A Story Of Christmas

This has been around before, but it is so good, and I thought you'd like to read it again!

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through. 

Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go." 

"Not without something hot in your belly." George said. 

He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh." 

Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead. 

"You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away. 

"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good." 

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ol truck has brand new ones ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought. 

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered that the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on. 

"Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway. 

As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me." 

George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease. 

"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance." 

The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio. 

He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area." 

George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain." 

George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked. 

"None for me," said the officer.. 

"Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time. 

The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before. 

"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer. 

"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt." 

The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!" 

The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now." 

He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away." 

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week." 

George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can." 

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out." 

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer." 

"Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said. 

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer. 

"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?" 

"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man. 

Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran." 

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other. 

"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued. 

"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job." 

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?" 

Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything." 

"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems." 

George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day." 

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you." 

"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need." 

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours." 

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier. 

"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family." 

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good." 

"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after." 

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"

"I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?" 

"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby." 

The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor. 

The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man." 

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man. 

"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again." 

The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned." 

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room. 

"You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas."

George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus"

This story is better than any greeting card.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS!


Now clear the lump from your throat, blow your nose, and send this along to a friend of yours or someone who may need a reminder as to why we celebrate Christmas.

You Might Be A Redneck If.....

I am PROUD to be a RED NECK...
These are not the type of Redneck jokes we normally hear -- this is beautiful.

We have enjoyed the redneck jokes for years. It's time to
take a reflective look at the core beliefs of a culture that
values home, family, country and God. If I had to stand
before a dozen terrorists who threaten my life, I'd
choose a half dozen or so rednecks to back me up.
Tire irons, squirrel guns and grit -- that's what rednecks are
made of . If you feel the same, pass this on to your redneck friends.
Y'all know who ya are...................

You might be a redneck if:
It never occurred to you to
be offended by the phrase, 'One nation,
under God..'

You might be a redneck if:
You've never protested about seeing the
10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if:
You still say ' Christmas'
instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if:
You bow your head
when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if:
You stand and place your hand over your
heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a redneck if:
You treat our armed forces veterans
with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if:
You've never burned an
American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if:
You know what you believe and you aren't
afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if:
You respect your elders and
raised your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if:
You'd give your last
dollar to a friend.

God Bless the USA!

Keep the fire burning, redneck friend.
You can pass it on to your redneck friends
and Associates---------It is totally acceptable and might save our country!!!!

IN GOD WE TRUST!

It's About the Cross

This is one of my Favorite Things!

s

If Only It Could Be This Easy . . .

Since we are not going to get gasoline back to $1.50 per gallon and coffee to $2.00 per pound maybe this would be a solution we could live with.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT-- This is so incredibly well-put, and I can hardly believe it's by a young person, a student!! Whatever he runs for, I'll vote for him!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, regressive, Marxists, and Obama supporters, et. al.:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

1. Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy. Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides had such distinct and disparate tastes.

2. We don't like redistributive taxes, so you can keep them.

3. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.

4. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA, and the military.

5. We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar, and bio-diesel.

6. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.

7. We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies,  Wal-Mart, and Wall Street.

8. You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless homeboys, hippies, druggies, and illegal aliens.

9. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.

10. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

11. You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.

12. You can have the peace-niks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

13. We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.

14. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness, and Shirley McLain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.

15. We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks, and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Prius hatchback you can find.

16. You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors..

17. We'll continue to believe healthcare is an earned luxury and not an entitlement.

18. We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."

19. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya," or "We Are the World".

20. We'll practice trickledown economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

21. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our constitution and our flag.

22. Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P.S.: Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, Jane Fonda, George Clooney, Jesse Jackson, Rosanne Barr and Whoopi Goldberg with you. You can start your own Congress with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Al Franken, Maxine Waters, and Barney Frank.

You can have Obama to head your Socialist government and anoint him with the title "Dearest Leader".


P.S.S..: And you won't have to "Press 1 for English" when you call our country.
**If you can't stand behind our Military, Please feel free to stand in front of them! **


H/T Woodsterman

I think this is really amazing!

My Bad Attitude and Lack of Political Insight

I shamelessly stole this from TexasFred.

It’s official; I don’t know anything.

I thought for sure that given such a clear choice, Americans would vote for love of country over revenge.

