Catching up......

Its 2:01 pm

   I'm looking outside at a cool,crisp day,drinking some coffee and talking to a bear. Yep,I speak bear fluently,its a skill I picked up about 13 years ago back in California. I learned it from my friend Melissa who in turn taught herself when she befriended her first bear about 15 years ago.
  I rarely get a chance to use this skill but do enjoy it when I do. My bear friend,who is named Kendra,used to be a happy-go-lucky bear but now has settled down and is raising a family now so we don't many chances to chew the fat. She is a wonderful mother and a one of a kind bear!

   So much has happened since I last blogged. Of course the BIG story was the Yankees sweeping the Mets over the past weekend! So happy about...not only they won but also scored 18 runs while holding the Mets to just 7!! But now my good buddy Tom is saying he isn't going to wear the Yankees cap if he loses....sort of bummed about that but I know he'll come up with a clever way of paying off our annual bet.
  Lori's folks came down for a visit and as usual it was a eventful weekend full of weirdness. Her dad calls us because he is restless up north and wants to get away for a few days,I can understand that....I really do. Lori and I planned a nice weekend for the visit but all we got was a bitter old man who is obsessed with money and expecting to get paid back for every little kind deed he does. He wonders why he has no one ever come to visit them....why?
  This story he has told me twice now....a neighbor's trailer blew up and he lost everything. Lori's dad gave the guy 100.00 towards recovering his life. Nice gesture,right? Well,not really.....because of that gesture,Phil (Lori's dad) now feels that the guy,who they ran across at a local diner,should have bought them a fish dinner! No,I'm not kidding....he then tells me 3 or 4 more stories like that. I was just shaking my head...and wondering if he was spewing such crap about us. While we are very thankful for his help during our medical ordeal this past year,its very disheartening to know that is how he is expressing himself. But I think he knows better then that...after all...we took care of his sister and her severe injury last year and the side effects of that. Lori is a such a good daughter who really has helped her parents in so many ways and her dad should be very proud of her. To expect people to repay a kind gesture,I mean really....if anything,you want that person not to repay YOU  but hopefully pay it forward to someone else who might need a helping hand!
   Anyway,we did end up going to Cabelo's down in Dundee. This place is HUGE






Its has 2 levels of whatever a hunting,camping,fishing fanatic would want. The place is always packed and you can see cars from Ohio,Illinois and Indiana in about the same amount of Michigan license plates.
 Phil loves the outdoors so we thought this would really make his day....we got Lori's momma (who has Alzheimer's) into a wheelchair and I kept her entertained by pushing her around the store.
 This enabled Lori to help her dad spend a little fun time just poking around...looking at light jackets for her mom. We spent about 2 hours there before we left....without finding a jacket despite many cute ones for sale. He stated he wasn't impressed because had already been to Bass Pro Shops (but didn't find a jacket there either)
We decided to have lunch at a local place in Ann Arbor called The Bread Basket,he ordered 2 corned beef sandwiches while Lori had a salad and I had a roast beef. He bitched about his sandwich...I ended up giving him half of mine.  Lori told me he had bitched about the hamburgers she has grilled up...and while she was fixing dinner,he was watching TV but told her "keep a eye on your mom". Now I was at work so I missed that but that would have set my teeth on edge. This is why I hate when he comes down the most....as soon as he gets here,he dumps his wife's care on us completely. Now I don't mind helping out but its important he stays in the picture because Lori's mom is used to seeing him every day when it comes to cleaning her up,feeding her and getting ready for bed. Just to quit doing it puts a lot on undue stress on her...so we have to tell him to stay involved.
   Sunday was much better and no drama,I worked and came home and grilled up some steaks we got from Marv's (aka Eastern Market of Canton). We watched the Tigers for a while then I went to bed early since I opened at 6 am the next morning. Lori's folks left later that day and got home safely. But as far as them coming down again....Lori is pretty much dead set against it. Its sort of sad on many levels because her dad wasn't always like that....not by half.

