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Happy Birthday, dear friend...You go, Girl!

 

 

Joan, thank you so much for sharing! How beautiful! What a blessed opportunity to do what you were created for!

(((((Theyd))))))))

 

 

You are loved much!

I'm the kind of mom that cries when school starts!

 

I miss my DD when the school has her more than we do! Our school's start August 26th. I sure do love the laid-back days of summer!

 

Wow, school starting in July is much too soon!

((((Theyd)))))

 

It sounds like a really nice dream. I'm simply amazed at how you knew *who* we were without ever meeting us.

 

On a futuristic note, my 13 yr. old DD and I do need to go school shopping!! We certainly do have a good time together...and maybe I'm getting a new car?? for sharing!

Nana,

Love you,

 

Blessings and prayer as you seek what is truly best for your family. It's a good product.

 

 

First off

Everything already said...... and the wealth of life experiences and knowledge that is evident in the all members of Mrs. Survival. She is one well-balanced gal

HOW TO MAKE AN ELEGANT FOUNTAIN FOR YOUR GARDEN

 

 

You've weeded the flower beds, planted the vegetable garden and dusted

off your patio furniture. Now comes the fun part: adding some

decorative elements to your garden. And what better way to pull your design

together than with an elegant fountain.

 

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/ara-gardenfountain.html

 

It sure is great to see you, Twila!!

You Can

 

 

If you can't feed a billion people,

then feed just one.

 

If you can't hire twenty million unemployed,

then hire just one.

 

If you can't support an army,

then pray for one soldier.

 

If you can't cure disease,

then visit one person in the hospital.

One smile provides healing.

 

If you can't save the world,

then improve your community;

and if you can't improve your community,

then help your next-door neighbor.

 

We can't save the world,

but we can save those within hugging distance.

 

Don't give up.

Don't become overwhelmed.

We are responsible only for the people in our breathing space.

 

Charity begins with the next person you see.

Charity begins with just you and just me.

If everyone on earth felt this way, what kind of planet would it be?

 

~A MountainWings Original by A Lisa Lindsey, Cincinnati, OH~

 

 

Good for you, Mommyof5! I do hope the job transition goes well and your new career adventure is a blessing to your family. Glad to hear of your positive attitude.

 

 

Happy Birthday, I hope this year holds many blessings for you and yours.

I think we should make an update post on our loved ones at war. My friend Rick is still in Iraq, his tour has been extended until this coming Fall. He has been away from his wife and family since March 2003. They very much want to start thier family soon. Please continue to keep him in prayer.

 

There a song on Christian radio by Mark Schultz called "Letters from War". Have you heard it??

 

It's a tear jerker and everytime we hear it played we are prompted to pray for Rick, his safety and homecoming.

 

The chorus goes something like this...

 

You are good,

You are brave,

What a father you'll be some day

Make it home,

Make it safe,

Everynight I write here and pray

 

Mare, thank you for your heart in this forum. I really appreciate that this is still here...Many of us still have loved ones over there and we very much enjoy the positive uplifting posts you share!

 

 

This is such great news, Mare! Honor is alive and well in the hearts of men!

Me, too! This is a grand idea!

Be aware

 

I never dreamed slowly cruising on my motorcycle through a residential

neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous! Little did I suspect.

 

I was on Brice Street - a very nice neighborhood with perfect lawns and

slow traffic. As I passed an oncoming car, a brown furry missile shot

out from under it and tumbled to a stop immediately in front of me.

 

It was a squirrel, and must have been trying to run across the road

when

it encountered the car. I really was not going very fast, but there was

no time to brake or avoid it -- it was that close. I hate to run over

animals, and I really hate it on a motorcycle, but a squirrel should

pose no danger to me.

 

I barely had time to brace for the impact.

 

Animal lovers, never fear.

 

Squirrels, I discovered, can take care of themselves!

 

Inches before impact, the squirrel flipped to his feet. He was standing

on his hind legs and facing my oncoming Valkyrie with steadfast resolve

in his beady little eyes.

 

His mouth opened, and at the last possible second, he screamed and

leapt!

 

I am pretty sure the scream was squirrel for, "Bonzai!" or maybe, "Die

you gravy-sucking, heathen scum!" The leap was nothing short of

spectacular...

 

He shot straight up, flew over my windshield, and impacted me squarely

in the chest.

 

Instantly, he set upon me. If I did not know better, I would have sworn

he brought 20 of his little buddies along for the attack.

Snarling, hissing, and tearing at my clothes, he was a frenzy of

activity. As I was dressed only in a light T-shirt, summer riding

gloves, and jeans this was a bit of a cause for concern. This furry

little tornado was doing some damage!

 

Picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in

jeans, a T-shirt, and leather gloves, puttering at maybe 25 mph down a

quiet residential street, and in the fight of his life with a squirrel.

 

And losing...

 

I grabbed for him with my left hand. After a few misses, I finally

managed to snag his tail. With all my strength, I flung the evil rodent

off to the left of th e bike, almost running into the right curb as I

recoiled from the throw. That should have done it. The matter should

have ended right there.

