July 24, 2008

Wednesday night, I spent the night up at Mom and Dad's for one main purpose: to take Mom out for breakfast on her birthday. Thursday morning, we got up and headed towards town. At the end of our road, Mom says "Shoot. I've been meaning to take a picture of that field all week. I think it's beautiful." As luck would have it, I had my camera with me, so I offered to take a few shots. Unfortunately a car pulled up close behind us, so we had to move on before I could take my shot. Mom was going to dismiss the opportunity, but I asked her to pull in the neighbors drive to turn around. The view from the neighbors was better than the view from the end of our road.

I don't think you have to be country girls like us to find the beauty in these shots, the perfection of God's creation and the comfort in preparing for the harvest.

So, here's some beautiful pictures for a beautiful lady. Happy Birthday Mom.

 
 
 
 

What I've been up to...

A few days ago, Cousin Valerie asked what we'd been crafting lately...

Among other things...I knitted this pair of swell socks. They were my first pair and were quite mis-matched in terms of size, but that just adds to the character, right? The yarn was self-striping, which was SUPER cool.

 

 

 

I also crocheted this adorable little piggy. I found the pattern on the Lion Brand website. They have tons of free patterns. Check out the Amigurumi link on the main page. That's where I found the piggy. I'd like to try this bunny next.

 

Isn't she CUTE? Of course, I don't measure, so she's a little lopsided. I just think it looks like she's dancing!

WOW

Last night, Mom and I went and saw the broadcast of Glenn Beck's most recent concert, Unelectable.

Wow.

Amazing.

Everyone needs to see this message. He's in Houston tonight, and Columbia, South Carolina Saturday night (hint hint Doc Loveshack!!:)

Highlights of the night (and I don't remember them word for word, but here's my summary)

**It's about time people realize that the Second Amendment is not about sportsmanship....it's about protection. If you come break into my house in the middle of the night and take things that don't belong you and try to hurt my family, I have the right to shoot you. If you do this, you have the right to carry my bullets in your body.

**In America, you have the right to succeed, you have the right to fail and you have the right to pick yourself up again. You have the right to be fat, thin, smart or stupid. You don't have the right to universal health care and a universal education.

**The standing ovation for Macus Luttrell. If you don't know Marcus Luttrell, check out his book Lone Survivor. Marcus Luttrell is a Navy Seal, who's SEAL team was surrounded by approximately 200 Taliban supporters in Afghanistan. The SEAL team got a rescue chopper called, but it was shot down, killing all 13 crew men. Marcus Luttrell was severely wounded, but crawled 7 miles to be taken in by an Afghan tribe. He was rescued 6 days later. He was the only one of his SEAL team to survive. Since his rescue, the US has helped the village that sheltered him, digging wells and bringing supplies.

**If you are going to fight a war, you fight to win. It is immoral to send our troops over to a foreign land and not give them the full backing of the United States of America. Fight to win and bring them home.

**If you're standing in the unemployment line, and you don't have a high school diploma or your GED, you get no more help. We (the taxpayers) gave you a free education and you did nothing with it. You get no more help until you take advantage of that which has been given to you.

**I don't care if you the polar bear is sitting up in ANWR with his coke and the Disney bluebird of happiness, if he's sitting where we need to drill for oil, shoot it.

**Never give up on America. When you knock her on the ground, look out. Cause she's not going to give up. She's not going to stop fighting. We are the leaders of ther world. The world is waiting for us to act....

**Do not look to Washington for answers...they aren't there. God places the answers upon our hearts and it's our responsibility to speak them. The power lies within us, given to us by God. Don't forget.

I just love these guys...

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DENIED!

FYI -- Starbucks has discontinued their Cheese Danish. Never again will you be able to enjoy the flaky cinnamon pastry...the sweet yet tangy, creamy filling...the perfect compliment to the Caramel Macchiato. Please observe a moment of silence with me as we mourn the loss of one of the nations most satisfying breakfasts.

Thank you.

How far off am I?

So, I know I've been hit and skip lately with the posts. There are a couple of reasons that I may tell you about later, maybe not. Mostly, the things that are coming to my mind are so complex, that I'm finding it hard to sort it all out and find a starting point to get it all down. I've come to the conclusion that I need a reference point...to gauge where I am against public opinion. So, public, I need your help.

Recently there was a court ruling in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If you would like to read the article, you can go here. If you trust my summary, here goes:
A 13 year old girl was suspected of having prescription drugs on her person, against school policy. A fellow student tipped off the school nurse, who literally strip searched the 13 year old. All that was found was OTC strength ibuprofen. The parents sued claiming that the girl's fourth amendment rights (unreasonable search and seizures) were violated. The court sided with the girl and her family and claimed that the school had no right to search the girl.

Here's where you come in. Do you agree with this ruling? Why or why not? I'm anxious to know your opinions. I'll post mine shortly....

Judgement Day

So, last Thursday was judgement day for Punk Nephew #1 and his goats (you can tell I've been reading too much of Ree when punks = kids.) PN#1 had two goats...Fred and Eddie. To this day I can't tell you which is which. One had horns. One was bigger. One was nice in the pen. One was nice to lead. It could be all Fred or the other, I don't know.

PN#1 was extremely nervous, so I broke the tension by congratulating him on being voted Pork Princess of the fair. Of course, that honor wasn't given to him, but the congratulations did elicit a smile and a harder-than-necessary punch on my upper arm.

Last year was his first year showing goats at the county fair, and he won his showmanship class. So this year, he had to compete with kids 2-3 years older than him, and with that many more years experience. He ended up placing third, so we were all thrilled.

As for Fred and Eddie, well, one placed fourth in his weight class for market goats, the other placed third. PN#1 was just thrilled to have three ribbons to hang above his goats pen.

The best part about the goat show? Well, fair food of course. Who doesn't want an elephant ear for breakfast and sugar waffles to take home? But honestly, they do a pee-wee class. I'm sure that it's for kids probably 5 and under. They enter with their goats and a helper -- usually a big brother or sister, sometimes a mom or dad. The point is just to give them the exposure of showing, so when they're old enough to show for real, they feel comfortable. There's probably 20 goats of all different breeds and sizes -- tiny little pygmy goats to 100-pound boar goats -- and two people each to handle them. It's like a circus. The little girl who won was the one we met dancing through the barns, proudly declaring that she was showing a goat that day. Boy was she excited! She made sure she was the first one in the ring and her little face never turned away from the judge. Too cute!!

So what are Fred and Eddie's fate? PN#1 did get to sell one of the goats at the auction on Saturday. Goat bologna anyone? The other one goes back to the goat farm. I still don't know who's who.

And so, the political posts start...

'My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.'
- Barack Obama

I seriously don't get why people are star struck by this man.