Great day in the mornin'....has it really been two weeks since my last post? Unbelievable! It really has.
We received word back when we were headed down to Branson for the family reunion a couple of weeks back that we were going to be included in Best Interest Staffings on two separate pairs of "brothers". Our first one will be on Wednesday ,July 29th and if we are "chosen" as the resource family our names will be withdrawn out of the next one that happens to be the next day, Thursday. So by this time next week, we hope that we will be able to post the great news!
This one is short, sweet and to the point!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Dare I...talk about Pop Culture? I do want to honor a real hero
It has now been better than three weeks since Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson all died. Then "pitchman" Billy Mays died unexpectantly as well. I have thought long and hard if I even wanted to blog about such things - like "pop culture". It is hard to believe that Michael Jackson is still so prevelant in the news even a month after his passing. I heard a news cast that stated it cost the city of Los Angeles between $1 and $2 million for all the security, etc. for Michael Jackson's funeral. So my question is and forgive me for being so blunt - "What did Michael Jackson really stand for?" "What difference did he make, if any?". They always say - "the King of Pop" - Michael Jackson and I am always very quick to editorialize - you need to say 'self-proclaimed' King of Pop. He called himself that and was allowed to get away with it.
What amazes me is that an authentic American hero died at the very same time and no one even mentioned who it was or what he did. So, I want to give honor here to someone who truly did make a difference and had a tremendous impact. I honor Ed Freeman by and through an email I received.
Ed Freeman
You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world-12,000 miles away-and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses.
And, he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID. May God rest his soul.
Medal of Honor
Winner
Ed
Freeman!
Since the Media didn't give him the coverage he deserves,
THANKS AGAIN, ED,
FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY.
What amazes me is that an authentic American hero died at the very same time and no one even mentioned who it was or what he did. So, I want to give honor here to someone who truly did make a difference and had a tremendous impact. I honor Ed Freeman by and through an email I received.
Ed Freeman
You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world-12,000 miles away-and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses.
And, he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID. May God rest his soul.
Medal of Honor
Winner
Ed
Freeman!
Since the Media didn't give him the coverage he deserves,
THANKS AGAIN, ED,
FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A return from Redneck Vegas
Well, we have returned from a family reunion down in Branson, MO that my brother so aptly put it - "A Redneck Vegas". We had a great time seeing family that we haven't seen in a couple of years - some even longer!
We had luxurious accomodations at the Wyndam Mountain Vista Resort thanks to my parents and their timeshare plan.
We went to the Titanic Museum there in Branson. I would recommend seeing it. They have a few "actual" artifacts from the Titanic on display. You get to see and walk up an exact replica of the "Grand Staircase" that was in the ship. It's very educational and an enjoyable experience.
It is truly amazing how much Branson has changed over the years. The first time I really remember going there was back in summer of 1989. It was just before I started truck driving school. They have blasted through some mountains and completely leveled other I think just to build highways to accomodate all the traffic. Sometimes I wonder what the local folk think about all the traffic and tourists that come to their once "small town".
Anyway, we're back safe and sound - thank you Lord!
We had luxurious accomodations at the Wyndam Mountain Vista Resort thanks to my parents and their timeshare plan.
We went to the Titanic Museum there in Branson. I would recommend seeing it. They have a few "actual" artifacts from the Titanic on display. You get to see and walk up an exact replica of the "Grand Staircase" that was in the ship. It's very educational and an enjoyable experience.
It is truly amazing how much Branson has changed over the years. The first time I really remember going there was back in summer of 1989. It was just before I started truck driving school. They have blasted through some mountains and completely leveled other I think just to build highways to accomodate all the traffic. Sometimes I wonder what the local folk think about all the traffic and tourists that come to their once "small town".
Anyway, we're back safe and sound - thank you Lord!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Things that make you go...hhhhmmmmm!
So, my sweet bride and I were returning from a weekend celebration of birthdays and July 4th. It's been a beautiful day and all was going well.
In the southern part of Kansas City we suddenly remembered we had to swing by Tam's work to pick up her car we had left there on the way out of town. It was a last second decision but I swerved hard right in order to make our exit ramp when I "heard" something. It sounded like it came from my truck but I checked the mirrors and didn't see anything rolling & tumbling on the pavement behind me so I thought all is okay.
Well we go a few blocks off the Interstate to pickup Tam's car, I let her out, then I begin to pull away when I hear this.... "blubb, blubb, blubb" sound and it didn't "feel" quite right. I looked back at Tam and she looked at me with this quizzical look on her face and began to point at the rear tire. YEP! You guessed it. I had a flat tire. I thought...well, no big deal, I'm not in any big hurry, the temperature is very pleasant outside, I'm in the shade.....I'll just pull this baby off, replace it with the spare and I'll be on my way, right? So you would think.
