A day of remembrance

Today is a day set aside to remember those that died while serving their country, my country. I am proud to be an American. I love my country. I love all the people that died to give me my country. I love those that died to help other countries gain or keep their freedom.

A highway in my town of Lafayette, honoring those that died from our county.

At the National Cemetery, flags were placed on all the graves including the graves of Civil War dead, both North and South.

Here flags are placed on the graves of the unknown soldiers of the Civil War. There are hundreds of unknowns buried here.

There are also graves of WW1 and WW2 POWs here that were not returned to their homeland.

Here is my father. He did not die in the war but he proudly served.  

 

Tae Kwon Do

Brook took her second degree brown belt test Friday night in Tae Kwon Do. She did so good! I am so proud of her.

Here she is with her happy face. She is sparing with a Second Dan Black belt because there were not enough brown belts to spar together. It was so funny. He is twice her height. Here there were doing a block, punch, kick manuver. She had whalloped him in the chest with her kick. It was real quiet  when she did it and you could hear the whomp of her hitting him. LOL No one else made actual contact with their sparring partner. Everyone burst out in laughter.

In this next photo she is still sparring. Here you can see how tall he is.

In this next picture she is with Master Lee preforming a spin hook kick to break a board. She is breaking a half inch thick board. She has broken 1 inch thick boards already.

She received 2 stars, 1 for star roll student, another for attitude improvement.

 

Martial Arts Tae Kwon Do

don't forget

    


       Never forget those who died.        

Hot and getting hotter

It is already hot outside. I got out there to work in the garden and it was 73 degrees. I worked for an hour and half weeding a corn row and side dressing it with fertilizer. After that I watered a row of Crowder peas with liquid fertilizer and got soaking wet. My container burst at the bottom and sprayed me with fertilizer! I sure hope I don't grow any! I am big enough! The temperature is now 85 with a heat index of 90 so I am back inside for now. I will get out a bit later and do some mowing I hope.

They put Pat back on first shift at least for the next 2 weeks. It was real stupid how they did it. He works second shift. Second does not get off until midnight or later. They told him earlier in the week to come in an hour earlier because one of the first shift guys is leaving an hour early to go to chemotherapy. So at midnight Tuesday,he gets told to report for first shift on Wednesday. It takes him an hour to get home from work and an hour to get there, 35 minutes on a good day and speeding. First shift reports at 6am. Now how did they think he was going to make it on no sleep? So Pat stayed there all night and slept on the couch in the lunch room. We think our 3 day weekend is screwed now. He thinks they will ask him to work Saturday saying that he is working Red's schedule. He is going to say nope he is working John's and John is off this Saturday. Hope that goes over. LOL

So anyway I guess I better get busy in the house cleaning. I have a load to go in the dryer and another for the washer. Sometimes I wish I was in a nudist colony so we would have much fewer clothes to wash!

working

I got out in the garden this evening and did some tilling. I got 2 rows of beans in and another double row of peas. Brook helped me. She spread the fertilizer, I dropped the seeds and covered them and she patted the dirt down and marked the rows.

The corn is knee high now. Time to put the ammonium nitrate on it. Wonder what that is? It is stuff that is used to make bombs. Real good for corn, makes it grow tall and green.

Have to hurry the rain is coming back. Need to get more planted in the garden.

A lot of the farmers are haying now. The grass is tall and green. It is a race again the rain though. We are also getting fog which slows stuff down too.

They are calling for rain this weekend. I wonder what we will do if it does rain? We were planning on a trip on the motorcycle.

Notice everything is connected to the rain?

thought for the day

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror,
and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today."? So she did and
she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had
only two hairs on her head.

"H-M-M, " she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today."?
So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had
only one hair on her head.

"Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So
she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there
wasn't a single hair on her head.

"YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"   Attitude
is everything.

  Have a Good Day!  Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is
fighting some kind of battle."

