Sergeant OZ, Army Nurse

Chris Sligh

2007-03-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Keep Chris in prayer. He is on an amazing journey, and will go far. Pray he keeps God near, and first. Check out A.I. for his progress.

To Kill an American, An Australian Dentist's Answer to a Radical Advertisment

2006-01-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Written by an Australian Dentist...

To Kill an American

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan. "

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as Native Americans. An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.

These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself.

Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.

Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

The Conversion of Robert Lake

2006-01-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at "Bush Poetry" or verse outside song lyrics. I tried fitting it to a melody, but I think I will just leave it.
Enjoy
SSG OZ

The Conversion of Robert Lake

I was driving on the interstate about four hours after dark
Doing ‘bout eighty miles per hour in my eighteen wheeler truck.
Just then my lights went out and suddenly I couldn’t see,
So I prayed Dear God I need you now to make a believer out of me

Just then a bolt of lightning lit up that southern sky,
Shooting off fireworks like it was the fourth day of July.
I could see for miles around and a truck stop to my right
So I pulled on over and caught my breath and fixed those pesky lights

Now I thought that this was just a coincidence of the normal kind
And that he lightning was only just playing tricks with my sleepy mind
So I shrugged it off and drove like I didn’t have a care
And after another thousand miles, I forgot all about that prayer.

About midnight on that same interstate, I came upon a pass,
Three thousand feet straight down on the southern side, the road shiny as glass
I pumped my brakes but they gave out, heck we were rolling free
So I prayed Dear God you don’t have much time, to make a believer out of me

I’ve never been religious since I moved away
But I can still hear those words my Grandma used to say
Robert Lake, don’t you forget what Jesus did for you
And he will help you when you pray if you ask him to

Right then I was praying hard as my heart skipped a beat
Pounding hard on the brakes, useless beneath my feet
Suddenly to my left came a familiar sight
A bolt of lightning lit up the sky and the mountain piled in white

The crack of thunder split the air ringing like a shot
And with a roar that wall of snow, shook loose and took off
Right in front of my truck as I ploughed through wide and deep
It slowed my descent to a crawl and then I began to weep

I slid out from my truck shaken by my flight,
When I saw a man floating in the air his robes the purest white
A voice like honey gently spoke as I fell down to my knees
He said, Robert Lake how many miracles will it take, for you to believe in me?

Poems of Tears II; More of Emily's Poems

2005-12-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Christmas
This is her first christmas without him.
There is an empty spot at the table.
Family fall into silence as their eyes fall on the chair.
Nervous coughing,
No one knows what to say.
She weeps silently,
They turn away.
A single smile stands among them,
His five year old girl.
They ask why she is smiling and she says,
"Dad's having Christmas with Jesus.
I bet he's saving us cake."
The crowd break into smiles,
Their happiness returned.
Her mother sits at her chair,
Watches her little girl.
She dries her tears and a smile lights her face.
She whispers to herself,
"I hope it's chocolate."

Uniform
Tears of sorrow litter a dead man's coffin.
Cries of anguish are their lasting song.
No one moves,
As the dirt piles higher.
An eight year old girl,
saying good-bye.
Dressed in black,
Her eyes a contrast to the sea of darkness.
Bright blue.
Bright with tears for a man she barely knew.
Always gone.
Never there.
All she had ever seen was a man in a uniform.
His picture on her wall.
Her mother's tales had filled her head.
She belived he was invincible.
She belived he was coming home.
He did... in a body bag.
She remembered the day,
so clear in her young mind.
A sunny afternoon,
outside on the steps.
A grave mailman,
a letter in hand.
Then came her mother's tears.

Across time and space stands a man and his wife,
They sit cold and still in their living room.
A picture on the wall.
A young woman in a uniform,
she can't be over twenty.
Her ashes are in the clay pot next to the photo of the smiling girl.
Her parents kiss it goodnight.
Not a sound is uttered except for the beats of two broken hearts.

All across our country,
their cries of sorrow echo in our ears.
But you close your hearts.
Can you not hear them?
Can you not see the words written on the stones.
R.I.P
Rest in Peace.
The uniform they once wore proudly,
is the cushion for their bones.
So many die.
So many weep.
A loved one is always left behind.
Why?

Lions of Munich Take flight; Christmas 2005

2005-12-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

A Photo tour of the city's lion's population.

Enjoy

SSG Oz

Lions of Munich

2005-12-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent an excellent weekend with Daniel (remember him from branding?). He had invited me for Christmas with his family in Munich.

The travel down was via DB, the German Train System. I spent about 6 hours travelling, shuttling across Deutchland on a variety of different trains, finally arriving to see Daniel's familiar grin welcoming me to his city.

His family speak pretty good English, so we got along fine. We spent alot of time talking about Daniel in Montana, and then switching back to various topics, including music, war, Australia, wine and life in general.

Harriet his Mom, and his Dad Armin are both Judges in the "Palace of Judges". They showed me around where they worked, pointing out various patches of history, particulary the missing buildings tha were destroyed during the last world war. It seems very clear that Germans are proud of their heritage and want to be remembered more than just Hitler, and are very reluctant to want to go to war again.

I saw a great part of the city from the seat of a bicycle, keeping up with Daniel on his single gear "girl's bike", while I rode his Dad's more modern version. We later ran around the river section of Munich, enjoying the quietness of after Christmas, trunching through half melted snow and swan droppings. Christmas itself was both familiar and totally different. We went to hear Daniel sing in the choir at the local church where I was introduced to several neighbors and friends against the toiling clamor of the bells, ringing for us to worship. I was suprised to see lots of young folk who had at one time or other ventured off on an exchange of their own, from countries such as Australia, France and Iowa.

The service was familiar, in that it involved hyms, a Christmas tree and a message. I could only tell you that it was about Gott (God) and involved Christmas. The language was sometimes a barrier, but mostly people were very polite in explaining the words to me. I was happy sometimes to just blend into the woodwork at times, and let people forget that I was English speaking, and to absorb the German language through osmosis.

The rest of the trip was equally fun and great. To cut along story short I went with the family to a Hungarian Operette courtesy of the great Ponkie, renound movie critic; had caviar and potato salad and sausages for Christmas Dinner; received lots of chocolate and cookies, and drank buckets of good wine. I got them a smoked Alaskan salmon and some Aussie wine for Christmas.

All in all, I value the memories and look forward to building more as our paths cross in the future. Thankyou Armin, Harriet, Lion, Daniel, Marie, and Lawrence, and Ponkie too. You enriched my memories of Germany and renewed my spirit with your friendship and kindness.

Oz

Germans Don't Lie, Smoking Kills

2005-12-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Now this is a Health Warning
SSG Oz

Holiday Ball La-De-Dah

2005-12-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Christmas Ball 2005

ISIS

Ninemagin Mates

AMY

Friends from Work

Brandi, Bettina, Melissa, Isis, Jo

Stephanie Louise and David

Daniel and Riann

Melissa and Chad

ME

Cop Quotes

2005-12-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

The following were taken off of actual police car videos around the country.
Enjoy
SSG Oz

"Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch out after you wear them awhile."

"Take your hands off the car, or I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."

"If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."

"Can you run faster than 1,200 feet per second?In case you didn't know, that is the average speed of a 9 mm bullet fired from my gun."

"So you don't know how fast you were going. I guess that means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?"

"Yes, Sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh .. did I mention that I am the shift supervisor?"

"Warning! You want a warning? O.K., I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."

"The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"

"Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy, and step in monkey poop."

"Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."

"In God we trust, all others we run through NCIC."

"Just how big were those two beers?"

"No sir we don't have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want."

"I'm glad to hear the Chief of Police is a good personal friend of yours. At least you know someone who can post your bail."
And the best one . . .

"You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here."

Army Cartoons

2005-12-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

Click on the cartoons to enlarge them

These are pretty Cool!
SSG Oz

Another Round of "Words to Live By"

2005-12-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
* Never buy a car you can't push.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once
* We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box."
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

STEER WARS: The Saga of Noche the run-away steer

2005-12-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Emily chose to show a steer this year. This is a photo essay on moving a steer.
Enjoy
SSG Oz

Moving Noche to the house paddock

The struggle

Noche wins round one

Caught again

A moment of prayer

Round two, crossing the bridge
Noche does the Harry Holt

House paddock? No we meant the creek paddock.

Welcome to Shannon's House; Shannon's New Blog

2005-12-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Shannon is getting into the action. Stay tuned for pictures, comments and links from Shannon's House.

Enjoy

SSG Oz

Poems of Tears; A Collection of Poems by Emily on Life, Death and War

2005-12-18T04:07:00.000-07:00

Winter
Slowly as the snowflakes fall,
yet another bird makes one last call.
Snowladen branches waving in the breeze,
The faded grass waiting for the freeze.
Sunlight fading,
Darkness growing,
The church bells have ceased ringing.
Cold winter nights, curled by a fire,
Our need to be close is growing dire.
Every book, twice, we've read,
We're tired of laying in bed.
Once it's started, we wish it only to stop.
Where hats adorn every top.
Cars and slush,
Snowballs of mush,
Voices carry through the hush.
No birds singing,
Only sleigh bells ringing.
Winter comes and goes,
But we feel it through our toes.

What is Death?
Death is a blessing and a curse.
full of nothing like a hole in a broken heart,
and full of everything like a woman's purse.
Death may find you wherever you go.
No one can hide,
No one is safe.
But safe from what?
What is death?
A blessing the old and sick,
Who have waited so patiently.
A curse to the young and sound,
Who have so much to live for.
Death is a tool to the evil,
and a puzzle to the good.
What is death?
It is a cycle,
As is life.
Moon and Sun.
Night and Day.
Good and Evil
Water and Land
Light and Dark
Life and Death.
It will go on forever,
and forever we die.

Dogs
You hurry,
but it comes faster.
You fall,
but they don't stop.
Your small band of seventeen doesn't have time to help a child.
They're running for their lives.
You hide among the roots of an old tree,
waiting desperately for the end.
Heavy breathing is coming closer.
You close your eyes,
waiting.
The hot breath is on your face.
You open your eyes.
It's a dog,
cold and alone.
You hug it to yourself,
Relief flooding your veins.
You hear gunshots and the screams of those who left you behind.
Once again you wait for death.
But the soldiers move away.
The dog has saved your life.

It is both neat and scary to read these poems. Neat to see Emily changing, and scary to see Emily changing. I like how she puts feeling into tragedy and death, two sad occurences that we will all one day face.
Enjoy
SSG Oz

Seasons Greetings From all our Pets

2005-12-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

Enjoy your Christmas, click here
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=0279309843
and follow the instructions.
SSG Oz

The Nanny; Chapter two; By Emily

2005-12-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sara quietly walked behind Daniel, studying the small eleven year old. Daniel could feel her eye on the back of his head. Daniel decided to break the silence and put a little fear into his new nanny. "So I take it you don’t know the stories?" Sara shrugged. "Guess not. Care to tell me?" Daniel smiled a sinister smile. "One time I let lose all the bats in this zoo, right into my nanny’s hair." Sara giggled and put a hand over her mouth. Daniel stared at her. This was going to be hard. "The other time I pushed one of my nannies of the ride and she fell into a pond." Sara was shaking with laughter, while Daniel fumed. "Why is she laughing?" he though to himself. Daniel decided to be quiet, lest she think he was trying to make her smile."

Outside in the garden, Daniel was climbing a tree and Sara was sitting not to far away reading her book. After 6:oo chimed for Diner, Sara stood and made her way to the tree. "Time to go, Danny." Daniel frowned. "I’m not coming down. Ever." Sara shrugged. "Ok." She went over to chat with the Gardener, Matt. Daniel watched her go, surprised. After about twenty minutes up in the tree, Daniel was getting hungry. Hopping down, he walked over to Sara. She looked at him surprised. "Thought you weren’t coming down." Daniel shrugged, "guess not." Inside Daniel was furious. What was wrong with this girl? What would it take to send her packing? Sara and Daniel made their way into the dining room, luckily, Mr. Tynerial was late also and had not missed them. Daniel watched Sara carefully. Plans already forming in his mind ..........

