For History Buffs

The Civil War in Four Minutes

Not QUITE The Worst, President Carter

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," former President Jimmy Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions.

Sunday Morning

Lot's of reasons I haven't blogged lately. Brooke has had a bad week. She's been ill for more than a week with stomach and gastrointestinal problems. We've had her in tests all week. The last two tests results haven't come back yet. They scoped-out her stomach Friday and luckily her dad could go with her for this last test because she had to be under general anesthesia. By Saturday she was well enough (not great)to go to her second job at Weight Watchers. She had missed a whole five-day week at school.

I've also been too sad to blog because a sweet cousin back home in Oklahoma passed. He was only 49 years old, a good man and died way before his time. His family has been in my prayers all week. Death, although expected for all of us one day, isn't welcome except for the fact that he's gone to be with Jesus. Godspeed, John Raymond.

Then something totally stupid and meaningless in the grand scope of life. I HATE it that American Idol sent Melinda Doolittle home last Wednesday. Melinda was my favorite from the very first audition. I've been banned from uttering the name Melinda at work because they are sick of my carping. We'll hear from her again.

Do More People Prefer Dogs or Cats? (Ask Yahoo)

Are you a dog person or a cat person? Of course, there's no right answer, but that doesn't stop pet owners from voicing their opinions ... usually with a religious type of fervor.

As for which pet is actually more popular, we found it's a toss-up. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA), there are currently about 88.3 million "owned cats" and around 74.8 million "owned dogs" in the United States.
Those figures seem to indicate cats are more popular, right? Not so fast, feline fanatics. Again, according to the APPMA, 44.8 million American households own a dog, while just 38.4 million own a cat. Although more families have a dog, cat people apparently tend to adopt more than one kitty at a time.

For what it's worth, dogs seem to be more popular on the Web. A Yahoo! Search on "cats" brings up 98,000,000 results, but a search on "dogs" returns 156,000,000. That doesn't make dogs the superior species, but it does suggest their title of "man's best friend" is well-deserved.

Smoky No-Mountains

Nothing Like Laughter

Happy Baby - The funniest videos clips are here

Pray For Rain, Y'All

The Opposite of Anastacia

Ruth's Song - Instrumental

(No revving here.)

Numerical Wonder

Very early tomorrow morning (Sunday morning) at exactly 2:03 am and four seconds, a significant numerical happening occurs. 02:03:04 on 05/06/07. Naturally, this didn't occur to me personally. I heard it on the radio. However, it is an interesting factoid, eh?

It's Not New But It Works

I'm Out of Love - Anastacia

(Turned waaaaaay up to the proper volume, this is my favorite rev-you-up-for-work song.)

AmGinE

"White Flag"

I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,

Or tell you that.

But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it

where's the sense in that?

I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder

Or return to where we were

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

I know I left too much mess and

destruction to come back again

And I caused nothing but trouble

I understand if you can't talk to me again

And if you live by the rules of "it's over"

then I'm sure that that makes sense

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

And when we meet

Which I'm sure we will

All that was there

Will be there still

I'll let it pass

And hold my tongue

And you will think

That I've moved on....

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love and always will be

I will go down with this ship

And I won't put my hands up and surrender

There will be no white flag above my door

I'm in love

and always will be

~Dido~

Queen Elizabeth II Visits US/VA

If you haven't seen the movie "The Queen" you need to rent the DVD. It's a great PR shot-in-the-arm for the British Monarchy.

It's nice to see HRH in the US. She looks darn good for a Queen of 81.

I Heard This On TV This Morning

I don't have a clue who was quoting him, but legendary Louisiana Governor Earl Long used to offer the following advice to political types:

“Don’t write anything you can phone. Don’t phone anything you can talk. Don’t talk anything you can whisper. Don’t whisper anything you can smile. Don’t smile anything you can nod. Don’t nod anything you can wink.”

Chuckling Paul Harvey Quoting Witty Argus Hamilton

"Queen Elizabeth arrives in Virginia today on the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. It makes many people wistful. Most of the problems in the world today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy by American Indians."
Argus Hamilton (21st Century Will Rogers)