The Journey

July Continues...

Well it has been a long week. I have been pretty busy with family and friends. David and Norman came down to be at grandmothers funeral. That was nice of them and certainly helped bring some comfort to me and my family. Norman spoke at the funeral and did a great job. Everyone was asking me if he was a preacher. :) His words fit the setting and I am sure that grandmother would be and was proud. There were a lot of friends at the church to come and pay their respects to grandma. I was surprised just how many people were there. A lot of grandmothers friends have already passed on. Many of our old neighbors came out though...from the Round Knob area and from the church. It was all very nice and again I am sure grandmother was happy with everything that went on. She is missed and the days are empty without her.

We have been having a ton of rain down here in Western Kentucky. We picked up over five inches in the past week or so. Some people west and north of this area are in severe drought. I think we are fortunate to have the rains. On the other hand the news is reporting that the crops here in Western Kentucky are hurting from TOO MUCH rain.

Temperatures have been in the 90s for the past several days. We may even approach 100 this weekend. Cooler weather may be on tap next week.

RED CROSS HEROES UPDATE

These are the teams and the money that HAS been turned in already!

1. First Hero - Grandma Blanche $1000.00
2. Team Justice - $0.00
3. Team America - $40.00
4. Shadow Angels - $0.00
5. Team Canada - $100.00
6. Team Reds - $150.00
7. Team Birmingham - $0.00
8. Team Murray - $0.00

Okay everyone send in those donations - we are well on our way to a great campaign!

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Tropical Storm Franklin may form later today or tonight. The storm is located or will be located off the Southeast Coast of Florida. Active season!

UPDATED

TROPICAL STORM FRANKLIN TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
655 PM EDT THU JUL 21 2005
AT ABOUT 630 PM EDT... 2230Z... DATA FROM THE AIR FORCE
RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATED THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS IN
TROPICAL DEPRESSION SIX HAD INCREASED TO 40 MPH. THEREFORE THE
SYSTEM IS BEING UPGRADED TO TROPICAL STORM FRANKLIN. DETAILS WILL
FOLLOW IN A SPECIAL ADVISORY TO BE ISSUED BY 8 PM EDT... 0000Z.

Friday, July 22nd

Blah Blah Blah

THERE IS A TERRORIST BEHIND EVERY DOOR (in the United States) (according to the US News Media)

Can the freakin news media scare everybody anymore than they are? The United States of Perpetual Fear. Enough already geesh. ONE terrorist attack on US soil in the past - what? - 50 years? ONE attack - that is it. There have been ZERO attacks since 9/11 and basically ZERO before that on United States soil. If you watch the news (any news) one would think we are under daily attack. The song and dance is getting old. BOO - oh my god - there is a terrorist under every freakin rock according to the Bush Administration. ENOUGH already. geesh

Life is NOT this way in Canada - I will say that. Life isn't even this way in most other countries. We don't need a CONSTANT barrage of warnings from the government and news media to scare everyone out of their minds. We all know that we are at war and we all know that there are "threats" out there. Apparently those threats are not NEARLY as high in the United States as the news media would lead you to believe. How do we know this? Because there has only been ONE attack on our soil. ONE...repeat that :) ONE attack.

lalala They are even running "Public Service Announcements" on the radio. They are telling people to watch for suspicious people who are sweating more than usual. GEESH that describes just about EVERYONE in this heat.

America continues to run on the "fear factor". I guess if you keep the public scared long enough you can get away with just about anything. This administration certainly is taking advantage of the current state they have put us in.

You have a MUCH better chance of being hit by lightning or being in a car wreck than EVER meeting (let alone becoming a victim) of a terrorist. If you NEED something to panic about then there are certainly enough things out there outside of terrorism. I am certain that there will be more attacks from time to time. You are not going to get rid of 12 million islamic extremists. Not going to happen. But we don't have to let them win by scaring us to death and stealing our freedoms.

The government has now announced that most of the Patriot Act will be PERMANENT. It was supposed to have sunset clauses in it. That WON'T happen now.

We will continue to see our freedoms diminish under a state of fear and scare tactics. No doubt about it.

Get over it already people. ONE attack on this nations soil has reduced us to this.

Sad indeed.

Friday Evening

Terrorist have hit Egypt this evening. When David and I were there we stayed in the Dahab area. Terrorist blew up some hotels south of there near Sharm el-Sheikh. Dozens have been killed and many more injured. Appears to be about 75 miles or so south of were we stayed. Sad for that region. The resorts were empty when we were there because of an attack last year. This is really going to hurt them now. The scuba diving there is great. I can't wait to go back eventually and dive again.

CAIRO, July 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Death toll to the blasts in Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheik in the Sinai Peninsula early Saturday rose to at least 50 people, with about 200 others injured, police sources said.

They said four car bombs rocked the Sharm el-Sheikh bazaar and hotels at nearby Naama Bay.

According to rescue teams on the scene, one of the bombs went off inside Sharm el-Sheikh's Ghazala hotel and another caused part of a shopping mall to collapse.

The blasts caused pandemonium as people rushed to go home for fear of more bombs, said one resident.