"Guess where we’re going." Said Sara, pushing Daniel into the limo. Daniel growled, arms crossed, "Where?" Sara beamed happily. "The Army Base!" Daniel rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Sara hugged him warmly. "It’s so cool!" Daniel watched the scenery from the window. He was used to hugs now. It had been almost a week since Sara had become his nanny and nothing he had tried worked. Frogs in her food, fake bugs in her hair, faking his own death to scare her, nothing work! You name it, Daniel had tried it. He had even placed a huge bird spider in her bed. She hadn’t screamed, she hadn’t killed it, she called it the cutest thing she had even seen and now "Muffin" had her very own cage on Sara’s dresser. Daniel was tired and had decide to behave on this trip... to give a false sense of peace, Daniel mused. Finally the limo pulled up into the Base. Sara and Daniel, now know as Danny, walked up to the front desk. Danny could hear the limo pulling away. "I.D. Please." Stated the officer. To Danny’s surprise Sara pulled out an Army I.D. card. After being checked she hurried into the base, Danny in tow. "How do you have an Army I.D.?" Danny asked Sara. Sara didn’t answer, instead she ran up and hugged a man. Even Danny could tell that this was the General. "Dad!" cried Sara happily. The General hugged Sara back. "Hello honey. Where’s your friend?" Sara pulled Danny forward. Danny shook his hand, Danny’s father and the General had met before. "Say, Aren’t you Daniel Tynerial?" Danny nodded. "Wow Sara, you didn’t tell me that this was your client." Sara nodded, beaming. "He’s so nice! He gave me a pet spider!" The General raised an eyebrow at Danny. Danny looked at the floor sheepishly.Sara didn’t notice, "Come on Danny! Paint ball is waiting." Danny stared at Sara. "Paint Ball?!!?"Sara smiled and pulled Danny with her over to gear up.After three hours of the best field trip Danny had ever been on, Sara and Danny both called it quits. It was about four in the afternoon and after putting away their gear, Danny was ready to sit down. But when he reached the parking lot there was no limo to be seen. Only a small, blue car. When Sara jumped in, Danny was even more surprised. Sara turned to look at him. "Well, Get in." Danny slowly opened the front door and slid into the seat. Out on the road, Danny asked Sara, "Where are we going?" Sara smiled and pointed at the large D.Q. sign for Dairy Queen. Sara pulled the car into the parking lot and they both went inside for ice cream. They took a seat back in behind and sat back to talk. "What’s your favorite color, Danny?" Danny thought for a moment. "Red. Yours?" Sara laughed. "Blue." Danny thought about it and finally said, "It goes nice with your hair." Sara held up a lock of her long, blond hair. "Thank you." It was a long drive back and the only thing they could do was talk because Sara’s radio was broken."Tell me about you, Sara." asked Danny after they discussed the weather. Sara smiled and said, "When my dad was in the Army we moved a lot. Probably eight or nine time in my whole life. The last place was Montana. In a small town near Ronan. That’s where I finished high school. After that I went to college to become a artist. Right after a graduated my mother died and my Dad moved here. Since I was unknown to the creative world I moved too and got a job with you." Danny sat listening to her story feeling extremely guilty. He had always not cared about any nanny he had before but looking back he realized that maybe they too had a background. They pulled up to his Father’s mansion and walked inside. "Night Danny. I’ve got to go feed Muffin." Danny nodded and crept to his bedroom for it was almost eight and Danny had to get up early tomorrow.

Christmas Cartoon Collection I

2005-12-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

As the Editor of this blog, I get to direct the often bizzare humor that prevails through these pages. Nothing too mushy here, though I occasionally have the odd sentimental moment. Here are a collection of pretty funny, and yes, bizzare Christmas Cartoons that though are not Gary Larson, are not too shabby.
Enjoy
SSg Oz

My German Family

2005-12-04T03:52:00.000-07:00

Over the last 12 years we have made friends with alot of German visitors to the Ranch. Here are some of the members of our extended family, which I hope to visit again before I leave.

Enjoy SSG Oz

Daniel on the Farm

Tim and his folks

Judith and her great family

THE NANNY - Chapter one A Story by Emily

2005-12-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

CHAPTER ONE:
Daniel Tynerial stood atop the fake, plastic hill of the amusement park ride called Army Shells. In the ride toy soldiers shot at each other with small guns. Daniel was on the ride with his 50 year old nanny, Ms. Kendal, when he climbed up onto the ride’s bank and grabbed one of the guns and started shooting the other toys. This was extremely childish, something a five year old does because he doesn’t know better. That is true, the only problem is the Daniel is eleven years old and knew he would get in trouble. In fact that is why he did it.

Hours later, in the Park’s security room, Daniel sat on a bench waiting for his father who was talking to Ms. Kendal. Neither voice sounded happy. Suddenly, after a loud boom from a slammed door, Daniel’s father walked calmly into the room. Mr. Tynerial’s face held no emotion, yet Daniel could tell his father was angry. "This is the twentieth nanny you have managed to cause to quit. "I’m very disappointed in you Daniel." Daniel shrugged and looked down at the floor. "As if that’s not enough, this is the twelfth theme park you’ve been kicked out of!" Daniel didn’t move or talk. After five minutes of silence, Mr. Tynerial opened the door. "The limo is waiting. Don’t wait for me. I have to cover this up." Daniel quietly rose and walked out to his father’s limo. Daniel’s father was the owner and head of a huge and successful computer company and never had the time for his only son. After Daniel’s mother died in a car wreck, his father and Daniel grew more and more apart..................................................................

Daniel sat, swinging his legs over the beautiful pond, outside his father’s huge, million dollar mansion. A loud clang caught his attention to the front gate. A young, woman in her early twenties walked to the double doors of the mansion. Figuring her to be a business partner or something he ignored her and continue to skip rocks. He was only mildly surprised to be called into his father’s study, but wasn’t fazed by the young woman from earlier in the room also. "Daniel, meet your new nanny." Daniel stared at the young girl in front of him. "Was he kidding?" Daniel thought to himself, "She’s young enough to be my sister!" Out loud, he said, "Hello, Miss...?" the woman smiled. " Sara Belnet." Daniel nodded. "Well Miss Belnet..." Sara cut him off. "Sara. Just Sara." Daniel stared at her for a moment. No one had ever asked him to call them by their first name before. "Ok...Sara. I hope you like it here." And with that he turned and went to wait in the hall. Of course all that "hope you like it here" junk was for his father. He planed to scare off this nanny as fast as all the rest. Daniel sat down and listened to the two talking in the next room. "You realize, Miss Belnet, that you are taking on a big job here." Sara’s answer was almost directly after that. "How much trouble could one boy be?" Daniel smiled and said softly to himself, "Famous last words."

Mission Mountains at Sunset

2005-11-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

Our Back Yard

Texas Chilli Meatballs AKA Swedish Meatballs

2005-11-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Three Ingredients only for this Receipe

1 large container Picante Sauce Mild-Medium
1 reg size grape jelly
3-4 packets frozen pre-made meatballs

Method is Bachelor proof

Put all ingredients in large pan, bring to boil, simmer for 40 minutes. Cool. Reheat next day and serve with rice.

Great for last minute potlucks. Best flavor on second day, not so grapey.
Enjoy
SSG Oz

Recent Pictures of Me

2005-11-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that my most recent posts have been a little short on pictures, so to rectify this and to give you something to add to your screensavers, I am submitting some recent pictures of yours truely.
Enjoy,
SSG Oz

2 Lanes, or 4? SSG Oz, Funny Bone

2005-11-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

The jokes keep coming. When you think that you have heard all the best ones out there, someone sends you another that makes you laugh. This was sent today from Lois, a dilligent sender and collector of jokes and inspirational spam.
Enjoy
SSG Oz

2 Lanes or 4?

A man walking along a California beach was deep in prayer. Suddenly, the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, God said, "Because you have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish." The man said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over there any time I want." God said, "Your request is very materialistic. Think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific. The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for ME to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify Me." The man thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "God, I wish that I could understand my wife I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy." God replied, "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

How to Survive in Texas

2005-11-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

For those who have been reading my blog, I took a few days off. I came across this e-mail from my friend in Texas, Mike. The funny thing about this is that most of it is true.
Enjoy
SSG OZ

o Armadillos sleep in the middle of the road with all four feet in the air.
o There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Texas. *STANTON TEXAS TO BE EXACT!
o There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Texas, plus a few no one has ever seen
before.
o Raccoons will test your melon crop and let you know when they are ripe.
o If it grows, it will stick you. If it crawls, it will bite you!
o Nothing will kill a mesquite tree.
o There are valid reasons some people put razor wire around their house.
o A tractor is NOT an all terrain vehicle. They do get stuck.
o In West Texas the wind blows at 90 mph from Oct 2 till June 25; then it stops totally until
October 2.
o "Onced" and "twiced" are words.
o "Coldbeer" is one word.
o People actually grow and eat okra.
o Green grass DOES burn.
o When you live in the country you don't have to buy a dog. City people drop them off at your
front gate in the middle of the night.
o The sound of coyotes howling at night only sounds good for the first few weeks.
o When a buzzard sits on the fence and stares at you, it's time to see a doctor.
o "Fix-in-to" is one word.
o There ain't no such thing as "lunch". There is only dinner and then there's supper.
o "Sweetened ice tea" is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you are two.
o "Backwards and forwards" means I know everything there is to know about you.
o "Jeet?" is actually a phrase meaning, "Did you eat?"
o You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until
you're done or it's too dark to see.
o You measure distance in minutes.
o You can switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
o Stores don't have bags, they have sacks.
o You will see a car with the engine running in the Wal-mart parking lot with no one in it, no
matter what time of the year.
o All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, a vegetable or a varmit.
o You install security lights on your! house and garage and leave both unlocked.
o You carry jumper cables for your own car.
o You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" are.
o You only have four spices in your kitchen: Salt, Pepper, Catsup, and Tabasco.
o You think everyone from north of Dallas has an accent.
o Sexy underwear is a tee shirt and boxer shorts.
o The local papers covers national and international news on one page but requires six pages to
cover Friday night high school football.
o The first day of deer season is a national holiday.
o You know which leaves make acceptable toilet paper.
o You find 100 degrees a "tad" warm.
o All four seasons are: Almost summer, summer, still summer and Christmas.
o You know whether another Texan is from East, West, North, or South Texas as soon as he
opens his mouth.
o Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past-time known as "goin Wal-Martin" or "off to Wally-world." o You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chili weather.
o A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola, or pop ... It's a Coke regardless of brand or flavor.
o Baby outfits and bibs, say "I messed in Texas".

Family Rules and Expectations

2005-11-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

lot of people say you shouldn't discipline your kids, but I say it is good to give them rules, so that they can learn the consequences of good behavior verse bad behavior. We sat down as a family and made a list of expectations that were fair and gave them consequences if those expectations were not met. We are fair parents. Kids can't be perfect all the time, but at the same time we are not doing them a service if we don't teach them how to function properly in our family as well as in our society. Think of all the people in prison right now who somewhere in their life made a poor decision or series of bad judgements that ultimately led to their incarcination. Rules have their place but ultimately it comes down to our choice wether we obey them, and if we are willing to accept the outcome that will follow.

Family Expectations

1. BODY
A. Shower every day by 8:00 p.m.
B. Extra time (beyond the regular one hour allotted to you) on any electronic device can only be earned by fresh air and exercise. A half hour walk = one hour of earned time, etc.
C. Clean your bedroom and bathroom. Inspections will be on Sunday nights.
D. In bed by 9:00 p.m. on weekdays, or 10:00 p.m. on weekends.
E. Out of bed at least 45 minutes before you have to leave. Manage your own time. If you are still in bed past the set time, a glass of water will be poured on you (you must wash your own sheets).

2. MIND
A. Have a good attitude
-no excuses when you are in trouble (just admit you were wrong and take responsibility for your actions)
-no grumbling
-no angry looks
*Silence is good.
B. Finish your homework
-finish homework right after school every day
-bring home everything you need to work on, plus assignment sheets and journal
C. Grades
-a "C" or below means no friends and no privileges until the grades are all at least "B"s
-a "D" or "F" will require additional, more drastic measures (to be decided later)
D. No music or lights on in bedrooms after 9:00 p.m.
E. Treat your siblings with respect. Absolutely no jokes or sarcastic remarks at their expense.

3. RESPONSIBILITY
A. Chores must be done daily. If you don't know your chore, ask.
B. Animals must be fed before you are fed.
C. Extra chores may be assigned on weekends. (See 2A above)

4. OBEDIENCE
A. Obey everyone in authority over you without question.
B. Be truthful at all times.

Family Plan

1. Each day you will get a checkmark for any infractions to the above expectations.
2. Checkmarks cost 50 cents.
3. If you have 3 days during the week with at least 1 checkmark, you will spend Saturday without any electronic devices or friends.
4. If you have 5 days during the week with at least 1 checkmark, you will spend Sunday the same way.
5. No earning back privileges. (See 2A above - get over it and drive on)
6. Saturday is the first day of the week for this. (A checkmark on the weekend counts for the next week)
7. We will try not to yell at you when you are in trouble, but you will still be punished. :-)
8. Family game nights are on Saturdays, all are expected to attend.
9. If we have a family mealtime, you are expected to be there on time.
10. The above rules may be suspended upon occasion, with advance permission. If our answer is no, see 2A above.

Poem: Christmas in Australia

2005-11-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

Christmas in Australia
In the Southern Hemisphere,
We'll celebrate under the sun
There'll be no snow down here.

The kids arise with starry eyes
The presents 'round the tree,
Excitement on their faces
Oh what a joy to see.

Breakfast time it's ham and eggs
Traditional morning meal,
Good on you mum oh what a feeling
How do you feel.

We all get dressed in Sunday best
It's time to go and visit,
A little burp and my three year old
Says "that's not manners is it ?"

We pack our bags with aeroguard
Our block out and akubra,
We're off to see the Grandparents
Who live up at Maroubra.

The sun the surf and beach brolly
And the esky will not fail 'ya,
Spend Christmas Day out in the sun
With your family in Australia!
~author unknown~

I found this neat little Aussie Christmas site, which gives a pretty good overview of Christmas in Australia. Worth the look for the curious.
SSG OZ

Have You Sent Your Christmas Cards Out Yet?

2005-11-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

I remember as a young lad when every Christmas my Mum would string out a hundred or so cards around the walls, from all our friends and family. I remember seeing pictures of snowmen, Sleighs, Holly and Snow Flakes, and thinking it seemed so foreign. Little did I know that one day I would be living in the mountains, waking up to Christmas with snow piled up to the door, and making snowmen and snow angels with the kids, as our noses froze. I even have a sister in law (SIL) named Holly. Back to Australia. One of our famous Aussie cards showed Santa wearing shorts and boots, (see picture to left). Do people still send Christmas (Chrissy) Cards? We usally try and send a newsletter or a family photo, but it is usually well into the New Year before it gets sent out.

It seems that in this e-mail age that people are more likely to send e-mails then post via snail mail, so as a back up for you busy folks out there, I will send a link to a free e-christmas card site from Nurnberg, the home of the largest Christmas store in Germany. It is in both German and English, and I have included a few pics as well. Stay tuned for more Chrissy Blogs, as the season progresses. (This feature is dedicated to my friend CJ, one of the world's living dinky di Santas)

Enjoy
SSG Oz

Congratulations to the arrival of Rose Jessica

2005-11-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

This is an Announcement of the safe arrival of Rose Jessica, born on Sun 23rd Oct, weighing in at 8lb, 7.5oz, and length 52cm, to her proud parents Kate and Graeme, and her big sister Amy.

