Category: Holidays and Celebrations

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Happy Thanksgiving

All my children are home, my Indian family is here along with my white family.  We are having a ‘true’ Thanksgiving complete with Native Americans just as the first one had.  It’s that a wonderful day!!  I look at my family and am so very proud to be a part of both of them.

There is so much love and respect in my home today that I couldn’t ask for anymore.  The turkey’s cooking, and all the fixings are cooking too so the house not only is full of love but it’s full of the heavenly smell of a wonderful dinner.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!!  May your day be truly Blessed like mine is!!!

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Veterans honored today as it should be

There have been several in both my white family and my Indian family that have served in the military in all branches.  I am very proud to honor each and every one of them on this day.  Sunday my wife and I went to all of the graves that are local to us and put flowers and American flags on each of them.  It’s a small gesture but a way to honor those that are no longer with us.

Each and every one of us needs to thank a veteran today for the sacrifice they and their families have made to serve our country.  Find a veteran, tell them ‘Thank You’ and make sure they know how much you appreciate them and their family.  If there’s an older veteran in your neighborhood, ask them if there’s something you can do for them on this day.  Maybe they need some help with something or their yard raked.  Whatever it is, give back to them for what they gave to us.

That’s just a suggestion of a way each of us can honor a Veteran.  It doesn’t matter what you do, just make sure to honor those that are gone and still living because without them, we would not have the freedoms we have today.  I’ll sure be doing something for the WWII Veteran in my neighborhood.  I do every year, all year long in fact.

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Happy Halloween

The one thing I miss now is getting my kids all dressed up for Halloween and taking them out Trick-or-Treating.  That was so much fun.  I always dressed up too.  Guess what I went as, an Indian Chief, what else?  My oldest daughter was Pocahontas one year and then the youngest was when she could wear the costume.  My sons preferred to be the cowboys instead of Indians when they were little.

I really miss all of that.  I guess I’ll have to just hand out the candy and wait for grandchildren to take out Trick-or-Treating but I’m not in a hurry.  Did you kids hear that?  I’M NOT IN A HURRY!!!!

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About my family

I told you that I was adopted by a white family and that gave me advantages I wouldn’t have had otherwise.  I want you to understand why I was put up for adoption.  Adoption is not a bad thing.  It can be when a mother is hooked on drugs and loves them more than her child or if the child is abused and taken away from the parents but that’s not my case at all.

You see, my parents were young when I came along and they could barely take care of themselves and knew they could not give me what I needed.  They knew this nice white couple that couldn’t have children of their own and they offered to adopt me.  They allowed my natural parents to be a part of my life my whole life along with my natural family.  I never felt that I was not wanted by either side.

I was lucky enough to have two wonderful mothers and two wonderful fathers.  I have more grandparents than most kids have cousins and am loved by all of them.  My life has been blessed from the very beginning and I have passed all that love on to my own children who have a huge family backing them too.  So you see, adoption can be a very loving thing to do for your child.

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North Carolina Outer Banks

My adoptive father used to take me to the North Carolina Outer Banks when I was growing up every fall for a fishing trip.  It was and still is, one of the best places to go fishing on the coast.  It has a lot of history along with it.  The numerous shipwrecks in this dangerous stretch of ocean earned North Carolina’s Outer Banks the reputation as the “the graveyard of the Atlantic,” not the infamous pirate Blackbeard, who met his end here.  Coastal erosion and increased risk of damage from storm surges are the real threats facing the area now.

We used to put up tents and camp on the beach while we fished but you can’t do that now in an attempt to keep human erosion from adding to the threat already facing the beaches.  It’s a shame that things have to change like they do and when they do, it’s not usually for the better.  I guess it’s all a part of life like everything else.

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Meet Brutus

I received this from a friend of mine by email.  I thought it was interesting and important enough that I wanted to share it with you.  Animals are very important us as human beings and here’s part of the reason why. They don’t call a dog mans best friend for no reason.

Now meet Brutus!!!  Brutus is a GOOD boy!!!!