   Oh yeah.....I almost forgot....because I guess I am just embarrassed by my stupidity. Saturday night after dinner we were all sitting outside just chatting. Lori was telling me that they had knocked down a yellowjacket's nest that was between our screen door and patio glass door. We could see the remains while we talked. Now I had nuked the two nests that once again had been built last year with bug spray. In fact after seeing that destroyed nest,I peeked at one of the nest and only saw two dead yellowjackets that had been killed but not fallen.
   Good news....but now we saw that they had moved to a new area by our kitchen window. Now this is where its gets stupid.
   We see the nest....now instead of waiting til it got cooler or the next day when I could safely nuke the nest,what did I do? Went inside and grabbed a small stick....now I know what you're thinking. Don't put a stick in a hornet's nest,right? Well....I go back outside and said "This might be a bad idea" But Lori had a watering plant can and said "I'll drown them when they hit". So we proceed to knock down the small nest and sure enough,she drowned about 4-5 yellowjackets. Yay team!
 


We then proceeded to the second big nest that I had nuked before,I peeked in and saw activity. I turned around and said "I'll have to hit it tomorrow" but Lori said "we'll use the same tactic as before". Good in theory,bad in reality. Against my better judgement,I stuck the stick in the nest behind the light and ......BAM! Saw the empty and a instant sting on my lip! Yep....I had been stung and it hurt like a motherfucker! First time I had been stung by a yellowjacket and wow....I had been stung by bees before so I knew what do and I rushed to get a credit card...which I carefully scraped across my lip which by now is starting to puff up.






This isn't me.....and it was my lower lip that looked like this. I put ice on my lip,then baking soda and water paste to help draw out the poison. Lori gave me a benedryl and after 2-4 hours,the swelling was much better. I couldn't use my CPAP machine that night because of my face but I still slept fine anyways.
  Felt back to normal the next day.....after all I am a Roughneck and wouldn't want to let Rico down....right?



I still haven't taken out the second nest as of yet,going to wait til tonight when it gets cooler and then I'm going to spray the poo outta that nest and kill 'em all!!!!!
 Okay.....I have spent way too much time on here and I have a yard that is calling my name. So I'm outta here for now....but I like to thank Christopher Petersen who tirelessly helps promote other writers and their work. In this day and age...one needs all the help they can get in promoting a new blog,book,album or whatever a artist may create. So Chris.....thank you again!

Okay,that is all I have for now.......be safe!



Laurel- Dobermans rule!

Of Gardens,baseball and football....

Its 12:56 pm

     Been a while since I wrote so I here I am...

Its a beautiful day here,in fact the weather has been downright amazing the past 4-5 weeks. We never did get any severe weather like we normally do in May/June. Of course it would be nice to get some rain but that usually comes in the way of big thunderstorms so maybe turning on the sprinkler might be the way to go...
   At this time last year,Lori was in the middle of her chemo...summer for us was just maintaining a level head and focusing on getting well...while the inside of the house was taken care of by myself,we didn't get to do much gardening outside as avoiding the sun is a key element in cancer treatments. So nothing really got done.
But this year we are so glad to be back outside...this summer we are repainting/staining our deck,putting fresh mulch down in the back patio area,planting new daisies and reshaping the front yard a bit by taking out old roots and mulching over them. At the of this writing,the back planting has been done and the front yard has been prepped. We spent a day outside weeding,raking,trimming and cleaning up. Now we just need to get the mulch when it goes back on sale.
   I decided that red mulch would add a nice color to the back yard and picked up 8 bags at the Home Depot. It was a killer price at 4 bags for just 10 bucks. Now when I got home and spread it out,it did look nice. But we had done brown mulch the past couple of times. Lori wasn't sure she was going to like it and said so when I told her on the phone what I got. I preached patience and said "Wait til you see it before saying no".




Our old brown mulch..........right?


Our NEW red mulch.....





