From the Southwest...

A true Hero...

Michael Jackson dies and it's 24/7 news coverage. A real American hero dies and not a mention of it in the news. The media has no honor and God is watching Ed Freeman You're a 19-year-old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your f! amily is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn't seem real because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out, through the gunfire to the doc tors and nurses. And he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died on Wednesday, June 25th, 2009, at the age of 80, in Boise , ID. May God rest his soul. Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman! THANKS AGAIN, ED, FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY. RIP

July 13, 2009

• Philosophy says: Think your way out. Indulgence says: Drink your way out. Politics says: Spend your way out. Science says: Invent your way out. Industry says: Work your way out. Communism says: Strike your way out. Fascism says: Bluff your way out. Militarism says: Fight your way out. The Bible says: Pray your way out, but Jesus Christ says: "I am the way (out)..."

Some where in New Mexico...

"And a child shall lead them"....He is called the "Cow Whisperer."

From Dubai...

Thanks to our friend Todd, for this great shot of how chess is played in the middle east.

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

-John Adams

July 2, 2009

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free...it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson

Boalsburg, Pa.

We travel to Boalsburg to eat and shop in a town that is nearly 200 years old.
This is the tavern where we had a nice sit down dinner of soups, salads, sandwich's and steaks. Built in 1819 by Col. James Johnston and his wife Hannah Bethesda, the Boalsburg Tavern originally catered to town folk and travellers not just as a pub, but as an inn as well. Legend has it, there was nightly fan dancing by local girls for "entertainment" but we didn't see anything like that during our visit. In 1934 the building was destroyed by fire but was purchased three years later by Mrs. Billy Hill Windsor, who completely restored it. In 1946, Harry Duffy bought it and renamed it Duffy's Tavern. Harry died in 1961 and in 1971 Carl Hacker and his family bought it, moved in and still run it today.
We were told that many of the old houses have shops in the lower floor and the owners live on the upper floors of the house, with the blessing of the town councils. More small towns should develop like this and maybe more would be saved.
Oh yeah, we spent some time in this store, that is till the smell of chocolate did Norm in. She had to flee before her head exploded.