Today is Veterans Day

Thank a Vet! Bryce really comes to my mind today. He and 10's of thousands more, were deployed for "as long as it took" not just a year or for a few months... WWII vets were there for a long time without any idea when or if they would return. In WWII there was over 16,000,000 total US service members in uniform and of those there were over 400,000 deaths. That war lasted about 4 years (1941-45).
The Gulf War there was about 2.2 million in uniform with just 147 deaths ( about 100 combat related) and lasted less that a year.
Todays War on Terror will be an ongoing war for "as long as it takes". Since 2001 the US has lost over lost 2000 serrvice members and hundreds of thousands have served. Thank a vet of this combat...No matter what your politics are!
A Little History...
Armistice Day Becomes Veterans Day
World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans.
In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

The Departed

Has anyone seen The Departed yet? Mandy and I went last weekend. It was a good show, although VERY violent.

Mike Hatch Dreams

Funny item discovered on E-Bay, since we're of a political mind today.

Brownies

The girls have officially become Brownies! They started in October with their first troop meeting. Since then we have gone apple picking (you get a badge for that). This Wednesday they had their second meeting, complete with a bonfire, fire safety lesson and smores. And last Saturday the troop went to Home Depot for a building project. Here are the happy builders in their HD aprons:


Here's a better shot of their project. They built wooden fire trucks that are also a coin bank.


It's a pretty cool program Home Depot runs, and it's not just for Brownies. The first Saturday of the month anybody with kids can attend the session. The kids get to choose from several different projects (fire truck bank, birdhouse, picture frame, etc.) and then they build the project with help from mom/dad and a few HD volunteers. And the entire thing is free. Unless we have plans that day, we're going back in December.

Happy Halloween

I've been remiss about posting in general. But here are some photos of halloween from our house, 10 days late. :)

Emma in her costume


This was the best shot I got of Morgan. She was preparing for the cold weather almost immediately.


Putting jackets on.


Did I mention that it was cold that night?

Elections Scandals

Rememer the election of 2004? Scandals everywhere! Lawsuits in many areas, voter intimidation, etc. Why did that not happen this year? Was it because non of these things happened this year?
Clean election-dems win...
dirty election-republicans win???
Just a thought.

The first 100 hours

WASHINGTON -- Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.
Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."
Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.
Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds _ "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.
All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.
To do that, she said, Bush-era tax cuts would have to be rolled back for those above "a certain level." She mentioned annual incomes of $250,000 or $300,000 a year and higher, and said tax rates for those individuals might revert to those of the Clinton era. Details will have to be worked out, she emphasized.
"We believe in the marketplace," Pelosi said of Democrats, then drew a contrast with Republicans. "They have only rewarded wealth, not work."
"We must share the benefits of our wealth" beyond the privileged few, she added.

Returning Troops

With the Dems taking control of both houses we should start to see lots of this kind of pictures of returning troops from Iraq. My guess is that anytime after the 20th of January this will be a very common picture in the news. But what kind of pictures are you going to see coming out of Iraq? Will there be celebrations there as well?

Happy Days are here again!

Just what is your fair share? The more you make the more they take. Will us guys in the lower bracket see our taxes go up or down under thes new politacal leadership both on a local and national level? I know I enjoyed my taxes going down...remember the checks you got for surpluses in Minnesota? Did you send yours back to the treasurer?

Gas Prices and The Republicans

I hear a lot of people suggesting the Republicans had something to do with the falling price of fuel prior to the election. Now that the dems are clearly in charge, gas should start dropping fairly quickly. Many people said it was to keep the Republicans in power...We'll it did not work so lets just keep track of this trend. My guess is that the gas should be on a downward spiral starting about the 20th of January 2007. We'll see!

Reflecting...Remembering...Reflecting

I woke up this morning knowing that "today is the day," for a couple of things...voting & turning older. I share my b-day occasionally with our patriotic duty & right. For a couple of months now, I have been reminded of this day through emails, posters &, of course, the media. Won't it be nice to have November 7th behind us?

I have spent some time just reflecting...remembering...& reflecting again. I know that we hear people say, "where did the time go?" & I have been asking myself this question over the last half of this year.

The second half of my life is so different than the first half, not better, nor worse, only different. There are a couple of differences that I thought I'd share with all of you...& I am curious, does anyone else notice these differences?