What do you think? It makes for a nice brighter change of pace. After seeing it down in the back patio area,she agreed and actually wants to re-mulch the rest of the front yard in red as well....yay! Now of course I have to wait til it goes back on sale again....cause I'm not ready to spend 4.00 a bag when I got it for a mere 2.50...right?
  We also decided to build a brick wall in the back as well....we had a black liner that separated our grass yard from the rock beds we have now. Only now the liner is slowly being destroyed by the elements and time. Now this will be a real challenge as its going to take some serious building to do to get this right. Plus since we both have smaller cars,getting the brick home will take some doing as well...I wonder if Kickstarter would let me raise the money to fund my project? *LOL*
 We also planted some new flowers and decided not to try and grow any veggies as it was a total failure last year. I am thinking once we build the new wall this year,next year we'll finally be able to build a boxed in garden and try it again. We need the garden to be elevated off the ground as we have rabbits galore roaming about,waiting to pounce on anything that looks good.

  

We also got our supplies ready for the repainting of our deck. This happens about every 3rd year for us. We don't like to have to do it but the weather changes pretty much demand it unless we want a deck that looks crappy. The first year we were here,our buddy Scuba Steve and I painted it by hand. It was a real pain in the back but it turned out really nice and lasted two years. Then Lori and I repainted it using rollers and left me wondering what the hell Scuba and I were thinking about using hand brushes!!

  And just like our mulching project,we decided to switch the color of the deck from Cape Cod grey to more a of a muted vanilla. I think it will add a nice contrast to the red mulch and the new plants we are planting. We were aiming to do this this weekend but Lori's dad decided he wanted to visit us so we are hosting them instead. Haven't figured out what we're going to do other then maybe a run down to Cabela's Sporting store in Dundee and maybe a trip to Menard's in Toledo. Of course just as I have wrote how much I dread when Lori drives up there by herself,I have the same sense of dread knowing her 90 year old dad is also making the  470 mile round trip down here. 

 But since Irons is such a small town and there really isn't much to do,I can understand why he wants to get away and visit us. Plus getting a pair of home cooked meals doesn't hurt either as we tend to cook her dad's favorite dishes when they come by. I'm going to really push that we visit his sister since they don't really get a chance to see each other much.
   Of course this will lead into baseball talk as the Detroit Tigers continue to fumble and stumble around while the mighty Yankees are starting to surge and might be in first place in time for the first round of the Subway Series against the New York Mets.
 For the 3rd year in a row,sportscaster Tom Leyden from Channel 7 and myself will be battling for bragging rights as the Yankees and Mets battle for 6 games to be King of New York. Two years despite splitting the series at 3 wins apiece,I lost the bet on ONE RUN and after being denied help by my two other Met's fans in finding me a cheap ass Mets cap,had to post the Mets logo on my FB for 6 weeks to pay off my bet.
Once people saw THIS on my page,all sorts of sprack happened...people asking me if I became a Mets fan,if I was going to rename my cat David Wright,did I ever find a cap,did I want free tickets....



Wow....such heat.....so of course when the Yankees won CLEANLY 4 games to 2 last year,I got a note from Tom telling me to tune in for the last minute of the Sunday show. True to his word,Tom acknowledged our bet and doffed the Yankees cap on the air.




But this year is going to be a real battle,actually both teams are playing much better then expected as the AL Beast is once again showing us why its the best in major league baseball and the NL East is also a serious dogfight with the Mets finally getting their first (Jim Joyce) no-hitter in team history and staying in the division title hunt. Its going to be too close to call so as I told my brother,I just hope the Yanks can put a 10 run beat down in the first so just in case its a tie.....*L*
   Of course I have to share this moment with you as well....on Sunday on the Sports Update show,they have a segment called "Stonehead of the Week" in which sports radio host Mike Stone points out a stupid incident in the world of sports and gives them a "Stonehead". Its pretty funny and 99% of the time,Stoney gets the call dead on.
 So last Sunday,Tom turns the segment to Stoney and he instantly gives baseball commissioner Bud Selig the "Stonehead" for not allowing instant replay. He points out several bad calls that happened against the Tigers recently and then as starts to mention the blown call that allowed the Mets and Johan Santana to get that no-no,Tom says" If you mention the Mets call,I'm outta here!"
  Stoney then starts talking about and true to his word,Tom bolts...Stoney calls him out for being a Mets fan and then finishes the segment including the lead into the  commericals! Its was just awesome and I was laughing so hard. Its refreshing to see such good TV with two very respected journalists just having unscripted fun and its why Sports Update is MUST see TV even at 11:30 pm on a Sunday!
  As you can see,talking about the Tigers probably won't be happening much this trip...

