Jett B – A Darling Little Boy!

Posted on June 11, 2012 by civilwarrose5

While watching Glenn Beck tonight I noticed that he had a t-shirt on that I really liked. Okay, so perhaps I’ve been drawn to airplanes lately due to the current pilot in my life. 🙂

Towards the end of the program Glenn explained more about this shirt. Once I heard the story I knew that I had to have one, too.

There is a little boy, Jett, who was born with a cleft lip and palate. He also has Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia type 2, which is a rare genetic disorder that basically means that parts of his brain didn’t develop during the pregnancy, and thus he’s not expected to do a lot of things that normal babies do including walking, talking, sitting up, eating, crawling and other basic functions. The life span for babies with this disorder is not very long at all.

Jett’s parents are doing the best that they can and are trying to just enjoy each day that they are given with him. They know that Jett will not get to do a lot of things that parents always hope their children will be able to experience. One of the things that Jett can not do is travel, despite the name that he was given and should have assured that he would be a pilot of some sort. Instead, you can buy a shirt with Jett’s logo on it. What you do is wear it somewhere interesting, well-known, or fun. Then you take a picture and send it to Jett’s parents to post on their blog. They have decided that if Jett can’t travel himself, at least in this way he can travel in your heart. When you wear your Jett t-shirt he is there with you in spirit and in this way he can be taken all over the world. The proceeds from the sale of the shirts goes to help pay for his massive medical expenses.

Glenn Beck’s company, 1791 Supply Co, has stepped in to offer their services of order taking and distribution. Beck’s company will not profit from this at all. All money will be sent to Jett’s parents. Glenn knows how hard it is to raise a child with special needs so this is his way of helping them out, by taking the headache of order taking and fulfilling off of their hands.

Please consider purchasing a shirt to help this darling little boy. You can read his blog, here.

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It’s Friday!!!!

Posted on June 8, 2012 by civilwarrose5

It’s Friday!!! Woo-hoo!! I’m still sick, but knowing that it’s the weekend somehow seems to perk me up. That and I get to spend the weekend with this guy

<—————

<Insert HUGE grin>

 

Do you have anything exciting going on this weekend? It’s supposed to be gorgeous here so I’m hoping to get some more time on the sticks (aka flying a RC plane). There’s also a chance that we might maiden the ‘Hog this weekend, too! I hope that I remember to take pictures so that I can share it with you guys. I tend to get excited about something or involved in it and then I forget that I have a camera in my hands. Thus the reason why I did not become a photographer. 😉

Was your week at least somewhat productive? Despite being sick I stopped and bought some tomato plants (beef steak and cherry) and some green pepper plants. I got a really good deal on them, more than likely because it’s so late in the season. So I planted those last night in the one raised bed that will remain as is. The other one has to be replaced, and my dad is going to do that for me, but I really wanted to get my plants going. What did I do? I had saved the plastic containers that my flowers and other plants came in, so I filled them with dirt from the garden, planted the seeds in there, and covered them up. I then left them sitting in the garden that will be replaced as soon as my dad can get to it. I figured that if I can at least get the seeds growing then once the garden is ready I can easily plant them. Sound like a plan? I have to admit that last night as I was doing dishes and looking out at my little garden plot, it really made me feel good to see plants in there. And not weeds. Most natural-growing things hate me and cause my allergies to flare, and yet I still love the feeling of planting and growing my own produce. Maybe it’s due to my farming roots.

I come from a long line of farmers. You hear about the people who can trace their family trees back to Queen Elizabeth or King Henry the 8th, or even to King Arthur. Not me. If there was an exalted peasant, then I could claim some fame. lol. Actually, here’s an interesting story for you. About ten years ago I was trying to find out more about my dad’s family and the origin of our surname. It’s been an argument in the family where half claim that it’s French and others claim that it’s German. In the hopes of putting the disagreement to rest I did some research and asked a question on Ancestry.com (a wonderful resource if you’re into Genealogy). According to this one guy who had done a lot of research on it our surname can be traced to both Germany and France, but he traced it back even further. Are you ready for this? According to this gentleman our surname can be traced all the way back to Troy. That’s right, the city that was taken down by a wooden horse. The light went on and it suddenly all made sense! Of course we were at Troy! I’m betting that it was a couple of my relatives who were on guard duty at the gate that night. They were sitting there, insulting each other for the fun of it, when they hear a knock on the gate. Peeking their heads through, they see this giant horse with a ‘FREE’ sign on it. They walk up to it, knock on it to see what it was all about, and then talked it over. I can hear the conversation now…

Dana – Look! A giant wooden horse! And it’s free! Let’s take it into the City!