I was wrong.

I thought, that just as every presidential election in my lifetime, the bad economy would be hung around the incumbents neck, sinking him.

I was wrong.

I thought that even those few Americans who were fortunate enough to still be fully employed (not counting those leeching off the public system) would be cognizant of how much pain their neighbors were in and elect someone who would at least try to make improvements.

I was wrong.

I thought that now that FINALLY some of the disturbing truths about our first Black president had come to light, voters would reject a man so dangerously at odds with the American experience.

I was wrong.

I thought the 2010 elections and the Tea Party meant something. I thought the enthusiasm on display at Romney/Ryan events, contrasted with the lack of same at Obama/Biden events meant something. I thought Americans would never sell their liberty for the sake of trinkets like cell phones or even big shiny lies like ‘free health care’.

I was wrong.

Never in a million years would I have supposed that America would support a president who left his (our) people to die at the hands of our enemies overseas without lifting a hand to help, then lie about what he watched in real time for over two weeks, then lie about the lie for another month.

I was wrong.

I thought Americans could tell a hawk from a handsaw.

I was wrong.

We were offered the clearest choice we’ve had since 1980, where we had malaise and a misery index on one hand and a shining city on a hill on the other. Back then, we chose the city on the hill. This time the choice was between a man who says 7.9% unemployment and $4.00 gas is the new normal and a guy whose entire career has been about fixing broken entities.

We chose to stay broken, and BROKE.

Maybe I’m wrong about the ramifications of this choice.

Maybe windmills will actually turn out to be a viable energy source.

Maybe Americans will be loved overseas.

Maybe a nuclear Iran won’t be a threat.

Maybe Israel is over reacting.

Maybe western civilization was always over rated.

Maybe life under Sharia is not all that bad.

Maybe when the rest of the world realizes that we have no intention of ever paying back that $16,000,000,000,000.00 (and counting) that we’ve borrowed from them, they won’t devalue the dollar, causing hyperinflation here at home.

Maybe China will just keep on giving us money and not demand our hearts, souls, national monuments and marriage-age daughters as payment.

I’ve watched my candidate lose elections before but I’ve never felt the way I did that night when this one was called for Obama. It wasn’t bitterness, sadness or even disappointment.

It took me a while to figure out what it was.

Then it hit me; it was horror; pure, unadulterated horror. Not because of Obama, but because of what it says about us, the American people, what WE have become and the fact that we chose this.

It shouldn’t have even been close.

Faced with the choice between taking charge of our destiny and tackling our financial problems, we opted to get high and have sex. We’ve elected a guy who doesn’t understand that a growing economy that creates more tax payers will bring in more revenue than higher taxes.

We have a Commander in Chief who doesn’t know our military still uses bayonets, a man who wants to control the economy without even knowing the difference between bankruptcy and liquidation.

It was one thing to elect an unknown quantity, buying his line of ‘Hope and Change’. It’s something else to deliberately choose his failed policies over someone who has actually achieved success in life. I never dreamed America would do that.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, Hello Idiocracy!

Goodbye, recovery.

Goodbye, energy independence.

Goodbye, religious liberty.

Goodbye, liberty and justice for all.

Goodbye, America dream.

It profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world but we threw ours away for cell phones and birth control pills.

In the twentieth century (the American Century), we stepped up to the plate three times and saved the rest of the world from fascism, Nazism and communism. We were the cavalry, always riding to the rescue.

Now, we’ve gotten rid of our horses, spent all our money on windmills, alienated our allies, bowed to our enemies, cut ourselves off from our own natural resources, thrown away our children’s birthright and spent their inheritance.

And we did it on purpose.

When the wolf is at the door (and he’s coming, yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’) we’re going to find out that there is no one out there to come to our rescue.

On the bright side, maybe it’ll all turn out great.

After all, I don’t know anything. Do I?

TexasFred Note: Some powerful words concerning the election and the possible ramifications. Elections DO have consequences! I can’t take credit for this post, it was sent to me via email and I have NO idea who the author is, but it reflects perfectly my feelings and thoughts!

The Elections!

For all of you still undecided, I want to share my niece's post.  Bethany has some thought provoking ideas that might help you make up your minds!

Remember....Please go VOTE, if you haven't!

