BlogBirth Days!

Margo's Maid's Shadowlands' BlogBirthDay was earlier this week. Kae's Bloodnut Blog has been giving us the benefit of her red-headed wit and wisdom since a year ago today (or tomorrow, depending on which time zone you're in). Paco Enterprises is hosting a bash Memorial Day for Paco's anniversary day.

I am honored to be among them.

Dick Cheney is the MAN!

Did you hear his speech? I didn't - but I've read the transcript at The Weekly Standard. This man has my unending gratitude and support for just about any damn thing he decides to do. Including running for Sexiest Man Alive.

From the transcript:

For me, one of the defining experiences was the morning of 9/11 itself. As you might recall, I was in my office in that first hour, when radar caught sight of an airliner heading toward the White House at 500 miles an hour. That was Flight 77, the one that ended up hitting the Pentagon. With the plane still inbound, Secret Service agents came into my office and said we had to leave, now. A few moments later I found myself in a fortified White House command post somewhere down below.

There in the bunker came the reports and images that so many Americans remember from that day – word of the crash in Pennsylvania, the final phone calls from hijacked planes, the final horror for those who jumped to their death to escape burning alive. In the years since, I’ve heard occasional speculation that I’m a different man after 9/11. I wouldn’t say that. But I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.

To make certain our nation country never again faced such a day of horror, we developed a comprehensive strategy, beginning with far greater homeland security to make the United States a harder target. But since wars cannot be won on the defensive, we moved decisively against the terrorists in their hideouts and sanctuaries, and committed to using every asset to take down their networks. We decided, as well, to confront the regimes that sponsored terrorists, and to go after those who provide sanctuary, funding, and weapons to enemies of the United States. We turned special attention to regimes that had the capacity to build weapons of mass destruction, and might transfer such weapons to terrorists.

This is a MAN. I bet BarryO and his band of merry boys and girls leave puddles on the floor at the thought of Dick Cheney. No wishy-washy meandering, no dithering, no umm-err-ing, no doublespeak. A Real, Self-confident, Good-in-his-own-skin MAN. *sigh*

Mary Katherine Ham seems to agree:

"In rereading his speech, it's in this sentence:

Today, I’m an even freer man. Your kind invitation brings me here as a private citizen – a career in politics behind me, no elections to win or lose, and no favor to seek.

Hmmm, the very thing that brings our hero (Obama) to his knees is what makes Cheney ever more powerful by the day. Mwahahahahaha. It's almost as if he were taking this super-villain thing seriously. Be afraid, Barack. Be very afraid."

Gotta love it!

Also, a selection of Cheneykus from Jim Treacher, whom I first encountered at Tim Blair's place a few years back.

Remember, lefties
I'm not running for office
Your polls make me laugh

***

Hello, Jon Stewart
You cried on September 12
But haven't since: Why?

***

I'm bald and morose
I don't look good in swim trunks
Eight years, no attacks

***

Every time I sneer
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed faints
Try that one, Barack

***

The talent level in these blogs makes me happy to have made this my hobby! I LOVE that last one listed here, just LOVE it!

Don't Mess With Texas - even on campus, I hope

Got My Chief (ret.) home sick today, so don't know how much time I'll spend at the computer. He's sleeping MOST of the time, but the fever broke around 3:30, so we'll see if he gets hungry later. I'm taking the Pixie to the commissary to get a few things, too. And it's raining - yeah, that's a newsflash, eh?

I did find this article, though, you might want to check out. Texas seems to be fast-tracking a concealed-carry ON CAMPUS law. Way to go, TEXAS!

I just signed up for a free membership to the NRA, via a link from Merlin, my friend in Colorado. He's sent me another link I'll try to remember to post tomorrow which is fitting for Memorial Day weekend, I think. Oh, nevermind, here it is now - Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Organization. Thank you for both of those, Merlin.

Ok, off to the rest of the day, thanks for stopping by!

Marco Rubio!

More links at Paco Enterprises & The Other McCain -- He doesn't have the name recognition of our 'esteemed' Governor, but I sure like what I hear here:

Scobey, Montana

One of the places I lived when I was young was Scobey, Montana. It's in the FAR northeastern corner of Montana, near the Saskatchewan and North Dakota borders. I spent all of 6th grade there. My dad worked for the phone company, my mum taught 4th grade at the school. I was in Girl Scouts, for the only time in my life (spent a year in Brownies in Malta, Montana).

A couple summers ago, I flew to Denver, rented a car, and spent a couple weeks wandering in places I had never driven - because I was too young to drive when we lived there. I found my way to Scobey, which is still a very small town on a very big prairie where the wind blows...all the time. I stopped in to talk with the woman at Bev's Sewing Center. Beverly Lund is a friendly, talented woman. She helped refresh some of the memories I had and we have continued an online friendship, too. I recently ordered some fabric from her to do a project I've had on my list for quite some time (arrival of the Pixie set things back a bit, but we're getting there).