John – Are you sure? I mean, who would have left a giant wooden horse outside of the City?

Dana – Who cares?! It says that it’s free! If we pull this into the City and tear it apart we won’t have to cut firewood for a month.

John – Okay! Grab onto that rope there and we’ll haul it in!

LOL… Sorry, that makes me laugh. I wish that you could know my family to understand just how likely it is that exact conversation happened. So whenever anybody asks the origins of my surname I just tell them that it’s Trojan. 🙂

Have a great weekend!

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Feeling the Blahs

Posted on June 6, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Don’t you hate it when you’re sick? It’s amazing what one little cold can do to you. You can’t breathe through your nose, so you breathe through your mouth and end up with a sore throat. Your head feels all wonky. Your eyes and lips feel warm. You can’t really taste food. You have zero energy. And the guilt! That’s the worst part for me. I left work early yesterday because I couldn’t stop sneezing and my nose was raw. So I lost half of a day of work, which means that I’m hesitant to ask for next Friday afternoon off. I hate to take off too much time all at once.

I’m feeling guilty because we’ve had a couple of decent nice days and I should be out in the yard working. My dad has decided that he really only needs to build me one new planter because the other one will still work. Which means that I need to get out there and plant something. I usually try to have my garden planted by Memorial Day, but that didn’t happen this year. What am I doing instead? I’m watching “Say Yes to the Dress” and wondering if my eyeballs could actually catch on fire. I think that they would melt instead of catching on fire, though. Right? They are just a gelatinous substance so I would think that it would ooze and melt.

I shouldn’t watch this program. This girl was happy about getting a sale dress for $1,699, which I suppose is a good deal considering it was $2,399. I guess that I’m not the typical woman. I don’t want to spend a ton of money on a dress that I’m only going to wear for a few hours. Actually, I didn’t spend a lot of money on my dress. When/if I get married I already have the dress of my dreams and at the price of my dreams. It’s drop-dead gorgeous, suits me perfectly, and was $169, marked down from $700. I didn’t fall in love with the dress because of the price. I fell in love with it for how it looks. I would explain it and show pictures, but then you wouldn’t be surprised when I eventually get to post pictures from my wedding day. 😉

Okay. I’ve rambled on for long enough. Hopefully I will be back to my abnormal self by this weekend. 🙂

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Cleaning Up

Posted on June 5, 2012 by civilwarrose5

This past weekend Jay wasn’t feeling well. He was coming down with a cold so he decided that he would just hang out in the basement. That was fine with me because I didn’t want him running around in the chillier weather with the wind blowing if he was getting sick. As I was doing a spring cleaning of his bedroom (and falling prey to the female urge to move furniture around), he decided that maybe it was time to do some spring cleaning in the basement. This was completely his idea and I am very proud of  him for undertaking this project. We each have to arrive at this point on our own; we can not be pushed to do so until we are ready.

This is the only picture that I have of this particular area of the basement. This is where all of the battery chargers and electronic things are housed. His radios reside in the silver case underneath the desk when they aren’t in use.

 

 

You can somewhat see what progress was made in this area. You can actually see the entire table top! Jay did a great job of getting rid of things that he’s never going to use again, and organizing what he has over in that area.

 

 

This picture was taken last fall. The dead pile was cleaned up a few months ago, but Jay really went to town cleaning out this area. He has built so many other planes that he had no room for them. He decided to get rid of the planes that he hasn’t flown in years and really can’t foresee himself flying any time soon.

 

This is taken from a different angle, but you can see the amount of stuff that has been cleaned up. There is still some more work to be done, but I am really happy with how much Jay has done so far. Perhaps this will motivate me to clean out some of my books.

 

 

Here are some of the electronics that were reclaimed from the planes. The planes that were bandsaw-bound first had their electronics ripped out so that they could be used again. After all, there’s no sense in throwing out something that cost a bit of money and can still be used.