10 good things 5/15/2006-5/21/2006

10 good things

1. I survived turning 47 on Monday.

2. I did not take the bait when someone wanted to fight.

3. Brook was given permission to test for 2nd degree brown belt.

4. Belle was delivered to her new owners and she is happy.

5. I now have my front yard back because of #4.

6. Susie had 4 kittens this week.

7. I fit into a pair of size smaller pants.

8. My googles I wear on the motorcycle were replaced free. The padding had come off.

9. I had a good talk with my friend that moved back in town.

10. The other hen is walking around with 6 baby chicks now.

quick note

I am alive. Been reading all my journals but not doing any writing myself. Have a doctor's appointment tomorrow for female checkup as something is going on, not sure what. Belle has been delivered to her new owners. I miss her and I am relieved she is gone. That fence jumping was getting old. I now have a front yard again. If it ever dries up I can clear the horseshit from it and do something with it. The weekend was slow and wet except for Sunday. Pat and I went riding on the bike. No where special, just around town. 3 day weekend coming up and we have no plans yet. Brook won't be here. Gotta get going here. Brook has Tae Kwon Do. She is testing this Friday for 2nd degree brown. 2 more belts after that and she tests for black. See yall later.

 

weekend

My weekend was a tossup. Friday night my daughter took me to the Cowboy Church Rodeo. It was pretty good except I froze my rear off! They scratched the bucking broncos for some reason. I like them! One cowboy broke his arm on bull riding. No one rode to the bell, so there were no qualifiers that night. An 8 year old girl came in second place on barrel racing. Her first rodeo too! Then home again. frozen solid! It got cold!
Saturday Pat took me and Brook to the rodeo. It rained on us! And hail! We took off to the shelter and the hail hit. On our way some man not looking where he was going plowed into Brook. Had it not been for Pat's quick reactions she would have been hurt! He did not even bother to say excuse me or see if she was hurt. The thing that gets me is he shoved her sideways after he ran into her! We headed home after that.
    Sunday I awake with sniffles but I ignore them. LOL We go over to my daughter's house to eat lunch which turned into an adventure! The power went off in the middle of cooking. Luckily the roast was done. So Johnnie fired up the grill and finished cooking. After what was a pleasant lunch we went to Pat's mother. That was not so pleasant. So we will not dwell on that.
Monday Pat took me to Subway for lunch. Brrok and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner. No cooking for me!
Yesterday and today I am paying for my outing. I have a cold. Sore throat, sneezing, coughing and a stuffed up nose.
So that was my weekend.

The story of Belle

The story of Belle
February 13th, 2001 Pat and I brought home a skinny paint filly which we named Crystal. She had the prettiest blue eyes I have even seen on a horse. Poor thing was barely 14 hands and weighed about 600 pounds. She was in a mud lot with 15-20 other fillies and mares. The smallest one there, she did not get her fair share of food. We get her home and turned her out in a winter brown field where she proceeded to gain weight rapidly. The vet came out and gave her a clean bill of health. Said she could stand to put on a few pounds but other than that she was doing good. Gave her shots, wormed her and that was that.
Fast forward 4 months... Father's Day June 17th, 2001 I am riding Precious whom we had bought the week before when I am thrown from her and break several bones in my back. While in the hospital I get a phone call from Pat telling me that we had a baby. Of course I assume it is the drugs hearing him! LOL He keeps telling me that Crystal has had a baby. After 4 days in the hospital I am home. Sure enough there is the cutest little white horse I have ever seen! She was peeking out from under her mama looking at us then back to nursing!
One day when she was about 2 months old, Pat had Crystal out grooming her. I was down in the garden with my walker picking tomatoes and green beans. Brook was running around being a kid when all at once she started screaming! Belle being a baby herself, had kicked her in the belly!  Poor thing had a bruise the size of a fist square in the middle. This did not set well with me. Not one hour later Brook was giving Belle her very first bath. She had decided that Belle was her horse.
The days and months passed. She was petted on and played with. She was taught to lead and back on voice command. She learned how to give us her feet for cleaning and trimming. She learned not to kick us. She got kicked back! Soon we had her wearing a blanket, then a saddle. One day Brook comes running in the house hollering that she rode Belle! I was scared and mad. I went outside to give Pat whatnots when he put her on Belle again! She was barely a year old.
Times goes by and she reaches 2 and half and Pat started riding her. Never did do any bucking. She always rode out smooth.
One day she was running around the field. Hollering because we had Crystal and Precious out riding. I was filming Pat riding up the driveway when I noticed a commotion in the fields. Belle was running up the fence line next to the driveway coming right towards me. I started filming her and to my surprise she jumped the fence! She cleared it so easy, it was like watching a bird fly! After that she jumped the fence on a regular basis. Time after time we had to chase her down. Soon she started getting further away before it was discovered she was out. We locked her up in a stall but that proved to be no good. She knocked the door down several times and kicked the wall out twice. Finally we locked her up in our backyard. This was rather inconvenient. After all that grass was gone we moved her to the front yard. There she spent the better part of a year. Thinking that she was finally cured we put her back in the field with the other 2 horses. This lasted for awhile but not long. Soon she was back at her old tricks and back in the front yard! We used hot wire, barbed wire and hog wire, all to no avail.
Time after time we go get her. Time that could have been better spent. A lot of that time equaled lost hours at work for Pat too.
We always forgave her. She was our baby. We petted her and loved her. She would follow us around like a dog. She played with the cats and dogs. I even caught her tossing a can around playing like a cat or dog would.
      She is going to a home of someone that will love her. She has watched her grow up and has admired her for a long time. We will go see her at her new home.  She was bought by Brook's bus driver. She will only be moving a few miles down the road.
I am going to miss her so much. I know it is for the best that she leave. It hurts so much for us to get rid of our baby.

