Monday, Monday

 I worked today but the weather here was just awesome!!

Pretty much the same mild weather as yesterday and the only bad thing

about that is the kids still have not gotten out to go tobogganing yet!

I had plans to take them yesterday when I got home from work

but I was a little later than I thought I'd be and when

I got home Cody was making peanut butter balls

and Colin was making chocolate chip cookies!!!!

 

I picked Colton up on the way home today because he had a dentist

appt. He's lost another filling!! I think I need a new dentist for crying

out loud because this is the second time that's happened.

So he has to go next week for another appt.

 

We stopped at the library too to pick up my new books

and I had to mail a card to my step-sister

who just had her second baby!!!

 

We're still trying to get supper in the oven here, lol.

The big boys are making homemade pizzas.

I'm getting hungry!!

 

I'll be back later, it's time for Everwood!

What a Long Day

 Well I'm off to bed as I just can't keep my eyes open anymore!

 

I left for work at 6 this morning and didn't get home till almost 8:30

tonite. I can tell I must be pretty tired because I'm chilled even

though the woodstove has it nice and warm in here.

 

Turns out they couldn't fill a kitchen shift for this afternoon

so once I was done in the laundry, I went to work in the

kitchen. And I'm back in for 7 tomorrow morning too.

 

I got home and Hannah had fallen asleep on Mike's knee

so I didnt' even get to see her today!

Colton wasn't far behind her and now Mike has gone out

to pick Colin up from an all day birthday party he went to that lasted

from 11 this morning till 10 tonite. He has to carpool a bunch of other kids

home too who went to the same party and then he'll pick Cody up

who spent the nite at a friends house.

 

I'll be in the bed when they get back!

The Sun is Shining!

 Finally we are getting some sunshine though it is still cold outside at a high of -12. I'll have to get my butt outside when the kids get home and while they are having their turn on the computer I'll get the sidewalk shovelled of the snow we got last nite. It was another nite of howling winds, which just chills me to the bones just listening to it!!

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work yesterday and I have a question...Why is it that even though I stop in with a list....I always spend at least twice that amount?? I can never just go in a grocery store and pick up 'a few things' LOL!!!

I also stopped at the library and she was a little surprised when I didn't ask if there was a computer available, lol! Instead I was returning two books on tape and hoping to pick up the fourth book in the Mitford series but unfortunately it wasn't there! They are ordering it for me from another library in our township and it should be here within days.

I would highly recommend books on tape to anyone who has to drive over a half hour to work and back. It makes the time fly!! And besides I get twice the reading in that I would otherwise between work, home, computer time, and reading in my comfy chair.

It's Freezin' Up in Here!

 How is everyone's weekend going?   It seems that two or three days in a row of -20 & -30 degree weather was just too much for our pipes in the kitchen! The wind was coming from the east here yesterday, right where our kitchen wall is and when we got up the cold water pipe was froze. This morning they are both frozen and the wind just won't stop!! Thank goodness the washroom taps are still working though!lol  

Mike is on his way two hours north of here to pick up some sheep he bought. A bunch of lambs and some ewes too. He rented a U-Haul trailer because he thought it would be just too cold on the poor little guys to make it all the way back home in the back of his truck with just racks on it (there would be no roof)  

 I woke this morning to the sound of him spinning his wheels in the driveway, lol!! He was trying to get the truck and trailer turned around in the mounds of snow we got yesterday. The kids and I watched him for awhile out the bedroom window laughing the whole time.

This is a recurring event for him, as he thinks he can always just plow through all that snow whenever he wants to, would be much too easy to shovel it first!! lol Finally he took off right across the front lawn and through the ditch!! You can see the grass on the front lawn because all of the snow blew into our driveway which is at least a foot deep with drifts!   Have a great day everyone! 

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

 WOW! I can't believe I'm finally back! And so excited to have a new computer! The library is going to miss me!!lol

So much space on this one, and Mike is already taking bets at how long it will take me to fill it up with pictures and graphics~!

