My Own Thoughts

Today I washed and dried my husband’s iPod with his shorts. He didn’t fuss. But that is not why he is wonderful. Kidding around, he told my youngest that “since your mom washed this, I thought I would give it to you.” My youngest’s eyes lit up. That is not why my husband is wonderful. [...]

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell has a discussion of the Connectors, people who know everyone. To determine who would fit on the list a number of names were chosen randomly from the New York City phone book. Then folks were asked how many people with this last name they knew who would also know [...]

Although the research I’ve done says that Assyrian roads were the earlier roads, and much like Roman roads, this was interesting. Stretching 535 miles across modern-day Albania, Macedonia and Greece, the stone-paved road made the going easy for charioteers, soldiers and other travellers. It was up to 30 feet wide in places and was dotted [...]

and carrots. Yellow and white carrots. No orange ones. Yellow and white carrots were the carrots of the 1600s. “Fennel seeds boiled in water are beneficial for those who have the shivers,” from a 1620 herbal book. Typical, too, of the time is an arched allee, in this case covered with honeysuckle. Renaissance garden grows [...]

Our pastor said, in my favorite sermon, that maybe God didn’t just set the sun and moon and stars in motion. Maybe the earth doesn’t turn because of natural laws. Maybe every morning God says to the firmament, “Do it again.” Do it again. Just like the joy a child has. Do it again. That [...]

“If you think about the world of a preschooler, they are surrounded by stuff they don’t understand– things that are novel. so the driving force for a preschooler is not a search for understanding and predictability,” says Anderson. “For younger kids, repetition is really valuable. They demand it. When they see a show over and [...]

Here is a site you can go to and download the “week in Iraq” for the good news from Iraq. I am thrilled with it, because it is in pages, which gives my brain a place to stop. It has pictures. Which I like. And it is written in sections which are whole in themselves. [...]

Remarkably, units under the most pressure in Iraq are heavily oversubscribed for re-enlistment. … Recruits in July totaled 109 percent of the Army’s goal, the second straight month above target. In aggregate, the four services were 4 percent over (the Navy fell 1 percent short). … Every one of the Army’s 10 combat divisions has [...]

Something I found that I do not want to forget. War scholar, with a timeline of 5000 years.

Okay, there wasn’t. But last night, while four TSA folks turned the opposite direction, two women got out of line and picked up their suitcases and walked on. A passenger, waiting in line, said, “What? They’re special that they don’t get patted down?” Instead of going after them, the TSA folks did…. nothing. But, eventually, [...]

I teach with a wonderful woman and her husband. Their two youngest sons are in the Marines. Brett just arrived in Iraq today with a classified job that is very dangerous. Justin is at Camp Pendleton going through training and he collapsed on Wednesday and had to have surgery. Please pray for both these young [...]

It was a war for oil. (A real one? Or was that just propaganda?) E was told, in Algebra II of all places, that the reason the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor was because the US had the Japanese surrounded and the Japanese could not get any oil. R had a conniption about this interpretation. So, [...]

Found this site of primary documents from American History and think I should add it to the history education of my sons. We’re doing American History this year. And, of course, primary documents are much less misleading than secondary documents which may have quite a slant on the story.

R called me Wednesday morning and said that Stephen J. Cannell had been on the radio and was going to be at Alamo Draft House that evening. Would I like to go? I said yes. I was thinking, “Hey, I actually know that name. Wasn’t he writing for Adam 12?” So, we went. It was [...]

Subject: USMC & USN RULES OF GUNFIGHTING USMC Rules For Gunfighting During War 1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. 2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive. 3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a [...]

Go here to see the Missouri welcome given a wounded hero. If I can figure out again how to use pictures, I’ll show you one.

Hawaii is imposing a ceiling on gas. They expect some minor shortages. And that a few people won’t be able to buy gas. I am thinking these people must not remember the 70s. Then we had plenty of gas, but the fear of the shortage sent everyone to the pump every day to keep their [...]

Michael Yon was in a firefight in which LTC Kurilla was wounded three times. He even has pictures he took. Two soldiers froze. Two went in. One went down and the other was lying in a doorway with blood on his leg. If you can stand the anger over the “catch and release” program of [...]

Getting ready for the booksale was sapping. The woman who had run the sales showed me through everything for the last time. She helped for everything except the sale itself. While we were setting up, she lent me Deadline by Robert Alcorn. I put it into my box of books that I had purchased. But, [...]

My right ankle, which I sprained three weeks ago, hurts. My left ankle, which has a busted blood vessel, hurts. My knee, my leg, my behind, my back, my front, my neck, my head, my hands all hurt. So, no more tomatoes, potatoes, mustard, eggplant… At least for a while. The positive thing is that [...]