And keeping on the sports theme,the college football magazines are hitting the news stands. Before the 'net,a fan would circle June as to go get the newest copies of the previews zines and see where their favorite team was ranked,who they recruited and what the schedule was.
 These days,every day is June as there so many different outlets to gather information,like the blog I have on my wall here,The Sun Belt Insider. One can get scheduling news from Kevin Kelley's FBS Schedules website and even fan driven content on Yahoo Sports.
  But since I'm a oldster now,I still like buying the zines. I used to get Street and Smith's preview issue but now its only Phil Steele's book that I buy. Guy just LOVES college football and it shows in how much details he manages to squeeze in 344 pages.
   Of course being a San Jose State fan,I have to see what he has to say about the Spartans. Wow,Phil Steele is sorta of liking us in 2012. He has many Spartans on his top players list,has them on his Most Improved List yet only has them 3rd in the much weakened and final season of the WAC behind Louisiana Tech and Utah State. And also while he has them having a good season,he doesn't have them in a bowl game despite all the hype. I think the Spartans really need to win the WAC to springboard into the Mountain West on a high note. They can ill-afford to finish 3rd or less. But there was one unexpected piece of good news,attendance is up to over 18,000 per game (Spartan Stadium holds just over 30,000) so at least the fans are starting to show up again. The schedule is more suited for the team as well with no major bodybag games but will still face two very good teams in Stanford and Navy,both on the road.
 
   I still haven't heard from my current interview subject so I'm going to move on to the new person I'm interviewing,New York based fashion designer Evon Cassier. This one will be pretty damn cool,I can assure you that!
  And to my good friend Rees,I'm going to address your heartfelt and correct post this week. Because I agree with you....

Until then....thanks for reading!

A death in the family

Its 11:07 am

   Sigh. Its a depressing day in our house....we have suffered a terrible sadness,a loss of a beloved family member. One was loved almost everyday,whose name we spoke aloud with adoration,affection and longing.
 Everyday either Lori or I would slide over and gently wash,rinse and make sure our loved was filled with only the best of the best. Starbucks, 8 O'Clock,Tim Hortons,Dunkin Donuts.
   And while their history may not of always been so noble,their redemption of today helped overcome their not so glorious past.
  Of whom am I speaking of?  Our beloved Krupps Coffee Maker died this morning after 8 years of loyal service. The mighty maker of both hot steaming cups of coffee for Lori to huge Jimmy cups of iced coffee for me.
  It fueled many of writing sessions,brewed up enough coffee for those long trips to Ann Arbor or "Up North" (my Michigan readers will get that). Many of days we would wake up to heavy snow and instead of going "holy cat poo",we would happily gear up knowing that after shoveling 8 inches of snow,we would have coffee waiting for us.
  And while we did have to to replace a filter and a coffee pot,the machine itself went of brewing steadfast for the 8 years we had it. It was a wedding shower gift to Lori from her friend Karen. Now I might be hard pressed to name a wedding gift we received but never have forgotten the mighty coffee maker. And now its gone,suddenly and with no warning. I am mourning our devoted friend and I ask of you to raise your cup (or in Debbie Rochon's case,several cups) and give a toast to our coffee maker.
  That said,we're heading over to Bed Bath and Beyond to see what new models they so we can brew up a fresh cup tonight.

   Going to give a hearty shout out to my friend and fellow blogger Slade Wilson for has made the trek over from FB and is following me here. Will is one of my favorite people and another die-hard baseball fan. Sadly he follows the Mets and hates the Yankees despite my best efforts to get him to come over to the Dark Side (we have cookies!!) he shrugs off my best efforts and stays loyal to the "other team". He is a gifted writer in his own right and his takes on the current state of TV allows me to know what or not to waste my time on.
  I'm just tickled he has joined the growing (11) number of folks who are starting to read me here. I'm closing in on 2,000 views already and its only April.


