Independence Day ~ 234 Years Old Today!

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

I'm Pooped!!

View of garage before we started sorting and tossing

Conclusion of our Saturday work. (Next Saturday - the back wall)

This past week the maintenance man from our association met me at my garage to see if the problem of the squirrel and foul odor inside our three connecting garages could be solved. He climbed up into the rafters to get a closer look at the vents and confirmed what I had suspected - there is a hole in the plastic screening that covers the interior of the vent in my garage. Mr. Squirrel (the rat!), can jump from a tree onto the garage roof and stretch down to the vent and make his entrance. The maintenance man said he could replace the screening with metal screening and thus, block the entrance for him.

As for the odor, the association manager instructed my neighbor and me to move everything in our garages to see if there is a dead critter lying about. Colleen (my next-door garage neighbor) managed to move all of her things Thursday night. It only took her an hour! Yesterday I stopped at Wal*Mart and bought a few Rubbermaid bins for transferring some of my treasures from cardboard cartons. My dear friend, Nancy, came over to help me this morning. We started at 8:30 and stopped at 1:15 - with two trips to a Salvation Army drop-off site mixed in. With temperatures in the low 90's and the humidity and dew point sky high (don't know the exact number), I am now pooped!

We managed to get through both sides of the garage storage. The back shelves are yet to do. Ugh!! Hopefully next Saturday will be much cooler and dryer. Please, Lord?

Squirrells! Why Me? Please, Not Again!

I have been aware that some sort of animal has been in my garage for the past week or so. Tonight when I came home from work and opened the door, a squirrel made his way up the shelves of storage boxes and bins that are at the back. I exited my car outside the garage and left the garage door open for at least 10 minutes while I waited across the street, hoping he would come out, but no such luck. My next door garage neighbor (our garages connect) came home just then and I told her about the squirrel. She mentioned smelling a foul odor in our garage the past few days. She pounded on her inside wall to see if it would cause him to run out. No luck. I pounded on the outside of the back of my garage. No luck. She suggested I ask our management if they have any traps we could put in our garages to try to trap him.

Squirrels are very hard to get rid of! Believe, I know from personal experience. Many years ago, when my kids were little, we lived in a large two-story house with a full walk-up attic. One winter we heard noises coming from our attic. Upon inspecting, we found that some of our cardboard boxes being stored up there had been shredded. We discovered some of the toys were chewed on and parts of the branches of our artificial Christmas tree were chewed off. We had a problem! What to do? Many of our friends had ideas: moth balls was one of the ideas. The squirrel(s) batted them around like hockey pucks. We tried Raid rat poison. It did no good.

Finally my husband got a live bait trap. Bingo! We got him! Steve took the trap out of the attic and took the squirrel a few blocks away and let him out. But the rodent returned. Again and again. Thinking the same squirrel was coming back, Steve started taking the squirrel to work with him - 42 miles away - and let him out there. But more squirrels came. That winter we trapped 55 squirrels. No kidding!

I sure hope I can solve this problem soon!

Bullseye with My Friend, Julie

Julie with Bullseye in First Class!

Owner/trainer with Bullseye. The dogs real name is Nikki. They live in California and apparently the owner has several animals that are in the advertising industry.

Celebrity Sighting

Julie, a dear friend of mine, is a flight attendant on Delta Airlines. On her flight this morning to Los Angeles, she had a celebrity in the first class portion of the aircraft. Who was it? Bullseye, the mascot for Target. Bullseye had a seat of her own, next to her owner. Julie had her camera with her today so took several pictures of her. I was surprised to learn the dog was allowed to fly in the cabin with out a crate. I guess they make exceptions!

We're Gonna Win, Twins, We're Gonna Win!

Friends Gary and Nancy waiting at the train station

Julie, Laurey and yours truly posing at the giant baseball glove

This was my view. (Photo taken 40 minutes before game time.)

