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The following is an e-mail I sent out to the troops I have e-mail addresses for. It's so important for us to let our troops know that we are behind them; it doesn't matter if we personally agree that America should be in Iraq or not. I have a lot of trouble getting folks to get behind my efforts to show our troops we love and appreciate them; so many just don't care. They think just slapping a sticker on their car that says "I support our troops" is enough, but I don't agree with that. Sure, put a sticker on your car; that's a start. But there are so many things you can do to show your support that may take a little more effort but are well worth it. I adopt troops from http://www.anysoldier.com, and send care packages, letters, cards, e-mails - I have four 3-ring binders full of letters and e-mails I've gotten back from our heroes, and have started a fifth one. That's the only thanks I need. Now, on to the e-mail.....you'll be surprised to find where my biggest co-supporter is from. (Since August '07, this kind-hearted soul has contributed a total of $650 toward care packages and postage for America's kids in the sandbox.) Read on:

I have a dear friend in Nova Scotia, Canada, named Glenn T. Banks, who is an ardent supporter of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, both Canadian and American troops. He donates funds in support of the Canadian forces serving in Afghanistan on a regular basis, and he also donates funds to help me with my efforts to support American forces all over the Middle East AO. He's a wonderful person, a genuine hero to me, with a heart as big as the whole outdoors, and generous almost to a fault. This gentleman has written a message that he asked me to send to my adopted troops, and the easiest way for me to share this message with the most troops possible is to e-mail it to those of you I have e-mail addresses for. Glenn is a man who keeps his promises, and the very least I can do is to return the favor and keep my promise to him that I would share his message. I have copied and pasted the message exactly as written by Glenn, and the message follows:

"I am a Canadian from Nova Scotia, Canada. I am a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and 25 year firefighter. I know the risks one takes to serve his fellow citizen and I have the highest respect and admiration for all of you who are now engaged in your battles to defend what we all take for granite, freedom. War is not popular with anyone but sometimes it has to be and will remain with us as long as there are dictators and fanatics who oppress and murder the innocent. I can't imagine your stress but admire your courage to the N th degree. May God be with you all and I pray you will all come home safe. From one warrior to another Maintaine Le Droit" RCMP motto for "Maintain the right." I leave you with a Nova Scotia saying which is a maritime saying of highest respect. "May the wind always be to your back." meaning, may all your journeys be safe ones and "long may your big jib draw." Meaning long life and happiness."

Respectfully forwarded to all my US troops

Glenn T. Banks - Nova Scotia , Canada. Ex-member of the RCMP and Ex-Captain, fire fighter.

Now, y'all, if a Canadian citizen can support our troops in such an admirable manner, there's no excuse for anyone in the good ol' U.S. of A not to do the same. Can I get an "Amen!" ?

We got our "economic stimulus" tax rebate last week, and stimulated the economy somewhat. I have a new professional model Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, a new Frigidaire dishwasher, 2 new pairs of bluejeans, and three new shirts. Jack bought some parts for his $100 truck - he'll have to tell ya what he got, because I'm just a dumb ol' girl and don't know beans about truck parts. I know he got 4 shocks - two adjustable air shocks for the rear - and he bought himself 3 pairs of new jeans. I spent $25 on care package goodies for one of our Soldiers in Iraq, bought two books of "forever stamps" before the postage goes up on May 12th, and packed a box full of items I already had at the house for one of our female Soldiers and sent it off. Jack bought me two more books of "forever stamps," as well, so I shouldn't run short on stamps for letters any time soon.

My back has been killing me the past few days. I went to the doctor, who x-rayed my back and said nothing was broken and it was probably just sprained muscles. She gave me prescriptions for pain medicine and muscle relaxers, and sent me to the physical therapy folks next door to her office. The therapist evaluated my back, and hooked me up to an electrical stimulation machine, with a nice heat pack, for 15 minutes. That felt soooooo goooood, but when she unhooked me and I sat up, it was right back to the pain, maybe a degree more than before. I go back for physical therapy tomorrow afternoon; I've been taking the pain med and the muscle relaxer but if anything, my back just hurts worse than it did before I went to the doctor. A few times at work today, when I went to stand up, I'd get a sharp shooting pain from the small of my back into my hip, and it almost put me on the floor a couple of times. If it doesn't feel any better in the morning than it does right now, I'm going to stay home on a heating pad. I'm starting to get pains in other parts of my body from tensing up in an effort to not hurt so bad in my back....something's gotta give!