Speaking of baseball,its been rather amusing to listen and read the local Detroit sportswriters this spring training. The Tigers have a massively talented looking team and one that could reach the World Series and the biggest question? What will happen to erstwhile 3rd baseman Brandon Inge? Inge,who was a Tigers fan favorite until his selfishness reared its ugly head (refused to play catcher,refused to go on the DL for a injured knee which not only cost Inge at the plate but the Tigers as well).
  Guy has never hit well (.235 average),shown so-so power with 139 home runs but has played great defensively. Last year after scuffling along and barely hitting his weight,he agreed to go the minors instead of becoming a free agent. Came back up in Sept and hit .321 before fading badly once again in the playoffs.
 When the Tigers signed Prince Fielder and moved Miguel Cabrera to 3rd this past off season,instead of asking for his release or a trade,Inge said he wanted to compete for the 2nd base job despite the Tigers having  many better players who have earned a crack at a starting job. Instead of stepping aside for a younger player who might really help the team,Inge is bringing  his .181 spring training average and is seriously being considered for the team. Brandon Inge has gone from a player who used to care about his team to becoming a cancer in the locker room. It has the baseball fans talking a mile of minute and where a couple of years ago,this would have been a 50/50 topic (50% love Inge,50% hate him),its now more like 85/15 against him,Inge has burned away almost all of his old support due to his hanging on despite not helping the team. Its pretty interesting to see this little drama unwind and I'm sure the other teams in the AL Awful,err,Central division are pretty happy to see this.

  Sort of weird to be typing this entry and hearing James Taylor singing Christmas tunes on iTunes. This must be my signal to wrap this up and go cut my grass!

Will share our hunt for a new coffee maker tomorrow.  Pretty exciting,isn't it???
























  

Free Speech and other sprack on a Monday

 Its 12:32 pm

     Got iTunes on shuffle.....James Horner's score to "Braveheart" is the first song up. Got some coffee (my first cup in 3 days) and Derek Jeter is sitting on the couch reading my George Bush book. I know when he reads something good because he'll let out this low "meow" or a "pffft". Yeah,my cat likes his politics.

  Was wondering if anyone outside of the metro Detroit area heard about the 56 year old writing student who was suspended for writing a essay called "Hot For Teacher"which was based on his college teacher?
 Joseph Corlett,who is married,wrote his essay based on his teacher's looks. He used several sexually charged words in describing how his teacher appeared to him each day in class.
  Corlett,who attends Oakland University in Rochester,Michigan,is a aspiring writer and has received As from the same teacher about his other works in regards of his attraction to women. He said even his own wife didn't seem to have a problem with what he wrote. He also says he had never gotten so much as a warning from any faculty member in regards to his writing. Now he says that the university has violated his 1st Amendment rights and he is upset that school has suspended him for a year.
   Really....I mean,really? A 56 year married man is going to sit there and write a sexually charged essay about his professor and he has no problems with that? And of course he has given no thought to the teacher's rights and feelings. If she was upset enough to turn your ass in Joey,then you should have been talking to her and apologizing for acting more like a 13 year old junior high student. The fact is,you come across looking more like a potential stalker and rapist then you do a writer and a married man.
  The fact you are on every local TV station crying over your rights being "stepped on" and not once,even ONCE,saying that "Yes,I may have crossed the line with my teacher and I am deeply sorry for that" says everything that we need to know about you. And using the lame excuse that you based your story on a old Van Halen song is even more stupid,doesn't ya think Joey?
  I think the university had every right to suspend you and to protect the teacher's right not to have a student sit there and rape her with his thoughts and deeds. As Lori said,"If this had been on a job site,we wouldn't even  be having this discussion,because this would be a open and shut case of sexual harassment".
  I guess what really sort of creeps me about this...I wonder if this guy has daughters,one sort of shudders thinking about that given his self-admitted obsession with women.
  As for his "rights",free speech doesn't give you free reign to trample on someone's else rights. Maybe instead of a writing class,Joey might do well to sit in with a therapist or a women rape survivor's group and learn that they are people,not objects.