 

 

When Jay wasn’t cleaning, he was working on his uncle’s Sniper. This was the same kit that Jay had made for himself a few years ago and he had made some changes that helped the jet fly a lot better. His uncle bought the kit and then asked Jay to make those same modifications to this jet.

 

 

Jay’s Sniper is the middle one, under the Kobra and above the MiG. He was finishing up this jet last year when we started dating. *sigh* Such wonderful memories…

 

 

 

This is the latest addition to the fleet. This is a Viper Jet that came from the same vendor as the MiG. Jay is modifying this and will also put one of the quiet fans into it. He’s hoping to have it ready for eJets. It really is quite pretty in person.

 

 

The last bit of RC news that I have to share with you this week is that I’ve finally applied for AMA membership. Most clubs require you to have AMA membership if you’re going to fly at the field. As part of your membership you are covered with insurance should something happen. Since Jay is teaching me how to fly I thought that it would be a good thing for me to be covered in case something happens and I end up doing some property damage. Once I receive my membership card I will feel like an official RC pilot! lol

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A Prayer

Posted on June 4, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Dear Lord,

Things are going crazy here on Earth, Lord. We sure could use your help. Every time I turn around it seems like I’m discovering yet something else that I never thought I would ever see.

The mayor of New York City is trying to get the sale of large sized sugary drinks banned to help fight obesity. The liberals seem to think that it’s okay that they can tell us what we can and can’t ingest and put into our bodies, but when it comes to abortions, birth control, and other women’s health issues that nobody has the right to tell us what we can and can’t do with our own bodies. I almost became physically ill when I heard that there are some Planned Parenthoods in the United States that are advising women on having abortions with the purpose being to choose the gender of the baby. I know that’s a common practice over in China, but in the United States??

The Nazi Party is again making its mark in Germany. In some European countries members of the Nazi Party have been voted into government positions. I don’t think that this is a good idea. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when the Nazis were in control in Europe. That didn’t end well. I can’t believe that this is a good omen, either. Speaking of bad omens, don’t you think that it’s bad when a Communist Leader’s daughter endorses Obama for President of the US? Although, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me since the US State Department granted Mariela Castro a visa to travel to San Francisco for an academic conference.

In non-political news, a Dutch artist has turned his dead cat into a remote controlled quadrotor. Even though it was ‘just’ a cat, is this really necessary? Shouldn’t the poor cat be able to rest in peace? I don’t believe that just because it can be done doesn’t mean that it should be done. I know that in the big scheme of things this isn’t a big deal, but it matters to me and hurts my heart for this poor cat. Why can’t people respect others, even if they are cats?

Lord, I know that I’m just one person on this giant planet, but I hope that you can hear my prayer. Please help us to bring control back to this nation. This insanity is just too bizarre to be believed. Please help us to become the better people that I know are in all of us. We have a lot of opportunity open to us, so let us use it for good and not for evil. Help us to take care of our neighbor instead of throwing rocks at him. Help us to rediscover the love in our hearts that resides there for everybody.

Amen.

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Yard Work Update

Posted on June 1, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Over the last two weeks I’ve managed to get a lot of yard work done. You can’t really tell when you drive by the house, but my muscles sure are feeling it! I’ve taken down another fence, planted some flowers, and cleaned out my vegetable plots. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when everything was over run and nothing was cared for in several years, there’s a lot to do. Especially when you’re doing it all by yourself and, technically, you’re allergic to everything that you’re in up to your elbows.

In this picture you can see the chicken wire fence that was placed at the end of the driveway. It was in between two different chain link fences and at one time was used for when my grandmother let her dog outside. I hated this fence because to me it was senseless. It just took up room and became one more thing to mow around and deal with. So out it came…

 

Besides the fact that the grass is greener, doesn’t this look a lot better? You can see the edge of the driveway and there’s nothing until the chain link fence that will actually stay. I pulled out all of those posts by myself, which was not an easy task! My back is still sore. Those posts just did NOT want to come out. However, they didn’t realize just how stubborn I can be! lol

 

Here is the flower garden that runs alongside of my house. This was after I did a lot of ripping and tearing out of there. There is a climbing rose bush by the rhododendron, but I haven’t yet been able to get my climbing rose supports that my dad made for me.