Some Funnies for Your Weekend!

Money will buy a fine dog, but only kindness will make
him wag his tail.

Seat belts are not as confining as wheelchairs.

A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in
deep water.

How come it takes so little time for a child who is
afraid of the dark to become a teenager who wants to
stay out all night?

Why is it that at class reunions you feel younger than
everyone else looks?

There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong
number at 4 a.m.--like, it could be the right number.

No one ever says "It's only a game" when their team is
winning.

I've reached the age where "happy hour" is a nap.

Do you realize that, in about 40 years, we'll have
thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos?
(And rap music will be the Golden Oldies!)

Life isn't tied with a bow--but it's still a gift.

Obamacare Home Selling TAX!!!

This new law applies to every American that owns and sells a home after January 1, 2013.

Obama sneaked this in Obamacare...what a deal.....just the tip of the hidden taxes Obama is sneaking on us.

Think about this.  It does not only include your home, but every investment that pays dividends or interest.  Savings accounts are included.

The National Association of Realtors is not pleased with this new tax and hopes this information is forwarded to every voter

prior to the election in November.  It doesn't

matter which side of the political fence you sit on - it will affect ALL of us.

When does your home become part of your health care?  After 2012! Your vote counts big time in 2012, make sure you and all your friends and family know about  this!  Put in on purpose to be effective after the 2012 elections.

HOME SALES TAX -  I thought you might find this interesting, - maybe even SICKENING!  The National Association of Realtors is all over this and working to get it repealed before it takes effect. But, I am very pleased we aren't the only ones who know about this ploy to steal billions from unsuspecting homeowners.

How many realtors do you think will vote Democratic in 2012? Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it?  That's $3,800 on a $100,000 home, etc.

When did this happen?  It's in the health care bill, - and it goes into effect in 2013.

Why 2013?  Could it be so that it doesn't come to light until after the 2012 elections?  So, this is 'change you can believe in'?

Under the new health care bill all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% sales tax.  If you sell a $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax.  This bill is set to screw the retiring generation, - who often downsize their homes. With 45 million homes currently underwater (overencumbered), you can make that 60 million by January 2013 if Obama stays in office.

Does this make your November 2012 vote more important?

Oh, you weren't aware that this was in the Obama Health Care bill? Guess what;  you aren't alone!  There are more than a few members of Congress that weren't aware of it either.  You can check this out for yourself at:

http://www.gop.gov/blog/10/04/08/obamacare-flatlines-obamacare-taxes-home

Visit Constitutional Emergency at:

http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Folks:  Get out the Vote!!!!

Nov 6 can't come soon enough!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable... We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin and Set us free. Amen!'


With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we once again can be called 'One nation under God!' ....Billy Graham

The Election

Subject: JUST IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF THIS!!

I'd never thought of this concern re:Chief Justices elections.  Maybe we should.  Although we KNOW who we're voting for, there are 'those' out there who're still in the dark.....  Get this msg to them, somehow.


Columnist Andrew McCarthy gives us what is an important question
Regarding the upcoming presidential election.

If Mitt wins the nomination, I will enthusiastically support his
Candidacy. For my friends who have hesitation on that score, I’d just ask you to keep four things in mind:

1. Justice Scalia just turned 78
2. Justice Kennedy will turn 78 later this year
3. Justice Breyer will be 76 in August
4. Justice Ginsburg turned 81 about a week ago.

In addition, Justice Ginsburg has Pancreatic Cancer.
Justice Stephens has already said he would retire and is just waiting for Obama to be reelected.
The next president could appoint as many as 4 new Justices over next 8 years.
This election is about more than ObamaCare Tax.

We wish them all well, of course, but the brute fact is that whoever we elect as president in November is almost certainly going to choose at least one new member of the Supreme Court, in addition to hundreds of other life-tenured federal judges, all of whom will be making momentous.

 Decisions about our lives for decades to come.


If you don’t think it matters whether the guy making those calls is Mitt
Romney or Barack Obama, I think you’re smokin’ something funky.

So for anybody who is thinking of not voting because your favorite didn’t get nominated, or writing in a candidate who can't win, imagine THIS!

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ERIC HOLDER

After you have stopped gasping, kindly send this forward to your list of
Concerned citizens.