Lots of love from us all.

How to Build a House; A Slightly Different Twist

2005-11-02T01:12:00.000-07:00

Alot of people have commented on our little house, and are suprised when we tell them that part of it was built as a modular home in Idaho, and then brought over and placed on a daylight basement. The whole house from start to finish took less then 13 weeks to build and for us to move in, and is as good and we think better than a stick built house. The crane operators said that we had the rolls royce of modular houses, based on the weight far exceeding other houses they move, plus other builders have said that the type of material used and the specs are the same for non-manufactured houses. Us? Well we just like it because it fits us, our budget and it doesn't look like a shoe box with doors. The best part of this is that we got to design everything from scratch (thanks Scratch), and even added a laundry chute from our bedroom to the laundry down stairs. Here is a photo essay of the steps of building our house. Notice the MIL door (sorry Joan):)
SSG Oz

Breaking ground, and laying forms

Building foundation

Forming daylight basement walls

Bringing in top part of house.

Using crane to off load house segments

Tying parts together

Inside of house, notice joist spacings.

Upstairs

Shaping roof

Siding house together

View of house from back including MIL door.

Finished house from front

Go to http://www.stratfordhomes.com for more info on the design and types of houses available.

Some of My Paintings

2005-11-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Having a very talented artist for a MIL (Mother In Law) has it's advantages. One is the occasional painting lesson. Here are a few of the 30 or so paintings I have done. Most have been given away as gifts, but one I did sell to a mate. Guess which one.
SSG Oz

Siblings

The Roundup

Big Tom

Spackle Bird

Geese in The Fog

Abstract Wolf

Boy and His Grandpa

Three Friends

Kitty Litter Cake: A Really Gross But Fun Receipe

2005-11-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

If you want to gross out your guests for a Sunday Church lunch, this will do it. You may want to warn someone first, so it doesn't get thrown into the trash before you eat it. Alot of fun for parties and Halloween as well.
SSG OZ.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (18.25 ounce) package German chocolate cake mix
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (12 ounce) package vanilla sandwich cookies
3 drops green food coloring
1 (12 ounce) package tootsie rolls

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare cake mixes and bake according to package directions (any size pan). Prepare pudding according to package directions and chill until ready to assemble.
Crumble sandwich cookies in small batches in a food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup add a few drops of green food coloring and mix.
When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs, and the chilled pudding. You probably won't need all of the pudding, you want the cake to be just moist, not soggy.
Line kitty litter box with the kitty litter liner. Put cake mixture into box.
Put half of the unwrapped tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until softened. Shape the ends so that they are no longer blunt, and curve the tootsie rolls slightly.

Bury tootsie rolls randomly in the cake and sprinkle with half of the remaining cookie crumbs. Sprinkle a small amount of the green colored cookie crumbs lightly over the top.
Heat 3 or 4 of the tootsie rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with some of the green cookie crumbs. Heat the remaining tootsie rolls until pliable and shape as before. Spread all but one randomly over top of cake mixture. Sprinkle with any remaining cookie crumbs. Hang the remaining tootsie roll over side of litter box and sprinkle with a few green cookie crumbs. Serve with the pooper scooper for a gross Halloween dessert.

How to Use Your Time Properly For School; Another Essay by Matthew,

2005-10-31T03:40:00.000-07:00

*This will teach you how to use your time wisely. 7th Grade can be a silent killer for the unexpecting! Just like 6th Grade except trouble is a lot more obvious. Just like my last guide I will break this into parts. *NOTE: This is based on MY school.

I: Introduction/Thesis
II: Math
III: Science
IV: English / Language Arts
V: Geography / Social Studies
VI: Part 2 ~ Getting Caught Up
VII: Planning Ahead
VIII: Cheats ~ Codes, Tricks, Glitches, and Guides.
XI: Temptation
X: Conclusion
XI: Credits

Math

What to know: Math in 7th Grade can be tough. It is full of vast and endless numbers. The work seems endless!

Advice: No matter what always keep hacking away at it. You will eventually finish that 80 problem worksheet filled with problems you’ve never seen before, or that hard 30 problem assignment due in less than an hour after you get it with even less time to work on it! Always have a good reference. If you have an Accelerated Math assignment (Like Me [Also known as that 30 problem assignment mentioned above]) it is smart to write down the problems you get wrong and the correct answer for future reference!

AM (Accelerated Math): This can be a real pain. If you get behind one of these it takes quadruple the effort to get back to being caught up! See “Getting Caught Up” for advice!

Science

What to Know: Science is pretty laid back at my school for the most part. It has its hard and easy parts.

Advice: WATCH OUT FOR CELLS AND HERDITARY SECTIONS! These can be really annoying. Outlines are really, really, hard sometimes when combined with questions and four chapters! Always try to do your best and stay caught up! Do this and you should be fine! You can easily fall behind when you’re not careful, so do your best. Watch out for big projects as you may think you have all the time in the world… until the last day.

Projects: These can be a pain so all you have to do is plan! Make sure you do a certain amount each day to get it done. Don’t be lazy and wait to the last day. Don’t hurry or you’ll miss ideas you might get. Don’t be a procrastinator and put it off. You may think in your head. “Yawn” I don’t have all of my stuff yet just 90%. I’ll do it tomorrow.

English / Language Arts

What to Know: Um, the name says it all! It’s English. You write reports and study and read books to study and do reports on!

Advice: Watch out for essays! You may think you’re the best typer in the world, but don’t put off work until the last minute. you may want to work on your typing skills too in this class too. It helps. This class can be pretty laid back as well.

Essays: Watch out sometimes these or book reports can be dangerous. Just have good spelling and grammar and usage and punctuation and sight and hearing and typing skills and blah blah!

Geography / Social Studies

What to Know: In Geography you can end up behind because you just sit and barely show any enthusiasm. You should be asking questions coming up with news stories and drawing political cartoons to gain extra credit. This is a class of maps, history, and political views. Sort of like debate class, eh?

Advice: In my class cartoons get you extra credit so bring them and draw them! Do that and pay attention by the bags of gold! $.$
That should get you a nice participation and EX credit bonus. On top of that you should ace the tests! STUDY!!!! Studying is good!

Getting Caught Up

To get caught up is not an easy thing! It takes a lot of patience and even more effort! It’s not a very fun thing either! You should work at it without stopping and try to get a lot of rest for your body.
If you don’t you may eventually fall asleep on your homework and wake to find it drenched with drool! You should always put in a lot of effort not to get to this stage because it’s sort of like going through bankruptcy. You can’t get out of it easily, a lot of people are mad, and you crash and burn.

Planning Ahead

To be short and simple: Eat healthy, sleep well, put in your best effort, and always stay on top. This should keep you from being overwhelmed and let you stay on top while being fit and healthy. This may seem nerdy now, but wait until you’re 42… that jock over there will be an employee at some small restaurant and you’ll be his smart, kind boss who still remembers the guy who made his life miserable… :.: Always stay on top and never fall behind should be your motto.

Cheats ~ Codes, Tricks, Glitches, and Guides

GOTCHA! Yeah! I bet you turned here first just to see if I wasn’t talking nonsense. The cold hard truth is that there is no easy way out! Yes! That’s right ha ha ha!

Temptation

NEVER put something off that isn’t do for a day! This leads to the “bankruptcy” of your report card!

Conclusion

All in all. To summarize this entire essay! You should plan ahead, stay caught up, put in your best effort, and stay healthy!

Credits

Thanks to my dad AKA “The OverSeer”! For the idea!

This essay is ©Copyright Matthew R. October 30, 2005.
If you are going to reproduce this in any way! (Quotes included) You MUST give me credit or we’ll have a nice little chat about laws… Also, If I see this on a pay site I will be ticked…

As you can see from the above, Matt was given a little corrective assignment to help inspire him to turn in his Science assignments. Seventh grade is tough, but hopefully, this will help him focus his time better.

Sincerely,

The Overeer

My Mother In Law's Western Art

2005-10-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Joan Mason
An awesome Western Artist. These are a Baker's Dozen of some of her thousand or so paintings that she has painted.
Enjoy these paintings, and check out her website.

SSG Oz

4H, A Boys and Girls Club with Animals: The Hidden Treasure of America

2005-10-26T14:05:00.000-06:00

Matt and his Grand Champion "Pavlova"

As the title suggests, 4H has to be among one of the greatest unknown treasures of American life. My 3 kids, though not always willing, have blossomed, borne fruit and grown under the tutelage of this program. In one word it is "Awesome". Kids, any kids can get into it and it becomes the foundation for a lot of learning, and life skills, as the children develop into accomplished individuals in a whole array of programs. My kids have initiated themselves into the artisans of swine showmanship, learning the fine art of manure shovelling to manipulating a 200 pound plus pig around a ring with 7-10 other 200 pound plus pigs. The money though not realistic, and often excessive, has given them incentive, as it does us all. Are we always willing to work for nothing? Isn't there a goal that drives us all?

Shannon and her 1st prize cake

Our pigs

Coupled with good money management, paying back expenses and making a mandatory 10% giving clause, which quickly becomes enthusiastically voluntary, when they choose their own charity, the 4H program has given us parents a well rehearsed and structured format to prepare our kids for the 21st century, plus remind them the value of the previous ones. So contact your local State Extension Office. You all have one, and find out where the closest one is to you. Even you city folks can have a rabbit or a dog, or maybe a guinea pig or three. Go to http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/default.aspx for more info.

Cheers,

SSG Oz

The Jenson Brothers, fellow Garden Wall Club Members

Matt "presenting" himself and his pig in perfect fashion.

Emily, with eyes on the judge while manipulating her pig. She got a purple for showmanship.

Shannon, working her pig towards the judge.

Heidi and the kids, having fun while waiting for the results

Washing the pigs before the judging starts

How TO Treat Others. A memory blank by Emily R. twitch twitch, and our Japanese Anime Family

2005-10-25T13:23:00.000-06:00

Raising Kids isn't easy, but it has it fun moments, especially in ten years I can bring up old photos and essays like this. Emily, you did good. Maybe you could be a little more remorseful, but you hit the main points. I've added some Anime pics that Emily put together to represent our family

How TO Treat Others.
I could tell you how to treat other in a short and simple way of maybe one or two sentences. WELL, TOO BAD! You get to sit and listen to me drone! Being nice to others is boring but the right thing to do. And to be nice to others you must have manners. Like saying please and thank you, paying attention to someone talking, and good table manners... well maybe not the table manners so much. ^-^. We should get along because we have to and because it is the right thing to do. Like when you live in a house with really annoying people the best thing is to be polite even if they’re not. We would
Usually just like to attack the people and say we “snapped” but that is we I said “we should” not “we do”. Now I’ll show you examples:

Ex1: Your roommates are really loud and play their music all night long.
What we want to do: Break their CD player.
What we should do: Calmly ask them to turn it down.
Like I said, BORING! The breaking would be so much Fun! But noooooo. We have to be nice!

Ex2: Your sister calls you fat.
What we want to do: Call her fat and laugh about it with a friend.
What we should do: Tell mom so she gets in trouble for making you feel bad... Just kidding.*cough* *cough* Tell her not to say that.

Everyone has a different way of dealing with problems. My sister does two things, Cry to mom or yell and hit. My brother, Get mad and yell. Me, I just have passive resistance. That means I’m a lump that won’t move. Lucky me. But none of these things are good we should just work the problem out with...w...I can’t say it...t... taking. Which no one wants to do. Thus we fight and drive our mother crazy. Like one time my sister, Shannon, came into the room and demand I draw a picture for her. Naturally, I said no. I’m not a walking mall cartoonist. But I said it calmly and quietly. Then she gets mad. She asks me over and over again with the same answer. No. She slams doors and threatens to delete my entire picture. While this is happening, I’m getting madder and madder. Finally I went to mom. She wasn’t happy. So going to your mother isn’t

the best thing either. Now another you need to know is that
Telling you dad is a one way ticket to a half an hour lecture on behavior. Seriously. And your parents never come up with different lectures. Once dad was telling me about the “Triangle” The one with God at the top and you are your partner at the bottom. Ya? Well I heard mom telling Shannon the EXACT same thing. Is it like, programmed, into them? Maybe. Anyway, this now finishes my 500 word essay. Thank you. Ok, this is 509 words.

Digital Art

2005-10-24T18:20:00.000-06:00

Digital Photography is an involved and evolving art form, hard to duplicate and harder to teach. How can you teach luck and circumstance? Colors colliding then chancing upon the surprise combination. A rainbow of thought and patterns. These are some of my favorites

Behavior: Shannon Un-Edited, 10 Years Old

2005-10-24T17:54:00.000-06:00

Behavior
Behavior is what you’re doing. There is good behavior and bad behavior. This essay is going to is going to show you why it’s better to have good behavior then it is to have bad behavior Bad behavior means you always do something to get in trouble with your parents, the police, or every body else. Good behavior means you know how to get along. It means you know how to not get into everyone’s business. If everyone had good behavior instead of bad behavior the world would have no crime, but we all know that Adam and Eve ate the cursed fruit and gave our world sin. Still if we have good behavior most of the time we can still make our house a nice place to live in. God gave people the choice to have good behavior or bad behavior. I hope you have good behavior too. One time I was offered a chance to visit my friend and my mom said no. I didn’t except no for an answer. What I should have done is to forget about the offer and walk away. Another time I asked my sister for a drawing, when she said no, I got mad. I really annoyed my sister and I got in trouble. What I should have done was to walk away. Now I know that what I did was bad behavior. Here are some examples of good behavior. Once I opened the door to the church for grandma without being asked. At an outdoor picnic I gave some lemonade to a guy in a wheelchair and another guy there said I was very polite. At another potluck the missionary thought I acted like a fourteen year old. To get this coming I let the missionary go in front of me. I let the missionary have the seat I was going to sit in. I even pulled out his chair. Another time I washed the dishes for mom. One time I vacuumed with out being asked. I have done examples of bad behavior and examples of good behavior.

