The Parking Lot at our House

This photo is actually for the weekly color challenge which is "RED". This isn't all the red cars in this driveway. The Vue is in the garage and didn't end up in the picture. I have no idea of how we ended up with four red vehicles. At least the jeep should leave in the future when Andrew finally takes it home. My convertible fits in the category of what makes me feel like a princess which goes back a few weeks to another challenge.

One of those things you do...

Today I did one of those things you do. The kind you know may cause you problems and not work out how you want, but you do it anyway. We took Wyatt to Penney's to have his eighteen month old portraits done. It was all set up, his Easter outfit and some shorts. We get there on time, and then wait for almost an hour. Wyatt was good natured about the whole thing for the first 45 minutes. However, by the time we got into the studio, he was not having anyone take his picture thank you very much. There were five shots taken, of which three were decent. He is cute enough that he takes a good picture with very little effort. I bought my choices and we packed up and came home. He is always cooperative with me, but I don't make him wait forever. Six months till we have to try this again.

The good news from Iraq

Thursday is Andrew's day off, so I was able to IM with him for a while last night. It was the usual conversation, with one exception. He will be coming home sometime in the next few weeks. He could not say when in order to not provide information to the terrorists who read this blog for national security tidbits, but he will be back. Andrew is fortunate in that he is in the Air Force and not the Army. The Army deployments are all extended for three months which I imagine seems like a life time in that part of the world.
He also told me he will be moving to Moody AFB in Georgia in the fall. As his parents, we thought, wonderful, another place to take vacation.

Nick's Sheriff's Deputy Commssioning

Check out my Slide Show!

Mello Yello

Wyatt loves playing on the playground equipment, he was not ready to go home when I was. In this picture he had climbed up the steps to the slide and was deciding if he wanted to go any further. The final decision was that he wasn't ready to go down the slide yet, so he backed down the stairs and went to the swings. This picture is for the yellow photo challenge.

Bottoms Up

Wyatt and I went to the park this afternoon. His goal was to play, mine was to take some photos. A lady at the end of our block feeds the Canada Geese. There are close to a hundred of them there along with a good number of ducks. One of the weekly photo challenges was to take a picture involving water. After the cold spell, everyone including the birds were out enjoying the good weather. There must be lots of good stuff under the water because everyone was dunking and gobbling.

Virginia Tech

It has been a little time since the murders at Virginia Tech. The horror still remains and the why of what happened will probably never be answered. My son Andrew and I discussed the situation yesterday in our weekly IM session from Iraq. His view is different but not in opposition to mine. As a member of the military he was looking at what happened from the view of what might have been able to happen. I had been looking at the heroism of the students who blocked doors and worked to save classmates.

Then the discussion changed to "outsiders" and what causes some people to go on rampages while other fit into society. Andrew posted on his blog about this, and he made good points. Mental illness aside, our society is not kind to those who don't fit in. Andrew didn't fit when he was in school. In self defense, he developed a dangerous persona, all in black, chains and a mohawk. The image prevented a lot of harassment, but now how do you let the real person back out. Seung Cho got lost in world of mental illness and tragedy followed. It is more than I am able to answer, I don't think Andrew has the answer either. More guns are not the answer, and tighter gun control , who knows. But an awareness of the fragile state of the outsiders in our society may be the most useful.

Photos from the Denton Crop

Off to Texas I go....

I am going to Denton, Texas for a wild weekend of scrapbooking with my friends. We are into our third year of doing this. It is a great time, we stay up late, do a lot of talking and laughing and while we are at it we do scrapbook pages. When I come back, I am going to post a slide show of all we do. Everyone needs gal friends and Angie, Barb, Cynthia, Donna and Melissa are the best.

My Milblog Addiction

I just added another blog to my links. Heidi's Mom is the mother of a medic stationed in Afghanistan. Her daughter doesn't write much like Andrew, she does send pictures. She was featured on The Sandbox and I commented about the slide show giving me a feel of what was going on in that part of the world. She was kind enough to respond, and I got that great feeling of other people knowing how you feel when your child is on the other side of the world in a dangerous place. The blogs like Afghanistan Without a Clue, The Sandbox and Michael Yon are windows onto wars that the rest of us don't understand. There is a lot of frustration with these people that the evening news doesn't talk about the work being done in Iraq and Afghanistan. But unless those of us here take the time to find out what is going on, no good decisions will ever be made.

I have not changed my opposition to the political decisions and bad planning that got us into this situation. However, I am firmly convinced that our military personnel on the ground are making a difference every day.

Mostly White

Ray tells me that if I didn't have Wyatt to take photos of I would never take photos at all. That may be something of an exaggeration, but I do take more photos of my only grandchild than I do anything else. This shot is for the mostly white challenge on Scrapdawgs. No baby album is complete without bath pictures so here are Wyatt's. He loves playing in the tub, and can stay in the water until he is totally shriveled up. He will drink from the faucet and is totally pleased with himself when he does.

When I was considering what photo I would take for the out and around town challenge, I first thought of a number of obvious locations. Then I thought of a spot which is locally well known, but not a tourist attraction. This tombstone is located in the Maple Grove Cemetery which is one of the more historical cemeteries in Wichita. Bat Masterson is buried here, but this isn't his grave. I don't know this little girls name, it has almost completely weathered away. I do remember she died around 1888, and that she has no known family still living in Wichita. But people still care for her. The sculpture is cared for an people will bring baskets of flowers at different times of the year for her to hold. I have seen her as I drive past with all sorts of colors in her hand. I have always believed that as long as one person remembers you, you will never really die. If that is so, then this little girl and her faithful dog live on in many hearts.