Today we have school and tonight is movie night. We will be watching "The Wizard of Oz" while eating, as we do every Friday, popcorn and having hot chocolate. I just wanted to let you all know that I am doing well, even though I still have not been able to meet anyone I could call a friend. I have a little less than a month left here; I hope I am truly helping this family.

Anyway, I am just peachy, even though I have not been able to post as much as I would like to!

The Patriot Post Founders' Quote Daily

"We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won Country's Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions. "

-- George Washington (General Orders, 2 July 1776)

KP

I will never again voluntarily serve anyone spaghetti.

Singing "I'll fly away" was never before sung with so much emotion as it was during after dinner clean-up while one is picking spaghetti noodles off the floor!

I'm so spoiled

But first a bit of history:

"The Cape Fear River is a 202-mile (325 km) long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It is the longest river entirely within North Carolina, and it flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. It is formed at Haywood, near the county line between Lee and Chatham counties, by the confluence of the Deep and Haw rivers just below Jordan Lake. It flows southeast past Lillington, Fayetteville, and Elizabethtown, then receives the Black River approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Wilmington. At Wilmington, it receives the Northeast Cape Fear River and turns south, widening as an estuary and entering the Atlantic approximately 3 miles (5 km) west of Cape Fear. During the colonial era, the river provided a principal transportation route to the interior of North Carolina. Today the river is navigable as far as Fayetteville through a series of locks and dams. The estuary of the river furnishes a segment of the route of the Intracoastal Waterway."

Anyway, about being spoiled- here I am eating chocolate, perfectly healthy(until I finish this chocolate, anyway) having lived a comfortable life. I have never had to sacrifice anything great, never been hurt worse than a broken toe, never lacked food or a comfortable life.
But it's still so hard to give up my time, comfort and belongings to serve others!

What are some good sacrifice-related Bible verses to memorize?

The Fair

It was sunny and 95 degrees out. We went because if you brought a Church bulletin you got in free!

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country

Nathan Hale (before being hanged by the British, 22 September 1776)

From the Patriot Post:


Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers, a Democrat, has just taken the frivolous lawsuit to a new level: He is suing God. Chambers' suit seeks an injunction against God for causing "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines,devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects and the like." How about charging Chambers with asinine alliteration? His real reason for filing the suit, he says, is to prevent the state senate from passing bills aimed at limiting laughable lawsuits. "The Constitution requires that the courthouse doors be open, so you cannot prohibit the filing of suits,"chimes Chambers. "Anyone can sue anyone they choose, even God." Somehow,we don't think this proves him right. As The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto teased, "The good thing about suing God, too, is that you're unlikely to lose at trial. Eventually He always settles out of court."

This man is a thorn in Nebraska's side. He's been in the NE Senate since before I was born and is the reason that our politicians have just created term limits. Thankfully we won't have to put up with him much longer.

Joshua 1:6-9

6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
7 Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.
8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

This post was a little bit of everything, I guess. I really can't post too much about what's going on here because if I do I will be invading Mrs. O's privacy. Everything else that happens here is just normal stuff, like laundry and making lunch and babysitting! Ugh, I did at least five loads of laundry yesterday- all the dirty stuff that piled up from our little vacation to the beach.

Wa ha ha ha ha

Such a pretty flower. And so useful, too. How? you ask. Read on.

From Wikipedia:
Oleander is one of the most poisonous plants and contains numerous toxic compounds, many of which can be deadly to people, especially young children. The toxicity of Oleander is considered extremely high and it has been reported that in some cases only a small amount had lethal or near lethal effects. The poison is "present in all parts of the plant, but are most concentrated in the sap." The entire plant including the milky white sap is toxic and any part can cause an adverse reaction. Oleander is also known to hold its toxicity even after drying. It is thought that a handful or 10-20 leaves consumed by an adult can cause an adverse reaction, and a single leaf could be lethal to an infant or child. There are innumerable reported suicidal cases of consuming mashed oleander seeds in South India.

Let's invite Hillary Clinton up for tea!

From the Patriot Post

"'I don't feel no ways tired. I come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I don't believe He brought me this far,'drawled presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton, mimicking black voice to a black audience, at the First Baptist Church of Selma, Alabama. I'm wondering if Mrs. Clinton visits an Indian reservation she might cozy up to them saying,'How! Me not tired. Me come heap long way. Road mighty rough. Sky Spirit no bring me this far.' Or, seeking the Asian vote she might say, 'I no wray tired. Come too far I started flum. Road berry clooked. Number one Dragon King take me far'."
---Walter Williams

Disgust for the Dems

Gary L. Bauer
Thursday, September 20, 2007

President Bush held a press conference this morning and was asked a question about the recent ad by MoveOn.org placed in the New York Times. As you may recall, the ad mocked General David Petraeus, the American commander in Iraq, calling him, “General Betray Us.” The president didn't pull his punches, saying:“I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack, not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military. I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad, and that leads me to come to this kind of conclusion: That most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org – are more afraid of irritating them – than they are of irritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal. And (it’s) one thing to attack me. It’s another to attack somebody like General Petraeus.”

