Decisions, Decisions

I have spent the last week dithering over adding a new animal to the family....specifically a dog. I search on the internet and find myself drawn to the hundreds of pit bull type dogs that need rescuing just in this area. And then have come across one that an acquaintance needs to find a home for. It's all I can do not to say I'll take all of them. Thank goodness Ron and Steven force me to remain sane or I guess I would try to run my own shelter.
Anyway, tomorrow I think we are going to go look at some tiny toy poodles. We have had poodles before and loved them to pieces and would both like a cuddly lap dog, so we'll see if one of them speaks to us. Meanwhile, I guess I will just donate what I can to the shelters and do whatever else I can do for this poor breed of dog that I also love.

Another Year

Wow, it's been a year. I have started a blog elsewhere too, because I couldn't remember how to get to this one. Damn, getting old stinks (that's sux to you youngsters).
In this last year my life has totally changed. We've moved, to the foothills of the Sierra north east of Sacramento. We have a "new" grandbaby who is now almost a year old and the love of our lives. Not to take one tiny thing away from our other grandkids, but we have been physically close to this little angel from the day she was born.....we were there. We're really the only grandparents she has close (her other grandma is in Thailand), so we see a lot of her....she is part of our lives and we, hers.
Now....we've moved to a much smaller home on only an acre of property, but it is a perfectly flat, usable acre, and we are making use of it. We have a greenhouse/shop and a "granny house" which is our guest room. We're working at making it welcoming so that people will feel comfortable staying in it....it's a cute little place with a picture window looking out on the woods and has all the amenities except hot water. And I already have two relatives standing in line waiting to be able to live there full time, but I'm being possessive about it.
Let's see, my last post I had quit smoking for 6 months. So much for that....I've decided it's my vice and I'll die from it!!!! I would like to say I am really not that stupid, just addicted, but you will have to judge that for yourselves.
Ok, enough for now. I am really going to try to keep this more current and am going to update my website while I'm at it, so stay tuned for further updates and check my website for pictures of our new place.

Discovery Channel :: News, Photo Zoom :: Jumbo Squid Invade Calif.

Discovery Channel :: News, Photo Zoom :: Jumbo Squid Invade Calif.
This is scary to me....kinds like science fiction coming to life. In fact, this picture doesn't even look real.

Remembering Bad Times

I got this in my inbox this morning, and have been stewing over what to do with it for a while. I decided that maybe this was the place to share it, and my opinion, FWIW.
I think of the late 60s and 70s as being a really Bad Time, for the US anyway, since that is the only place I can speak for. My husband was in Vietnam (but fairly safe on a ship), my mother in law read the Berkely Barb and spouted peace slogans. I watched babies, barely old enough to shave, sent off to die or be maimed, mentally and physically. I was home alone with 2 babies, watching the news and missing their father.
Now, do you wonder where I stand on this? So do I. I know where I stand on WAR....it should be avoided at all costs. I guess maybe anyone would say that, but then why did we elect a moron TWICE. Never mind.....I digress. I just wanted to share this piece of writing I recieved this morning.......

Jane deserves to be thrown in jail- not honored. Subject: Fw: She really was a Traitor - she wasn't a traitor, the bitch IS a traitor. ----- In Memory of my brother -in- law LT. C.Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton She really was a Traitor IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!!!! She really was a traitor A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA This is for all the kids born in the 70's who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear. Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the "100 Women of the Century." BY BARBRA WALTERS Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the "Hanoi Hilton." Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "Peace Activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received. He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which ! sent that officer berserk. In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton. From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton",,, the first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action". His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit. They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper. Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day. I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam , and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years. I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia ; and one year in a "black box" in Hanoi . My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.) We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals." When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi , I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as "humane and lenient." Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane. I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me. These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget..." 100 Years of Great Women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots. There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget. RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343 PLEASE HELP BY SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK. IF ENOUGH PEOPLE SEE THIS MAYBE HER STATUS WILL CHANGE

Worth Sharing

I had all kind of things to say tonight, then I came across this in my e-mail (from my husband, no less) and thought it worth sharing. I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I don't know where it originated, I just know I like what it says.....
>>>
>> Subject: Growing old is a choice
>
>> The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old.
>> I was
>> taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my
>> reaction, she
>> was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an
>> interesting
>> question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.
>>
>> Old Age, I decided, is a gift.
>> I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have
>> always
>> wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the
>> wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken
>> aback by that
>> old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I
>> don't
>> agonize over those things for long.
>> I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving
>> family
>> for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more
>> kind to
>> myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
>> I don't
>> chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed,
>> or for
>> buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so
>> beautiful on
>> my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
>> I have
>> seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon;
>> before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
>> Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer
>> until 4 AM
>> and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful
>> tunes of
>> the 40 &50's,and
>> if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.
>> I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging
>> body,
>> and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the
>> pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old. I know
>> I am
>> sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well
>> forgotten. And
>> I eventually remember the important things.
>> Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not
>> break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even
>> when somebody's
>> beloved pet
>> gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and
>> understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and
>> sterile and will
>> never know the joy of being imperfect.
>>
>> I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning
>> gray,
>> and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on
>> my face.
>> So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair
>> could
>> turn silver.
>> As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what
>> other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even
>> earned the
>> right to be wrong.
>> So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free.
>> I like
>> the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while
>> I am
>> still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or
>> worrying
>> about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I
>> feel
>> like it)
>>
>
>

Family

We attended a beautiful family wedding this weekend and it got me to thinking about how special family is. I think we have a close family and we have managed to overcome some rough spots and all remain close in spite of them. I have to credit my great and forgiving kids for that, and pat myself on the back a tiny bit. =:+) And now we have gained another daughter in law (grandaughter in law in my case) and two more precious boys. And, BTW, we are officially gaining another dil soon and a beautiful little girl. In thinking, though, this is the first time I am a little disappointed. We have lost a family member and it really makes me sad. Actually, we have lost two family members, but one was to drugs and unfortunately we can't do anything about that...hopefully someday he will return. Everyone makes their choices and we have to accept that, I guess, but we don't have to like it. I feel bad, because when one looses touch with his/her roots, I think it is a shame. Families have so much to offer each other....... We are there for each other to share the good times and bad, sad and happy, fun and not so fun. We share when new members are added, by birth, marriage or whatever. We are saddened by separations and disagreements, but help each other overcome them. I have come to appreciate that even more after reconnecting with a cousin I had lost touch with over the years. We can only hope that sometime soon bygones can be bygones and the whole family can reconnect. Nothing should be so important that we loose touch with our loved ones.

Day One

I must have so many "Day One"'s started. I am trying to find a good, convenient blog site that I can remember how to use. Let's hope this is it. A friend from facebook sent me over here, so I'm gonna try it.