Belle

Belle was sold today.

h

Happy Mother's Day

so so

I have been having a bit of trouble writing lately. Not sure why I have not been able to write about things that are going on but don't worry I will not be leaving my journal. I have been allowing myself to get muddled down in mundane details that do nothing more than compliciate my life. Sometimes I wish I was better at turning off the thinking process!

One thing that has happened is that Pat is back on second shift. Now that would not be so bad if he was actually going to a job he liked.

Another thing is Brook is spending more time with her mama even when she does not want to go. That has been hard for me to deal with. What do you say to a child that says this is home but when I am at my mama's I have to say that it is cause if I say it is mama's house she says things to me. I just told her that this will always be her home for as long as she wants even if she is not living here. That she will always have this place to come to.

I have a birthday coming up. Gonna be 47 years old. Now that does not bother me at all. At least the age thing does not. What I am wondering is if anybody here at home will even remember it. It is marked on calendar. Pat received an email alert that Monday is the day. But will he actually remember? We will see.

I can't seem to finish getting my garden in and that is a downer. The rain won't stop long enough for it to dry out enough to finish it. The corn is growing though and so are the peas. The small garden does look good though even though I am not through there either.

I lost my Bible. I have no idea where I could have lost it at. I have had to go to online site just to do my reading. Do you have any idea how much it costs for a large print Bible these days?

So that is just a bit of what is happening. I know. There is nothing major going on just all the little things are starting to pile up on me and weigh me down. Thinking of asking for happy pills next time I go to doctor.

interesting thoughts

Go here for a thought provoking entry.

 Sunday dawned wet and dreary. Pat and I were sitting around bored and not really wanting to play on the computer (I know that had to come as a shock!) We looked at each other and started talking about how wet it was and we wanted to go on a ride. The rain let up shortly after that and we said well why not go? So off we went! We had not gone 2 miles when it started raining again. We put on our rain coats and said let's keep on. I am telling you, I think we are becoming diehard bikers! LOL We kept going and ended up in Dayton Tennessee, home of the Tennessee Strawberry Festival and Scopes Trial.  Here is Pat holding up a lamp pole. In this next picture Front and center is a World War2 Memorial. Behind that is the courthouse where the famous Scopes Trial was held. Every year they hold a reenactment of that trial.

Now you can't go the Dayton without getting some strawberries. We stopped in a produce stand and I bought a flat of berries. We are on a motorcycle! LOL I took all the berries out and loaded them up in one of the saddlebags. Those berries are so sweet! No sugar needed at all! Nothing like getting fresh picked berries and eating them.