TERM LIMITS FOR EVERYONE!!!!

A Beautiful Story From 9/11

This is not political, it is about 9-11 and believe me you want to read this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11:
"On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

"No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, Newfoundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately--no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.

"While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.
"We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, Newfoundland to have it checked out.

"We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM! .... that's 11:00 AM EST.

"There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S.  After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.

"The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.
"Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.

"Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.
"We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

"Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

"About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross.

"After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.

"We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.

"Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.

"Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible.

"Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.

"ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes.

"Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

"Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

"Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.

"When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked li ke a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

"And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that.  But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.

"He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!
"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would orward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.  As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a far away place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."

"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good and Godly people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.

"God Bless America...and the Canadians."

Thanks to my cousin and sister for this.

Cash for Clunkers?

I don't know if this is true, but it sounds like something our gov't would do!

Cash for Clunkers - Success!


The person who calculated this bit of information is now, and has been a professor at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown for the last forty some years.

He says that:




A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of gas a year.

A new vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons of gas a year.

So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction reduced gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

The government claims 700,000 clunkers have been replaced so that is 224 million gallons saved per year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.

More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.

So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.

They spent $8.57 for every $1.00 they saved.

I'm pretty sure they will do a much better job with our health care though.

The Awesomeness of our God

Just look at these beautiful kids!

God is so good!

Bill Has Done It Again!

 




WOULD A FLY WITHOUT WINGS BE CALLED A WALK?

Bill Has Done It Again!


 


: Fwd: FW: Bill has done it again
He does make some sense. (How about a LOT of sense?)

 

WOULD A FLY WITHOUT WINGS BE CALLED A WALK?

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.

I can't even talk the way these people talk:

Why you ain't,
Where you is,
What he drive,
Where he stay,
Where he work,
Who you be...

And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk.

And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth.

In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around.

The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.

These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids.

$500 sneakers for what?

And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit.

Where were you when he was 2?

Where were you when he was 12?

Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?

And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward:
Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong?

People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something?

Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from??

We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa .......


I say this all of the time. It would be like white people saying they are European-American. That is totally stupid.

I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany , Scotland , England , Ireland , or the Netherlands . The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to Africa ... So stop, already! ! !


With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap .......... And all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.

We have got to take the neighborhood back.

People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now.

We have millionaire football players who cannot read.

We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We, as black folks have to do a better job.

Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us.

We have to start holding each other to a higher standard..

We cannot blame the white people any longer.'
Dr.. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed..D.

Why Mitt Romney is Unlikable!

A lot is being said in the media about
Mitt Romney's not being likable or that
he doesn't "relate well" to average people.
Frankly, we struggled to understand why.
After considerable research, we have come up with
A Top Ten List to explain this "unlikablility."


So, Here They Are

THE TOP TEN REASONS WHY
YOU SHOULD
DISLIKE
MITT ROMNEY



1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike demeanor. Looks like Central Casting's  Number-One Choice to play Commander-in-Chief.

2. Been married to one woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her, including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS.

3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?)

4. Can't speak in a fake, southern-style, "black preacher voice" when it might help boost his ratings with the moron community.

5. Disciplined, highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School –– and by the way, his academic records have not been made unavailable for public scrutiny.

6. Doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the counter-culture age when he went to college. Too square for today's America, isn’t he?

7. Represents an America of "yesterday", where people believed in God, went to Church, didn't screw around, worked hard, and became successful on their own.

8. Has a family of five strong, handsome sons, and none of them have police records or are in drug rehabilitation facilities. But of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom, and that "choice" deserves America's contempt.

9. Oh yes! He is a Mormon. We need to be deathly fear of that bizarre cult that teaches its members to be hard-working, clean-living, patriotic, fiscally conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest.

10. And one more point.....pundits say because of his great wealth, he can't relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that's because he made that money himself as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it or having it dumped on him by Sorosian characters in exchange for political favors. Apparently, poor Mitt just didn't understand that actually working at a job and earning your own money automatically alienates you from most Americans.

My goodness! it's a really strange world, isn't it?

I shamelessly Copied this from Free Thinke!

Interesting Information:

Things to ponder today!


If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on the right side of your mouth.

If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on the left side of your mouth.

To make half a kilo of honey, bees must collect nectar from over 2 million individual flowers

Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by 'Bayer'.

Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult!

People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport .

Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.

Astronauts can't belch - there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.

Ancient Roman, Chinese and German societies often used urine as mouthwash.

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. In the Renaissance era, it was fashion to shave them off!

Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.

The night of January 20 is "Saint Agnes's Eve", which is regarded as a time when a young woman dreams of her future husband.

Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros .

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years .

Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end .

If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.

Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals

Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.

The song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year.

Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent

Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450?F

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean

The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man

Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density

The University of Alaska spans four time zones

The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.

In ancient Greece , tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.

Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

A comet's tail always points away from the sun

The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent

Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines.

The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight

In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed

Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside
Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams

The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year

The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust

Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters

Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy

Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down

Everything weighs one percent less at the equator

For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off

The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.

And last but not least:

In 2012, December has 5 Mondays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays. This apparently happens once every 823 years!

This is called 'money bags'. So send this on to 5 and money will arrive in 5 days.
Based on Chinese Feng Shui, the one who does not pass this on will have money troubles for the
rest of the year.

Okay, I've passed it on....Bring on the $$$$$!

Our Blessings

We are so fortunate in America!

The Rescue

My kids posted this on FB this morning.  It is really sweet!

Some Info on Mitt Romney

I've read this before, but wanted to share it again.  I think he will do a lot better than what we have now.



Personal Information

His full Name is: Willard Mitt Romney
He was Born: March 12, 1947 and is 65 years old.

His Father: George W. Romney, former Governor of the State of Michigan and former HUD Secretary

He was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

He is married to Ann Romney since 1969; they have five children

Education:

B.A. from Brigham Young University

J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University

Religion:

Mormon - The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints

Working Background:

After high school, he spent 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary.

After going to both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School simultaneously, he passed the Michigan bar exam, but never worked as an attorney.

In 1984, he co-founded Bain Capital a private equity investment firm, one of the largest such firms in the United States .

In 1994, he ran for Senator of Massachusetts and lost to Ted Kennedy.

He was President and CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

In 2002, he was elected Governor of the State of Massachusetts where he eliminated a 1.5 billion deficit.

Some Interesting Facts about Romney:

Bain Capital, starting with one small office supply store in Massachusetts, turned it into Staples; now over 2,000 stores employing 90,000 people.

Bain Capital also worked to perform the same kinds of business miracles again and again, with companies like Domino's, Sealy, Brookstone, Weather Channel, Burger King, Warner Music Group, Dollarama, Home Depot Supply, and many others.

He was an unpaid volunteer campaign worker for his dad's gubernatorial campaign 1 year.

He was an unpaid intern in his dad's governor's office for eight years.

He was an unpaid bishop and state president of his church for ten years.

He was an unpaid President of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for three years.

He took no salary and was the unpaid Governor of Massachusetts for four years.

He gave his entire inheritance from his father to charity.

Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest self-made men in our country but has given more back to its citizens in terms of money, service and time than most men.

In 2011 Mitt Romney gave over $4 million to charity, almost 19% of his income. Just for comparison purposes, Obama gave 1% and Joe Biden gave $300 or .0013%.

Mitt Romney is Trustworthy:

He will show us his birth certificate

He will show us his high school and college transcripts.

He will show us his social security card.

He will show us his law degree.

He will show us his draft notice.

He will show us his medical records.

He will show us his income tax records.

He will show us he has nothing to hide.

Mitt Romney's background, experience and trustworthiness show him to be a great leader and an excellent citizen fully qualified for the office of President of the United States.

You may think that Romney may not be the best representative the Republicans could have selected. At least I know what religion he is, and that he won't desecrate the flag, bow down to foreign powers, or practice fiscal irresponsibility. I know he has the ability to turn this financial debacle that the current regime has gotten us into. We won't like all the things necessary to recover from this debt, but someone with Romney's background can do it. But, on the minus side, He never was a "Community Organizer", never took drugs or smoked pot, never got drunk, did not associate with communists or terrorists, nor did he attend a church whose pastor called for God to damn the US.

1910 Ford Model R

Show  this to your friends!  This will  boggle your mind, I know it did mine!

The year is 1910 one  hundred years ago.  What a  difference a century makes!

Here  are some statistics for the Year  1910:

*******************************************************************************

The  average life expectancy for men was 47  years.

