Each month Susie shares one of her favorite activities. All are kid-tested and Susie-approved! This month's activity:

CAMPGROUND ECLAIRS

This is an outdoor treat the whole clan will love. It takes a little preparation but is worth the wait. You will need the following ingredients:
~ One large clay flowerpot (7-10 inch diameter at the top)
~ Several long sticks, about the thickness of your finger, to bake your eclairs on.
(I bought some 1/2"dia. dowel rods and keep them just for this)
~ Aluminum foil
~ Charcoal briquettes
~ Chimney charcoal starter
~ Canned crescent rolls (get plenty you'll need them)
~ Vanilla pudding (canned or make your own at the campsite)
~ Canned chocolate frosting

First you need to line the flowerpot with 2 layers of aluminum foil inside.

Prepare the briquettes in the chimney starter. You'll need them gray to bake with.

While you are waiting for the coals to burn down you can prepare your sticks. You need to take about a 6" wide piece of foil and wrap it over and around the end of the stick, squeezing it on tightly. This is where you will cook your eclair so make sure you pick a stick long enough to keep from burning your fingers.

If you are making instant pudding instead of canned, now is a good time to get it ready. Shaking the pudding mix and milk in the mix-it container provides a good way to keep the lids occupied until it's time to bake the eclairs.

O.K. the coals are ready...pour them into the clay pot. Open the crescent rolls and wrap one on a foil covered stick. (You can cook about three of these over the pot at one time.) Roll the stick back and forth until the crescent roll is nicely browned. With a napkin in hand, slip the crescent off the stick. (Adult do this please.) Place the roll on a paper plate and let the kids fill with pudding. Large household injectors or basting brushes work well to squirt pudding in the hole left by the stick. As a finishing touch the kids can smear some chocolate icing on top. Beware! Before you can finish baking yours the kids will be ready for seconds.     Susie S.

"HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?"

July in the Midwest...intense heat, high humidity, and a plethora of outdoor activities from mowing the grass to sports, picnics and more. Take care! Heatstroke kills.

There are many types of heat-related illnesses, but the two everyone should be able to recognize are heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Heat exhaustion typically develops first and, if not treated, develops into heat stroke. Heat stroke, if left untreated, can result in death due to the failure of any of the major organ systems.

Heat exhaustion and heat stroke occur when excessive loss of body fluids inhibit the body's ability to lower the body's core temperature. The body's primary method of cooling itself involves perspiration. As sweat evaporates from the skin, the body cools. As the body runs low on fluid for perspiration, the mthod no longer works effectively. The result? Rising body temperatures. Core body temperatures of 105 degrees can be fatal.

The typical symptoms of heat exhaustion include: hot, flushed, sweating skin; headache; dizziness; and fainting. Without treatment these symptoms progress into heat stroke with the development of confusion, stupor or agitation, seizures, or coma. The person in heat stroke may no longer sweat due to the depletion of body water.

How do you treat heat exhaustion? Take a break from the activity that's making you hot. Find some shade and a breeze so your sweat can evaporate effectively. Fan yourself, squirt yourself with cool water, take a dip in the pool, get a cool drink, etc. Make sure you're drinking proper fluids during activity or exercise, i.e., eight ounces of fluid for every 15 minutes of moderate exercise. (Beer & other drinks containing alcohol have a diuretic effect and will dehydrate you more quickly. You must be drinking other fluids on the side!) Electrolyte drinks like Gatorade can help replace some of the water, potassium and sodium lost during perspiration.

If you suspect heat stroke contact emergency medical services immediately, then start cooling measures. Move the person to a cool place, splash them with cool water or apply cool towels, and encourage them to drink water if they are still conscious.

Although children and the elderly are most at risk, the heat can affect everyone. Invest in a wide-brimmed hat and some loose-fitting, light-colored clothes. Drink plenty of fluids. But most of all, make sure you can recognize heat stress signs and symptoms and know how to help. Don't let your next family get-together turn into a medical emergency!        Maggie B.

Bob Crupi holds the current California state record with a fish weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounce. It was his second bass over 20 pounds! He had previously boated a 21 pounder. His record has held since 1991.

Since then, California has produced other giant bass, one of which was claimed to have been 24 pounds, one ounce, but it was not weighed on certified scales. In 1997 Scott Duclos landed, weighed and photographed his Spring Lake catch. He was not overly excited because he thought the record was 27 pounds and he reportedly weighs, measures, photographs and releases every fish without exception.

