The Newsweek poll alleges that 67% of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69% of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.

I suggest we sit back and count our blessings for all we have. If we don’t, what we have will be taken away. Then we will have to explain to future generations why we squandered such blessing and abundance. If we are not careful this generation will be known as the “‘greediest and most ungrateful generation.” A far cry from the proud Americans of the ”greatest generation” who left us an untarnished legacy.

‘Nuff said!

What an interesting day it was!  I had just returned from lunch (I take mine early, like at 11:00 each day).  It was just a little after 12:00 noon.  I’m sitting at my desk when I hear a familiar but unwelcome sound … the alarm sirens around the chemical plants begin to blare.

[People who live in my area of Texas, near the chemical plants and refineries, know that there are SPECIFIC days and times that the sirens are tested.  All the plants and refineries do this at a pre-set time.  It never changes unless it's an emergency.]

And when we hear the alarms go off, everything comes to a standstill.  Everywhere in the city.  The noise in the office dies down.  The school children in the schools get quiet as mice.  We strain our ears to make sure that we’re hearing what we think we are hearing.  At the same time we’re listening intently, our minds quickly beginning to process what day it is and what time it is.  “Is it Saturday at noon?”  “Nope.  It’s Thursday at noon.”

The alarms are loud enough to be heard inside buildings and homes even if the a/c is running and a TV set is on.  So we listen.  Sometimes … but not often, mind you … the area towns do a “drill” where they blare the alarms.  But most of the time when that is scheduled, we know about it before hand.
So here I sit in my office … the alarm is steadily blaring for a good 10 minutes.  This is no “drill” and this is no “regular test.”   That can mean only one thing … a chemical release has occurred nearby.

I immediately call the C.A.E.R. line (Community Area Emergency Response, pronounced like the word “care”) number where messages are posted informing area businesses if they need to do what is called “shelter-in.”  Which, by the way, means you stay inside the building, turn off the a/c or heat, make sure all windows and doors are closed completely and sometimes even place damp towels around the bottoms of doors going to the outside.

The C.A.E.R. line, however, hasn’t had time to post a message.  So we err on the side of caution and shelter-in.  Today happens to be one of the days that the Mother’s Day Out kiddos are here.  So the teachers down the hall have about 50 or 60 little kids ranging in age from 18 months to 4 years old that they have to contain.  But they do a good job and by the time we get the automated call telling us to shelter-in, we’ve been sheltered-in for about 25 minutes.

Then the phones begin ringing … parents are calling asking if their children are safe.  I want to say in my most sarcastic voice, “No, we sent them all outside!” but I don’t.  Instead, I reassure them that all is well and that their precious little one is happily watching The Little Mermaid movie.

So finally, after about an hour or so we hear another alarm go off … the “all clear” which means everything is back to normal.

Whatever normal is … so how was YOUR day?

Yesterday was my mother’s 94th birthday … Erica and I drove to Giddings to have a little birthday “party” with her.  My sister was there as well as my cousin Michelle and her mom, my Aunt Gladys.  Here are a few pictures from today:

The Cake

The birthday girl and her cake

The birthday girl and her baby sister enjoying cake

My sister, me, Erica, and my Aunt Gladys (the baby sister)

My sister and my cousin Michelle

(The answers are printed below, but don’t you cheat!)
 
1.   After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, Who was that masked man? Invariably, someone would answer, I don’t know, but he left this behind. What did he leave behind?________________. 
 
2. When the Beatles first came to the U.S. in early 1964, we all watched them on The _______________ Show. 
 
3. “Get your kicks, ___________________.” 
 
4. “The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed___________________.” 
 
5.   “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, ________________” 
 
6. After the Twist, The Mashed Potato, and the Watusi, we “danced” under a stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the “_____________.” 
 
7.  “N_E_S_T_L_E_S”, Nestle’s makes the very best……. _______________.” 
 
8.   Satchm o was America ’s “Ambassador of Goodwill.” Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was _________________. 
 
9. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking?  _______________.

11. Red Skelton’s hobo character was named __________________ and Red always ended his television show by saying, “Good Night, and “________ ________”.
 
11. Some Americans who protested the Vietnam War did so by burning their______________.
 
12. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the VW . What other names did it go by? ____________ & _______________.
 