 

 

Since the last picture I’ve done even more ripping and tearing, plus some soil turning. I pulled the posts out of the garden (again, they didn’t want to budge!), and tonight I planted some flowers. I was trying to find some pansies, but because they get along better in colder weather the ones that I did manage to find didn’t look so good. So I had to change my mind on what I wanted to plant.

 

I needed at least a couple of pansies in my garden, though, so I bought these ones. I don’t know if they are going to flourish or not. They like a LOT of sun and this side of the house only gets a few hours in the mid-afternoon. The neighbor has these trees that border my property and they cast shade over half of my lawn. Nothing grows over there except mosquitoes and bugs. 😦

 

I considered planting some impatiens because they like partial sun so they would do great in this spot. However, I just am not an impatiens person. Impatient, yes. Impatiens, no. lol. Then I saw these begonias. Technically they like a lot of sun, but I figured that I would give them a shot. They were too pretty to pass by. You can’t see them very well, but there are some really interesting shades of pink and white mixed in there. Once they grow and fill out a little more they should be gorgeous. I hope.

 

I wanted to show off my miniature rose bush. It was one that my grandmother had planted years ago. She and I both shared a love for roses so I’m very happy that quite a few of her rose bushes are still around. I planted a couple of begonias at the base of this one, too.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the blooms on my climbing rose bush. I had to hold the cane out so that I could take a picture because it sits nestled in the rhododendron bush most of the day. Once I get my support from my parents’ house I will be able to train it onto that and it should be gorgeous. The rose bushes are one of the few things that I actually like about this house.

 

 

 

So that’s all the work that I’ve managed to get done in the past two weeks. I’m hoping in the next two weeks to get my vegetable gardens going (finally!) and get that second chain link fence down. It’s kind of hard doing it all by myself, but I’m slowly making headway. I still need to power wash my deck and restain that as well. Oh, and if anybody knows of a good way to get rid of ant hills, please let me know! It seems that half of my backyard is one giant ant hill. *sigh*

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X-Stitch Warthog 5-31-12

Posted on May 31, 2012 by civilwarrose5

I don’t know if you’re interested in an update on this project, but here it is. I’m STILL working on the sky. I think that I have almost 20 rows completed. Just 10 more until I finally get down to the jet! lol It is rather therapeutic, though, to work on all of those little ‘x’s.

Here is what the sky looked like two weeks ago. Nothing much, just a lot of blue. Maybe next time I will have to put something next to the stitching so that you can see just how tiny it is.

After seeing the two pictures next to each other I guess that I have managed to get a bit more done. It sure doesn’t feel like it, though.

So that’s how it looks for now. With the weather being so nice I’ve been working outside after I get out of work, so I haven’t had a lot of time to stitch. This weekend isn’t supposed to be very nice so I might get some more time to work on it.

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Where’s My Daddy?

Posted on May 29, 2012 by civilwarrose5

(I used to enjoy making up stories for the pure entertainment of my friends. I haven’t done that in a while, so I thought that instead of writing about cheating wives I would make up a fun story. Please enjoy my silliness. 🙂 )

Once upon a time there was a little A-10 named Al Bino Hawg who loved to play with his daddy. He didn’t get to see his daddy very often because the Air Force kept Mr. Hawg very busy. One day as Al was riding piggy back Mr. Hawg said, “I have to go in for a new paint job, so I want you to go with your brother, Cami, to the park and go flying. By the time you return I should be back to normal.”

Al loved his big brother. He often tried to go chasing after Cami when they were out playing, but his poor little fans could never keep up. Like most big brothers, though, Cami was usually annoyed with Al and tried to get away from him as fast as possible. When they arrived at the park Cami dropped Al off at the Little Jets section and went running off to find his friend Mike.

 

Al took a couple of laps around the gym, but he was at the awkward stage where the park was too big, but the gym was too small. What was he going to do? Besides, he didn’t have any friends in the gym today. The only other plane whom he knew was Xavier, but he was just weird!

 

 

“Al,” Xavier yelled from his perch on the wall, “come up here and hang with me!” Al just rolled his minigun. After all, X. Tra was a prop plane and could hang on the wall like that. A jet would never be able to do that. “Sorry, X, I think that I hear Cami calling for me,” Al said as he ran out to find his brother.