Anyway, the point of this post is to alert you to the new links in my blogroll. One is for flannels4baby.com, where you can buy baby-print flannels and quilting cotton and other supplies at VERY reasonable prices. Read the testimonials if you don't believe me! The other link is for Donovan Slippers, a footwear item made in Scobey, Montana that is going to be my favorite piece of footwear once I get around to ordering some. Bev has a blog, too, where she takes readers through the steps of making a quilt - is that cool, or what!

Thanks for your time and hard work, Bev, and the news you send from a place I will never forget.

UPDATE...but more of a revision, I suppose...
The year we lived in Scobey, it snowed a couple of feet - on the first of May!

I'm it - with thanks to Paco, of course!

Paco has seen fit to tag me for "eight random things about myself." I try NOT to spend a lot of time thinking about myself, so this has taken a little while, Paco - I hope you enjoy it!

1. I was born in Montana on the anniversary of the day Montana became a state. I think it's the most beautiful state in the Union, and not because of the mountains. I'm a prairie cat, y'see, and wide open spaces covered in sky are my idea of heaven.

2. I attended first grade at Bowdoin School outside Malta, Montana. It was a one-room school, with one teacher, Mrs. Beyer. She and I lived in town & she drove me to school every day. I adored her. She'd had my grandfather as a teacher when SHE was in school. She started with 8 of us at the beginning of the year, till another family moved to a farm down the road, which gave us 10 students at the end of the year. The Stiles kids sometimes rode their horse to school & would take me for rides at recess & lunch. I went to see the place a couple years ago & it made my heart ache at the horrid condition it was in. It was the best year of all my school years.

3. I spent over a week in hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada when I was 13, while they ran every test they could think of (EXCEPT a pregnancy test, I think). I was about 3 1/2 feet tall and I weighed in at 55 lbs. And had been that same size since I was 8 or 9, but now my skin looked almost mummified, the hair on my back was 2" long, and the hair on my head was the texture of straw AND it was falling out. I was also cold & tired all the time. Diagnosis was hypothyroidism and I've been taking medication for it ever since. I grew 6 inches in the first 8 months after I was released. But I still never made it to being 5 feet tall.

4. I can make gravy. GOOD gravy. The secrets, I have learned over the years, are that if you use flour you must 'cook' it so the flour taste goes away AND it takes TIME to make decent gravy.

5. I thread needles and deal cards left-handed.

6. I don't like music or movies much. Some of them speak to me at certain times, but mostly I'm kinda *meh* about the whole "art" scene. I couldn't act my way out of a wet paper bag and I have little or no musical ability. I listen to talk and sports-talk when I listen to the radio, and I watch almost no television unless it's cooking, gardening, D-I-Y or sports.

7. I tried to go to school to learn interior design, but couldn't seem to make it a priority (divorce and fear were further up on the list), so ended up dropping out. Now I do my own interior design with far fewer 'rules' than the classes would've had me learn.

8. To keep with Paco's theme, I do enjoy detective fiction a LOT, and wanted to be a private eye a long time ago. But not so much Miss Marple, more like Hercule Poirot (without the mustache) when I was feeling mellow or Mike Hammer when I wanted to fight. Lovely Daughter used to accuse me of spying or being psychic because of things I'd know about what goes on in my house when I'm not here...because I seem to pick up on little clues and notice things are added, rearranged or missing. Being Detective Mom was much tougher on my heart than being Grandma Daycare.

There you are, Paco. And of course, once I start thinking of things about me, NOW I can come up with probably another 8 or 10...but I won' t bore any of my several readers with more just yet! I will, however, tag SwampWoman, Kae, and Rodrigo!

Cool and rainy here in NEFL, think I'll make barley vegetable soup for My Chief (ret.). Thanks for stopping by!

Shadowlands is ONE!

Go visit Margo's Maid in the Shadowlands - you won't regret it. Being one of the mainstays of Blair Nation, the commentary is witty and original...even if it IS borderline slanderous! Love it, Margos, thanks for an interesting year!

And, like the slowpoke I've always been, I'm finally getting around to linking her here. Sheesh.

And in the news from Montana...

...we find this little thing from Helena...I'd be on the lookout for a silver-haired gent wearing a white linen suit...

In the biggest news from Montana since the Unabomber and Ted Turner, it seems I may already be part of War Between The States: Part II - States' Rights. It's an AP article in the SanFran Chronicle...which puzzles me in the first place, but what-the-heck. You can read the text of the bill here, after scrolling through the preachifying.

Bit of a soggy morning here in NEFL, and with hubby home for the day, I may not get back on here much, so y'all go make it a good day, and thanks for stopping by!