Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Oct 11

I signed up to participate in a 5K walk on October 11 for the Susan G. Komen foundation's Race for the Cure. Some folks will be timed. Some folks will run. I'm not one of either. I'm going to be there to walk and show my support, but this chick ain't runnin'.

This is the first time I've ever done anything like this. My t-shirt came in the mail today, along with my little number bib, complete with safety pins. I don't know what possessed me to sign up for this, but it seemed like the thing to do when I found out about it.

The registration confirmation and the fundraising email that I was sent to send out to others had some interesting facts in it. 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. There are 9 regulart readers of my blog - 8 of them are women. 1 of us will be diagnosed at some point. A new diagnoses is made every 3 minutes, and every 13 minutes, somebody dies from breast cancer. Scary stuff.

When I first got these statistics, they were only numbers. This weekend, it hit home pretty hard - one of the ladies at my church has recently been diagnosed and now has to decide what she is going to do.

If you would like to make a contribution to the foundation, you can go to http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1979440 to donate securely online with your debit or credit card. It's a tax deductible contribution, and you'll get a receipt right away.

Presidential debate #1

So, did anybody come away from the first presidential debate last night feeling as uninspired and ho-hum as I did? Neither candidate pulled anything awesome & surprising out of their hat – both were relying on “the other candidate is a bad choice because…” It was like watching Lurch from the Addam’s Family trade verbal barrages with Frosty the Snowman in a suit.

Nope, I’m still as unexcited about my choices as before. I’m going to end up voting against whichever-one scares me the most, not for the one I think is the best. Sad, but true.

I watched the debate on BBC America, and after it was over, they had commentary from various BBC correspondents all around the world, including Iraq, China, and Russia. One thing that really got my attention was something the Iraq correspondent said – he was talking about some Iraqi citizens who were enjoying a cup of coffee at an outdoor coffee shop. They told him that they wouldn’t be able to do that if the Americans weren’t there, that they would be too afraid to sit outside. Gotta’ love the British – they’ll put stuff on the air that CNN or FOX won’t. It was encouraging to hear something positive about our presence in Iraq.

At this point, I feel that it really doesn't matter how we got there, what bad information was given or what good information may have been disregarded - the fact is that we're there. Now, what are we gonna' do about it? That's what the candidates need to answer, not who's fault it is that we're there in the first place. For what it's worth, I think that it’s time to start slowly backing out and letting the Iraqi people learn to maintain their own peace. A rapid pull-out would be a bad idea, but we don't need to stay forever. The Iraqis need to start taking over more and more of the responsibilities of running their country and keeping their citizens safe, so we can start bringing our soldiers home.

Enough about Iraq, back to my little soapbox about the media – I really dislike our media’s obsession with reporting only the horror stories, only the negative aspects of our government and military activities. No, it’s not a perfect government, but show me one that is. I have a really hard time trusting that I’m getting the full story with anything. I don’t think there is anything fair and objective about any of the reporting that goes on by US news providers – each news website, each news channel, reports on events with a definite lean in whichever direction they go. Thankfully, you can now get all of the speeches and debates online without having to listen to any of the commentary that goes with them.

And now for my little soapbox about voting – do it, or don’t complain when the next administration isn’t to your liking. And for Pete’s sake, don’t go out there and say “I’m with XX party, so I’m gonna’ vote that way” without finding out what that party’s candidate stands for and plans to do. Granted, I don’t like the media coverage of the race, but you can still listen to what the candidates have to say in their speeches and statements. You can still research each candidate’s record to see what they have or have not done, how often they’ve said one thing and done another, how often they’ve actually done what they said they were going to do. Make your decision based on what you discover, not on what someone else tells you to think.

Okay, I’ shut up about the presidential race for now. I reserve the right to jump back on the soapbox after the vice-presidential debate next Thursday. I think I’m going to watch it on BBC America, too. You get to watch Monty Python afterwards.. :o)

Happy News

I can't stand it any longer... I've been waiting for a picture, but that's going to be awhile...

Jenna, our 2 year old granddaughter, was wearing a rather interesting t-shirt at church Sunday night. It said "I'm the big sister-to-be". I wanted to get a picture of her wearing that shirt and post it here, but nobody can hold still long enough to get kid, shirt, and camera all in the same place at the same time.

Jessica & Lance are thrilled. Jessica says she thinks the baby will come in May.

The little house behind us that we were fixing up for them has been put on hold for various reasons. I guess we'd better get back on it, huh?

Funny stuff

I don't care who you are, this is funny, even if it is politically based...




Found this on Ann's blog, felt the urge to share.

Keeping up with the blogs...

I have just discovered a nifty little feature of Blogger - it will help you keep up with the blogs that you read!

If you use Blogger, after logging in, go to the Dashboard. Down at the bottom of the page, you can add the blogs that you read regularly. If the blog offers an RSS feed, it will automatically update your dashboard every time the blog is updated.

I know, there are lots of services that do that, but I confess to being easily amused.

You man now resume your normal day...