So, I broke the lug nuts free, jacked it up, removed all the lug nuts, gave a gentle pull, and.......nothing! Pulled harder.....nothing! I kicked it....nothing! I kicked it again, and again, pulled on it, pushed on it....nothing! I'm thinking "oh great, now what am I going to do?"
So, I call a tow truck. I figure I'll have him tow it back to the house and I'll take a hammer to it. He gets there and asks if I'd like to drive the truck home with the spare tire on it or have it towed. I said "Well, yeah, I'd like to change to change th tire now!" So, he pulls out a long two by four board and a big hook. He begins pounding it to break it free, nothing! He pulls on it, nothing! He kicks on it - nothing! He pounds on it some more with the wood and hook - NOTHING! We load it up on the tow truck and take it to the auto repair garage I've been using the past couple of years.
I pick it up the next day and am talking to the Service Foreman and I ask "So, how DID you get that wheel off the hub?" He said we didn't. The mechanic plugged the tire right on the truck. I asked "What causes something like this to happen?" He tells me something about they've been changing the alloys in the metals and coupled along with corrosion it really "binds" the metals together. I say "What am I supposed to do it I have another blow out somewhere?" **blink ** **blink**
He just looks at me.
Things that make you go ......hhhhhmmmmmmmmm!
In the southern part of Kansas City we suddenly remembered we had to swing by Tam's work to pick up her car we had left there on the way out of town. It was a last second decision but I swerved hard right in order to make our exit ramp when I "heard" something. It sounded like it came from my truck but I checked the mirrors and didn't see anything rolling & tumbling on the pavement behind me so I thought all is okay.
Well we go a few blocks off the Interstate to pickup Tam's car, I let her out, then I begin to pull away when I hear this.... "blubb, blubb, blubb" sound and it didn't "feel" quite right. I looked back at Tam and she looked at me with this quizzical look on her face and began to point at the rear tire. YEP! You guessed it. I had a flat tire. I thought...well, no big deal, I'm not in any big hurry, the temperature is very pleasant outside, I'm in the shade.....I'll just pull this baby off, replace it with the spare and I'll be on my way, right? So you would think.
So, I broke the lug nuts free, jacked it up, removed all the lug nuts, gave a gentle pull, and.......nothing! Pulled harder.....nothing! I kicked it....nothing! I kicked it again, and again, pulled on it, pushed on it....nothing! I'm thinking "oh great, now what am I going to do?"
So, I call a tow truck. I figure I'll have him tow it back to the house and I'll take a hammer to it. He gets there and asks if I'd like to drive the truck home with the spare tire on it or have it towed. I said "Well, yeah, I'd like to change to change th tire now!" So, he pulls out a long two by four board and a big hook. He begins pounding it to break it free, nothing! He pulls on it, nothing! He kicks on it - nothing! He pounds on it some more with the wood and hook - NOTHING! We load it up on the tow truck and take it to the auto repair garage I've been using the past couple of years.
I pick it up the next day and am talking to the Service Foreman and I ask "So, how DID you get that wheel off the hub?" He said we didn't. The mechanic plugged the tire right on the truck. I asked "What causes something like this to happen?" He tells me something about they've been changing the alloys in the metals and coupled along with corrosion it really "binds" the metals together. I say "What am I supposed to do it I have another blow out somewhere?" **blink ** **blink**
He just looks at me.
Things that make you go ......hhhhhmmmmmmmmm!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Celebrating Birthdays,Independence Day and a little Soul Food
Happy 4th of July to all my friends and family!! We are celebrating down at my brother's in Duncan, OK. It's 103 degrees in the shade!! We celebrated his two sons' birthday's yesterday with smoked pork butt, ribs, chicken, asapagus and a potato salad that was awesome! Actually, all of it was incredible! We had birthday cupcakes and attempted to make home-made ice cream but it didn't setup quickly enough. But all of that wasn't the "soul food". That part came in by taking part and having "family time". Today we took the kiddies to the park and the smiles and giggles were music to my "soul". There is something heartwarming about how my little nieces and nephews can giggle and laugh- it truly touches me to the core! Then there are the squeals of excitement when they are enjoying swimming in their pool.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMESON and NOAH!
Jameson turned 3 years old on June 21st! He really like his AM/FM "Mater" radio he got for his birthday!
Noah turned 1 on June 19th!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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