 After that we decided it was time to go home. Not 5 minutes later we decided to go to Fall Creek Falls. Off we went over the mountain headed to Pikesville and the park. Over winding roads climbing high into the clouds we went. The rain kept drizzling on us and occasionally the sky would open up and pour on us. Like a postman, nothing was going to keep us from our task! We were going to the falls!

After going over 2 mountains we finally arrived at the falls. We were tired and nightfall was coming. A quick drive thru the park, or at least enough of a drive to know we will be back, we headed home. Fog had set in and we knew the trip home could be very dangerous. Pat drove very carefully. On occasion he would pull over and let a car go by rather than let them stay behind us. Finally we were out of the mountain and the fog. We headed for home. We still had about 75 miles to go before we could rest our heads.

As we headed for home I kept seeing this strange glow in the sky. It was an orange glow that was not a sunset. The sun had been down for awhile at that time... not that it ever showed its face that day. I realized I was seeing the lights of Chattanooga. The closer we got the more I realized how much I would hate to live in a city again. I just can't imagine living in a place again where I cannot see the stars at night. I know you can see the stars in the city but, you can't see them all, only the brightest ones. I want to be able to step outside and smell grass, trees, flowers, skunks even! Not oil and pavement or exhaust fumes and maybe the occasional whiff of growing things. I guess my nose and eyes are spoiled now.

Back home after riding 230 miles, our longest trip yet. I do look forward to more trips in the future, rain or no rain.

10 good things 5/1/2006-5/7/2006

10 good things

1. The rain was good for the corn.

2. My daughter went to Brook's demo Saturday.

3. Brook will be testing this month for her second degree brown belt.

4. I made brownies and did not pig out on them.

5. Got some fresh picked strawberries from a starawberry farm.

6. Watched fog drift in down in a valley.

7.  I went to some places I have never been before and saw some beautiful country.

8.  Pat and I went on what turned out to be an all day ride.

9. My hen hatched  3 baby chicks, one from an egg I thought was rotton.

10. I got to be alive last week.

What are you?

I'm a Talent!

You're a risk-taker, and you follow your passions. You're determined to take on the world and succeed on your own terms. Whether in the arts, science, engineering, business, or politics, you fearlessly express your own vision of the world. You're not afraid of a fight, and you're not afraid to bet your future on your own abilities. If you find a job boring or stifling, you're already preparing your resume. You believe in doing what you love, and you're not willing to settle for an ordinary life.

Talent: 46%
Lifer: 38%
Mandarin: 46%
Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

don't forget

Don't forget to sign the petition to keep the internet free.

Sign here

just 1 more thing

oh yea

I left out the part where we got caught in the rain today while riding. It was a nice spring rain that waters the ground. Does get you wet though! We stopped to eat lunch and wait it out. Of course we were already wet. Just used it as an excuse to not cook!

this and that

I have been trying to get my days and nights switched around again. Pat is back on second and hating it. It is not so much as hating second, it is hating his job or rather who he has to work with. Or maybe it is who all he has to do their work for. He works with a lazy group of people that know how to make it look like they are working. He also has a foreman that will give him the work after walking by guys that are standing there smoking or drinking coffee. He is feed up with it. He applied for a job and interviewed this week. I hope he gets it even if there is a pay cut. We can handle it if we tightened our belt loops. Of course it cannot be a drastic pay cut....

He is outside changing the oil on the motorcycle right now. The filter cost $10! Course we got original equipment filter. Maybe next time we can find a replacement filter.

Went for a ride this morning to get the filter. It felt so good riding without a jacket on. I loved the smells I was smelling. The smell of honeysuckle was intoxicating. Closing my eyes and smelling nothing but that sweetness.... mmmmmmmm. Here is some blackberry and honeysuckle blossoms.

Here is Scampi and our newest addition, Pup. SAcampi chews on him. He better be careful, Pup will be a lot bigger than him!

Here is what you have all been waiting for, well maybe not all of us, but we have! Born today 2 chicks. The other 2 eggs are rotton but she will try for a few more days.

