I now have a chauffeur. It's an extravagant expense but I'm worth it. My eldest son got his driver's license last summer and now drives whenever we share the car. It's a nice break after more than a decade of being his chauffeur and it gives him time behind the wheel to hone his craft. Before long Sam will be taking his turn at the wheel and I'll be doing even more gazing at the countryside as it slides by.

Coming home from church last Sunday, I told Chris to stray from the usual route. Sam knew where we were going and before long Chris, a reluctant angler, let out a groan. He pulled the car over as instructed when we got to the pond.

Most of the farms in town long ago yielded to development but dotted across the landscape are the little ponds that once served them. These former sources of irrigation now serve little purpose beyond being the home to resident geese. And a medley of swimming creatures.

Vedavoo and the Sportsmens' Alliance for Alaska are teaming up to offer a limited number of hand-built Vedavoo packs and accessories customized with the "No Pebble Mine" logo which displays support of the ongoing battle to prevent large-scale open-pit mining in the Bristol Bay, Alaska region. Proceeds from sales of the packs will go directly to efforts to stop mining Bristol Bay.

The line of packs and accessories was born of a custom, one-of-a-kind pack originally created by Vedavoo founder Scott Hunter at the request of the Sportsmens' Alliance for Alaska director Scott Hed. The Sportsmens' Alliance for Alaska has long been one of the groups leading the fight against the Pebble Limited Partnership and its efforts to develop a mine to extract the massive deposits of copper, gold and molybdenum that sits below Bristol Bay's pristine salmon habitat.