Fuel for this car was sold in drug stores  only.

Only 14 percent of  the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8  percent of the homes had a  telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The  maximum speed limit in most cities was 10  mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower !

The  average US wage in 1910 was 22 cents per  hour.

The average US worker  made between $200 and $400 per  year.

A competent  accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, A  dentist $2,500 per year,
a  veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000  per year, and a mechanical engineer  about
$5,000 per year.

More  than 95 percent of all births took place at  HOME.

Ninety percent of all  Doctors had NO COLLEGE  EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government  as 'substandard.'

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used  Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

The  Five leading causes of death were:
    1. Pneumonia  and influenza
      2. Tuberculosis
      3. Diarrhea
      4. Heart disease
      5. Stroke

The  American flag had 45 stars.

The  population of Las Vegas , Nevada , was only  30!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or  Father's Day.

Two out of every 10  adults couldn't read or write and only 6 percent of all Americans had
graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and  morphine were all available over the counter at the  local corner drugstores.

Back then  pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion,  gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach  and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of  health'

Eighteen  percent of households had at least one full-time  servant or domestic help.

There were  about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE
U.  S. A. !

I am now going to forward this to someone else without typing it myself.
From there, it will be sent to others all over the WORLD -- all in a matter of  seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100  years.

Old Guy And A Bucket Of Shrimp

This is a true story,

Hope you appreciate it and want to pass it along.

It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.

Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier.. Clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now.

Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of shrimp.

Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier.

Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.'

In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave.

He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and place.

When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home.

If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, 'a guy who's a sandwich shy of a picnic,' as my kids might say. To onlookers, he's just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket full of shrimp.

To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant .... maybe even a lot of nonsense.

Old folks often do strange things,
at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters.

Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida . That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.

His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero back in World War II. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.

Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were.

They needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft..

Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap.
It was a seagull!

Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck.. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal - a very slight meal for eight men - of it. Then they used the intestines for bait.. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait.......and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued (after 24 days at sea...).

Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull... And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.

Reference:

(Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm",pp..221, 225-226)

PS: Eddie started Eastern Airlines.

As you see I wanted to pass it on.

It was a great story that I didn't know.

You got to be careful with us old guys.

You never know what we have done.

Thank you for your time.

God Bless our Troops.

God Bless America.

Watermelon Cake!

LOVE this idea!

Would you rather have this "cake" or a sugar coma?!

* * * * *

Directions: The "cake" is watermelon. Cut the ends off the watermelon to form the top & bottom of the cake; then cut away the rind from the sides of the cake.

Use cookie cutters to cut cantaloupe flowers and honeydew leaves/ Use toothpicks to attach to cake.

Decorate with additional strawberries, blueberries, apples, grapes, and oranges. Simple & yummy!

Juice on!

Seen on my son's FB page!  He's found lots of uses for watermelon!

Interesting Observations!

INTERESTING  OBSERVATION





1.  The sport of choice for the urban poor is  BASKETBALL.

2  The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is  BOWLING.

3  The sport of choice for front-line workers is  FOOTBALL.

4  The sport of choice for supervisors is  BASEBALL.

5  The sport of choice for middle management is  TENNIS.

And....




6  The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is  GOLF.

THE  AMAZING CONCLUSION:


The  higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls  become.
There  must be a ton of people in Washington playing  marbles!

RIP Dr.Hildyard!

Senior Health Care

Stella Awards

Here are the Stella Awards - Unbelievable!

It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'!
For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are
named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself
and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico, where she purchased
coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between
her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get
burned doing that, right? That's right; these are awards for the most
outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know the kind of cases
that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy


                       Here are the Stellas for this past year -- 2011
*SEVENTH PLACE*
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her
 peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside
 a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the
verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.

                       Start scratching!
 * SIXTH PLACE *
 Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won
$74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a
Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the
wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

                       Scratch some more...

* FIFTH PLACE *
 Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania,  was leaving a house he had
 just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic
 garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open.
Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to
 the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count 'em,
EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued
the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental anguish.
Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000
for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish Keep scratching.
There are more...

                       Double hand scratching after this one..
*FOURTH PLACE*
 Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the Stella's
 when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on
the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a
 chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked
for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time
of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and
repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

Pick a new spot to scratch, if you're getting a bald spot..

