Memorial Day

I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that Memorial Day is not merely the first day of summer break, an excuse to grill or a day stores have big sales. It's something much bigger than that and infinitely more important.

In Flanders Fields By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

A few links I'd like to share:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/
I registered Dad with the Memorial while it was still under construction, this is how he's listed:

James E. McCann
BRANCH OF SERVICE U.S. Army
HOMETOWN Hominy, OK HONORED BYMs. Mary Ann Mccann-Cardwell, Daughter

ACTIVITY DURING WWII F COMPANY, 23RD INFANTRY. SERVED AT OMAHA BEACH, JUNE 6, 1944. INJURED JUNE 30, 1944 AT ST. LO, FRANCE.

More links:
http://thewall-usa.com/
http://www.bluestarmothers.org/

We went to a Memorial Day service yesterday at one of the main cemeteries in the Tulsa area, it has the largest number of veterans buried there and always has ceremonies on Memorial Day, July 4th and Veteran's Day. It was a wonderful, touching, moving and very emotional ceremony. Our friend Larry who passed away in March was a veteran, Army, and he is buried there. Part of the ceremony includes a flag raising ceremony for each veteran who has passed away in the last year. The families Larry's flag was raised by his wife, Lin.

There was a flyover by two Vietnam era helicopters - they are huge! A little boy was seated a couple of aisles in front of us, he might have been about 5 years old. He was so cute, he was so amazed at the site of those two big choppers and even over the roar I think everyone in the audience heard him say "AWESOME!"

There was also a reenactment of the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - the Broken Arrow Civil Air Patrol is the ONLY group in the country that has the official approval of Arlington National Cemetary and has been trained by the actual guards. Most of the Civil Air Patrol group are teenagers. They were absolutely perfect. They also will reenact the changing of the guard, round the clock - every hour - from yesterday morning (Saturday) until tomorrow evening.

Let's all pause for a moment tomorrow and think about what it means. 3:00 p.m. Monday is the official Moment of Silence to remember & pray for the Heroes who've gone on, whether in battle or not.

I miss you Dad.

Busy Sunday

We've been running almost from the moment we got up this morning! We've gotten a lot done though, so I'm not complaining.

Bill mowed the yard, he cut a bunch of wood for some stuff he needs to do at the rent house, aired up the tires on our bikes and then he decided it was time to paint the porch swing. Otter got to learn how to sandpaper & prep for painting! She was not amused. But she did a good job.

I ran several errands, took a trunk load to the recycling center, hit 2 yard sales (rare on Sunday), the grocery store, finished painting the shelf Bill made me for Mother's Day, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, finished cleaning out and re-organizing my desk and took a long bike ride with Otter. She still had energy, but I ran out. Oh, I also gave her another driving lesson. She did pretty good, we worked on turning today.

We also relocated two turtles this afternoon or possibly the same one twice. Bill found one in the back yard when he was mowing, he put it out of the yard behind the fence. Then I saw Frasier nosing something that didn't quite look like a rock, so I figured I'd better go save it before one of the dogs decided it might be food. Frasier lost interest in it pretty quickly, but Maggie was mystified by it. She followed it around the yard for a few minutes and looked confused. Maggie frequently looks confused! I picked it up, we discovered that it was a she turtle then we found a box to put her in so we could drive back to the cow field and let her go there. Otter enjoyed playing with her in the car, she's her mother's daughter so turtles & related animals are not something to be scared of - right, Froggy?!?!?! The only reason the turtle was in a box is because they have 2 defenses: one is that long neck and the other one involves leaking bodily fluid! I had no desire to get the car or Otter baptised by a turtle. Anyway, the turtle got released and she was happily booking it away from us into the field the last time we saw her. The cows were nowhere to be seen, otherwise they would have had to come see what we were up to. They are about the nosiest animals on the planet! (And yes, I know that tortoise is the correct term - turtles are the water version!)

