth:

We lived on a small one acre lot in Salem Idaho back when I was in the 6th grade. All around us were huge farms that featured big equipment, humongous bales of hay, grain silos and farm animals.

I would spend a lot of my after-school time next door at our neighbors farm. They were sweet people and would allow me full access to everything on their property. So, one day I'd climb bales of hay (which seemed to be much taller than any houses nearby) the next day I'd hang out with the milking cows. During the spring of my 6th grade year I went over to the my neighbors farm and discovered that they had purchased a bunch of weened lambs. The lambs were in a pen that had scattered straw and a couple of hay bales. I was awestruck by these sweet, gentle and playful animals. For the next week I would spend every day after school in that pen playing with my new friends, the lambs.
When the lambs would leave the outdoor pen and go inside their indoor pen I could hear them clunk around against the walls of their night time home. The clunking was caused by the lamb, being unsure of his surroundings, he would bump against the walls of his dwelling until calmed and then the clunking would stop. I sooooo wanted one of these lambs!! I desperately informed my mother and step-father that I had to have one. I pleaded for a couple of weeks!!
Then, one day after school, I got of the bus and walked up the L-shaped dirt driveway to our home. Before getting to the home I saw my mother standing by an out building. She had a beautiful energetic smile on her face and she was kind of "running in place" while excitedly telling me to come over and look inside the out building. As I approached, I wondered what kind of surprise awaited. Happy (like Christmas happy) my mom announced that they had purchased a baby lamb for me!! I stopped dead in my tracks, a few feet from the door of the wooden outbuilding and listened to the "clunking" against the inside wall of the structure. "YES!! I know that sound!!" I thought.
That was unmistakeably the sound of a young nervous lamb bumping against the wooden wall! My eyes turned into saucers and both hands covered my wide open excited mouth!!
Mom excitedly said, "Go inside!!"
I thrust open the door with a racing pulse and looked all around wildly!
There was no lamb.
Instead I saw my step-father (evil step-father) kneeling down in the corner of the building, gently tapping the wooden wall with a hammer, replicating the sound of a baby lamb "clunking" into things.
I was speechless. With mouth wide-open I looked at the hammer, then to my step-father and back at the hammer. I marveled when I realized that he too knew all about the "clunking" sounds that a young lamb makes. Looking at my step-father, he flashed an evil and wicked smile.
Then in unison they both announced, "APRIL FOOLS DAY!"

I heard Psycho music.

Still with mouth open my eyes began to well up with huge tears. I had been had. I had been sucked into this nasty (but genius) April Fools Day joke. I turned and ran to the house sobbing like mad. I think I was more embarrassed than anything. Blast!