The K9 below is Brutus, a military K9 at McChord. He’s huge – part Boxer and part British Bull Mastiff and tops the scales at 200 lbs. His handler took the picture. Brutus is running toward me because he knows I have some Milk Bone treats, so he’s slobbering away! I had to duck around a tree just before he got to me in case he couldn’t stop, but he did. Brutus won the Congressional Medal of Honor last year from his tour in Iraq . His handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents. Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant ‘go away but come back and find me’. The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. He came back later and quietly tore the throat out of one guard at one door and another guard at another door. He then jumped against one of the doors repeatedly (the guys were being held in an old warehouse) until it opened. He went in and untied his handler and they all escaped. He’s the first K9 to receive this honor. If he knows you’re ok, he’s a big old lug and wants to sit in your lap. Enjoys the company of cats.
K-9 Congressional Medal of Honor Winner

Thought you’d find this interesting. Talk about animal intelligence and bonding with humans!

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No Comments are coming

I often wonder if anyone is even reading this blog that I have taken to writing every now and then, I’m not even receiving any Spam, amazing as that sounds.

I know  I haven’t spent as much time as I intended to, but life does have a way of keeping one busier than they would like at times. I guess I need to get off my duff and start doing a bit more here and there. The weather is changing, the Holidays are approaching faster than I would like to see, but is inevitable, and with it comes all the nasty cold that will require a nice warm fireplace going full blast in the house.

The collecting of firewood seems to be the next major concern and chore that needs tending to it seems.

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The 2008 Olympics are here

So many topics to talk about concerning the events that are taking place in China, while hosting the 2008 Olympics this year. I usually enjoy watching the Olympics and have had opportunities to attend some of the games in the past, but never have actually made it to any of them.

This particular location that they picked for hosting the games, in China, has had it’s ups and downs, and it is the first time that I haven’t kicked myself in the rear for not making more of an effort to personally attend this most exciting and interesting event.

The air quality in China is a major issue and I can really feel for the participants that are having to deal with such a problem as not being able to breath properly while trying to perform the best that they have ever had to, in order to take home a medal. It has been a real eye opener for the rest of the world, and maybe now something will be done to make China a better place to live and breath in the future.

I wish them all the luck in the world, and I hope that the US can kick some butt and bring home a good amount of medals for us to rant and rave about, until the next Olympic games are held.

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Gone Fishing

I’ve been out fishing for the past week with an old friend from my high school days. We packed up our camping gear and went deep into the hills of Cherokee Canyon in southern Virginia, to our old fishing hole, which to our surprise looks pretty much the same as it did some thirty years ago when we used to go there as kids. Needless to say, for a mans vacation geared towards relaxation it was a huge success.

Although the fishing itself was not as big a boom for our collective freezers, we did manage to come away with some forty or fifty good sized fish. We caught a few trout, some spot, sunfish and both small mouth and bigmouth bass.  Nothing of record breaking size, but we were pleased just the same. We had our best luck on the fourth day there when the bass starting biting. We got rained on quite a bit but it was more fun than a hindrance of any sort. As a matter of fact, except for the one time the tent fell in during a downpour and soaked us to the bone, it was a very relaxing experience.

We spent most the evenings dining on our days catch and reminiscing about the old days. On my return home my wonderful wife told me I smelled like a fish market on a hot day! But she was happy that I’d had a good time. She herself had a wonderful week as well from what she’d told me and mentioned that next time she would like to accompany us along with a couple of her friends she Iearned also enjoy fishing, although they prefer fly fishing above other styles. One of her friends even offered to teach me how to tie flies. Looks like the next fishing trip is going to be a real hoot, I just hope the girls don’t show us fellows up to bad when it comes to fly rod fishing.

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Family…

Been kinda busy last couple of days. I’m getting ready to take a few days off work to go see Grandmother and maybe see if it could be possible to have her come live with us instead of having to stay in such a place as a Nursing Home. Wife and I are still discussing the pros and cons of the possibility especially as to what her medical needs may be or develop into.

Family means a lot to me, even if it is my adopted family, they are the only family I knew growing up and did well by me. It is not like my people to put away our old where they cannot be seen or heard. We are connected to our past through the elders and it is our heritage itself we pass along with the wisdom only gained by experience and what we learn from them must be taught to our young and them to their young. Only in this way can a people survive the onslaught of time. We must do right by those who have done right by us, we owe them that. We owe ourselves that.