I was wrong about the last day of school. It's actually May 30, not the 31st. So Otter will have two days to be lazy before she goes to camp. But the rest of the June/early July schedule has not changed and is still crazy.

Friday Again. Finally.

It's been a long week. And very tiring, for some reason. Of course, housecleaning to make up for not be able to do any while I was sick might have something to do with it!!!!! I rearranged my spices last night, they were in a cabinet but are now on the door of my pantry. This morning between 7:00 and 7:30 I rearranged most of my kitchen cabinets, took a few plants out to the compost pile, washed dishes and did general pick up of clutter. Then I went to work to rest! :) After we got home, I ran the vacuum. Sunday I am going to tackle my bathroom, laundry as usual, and possibly get the last part of my desk cleaned out and re-organized. I think that Otter is very glad I'm able to do housework again! Although she was a tremendous help to me while I was sick and I do appreciate everything she did and continues to do.

Our tenant is very interested in buying the rent house from us, so please keep your fingers crossed that it works out and he is able to buy it. Any prayers would be appreciated, I'm not asking for prayers for money but just that things will work out according to God's plan for us.

Someone (Froggy) asked me if I'd ever heard a song she liked. It's called Me & God, and it's by Josh Tucker. If you don't listen to country stations, you probably won't have heard it or of him. It's wonderful. Just a simple song with a heart-felt message. Go listen to it. I think you'll agree.

When I picked Otter up from school, we hit 6 yard sales in less than 2 hours. We had a blast! Several things destined for eBay, but also a larger George Foreman grill to replace the one we've had for years and years - since they first came out, thanks Jane for giving it to us way back when. The first one gets regular use, and I've just about worn it out. The new one was $10.00 and looks hardly used, the lady who was selling it told me that it does work but she doesn't like to cook. I think it works, if it doesn't I'm not out a whole lot of $$ on it. It has removable plates, so it's easier to clean. We use it for just about everything, burgers - chicken - pork chops - steaks and it makes killer grilled cheese sandwiches.

One lady at a yard sale gave Otter 3 stuffed animals - two are part of the Wallyworld Christmas bears that she didn't have in her collection and one is a stuffed Candy Corn. I know, it sounds strange, but it's cute! The bears were started by Yaya and I've continued the tradition of getting her one each year. They are part of our Christmas decorations, but the ones from Yaya always get the best spot to be displayed.

2 weeks of school left! School ends on Thursday May 31st, and then that Friday and weekend is the only time Otter will have before heading to camp on Monday. She'll be at camp for a week, back the next Saturday afternoon. Then she has 3 days to recover before I put her on a plane to Nana's house. She'll be gone for another week, then she'll bring home with her my gift from Texas - Froggy!! Then Otter gets a cousin visit the first couple of days of July 4th week, and she's excited about that, too. June is going to be a busy month, at least for Otter. She'll probably need all of July to catch up on her sleep!

I'm probably going to post a poll sometime in the near future, as soon as I decide on a topic. Any suggestions? All will be considered, some will be ignored, some will be chosen. SO GET BUSY AND PUT YOUR THINKING CAPS ON! Toadles - don't put your thinking cap on backwards, you are confused enough already.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying Mother's Day. I've had a good one, Otter & I went to the zoo this morning and had a great time. Of course my feet are now killing me... But it was a lot of fun, we rode the zoo train and the butterfly exhibit is back so we go to go through it. It just opened yesterday and there are not a lot of butterflies in it yet but it's always fun. Lots of people there, the zoo had a 1/2 price special today for Mother's Day and a lot of people took advantage of it.

Toadles, your relatives (the chimps) now have a new baby. She's very small and so cute. She was playing with her mom's foot and mom didn't seem to mind in the least that the baby was biting her foot. Just like human moms with teething little ones! I remember those days myself, I think I probably still have scars on my fingers from when Otter was tiny and just getting teeth - and I was usually the first thing she could find to chew on!