But the quest for the world record largemouth bass continues to be a long and difficult pursuit since Zimmerlee's catch. Miramar and other California lakes stocked with the Florida strain share difficult fishing conditions. Super clear, deep water (you can see your anchor resting on the bottom 70 feet below at Miramar) is difficult to fish using equipment and techniques common throughout the other states. Besides, the monsters are literally hand-fed trout (which most anglers to these lakes pay to fish for) that are stocked weekly. Observers during trout plantings see a literal feeding frenzy as the hundreds of trout hit the lake water. The big bass take them immediately as the tank truck dumps them. Huge wakes converge on the feeding area. It's an awesome sight! It's no wonder the bass are big bellied monsters on a diet of mature trout! Naturally that and other areas are off limits to fishermen! Other lakes have their own idiosyncrasies.

The technique of 'finesse' fishing was literally born of necessity, and it was probably birthed right there in that little impoundment from trout gear. Nightcrawlers hooked 'through the lip' with small trout hooks and allowed to free-fall to the depths produce some fine LMB catches.“Shaking” 2-inch plastics in the depths is popular, but I’ve fished with Western Outdoor News (WONBASS) director Mike Kennedy on El Capitan using my ‘midwestern’ gear and kept up with him. At any rate, wouldn’t I love to be the lucky angler to boat the big one?

NEXT: Is California the only place to go for the record?
Written by Jim Pankey, USN (Ret.).

Nothing beats a home-cooked fish meal on a cold winter's day. Here's a few thoughts to keep in mind as you "squirrel away" a few meals of fish for this winter.

The best tasting, highest-quality fish is the one you clean and cook immediately after catching. As time passes after the death of the fish micro-organisms begin to grow and the fish begins to break down. The key to great tasting fish in winter is timely preparation and freezing at the time of the catch.

Fish baskets, buckets, and live-wells help keep fish alive temporarily and are the first step to great tasting fish later. Depending on the length of your fishing trip or the temperature, you may need to use a cooler of ice to store your fish until time to clean them. A plastic bag for the fish will make cleanup easier.

Once you've cleaned the fish, packaging becomes the next issue at hand. Air-tight packaging is essential. Many of the undesirable flavor and color changes in fish are caused by oxidation of the unsaturated fats, oils and color pigments. In addition, if the package is not air-tight water evaporates from the fish flesh. The fish becomes dry and tough, or "freezer burned."

Freezing your fish in water works great to keep air away from the flesh. Clean your fillets well, place the amount needed for a meal in a plastic freezer bag, cover the fillets with water, tap the bag to release the air trapped between the fillets, squeeze out all air at the top of the bag, seal, date the bag, then place flat in the freezer until frozen well.

If you've decided to leave bones in your fish you'll want to use a thick container for freezing. Clean cardboard milk or juice cartons work great to prevent fins and bones from piercing the container, thus allowing air in. Clean your fish well, place the amount needed for a meal in a water-tight container, cover the fish with water, tap the container to release the air trapped between the pieces, seal, date the container, then place upright in the freezer until frozen well. (Don't fill the container to the top. You'll need some room for expansion as the water freezes.)

Dating the bag and carton helps to make sure you don't forget to eat them in a reasonable amount of time. They'll do very well as long as you eat them within one year. Even fish frozen longer in this manner have retained its freshness and great taste.

Besides the date make a note of where the fish came from, who caught them, who you were with, etc. When you cook them, invite your fishin' buddy over to share the meal, or just take a few minutes to talk about how much fun you had catchin' these fish. Hard to have the winter blah's when you're chewing the fat over a great fishing trip!        Maggie B.

It's mid July and I don't know about you but I am filled with anticipation. The long wait is over and once again it is time to prepare for the hunt! Squirrel season opens August 1st here in Illinois and this is a great time to get back into the woods and sharpen your hunting skills. I love pulling off a successful silent stalk on these sharp-eyed critters; it seems to awaken all of my senses. The sounds of the forest, the feel of the forest floor under my feet, being careful not to step on dead branches, etc. Skills that have not been used for months will once again come alive. Squirrel hunting is also an excellent opportunity to look for that perfect tree for a deer stand, a quest that for deer hunters is not unlike the search for the holy grail.

September will be the opening of dove season and hunting these little feathered jet fighters is always fun. I don't know who smiles more, me or the shotgun shell manufacturers because, as you know, to actually get a limit of doves may require three or four boxes of shells.

October will bring bow season for the elusive whitetail deer. I hope all of you have been practicing with your bow this summer.

November will have shotgun deer hunting, duck hunting, rabbits and quails. So as you can see, now is the time to prepare. Get your bow out and practice, make sure your shotguns are ready, sharpen your knives and make sure you have room in your freezer because starting in August that wonderful magical time is upon us and it is time to hunt.

I'm Kenny and I hope I have all of you in my corner.