Over and Out.....

Christmas is over and out for another year. We just can't catch a break on the holidays... well except three... in my father's leg. Yup, the Captain is on the bench. He did a nice triple axle up at Uncle Grayson's house a week ago. However, he didn't stick the landing too well. He broke his right leg and ankle in three places below the knee. He is in a wheelchair and on "happy pills" for a while.

Master Branny and I spent the holidays in New Hampshire cooking, chipping ice, wrapping presents, wheeling him around, and getting him to doctor's appointments. We did have a couple of brief rests to visit with the family and close friends that matter the most. We received lovely things. It is up to Mom to keep him going for the next week until I can get back up there again.

I am strongly encouraging the word "FLORIDA" for the 2008-2009 winter to them.

I am looking forward to New Year's ... We are having a some family over for dinner and a sleep over.. (no one is driving out of Brannydoon on amateur night) Hopefully, this is the last occasion that requires a trip to the emergency room for a while. Whomever came up with the quote, It isn't a party unless someone gets hurt.... should be gagged!

I am realizing a White Christmas

IT IS SNOWING !!!!!!!!!

Okay... this was taken on December 2nd. But the ground is covered!!!

I am like a little kid with snow. It makes me want to go grab a saucer and head for the backyard.

Remember how hot and hard snowsuits were to get in and out of ... especially when nature called?

This is Seamus my Tennesse boy out on a walk down the dirt road from Brannydoon.

Happy Snow Storm Everyone and Safe home to those of you :)- that don't work remotely!

Twas the Fight for Freedom

I received this in an email. I thought it was so well done that I had to share it with all of you.

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then thesure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right ,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"

Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

"PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S.service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC,
USN30t h Naval Construction RegimentOIC,
Logistics Cell OneAl Taqqadum , Iraq.

Huckabee - I told you

Okay ... Mind you... I told you... Are you sick of me forecasting yet?

I told you back in September, (See Post from September 7th) I had decided to vote for Mike Huckabee. Many of you laughed at me. You told me he didn't have a chance. I said that I looked at his platform and I liked him better than anyone else.... I told you.

Now look at the polls ...

1) 2ND amendment rights
2) FAIR TAX SUPPORTER
3) Long term Gov. ( Kennedy was the last Senator elected and try and find a Senator prior to that who wasn't VP)
3) Understands the Clinton machine and how to defeat it
4) Immigration
5) Faith and Politics
6) Family Values
7 ,... Here is the link http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.Home

There is one or two planks I don't agree with but I am probably not going to agree with any candidate ...even myself 100% of the time on either. They are topics I just don't think have any place in government or politics.

I watched Gov. Huckabee on a MSNBC interview on Thursday night. He quoted the Constitution on States Rights perfectly.. I had the Internet open and Googled it immediately to check his facts and then went on to quote the gospel of St. James. A rather interesting mix for MSNBC viewers, no? The way the flow of the questions occurred did not lead me to think there is anyway he would have been prepped on having to reference either piece. Huckabee simply knows them.

Beyond that, this is a quote that struck me when he was asked about who he would support if he wasn't the nominee....

" Character is what we do when no one else is watching"

I thought this was probably from Lincoln. I was wrong ... It is from a study of the Torah.

It makes sense because the conversation leading up to it was about my Senator Lieberman. The candidate understands what it is to be a man of character and a leader. Look beyond the fact he was a Baptist minister.... Truman sold hats. Reagan was an actor. The constitution guarantees us Freedom OF religion not FROM religion.

Consider Mike... Read about him. There are a number of very good men running for the Republican nomination. I ask you to consider this one....

We have decorated for the Holiday....

Everyone got into the act.... with the first snow fall. This Tennessee boy is Darn Cold!!!!

The lights are done outside the fake tree is up in the living room. I can't wait to put up the real one next week. It seems so strange to not have Annie in the middle of my wrapping.

How is your holiday progressing? I have done 90% of my shopping via telephone and computer. The UPS man is my new best friend!

Happy December!!!