I've joined the Tennessee Chapter of Patriot Guard Riders. I always thought you had to be a biker to join, but I went to their website and read their FAQ and their mission statement, and it turns out they accept "cagers" as well as bikers. (Car = cage, so those of us who don't have bikes are "cagers.") They do lots of projects; not just funerals for fallen heroes, but send-offs for deploying troops and welcome home missions as well. There's a lot more to PGR than I thought, and that's why I decided to join. Being so close to Ft. Campbell, there's bound to be an occasional mission that Jack and I can get in on. There's no dues, no membership cards or anything, but you can go to the PGR store and buy caps, shirts, pins, patches, flags, car magnets and such that identify you as a member of PGR.

Well, it's time to try out the new dishwasher, since Jack spent the evening installing it. So I'm gonna get up from here and watch the new toy go through its paces. I don't want to seem ungrateful...especially since all I've done since the first time we used the dishwasher that came with the house is bitch about the fact that it doesn't have a top sprayer, so there was always "ick" on the bottoms of all the glasses and cups when the wash cycle was done....**giggle** Y'all have a good'un, and I'll catch ya later, gators. (Okay, so I'm spoiled - ask my sisters; they'll tell ya all I have to do is want something and I get it. I prefer to think of it as "well loved," not "spoiled." ;~D Oh, yeah, and I'm also easily distracted by shiny objects.)

I always enjoy a trip to wherever - to Florida to visit Mom & Dad; to Illinois to visit brothers & sisters, in-laws and out-laws, nieces & nephews; to the mountains for a little relaxation and restoration....but it's also wonderful to get back home. My own shower, my own bed, my own everything, all there waiting for me.....aaaaahhhhhhhhhh....now, that's what I'm talkin' about!

We had a really great trip. Wednesday was travel day, of course, and we got there about a quarter after five that evening. We needed to run in to town (Sprawl-Mart, of course, since Greeneville doesn't have a Kroger store) to get a few things for breakfast and lunch, and once we got that done, we just sat out on the porch and listened to the peaceful sounds of nature - and somebody's mournful dog singing a sad song.

Thursday we drove to Margherite Falls and hiked one of the trails; we chose the one that follows the creek rather than the one that goes to the top of the falls - I'm out of shape, and that trail looked like it went straight up the mountain, right off the bat. It supposedly takes 2 hours to hike to the falls....naw, I've seen waterfalls before. The creek was beautiful, and we hiked an hour; got some nice pictures of nature, and nobody got eaten by a bear....nor did my heart explode, as I think it would have if we'd taken the high trail...

After we left the falls, we drove up to Round Knob picnic area. That road wound around and around the mountain, doubled back on itself a time or two, and it was quite a drive in that little RX8. I'm glad we didn't meet anybody coming down the mountain as we were going up, because on that little narrow winding road, somebody would have had to back up (or down, as the case may be) quite a ways before finding a wide spot to get out of the other person's way. I got some pictures of the surrounding area from different vantage points along the road to Round Knob; I'll have to post some of them. It was pretty awesome.

Friday we went into Greeneville and took a tour of Andrew Johnson's home. They just happened to be setting up a Confederate camp for a living history display the next day, so we made plans to go back for that on Saturday. The tour was interesting, and I got a lot of good pictures, which I already posted in their own album on my page. Learned a lot we hadn't known about President Andrew Johnson and his family, and as I listened, I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Man, that sounds like a familiar story - only the names have changed!" People are the same, even in different eras and different centuries....

Saturday, of course, we went back to Greeneville for the living history display. That was very neat. Several Confederate officers addressed the visitors and described their lives (and in the case of General Stonewall Jackson, his death...that was pretty interesting) and the battles they fought. We missed a few of the events they had scheduled because it rained pretty hard and we didn't care to stand out in the rain as chilly as it was. But what we did see and hear was pretty neat. Jack just happened to be at the point in the book he's reading (General Grant's Memoirs) that talks about the battle that took place near Greeneville, and the occupation of the town by both the Union and the Confederacy at different times during the war, so he really enjoyed the day in spite of getting cold and wet.

Evenings we sat on the porch and watched the fire; Friday night was too windy for a fire, so we watched a movie, "Night At the Museum." If you haven't seen it, you need to. What a hoot! Saturday evening we toasted half a million marshmallows....yum! During the slow part of the days we sat out on the porch and read our books. All in all, between the tourism and the resting and reading, we did have a most wonderful time. I want to go back......

Hey, y'all. We drove to Shiloh yesterday only to find a sign at the
entrance to the park that said "Weekend Demonstrations Cancelled."
D'oh!! (They'd had some pretty heavy rains over the past couple of
days, and it was a soggy mess.) However, having driven 150+ miles to
get there, we weren't about to turn around and go home with our tails
tucked. We had a cooler full of cold drinks, cold fried chicken, cole
slaw and baked beans, and other snacky things to sustain us throughout
the day, and had intended to be out all day, so we did what any
sensible person would do when handed a bag of lemons - we made
lemonade, of course!