Residents said the blasts blew out windows in apartment blocks.

Earlier, police sources said the first explosion, shortly after1 am local time (2200 GMT Friday), was heard more than one km away.

It started a fire and smoke billowed over the town. About minutes later, other explosions were audible from the direction of Naama Bay which has dozens of luxury hotels popular with divers and holiday makers from Europe, they added.

Saturday, July 23, 2005 - The Muslims Attack Again (same record...different day)

Muslim Terrorists kill at least 83 in Egypt and injure hundreds in a cowardly terrorist attack against tourists targets.

REUTERS PHOTOGRAPH
Egyptian security personnel and forensic experts examine the rubble
of a hotel after it was destroyed by a bomb in the Red Sea resort of
Sharm el-Sheikh July 23, 2005.

The morning toll stands much higher than the original numbers from last night. Muslim/Islamic Terrorists strike again. Too bad the Muslim Community isn't rising up against these people. For such a LARGE religion one would think that they could all come out against these attacks. They have not. A few have spoken out but as a group they remain silent. Until they do their part to stop these fanatics then nothing will change.

Those who are foolish enough to think that appeasement is going to work with these people are sadly mistaken. Appeasement has never worked with madmen. Europe is learning that lesson the hard way. The United States has known this all along.

These Muslim Terrorists are no better than the gangs of thugs that Hitler used against the Jews. Did appeasement work with Hitler? We all know what happened when countries went that direction with him. They were quickly defeated and brought to their knees. These terrorists are the same as the Nazis were years ago. Their goal is to bring Europe and the United States to their knees. Their goal is to take over the world.

I QUOTE this mornings comment from Sheikh Omar Bakri Mahammed "I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world."

War World Four continues. (WWIII being the cold war)

Appeasement is the path to defeat...plain and simple. Pulling out of Iraq isn't going to solve this problem. This war began WAY before any of us were even born. This is not a war because of 9/11 or Saddam. This war began when two religions clashed. It has been fought for thousands of years and will likely continue till the very end of this planet.

There are some simple minds out there that would try and convince you that these recent attacks are because of the invasion of Iraq. If that were true then I would like for those people to explain the hundreds of attacks that occurred before Iraq and 9/11? Again this war has been fought FOREVER. It used to be the Christians vs the Muslims. Some would say it still is.

The Muslim/Islamic main-streamers say that only 1% of their group are fanatics. That 1% represents TWELVE MILLION fanatics. TWELVE MILLION fanatics. I would say that is a problem. Their goal is to push their religion on everyone and everything that stands in their way.

If you want to blame someone for this war then blame those people that have been doing the killing for thousands of years and continue to do so today. Behind almost every bomb is a Muslim (with the exception of a few incidents over the past few years). That alone should tell us something. Granted not every Muslim is bad. If 1% are fanatics though then we have 12 million bombers to deal with. Thankfully the situation inside the United States is still under control. Unfortunately that is not the case across most of the world.

Good luck in winning this war! I hope everyone realizes that these people are not looking for peace. They are looking to take over countries and they are looking to bring death to those who do not believe the way they do. Plain and simple!

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Saturday

Hot and humid weather continues across this entire region. We did get a thunderstorm last night...pretty heavy one at that! We picked up almost 0.50" of rain here in about 15 minutes. Lots of roads were flooded with water. The television station had penny size hail. Nothing major here though other than the rain. Temperatures were in the 90s yesterday (once again).

Looks like temperatures will be in the middle to upper nineties again today!

Mariah is having a party here at the house today. Her birthday was last Saturday. Should be an exciting day around here! :)

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Saturday Evening...

Mariah had a really nice party here tonight. She had about 30 people here...lots of family and friends. It was hard not having grandmother here. I kept thinking I needed to do this and that for grandmother...but she wasn't here. I know it will take time. This has been the hardest week. Lots of anger and sadness. I guess this is all part of the grieving process. I really don't think I will ever truly get over not having grandma around. We have been together forever. I trust that she was watching down on the party today and smiling that we are all doing what she would want us to do. Making the most out of life.

I guess everyone can tell when I an angry because I start to vent about political stuff...have to vent somehow :) that is the least destructive way to do it. Just write how I feel...even if I may not always feel that way towards these subjects.

BIRTHDAY PHOTOS :)

MARIAH TURNED 13 years old last week! Big day for her.

Tyler getting read for the birthday party :)

Mariah picked all of her friends up in a limo!

Danielle and Mariah in the limo - heading out to pick up her friends

Ashton and Mariah in the limo :)

Mariah with Elmo :) Her on-line screen name is Elmo...thus the Elmo theme that
she wanted. :)

Dione baked a birthday cake (it actually tasted good) :) Nice job Dione!

Mariah and her counsin KiKi

Mariah and Joey at the party

Judy and Mariah - Happy Birthday Mariah :)

Angel had to get all dressed up for the party :)

Angel looking cool

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIAH

Mariah gets her cell phone

Mariah happy about her birthday gift from
Tommy and Dione - a cell phone :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIAH :)

Tyler and his friend :) Swimming and playing with their shark

KiKI and mother enjoying the 95 degree weather!