* THIRD PLACE *
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a
jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she
slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone. The reason the
soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30
seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being
responsible for their own actions?
Only two more so ease up on the scratching...
 *SECOND PLACE*
 Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner
of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom
window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms.
Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying
the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her
$12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

                       Ok. Here we go!! Drum roll ...

 * FIRST PLACE *
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award
winner was:

Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased new 32-foot
Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game,
having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly
left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich
not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not
surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owners
manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the
cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting
down? $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their
manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any
relatives who might also buy a motor home.

                     Think the court system is out of control??

H/T  Lady Di

Scary Obituary

Do you believe perceived historical trends are valid, and may foretell the fate of modern nations?


In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh ,
Had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
Form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters
Discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the
Most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
Collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has
Been about 200 years.
During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn't hurt to read this several times.
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul , Minnesota ,
Points out some interesting facts concerning the last Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Obama: 19 McCain: 29
Square miles of land won by: Obama: 580,000 McCain: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Obama: 127 million McCain: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Obama: 13.2 McCain: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory McCain won was
Mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.

Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low income
Tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the
"complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy,
With some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached        (AS OF 5/01/2012 THIS NUMBER IS ALMOST 51%)
The "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal
Invaders called illegals - and they vote - then we can say goodbye to the
USA in fewer than five years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.

If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at
Stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom..

This is truly scary!
Of course we are not a democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic .
Someone should point this out to Obama.
Of course we know he and too many others pay little attention to The Constitution.
There couldn't be more at stake than on Nov 2012.

If you are as concerned as I am please pass this along.

7 Deadly Social Sins

Wealth without Work

I sometimes think that the Gold standard should be replaced by the work statndard.

Pleasure without Conscience
It seems that Western Civilization has gotten more materialistic and hedonistic.

Science without Humanity
The real question always seems to be not whether it can be done but if it should.

Education without Character
The intellect seems so insignificant when compared with ideas like integrity and love.

Politics without Principle
True leadership embraces humility while political power is all about pride.

Commerce without Morality
Greed is bad. Why do we want more? Why do we want to get the best of each other?

Worship without Sacrifice
Cheap grace is not grace at all. Worship that does not cause us to bow is fake.

H/T  Kansas Bob

Mayo Clinic on Aspirin - PASS IT ON

 

------------------------------------------------------------
Bayer Aspirin


 Mayo Clinic:  Aspirin

Dr. Virend  Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic,  who is lead author of the report in the July  29, 2008 issue of the Journal of the  American College of Cardiology. 

Most  heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6  A.M. and noon.  Having one during the night,  when the heart  should be most at rest, means that  something unusual happened. Somers and his  colleagues have been  working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame.  
         
1. If  you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a  day,
           take it at  night.
           The reason:  Aspirin has a 24-hour "half-life";
           therefore,  if most heart attacks happen in the
           wee hours  of the morning, the Aspirin would be  strongest in your system. 

2. FYI,

Aspirin lasts a really long time in your  medicine chest
for years, (when it gets old,  it smells like vinegar).

Please read on.

Something that we can do to help  ourselves - nice to know.
       
Bayer is  making crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on  the tongue. 
They work much faster than the  tablets.
         
Why  keep Aspirin by your bedside? It's about Heart  Attacks -

There are other symptoms of a  heart attack, besides the
pain on the left  arm. One must also be aware of an intense
pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots  of sweating;
however, these symptoms may  also occur less frequently.

Note: There  may be NO pain in the chest during a heart  attack.

The majority of people (about  60%) who had a heart attack during their  sleep did not wake up. 
 However, if  it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep. 

If that happens,  immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow  them with a bit of water. 

Afterwards:
- Call 911.
- Phone a neighbor or a  family member who lives very close by.
- Say  "heart attack!"
- Say that you have taken 2  Aspirins.
- Take a seat on a chair or sofa
          near the  front door, and wait for their arrival and
         
...DO  NOT LIE DOWN!


A  Cardiologist has stated that if each person  after
receiving this e-mail, sends it to 10  people, probably one
life could be saved!

I have  already shared this information. What about you?

Do  forward this message. It may save  lives!