  Just heard on the news that a 9 month old baby was killed by two men who shot up the house with 2 AK-47s. Now I wonder if the local media will cover this story like they have Jane Bashera's murder,you know,24-7 coverage,prime-time specials. Hell,Fox 2's ace reporter Amy Lange was there so much on the Bashera case the Gross Pointe Park police made her a honorary cop!
 But for some reason,I don't think we'll get that...but I do like to think the community in Detroit will speak the hell up and turn these guys in. Neighbors said the two killers were in a grey van and stopped in the middle of the street. They calmly and slowly got out,armed themselves and just shot the shot out of the house. They then got back in their van and with no hurry,drove away leaving that baby broken and dead on the floor.
Good ol' Detroit strikes again....just praying that justice strikes back....

Okay.....let's go a little softer,shall we?

Lori's Aunt Emma turned 100 yesterday.  Just amazing....but the real bear is as it always is when shopping for Emma,just what do you give a person who turns 100??? My suggestion was a blind date with Justin Verlander but for some reason the family shot that down....
   I have a secret.....I think Il Divo is one of the coolest vocal groups ever.

Today is the first day of Spring Training for baseball. And of course the fans of the mighty Yankee Nation are once again excited. While we're sort of bummed that our team is still getting older without much youth coming in,the pitching staff is looking very strong and my early opinion of fighting the Red Sox for 3rd place may have been a little premature. If the Yanks can find a couple of good long men in the 'pen and lighten David Robertson's workload,the Yanks could definitely challenge for 2nd place. "Well Michael,why not first place?" I can hear some of you asking. Because Tampa Bay is loaded with excellent arms and with the Yankees getting out of the gate a little slower each year due to older players still finding their groove,Tampa will strike first and should be able to get nice lead in the AL Beast. Of course if Tampa struggles on the road,the Yanks can stay close and could contend.
  And yes,the Subway Series bet I have with my good buddy and New York Mets fan,Tom Leyden will take place for the 3rd year. And once again,the hunt is on for a cheap Mets cap...or hell,even a t-shirt. If any of my   readers can score me a cheap cap,I will gladly pay for it....as long as its not more then the payroll of the real Mets team,you know....3 or 4 bucks should do it.
  The Tiger ownership has just installed a huge new big screen just in time for the season. While fans think it was installed to help the fans see the game better,it really installed so they could fit Prince Fielder on it for the TV feeds.
  Now as for the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants.....

Well that is all I got for now......Derek has started chewing his Bush book....

Thanks for reading

Renee- thanks for the kind words.
Brad,Adrian and Sharon J - pfffft!
Slade and Coco- Can you help a fellow baseball pal with that Met's cap THIS year??
Tom- Not to worry,I won't be actually wearing it this year!!
Smokey Myers - home at last!!!!

Never Forget and saying goodbye to a real legend

Its 8:51 am

    Its a little hazy this morning...while the weatherman says we might get some snow flurries,I am thinking we'll will not be any part of that...just another mild-ish winter day here in SE Michigan.
 Pretty excited that I have gotten my 5th person to follow this here blog. Growing pains are the roughest part of getting a good blog off the ground. But I know its working because of all the visitors from all over. Some folks I know are reading this because I recognize the towns on the list (hello Chris,Kerri,Michelle) and of course I am reading the feedback on the original IC page as well. Thank you all!
 
  Yesterday Lori and I went to the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington. We have often passed it while on different outings and had always wanted to check it out but the subject matter had really sort of stopped us. Unlike going to a art museum where is there beauty and brightness,we knew what was in the Holocaust museum would be anything but beautiful and colorful.
How did the Holocaust Memorial come about? This is from the HMC's website,I'll be posting the link at the bottom of the entry.

The Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC), the first freestanding institution of its kind in the United States, was the fulfillment of a dream nurtured by Founder and Executive Vice President Rabbi Charles H. Rosenzveig and embraced by his fellow members of Shaarit Haplaytah ("the Remnant," survivors of the Holocaust).  It was first proposed twenty years before its construction.  Through two decades of planning, community support grew, and the Center’s objectives expanded beyond simply creating a memorial.  

Ground was broken for the Holocaust Memorial Center on the property of the Jewish Community Campus at Maple and Drake Roads in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on December 6, 1981. Almost three years later, in October 1984, the Holocaust Memorial Center was dedicated and opened.