We took the driving tour of the
battlefield; stopped at every marked stop on their map, as well as a
few places that weren't marked but looked interesting. Every marker
that explained who, what, when about the Battle of Shiloh that had
taken place on Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th in 1862 was
examined and read, and the ones that had a button to push and listen to
a narrative about the particular site were listened to with great
interest. We did a lot of walking, too. It was cold and windy, but we
didn't really care. We'd been to Shiloh once before, years ago, but it
was pouring down rain so we did the driving tour but never got out of
the car, so we missed all the interesting points at that time. This
time we saw a lot, and we'll go back again some day and catch things
that I'm sure we missed this time. The peach orchard figured big in the
battle, and they've just planted a new crop of peach trees, so it will
be neat to see it when the trees are mature and you can actually
picture the scene as it played out among the peach trees in bloom. (Did
you catch the dates above....Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th -
same date/day of the week in 2008 as in 1862?) Anyway, Jack took 99
pictures; he posted 34 of them on his page. I only posted the ones with
me/us in them - didn't wanna steal his thunder...**giggle**...

We
got home around 8:00 last night, so today I'm doing all the chores I
didn't get done yesterday because we were out gallivanting around and
goofing off. As I was wheeling the laundry cart from the bedroom to the
laundry room, Shawn looked up from the couch where he was sitting
watching DIY TV or the History Channel or whatever and asked "Does the
laundry ever stop?" I told him that until everybody started running
around naked, and not bathing and using so many towels and washcloths,
that I didn't see the laundry every slowing down, let alone
stopping...he allowed as how he couldn't see that happening any time
soon, and I went on with the laundry cart and left him to his
television. Apparently he did laundry yesterday while we were gone,
because when I opened the dryer to put in a load of wet jeans, it was
full of his jeans and t-shirts and boxers. (Why don't "kids" sort their
clothes before they wash them? Jini doesn't sort hers either....it's
not just a "Shawn" thing...Don't they realize the jeans will beat the
crap out of the lighter weight t-shirts and stuff, or that colors will
bleed and make your light colored stuff come out dingy? Or don't they
care? Hmmmmmm.......)

Peggy Jane says they're raising the
campground fees at Fox Ridge, from $15 a night to $20 a night, or $30 a
night on holiday weekends. And if you want to camp on holiday weekends,
you have to pay for three nights. Well, crap, we always go to stay and
visit Mom and Dad on holiday weekends, because we've got the holiday
off and don't have to use up vacation days (which are limited, of
course). So where it used to cost $45 for a weekend of camping, it's
going to cost $90, and gas is inching ever closer to $4.00 a gallon.
You know how the oil companies like to raise the gas prices around
holidays....We've already cut the budget as close as we can - I don't
get to send care packages to our troops any more, all I can do is write
letters and send e-mails. Groceries have gotten ridiculous, gas has
been ridiculous for awhile (and yes, Pitbull, I am aware of what you're
having to pay for a gallon of gas in Canada - but us folk south of the
border aren't used to it being so high, and just getting higher every
day.) Everything is costing more and more every day, and our
salaries/wages are staying right where they are. We might not get to go
to Fox Ridge for Memorial Day; we're going to have to start scrimping
and saving pennies to pay for a stay over Labor Day. We usually go up
for both, but if it has to be one or the other we'll go Labor Day,
because that puts us there for Dad's birthday, August 31st, and Paul
and Jennifer and the girls are planning on going up then as well. It'll
be tougher for the siblings who live close to the park to camp and
spend time with Mom & Dad, as it is. But we have to drive 300 miles
to get there, so we have to figure the cost of fuel into the equation
as well. Darn it!!

Well, I've got laundry going and a stack of
dirty dishes that need to be washed, and if I don't get up from here
and get busy, the boss might fire me. That could be bad news. LOL!!

   What Jack and I have planned for the weekend.... This weekend is the
anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, and there's going to be a "Living
History" reenactment at Shiloh National Battlefield. Shiloh is south
and west of us, almost to Mississippi, and we're going to Zoom Zoom on
down Saturday morning and catch as much of the action as we can.
There'll be field hospital demonstrations, infantry, cavalry, and
artillery demonstrations, Union and Confederate encampments, live music
from Civil War era - all kinds of neat stuff to see, hear, and
experience. We used to tour a lot of Civil War sites when the kids were
small, and we're going to get back into it, starting with Shiloh on
Saturday. It's an all day event, and carries on through Sunday. We'll
pack a cooler with lunch and something for supper, and cold drinks so
we won't have to spend any money on food - the only expense should be
gas for the trip there and back. "Fireball" gets better gas mileage
than "Stormy," so we'll be takin' the sexy little red car....LOL!
Anyway, I know for a fact we'll be taking the camera, and likely the
video camera too, so we'll probably be sharing some pretty neat pics if
I manage to take any good ones. Y'all take care, have a good'un, and
I'll type at ya later. Hugs ((((((Y'all))))))