L. to R.: Julie, yours truly, Laurey

Huge score and message board

Balls of light travel around the outside of the sign for hits and runs.

Twins' home run! (they got two last night)

Last night I was one of one hundred from my church choir to go to the new Target Field (baseball stadium) to see the Minnesota Twins play the Colorado Rockies. The stadium is in downtown Minneapolis and just opened this spring. We had rain in the morning and the weatherman had predicted it may rain off and on during the afternoon, but should clear out by game time. Well, I’m happy to say it cleared out mid-afternoon. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather at the game. There was sunshine, but our seats were covered, and there was a lovely breeze wafting past us throughout the game. In fact, one could smell the brats and other treats grilling just below us due to the air flow.

My friends and I took the light rail train downtown and arrived early enough to look around the outdoor plaza and inside the stadium a bit. Our seats (family section), were way, way, way up – from home plate. In fact, there was only one row higher in the entire facility! My view was straight down the third baseline.

My reactions: I loved the big glove outside on the plaza. What a neat place for friends or family to have their photos taken. I also loved the giant scoreboard/message board. The lighting on the board, as well as the signage that surrounds the interior of the stadium, is very bright and contemporary. But the thing that I am most enamored with is the old-fashion sign from the days at Met Stadium of the pair of adult men – one from Minneapolis and the other from Saint Paul – shaking hands across the Mississippi River, with the shape of our great state behind them. During the game, a single ball of light would travel around the perimeter of the sign if one of the Twins got a hit. It would travel around twice if the player got a double, etc. For a home run, many balls of light traveled around it, and the shaking hands moved up and down. Clever! Also, for a home run, fire-works shot up out of the back of the giant scoreboard.

During the National Anthem – choreographed at the perfect moment during the rockets red glare; the bombs bursting in air – fire-works shot up from the back of the scoreboard.

All in all, it was a fun night - - and the Twins beat the Colorado Rockies 9 – 3!!!

Why do weekends go by so fast?

It's Sunday night already - feels like the weekend was ten minutes long! I don't understand why it has to pass by so quickly. Many weekends I have lots of planned activities, and then the weekend feels like as though it was eight or nine minutes long. This weekend was pretty much an "open" weekend for me, but somehow it got filled up anyway.

Yesterday morning I went to the funeral for Paul, the son of a friend of mine. He was only43 years old and died after a courageous two year battle with malignant melanoma. The service was held at a beautiful church in the twin cities - one I have driven past hundreds and hundreds of time, but had never been inside. When my friends and I entered the sanctuary, I heard birds chirping. I thought to myself, What a nice touch! Paul was an adventurous man - robust, even while sick - rollerblading, running, skiing, playing the piano, and traveling. I think he would have loved knowing a few sparrows had somehow entered the building and were flying around the sanctuary - flying from the pipe organ, to the lamp shades, to the railings on the balcony, back to the floor of the platform - chipping all through the service.

I'm not complaining. It's nice to have things to do, and I'm happy that I can participate in so many activities - even if the weekends fly by.

Road Trip

On Tuesday this week, I had the opportunity to travel through western Minnesota – down roads I had never before traveled. A group of 6 were driving together to the visitation in Minneota, Minnesota, for the mother of my boss, LaVonne.

Our route was US Highway 212, to Minnesota Highway 67, and finally County Road 24. I had never been west of Chaska on US 212 and found the drive to be wonderful. We drove through towns such as Norwood-Young America (I’ve heard this unusual name for a town on the radio for years), Glencoe, Buffalo Lake, Bird Island, Olivia – “The Corn Capital,” Granite Falls – which is actually a nice size town - the Minnesota River runs through it; Clarkfield, and finally Minneota.

The route to Minneota is only 155 miles, but it takes 3 hours (when following the speed limits), due to having to slow down for so many towns and burgs. But the small towns were darling. Some had parks, some interesting water towers. And all had at least one visible church.