It's a nice day today, I hope that everyone else has good weather like ours. Go out and enjoy it!

Forgot What The Sky & Sun look like!!

We've had so much rain lately that it was actually a surprise to see blue sky instead of grey! And the sunshine was nice, although I think we've nearly forgottten what it feels like.

We have had a lot of water from the sky the last few days. Not any bad, twisty, scary stuff in our area thankfully. Just lots and lots of rain! The back yard looked like a swamp in places yesterday, and we are not in a low spot.

Frasier has had a new experience. We bought an electric fence kit! On Friday, StupidDog was out and about when I got home and I couldn't find him. When Otter got home, we had an errand to run so we drove around the neighborhood on our way out. No sign of him. When we got home, we saw someone else walking his dog and he said he'd seen a big shepard-type dog in the last few minutes and he pointed us in the right direction. So we drive on a little further, and there is Frasier - happily playing in a mud puddle. Otter gets out of the car and opens the back door for him to jump in. So what does StupidDog decide to do? He decides to jump in the open passenger window! No idea why he did that, he's never even been allowed to look out the window while riding in the car! Otter pulled him back out, and he jumped in the backseat through the open door. And he stunk to high heaven! Like maybe he'd been rolling in "something" in the cow field before he found the mud puddle. We drove home with the windows down all the way, and Otter was hanging her head out of the open window. She put the dog in the back yard when we got home and I had to wipe down the inside and outside of the door where he'd tried to get in the window. And discovered that he managed to scratch the side of the car while he was hanging out of it in his window climbing attempt.

Shortly after that, we took the hose to Frasier and he was not happy. (Maggie thought that she was going to get a bath too, and she got out of reach fast!) But at least he didn't smell anymore! However, today my car has developed an unpleasant odor and I might have to steam-clean the back seat.

When Bill got home a few minutes later, he was carrying an electric fence kit. And we were overjoyed! We installed it on Sunday. The whole time we were removing the chicken wire, Frasier (also known as Poophead lately - and he does answer to that name) watched us the entire time. I could just about see the wheels turning in that furry head. We turned the fence on and watched him for a while, but he knew we were watching him so he didn't perform. After a while, I headed for the shower and Bill went to work on something in the garage. When I got out of the shower, Frasier was laying in the floor of the dining room and he would not look at me. All he did was sigh heavily. Sunday we sat out on the deck and watched him, several times he acted like he wanted to climb the fence but he never quite did. We think he must have had a rude awakening, also known as his learning experience, when I was in the shower. Hopefully he won't decide it's worth the pain of being shocked to go travelling! We'll leave it on for a while, but thereotically once a dog has been shocked a couple of times they will remember and you don't have to leave it on. But with Frasier, there is no telling. Dumb dogs are so much easier! And no, I don't feel like we are being mean to him. It would be mean to continue to let him roam and possibly get run over, shot for a coyote because we have them in the area, into a fight with a coyote or other dog, or lost for good and possibly starved to death.

I have a prayer request. My friend Virginia's daughter Sara was diagnosed several months ago with cancer that is in her muscles of her abdomen. There is a name for this type of cancer but I can't recall it. It's rare, though and is uncurable but the doctor said that it is very slow growing and they have had good results in slowing it even more with very strong medication. They thought that they could buy her several years possibly. Then Sara found out that she was pregnant. She already had two young ones. The oncologist sent her to a special ob doctor who worked out a plan and she was able to go off of the medication until the baby had grown to a certain point. The baby was born yesterday by c-section and everything appears normal with the baby, she's been named Marisol. The concern is with the baby having problems that don't show up now, and also with Sara because the doctor was really afraid that the surgery and exposing the cancerous area to air could speed it's growth up. So any prayers would help.