Now I am talking about mistakes other people might make. What if one person smoked. That’s a mistake that can change your live. A person con get lung cancer and you would get poor really fast because cigarettes are money wasters. What if another person drunk. That’s also a mistake that can change your life. You can get drunken drinking alcohol. There is also gang fights. This is also a life changer. Lots of people make these mistakes and there probably different now that it’s over. These people probably didn’t know god when these things happened to them or they still don’t know god. Dad I always pray for people like this. I also pray that I will not make the same mistake. I pray that no one in our family will ever drink or smoke not Emily, Matt, Me, Mom, or you, Amen. Dad can you pray this prayer before your normal prayer every night before you come home. That way god will make sure we will never make those mistakes. Hopefully are lives will be long happy ones. And the prayers you and I pray will tell god we need his help making are lives long and happy. If were lucky my wish will come true.

Shannon! You Rock! This is a great effort, and very You.

Love,

SSG Daddy

How To Behave, And What Ticks Parents Off. An Essay by Matthew

2005-10-23T13:48:00.000-06:00

Recently, as in this morning, my three kids had a little squabble about getting along and being mean to eachother. This was the resolution, after they got a friendly "Come to Jesus" talk from their parents. Very well written Matt, you have talent.

How to Behave: By Matthew David Rohrlach

Okay listen up if you want to know this interesting bit of info!
I’ll break this essay up into three parts:
1) How to Behave
2) What Ticks Parents Off
3) Thousand Word Credits (Just Kidding)
This is my Table of Contents. If you wish to find an item quicker use Ctrl+F,
Then select the item of interest you would like to view.

How to Behave

If you want to behave properly without getting in trouble you need some simple requirements: Knowledge of Good and Evil, Self-Control,
And the rare ability known to many, but given to few called common sense.
The most important one used here is Knowledge of Good and Evil. When used with self-control you can be a sweet little angel or a nasty little devil (Speaking figuratively). Even better then knowledge of good and evil is the knowledge of listening to your conscience. This basically means doing good.
So using those three factors lets move on.

Let’s start with a real life situation okay? Say your little brother just went into your room without telling you and not only messed it up, but also destroyed your favorite (insert item here). What would you do?
A) Break into his room while he’s at daycare and wreck his room then lie about it.
B) Break into his room and then tell your mom you did it because he did it to you.
C) Blame your sister and pick a fight with her.
D) Yell at him until he cries like the little baby he is.
E) Nothing
F) Warn him not to do it again then go back to life as usual.
Okay as usual everyone answered E or F huh? Moms probably watching too.
If you did then what would you do if he did it again? All too often we’re matched with problems like this. Even if we answer E or F we often end up doing something like A, B, C, or D.
What Ticks Parents Off

Here’s a list of things not to do:

1) Punch your sibling
2) Kick your sibling
3) Bite
4) Scream
5) Lie
6) Tattle
7) Blame
8) Shift the blame
9) Do something to get you and everyone else in trouble because you may think as long they hurt you can take it.
10)Yell
11)Tease your sibling
12)Say you’re joking when you insult someone.
13)Beg
14)Saying No to them
15)Running away
16)Squealing like a stuck pig
17)Thinking you can manipulate them
18)Saying you hate them
19)Saying you’ll kill yourself
20)Saying you’ll run away

This is a work in progress, as the goal was 1000 words. So far we have 443 Words
1,856 Characters (No Spaces)
2,296 Characters (With Spaces)
62 Lines
2 Pages
45 Paragraphs.
Good job Matt, 557 words to go.

Love

SSG Dad

Stay tuned for essays by Emily and Shannon.

Super Chicks, You Guys Rock! SSG Oz's Review: Music

2005-10-22T06:52:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard music that makes you stop, run over to the radio and turn it up?

Well this band just hits you hard and makes you love it.
I did some research on the net, and found this sample site. It has samples from their new album "Beauty from pain". Really cool stuff.

Hit the link above to hear samples of their new album

Well the next step was to read their bio. Cool again. These guys spent 18 months getting this together. Why haven't I heard of these guys? I listened to a few more songs, and again I heard another one on my computer linked KLove "radio". These guys rock, I thought, and surfed some more. I went to Christianbook.com and saw that they had 4 albums. Don't tell the kids but I went ahead and bought all four albums.

(Hey kids, if you are reading this, put your fingers in your ears and hum for a minute, Hey look a chicken on the chandelier).
They should be getting them at home in two weeks. Don't worry Honey, I will take the money out of my $100 allowance and transfer it over. An early Chrissie present?

So you guys, let me know what you think. Hey kids you can stop humming now... Hey!!!, yes stop...Its getting annoying..Kids?!!!
:)
SSG Oz

Room Mates

2005-10-22T03:52:00.000-06:00

I tell you. This trip to Germany has been a doozy. It would have been hard yakka, if not for my three, top-notch room mates, Big-Lovin, Kurt, and Arty. Special mention to Brian, who was here for a month, and who was one of the Volksmarch Hall of Famers.
I will start first with Big Lovin, or otherwise known as Rob. BL, is one of the most unique people who I have met on this trip, and one of the most genuine. We work opposite shifts, but occasionally we will touch base, and spend a few hours watching old "Lost" episodes, and cheering the Bills. (Don't ever put a Colts sticker on his car, even as a practical joke, not pretty!).
BL, a little ahead of me in years, always lands on his feet. He keeps us positive, and besides being fastidious, a clean freak, never complains. However if he gets quiet, or puts a trash can in front of your door to trip over, you quickly get the message that it is time to clean. Thanks Rob!

Curtis, the oldest I think, is a pretty quiet bloke, but also genuine. He likes his gear in order, but is generous if asked. We did the Nijmegin trip and train-up together (see previous post), together, the German Sports Badge, and made it home, minus a few toenails. The only fault is that he gets his own bathroom, but as he outranks me, I will let it pass. Curtis is definitely makes the Room-Mate Hall of Fame.

Arty is like Tigger, a very bouncy and genuine person, but has his own focus on what he wants and where he is going. We spent the first evening upon his arrival, discussing, politics, faith and girlfriends. He is a joker, but also can be quiet serious. One time we were biking down a road, and watched as we were passed by another bike rider, who zoomed pass. We let him get about 1/4 mile ahead, and then looked at each other, "Let's get him". We took off and chased him for 3 miles all the way back to this dude's German driveway. I think Arty has the skills to pay the bills. He would be a great actor, and has the ability to pull stuff out of the air that leaves you stunned.

This trip would have been impossible without the kind of day to day interaction that I have had with these guys. From

Volksmarches, Nijmegin, watching movies, buying cars, Going shopping, playing x-box. sight seeing, wine tasting. It all has been a kaleidoscope of memories and good experiences.

Thanks fellas. I promised that I would say something nice about you, now where is my $20 bucks. :)

SSG Oz

Journal of a front Line Surgeon: Part II

2005-10-20T06:18:00.000-06:00

Aussie,
The following are excerpts from my journal:
Dr. G

MORTARS

Ear drums burst
the death spray comes
warriors fall...uniforms smolder

Healing hands work fast
to late for some
furrowed brows and sweat stained foreheads
play the ultimate tug-of-war with death

Time stands still...
eyes glaze over
limbs tremble as life's essence
ebbs into the sand.

I look into this warrior's eyes
his color darkens and he begins
the journey across the river Hades
as soldiers shout "hang in there... don't give up on me!

Doc G

Sgt A...
I've lost count of the casualties we've treated today, or how many hours Ive been in the O.R. My legs ache, and I feel like I could sleep for a week. My surgical scrubs are covered in sweat and my hands are showing that slite tremulousness of fatigue and hunger, but there's no time. We have a report of 3 more soldiers coming in, victims of an IED, we don't yet have an updated report on the extent of their injuries. The trauma surgeon, Dr. S and I quickly down a bottle of water as we help clean and re-prep the OR and regown.

As I quickly reglove, they bring a young Army Sergeant to the table. His eyes are wild with panic and his mouth drawn in pain. My medics have done an excellent job in containing the bleeding and there are dressings and splints in place to all his extremities. Dr. S and I separate as two other surgeons join us, (there's a surgeon at each extremity now)unwrapping dressings, hanging blood, assessing vital signs, examining for wounds.

The soldier begins speaking in spanish, and answers alll questions in spanish. The anesthesiologists and other surgeons look at each other,an then at me. I make my way to the head of the bed and begin to speak softly to him in Spanish. I explained that we have 4 surgeons at his side who will help take care of him. The sound of someone speaking to him in spanish has a calming effect as the anesthesiologist administers a sedative.(His medical history, medications,allergies, etc have all been obtained my very skilled medics) and we're ready to proceed.

I end up evaluating his left arm with Dr. M, our orthopaedic surgeon. As I remove the wooden splint, my heart sinks as his forearm bends in half at mid shaft. Arterial blood spurts out and venous blood begins to ooze as the bandages come off. I see a macerated stump with two jagged bones standing sentinel at mid forearm. It's apparent that his forearm is held together by a thin, single strap of skin from his upper forearm. We quickly apply a pneumatic tourniquet and I look over at Dr. Metz who shakes his head "no" (signifying that we can't save this arm). I ask for the bone cutters and begin the process of converting the skin and bones into a viable flap.

I feel a rush of emotion come over me as we amputate the arm, and I want to burst into tears and sob uncontrollably as I look at this young soldier's face. I can't help but think of all the challenges he'll face in life when he wakes up. I try to focus and avert my gaze, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. I'm hoping that no one has noticed my tears.

Despite his many injuries, the young Sergeant lives, and will be air-evac'd as soon as he's comes to. I wait by his side until he opens his eyes and gains recognition. The only remaining task is for me to break the news that we had to take off his left arm...

Doc G

Check out the rest of Dr G's Journal on my second blog, frontlinesurgeon.blogspot.com,
SSG Oz
----------------------------------------------------

100 miles walkabout in 4 days, piece of cake for a bloke with no toenails.

2005-10-19T11:17:00.000-06:00

Last July I teamed up with 17 other jokers from Germany, and we hiked with Army boots, backpack and BDU's, 100 miles in 4 days. This is no joke. 50,000 civilians, (mostly Dutch) and 5,000 soldiers from 22 countries, (mostly crazy). This was like the "Tour de France" of walking. This for a country renowned for their biking. If you can imagine wall to wall people stretching for 5 miles, and villages, with music blaring, Majors with medals, kids with autograph books and calling out souvenirs?. It was frankly un-believable and fun. We started out on Saturday morning in an old school bus and drove 5 hours to Nijmegin Holland. We pulled up at a Dutch Army base, and unloaded our gear. The "tents" were moulded plastic buildings with wooden floors and bunkbeds. There was a large "building" for the live band and bar, a internet cafe, hot showers and a huge eating hall. The first day we went out and caught a train for Amsterdam. Not a bad place, great architecture, and canals. The next day was the official start day, although we wouldn't officially begin until 0400 Monday morning. A bunch of us got "Voluntold" to represent the USA at the official ceremonies. No joke it was like the flaming Olympics. People parachuting in, cannons and fireworks. Some royal announcing the start, and lots of people. The Soldiers were all dressed up in traditional costumes and highstepped the military band as we walked in.
Back at home we went over to the Dutch medical tent, where Dutch Medics fed us salty licorice candy, hot apple cider and bandaged our feet in preparation of the hard slog ahead.
I had a young medic called Anita work for about an hour laying thin strips of medical tape in fine rows as she slowly and efficiently taped up my hoofs. Believe it or not I had no blisters at all where the tape was laid. I went back the third day as well for a re taping, and had a few small blisters underneath each big toe, but not too bad if you got used to the scrunched-up-gladwrap-feel" as you walked. For extra measure I wrapped my feet up with coban, and laid foam tape on the ball part of each foot. I wore thick black socks, and Airforce high top boots. With a bunch of motrin to reduce swelling and a nightcap of beer we tucked it in for the night. We woke up to blaring music. A hard rock song blaring out" Get up! Get out! You better get out of bed!.. This is your wake-up call!" Even now the song gives me chills. We had made sure that our back-packs were the correct weight the day before, a whole 10.5 kilograms (24 pounds to the un metricated). I added jerky, a camel back of gatorade, and several thick Danish Sandwiches which was the only food offered, but not bad either. I loaded mine with great slices of cheese, nutella, liverwurst and salami. (not all on the same sandwich). SSG S, our leader and doing his third Nijmegin, led us out the gate between about 600 Bagpiping Canadians and 20 chanting Welshmen, singing 'We love our Snuffy, Snuffy Snuffy Sheep". SSg S, had us going with a series of Army cadences, booming out songs that we happilily chanted back as we moved to the starting line to join up with the 50,000 civilians. Later as the day and days progressed, we even picked up cadence "groupies" as our little band of 18 (and later 17) soldiers grew to about 100 with mostly civilians shouting cadences back with us as we marched along. We crossed many bridges including several from the "Market Garden" Battlefield of WW2, later made into the movie "A Bridge too far". There were several monuments and museums in the area, which a few of us actually visited on our day off. Another thing we loaded up on, was candy and souveniers, swapping US flags with those of soldiers from other countries as we marched by. I traded a few extra army stuff also, including a jacket for a knife, and several badges. As you can tell, this trip was a lot of fun and well worth the hundreds of K's and several months of preparation before hand. I enjoyed all the people we met, and especially the other members of our team. I would love to come back again in the future, but my wife says no way!. I lost all my toenails in the days that followed, except for my big toes, but was doing PT the following Monday. I hope you like all the pictures. For more go to my links section and check out my photos.
Enjoy
SSG Oz

How to Speak "Strine" (say Australian fast)

2005-10-18T13:47:00.000-06:00

Australia, being a diverse and growing country, also has a diverse language. Being gone for awhile, I wouldn't be able to tell you what words are still being used and which ones are not. I put together this collection of Aussie words, some which are more familiar to me than others. I figured that some of you would get a kick out of seeing the different words and maybe trying them out on your mates. If you like this feature let me know and we'll work our way through the alphabet. If you have some to add let me know also.
Ooroo
SSG Oz

A is for Aussie,
Ace! : Excellent! Very good!
Aerial pingpong : Australian Rules football
Amber fluid : beer
Ambo : ambulance, ambulance driver
Ankle biter : small child Apples, she'll be : It'll be alright
Arvo : afternoon Aussie (pron. Ozzie) :
AustralianAussie salute : brushing away flies with the hand

Arvo - afternoon.
Av-a-go-yer-mug - a phrase used to encourage someone to put more effort into something.
Aussie - an Australian.
Abso-bloody-lutely - positively; emphatically yes.
ABC, theAustralian Broadcasting Commission, the government-run TV channel and radio broadcaster. Often affectionately referred to as 'Aunty', or 'the Abie'.
AboTerm for a Koorie person (indigenous Australian; aborigine); usually at least slightly derogatory.
AggroAggravation, aggression; used both as an adjective and a noun ('Don't give me any aggro').
Alice, theAlice Springs and surrounding areas.
AnzacRefers to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or a soldier who served with them.
Anzac Day (25 April) is a public holiday, and the Australian equivalent of the US Veterans' Day. Anzac biscuits (sometimes just called 'anzacs') are an oatmeal and golden syrup crunchy biscuit (cookie).
Apple IsleTasmania.