In the country side we saw beautiful, manicured farms, with gorgeous groves of trees and lovely yards. Many had horses. I hadn’t realized so much corn was grown in that area. Most of the farms had several large grain bins – and the small towns had large commercial grain dryers. We saw an Ethanol factory and a seed factory. The closer we got to Minneota, we saw huge turkey barns – lots of them. That was a surprise to me, too. Some of the land was very flat; other parts had big, rolling hills. Everything was green and lush.

On our return trip a female pheasant played “chicken” with us. She sat right in the middle of the road and tried to stare us down. Our driver had to slow down and drive around her. Too funny!

I enjoyed the road trip with my colleagues so much. It was different than the visiting that goes on at lunch or break time. Out on the open roads, one may spot something and tell the group something about it – perhaps jogging a memory from childhood, or from a former job. It was like “pop-corn” talk – jumping from this subject to that. It was so much fun!

My New Car

Just before leaving for Germany I bought a new car and sold my old one to a co-worker. I took possession of my new car yesterday - today is my first day back to work and my co-worker and I parked next to each other for a few pictures.

Back to Work

I'm back to work after a fabulous 17 day vacation to Germany where I had a marvelous time with my Hans, Rachel, Josiah, Annika and Will. This scene is what greeted me when I came into my office. It's nice to be missed.

Thank you to all who have served!

I'm so proud of our military and their families, and I take this opportunity to share this song as a THANK YOU to all of you, both past and present.

Picnic in the Swabisch Albs

Annika and Josiah running up the Alb.

Rachel, Hans carrying Will in the backpack.

Yes, I made it up unassisted - but quite a ways further back. The car is parked in the lot in the distance.

The trees at the top reminded me of Julie Andrews in a beginning scene from The Sound of Music.

Berg Tek

The kids really had fun running around.

Hans and his family

Today Rachel packed a nice picnic and we drove to the Swabisch Albs where we climbed one of the Albs (I brought up the caboose!). Annika and Josiah were to the top in no time! Oh, to be young again. We had a wonderful time up there. Will rolled around a little in the grass. Annika, Josiah and Hans walked down a ways to see folks who were flying model gliders. What a lovely area.

Dachau Concentration Camp, Dachau, Germany

Famous inscription at the entrance gate to the concentration camp.

Long hallway in the prison cells. In some of these cells, 70 people were made to stand in a room built for 20 for days on end. A hot meal was given once every fourth day.

Execution wall. This was sobering for me to see.

Bronze statue depicting some of the suffering.

I was amazed at the size of this concentration camp. It is said that some 216,000 were imprisoned here during the years of 1933 until May 1, 1945. At least 31,000 were recorded as having died here. At the beginning and end of each and every day throughout those years, mandatory roll call was taken in this big, open area. They were made to stand here for an hour or more. Often fellow prisoners carried out those who were too weak to walk any longer for this inhumane exercise. The guards would make "examples" of those that were near death.

Sculpture representing men mixed with barbed wire.

Those who could work in the factories on the property (making ammunition, clothing, porcelain, etc.) lived in housing. There were at least 58 very long barracks. This is the typical bed arrangement - 3 levels high, perhaps 12 to 15 beds long in one of the "bedrooms." The eating area was very basic, as were the rooms with toilets and washing troughs. For meals, one was lucky to get a plateful of nearly clear soup, and then expected to work 12 or more hours that day. They became people of thin skin stretched over bones. Many died when disease took over due to filthy living conditions. There are three large monuments honoring many who died there: a Jewish, a Catholic, and a Lutheran.

One day they might be led to what they believed to be a room with showers, but was actually a gas chamber. After they were gassed to death, their bodies may be put in one of these crematoriums. Many hundreds of others were loaded onto carts and buried in deep pits out in the country.

Hans and I chose to do the self-guided tour, since many of the areas had English descriptions. We also watched a 20 minute movie in English, which showed footage of Hitler when he came into power, of actual prisoners and many aspects of the concentration camp, including the time when the prisoners were set free in 1945. The movie made quite an impact on me.

