Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Illness Becomes Blessing

The GAZETTE reported last week that Kelly Simms, daughter of Knotty Pine's Doc Simms, had been diagnosed with the Marburg virus, a deadly African virus. Kelly had been life-flighted from Knotty Pine hospital to Central City Medical Center where her illness was diagnosed. The GAZETTE is now happy to report that Kelly is recovering from this deadly disease. Doctors are not sure how or why Kelly has survived this powerful virus.
Doc Simms reports that Kelly is sitting up in bed and starting to eat soft food. She should be able to return to Knotty Pine in another week or so. Doc also mentioned that Kelly's recovery may mean great hope for many others who may contract this dreaded disease. Doctors at Central City Medical Center along with doctors from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) are hoping to develop a vaccine for Marburg from Kelly's blood. "Kelly's blood cells have developed antibodies to fight off the Marbrug virus," said Doc Simms. "Doctors at the CDC should be able to create a vaccine to kill the virus from Kelly's blood. There is a good chance that Kelly's illness and recovery may end up saving thousands of lives in Africa. Kelly will soon be giving blood every six weeks or so when she has fully recovered."
Kelly has told her father to thank everyone for their cards and prayers. What the devil meant for evil God has turned to good.

(note: This story actually happened this year to a young lady from Colorado. She is now giving blood to save lives in Africa. Thank God for His amazing grace.)

RB101 Eddie and Mr. Foxy

Mr. Bartholomew is a multi-millionaire. He gets whatever he wants. He meets young Eddie who has been trying to catch a huge trout he calls "Mr. Foxy." Eddie and Mr. B. become instant friends and soon go fishing together. Eddie shares his faith and his love of life with Mr. B. Then something happens to Eddie. Bill asks, "Can money give you anything you want?" What does it get Mr. Bartholomew?

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Free Big Six Skiing!!!

I know that many are enjoying a warm fall across the country, and winter is a full two months away. So it may be hard to believe that it has been snowing in many parts of the Rocky Mountains including the Big Six Mountains. There has been steady and heavy snowfall across the Big Six for the last week. As much as 10" of snow has fallen. All of the Big Six ski slopes and ski trails are now open.
Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson informs the GAZETTE that skiing conditions all across the Big Six are good to excellent. His rangers are already out patrolling the region for the usual winter dangers such as avalanche. Ranger Bill says his rangers have seen nothing at all on the slopes to be concerned about at this time.
Big Six Ski Lodge is offering free or discount skiing and ski list passes. Right now, those who book a two-night or longer stay at the lodge for the start of ski season (Nov 15 to Dec 25, 2010) will receive a free ski and lift pass to any of the ten lifts and 35 ski runs in the Big Six area. To celebrate the early opening of ski season, Big Six Lodge is offering discount ski and lift passes good from today to November 15.
The Big Six has ski runs from beginner to advanced, Superpipe for snow boarders, great ski trails, and excellent guided back country skiing. So come to Knotty Pine's Big Six Lodge for some great skiing this fall.

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Woman's Strange Illness

Kelly Simms, daughter of Doc Simms, was life-flighted to Central City Medical Center last week when doctors at Knotty Pine Hospital could not determine what disease was sapping the life from the young woman.
Doctors in Central City were equally dumbfounded by this mystery illness until a group of interns was introduced to Kelly's case. One of the student doctors was a native of Uganda. He suggested that Kelly's symptoms - high fever, lethargy and bruising; looked similar to the Ebola virus he had seen in Africa.
A team from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) was called in immediately. Doc Simms confirmed that Kelley had indeed traveled to Africa on a mountain climbing trip, but over six weeks earlier.
CDC tests soon confirmed that Kelly did contract a hemorrhagic fever, Marburg Virus. Ebola, dengue fever, and Marburg are all diseases in this family. These illnesses attack the capillaries, the body's smallest and finest blood vessels. The capillaries burst causing bleeding that looks like bruises and slowly starve the major organs resulting in death. There is no known vaccine and antibiotics are usually not effective. 80% of patients with Marburg die of the disease.
Doc Simms is asking for prayer for Kelly because only God has the power to heal his daughter.

RB100 The Fur Thieves

Moose McBain's traps are being robbed. Moose lives deep in the forest with his two sons. Trapping is Moose's only way to make a living. While Moose sets one line of traps, someone robs another of his trap lines. He can't catch these thieves or stop them. The thieves even manage to erase their tracks completely. Moose asks Bill and the boys to find and stop the thieves. Who are these thieves? Why are they robbing Moose? Can our rangers find and stop whoever is doing this?

RB-099 The Mystery of Bear Valley

Visitors come from all across the nation to see the many different bears in Bear Valley National Park. The park hotel feeds the bears food scraps at a feeding station for the entertainment of tourists in their cars. Bears mysteriously start falling asleep for no apparent reason. Bill, Ralph, Henry, and Stumpy go to investigate. Will they find the cause of the bears' midday siestas? And can they stop this mysterious need to nap?

KP GAZETTE - Young Woman's Mystery Illness

Kelly Simms, daughter of Knotty Pine doctor "Doc" Simms, is seriously ill from an unknown illness. Kelly began feeling tired earlier this week, and her entire body ached. Thinking that she merely had the flu, Kelly took off work to rest and recuperate. Her temperature began to rise as a severe fever set in. Doc realized Kelly's fever was more than just a bad case of the flu. Doc took Kelly to Knotty Pine Hospital for observation and testing. Tests could not determine the type of infection causing Kelly's suffering. Hospital doctors began administering strong antibiotics with no change in Kelly's condition. Fearing for her life, Kelly's doctors have chosen to life-flight her to Central City Medical Center for more extensive testing and for a broader range of antibiotics.

