Vacations are for Snoozers
Our vacation is one day from being over. I’m relaxed, recharged and excited about enjoying the time we have left. The sun is hot, the sand soft and the sea sublime. These prime conditions and having to relocate to the club house to get internet access are not conducive to posting on my blog. Since my “Pawprint” post was so recent I thought it would be okay fill with this joke.
Enjoy! I am.
Two men are walking their dogs, a poodle and a german shepard. They decide they’d like to go into a bar for a drink.
“But we can’t bring our dogs into that bar,” says the poodle’s human.
“Hey, no problem,” says the german shepard’s owner. “Just watch this.” He pulls out a pair of sunglasses and walks into the bar.
“Hey, no dogs!” yells the bartender.
“But this is a seeing eye dog,” says the german shepard’s human. The bartender apologizes and shows them to a chair.
So, the poodle owner decides to follow suit, whips out his sunglasses, and walks into the bar.
“Hey, no dogs!” yells the bartender.
“But this is a seeing eye dog,” says the poodle’s human.
The bartender objects, “Hey, poodles can’t be seeing eye dogs!”
The poodle owner gasps, “Poodle? They told me they were giving me a german shepard!”
Memorial Day — Just a vacation? Rememebering the cost of freedom.
Jim emailed me a special tribute to his shipmates and friends who gave their lives so we could live free. Their sacrifice was the ultimate. I’d like to take this time to add a moving comment that he wrote, which you might have missed. But first, I’d like to challenge you to ask yourself two very important questions:
- “Do I appreciate the men and women of our Armed Forces?”
- “Do I understand that they are willing to give their life to secure and further the freedoms that are outlined within the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the USA?”
If the answer is, “Yes and yes!” then we will continue to make Memorial Day and the sacrifice of those who have fallen; significant and meaningful, otherwise it’s just another day off of work.
Jim’s comment found in Moths, Man and Mao on May 7th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
A long time ago, I sat in a tiny room in the bowels of an aircraft carrier and wrote four letters to the families of squadronmates who had just been killed fighting in a war.
I felt a mass of warring emotions; Sorrow, shock, guilt and anger.
As I thought of the families of my fallen comrades I felt how deeply they would mourn the loss of their loved ones. How young wives, small children, and aged parents would cling to one another and search for causes of their pain. Yes, there was sorrow.
That morning they had flown off the ship on a mission. Something we did everyday. And that night………..they were no longer with us. The shock of such sudden death strikes deep in the core of your being. You know the risks, you know it can happen, but you push it to the back of your mind. But you are still………..shocked!
You wonder why. Why them? I’ve flown the same type missions. I’ve seen the black smudges of ack, ack. I knew they were aiming for me……..for us all. Why did I survive? What does it mean? Why them….all better men than I. So, there was guilt writ large.
Thank you Jim for your service and for your continued commitment to freedom. Your comrades will not be forgotten.
Memorial Day, 2007. Gone, but not forgotten. Shipmates, friends, and family who died while doing their duty. They are in my thoughts, particularly on this day. Join me in remembering them and honoring all who died in service to this wonderful country.
LTJG M. D. McMican
LTJG. Gerry Romano
AE-3 Bill Amspacher
ATN-2 Tom Plants
LCDR Gerry Roberts
LCDR Hal Gray
LCDR Dave Monroe
LT. Jim Owenby
1st LT Larry Goreski
“A Veteran’s Eulogy”
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the Gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the mornings hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.
~ Author Unknown ~
Carbon Neutral Pawprint
This first video clip has been on YouTube for a while, but it is so delightful I never get tired of having people send it to me.
Then while the music is still fresh in your mind check out a second video production which is a fine parody on a subject that warms my heart.
Finally, I hope you give some equal time to the other side and have a laugh at George W Bush’s expense.
Note: Laugh now because in twenty years he will be considered one of our great presidents. Jimmy Carter will not be on that list. (I was wrong to vote against Reagan…please accept my apologies….I’m reformed now.)
Enjoy!
Who Said This? When?
You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down — up to a man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order — or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
Please leave your comment…did you get it right?
Safe Love? C.S. Lewis
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” C. S. Lewis
Dead Guy Info: C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) Novelist, Religious Writer, Literary Critic, Literary Historian, Poet, Children’s Writer, Theologian.
Additional comment from EarthSiut101.com staff writer: Wow, this guy must-of been big. Who knew? Check out the C. S. Lewis Foundation and the links from this site!
Learning From the Past — Or Not. Adam Smith
“It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers [read politicians] to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense. They are themselves always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs.”
Dead Guy Info: Adam Smith (1723-1790) 18th century Scottish moral philosopher.
Dad of a Columbine victim asks “Why did this happen?”
Aired on CBS’s freeSpeech:
Transcript of Brian Rohrbough — October 2, 2006
I’m saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week’s school murders.
When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I’ve tried to answer the question, “Why did this happen?”
This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value.
We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children.
Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children.
Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States.