Kids Prayers

2005-10-16T05:06:00.000-06:00

1. Dear God, please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter.
There is nothing good in there now.
Amanda

2. Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for was a puppy.
I never asked for anything before. You can look it up.
Joyce

3. Dear Mr. God, I wish you would not make it so easy for people to come apart I had to have 3 stitches and a shot.
Janet

4. God, I read the bible. What does beget mean? Nobody will tell me.
Love Alison

5. Dear God, how did you know you were God? Who told you?
Charlene

6. Dear God, is it true my father won't get in Heaven if he uses his golf words in the house?
Anita

7. Dear God, I bet it's very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it.
Nancy

8. Dear God, I like the story about Noah the best of all of them. You really made up some good ones. I like walking on water, too.
Glenn

9. Dear God, my Grandpa says you were around when he was a little boy. How far back do you go? Love,
Dennis

10. Dear God, do you draw the lines around the countries? If you don't, who does? Nathan

Songs for Soldiers

2005-10-15T15:22:00.000-06:00

I have been writing songs for a few years, and recently came across an article about two soldiers (husband and wife), who are trying to put together an album for soldiers by soldiers, sang and recorded by professional musicians. Please check out their web site in the link above. Here is one of my songs which I have submitted.

SSG Oz

Soldier's Note (When the Flowers Bloom)

There was a night late September
Driving my Semi trailer heading West
In the back there was a coffin
A soldier coming home to rest

They gave me a bag of his belongings
For me to carry on that night
From that bag fell out a letter
This is what that soldier wrote

Lay me down beneath the soil
Of that place where I was born
Plant a dogwood by my graveside
Remember me when the flowers bloom

Tell my wife how much I love her
Wipe the tears from her eyes
Tell my children stories of their father
Make them laugh and make them smile

Tell them that when they feel lonely
To go outside and watch the stars
I’ll be the one shining brightly
To that warm place within their hearts

Lay me down beneath the soil
Of that place where I was born
Plant a dogwood by my graveside
Remember me when the flowers bloom

We laid him down in that mountain soil
Of that place he called home
We said a prayer and planted a dogwood
And remembered him when the flowers bloomed

Journal Of a Front-Line Surgeon

2005-10-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

I was fortunate to meet one of the real heroes of the war, a Surgeon with the National Guard, who spent months saving the lives of countless soldiers, who in his words were still smouldering when they reached him.
At this stage I am unable to show any pictures of Dr. G, but he has given me permission to share an excerpt from his journal as a front line surgeon, and also as a survivor of a Mortar bombing.

My aim is show the human side of war and how it takes courage to do what these men and women do every day. To face death constantly, and still continue their daily missions is incredible.

SSG Oz.

2/25/05 - 1800 hours

I am in the chow tent with Cpt G, our Jag Lawyer (Officer), when we hear a "swoosh", shrill whistle and a very large explosion, that literally rocks the earth. We dive under the table. Aproximately 30-60 seconds later, a second explosion rocks me. As I scramble out the main door there are flames and dark smoke shooting up some 15 feet into the air from one of the plywood hut areas approximately 100 yards from me.

I run towards the fire as the Fire Department arrives and I see inside to see if I can find anyone. I traverse through the debris and feel the bitter smoke in the back of my throat as my eyes begin to water. I comeout at a backwall has been blown out and I take some fresh air. My medics have arrived and I take a second pass through the burning, splintered remains of this "Hooch". I hear moaning outside, and find that a marine wounded has been found - all together there are seven. I decide to muster the medics and direct arriving ambulances after we place dressings on the wounded marine's left arm.

I make my way to the Surgical center, and make my way into the operating room. We received a very wounded marine with shrapnel wounds so bad that it severed his right femoral vein, broke his tibia thru and thru, placed a large hole through his right foot and near amputation of his 3rd toe.

His right calcaneous (heel) is a mess of tiny bony fragments held together by the skin of his foot. His left leg has multiple fractures all the way to the foot. Most horrifically, the skin on both his legs is peeled off from his thighs all the way down and hanging by his toes. He has many shrapnel wounds, many are BB sized, but others range from the size of a nickel all the way to tennis ball size on his legs. These are the bone breakers and ones that tear the nerves and blood vessels.

We spend 4 and 1/2 hours in the OR stabilizing this patient and metering blood supply to his legs and feet so he doesn't get them amputated. Finally he is ready for air evac to Germany for futher treatment.

This was one mortar attack, a strike for the bad guys. There will be many more mortar, rocket and IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) casualties to follow.

Dr G

German Toilets, Are we Ready For This?

2005-10-15T09:31:00.000-06:00

The first time you sit down on one of these self cleaning toilets and it starts to spin like an old record player, it really weirds you out!

Any Race Fans out there? Harlan Thompson comes to Landstuhl

2005-10-15T07:44:00.000-06:00

We have alot of dignitaries visiting the hospital, but this is the first time that one has actually invited soldiers to visit them. Harlan Thompson came by with his drag racer, and gave out gifts to the patients and staff here at Landstuhl. I was impressed with the fact that he took the time to talk with the patients on my floor, and even invite them to come stay with him and his family back in the States. Here are a few pics and a link to the army support site.

SSG Oz

SSG OZ's Photo Gallery-VolksMarch, Statues, Farmers Market and Kids, October 2005

2005-10-14T13:18:00.000-06:00

A few weekends ago, I travelled down to a village near here, and took a 5km hike through the woods. It was alot of fun and the weather was pretty nice also. Afterwards we visited a Farmer's Market where I watched a sheep being sheared back first. The apples were great, nice and crisp, and I found some old money for Matt.
Enjoy
SSG Oz
check out my 3000 photos at http://community.webshots.com/user/ghemsr

Nurses need to laugh too!

2005-10-14T12:05:00.000-06:00

Here's some for the nurses out there. Keep your head up!

For More Go To:http://www.nurstoon.com/comic

Home Brew: Aussie Bush Poetry

2005-10-13T15:27:00.000-06:00

One of the blokes from my old town is quite a well known bush poet. I included one of his poems, to give you lot a little chuckle. Check out the rest of his poems at the link above.
Enjoy!
SSG OZ

GIDGEE JACK'S LAST BEER
Ross Magnay, 2004 - Alice Springs NT
Jack, an old acoholic staion man moves to the city to work on the council, he starts making home brew, unsuccessfully!

Gidgee Jack was quite a drinking man, he had been all his life,
It cost him all his money, his station and his wife.
So Jack moved to the city, and commenced on council pay,
But what he earned in one whole week, he drank in just one day!

Now Jack was not a spirits man, he mostly fancied ale,
But the pace that he consumed it would turn Ernie Dingo pale!
A dozen pints at knock off time, twelve longnecks for the track,
Yes he was quite a drinking man, was our mate Gidgee Jack.

But mowing grass and raking leaves, would not support his thirst,
And Jack was suicidal, (or something even worse!)
Then an idea struck him, just like lightning from the blue,
“I’ll get myself a flamin’ kit, and make me own homebrew!”

So next day in his lunch break, Jack found a brewing shop,
“ I need a flamin’ home brew kit, the biggest one you got!”
“ I’ve saved a stack of longnecks, all cleaned and like brand new,”
“Just waitin’ home for me to fill, with this here flamin’ brew.”

That night Jack started brewing, with diligence and care,
With brewing kits and Coopers tins, scattered everywhere.
But it finally got together, and the brew began to work,
Jack sat down with a longneck, and a much contented smirk.

Then it came the time to bottle, and Jack could wait no more,
So with measuring things, and capping things and bottle tops galore,
He pored through the instructions, till he found the bit that said,
Six grams of brewing sugar, will ensure it holds it’s head.

But Jack was not a metric man, he never found the need,
To measure things too accurate, mostly “miles” or “tons of feed.”
And converting grams to ounces, (well he got on top of that.)
So he started priming bottles till he nearly filled his flat.

He filled them up and capped them off, the way the booklet said,
Then happy and contented, Jack stumbled off to bed.
He dreamed about the finished brew, and two weeks down the track,
When he would crack some longnecks, and knock a couple back.

A week had passed since bottling day, five days of mowing lawn,
And Jack thought “I feel buggered” as he stretched and gave a yawn.
I think I’ll have an hours camp, before I cook some tea,
I ‘spose a bloke is not as young, as what I used to be.

But as Jack drifted off to sleep, there came a frightening bang,
Like gelignite exploding, or a car just had a prang.
And then another followed, a bang and then a crack,
Jack thought “Well I’ll be buggered, it’s a terrorist attack!

Jack’s three o three was underneath the bed that he was in,
He hit the floor and grabbed the gun, and shoved the “maggy” in.
“I’ll show you bloody taliban, a thing or two.” he said,
as he fired two shots out through the door, taking cover by the bed.

But the firing it intensified, and then a rattling run,
Jack thought, “The bloody bastards, must have a gattling gun!”
And the bangs and loud explosions, shook the block of flats complete,
As a crowd began to gather, outside in the street.

Jack fired three shots blindly, they went through the Gyprock wall,
“Give up you Taliban bastards,” the crowd heard Gidgee call.
But Jack was out of ammo, and trapped behind his bed,
To contemplate his future, he well could wind up dead!

Gidgee Jack was not a coward, a tough old station man,
He kept down low behind his bed, to formulate a plan.
Though the firing still persisted, it was getting less and less,
And Jack could sense an ending to this terrorizing mess.

He thought, “patience is a virtue, I’ll sit and wait it out,”
“They must be low on ammo, I’ll wait till they run out.”
And then at last the firing stopped, and Jack rushed to the door,
And near reduced to tears, with his homebrew on the floor.

That really got Jack’s dander up, brought scarlet to his face,
“I never knew that terrorist, were such a lowly race.
Smash a fella’s beer supply, and then just wreck the joint,
And disappear without a trace, I just don’t see the point.

So spirit still unbroken, but a different view on life,
Jack rolled his swag, and packed a bag, swore off the grog for life.
He set himself to trampin’, back out amongst the bush,
Away from crazy terrorists, and the crazy city push.

© Ross Magnay - 2004Submitted to bushpoetry.com.au: Tuesday, 13 July 2004

True Mates

2005-10-13T14:02:00.000-06:00

This was sent to me by an old Mate, which if you read between the lines speaks volumes about True Friendship. If it makes you chuckle great, If it makes you think, Good Onya!
SSG OZ

Friendship
Are you sick of all those sissy "friendship" poems that always sound like Hallmark cards, and never come close to reality? Well, here is a series of promises that speak of true loyalty:

1. When you are sad - I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry barmaid who made you sad.
2. When you are blue - I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
3. When you smile - I will wonder what you've been up to.
4. When you are scared - I will rag on you about it every chance I get.
5. When you are worried, I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be and tell you to quit whining.
6. When you are confused - I will use little words.
7. When you are sick -- stay the heck away from me until you are well again.
I don't want whatever you have.
8. When you fall - I will point and laugh at your clumsy butt.
This is my oath...I pledge it till the end. Why, you ask?
Because you are my friend.

Send this to 10 of your closest friends, then get depressed because you can only think of two, and one of them isn't speaking to you anyway.Remember:A good friend will help you move. A really good friend will help you move abody. Let me know if I ever need to bring a shovel.

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?"--Yoda

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight...It is the size of the fight in the dog!"--Hustle and Flow

BlackBelly: Heather Sharfeddin, A SSG Oz Book Review

2005-10-11T12:16:00.000-06:00

Heather weaves a story that is both believable and mystical. Her characters are people from the yellow pages of our lives. People that we all have known and encountered at some time or other.

Heather gives you the feeling that people can have hope in themselves and hope in each other, and that even at the worst moment in our lives, there is still value to be found in love, faith and family.