On Saturday afternoon Jack and I took Rachel to Opry Mills to see Horton Hears a Who. It was just as good as I'd thought it was going to be; all three of us thoroughly enjoyed the movie. We promised Rachel we'd take her out to eat after the movie; Paul said anyplace that had chicken strips and french fries would be a safe bet - she'll actually eat those. She fell asleep in the car before we ever got out of the parking lot at Opry Mills, and Jack wondered if we should take her on home or go ahead and stop for supper and wake her up. We decided since we'd promised to buy her supper, it wouldn't be good if we took her on home then she woke up and got upset when she realized we hadn't. Can't have the granddaughter mad at us!! So we stopped at Sonic and she woke up once we got ready to order. We got her some Jumbo Popcorn Chicken and an order of fries and a Coke, and she was happy. Nobody had ever eaten in PaPa's car before...that was a first. Fortunately, no ketchup or soda was spilled, and everybody's food went where it was intended and not on the upholstery..... **giggle** Jack usually accuses me of eating with a chain saw, but I managed to eat a Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger (with no mayonnaise of course) without dropping a crumb. Now I suppose he'll be expecting that from me forever more......what was I thinking??

Oh, by the way....Jack has every Wednesday off. He works four 10-hour days a week. So on Wednesdays, he comes to pick me up at the office and we go out for lunch. There's not a lot to choose from in Ashland City, but it's nice not to have to bring my lunch one day of the week. He did some stuff around the yard this morning; hauled some scrap copper up to Clarksville and sold it, and when he came to get me for lunch we went to The Coffee Trail. It was good food, reasonably priced, and friendly service - we'll be going back there again. Anyway, on to my real story....When he got home, he decided to tinker under the hood of his $100 truck and do a little fine tuning on the carburetor and whatnot, and when he opened the toolbox he discovered all his tools were missing. Whoever got them left one crescent wrench and the tow chain in the bottom of the tool box. Several hundred dollars worth of mechanic tools were gone. Now, awhile back somebody stole our pressure washer, and a cordless saws-all (but they left the battery pack...duh...) So he's slightly pissed off. He called the sheriff's department and they sent someone out to file a report, and the deputy told him they'd had several thefts right near here. The chances of ever seeing his Multi-meter or his torque wrench or any of those other "gotta have if you're gonna work on a car" things are slim to none; they're likely cavorting around the pawn shop with the pressure washer and saws-all by now....some low-life scumbag crack-head (yes, we have those in Cheatham County, too) is probably off smoking a rock even as we speak, compliments of Jack's missing mechanic tools. Makes a body feel real secure....Oh, well, on to other things...

There's a young man here in Cheatham County named Joshua Roche who has a brain tumor, for the second time. He's had one surgically removed and underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy after the surgery, and has been doing very well for the past two years or so. He has to go in for CT scans every six months or so, and in his last scan the doctors discovered another tumor, in a different location from the original surgery site. Josh has a wife and three young children, and all this has been a little overwhelming, to say the least. He's a friend of Shawn, and his sister Li'Leahe and her husband Clay are also friends of Shawn.

I got an e-mail from Li'Leahe yesterday about a fund-raiser for Josh, with a link to purchase Pampered Chef products. A portion of the profits are to be donated to Josh and his family. Well, I e-mailed her back and asked if an account had been set up for people to donate at the local bank, because I'd much rather donate directly to them than have "a portion of the profits" from something I purchased that I might not necessarily need or want be donated. She said there wasn't "yet," so I asked for Josh & Julie's mailing address (They live a couple of miles down the road from us, and while we know where their house is, it doesn't necessarily follow that we'd know their mailing address...). I've got a good greeting card program on my computer, and I just made a card to send to them. Instead of spending my $40 monthly allowance on my Soldiers, I'm sending it to Josh and Julie in the card I made. I'll just write more letters....

The Relay for Life is coming up, and Josh's family and friends are forming a team to raise funds to fight cancer. There will be several different events leading up to the overnight Relay for Life, and I'll be donating to some of those events - Judge Maxey and the employees at the court house always do a "box lunch" deal, and everybody at the office orders one of the box lunches when they do, with all proceeds going to a specific team. I think they've adopted Josh this year. Anyway, whatever we can do to help them out, we'll do. He's just a kid; it doesn't seem right for him to be fighting for his life when he's got so much to live for. Proof positive, I guess, that life isn't fair.

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