So true

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."
-Robert Frost

10 good things 4/24/2006-4/30-2006

I am a day late but here it is anyway.

10 good things

1. Cliff is home from the hospital.

2. The drug company is giving Fred his chemo for free.

3. My corn has come up from the ground and is growing.

4. Pat worked first shift.

5. Brook continues to exhibit good behavior.

6. Buddy (my white cat)was sick but is improving.

7. My friend Katy is moving back into her house.

8. The storm missed us.

9. My electric bill was $30 lower.

10. I get to start a new week.

Tags:

10 good things

Congress is selling out the Internet

Subject: Congress is selling out the Internet

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality--the Internet's First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn't have to outbid Amazon for the right to work properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites--including Google, eBay, and iTunes--must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress' effort to gut Internet freedom.

You can do your part today--can you sign this petition telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C5562383-Z7kit2oxMOMBypdPkcivzw

I signed this petition, along with 250,000 others so far. This petiton will be delivered to Congress before the House of Representatives votes next week. When you sign, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress.

Snopes.com, which monitors various causes that circulate on the Internet, explained:

Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site's traffic has precedence over any other's...Whether a user searches for recipes using Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a friend's MySpace profile, all of that data is treated equally and delivered from the originating web site to the user's web browser with the same priority. In recent months, however, some of the telephone and cable companies that control the telecommunications networks over which Internet data flows have floated the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a paid carpool lane.

If companies like AT&T have their way, Web sites ranging from Google to eBay to iTunes either pay protection money to get into the "fast lane" or risk opening slowly on your computer. We can't let the Internet--this incredible medium which has been such a revolutionary force for democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech--become captive to large corporations. 

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Together, we do care about preserving the free and open Internet.

Please sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Internet freedom. Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C5562383-Z7kit2oxMOMBypdPkcivzw

Thanks.

Tags:internet freedon, technology, Congress

A bit of this and that and a lot of rant

An update on Fred, my friend's father that has cancer: The drug company called him and informed him that they would be FED EXing his chemo drugs to him the next day at no cost. Sure enough the received them and he has started on his chemo. For once a drug company has put the patient's best interests first, unlike the government.

My corn is coming up good in my garden. The small garden is growing good also. I wish I had a garden claw to help with the small garden. Make it easier to weed! Hopefully I will get some more stuff in today.

The grass has jumped up. I need to get busy cutting it.

Brook and I baked cookies Saturday. We made honey oatmeal raisin cookies. They were so good!

Gas prices came down a bit this weekend. I was listening to a debate the other day on gas prices. In it a senator said that gas companies are not gouging prices. Now I am hearing this right after I just read that one oil company posted a 60% increase in PROFITS over last year. Profit is defined as whet you make AFTER you deduct operating costs, salaries made out, money spent on exploration, ect.

Does anybody remember the oil embargo in 1973? I do. I remember the government saying that we would be reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Instead, now more than 60% of our oil is from foreign sources. For the past 3 years I have been reading an email calling for a boycott of certain oil companies for a day. Does anybody really believe that would work? It won't. How stupid. Everyone would just wait another day to fill up or do it the day before. The only way that something like that would work is if the United States boycotted the oil! Don't buy it. No oil from the middle east. They would not sell it to us in the 70's , now how about we not buy from them in 2006?

Today is the day that Mexicans are going to not buy anything American. They are not going to work or anything. They want to force America to change their immigration policies and other laws. They want all rights to all benefits. Excuse me! If I am in your country illegially where would I be? In jail?Prision? Kicked out? YES!!! Yes you snuck in our country, yes you work here, working jobs you say no one else will do. Where do you get off saying that I won't do those jobs? I cleaned toliets for a living. I picked cotton to buy food for my family. I cut grass and pulled weeds so my family could eat. Don't give me that crap that Americans won't do the jobs.

Ok. I have that off my chest.

Go pick some flowers today and give them away. It is May Day! Also go spend some money to in support of America. wear RED or BLUE to show your support. The boycotters are wearing white.

Tags:gas prices, boycott,Mexican, oil embargo