 

 

Cami and Mike were hanging out in the park, trying to look cool in front of the other jets. “Wait until the other guys see me in the air!” Mike was telling Cami. “I’ve been practicing my skips and you can see it on my underbelly. I have road rash! It’s so cool!” Cami had to admit that he was a bit jealous. He wished that he had road rash.

 

Al spotted Cami as he was about to take off. “Cami! Wait!” Al cried. Cami ignored him and took off anyway. There was no way he was going to be caught talking to his little brother!

 

 

Al turned around and found a gang of aircraft bearing down on him. “Hey kid!” they yelled, “get out of here! This ain’t no gym! Get the flight out of here!” Al decided to do as they suggested, and he left the park. Now what was he going to do? There was only one option left; he had to go find his daddy.

 

Rolling into the hangar where aircraft are maintained was a new experience. He had never been there before and it was a bit scarey. There were planes in various states of repair, and even some that were beyond saving. Al was afraid, but he needed to find his daddy. With his APU nervously beginning to wind up, he crept forward and cleared his throat.

 

“Um, excuse me Mr. Cat, but do you know where my daddy is?” Bob Cat looked at him out of the corner of his windshield, and chuckled. “Well, well, what do we have here? Did you run away from home to join the Air Force son? I don’t think that your gun is quite big enough. Go home until you’ve grown into a proper jet.”

 

Al could tell that he wasn’t going to get any information out of Mr. Cat, so he continued into the hangar. He heard some laughing so he peeked around the corner and saw Mr. Cub. He seemed nice enough, so Al cautiously walked up to him and asked if he knew where Mr. Hawg was located. Piper Cub thought about it for a second and asked, “Would he have my propeller? I have laid it down somewhere and can’t remember where! If you find it, be a good lad and bring it back for me. ”

As he wheeled around Al tried finding somebody who would actually be able to help him. So far everybody had been less than helpful. Sitting up high, with a good view, Al spotted a graying gentleman who was enjoying his rest. “Excuse me, Mr. MiG, but have you seen my daddy? He looks like me, but a LOT bigger.” Just as MiG looked down at Al, Cami came from out of nowhere and buzzed behind the elderly gentleman. “I’m sorry that my little brother bothered you,” Cami said, “please excuse us.”

Cami took Al by his wing and led him away from Mr. MiG. “If dad catches us in here we’re both going to be in big trouble!” Grumbling, Cami started to drag Al out of the hangar when the heard a deep rumble. “Cami! Al! You boys get your fans over here right now!” They didn’t have to turn around to know who the voice belonged to.

 

Mr. Hawg had just received his new paint and he was not quite dry. Looking at him the boys knew that they were in trouble. He had that look in his eye that causes a son to tremble on his landing gear. Hissing through his teeth he said, “You two go back to the park until I come to get you. Cami, you were supposed to be keeping an eye on Al so I want you to do strafing runs as punishment until I say stop. Got it?!”

And so Cami ran his practice drills, one after another until finally he was allowed to stop. His father was trying to teach him a lesson about watching out for your brothers, whether on the ground or in the air. One other lesson that Mr. Hawg impressed upon both of his young sons, “When Hawgs fly, terrorists die.”

 

 

Thanks for putting up with my story. I know that the end fell a little flat, but I’ve run out of steam. lol. I promise that I will attempt to do better in the future. 🙂

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Memorial Day Poppies

Posted on May 29, 2012 by civilwarrose5

Yesterday I mentioned to Jay that it had been quite a few years since I had seen the guys at the store entrances selling the Memorial Day poppies and that I missed it. He had no idea what I was talking about. I explained about how the American Legion guys (at first I thought it was the VFW guys) used to stand with the money cans by the entrance to the grocery store in my town and as you donated money they would give you a poppy on a wire. I would then take it and hang it on my rear view mirror. That way every time I looked at it I would be reminded of the sacrifices made for me.

I then mentioned “In Flanders Fields” and the connection with that and the paper poppies that I miss. Again, Jay hadn’t a clue what I was talking about, so I pulled up the poem on Wikipedia. I guess that I just assumed that everybody had been taught the connection between the poppies given out on Memorial Day and the poem that was written by a World War I vet. If you are unfamiliar with the story please go take a look at the link that I posted. I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew why I chose that poem to post yesterday.

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Memorial Day

Posted on May 28, 2012 by civilwarrose5

In Flander’s Fields

by Lt Col John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

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