On my way to Dachau, and while we were there at the concentration camp, my mind kept going to Corrie ten Boom of The Netherlands, who was imprisoned at Ravensbruck, Germany, for commiting the "crime" of hiding Jews in her home in 1944. Her story is told in the book and movie The Hiding Place. She and her sister Betsie were taken there in a cattle car, separated from their father and brother, both of whom they never saw again. Betsie would later die in the camp. One of the lines I remember Corrie saying is, "No pit is so deep, that God's love is not deeper still." Corrie survived that camp, and later in her life, she went on to forgive one of the guards that came into contact with her after she moved to the United States.

I've been privileged to have visited Germany on six occasions. I could have passed up seeing anything so depressing and sad as this, but I felt the need to witness part of the history that took place here. Thank you for taking time to drive me to Dachau today, Hans.

Three of My Six Angels

Josiah, Will, Annika

Family Photos

On Sunday we went to a lovely park in Stuttgart. Annika enjoying being twisted in this basket-type ride.

Josiah spent a lot of time with this pail and chain lift, filling the buckets with sand and dumping them into a strainer. The boy on the left spoke only German. Josiah was trying to communicate with him, but the conversation was going nowhere.


One day Annika played one of her reading and learning CDs for me. Both she and Josiah are smart as a tack! They are good singers, too.

Rachel and Will - so sweet!

Last night Hans took Annika and me to the PX at another base. It is similar to a small department store. Annika had $1 to spend and knew even before we got there that she wanted to buy lip balm. It was so funny - she knew exactly where to go. We wound through several cosmetic aisles before we came to the lip care products. She has no concept of what things cost, so she chose a package that had 8 lip balm tubes in it. "This is the one I want." Hans took it to a scanner and it was way more than $1. He then checked those with 3 tubes, 2 tubes and 1 tube. The packages with 1 tube were what she could afford. She was so darling when she opened her little Hello Kitty purse and took out the dollar bill and gave it to him. I treasure these times!

Since I have been here, Will has begun sitting up by himself for 20 minutes or longer. He is changing every day in one way or another.

Pippi Longstocking

Not all of my vacation is being spent touring Germany. I've had the privilege of walking Josiah and Annika to their respective schools and walking Will in his stroller. Just last night Josiah, Annika and I watched Mary Poppins. Annika thought it was lasting too long, but Josiah seemed to enjoy most all of it. We had the English subtitles on so that I wouldn't miss any of the conversations - plus the British English is sometimes missed by me. For Josiah, he was able to sing along with Feed the Birds and Let's Go Fly a Kite. I heard him humming Let's Go Fly a Kite as he went to bed right after the conclusion of the movie.

Last week I started reading Pippi Longstocking to Annika and Josiah. This is a book I missed reading in my childhood. After reading a couple of chapters, I was into it and decided to finish it. What a character Pippi was! Astrid Lindgren was a fantastic author. This book was first published in 1945. I guess it was about time I read it.

Tübingen

The Rathaus

Puppet Store

This darling canal ran through the city. There were tiny bridges that crossed it to the stores.

Look at the painting on the building in the center!

Gondolas on the Neckar River

Rachel is in much better shape than I for climbing these coblestone hills.

Today Rachel drove me to Tubingen which is a Swabian university town about 20 miles from Stuttgart. It was fortunate to have been saved from any bombings during the war, leaving wonderful cobblestone streets, charming buildings, and beautiful churches.

We wandered around the town central and went into some interesting stores. In one I bought a small carved goose and a carved tree. I also bought a small porcelain church which resembles the architecture there.

We were blessed with a gorgeous day - partly cloudy skies - and temps in the low 70's. What a treat. And speaking of treats, we stopped in a restaurant where I ordered a piece of delicious raspberry cheesecake and a Coca Cola.

Will, Rachel and Annika

I got to see Will today before and after his bath. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him and Rachel. Annika posed for me too.