The goal of having protected national monuments is to preserve artifacts and ruins and to protect federal land. Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington is maintained by the US Forest Service. This National Monument was set aside for recreation, education and research. Rainbow Bridge National Monument is the most famous natural bridge standing 290’ tall and 275’ wide. It is maintained by the National Park Service. Buck Island Reef is a 19,000 acre underwater monument with a large coral reef established December 28, 1961. Buck Island is a 176 acre uninhabited island north of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.http://www.sceneryphotogallery.com/2010/01/17/united-states-monuments.html

Nine days into the Olympics seemed to be the roughest on the host team Canada. With a sold out crowd, the U.S. men’s hockey team upset team Canada in the round robin game 5-3. This has been a 50 year drought! Maybe there was something to the throwback jerseys team U.S.A. was wearing. Ryan Miller, goalie for U.S.A. seemed at times to be dancing on his head. What amazing saves he made! Team U.S.A. out skated Canada from start to finish.

The United States is out performing all other nations so far leading the medal count with 24. They have 7 gold, 7 silver and 10 bronze medals with plenty of action left. Germany follows with 18, Norway in third with 12 and Canada and China are tied with 9. A few of the Gold Medal winners for the United States are Bode Miller in Alpine Skiing Super Combined; Evan Lysacek in Figure Skating with an upset over Russian skater Evgeni Plusehenko. No surprise at the Halfpipe with Shaun White repeating as Gold Medal winner with teammate Scott Lago winning the Bronze. Shani Davis won the 1000 meter Speed Skating with Chad Hedrick getting the Bronze and Lindsey Vonn winning the Alpine Skiing Downhill event. Seth Wescott won the Snowboard Cross and Hannah Kearney won the Freestyle Skiing Moguls.

In watching the Olympics over the last nine days there has been one sport I can’t seem to figure out the strategy behind the game, so I decided to figure it out on my own. If you haven’t figured it out yet, it is curling. Curling originated in Scotland somewhere around 1511. Curling was added to the Olympic Games in 1998. Curling is a term used to describe the motion of the stone.

There are 4 players per team, two sweepers and two throwers. It seems simple, not a lot of equipment is required, a sheet of ice with a target, the curling stone which is made of granite and sometimes called a rock; a curling broom is used to sweep the ice in front of the stone to get it to move a certain direction. We have modernized the game with the special shoes that have a Teflon surface called a slider shoe worn on the left foot. The right shoe has a rough surface for traction on the ice. There are some that would say this isn’t a sport; however just because it does not require raw power or strength it is a game of finesse. Precision and teamwork is what wins the game!

The classic pecan pie is an American favorite. It only requires 6 ingredients to make this sweet custard pie. Beat 3 eggs slightly and combine with 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1 cup of light corn syrup, 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add pecans and pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. Cool and serve with whip cream! There are many varieties of the pecan pie such as; chocolate pecan pie, pecan cheesecake pie, caramel pecan pie, sweet potato pecan pie, Bourbon pecan pie, maple pecan pie and Kentucky pecan pie. http://www.bakerscommunity.com/blog/2009/11/21/pecan-pie.html

During morning rush hour a commuter train in the suburb of Halle, outside of Brussels ran a stop light and collided head on with another train. The trains were not traveling at a high rate of speed and there was a light snow during rush hour, however not sure if this impacted visibility. Both trains jack knifed after colliding approximately at 8:30 am (0730 GMT). There was a safety feature to stop the trains automatically if the train did not yield. One of the trains apparently was not equipped with the special security system.

This was Germany’s deadliest train wreck since 1954 killing at least 18 and injuring at least 100. Among the dead was one of the two train drivers. There were many serious injuries and amputations due to the severity of the crash. The mangled trains may still have victims buried alive, however rescue work has been suspended due to darkness. The crash is still under investigation by the Belgian National Railway. Train services have been interrupted, including the high speed services between Brussels and Paris. The Eurostar service has also been disrupted in London, Netherlands, France and Germany. Condolences go out to all the families involved.