Happy Memorial Day!

Phew been busy, not posting here!

The birds grew up and flew the "Q." That was kind of cool. So it is the first big 3 day weekend of the "summer" and it is cold and overcast here in Oaktown. Some friends are coming over to play poker tonight.

All weekend I'll think of the vets, who keep watch over this great country so full of diverse people and beliefs. A walk down a street in my hometown shows the amazing diversity we share. Sure it is not perfect, and we bitch and complain about things, (and should), but we've got it pretty good in the USA and we should never forget that.

A quote from today's online edition of Latitude 38:

"If you were to listen to people complaining and/or read all the whining in the newspapers, you might get the impression that we in the United States have a lot of problems. Rubbish. The truth is that - as we repeatedly try to show and tell our kids - almost all of us have it better than 99.5% of the people who have ever lived on this planet. We should be very thankful - not the least to the countless men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we could all have it so good."

and from the Other World Computing email

"It's hard to imagine living under rule that allows no debate or question be raised against those in power. Where there is no free will, just a rule to be followed. Such oppression is as foreign a concept to most of us as Democracy and Freedom is to someone oppressed and without. Like being blind and one day you can see - it takes time to comprehend. But if you've been able to see your whole life and suddenly that sight is taken away, it's something you'd certainly fight for the restoration of. Many paid the ultimate price defending the Freedom and Liberty of this nation and we remember their sacrifice on Memorial Day - as we should every day. A great site with information on the history of Memorial Day and its proper Observation is www.usmemorialday.org."

Here's to the vets. Here's to my Dad.

After Pearl Harbor he joined the Navy.

His generation helped to really save the world.

I'll never do anything that cool.

Thanks to all.






Then and now Hooray For The Good Guys!




A Navy petty officer is enthusiastically welcomed by his dog after returning home to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, Calif., from a deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on March 1, 2005. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Lincoln pulled into San Diego to drop off the sailors and Marines assigned to Carrier Air Wing 2 and then make its transit up the coast to her homeport of Everett, Wash. DoD photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class James R. McGury, U.S. Navy.

CHEESE!




U.S. Army Chaplin Tommy Fuller takes a photo of Iraqi school children at the Al Mutnba Primary School located near Camp Kalsu, Iraq, on March 22, 2005. Members of the 155th Brigade Combat Team from Tupelo, Miss., are delivering school supplies under a Fuller-initiated Adopt a School program aboard Camp Kalsu where different units choose a local school and try to connect them with a U.S. school to help with supplies and start a pen pal program. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Brien Aho, U.S. Navy.