The exhibits, at this location, were designed by internationally known museum designer James Gardner of London, England.  He also created the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv.  Gardner brought together the finest artwork and modern technology to create a facility that was, at the time, unmatched anywhere in the world.  Through audio and video displays, the visitor could see the Holocaust as never before.

We had made plans to see the museum last week and normally when we go out on this type of outing,we get up early and go. There is a sense of excitement but I'm going to be honest here,we dragged our feet yesterday. We really want to go but the sadness knowing what was behind those walls was daunting to face.

 We had our family meeting,breakfast and then ran a couple of errands before finally heading over to Farmington.

  We got there at 11:30 am. The parking lot was pretty empty as we pulled in. As we parked,we saw what the new piece of history that the HMC had received that made me want to come. The museum had gotten a boxcar that had been used by the SS during the war. The boxcar was sitting outside in a small display,the museum had yet to formally set up a proper display but just seeing it was sobering enough.

  We walked in and paid our admission just as a small group of kids were leaving. The two guards who acted as admissions clerks were very professional and respectful.

  The building outside is different then from any museum you'll ever see. Its a two story building and when you drive by you'll see it looks like its wrapped in barb-wire,a symbol of the concentration and death camps that the Jewish people endured.

   Sadly,they had a "no cameras" policy so I am unable to post anything inside of the Center but then again,I don't think I would because its a museum you and your family need to see in person. 

 We started our self-tour reading about the history,traditions and artifacts about Jewish life. There was a massive timeline on a wall with important events both in the Jewish world and the rest of world. We saw that Germany was by no means the only country to attack the Jews,anti-semantic actions have been conducted against the Jews by other European countries as well as the United States.

  After reading the timeline,we started looking at the artifacts of the Jewish faith and were working towards the contributions that the Jewish people have made here in America.

  We were interrupted by a guide who asked if we wanted to take part in a guided tour,we said yes and joined about 15 other folks in a large room. 

  The speaker told us about the background of the HMC. It cost 17 million to build the center and its all privately funded. One very gracious man donated 10 million himself  make sure future generations see what so many people went through just because of who they are.

   The tour started with display on a wall of all the camps and the countries where Hitler had the Jews killed.

Hitler killed over 12 million people in the Holocaust,6.3 millions were Jews. I had never seen the national breakdown of how many Jews were killed by country but the research of the HMC now showed that.

3 million Polish Jews were killed by the SS in Poland and Russia suffered 1.5 Million dead.

Other counties also suffered greatly while some,like the Jews in Africa,only had 526 killed. A African-American lady asked why only 500 were killed,the guide said that when Hitler asked the King of Morocco to send Germany their Jews,the king said,"We have no Jews here,only the people of Morocco",thus saving countless lives.

   And there was another reason as well...the German Army of North Africa was very small and the Germans were having a devil of a time just trying to get supplies to Edwin Rommel. The Royal Navy and Air  Force were playing havoc with German and Italian shipping and they just couldn't afford to waste any resources shipping anything but military aid. Of course we didn't know this until after Germany was defeated. 

  The speaker then took us back where Lori and I first started and we decided to leave the little tour and forge ahead.  We went back to where we were,turned a corner and were greeted by the horror that was the Holocaust. Its times like this that you really have to fight for the right words to describe what you are looking at. And I don't know if I'm that writer......

  It starts with a timeline of Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Party,how they gained power by blaming their problems on the Jew,homosexual and the "sub-human"Slav races. The rise of anti-semantic attacks increased,book burnings,people being driven from their homes,The Night of the Broken Glass on 25 Nov 1938.  Of course they have pictures and displays of these events. 

  You can see the other major events that took place leading up to start of war in Poland in 1939. After that you see the pictures of the Jews being herded into boxcars,sometimes they were just shot dead. You get the very uncomfortable feeling that those poor souls were actually the lucky ones.

  The rest were marched into camps and either killed by gunshot,gas or worked/starved to death. So many terrible times were done. There was a story of how the striped PJs that the prisoners were forced to wear were often re-used time and again after the original owner was killed. 