I'm back

And I have seen the ocean.

Here I am

Here we are, at the beach. We are staying in a beach house at Myrtle beach, not even one minute walking distance from the ocean. We have five bedrooms and two balconies. It's a nice house but a bit hotel-like. I really enjoyed my first ocean wading. That much water and power is just so cool, an awesome part of God's creation. I called Jen as soon as I saw the ocean and I wish she was here with me!

Will be away

We are going to the beach for three days. I will post when I have time after we get back!

Babysitting duty continues

Today it's Batman; yesterday it was Spiderman. Who knows what it will be tomorrow!

These are the times that try men's souls

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

-Thomas Paine




How are YOU ALL doing? I may not be a full fledged Yankee, but I will not turn Confederate!

I made it through Church again- every Sunday I feel like I am running the gauntlet when I meet people and they ask me questions. I am trying to remember people's names and recognize people, and they are asking me questions like "Where in NE are you from?" when the only city they know of in NE is Lincoln anyway so it does no good to explain that we live in the country outside of a town of 1300! The whole situation makes me so flustered that I leave in mortal terror of next week's torture session!

But I am doing well. I had baklava for the first time ever- that stuff sure is sweet. Yum!

I'm stuck in a rut

It's just too easy to pop a quote up here and call it a post than to think up something intelligent myself!

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite."
---James Madison

Does anybody else think that our government has stepped outside of their Constitutional boundaries? (Rhetorical question!!!)
The Patriot Post is a treasure trove of information. In my limited computer time, I try to read their newsletter and Gary Bauer. They are my only news source right now- Mrs. O, for obvious reasons, does not watch the news or listen to it on the radio.

Founder's Quote Daily

The Patriot Post
Founders' Quote Daily
"It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow."
-- Alexander Hamilton and James Madison (Federalist No. 62, 1788)

My Book Pile

I went to the library today, so it increased considerably. Anybody read any of these?

Another good book:

Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt, by George Grant

On political parties:
"The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss ridden and privilege controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day."
-Theodore Roosevelt

Founders' Quote Daily

"To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery and destructive passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity would be to calculate on the weaker springs of human character. "
-Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 34, 4 January 1788)

Read The Patriot Post!

Born Fighting

I just finished another book in my pile. I love to read; there are about five books in my to-read pile right now. It seems like my pile never gets any smaller.
Anyway, the book I read is called:

Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish shaped America, by James Webb.

I enjoyed learning more about Scottish history, about William Wallace and Bruce's brilliant victory at Bannockburn:

"As the English forces formed for battle, one of their knights provided Bruce what turned out to be a divine opportunity to motivate his army. Henry de Bohun rode forward in an apparent surprise move toward Stirling Castle and ended up challenging Bruce to individual combat. The knight charged him. In full view of his cheering army, Bruce turned his horse away from Bohun's lance and then smashed the knight's head apart with one blow of his battle-ax."

That story and others makes it seem like the Brits aren't the brightest of people. But we're allies now, so I'll refrain from saying more.

How the Scots participated in the Revolutionary War was very educational, especially the bit about the battle of King's Mountain, which some of my ancestors almost certainly fought in:

Major Patrick Ferguson, who lead the assault on King's Mountain, prepared for battle by insulting and threatening the Scots-Irish patriots. The patriots approach: "They dismounted, carefully forming into eight attacking sections, and encircled the mountain. And then they fought him Indian-style." Ferguson's battalion was "annihilated".

"Born Fighting" is very much a Southern book; I confess I just skim read the chapter on how the North failed in the "reconstruction" of the South after the civil war. Not because I hold strictly to the standard Northern view taught in textbooks, but because it was depressing! I confess I have deliberately avoided researching deeply the civil war and the "who was right, North or South?" questions. I am not sure that question can be answered one way or the other, and I dislike the harshness of the debate on this issue. Though that is really no excuse to avoid educating myself on an event that changed our Nation...

So, long story short, it was a good book but not good enough for me to pay full price for it.

I took a walk yesterday

We don't have red dirt where I come from.

The young pine trees look really pretty.

The weather was perfect for a walk- cloudy and slightly breezy, so it wasn't too hot. Mrs. O took the kids out so I did a little cleaning and then wandered out on my own, onto one of the trails in the woods here on base. I enjoyed being away from houses, and seeing all the different plants, and just the peace and quiet, though I did see several people out walking and running.