This may be a little dark for the sunday school class, or even the 10th grade accelerated reading group, but it is well worth the read for the rest of us people who have ever asked ourselves the questions, Who are my neighbours? Do I really know them, and how can I know them better?

Enjoy
SSG OZ

Here is an excerp from the Cover Summary of BlackBelly, by Heather Sharfeddin.

Blackbelly is a contemporary western that suspensefully traces the consequences of a crime of bigotry. It is a story of an unjustly accused sheep rancher's struggle to reclaim his life, and that of a woman close to him, from perils imposed by a domineering father and the culture of of a remote Idaho town, gritty but proudly independent Sweetwater.
Chas McPherson, and his father are the shepherds-one of beasts, the other of souls. The hard crusted, hard drinking younger McPherson, a mis-understood loner, raises a breed of sheep known as Blackbellies. The father dying of Parkinson's, is tended by a newly hired nurse with a past, Mattie Holden. The Father had been a fire-and-brimstone pastor whose uncanny ability to detect and then reveal the townspeople's sins kept them in dread of him. When the home of Sweetwater's lone Muslim family is burned to the ground, those past fears and grudges contribute to the town turning against the younger McPherson as the suspected arsonist.....
To read more go to http://www.hlsharfeddin.com/

WINNING THE WAR IN IRAQ, ONE SHEEP AT A TIME

2005-10-11T12:10:00.000-06:00

This is a plug to check out Michael's latest article on how the war is being won in Iraq. It is spine chilling and not for the faint hearted.
SSG OZ
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/

UNCLE ALLAN 1925-2005

2005-10-11T06:16:00.000-06:00

I came across this article of one of my Uncles who recently passed away. I never knew he had such an adventurous life. It is amazing to follow the family tree sometimes. Thanks Roy for putting the family site together. You rule mate!

This is My Life by Allan Collins

Allan at Ruth's 100th birthday I was born in Cowell Hospital on the first day of February 1925 to Joe and Ruth Collins. My sister Enid (deceased) was the first-born followed by Eric (deceased), Allan, Lloyd (deceased), Don, Ivan, Roy (deceased), Valerie and Shirley.I attended Cowell public school until gaining my QC at the age of twelve years. I then went fishing for a living as times were bad during the depression an Dad could not look after us all. I lived in a 30 ft boat in Spencer Gulf for two years and made quite an amount of money for those times banking as much as I could and giving Mum the balance to buy food for the family. Dad was on a small wage so every bit was appreciated.When I left fishing I worked on some local farms for about 12 months. Dad then managed to arrange an apprenticeship for me at Whyalla Steelworks as a Boiler Maker. As our pay was only 10 shillings per week less 5 shillings for food and 4 shillings for rent I was only left with 1 shilling for personal items and had to draw on my savings to put myself through the 5 year apprenticeship.After gaining my certificate I left the company and drove buses between Whyalla and Port Pirie for 6 months.I was then offered a job within my trade in Kalgoorlie W.A. I took the East West train and arrived to find that I had no job. As I only had 11 pounds in my pocket I looked around for a cheap bed and breakfast and began looking for work. After 2 weeks the BHP mine manager said they wanted Boiler Makers up at Yampie Sound W.A. on an island out from Derby. I took the job and thank goodness they paid my fare up to the site. I worked there for 9 months..found the work very interesting erecting large buildings and a huge jetty large enough to take big iron ore ships to name a couple of projects. As the island was mostly ironstone, this is what was mined by ‘open cut’ method and then shipped away to Whyalla and Newcastle for smelting into pig iron and later into steel sections and railway lines. There was a 280foot rise and fall in the tide and when it was low tide we would pick oysters off the rocks to eat with our ration of one bottle of beer per day. I helped run a “Two Up” school on weekends and made a few pounds on the side doing that and saved my wages during my time on the island…. no shops or women to spend my money on!I left the island in December 1946 and arrived home in Whyalla two days before Christmas… Dad had shifted the family from Cowell to Whyalla by this time. We had a real nice time on Christmas Day with all the family.I stayed in Whyalla for a couple of weeks before going to Berri to pick grapes and oranges for the next two months. A job came up in Broken Hill at the zinc mine for a Boiler Maker so I headed north to “The Hill”.I worked at the mine fore 38 years and during that time I met and married Jean Williams (mother of two boys Jeffrey and Rodney). We had a beautiful daughter (Donna) Louise... born 12th December 1963 who passed away through breast cancer on January 31st 1989 aged 25 years … the most difficult and saddest day of my life.

2005-10-10T12:13:00.000-06:00

SSG OZ'S PHOTO GALLERY
MEDIEVAL IMAGERY

These are some pictures I took from a Festival in Southern Germany one Saturday afternoon. Enjoy!
SSG Oz

Viking

Little Princess

Happy Couple
Jester

Can Ye Hear me now?

Castle Courtship

Kids or our Great-Grandparents?

Happy Face

Check out more of my photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/ghemsr

2005-10-10T11:58:00.000-06:00

TWISTED WHISKERS

OCTOBER 2005

2005-10-10T10:56:00.000-06:00

Vegemite, Australian for a 4 Course Meal
Even Australians do not know where vegemite comes from but they can tell you that it is part of being Australian, as they pull it out of their backpack or pantry cupboard. Vegemite has to be one of the saltiest food next to Danish Licorice, but it has found a place in the hearts and stomachs of the Australian people. I remember going to school with a sandwich of vegemite and cheese, and fighting my mate Shaun over his salda and vegemite crackers on the school bus on the way home. During my basic training my parents sent a box of single spread vegemite packets which I was ordered to share with my platoon. The Senior Drill sergeant pulled me to one side and had me knock out 50 pushups as he said I had tried to poison him.
I have pieced together some facts from the official Vegemite homepage that you might enjoy. So read this as I go and make myself a vegemite sandwich.

Vegemite dates back to 1922 when the Fred Walker Company, which became Kraft Walker Foods in 1926 and Kraft Foods Limited in 1950, hired a young chemist to develop a spread from one of the richest known natural sources of the vitamin B group - Brewers Yeast.
Following months of laboratory tests, Dr. Cyril P Callister, who became the nationÂs leading food technologist of the 1920s and 30s developed a tasty spreadable paste. It came in a two ounce (57g) amber glass jar capped with a Phoenix seal with the label "Pure Vegetable Extract".
In an imaginative approach, Walker turned to the Australian public to officially name his spread. He conducted a national trade-name competition offering an attractive 50 pound prize pool for the finalists. How the 50 pounds was distributed or who was the winning contestant has unfortunately been lost in history, but it was Walker's daughter who chose the winning name out of the hundreds of entries.
That winning name was Vegemite and in 1923 Vegemite first graced grocers' shelves. It was described as "Delicious on sandwiches and toast, and improves the flavour of soups, stews and gravies". However, it took 14 long years of perseverance from Walker before Vegemite finally gained acceptance and recognition with the Australian people.
http://vegemite.com.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.welcome

To try some don't trust an Aussie, they will spread it thick like peanut butter and laugh as you spit it out. Try a little bit on toast with lots of butter until you acquire the taste. It is very good for you with folic acid and vitamin B, but remember every time you try some, that you are enjoying a small piece of Australia, and for that small moment you are part Aussie.
Have fun, enjoy.
SSG Oz

2005-10-08T04:17:00.000-06:00

MIKE THE CHICKEN

Ever Feel Like A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off?
Ask Mike!

After reading my article about hypnotising chickens, one of my co-workers asked me if I knew about "Mike The Chicken". I did a little research and found some amazing facts which I have copied onto my blog. It is worth a search if you want futher facts, but here are the highlights of this pretty incredible but fair dinkum story.

On September 10, 1945, a Wyandotte chicken belonging to Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, USA, had its head chopped off, but went on to survive for 18 months.

Mike's owner, Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorada, USA, fed and watered the headless chicken directly into his gullet using an eyedropper. Mike eventually choked to death one night in an Arizona motel.

Sceptical scientists thought it was a hoax, so one week into Mike-the-headless-chicken’s physically-altered life, farmer Lloyd Olsen packed Mike up and took him on a cross-country tour from Fruita, Colorado to the University Of Utah in Salt Lake City. The axe blade, scientists discovered, had missed the five-and-a-half month old Wyandotte rooster’s jugular vein, and a clot had saved the chicken from bleeding to death.

Because Lloyd had aimed the axe so high, most of the brain stem was left at the top of the spine. One ear had also survived. Mike, it seemed, had lost the power to see and to cluck, but could still hear and think. Mike was also growing, weighing 1.1 kg. (2.5 lb.) when he first lost his head, and developing to a respectable 3.6 kg. (8 lb.) by the time he passed away.Celebrity status was guaranteed when a manager took the chicken on a national tour, and his story was reported in well-respected news magazines Life and Time.

Like many legendary celebrities, Mike’s life ended in a hotel room. Mike began to choke and Lloyd was unable to find the eyedropper to clear Mike’s esophagus. It was the end of the road for Mighty Mike. Gone but certainly not forgotten, Mike’s life is celebrated each year by Fruita residents, who simply remember him as, “a big, fat chicken who didn’t know he didn’t have a head”.

Mike was on display to the public for an admission cost of 25 cents, and at the height of his popularity was earning a princely $4,500 per month. A pickled chicken head was also on display with Mike, but it was not Mike's original head as that had already been eaten by a cat. Mike was later examined by the officers of several humane societies and was declared to have been free from suffering.
Mike's legacy in Fruita

Mike the Headless Chicken is now an institution in Fruita, with an annual "Mike the Headless Chicken Day" held annually, the third weekend of May, starting in 1999. It is however not clear why Mike's day is not held on the September 10 - the anniversary of the amputation.
Events held include:
5K Run Like a Headless Chicken Race,
Egg tosses,
Pin the Head on the Chicken,
The Chicken Cluck-Off,
The classic chicken dance, and
Chicken Bingo in which the numbers were chosen by where chicken droppings fell on a numbered grid.
A wide variety of chicken-based cuisine is also available.

For futher information try this link.

Have Fun SSG OZ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

2005-10-06T15:04:00.000-06:00

HOW TO HYPNOTIZE CHICKENS
If you can believe it, this is one of my few truly gifted talents. The other one is turning my eyelids inside out. I have been hypnotising chooks (Aussie word for chicken), for about 20 years off and on, and even learnt a new and better technique from a fellow chook hypnotizer.

First some stories and history on the subject.
I first saw some Italian workers hypnotise one of our roosters on the family farm, just before it was butchered. They said that it relaxed the bird and made it easier to dispatch. Later on when I was teaching Agriculture, I demonstrated to my students the technique, which they were very proud to accomplish. (just the hynotizing, not the butchering).

A few years ago, on our little farm, we had a very mean Astralop rooster called Cackles. When we first got him we thought he was a hen, but later when he started to crow, we quickly changed our mind. Well he never really went for me as he and I had a little talk, but he did like to fly up at my 8 year old daughter Shannon and her friend Nina.

Nina was pretty scared of Cackles until one day I caught the old guy and showed her how to hypnotize him. She did this and with great pride was amazed that he no longer attacked her. One day about 2 weeks later, Nina was visiting and I saw her out in the chicken pen. Hi Mr G, "Cackles won't attack me anymore will he?"" Nope", I said but here he came. Feathers outstretched and talons and beak blazing, smack right into her back. You could have heard Nina scream from a mile away, and I tried not to laugh as the pair went flying past me.

These are my techniques for hypnotizing chooks.

Line Method:
Lay the bird on its side in a bright open sandy area. Gently place one hand on its wing and with the other draw a 6" line 90degrees, 3" from it's beak. Slowly release your other hand and step away. The bird will lie there for 10minutes or so or you clap your hands.

Finger Method:
This is by far the easiest, and quickest method. Hold the bird as before, with one eye up. Take your index finger and point it towards the birds eye (don't touch it!), make small circles right over its eye, release your holding hand and step back. This is amazing to watch.

I have tried this technique with turkey's, ducks and sheep. It doesn't work on sheep. My dream one day is to go on Leno or Letterman and try and break the Guiness Book of Records for hypnotizing the most chickens at one time, then having the audience clap and wake them all up. I have got 4 at a time so far, but they are hard to catch and the squawking wakes up the other birds. You really need a quiet environment. I do not believe that this harms the birds in anyway, but it could be that they are in fear and that is why they freeze up, or it is because they are just really relaxed. Their heart beats fast, but that is normal for birds anyway. Hope you liked the class, please go easy on your chooks.

SSG OZ

2005-10-06T02:04:00.000-06:00

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM CHARLIE BROWN

This is an e-mail I received today, which I wanted to pass on to my blog. Alot of these e-mails are spam, but this one is pretty good. It made me think thats for sure.

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip.
Try this quiz, see how many you get right.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers.
They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies.
Awards tarnish.
Acheivements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson:
The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards.
They are the ones that care.

2005-10-05T14:15:00.000-06:00

Unanswered Prayer

2005-10-05T08:44:00.000-06:00

SSG OZ'S BOOK REVIEW :

THE LONG ROAD HOME, One Step At A Time, A Doonesbury Book

Q. What does Denzel Washington and Doonesbury have in common?

A. Besides starting with "D", they are both strong supporters of the Fisher House.

Fisher House is a housing complex at Millitary Hospitals, for family members of wounded and critically ill soldiers.

Denzel Washington, while on a tour of one such facility, asked how much it cost to build. He then pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check on the spot to the tune of several million dollars.

G.B Trudeau the author of Doonesbury and a political cartoonist/satirist, donated the full proceeds from his book "The Long Way Home" to benefit the Fisher House organisation. This is a review of his cartoon book.

