Please report sandhill crane colt (chick) sightings to Kachemak Crane Watch. Include location, date, time and number of colts when first seen to reports@cranewatch.org or 235-6262.

The Kachemak Emergency Service Area Board holds its regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m. today at the McNeil Canyon Fire Station, 53048 Ashwood Ave. (Mile 12 East End Road). For more information, call 235-9811. The agenda will be posted at the station and at the Kenai Peninsula Borough annex building at 206 E. Pioneer Ave. The public is welcome to attend.

Join trip leader Jane Middleton for an exploration of the wild plants at Eveline State Recreation Area at 1 p.m. Sunday. Go out East End Road to Mile 13.8, turn left on Alpine Meadows and go 0.3 miles to the trailhead. Meet in the parking lot. The trail is not handicap accessible. The 1.5-mile walk covers a breathtaking panorama of wildflowers that changes every few weeks. For more information, call 235-9344 or email jwoodring@alaska.net. 

A debate of the candidates running for the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate is 7-9 p.m. July 15 at Land’s End Resort. Candidates Joe Miller, Dan Sullivan and Mead Treadwell have been invited and will attend. The public is welcome but seating is limited. The event is sponsored by Peninsula Communications Inc.

Quilters can enter their quilts, wall hangings and wearable art for the Kenai Peninsula State Fair in Ninilchik. Register entries in Homer from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Aug. 8 at Ulmer’s. For more information call Karrie Youngblood at 399-2085.

Homer’s Big Brothers Big Sisters program is selling raffle tickets to support its local program and 45 matches. A raffle is held for a double-bed size quilt made by Eileen Wythe. Tickets are $5 each. Buy four and get a raffle ticket for a separate wall hanging size quilt, the only way to get raffle tickets for the wall hanging. Tickets are on sale through Nov. 30. Another raffle is held for Alaska Airlines miles, with first place 100,000 miles, second place 50,000 miles and third place 25,000 miles. Tickets are $10 each or six for $50. Tickets are on sale in Homer through Sept. 5. Raffle tickets can be purchased through BBBS Staff and Leadership Council Members Sue Alexander, Lee Alexander, Colleen Carroll and Lisa Rich. For more information, call 235-8391. Pictures of the quilt and wall hanging can be found on the BBBS Facebook group page at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Homer, Alaska.

Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic seeks volunteers to help with door-to-door outreach this summer. Outreach Advocates connect with women at their homes to help them get no-cost breast cancer screenings and annual exams. Volunteers are needed for three to five hours at a time. To volunteer or for more information, contact Susan Kaplan, outreach manager, at 235-3436 or email outreach@kbfpc.org.

Cooperative Extension Service

The UAF Cooperative Extension Service tests pressure canner dial gauges at the Homer Farmers Market from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. Bring gauges or gauges attached to the canner lid for free testing. Weighted gauges do not need to be tested.

Friendship Center

Friendship Center Adult Day Services is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday with extended hours for special situations. Special programs are offered daily, including story time, crafts and musical performances. For more information, call 235-4556.

Homer Senior Citizens

Homer Senior Citizens lunch is open to seniors and guests and is served 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Friday. The lunch menu for this week is: today, roast pork; Friday, baked sockeye salmon; Monday, meatloaf; Tuesday, chicken pot pie; Wednesday, pork chops.

Strong Women classes are 1-2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Homer Senior Center. The cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class.

Zumba Gold classes with Maria are 11 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Homer Senior Center. The cost per class is $4 members, $6 nonmembers.

Tai Chi classes are Thursday at 3 p.m. The cost per class is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers. Call Daniel Weisser at 235-7655.

Caregiver Support Group meets 2-3:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday in the senior center dining room. Call Pam Hooker at 299-7198 or Kathy Hedges at 235-4556. 

Kachemak Bay Campus

Kachemak Bay Campus fall semester registration is open for the general public and those seeking a degree. Sign up now and pay later. For a schedule visit, www.kpc.alaska.edu/KBC/searchableschedule.

Classes include Marine Biology, Ceramics, Drawing, Creative Writing-Poetry, Creative Writing Personal Essay, Ornithology, Painting, Sign Language, Seaweeds of Kachemak Bay, Quickbooks, Geology of Kachemak Bay, Medical Terminology, Tai Chi, Yoga and more. Call 235-7743 for an advising appointment this summer.

Pratt Museum

The museum galleries are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Business offices are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Artist Jo Going’s exhibit, “Reliquary,” is on view through Sept. 21. Going presents a mixed media installation featuring found animal bones collected by the artist from the arctic tundra over 28 years.

“Dena’ina q’ Huch’ulyeshi, the Dena’ina Way of Living,” is on view through Sept. 1. “Dena’ina q’ Huch’ulyeshi” is the first comprehensive exhibit of the Dena’ina culture, curated and provided by the Anchorage Museum. The Pratt is the first stop of the tour, with artifacts, multimedia and text that explores the past and present Dena’ina culture. Meet the Dena’ina through film, life-size recreations, images, hands-on learning stations, audio and more than 40 artifacts. Visit the Pratt Museum website, www.prattmuseum.org, for a schedule of related special events.

Museum interns from 3-4 p.m. July 17 and 3:30-4:30 p.m. July 30 present “The Object at Hand.” Interns select and research an item from the Pratt’s collection and discuss it. 

Historic Harbor Tours are held at 3 p.m. every Friday and Saturday through Aug. 23. Meet at the wheelhouse in front of the Salty Dawg on the Homer Spit. The fee is $10 per person.

South Peninsula Hospital

South Peninsula Hospital Education Department offers Safe Sitter classes this summer in Homer and Ninilchik. Designed for 11- to 13-yearoolds, the class teaches basic child care, infant and child CPR, first aid, safety for the sitter, behavior management and business etiquette. The two-day class runs from 9a.m.-3:30 p.m. both days. The cost is $75 per person. The two-day course in Ninilchik is July 31 and Aug 1 and in Homer it is Aug. 7 and 8. 

Space is limited and registration is required. Call the hospital education department to register at 235-0258.

SVT Health & Wellness

SVT Health & Wellness offers a series of classes covering all aspects of wellness every Thursday at 6 p.m. Today’s class is “Herbal Remedies from Alaska Plants, Part One,” with Nancy Lee-Evans. Learn to make basic herbal teas and oils from Alaska wild medicinal plants. The classes are open to the public. For more information, call 226-2228 ext. 660.