The GAZETTE will follow Kelly Simms' fever from her unknown condition, and we will report any changes in her condition and updates from her doctors.

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - Pioneer Days

This coming weekend October 15-17, 2010 will be Knotty Pine's Pioneer Days Festival. The Festival will be held on the north end of town at the Big Pine National Forest's Visitors Center. There will be folks dressed in early 1800's period costumes, trail foods, as well as a wide variety of displays, maps and charts. There will even be a play area for the kids designed like a stockade-style fort.

Centerpiece for Pioneer Days is a special project planned and directed by high school wood shop teacher Jeff Anderson. Jeff organized the many student and adult volunteers to build a full-sized and fully operational covered wagon. Frenchy DeSalle and his loggers donated the lumber needed for this project. Knotty Pine's blacksmith Jock McIntosh forged all the metal components for the wagon right down to the iron wheel rims. Jock also provided space at his blacksmith shop for the wagon's construction and storage. Skinner McNeil will provide the power for the wagon with his work mules and oxen loaned to Skinner by Mountain Mining Company.

Speakers from State U, as well as several of our own forest rangers will give talks on people and events that played important roles in the growth and development of the western United States. One locally favorite speaker at Pioneer Days will be our own ranger Stumpy Jenkins. Stumpy will be playing the part of Mountain Man Chilkoot. Stumpy will be wearing typical mountain man fringed buckskins and a coonskin cap. Ranger Jenkins will share his knowledge of the often harsh, dangerous and isolated life lived by the hunters, trappers, and explorers of the early 1800s. Chilkoot will tell us what a "rendezvous" was and what it meant to these mountaineers.

RB-098 The Runaway Railroad

Henry hears stories of an antique steam train abandoned way up in the Shady Mountains. The engine belonged to the Three Rs - the Rimrock, Rawhide, and Ragweed railroad. Henry goes hiking in search of the valuable old train. Henry's tough walk is rewarded when he discovers an old engine in a shed. Two men find the train first and are determined to take the engine and sell it to a collector. They tie up Henry and fire up the train to steal it. Will Bill discover the thieves, stop them, AND rescue Henry?

Firefox affects one HisKids player

John S. wrote to share a problem he was having using the HisKids player after a mid-September update of his Firefox software. He said that all or part of the player was missing and that he could not find any place to click on to get RANGER BILL to play. John followed that with this message on September 20th :

There was a new upcate for FireFox, last week. About that time, I noticed
some missing stuff on a local news site, which I had the brouser set for as a
"home" site. The news story pictures are no longer there, & an error message
replaces the picture -- also can't see the radar maps on more than one
site.

And later John wrote again:

I was thinking of taking the computer in for service because there were
several annoying issues going on. My son came over, Saturday & discovered
the most recent update of Firefox came with a default setting to not allow
pictures to be displayed automatically. Change that setting & all the
problems seem to have gone away. This is FireFox Ver. 3.6.10

Please let me know if you run into any similar problems with Firefox or any other software

Share Stumpy's Mustard Seed

I would like to offer a suggestion for you this week. Follow Stumpy's example and give a mustard seed to someone this week.

The Bible reading in my church this morning just happened to be Luke 17:5-10, Jesus encouraging us in the power of faith. Jesus own words are, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." That is how Stumpy encouraged Dave in "Jimmy's Christmas Miracle."

Try it today. You probably have a small container of mustard seed among your spices at home. Place some seeds in a small plastic bag and share it with a friend or with someone who needs a little encouragement. Or possibly just give it to someone to share you interest in and love of RANGER BILL. See what seeds of faith may grow from your small gift.

Happy Birthday RANGER BILL !-!-!-!

Yes, it's finally here! Saturday, October 2, 2010, is the 60th anniversary of RANGER BILL !!!! Moody Broadcasting's WMBI began broadcasting RANGER BILL on a Monday afternoon, Oct. 2, 1950, at 4:15PM.

I want to take time to mention some of the people that helped give us the many adventures of Bill, Stumpy, Henry, and Gray Wolf. Miron Canaday was the voices of Bill and Stumpy. Ed Ronne, Sr. was the voice of Gray Wolf. Roger Compton was the voice of Henry. Bill Pearce was the voice of Ralph. Rex Brenner played characters like Frenchy DeSalle each week. Charles Chirstensen and Jim Grant were the show directors. Charles Erkhart and John Rowan were RANGER BILL's talented writers. Miron, Roger, Rex, and Bill Pearce have all passed away. To the best of my knowledge, Ed and Charles Christensen are doing well these days. I don't have any current information on the rest of the cast and crew.

See my July 25, 2010 post on the cast and crew for a few others involved in the show.

And it is thanks to the wonderful folks at HisKids.Net that you can enjoy a different RANGER BILL story each and every week. Please support HisKids.Net with your gifts and prayers.

RB-097 Snow White Stallion

Henry falls in love with a magnificent wild white stallion that he and his friend Pyute see on the prairie. Henry finds a way to capture the horse and keep it in a hidden location. Bill tells him that capturing a wild horse will break its spirit and kill it. Now Henry must decide if keeping his special horse is worth the cost.