13. In 1971, singer Don MacLean sang a song about, “the day the music died. “This was a tribute to  ___________________.
 
14. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The Russians did it. It was called ___________________.
 
15. One of the big fads of the late 50’s and 60’s was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist. It was called the  ________________. ! 
 
 
Before you check the answers to the one or two you forgot you knew think back to where you were and what you were doing when these things were the happenings of the day.  It too should bring some warm thoughts of back when you wanted to be older and now you’ve made it.
 
 

ANSWERS:
 

01. The Lone Ranger left behind a silver bullet.
02. The Ed Sullivan Show
03. On Route 66
04. To protect the innocent.
05. The Lion Sleeps Tonight
06. The limbo
07. Chocolate
08. Louis Armstrong
09. The Timex watch
10. Freddy, The Freeloader,and “Good Night,and may God Bless.”
11. Draft cards (Bras were also  burned.)
12. Beetle or Bug
13. Buddy Holly
14. Sputnik
15. Hoola-hoop
 
Send this to your “old” friends. It will drive them crazy! And, keep them busy and let them forget their aches and pains for a few minutes.

With all the political hullabaloo going on these days, this is all I have to say about it …

… ’nuff said, don’t ya think?

This is how I want to eat breakfast when we retire and move to our property …

http://www.metacafe.com/w/316898/

Here are a couple of pictures of the newest addition to our family.  (My niece … Joey’s grandmother … is holding him in one of the pictures.)

He’s a handsome looking baby, don’t ya think?  Looks really great to only be a few hours old!

Yipeee!  My great-nephew and his wife just had a 9 pound 2 ounce baby boy yesterday.  They named him Joey.  That makes me a great-great aunt and my sister a great grandmother!  Woo hoo!  Hopefully I’ll have some pics soon that I can post here.  It’s great to hear good news for a change!

I just received a phone call a few hours ago from a friend of Erica’s who told me that a guy they graduated with, who was serving in Iraq, was shot in the back of the neck by a sniper and is now a quadriplegic (spelling??).  Apparently he was leading his platoon  down a road when he was shot.  This happened sometime around Thanksgiving.  He is back in Houston now … I’m guessing at Veteran’s Hospital.  I don’t want to mention his name on this forum for privacy reasons but please say a prayer for him and his family.  Even though you don’t know his name, God does.

Well … the first week of 2007 is pretty much over. I think most people were probably back to their regular work schedules this week. I know I was. Last week was nice because after being off Monday and Tuesday for Christmas, we only worked half-days the rest of the week. But this week we went back to our normal routine. I’m a little tired but not tired as I thought I would be.

I know this is the time of year when everybody makes “New Year’s Resolutions” about how they’re going to change their life during 2007. Too bad most of the time our good intentions only last a month, at the most. I know I need to lose weight and I want to terribly! I know I need to exercise. I’ve tried and failed countless times at these resolutions. Yes, there are a lot of things I need to do.

But I’ve been giving this a great deal of thought and I’ve decided that for 2007, my only resolution is going to be that I am going to try to live my life in a way that will please God. I’m not saying I’m going to live a perfect life, because nobody can, especially me. I’m not saying that I’m going to make decisions that are always right and never wrong. That’ll never happen in this lifetime. But what I am saying is that I want the way I look at life, people, and circumstances I face, to come from a perspective that God would have. As much as it is possible, I want to live in peace with everybody I know. I want to genuinely care about people who I think aren’t as “lovable” as others. By doing this, hopefully my life will be much more pleasant and those around me will enjoy being around me, too.

Yep … that’s what I want my New Year’s Resolution to be this year.

http://773472256.slide.com/p/0/New+Year_27s+Eve+2006?referrer=emcd

Click on the above link (or copy and paste it into your url) and see a few pictures I put together of our church’s new year’s eve party.  It wasn’t any big deal, really, just a family time at the bowling alley.  We’ve rented it out for the past few years because it’s a safe place for all of our families to get together and see the new year arrive.

Click on this link to see a beautiful powerpoint presentation.

< http://www.passionup.com/fun/fun4528.htm?e=louiseungro@hotmail.com&f=froggiemad1@cox.net&h=bb08c6204ace9eec&mp=1&confirm=1>