Take a minute today to pray for the people involved and who's lives were forever changed by the events of 9/11/2001. Pray for all the vicitims of that day, their families, the emergency workers who risked all they held dear to help those in need.

Pray for the people who planned and carried out these horrible actions, and those who would follow in their footsteps.

Pray for our troops who are in harms way now, whether we should be there or not, who are doing their best to carry out their orders to fight terrorism in lands far away from home, from their families and all they hold dear, in a culture that we neither know nor understand.

Pray for our country and our leaders, whether you agree with them or not. Pray for our upcoming leaders, whoever they may be. Lift them up, asking for wisdom and strength for them, wise counsel, and to do what our country needs, whatever that may be.

In a word:

PRAY!

We've been invaded...

Yup, the US Army has invaded our campground.

Jack served in the Air Force, my dad is retired USAF, and we both know how difficult it is for our military guys to make ends meet. On top of that, they don't get nearly the appreciation and respect they deserve for what they do for our country. They often bear the brunt of unpopular decisions made by those over them, and that is most unfair.

To show our support and appreciation, we offer active duty military members of the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard free camping, and if they want to stay in a cabin, their first night is free, too.

Last week, I was contacted by a unit leader looking for somewhere for his people to stay while they brush up on their motorcycle safety skills by riding an extremely curvy road around here that is well known in the motorcycle community as the Dragon. It seems the military bases are pushing safety for their riders now. Good idea, as far as I'm concerned. Polishing up skills is as good an excuse as any to go riding, right? :o) They're also calling this their first annual memorial ride for the victims of 9/11. Very sobering thought there.

I got my dates mixed up and didn't expect them until Friday. I got home from church this evening to find a message on my phone that they were here, and which cabins were open? Eeeek! Fortunately, all of them were clean and ready to go, just needed towels in a cabin or two. Whew!

My New Little Brother

My parents came down this weekend and stayed in their camper at the KOA. Some friends of theirs were already in Knoxville, at a campground up there, then came to visit us. Mom & Dad met them.

We all went to the flea market today. Mom picked out my new little brother.

Meet my Mom and Wiley.




Wiley is Mom's birthday/retirement gift to herself. He's 12 weeks old and shouldn't get any bigger tan 4 or 5 pounds. He already has Mom wrapped around his little paw.

My sister had sent Mom a picture message, showing her an apple pie sitting on my mother's stovetop, with a piece missing out of it, and the caption "Mmmmmm....". I took the picture above and sent it to her, saying "We'll see your apple pie and raise you a Yorkie."

She answered "AW CRAP! Not authorized! 1 Ralph, 1 Sam (referring to the Yorkie and Burmese cat that mom already has), the roster is empty, no names left." The critters Mom already has are neamed after a Bugs Bunny cartoon, where the wolf and the sheepdog are clocking in to start their day, and they're saying "Mornin', Ralph", 'Mornin's Sam" to each other. My first thought when reading my sister's comment about the name was 'Wiley E. Coyote, Supergenius'. I showed the message to Dad - he says "Wiley". I showed the message to Mom. She says "Wiley". So I sent a single word back to mys sister - "Wiley". Her reply? "That's exactly what I thought, too." Man, it's scary when a family is on the same wavelegth like that!


Wiley won't be ready to leave the breeder's place for another week or two, but when he does, Sam, the other Yorkie, is in for a major shock to his little world. :o)

GC is home!

Jack's dad came home today. His appetite is up, his color is good, his voice is strong. It doesn't take much to tire him out, but that's to be expected. The drugs he was on for pain right after surgery worked really well, too. He commented to Jack today that "They were really good with that surgery - I didn't hurt a bit..." Um.... The good news is that he isn't taking anything for paind now - he doesn't need it. Yay!

Update on Jack's Dad

Jack's dad is doing great! The last of the tubes and IV's were removed and disconnected today, he's feeling pretty good, alert, and ready to come home. If his bloodwork is good, he should do that tomorrow.

Yesterday we found that percocet makes him goofy. When asked if he knew where he was, he answered, "Sure I do!". When pressed for his location, he said "Well, can't you see? I'm right here!" He had his nurses rolling. One of them stopped us this evening and said "Your dad is a hoot! We've loved having him with us."

GO VOLS!

Yes, it's football time in Tennessee again, and if you ever need to go to the grocery store, do it while the Vols are playing a televised game - the stores are ghost towns of orange and white...

They played their season opener last night against UCLA in the Rose Bowl Statdium on the West Coast. The game was a close one, with no clear winner until the last minute and a half, when UCLA scored a touch down that put them 3 points ahead. Or so we thought... The Vols came back in the that little bit of time to score a field goal and tie it up with 5 seconds left, forcing the game into overtime. Wow! Talk about edge of your seat action!

UCLA scored a field goal in the first overtime, UT missed theirs, ending the gamein a win for UCLA, but man, was it close. I don't care if they didn't win by points - these players won by heart, from both teams. It was a most excellent game from all angles. Beautiful game, UT Vols!