 

It really should have. The squirrel could have sailed into one of the

pristinely kept yards and gone on about his business, and I could have

headed home. No one would have been the wiser. But this was no ordinary

squirrel. This was not even an ordinary angry squirrel. This was an

EVIL

MUTANT ATTACK SQUIRREL OF DEATH!

 

Somehow he caught my gloved finger with one of his little hands and,

with the force of the throw, swung around and with a resounding thump

and an amazing impact, he landed squarely on my BACK and resumed his

rather antisocial and extremely distracting activities. He also managed

to take my left glove with him! The situation was not improved. Not

improved at all.

 

His attacks were continuing, and now I could not reach him. I was

startled, to say the least. The combination of the force of the throw,

only hav ing one hand (the throttle hand) on the handlebars, and my

jerking back unfortunately put a healthy twist through my right hand

and

into the throttle. A healthy twist on the throttle of a Valkyrie can

only have one result.

 

Torque.

 

This is what the Valkyrie is made for, and she is very, very good at

it.

 

The engine roared and the front wheel left the pavement.

 

The squirrel screamed in anger.

 

The Valkyrie screamed in ecstasy.

 

I screamed in .. well .. I just plain screamed.

 

Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in

jeans, a slightly squirrel-torn t-shirt, wearing only one leather

glove,

and roaring at maybe 50 mph and rapidly accelerating down a quiet

residential street on one wheel, with a demonic squirrel of death on

his

back.

 

The man and the squirrel are both screaming bloody murder.

 

With the sudden acceleration I was forced to put my other hand back on

the handlebars and try to get control of the bike.

 

This was leaving the mutant squirrel to his own devices, but I really

did not want to crash into somebody's tree, house, or parked car. Also,

I had not yet figured out how to release the throttle... my brain was

just simply overloaded. I did manage to mash the back brake, but it had

little effect against the massive power of the big cruiser.

 

About this time the squirrel decided that I was not paying sufficient

attention to this very serious battle (maybe he was an evil mutant NAZI

attack squirrel of death), and he came around my neck and got INSIDE my

full-face helmet with me.

 

As the faceplate closed part way, he began hissing in my face. I am

quite sure my screaming changed intensity. It had little effect on the

squirrel, however. The RPMs on the Dragon maxed out (since I was not

bothering with shifting at the moment), so her front end started to

drop.

 

Now picture a large man on a huge black and chrome cruiser, dressed in

jeans, a ver y raggedly torn T-shirt, wearing only one leather glove,

roaring at probably 80 mph, still on one wheel, with a large puffy

squirrel's tail sticking out of the mostly closed full-face helmet. By

now the screams are probably getting a little hoarse.

 

Finally I got the upper hand ... I managed to grab his tail again,

pulled him out of my helmet, and slung him to the left as hard as I

could. This time it worked ... sort-of.

 

Spectacularly sort-of ...so to speak.

 

Picture a new scene. You are a cop. You and your partner have pulled

off

on a quiet residential street and parked with your windows down to do

some paperwork. Suddenly a large man on a huge black and chrome

cruiser,

dressed in jeans, a torn T-shirt flapping in the breeze, and wearing

only one leather glove, moving at probably 80 mph on one wheel, and

screaming bloody murder roars by, and with all his strength throws a

live squirrel grenade directly into your police car.

 

I heard screams.

 

They weren't mine...

 

I managed to get the big motorcycle under control and dropped the front

wheel to the ground. I then used maximum braking and skidded to a stop

in a cloud of tire smoke at the stop sign of a busy cross street. I

would have returned to 'fess up (and to get my glove back). I really

would have. Really... Except for two things.

 

First, the cops did not seem interested or the slightest bit concerned

about me at the moment. When I looked back, the doors on both sides of

the patrol car were flung wide open.

The cop from the passenger side was on his back, doing a crab walk into

somebody's front yard, quickly moving away from the car. The cop who

had

been in the driver's seat was standing in the street, aiming a riot

shotgun at his own police car.

 

So, the cops were not interested in me. They often insist to "let the

professionals handle it" anyway.

 

That was one thing. The other?

 

Well, I could clearly see shredded and flying piec es of foam and

upholstery from the back seat. But I could also swear I saw the

squirrel

in the back window, shaking his little fist at me. That is one

dangerous

squirrel. And now he has a patrol car. A somewhat shredded patrol car

... but it was all his.

 

I took a deep breath, turned on my turn-signal, made a gentle right

turn

off of Brice Street, and sedately left the neighborhood. I decided it

was best to just buy myself a new pair of gloves. And a whole lot of

Band-Aids

 

 

 

 

Great ideas, Theyd! Thank YOU!!

Dear One, you are a dear one! Your family is blessed to have you. Keep chipping away and they'll come to see the value of preparedness. Hardship comes in many ways and none of us are exempt from needing to fall back on a pantry of plenty to get throught the tough times.

 

((((Dear One)))))

 

Glad to have you here!

Your family and dear cat are in my prayers! Bless you for asking. Please keep us updated. Pray today is more restful.

 

Yeah! Thank you so much!

Thanks for your help, Old Pine and Caveman!

WE sure do appreciate you both!

*Giggle* I know that his dad doesn't like broccoli.