3 1/2 weeks of school left for the Otter! Then she goes off to camp the first week in June. She's excited, for some reason she wants to be away from the Parental Units for a week. Can't imagine why! :)

Here's my opinion from the posting about May Day, the article I linked was regarding guns being allowed in all sorts of places at the suggestion of the Texas governer: I don't think that guns need to be in bars (kind of a no-brainer there) and probably not schools, but I don't see what is wrong with being allowed to carry one in most other places. Probably not a surprise to anyone who knows me, but I am not in favor of gun control in the slightest! Don't want to shoot anyone if I don't have to, but if I have to defende my home, family or life - then I would not hesitate. Otter is going to get lessons in the near future.

May 15th Gas Boycott

Reasons why I will not participate in this type of ill-conceived, misguided boycott include the following:

Oil companies are not the enemy. The price of gas, as well as other petroleum products, is a result of the refinery action - not the producer. Refineries are handicapped by government regulations regarding pollution - ideas that started out with good intentions but turned into something else. Each time someone gets an idea about reducing greenhouse gases, auto emissions, etc., there is another rule which has an effect on the way gasoline is refined. Most of the current rules have no basis in reality and make very little sense. Most of the rules are the reason that very few companies refine oil in the US. Most of them have been driven overseas now, and that trend is not going to stop anytime soon. Because of that, we are even more at the mercy of other countries and OPEC.

We need rules to govern the industry, but we need smart rules, rules that make sense. We need more refining to be done in the US but that won't happen any time soon.

For a boycott to have even a miniscule effect, nearly the entire population of this country would have to stop buying gas for a period of several months or even over a year. Still sound like a good idea? Think about it.

Oil feeds my family and keeps a roof over my head. And I still have to pay just as much for gasoline as everyone else. The oil industry is not the bad guy here. But this type of a boycott would have an affect on everyone, including the clerk at the gas station who is just trying to make enough money to live on, the mechanic who fixes the car you won't be driving for months and who will not be able to eat or feed him family, the pumper who goes out and works on the wells to keep them pumping so that a purchaser can tell the oil company what it will pay for that oil - which is generally not even enough to justify producing that oil in the first place, and just about everyone else.

I intend to go fill up my car on the 15th.

A fun one for Tuesday, May 1.

I read this somewhere and it just was so funny. And so true!

Things Mom Taught Me...

My Mother taught me LOGIC..."If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."
My Mother taught me MEDICINE..."If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD..."If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job!"
My Mother taught me ESP..."Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"
My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE..."What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me HUMOR..."When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT..."If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.
My mother taught me about GENETICS..."You are just like your father!"
My mother taught me about my ROOTS..."Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE..."When you get to be my age, you will understand."
My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION..."Just wait until your father gets home."
My mother taught me about RECEIVING..."You are going to get it when we get home."
And, my all-time favorite - JUSTICE..."One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU -- then you'll see what it's like!"

And I think I heard more than a few of those things from both my parents!

May Day!

How did a day to recognize the workers (ok, so it's mostly in communist countries) become a day to celebrate being an illegal alien? Just by being here, they are breaking the law and that trumps everything else! Geesh. If someone wants to come here and work, then as long as they do it legally I will welcome them with open arms. But the key is to be legal.

I'd like your opinions on this interesting story from the SA paper website: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA050107.07A.perry_guns.30eddd5.html
I'll post my opinion later on, although it's probably already known to everybody that I am not in favor of gun control!

I've been thinking of Clara-isms today. Mom always had some good comments. Why buy the cow when the milk is free? That's the way to skin the cat. Not for all the tea in china! Yeah, and people in he__ want ice water! Anybody else got any they remember? I did find my recipe for peach cobbler the other day, I might make one in the near future. It's been a while since I made one and I think it's about time. And I think I'll eat a corner first, in honor of Dad and his sweet tooth.

It's been a year today since I had the last tooth extractions for the dentures. I got them a couple of days after the extractions. Should have done it sooner! But I think I've had enough health issues to last a lifetime now.