The first difference has to do with the amount of people that are going through our doors on a daily & weekly basis. I used to think the door would fall off of its hinges due to overuse. The difference now has to do with the nest being empty...& when the nest was full, there were always kids, activity and noise around. Not bad, just different.

Another difference has to do with family get togethers and holidays...and getting our family to come together peacefully can be stressful. I heard something today that made sense to me...all families feel stress when everyone is together & there probably isn't a family alive that isn't dysfunctional to some degree. What does that mean? Does it mean that we are "normal" after all?? That is an interesting thought to me. Not different, not bad.

Reflecting, remembering...all the fun times that we had together...and hoping in the future there will be more times to reflect and remember. I guess that is what birthdays are for...to reflect & remember. Another difference, all good!

"Get out and Vote...what don't part don't you understand?"

Two down-One to go!

With Sadam sentenced to die by hanging-that's two down and one to go...what about Kim? and Iran? and Saudi? There must be more...Darfor...

Lounge About and Beer

The time is flying by...I was looking through emails and noticed that we had an email from Carol. Lounge About already? Well, we are going to go and I hope that everone can go as well. Lots more fun when lots of people go!
Anyway I was wondering if you beer makers would want to start planning to make camp beer. I know these days I like to have the dark, rich beers but in the summer time lighter beer is easier to enjoy on a hot day.
Here is what I propose. Each of us make a beer of choice for camping to share (about a 12 pk). Then I would also like to get together some evening and make a brew with Scott, Pete and Matt and myself after work some time and make a camping brew. I know scott would love to do a brew with us. (we could even make some spent grain bread) Maybe that could be a light brew... fruity...hmmm...so many choices. I just had a apricot wheat beer that was wonderfull.
Maybe part of the lounge about we could brew a batch as well...I already bring the kettle and cooker...
Any takers?

Bird Feeder??? I don't see no birds!

Grandma Emma

Well, I think most of you had met my Great-Grandma Emma at least once. I just thought I'd pass on the news that she passed away last night. She had a massive stroke the end of last month and has been in the hospital and nursing home since that time. I guess last night she decided it was her time to go be with my Great-Grandpa again. She was 96 and she lived a very good life and I feel honored that I was able to spend so much of my life with her. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Nancy and I decided to get our cat Boo at climbing tree. We shopped on the internet...Prices started about $99 and up, so we decided to make our own. Cost was about $25 and about 3 hours of cutting and trimming. Cat tree anyone?

Tulips

We are going be planting our Tulips today. Last year we had about 100 planted around our yard and garden. Each year they are supose to grow more bulbs and get better beds and more spring flowers. I just I can't wait till spring!

Apples!

The girls and I went to the apple orchard last Sunday with the girls' Brownie Troop. Man, do we have apples. This is going to be a photo post, so apologies to anybody on dialup. Here's Morgan, a happy apple harvester:


Emma didn't want to pose, she was on a mission. She ended up collecting nearly twice as many apples as Morgan. Here's Emma's back on her way to find more:



Here's the entire troop (plus one Brownie's brother), on a break from picking apples:


We had an absolutely gorgeous day for it. I thought that this picture with the Honey Golds on the ground turned out especially well:


After we had way more apples than we really need, the girls all played on the hay pile:


And then they went through the shrub maze.

The girls all agreed that the maze will be harder once the shrubs are taller.

Then we finished up the afternoon with a hayride:


We had a great time. But we're a little appled out. We've had an apple crumble, an apple crisp, and just plain apples. I've given some away to friends. And we may make the rest into applesauce and freeze it, just out of sheer self defense.

Flag of Our Fathers

Dale & I just returned from seeing this movie...In our opinion it gets four stars!

After watching this movie, I feel even more honored to be a daughter of a WWII veteran. I know that Dad wasn't in Iwo Jima, but I still was moved with the notion that my life could've never existed, if Dad had been injured or died while serving in WWII.

I was also touched when I heard (again) that this generation of men went to war, saw & did what they had to, came home, got married, & raised a family...& not only lived a "normal" lives, but raised a decent generation of kids. Wow...that really is big!

If you have a notion, see the movie...you won't be disappointed. And, don't forget your kleenex.