The first time I saw “Apple Juice” he was swinging from a well-worn rope around the neighborhood water hole.   Actually, he wasn’t quite “swinging” – he’d already swung.

Close by I was intently trying to get to 17 on my skipping stone goal.

I probably would never have noticed him.

Probably, except he bobbed back up in the path between a solid skip 12 and 13.

“Dink”

“Oops”,… well, at first “oops”….  Then BAWWAHHA HA-HA-HA-HA… for some reason I couldn’t stop myself.   I mean, really;  what are the odds?

“what’s the best you ever did” ?    Said the chicken skinny fellow rubbing the back of his head.   “Sixteen – Well, not counting dribbles”  I replied.

For the next two hours I had a skipping stone buddy – and a skipping stone contest filled with “oh yeah’s”.

We decided the next day we would return with our baseball card doubles and see if any were worth a trade.   After a few more rounds of skipping contest we took leave to Old Man Brennan’s fence for the baseball thesis. (more…)

From:  The People’s Cube.

Vulnerability: Expert testimony before Congress on Thursday warned that an electromagnetic pulse attack on our power grid and electronic infrastructure could leave most Americans dead and the U.S. in another century.

That dire warning came from Peter Vincent Pry, a member of the Congressional EMP Commission and executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security.

He testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event could wipe out 90% of America’s population.

Most people’s eyes might glaze over upon mention of the committee name, the title of the hearing — “Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP): Threat to Critical Infrastructure” — and the general subject of EMP. But it is a real threat and not the stuff of science fiction.

Some attention has been paid to the potential cataclysmic effects of a natural phenomenon such as a massive solar storm, an event that has occurred in America’s horse-and-buggy era when it did not matter.

Today an electromagnetic pulse event would be devastating. It wouldn’t need a solar storm, just a solitary nuke detonated in the atmosphere above the American heartland. We would envy the horse-and-buggy era.

“Natural EMP from a geomagnetic superstorm, like the 1859 Carrington Event or 1921 Railroad Storm, and nuclear EMP attack from terrorists or rogue states, as practiced by North Korea during the nuclear crisis of 2013, are both existential threats that could kill 9-of-10 Americans through starvation, disease and societal collapse,” the Washington Free Beacon quoted Pry as saying.

As we reported early last year, Pry, a former CIA nuclear weapons analyst, believes that North Korea’s recent seemingly low-yield nuclear tests and launch of a low-orbit satellite may in fact be preparations for a future electromagnetic pulse attack. Continue reading. (more…)

Dear Mr. President, members of Congress, judges, FBI agents, Bureau of Land Management, EPA, IRS, Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, law enforcement officers, and anyone acting in any capacity for the government who think their job is to keep us down, keep us in our place, keep tabs on us, keep their hand in our pockets, keep inciting racial discord, keep spending money, and the rest of you government lackeys who never actually worked for a paycheck.

It’s time for us to have a conversation. You don’t know me, even though you have sifted through my email, listened to my phone conversations, oversaw my blog and Facebook posts, taxed the hell out of me, never once actually acted on any of those letters, phone calls or emails I sent you expressing my opinion about upcoming bills, or how you govern the country. Let me tell you a little about myself before we get to the meat of the matter.

I am Mrs. Nobody, and I am Mrs. Everybody. You have passed me on the street and never noticed. I am pretty unremarkable, except, you see, I am not. I have spent most of my years as a student, a wife, a mother, a worker, a boss, a small business owner, an artist, a cook, a blogger, a reader, a Christian, a dog lover, a really lousy singer who likes to sing along to oldies, and a patriot. Recently, I achieved possibly the highest honor in my life with the birth of a little smiling girl and a happy  laughing boy. I became a grandmother. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Maxine Lee is grandmother of our good friend carterzest. We will continue to share the narrative of her family’s history as presented in the book she published in 2005 entitled Some Assembly Required.  The gathering of her stories in the book was a result of her dream “to leave a printed account to my family, of my beginning, my birth place and childhood, and a few of the lessons life has taught to me.”  Thank you, Maxine, for sharing with us what you gathered for them.

Links to previous posts in the series will be shared at the end of each Sunday’s post.

Schools and Books

The first school I remember was located three miles from home. My brother was in first grade and brought home his books, See Jane. See Jane run. He read to me and soon I was reading better than he was. I loved to read and was so frustrated when I couldn’t make words out of the funny looking characters which I had not yet learned. As soon as I could read, I was hooked. I read everything that came my way. Right there and then I decided that some day I would have my own library.

The second school I remember was the most outstanding. My brother was always into mischief and had a mischievous glimmer in his eye. When we had a new teacher, it was his personal calling to drive her over the edge. I remember one in particular. I can still see her chasing my brother with a book in her hand, ready to beat him on the head with it, while he was quietly laughing to himself. The teacher had a big nose, huge feet and a boyfriend, which provided my brother with lots of ammunition to annoy her. It petrified me. (more…)

(Via IJR Review) – Senior Airman Brian Kolfage defines hero: the triple-amputee veteran of the Iraqi War overcame insurmountable odds to survive his horrific injuries. Kolfage recently sent a powerful – and damning – letter to his commander-in-chief:

I nearly died in a war that you and most of your colleagues supported overwhelmingly, including the two presidents who came before you. Many citizens may not agree with waging war in Iraq to free the oppressed Iraqi citizens, but it’s something that warriors like myself have zero control over. I joined to serve my country and to better my life. I’ve seen things that you could never imagine, and they have made me the person I am today.

Mr. Obama, even though we share extreme opposite views, we have one thing in common, we both attended school in Hawaii. However, that’s where the similarities end. You see, as you attended your exclusive, private school, I would ride my bike to Kaimuki High school in one of the roughest areas in Hawaii every morning and would ride past Punahou, the exclusive private school you attended. (more…)

Historians tell us that the predecessor of the Mother’s Day holiday was the spring festival honoring mother goddesses.

In ancient Greece, the spring festival honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and mother of the gods and goddesses.

Cybele was honored in Roman festivals. This Roman celebration, known as Hilaria, lasted for three days – from March 15 to 18, and began several hundred years before Christ was born.

England observes “Mothering Sunday”, observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent. It is possible that the ceremonies to honor Cybele were adopted by the early Church in honor of Mary, Mother of Christ.

In seventeenth century England, young men and women would bring small gifts to their mothers in observance of this day. This British holiday would not carry over to America. One explanation is that life on the American frontier was simply too harsh to take time out for this celebration. Some also believe this conflicted with rigid Puritan beliefs. It would be several centuries later before Americans redesigned their own day dedicated to the memory of their mothers. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

 […]  Now Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, is questioning why if the VA learned there were problems in December, the agency is only taking action now. He said Shinseki’s actions are “faux outrage at its finest.”

The June [2012] email signed by an employee named David Newman, a Telehealth coordinator at the Cheyenne center, describes to the workers methods they can use to manipulate records in the patient appointment system to comply with a VA policy that requires patients be seen within 14 days of their desired date of appointment.

“Yes, it is gaming the system a bit,” the email reads. “But you have to know the rules of the game you are playing, and when we exceed the 14-day measure, the front office gets very upset.”

Shinseki said in a statement that after he learned of the email on Friday, he ordered the employee who wrote it placed on administrative leave. He said he also ordered the VA’s independent inspector general to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

(more…)