It's a frosty one here in south-eastern Ontario, -30 when we got up this morning and not getting above -15 for the day.  Sent the kids to school all bundled up and it will be yet another day of indoor activities for them as it's just been too cold the last three days for them to be sent outside for recess. Hannah had her teddy bear in hand and was out the door in her jammies!! It's pajama day at school and she was quite excited to be going and participating as it's not every day your mommy lets you wear your pajamas to school, lol!!

Me....well I plan on staying inside all day long and keeping the woodstove stoked up. I spent most of my morning surfin' the net sitting here with a little heater by my feet keeping me warm!

Pajama Day

 Well thank goodness for the sunshine, I say, because

otherwise it's a freezing cold day....yuck!!lol

 

I have done nothing this morning except stoke up the old

woodstove and sit here in my jammies surfin' the net!

 

I bundled the kiddies up real warm this morning. They will

be spending yet another day inside at school because it's just too

darned cold to go out. I think this makes three days in a row now.

 

Hannah was out the door with her teddybear in her hand and

wearing her jammies because it's pajama day at school.

She was very excited about this as it's not everyday

mommy lets you wear your jammies to school, lol!!

Spidercobs, lol

 LOL, Hannah was getting her coat out of the closet when we went to pick Cody up this afternoon and she say's 'Oooops mom, there's a spidercob'!!

 

She meant a spiderweb, lol. Too cute!

 

I guess it's about time I cleaned out my corners, lol!! When we have to woodstove going it really brings those webs to attention!

 

Anyone else need to do a little spidercob cleaning?

Do you get very many webs in the corners?

Is Abu Ghraib sentence fair?

 I'm sure everyone heard about the abuse of the war prisoners being held at Abu Ghraib by some of the US military. It was all over CNN and the tv, pictures of naked bodies stacked up in a pile and even a woman participating in the abuse.

 

Well I got this in my e-mail this morning, a news column I get because I like to hear this guys views on things. Anyway, they handed down the sentence of the ringleader and he will get 10 years in prison. This guy wasn't in charge and whoever was in charge there has not been held accountable at all. He says he was following orders. I'm not sure what the actual charges were but no one was killed, no one was injured...lots of prisoners were humiliated though.

 

The guy makes a good point, that there are pedophiles and others who kill or maim here in North America and not even they get 10 years.

 

Just wondering if anyone had an opinion about it.

 

Here's the column:

 

IS ABU GHRAIB SENTENCE FAIR?

No doubt, he’s a piece of crap.

    But justice is justice and fair is fair. And under our system, the punishment is supposed to fit the crime.

    And Charles Graner Jr. didn’t get that.

    He didn’t deserve 10 years.

    I’m talking about Spec. Charles Graner Jr., the Army Reservist from Uniontown, Pa., who was the ringleader at Abu Ghraib. On Friday he was found guilty of five charges, and on Saturday he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

    Probably Fort Leavenworth.

    He was the guy behind the pictures. The naked pyramid, the prisoner on the bucket with the wires, the smiling chick who was pointing and laughing. That whole disgrace.

    It was bad. It was immoral. The president called it “shameful and appalling,” and he was right. Our nation and our military were embarrassed.

    But let’s keep things in perspective.

    Nobody died. Nobody got hurt. Nobody had their heads cut off.

    A Syrian guy was forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, another guy got hit – once – with a metal police baton, and another got punched – once – in the head.

    What a Syrian guy was doing in Iraq trying to kill Americans, I don’t know.

    But that’s what happened.

    There was also sexual humiliation, people being told to simulate things.

    But nobody died and nobody got hurt.

    And there are pedophiles in America who get less than 10 years in prison. Ditto for drunk drivers who kill people and folks who do other manslaughters and homicides.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending or minimizing what happened. But if you sat in a criminal courtroom in this country you’d go a long time before you saw things like this punished like this.

    In terms of what Charles Graner did to those detainees, this sentence is too long. In terms of what he did to America’s good name, it might not be long enough.

    But he wasn’t charged with embarrassing the country. He was charged with assault, conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees, committing indecent acts and dereliction of duty.