  Lori has actually been to Dachau and she said one of her strongest memories that her tour guide shared was that before the Jews were put into the gas chambers,they were told to take off their shoes and that when the Allies liberated those camps,they found a big room filled to ceiling with pairs of shoes.

  They had a section that included the Warsaw Uprising...this brought tears to my eyes because my old friend and boss Jacek Rosicki lost members of his family during this time. They actually visited the area when they were on vacation and his wife Ann wrote me and told me how moving and haunting it was. 

I had never even known that in all the years I had known Jacek,he had been affected by this terrible event. 

The further you went into the center,the darker it got...and they had made a gate to Auschwitz  so you felt like you were entering it...and they also had a replica of that boxcar where you could just imagine being stuffed in it with hundreds of others and then stepping out to be met by the SS guards.
  You can't help get a sick feeling in your stomach and thinking how today we are marching towards the same thing with the NDAA and Patriot Acts being put into play. And the new internet,cameras and allowing UAV to fly overhead and yes,Renee,I can see and understand your fears and concerns.
  As were finished our tour,we were encouraged to hear a Holocaust survivor speak. It was a woman who lived outside Minsk in Belorussia was only 5 years old but remembered everything. Her accent was very heavy and she was very hard to understand at first but as she went on,she got stronger as she recounted her sad story.
  She lost a aunt,a brother and a father. Her brother was only 12 years old when he was killed trying to sneak some extra food back to the family and her aunt was killed for breaking curfew by 10 minutes. Both were shot dead and their bodies burned.  She spoke for about 30 minutes and you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
 She was gracious enough to answer questions and since the museum closes at 3 pm on Friday,we had to go since it was now 3:30 pm.
 The Jewish people have a saying in regarding the Holocaust and its one that we Americans would be remember,"Never Forget".
  Because if we do....it can happen again and it can happen to us.


I like to say goodbye to real legend....a voice and a life that was cut down way to soon. A person who brought great joy with their gift,who gave so much to their craft and was still doing so when they passed on.
And hell no,it sure ain't Whitney Houston.....

Its Gary Carter,who played baseball for the Montreal Expos,the San Francisco Giants and of course a member of the mighty 1986 New York Mets team who beat the Boston Red Sox.
 I loved watching Gary Carter play,other then Thurman Munson,Carter was my favorite catcher when he played BECAUSE of the play he loved the game.
  Despite playing in that hellhole called the Montreal Expos,he gave them his best for 10 years. After that,he moved on to the Mets ,which he helped lead to that championship in '86.
   Gary was a 11 time All-Star,twice winning the MVP Award in that game,he won 3 Gold Gloves and 5 Silver Slugger awards and hit 324 homers in a 21 year career. And 2003,Gary was elected into the Hall of Fame. Soon after that he moved into coaching. After coaching in the minor league ranks for many years,Gary decided to take the head coaching job at a small Division II school,Palm Beach Atlantic.
Last May,it was discovered that Gary had developed a stage IV brain cancer and it was inoperable. Despite that,Gary fought on and managed to coach his school's Opening Day this year before dying peacefully at 57 years old.
   Its sorta of pathetic that while Gary did it the right way....no flag will be lowered at half staff (and I do believe he wouldn't had wanted that anyways),no live coverage of his funeral,no cover of Sports Illustrated will remember Gary Carter. We,who honor a drug addicted singer who hadn't done anything to help anyone including her own daughter,is having two hour specials on her life and unending media coverage,while a true man of the people,who loved a simple game so much he was nicknamed "The Kid",is gone with almost nary a peep.  Shame on us.
Thank you Gary Carter....thank you for all the great memories and of course,thank you for beating those damned Red Sox!!


To learn more about the Holocaust Memorial Center:
http://www.holocaustcenter.org/index.php?option=com_magazine&Itemid=1

Okay,that is all I got for now.....thanks for reading!



bear- Thank you for your prayers,you know we adore you very much!
Jacek and Ann- thank you for letting me share my feelings about your trip.
Amy - hope you are home today rather then tomorrow,hospitals are no fun!
Brad,Slade and Tom - I hope I did Gary proud.