Trudeau gives an in depth look into the healing process of one soldier named BD, who as a National Guardsmen, lost his leg in a rocket attack. From his first moments bleeding in the dust of Iraq, to his family preparing their house for his arrival home, this insightful, and engaging book examines the mental and physical effects of each stage of the "Long Road" to recovery.

This is an excerpt from the book jacket.

"BD's inspiring, insightful and darkly humorous story confirms thatit takes a ward to get a soldier back on his feet, especially when one of them is titanium..."

Some people I have met say that it is frivolous and demeaning for a soldier to read a cartoon making light of a tragic situation. I strongly disagree, and believe that humor is the best medicine, and to see the whole picture can only help prepare the person for some big bumps ahead.
It is not a crime to gently prepare a person for bad experiences. I remember when my daughterwas 18 months old, and was getting a shot in her leg. The doctor gave her a lollipop before the injection. She started to cry when the needle hit, but then remembered her candy, and stopped. I would rather know that the path ahead was managable before venturing down it, especially if I had no choice. I don't like rollercoasters much, but seeing people safe, and laughing when they get off as I am getting on, makes the pending journey a little less scary.

I believe that Trudeau wrote this book to truly support these young people and their families on their own roller coaster ride to healing. He is definately liberal , and if his cartoons are any indication, not a real fan of the current government, but again it was refreshing to see that he is Truly American when it comes to representing the human side of war.

My hat goes off to him and again I will salute him for his Patriotism, and especially for his support of Fisher House and our Troops. Thanks Mr Trudeau and Mr. Washington. You guys are Heroes too!

SSG OZ

Go to www.uComics.com to find out more about obtaining a copy, and visit my links to learn about "Fisher House".

2005-10-05T06:06:00.000-06:00

GOOD SHOOTING SOLDIER, NOW HIT ONE OF OURS!

Basic Training holds many memories for me. Some good, some bad, and some a little bit of both. Like the time, I goT fired up and punched a tree, and my hand hurt for a week. One of the turning points for my platoon, where we finally became a team, actually involved yours truly, and became one of my best memories of Basic Training.

It happened on the weapons range. We were conducting what is called "zeroing", where you have to fire at a 25m target, the size representing an actual target at 300m. Confusing? Well, it was for me at the time too.
Basically we had to fire 3 rounds at a time, with our eyes on the target, and have them group within the size of a silver dollar. If we could do that and also hit the black center, then we could go shoot with the big boys and girls, on the pop-up range, and do some serious damage.

Frankly, my shooting sucked. I was able to get 2 together, but the third round was lucky to be on the paper. After 2 hours and 30 rounds later, I was asked to shoot a new target. One of the Drill Sargents passed me a paper target, he had drawn a kangaroo in the middle with a nice bright, orange sticker in the middle of that.

"What do I get if I hit it?" I asked the Drill Sarge. "If you hit it. He said "Then I won't smoke the rest of your platoon". After the other firers had stopped, I stepped up to the foxhole and climbed right up in there. Looking around I could see all my fellow soldiers, and all the other DS's lined up behind me. "Prepare to fire" came the command. I focused on that dot, held my breath and fired, letting the slight recoil rock me back as I did it a second time, and then a third.

Putting my weapon down, I watched the whole group, 30 or so, including my commander walk up to the target. I could hear my Senior Drill cussing and obviously angry. The commander walked right up to me, returned my salute then shook my hand.
"Nice Shooting Soldier, But you'll have to learn how to hit one of ours!" Then walked away. I let out a loud yell which was returned by my buddies.

I had hit that roo with 3 shots dead center, my Drill Sargent didn't smoke us, the other drill I think may have lost his bet, I will never know, and my platoon plus me, had the first time to cheer anything since the start of our training. From that day on, we became the "Outlaws", and though it was still tough, we had become battle buddies and friends.

I went back later to the ammo shed and found my target ripped in two. I took the pieces and now it is proudly displayed in my office at home.

2005-10-02T14:11:00.000-06:00

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST DESSERT EVER

If you are wondering what desserts will be served in Heaven, then this receipe will most definately be on that list.

This is a traditional Australian Dessert, invented by a Russian chef on the goldfields of Australia in the early 1900's, to honor a visiting Russian Ballerina named Anna Pavlova.
Enjoy !

Mum's Pavlova

Ingredients
3-4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbspn corn starch
1 tsp vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method
Beat egg whites until stiff, add sifted dry ingredients, then add vanilla and vinegar.
Line a large greased cakepan with waxed paper, spoon in mixture to make a bowl shape with peaks on outside edges.

bake in slow oven (275oF) for 1 and 1/2 hours. Allow to cool, fill with preferred fillings.

Fillings
Fresh whipped cream decorated with fresh sliced fruit, such as kiwi, strawberries, peaches, mangoes and blueberries.

Tips
Don't over beat eggwhites
Make sure there is no egg yolk in the mixture, or it won't peak.
Don't have the oven too hot.
Shells can be premade and frozen in the freezer, wrapped in gladwrap.

About Anna Pavlova
born Jan. 31, 1881, St. Petersburg, Russia died Jan. 23, 1931, The Hague, Netherlands.
Pavlova studied at the Imperial School of Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre from 1891, joined the Imperial Ballet in 1899, and became a prima ballerina in 1906. In 1909 she went to Paris on the historic tour of the Ballets Russes. After 1913 she danced independently with her own company throughout the world.

2005-10-01T13:36:00.000-06:00

PHOTO GALLERY

These are a few photos I took today on my trip to the city of Idar Oberstein, near where I live. I am experimenting with black and white imagery. Let me know what you think.

SSG Oz

Castle View
Church in the Cliff

Happy Dog

Looks Like Rain

Walking on the Ball

Side View

In Jail

Baby Race

Fast Pigeon

Rainy Day
Catch that Bird
Try This one

Check out more photos at

http://community.webshots.com/user/ghemsr

2005-10-01T13:08:00.000-06:00

Chalk it up to talent, and a bloody good teacher: This bloke is ridgy didge!

This amazingly talented gent from the UK, Julian Beever, must have had a heck of an Art Teacher. (plug for teachers; Don't give up, it is blokes like this that make it all worth while, even if they do do graffiti on the side walk.)

This one is for my sister Holli. "Hope you are feeling better Mate!,

Get well soon!"

Go to my links to see the rest of his artwork.

2005-09-30T14:42:00.000-06:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much for a bunch of cartoons?

My Aunty Val sent these. I thought they were worth a post and a chuckle. Kudos to the authors.

2005-09-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

"THESE EAGLES SUFFER WE LITTLE BIRDS TO SING".

Recently, I was asked to comment on if the soldiers feel like they are being used as fodder by President Bush. Working with the injured from Iraq and Afghanistan, I get a good picture of the soldier's state of mind, especially those who come through my hospital in Germany.

I have been in Landstaul Germany for almost a year and I have seen quite alot of injured soldiers physically but amazingly only a few who were bitter, angry or felt that they shouldn't have been in Iraq or Afghanistan. I met a commander of a strker battalian who when one of his soldiers got hit in the neck and almost died, he personally called the young man's Mom, comforted her, then gathered his men together and found the enemy and ended up on my ward as a result.

He gave me a link to the journalist who was with them and it shows pictures of what they do and stories of how they have helped the people there.

I think it will suprise you to find that the soldiers themselves feel 100 feet tall when they are down range. It is more of a neutral view then what you see on the news. go to my links section to go to the reporters site.

I don't tell people what side to be on politically, but I can tell you that the majority of the soldiers I take care of do not want to leave, they fight to go back to the war. On the other hand not every oneof them is a President Bush fan either but they still want to fight, and help rebuild those countries.

I met Don King last week, and have heard really bad stories of the man, that he is a crook , a murderer etc. Personally I thought the man was a American hero on that particular day because he took time to honor the soldiers, and used his celebrity status in a positive way.

I don't allow my personal view or the person's reputed acts, cloud or diminish the good things that they do. I guess the same goes with the President. You may not always agree with their means or their agenda, but now that we are there, we have to get the job done, so that the rest of us back home do not have to go through any more 911 type tragic events. I don't want my kids to grow up without me, but if I have to give my life to help protect them in the long run I will.

Regardless of how we feel politically, the fact is these young soldiers need our support as Americans first. There is no clear answer to whether the war is right or wrong, sometimes people have to respectively agree to disagree. But when young folks are hurting there is a clear answer. They don't need our accusations, they need our love and support to help nuture them back to health, otherwise we will have the messed up generation that followed the Vietnam War.

I have an Uncle I have never met. Uncle Merv. He was killed at age 26, shot down over Belguim on the last days of the war, fighting Nazi Germany. He left a wife and 3 kids. I actually went to the cemetary in Belguim, where he is buried. I felt alot of pride, and emotion due to the fact that he died so young and that he died protecting his family, including me from experiencing the horror that befell the jews. This is what was written on his tombstone "These Eagles Suffer we Little Birds to sing". This is relevant today, and should make us proud of our modern soldiers as a whole, and help keep us focused on the task ahead of us, building a road of freedom and of peace

It is good to "agree to disagree" on points that divide us, and to unite on those common things we share. I hope this has been helpful. Please e-mail if you want and check out the rest of my "blog" especially the post of how you can donate some of the things the soldiers need, if you would like to help.

Have a great day.
Cheers

SSG OZ

2005-09-30T04:11:00.000-06:00

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Landstuhl Army Medical Center:- Donations for the Soldiers

I know that alot of you out there would like to know how to donate items for the wounded soldiers that come through the LRMC hospital. I spoke to the Chaplain Services Office and they sent me a list of the things they need the most. There are many things which they have a surplus of, and others which always seem in short supply. As a nurse on the floor, I can say that I have seen how thankful the soldiers are for your giving and how much they appreciate all the gifts that they receive. You can add a letter with your address if you want to so that they can write back and express their thanks.

The easiest and most helpful way to give a gift is by making a cash contribution. This gives greater flexibility to purchase the most urgent needs in a timely and predictable way and to control the flow and distribution of the items based on current patient loads.

You can participate by sending your check made payable to IMA-E CTOF-WW, marked for "Wounded Warrior". All items should be sent to the following address: Commander, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, ATTN: MCEUL-CH, CMR 402, APO AE 09180.

Another way people help is by mailing specific items. Some on going needs are…

Athletic shoes
Men’s sizes – 9 to 15
Women’s sizes – 6 to 9

Men’s and women’s Fall and Winter jackets
Sizes medium through extra large
Good quality Shavers
Boxer Underwear and Boxer Briefs, Medium - Large

Phone Cards

Air-evacuation Pillows- small couch size pillows, found on some airlines, can be decorated with patriotic messages, national colors etc. I found these at http://www.nursinghomeapparel.com/shop/product88.html, for 55-60 bucks/dozen. but any cloth type would work

DVD's. Any ones are great.

PLEASE NOTE: ONLY NEW ITEMS ARE ACCEPTED

For more information about specific needs at this time please contact The Pastoral Services Office secretary at DSN 486-8143 or COMMERICIAL TELEPHONE is 06371-86-8399. From the United States you will drop the 0 prior to the commercial number.

2005-09-27T03:12:00.000-06:00

A PLAN TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

One of my friends from the Army gave me an outline of how to lose weight without really trying. This is her plan, but try it and see if it works for you. Someone once said that "If you aim at nothing you are bound to hit it". Have a go at some or all of the plan for a month or so. Let me know how it works.

This is The Plan: 5 Ways to Improve Your Diet and Lifestyle
If you are going to do 5 things to improve your health, here they are: Do the 1st one for two weeks, then add the second for two weeks then add the third for two weeks and within 6 weeks you will have easily created the 3 habits to sustain a healthy life style. (You will see 4 and 5 will come naturally within week 1)

Drink more water.
This should add up to just about 2L a day. Specifics: 1 glass when you wake up, 1 glass before any meal, 1 glass before any snacks or deserts, 1 glass before you go to bed. This will get you started. Drinking more water helps your body naturally raise its metabolism and drinking it before you eat helps you to feel fuller so you eat less.
Take a multivitamin (females should also take calcium in addition)
Most multivitamin’s want you to take them 3 times a day. Taking vitamins is important because they give your body the nutrients needed to help your body perform at its best. Cravings come from your body not having the nutrients it needs, so you have cravings to eat in hopes to get those nutrients. Usually we crave foods that are not healthy for us so taking vitamins helps control those cravings. Hint: Put some vitamins in a zip lock bag and take them to work and leave them there, or in your back pack/day planner. Then you’ll have some with you incase you forget to bring them that day. You will see that as you start to get used to taking them you will automatically start to eat better which will make step 3 easier.
Eat more often through out the day.
This also helps raise your metabolism. The trick is to eat at least 5 times a day and no more than 6. With that said you need to watch what you eat and I don’t mean watch it while it goes in your mouth.
The best rule of thumb is eat food in as close to it’s natural form as possible. If you are going to eat fruit, eat fresh fruit. If you are going to eat potatoes eat real potatoes and not boxed ones and bread if you don’t like heavy wheat breads, eat a light wheat bread. It’s almost the same as white. All the chemicals and additives from processed foods are not good for your body and they actually slow your body down and you’ll have less energy. Follow the food pyramid as much as you can. Eat as much protein as you would like if it is cooked in a healthy way (you know, not fried) Chicken, Turkey, and Fish are better choices for protein. The trick for me was when I was craving something or for my snacks I started eating a lot more fruit. It is naturally sweet, so that helped me. Of course you can mix it up and put what you like in there of course. Try new things and be open minded when it comes to food. You might find some thing you like that is better for you as a snack or a meal than what you would used to have eaten. You can at times eat desert or eat what you like. Just don’t eat it every day or every meal and eat it in smaller portions. Here is an example of what a day’s intake could look like.