    It’s quite possible that the Abu Ghraib pictures inspired new terrorists to come to Iraq, and new attacks to be launched against Americans. Or it’s possible that those people would have hated us anyway. Maybe the pictures hurt our standing with the Iraqi people, or maybe they were just P.R. for our enemy. Certainly they were a shame on the Army.

    Some low-ranking, overage Reservist with a camera had done the war effort incredible harm.

    Which makes you wonder how a low-ranking overage Reservist came to be unsupervised with that many prisoners in a setting of that nature.

    As a “specialist,” Charles Graner was one step above a private first class. It is a “junior enlisted” rank that is usually reserved for those who do not have significant supervisory responsibilities. Typically, one receives the rank of “specialist” after being in the Army two years.

    Though his service ribbons and years-of-service hash marks indicate Craner had been in more than 12 years and had been fairly well decorated, the fact remains that he was very low ranking.

    It seems inconceivable that there wasn’t a sergeant or a lieutenant responsible for keeping tabs on Charles Craner and the other reservists with him.

    But apparently there wasn’t.

    And apparently the jury didn’t believe the defense that he was following orders to soften up the prisoners.

    And apparently nobody higher up the food chain is going to be held accountable for such a loss of command and control.

    And apparently it’s just like they used to say in basic training: Crap flows downhill.

    Charles Craner is responsible for his actions, and he should be punished.

    But not 10 years worth.

    He was just some Reservist, drilling and doing his duty, and he was called off to war. Into a situation where he may not have been properly trained or supervised. In charge of some terrorists whose buddies were killing Americans day after day. And he got stupid and cruel. And the stuff hit the fan.

    This is big, but not big enough to crucify him.

    He’s losing his years in service, he’s losing his pay, he’s losing his retirement, he’s losing his good name, he’s losing his job.

    And he’s losing 10 years of his life.

    Maybe he was offered up as a sacrifice to the offended sensitivities of the world. Maybe he was skewered as a warning to others. Maybe he was thrown under the bus so we could look tough and sensitive, all at the same time.

    Yes, he’s trash.

    A real piece of crap.

    But this is too much.

    The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.

- by Bob Lonsberry © 2005


Comment on this Column:
http://www.lonsberry.com/comments.cfm?story=1572

Read Current Comments:
http://www.lonsberry.com/readcomments.cfm?story=1572

Go to Column:
http://www.lonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=1572

Happy New Year!

 It's so good to be here finally!! I can't believe it's been soooo long, but everytime I thought I may sneak a chance to get into the library, it was closed because of the holiday schedule or my van was on the blink!! grrr.... right now it's sitting at my bil's because I blew a plug that holds the transmission fluid in and I spilled it all over the ground on the way to work on Monday morning!!

 

What a morning that was too, we had freezing rain and thank goodness it didn't start until I got to work and ended before Mike came to pick me up. We had tons and tons of snow on the ground all in one day, Christmas eve (which made my son think that wishes really do come true because we had none on the ground in the morning, lol) We had gone to my sisters for dinner which is an hour away, where they got no snow at all that day, and found over 8 inches on the ground. Good thing it was light and fluffy so we could plow our way through the drive, lol!!

 

Right now I am starting holidays, and don't have to go back to work till two weekends from now, so hopefully I will be able to get in here while the kids are in school. I had plans made to get maybe even a brand new computer either this week or the next but with the van breaking down the way it has been, I think it's trying to tell us something and we may have to save for a new one of those instead!!

 

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

 

I wish you all the best in the year to come!!

New Computer Coming?

 Good Morning ladies!!

 

I have some good news!

My bil has lined up a new computer and if all works out

I should be picking it up on Thursday!!

 

I'm trying not to do flips and cartwheels at the moment, LOL!!!

 

It's quite an upgrade from the system we had, ours was an

old computer with only 6 Gigs of memory on it and this

one will be 100! I can't even imagine all the graphics I'll be able

to save with that, LOL!! It will also come with a CD burner which

I really wanted. We are getting quite a deal on it too!

Gotta love that!

 

I go back to work this weekend though, so I'll just have to cram

as much as I can in on Friday!

 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!