Sunday after church

Things are growing like crazy here.
Since Queen Felicia wore her new knock-out dress, (she is the knock out, not the dress!) I thought I'd take some pictures of her and her gardens.

As follows, not necessarily in order.

The Queen and the Crepe Myrtle
Felicia doing her Vanna White pose and showing off her Maters' (bad pun intended)
In my butterfly garden.
Hooray for the Red White and Blue!
The Queen in her objet D' Art space, where someday another pond will appear.
Phyllis and the Giant Sunflowers

Celebrate, but remember.

Remember what we as Americans have, and why we have it.
"We pledge our lives, our wealth, our sacred honor."
Many have given much, all too many have given their all.
Shake the hand of a Soldier, Marine, Air Force, Navy or Coast Guard member serving now.
And honor the veterans in all of our communities.

Go to the baseball game and fireworks, as we did last night.
Grill, picnic, and enjoy your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

But never forget where it came from, and what it costs to keep it.

Or you will surely lose it.

The Spies who came back into the cold.

Just last week, the leader of the free world left the confines of the Oval Office and headed to his favorite burger joint in Alexandria.
His lunch companion was the 'President' of The Russian Republic.
In the last two years, the U.S. has agreed to cancel plans to put defensive anti-missle systems in Poland, our staunchest ally amongst the old Soviet Iron Curtain satellites.
And talks have revived plans of yet another strategic missle reduction treaty.
As I see it we give away much and receive nothing for our concessions.

And now today word leaks that the FBI and Justice department have busted a major deep cover Russian Spy ring in the Northeast.
Their intentions as yet are unknown, but cannot be noble in any way.

Remember how the press had a field day making fun of former President Bush for his friendship with Vladimir "Pootie Poot" Putin?
Especially when Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia?

So far I've heard no mirth coming from the mainstream press regarding this matter.
"So you want ketchup, chile and onions on the burger, Dymetri? And top secret U.S. intel?"

Just because they are no longer overtly communist, Russia is not our friend and true ally.
They do nothing in the free world's favor unless they get the ranch in return.
And then they sneak behind the scenes and play us like suckers.
Despite massive sanctions against Saddam's Iraq, we found Russian military equipment in great abundance when we toppled his regime.
And Putin revived patrols of his ballistic missle submarines off of our coastlines.
There is absolutely no threat to them from us any longer.
Why do they do that?

I suspect much of Iran's arsenal, especially in Missle and IED technology has the stamp of Mother Russia on it as well.

Those of you too young to remember the Cold War have no point of reference on how much danger we were truly in. Plots to counterfeit our currency were barely foiled, and many embarrassing failures in security led to untold damage and loss of lives with Soviet bloc spies within our own intelligence agencies.
Remember the infamous Walker family as one example.

Russia is a giant with a chip on it's shoulder.
They want to prove they are still a world player, and the paranoid attitude that seems to be ingrained in their national psyche is deep and strong.

The Cold War never really ended, it just sat on the shelf for a spell.

Where is Felix Leiter and James Bond when we need them?

pictures

Mom, and her son. Ditto dad.
Dad chills and 'supervises'
Got to get that 52" TV into the BM'r!
His home for the past year.
"I'm going to get all of that in my BMW?
Before truck and after.
Cartman rides shotgun with Dad.
Adieu', Boone!

The joy of moving.

We recently drove to Boone to help our young officer and gentleman move his things home for storage whilst he is at Ft Benning in training.
Five years worth of stuff, four as a student and one as a ROTC recruiter is a lot.
Somehow I got all of it into our garage, and was actually able to get both cars in as well.
My finest moment as a packer and organizer!
Leaving Boone was bittersweet for us all.
From his freshman dorm, with as much room as the average airplane lavatory, to three years at Highlands with three roomies, to the bachelor apartment in the clouds on top of the knob he shared with Ben and his dog Cujo it was quite a journey.
Cujo missed Ariel so much, she climbed up on the kitchen counter and ate the key he left for Ben to turn in. A woman scorned indeed!
We had one more lunch together at MacAdoo's, his Monday night out place with his roomies.
And Mom and I had breakfast at our favorite place on King Street at Melanie's, a fabulous morning on the outdoor patio.

All of the App football games at "The Rock" were part of the mosaic.
Being in Ann Arbor for "The Upset Of The Ages" watching App beat Michigan.
Three national championships, (two of which he attended in Chattanooga)
Watching Armante Edwards work his magic at quarterback for four years (he's now with the Carolina Panthers, and should have a great career as a pro. He not only graduated, he finished a semester early)
The buffet at the Broyhill, with that great view of the mountains.
The second floor dining area at the Wendy's, finally finding a great Chinese and TexMex place,
Backyard Burgers.
He'll never forget the O'Dark Hundred PT's.
Running the steps at "The Rock", running up Howards Knob in the dark, which is basically straight up. Endless sit ups and push ups, pumping iron at the SRC.
Monthly trips to Marion for his Reserve service.
Airborne School, LDAC at Fort Lewis.
The fantastic Cadre that trained him, and the overall comradeship with his fellow cadets.

The pride we felt when we pinned his Crossed Musket Infantry badge on him at Dining Out.
Family coming in for his commissioning, watching him take the oath, and pinning his 2LT bars on his dress uniform. The celebratory dinner at the wonderful place in Blowing Rock.
Proud moments for us all!

Thanks to Jonathan, his roomie since his freshman year, and Ted and Jai.
They will be friends for the rest of their lives, which is the best of what college should be.
Dr Browning, his favorite history prof, who made the effort to come to his commissioning.
The guy at Meineke car care, who on his last day there refused to take any money for fixing his brakes.
"Be safe, and have a great training. Thanks for serving for us all."

One chapter finished, the next opens at Ft Benning.

Easter, new gardens, and red doors.

Our son the LT was able to come home for Easter weekend.
It was great to see him, and maybe the last Easter he will be able to come home for some years.
He continues to work out diligently, and carefully watches his diet.
Not the same kid who lived on pizza, microwaved junk, and soda and Gatorade!
He's basically able to bench press the house now.

The Queen and I looked like the Bobsy Twins, both of us dressed in the same shade of green.
She always looks infinitely better than myself.

You can tell we've been married a long time when she asks for dirt and mulch for her garden for Mother's Day and her birthday this year.
Not inexpensive by any means, but a gift that will produce much edible delight, and not this year only.

American Gothic revisited, with her hoeing, digging, and raking out our hard soil.
It's starting to shape up!
Hopefully I will too, when it comes time for my part in loading and hauling barrows full of stuff to the garden sites.

I recently had to replace the side door on the garage.
It had started to rot, and I found those devilish little termites under the sill.
Thankfully, they were confined to that area, the foundation of our house up to two feet is brick.
Even more thankfully, I was able to replace the door, frame and sill.
We decided to paint it Red, daring in our old age!
Then of course, I had to repaint the front door and shutters red to match.
Some of our neigbors in the HOA behind us might freak, but they'll get over it!

Now if there are any of you with a real tall ladder, and no fear of heights, I have these shutters on the second floor.......

Happy Easter, He is risen!

Our church choir did a flawless rendition of Handel's "Hallelujah" from "Messiah"
Have a blessed Easter Sunday!
Enjoy, reflect, and steal some of your kid's and grandkids candy and get all sugared up!