Day:
Breakfast (0800ish): Glass of water & vitamins
Bowl of oat meal (any cereal would do, try not to make too sugary)
1 piece of fruit with cottage cheese or yogurt
Or 1-2 hard boiled eggs (with or without the yoke)

Mid morning snack (1000ish): Glass of water
1 piece of fruit or vegetables
1 granola bar (not one with chocolate chips and such)

Lunch (1200ish): Glass of water & vitamins
Turkey Sand-which (or a chicken breast salad)
1 piece of fruit
Another side dish (chips, potato salad, etc, about 1-1&1/2 cups)

Mid afternoon snack (1430ish): Glass of water
1 cup of pretzels
A few pieces of beef jerky

Dinner (1800ish): Glass of water & vitamins
1 piece of meatloaf (or meat of your choice)
Side salad / vegetables

Evening snack or dinner desert
(no later than 2000): Glass of water
Small bag of popcorn, light on the butter
Or 1 cup frozen yogurt or frozen fruit bar (Popsicle)
Or pudding
Or angel food cake and fruit with no whip cream. Light sugar sprinkled.
Exercise.
I’m not going to elaborate on this because you are already working on this with the army so keep it up! This is definitely important because it also helps raise your metabolism and burn calories.
Take a free day!
This is the best and easiest one, and my personal favorite. Let me elaborate. I got this from the Body for Life program if any of you have ever read that book you will know what I’m talking about. If you are consistent with your diet (meaning food intake cause we are not on a diet, we are changing our life style so we can maintain our weight loss) and exercise, this free day really does work. What you do is you pick and plan a day that you can eat what ever you like and not feel guilty about it because you’ve been doing so good. The key is planning it in advance because otherwise anytime someone brings in a cake to work you’ll say it’s your free day. Which we all know happens all the time, especially as hospital workers. Pick your day because it’s the weekend or because your going to a party or out to dinner and if you want to cause there is nothing special going on just pick one to go to burger king or have some pizza, eat that ice cream and brownies. You get the picture. The idea of allowing yourself a free day once a week is so your goals feel smaller. It now doesn’t seem like you are never going to have any of the things you like for 6-12 weeks you can have them once a week. For many of us, food means pleasure, comfort, or even an addiction. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that you “eat to live not live to eat” well, now you can have both. My grandma once told me, “If you’re going to eat something that you think maybe is not the best for you, you better enjoy it because the stress you will create from worrying about it is worse for you than what ever it is you are eating.” So enjoy that free day and maintain the rest and you can’t loose.

To all those who read this: I am not a dietician and this is not official medical advice. This is just my opinion on what works and how to go about loosing weight the “right way” It worked for me. I lost 25 pounds with this. Tweak it and the foods so it works for you too, with your schedule and what you like to eat. If you work night shift, the night is your day so try to treat it the same way. Routine is the key. One thing I didn’t mention was getting adequate sleep. Your body recovers when it sleeps and you will have more energy to do all those army work outs.

The most important clue is:
Don’t give up on your self. All too often we say, oh well since I ate those cookies (or what ever we ate we felt we shouldn’t have) we say our day is ruined and we might as well eat what ever we want. Don’t do that! Say since I ate those cookies I’ll have a salad for dinner instead or I won’t have desert at the party. Every time you put something to your mouth it’s a choice, not by the day.

2005-09-27T02:34:00.000-06:00

PHYSICAL TRAINING - Army Style

Over the last few months I have been one of the instructors in the PT Improvement Class (PTIC), and have helped organise and conduct a one month schedule of intense training to try and improve the individuals PT score.

After 6 weeks, we are starting to see an average improvement in the overall fitness levels.

This is our basic schedule and can be used in conjunction with a good eating plan to help build fitness and overall health.

Week 1

Monday- 1 lap (fast) x 12 w/ 40 second rest
Tuesday - Double max, double the max level of pushups and situps that person needs to max. Usually 90-120 pu Females 140-160pu Males. 140-160 su Both M&F
Wednesday- warmup lap, 3laps,2 laps, 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, cooldown lap. Hard runs w/ 1min rest in between.
Thursday- Rest
Friday- Gym 8-12 stations, targeting upper and lower body, 2mins each, 1 min rest in between. Low weight high intensity.

Week2

Monday - 1/4 lap sprints w/ partner x 10 laps, plus 1 warm up and 1 cooldown lap.
Tuesday- 25m drills. High exertion sprints, kareokes, skips, backward runs, bearcrawls, kangaroo hops, jumps, lunges, flutter kicks, situps and pushups, 3 laps cooldown.
Wednesday- 200m incline run/200m decline sprints x 10
Thursday- rest
Friday- PT test self evaluation

Week3

Monday - 1 lap fast 40 sec rest x 12
Tuesday- Double max pushups and situps (see week 1)
Wednesday- 1/4 lap sprints x 12 laps
Thursday- rest
Friday- Gym (see week 2)

Week4

Monday - Stretches plus light cardio exercise to increase heartrate
Tuesday - PT test
Wednesday - long run around post (3 miles)
Thursday - rest
Friday - Gym (see week 2)

Most of these exercises are self driven, and allows the person to work at their own pace and effort, but still with the aim of completing the exercise.

2005-09-26T15:17:00.000-06:00

ENJOY THE GOOD!

Today was one of those days that could have started better, but turned out ok. I won't go into details, but I hope that the things I learned will hold me in good shape for the future.

After the not so good morning things did improve. One of America's icons showed up today with the producer of another of the nation's television icons. I am talking about the one and the only Don King and the co-producer of the Simpsons, Sam Simon.

"Only in America" was the caption on Mr King's shirt. He was certainly a character, and welcomed. Anytime someone comes to help encourage soldiers and show their patrioticness, is a good thing. Mr. Simon, though less vocal, drew pictures of Bart and added a new feature to the wall space of several American Homes.

Culminating this day, I went to the movies and watched the 'Bad News Bears' and later at the Jimmy Fallon/Drew Berrymore movie 'Fever Pitch'. Both revolving around baseball, it helped move my focus off the day onto something more important. Tonight as I prepare for bed and another day in a few hours, I can tell myself, this is just one day. So don't worry about the bad, enjoy the good.

2005-09-25T11:50:00.000-06:00

CHILLI COOK OFF

In celebration of Spanish-American week, the hospital offered a "chilli cook-off". I have no spanish blood what so ever, but I do like chilli, (a direct result of three years living in Texas). Deciding to experiment a little, I journeyed to the comissary with the beginning of a receipe in my head. With limited resources I decided to start with canned chilli, canned chopped tomatoes, ranch beans and add the swedish meatball sauce from my friend John's receipe. His ingredients were simple Picante sauce and Grape Jelly. To cut a long story short, after experimenting on my roomates and getting the thumbs up, I made a pot, added caramalised onions and entered the cookoff. Well I didn't win. But my pot was scraped clean, everyone apparently enjoying my mix of ingredients. I even had a cool name "Montana Mild Fire". Not to worry I should win the next time we celebrate "National Australian-American Week".

Montana Mild Fire
3 cans Wolf Chilli
1lg can chopped tomatoes
3 cans texas ranch beans

1 can picante sauce
1 cup grape jelly

1/2 onion chopped
tblspn honey
butter

Fry the onions then add all ingredients, bring to boil and then simmer for 1 hour.
Let cool and reheat the following day.

My Family

2005-09-25T08:42:00.000-06:00

This is an update on my crew, including the family pets.

Heidi, married to me for 15 years. A saint. Works as a CPA, likes to swim, watch movies, read, hike in the woods. Has a cool elephant collection. Was the National Gelbvieh Ambassador" in 1987. Is a great Mum (Mom), also a talented dog groomer, and took Judo as a kid.

Emily, the oldest at 13. Born a cat, is a very talented cartoonist, and especially likes to draw Japanese Anime. She is an up and coming novelist, likes to read, especially Harry Potter and the Narnia Chronicles. Enjoys horses, taking care of animals, and listening to music. She won a purple ribbon for hog showmanship this summer. She wants to be either a vet or a teacher when she gets older.

Matthew, 12. He likes any type of video game, especially Tony Hawk, and has played Age of the Empires since second grade. He loves his cats, and is sad after we lost Max to a coyote a year ago. He likes to collect foreign money, and is an avid saver. Matt too is an excellent reader, and excells in school. He has played baseball, and is involved in 4H where he got Grand Champion for his Pavlova, and a blue ribbon for showmanship. Matt hasn't decided what he wants to be when he grows up, but we think either a banker or the next Bill Gates.says he wants to be a chief software designer.

Shannon, 10. A tough kid. Didn't flinch on riding the roller coasters this summer. Goes to Twae Kwando lessons, and is learning the trumpet. Is a Daddy's girl. Wants to play sports this year. She is doing well in school and likes showing her animals in the 4H also, and has many ribbons. She collects dolls and stuffed toys. She is excellent with animals and may want to be a vet also

Our pets

Barley, an English Springer. A four-year old in a dog suit
Molly, a chocolate lab. A great bear tracker
Sarah, a wheaton/chow, also good at tracking bears.
Stella, an arab gelding
Bandit, Stormy, Cleo and Moggy, the cat crew
Sugie, a Sugar glider
Ghost, the portuguise fighting fish
Pixie, the rabbit
Ducks and Chickens

2005-09-25T03:56:00.000-06:00

GRANDPA JOE

I never met my Grandfather, as he died before I was born, but I have always felt close. Partly as we share the same middle name and also now that I too am a soldier. I came across this article and felt that it was someting I wanted to add to my blog. I also added some old images , and a letter (not from my Grandfather), that I have from that time to help paint a picture of what life must have like for Joe and all the other brave souls who fought and died during that time..... SSG Oz

Private Joseph William Collins No. 3787 enlisted in Adelaide on 11th. July 1916. At the time he was 20 years 4 months old, 5foot 7inches and weighed 148lbs. According to his medical records he did not suffer from amongst many other conditions, Scrofula, Phthisis, inveterate cutaneous disease, syphilis, defective intelligence or any other disease or physical defect calculated to unfit him for duties of a soldier.

After initial training he embarked Adelaide on the S.S. Commonwealth on 21st. Sept. that year and disembarked in Plymouth on the14th. Nov. 1916After a short period in hospital in January 1917 for inflammation of the joints he proceeded to France on 28th. Feb. 1917Joe was taken on the strength of 32nd. Battalion on the 6th. Mar. 1917. Assigned to 9 Platoon in C Company during a period that saw the battalion participating to some extent during the following battles.BapaumeBullecourtYpresMenin RoadPolygon WoodA severe leg wound (referred to in his medical records in one spot as a gunshot wound and in another as a shrapnel wound) to his right leg on 25th. Oct. 1917 saw Joe in hospital in England by the 30th. October.Following his rehabilitation he returned to his unit on 12th. June 1918 in time for the 32nd Battalion to engage in some more battles before it was withdrawn for training and rebuilding.After the Armistice he returned to Australia and was discharged at Port Denison on 6th. January 1919.As a result of his service Joe was entitled to wear the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

2005-09-24T05:31:00.000-06:00

THE TREE vs THE FRUIT

They say the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, but I think the opposite is also true. The tree doesn't fall far from it's fruit. For example how many of us parents have found ourselves doing things with our kids and then being totally consumed by it to the point where we no longer have a life? For example. On my recent trip back home I spent some good quality time with each of my three kids, including watching cartoon network and playing on our playstation. After being beat repeatedly by my 12 year old son, Matthew I gradually developed the basic skill of operating a game controller. It was fun but I felt that the roles were reversed and that it was Matt teaching me. Back in Germany, I am fortunate to have some roomates who are also role reversed and spend considerable hours playing video games.

As I get older I find myself acting younger in some ways. Is this an attempt to slow down the aging process? I am not sure. I know that when I was younger I couldn't wait until I could get rich, have a nice car and do all the good stuff that adults do. Now, I am enjoying watching my children grow and trying to participate more in their lives. Kids are cool. They frustrate you at times but they are also rewarding if you let them. I probably have 8 years or so before they leave the nest, so I think I am probably in the middle of not slowing down the aging process for me, but delaying the time before the apple leaves the tree for good.

2005-09-22T15:33:00.000-06:00

MEETING WILLY

The first inpression that you get when meeting Willy Nelson, is his kindness. It shows in his eyes his manner and is reflected by the people around him. I also thought that he looked like a cool hippie with those long braids.
From whatever side of the fence you decide to look at him, Willy is certainly a one of a kind, dyed in the wool American original. I was pretty impressed. Firstly for his performance, and how he stole the show with his smoky but strong voice, and familiar tunes, but also for his willingness to embrace soldiers. His whole focus while we sat there in his trailer, was on the injured soldiers and the work that we do for them as medical personel. It was very comfortable and relaxed, and even 4 months later I still am overawed by the whole experience, being glad that the impression of an individual who I have so long admired, was not disappointed by reality.

2005-09-22T15:28:00.000-06:00

TOO LAZY TO BIKE

My German $600 Hooptie died not long ago, the victim of a broken timing belt, and the enormous amount of cash it would take to fix it. The bright side was that it carked it right in front of a Burger King (Hungry Jack's), and not on the autobahn. The downside was that now I had to catch a bus or ride my bike. At the time I wasn't too enthused about either choice.

I always thought that biking was for people too lazy to run. Well, about three weeks ago I went on a long mountain bike ride with a couple of mates. It was really hard work, and alot of fun. That day and the next I put on over 40 miles, and have biked another 50 or so since.

I decided that when I get back to Montana, that I would go biking more often. I even traded my freebie walmart special bike in for a 21speed schwim. (A red one). There are so many trails here in Germany, a product of a poor transport system after the war and centuries of pilgrimages by priests and travellers. I have at least two old castles within cooee, and an old railway line that extends all the way to France. So if you are up to it come join me on a ride sometime either her e or in Montana. Try and keep up!