I bet it smells worse than Noah’s Ark did after 40 days and 40 nights of defecating animal pairs . . .
Veteran’s Day 2010
From Mark Alexander at The Patriot Post
It is notable that Veterans Day shares the same anniversary date as the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. That simple document, after all, is the taproot of a great nation, now a shining beacon of Liberty, which owes its very existence to the toils and trials of generations of American Veterans.
From the cold winter winds at Valley Forge in 1777 to the deadly terrain of the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan today, generations of American Patriots have stood fast in defense of Liberty and at great cost.
I am certain I will never meet a seasoned war Veteran who is fond of combat, but to a man, every Patriot concurs with John Stuart Mill’s timeless note on the subject: “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
I am equally certain that these Patriots, like millions of others since the 1789 founding of our Republic, have honored their “sacred oaths” to support and defend the Liberty enshrined in our Constitution, against all enemies foreign and domestic.
God Bless our veterans!
Happy Birthday USMC
Congratulations to the United States Marine Corps on their 235th Anniversary.
From The Patriot Post:
On Nov. 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to create two battalions of Continental Marines for the War of Independence from Britain. In 1798, President John Adams signed the Act establishing the United States Marine Corps. The 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General John A. Lejeune, issued Marine Corps Order No. 47, Series 1921, directing that on Nov. 10 every year, in honor of the Corps’ birthday, the Order’s summary of the history, mission and tradition of the Corps be read to every command.
Semper Fidelis!
Fall Cactus Flower
We drove from Arizona to our California house today. I went out on the patio to find that the plumerias, the Kaffir lily, the Devil’s Tongue barrel cactus and an opuntia vulgaris cactus in bloom. The spikes on the cactus might be threatening, but there’s nothing ‘vulgaris’ about the flower. Click on the image to enlarge.
Tanker Crash
Wickenburg doesn’t get much in the way of big news, so this is probably going to dominate the next edition of the Wickenburg Sun. A tanker big rig rolled over on its side this morning on the south roundabout along the US 93 bypass on the east side of town (map).
Image: (top) US 95/60 warning sign south of town (bottom) the rolled tanker. Click on the image to enlarge.
We were on a couple of missions today, one to take an unscheduled drive to Surprise, AZ to return some defective hardware for the new house and another appointment to see a country & western show at the Del Webb Center here in town. We encountered the tanker crash drama all day long as we went across the Hassayampa via the south roundabout several times.
The tanker (obviously) came through the roundabout a little on the fast side and rolled onto its right side. Luckily, the tanks didn’t burst. Authorities summoned another tanker to the scene to begin transferring the contents from the capsized tanker.
Most of the folks I talked to today think that the roundabouts are too small for big rig traffic even though there is a lot of it up and down 93, the main thoroughfare from Las Vegas to Phoenix. One of the town folk told me this wasn’t the first rollover and the roundabouts have only been there for about a year.
Sunup
The dogs usually get us up before we’re ready to wake up. They have to do their business though, so we get our slippers on and take them for a walk.
When I went out the door this morning, this nice image of sunlight streaming through a mesquite tree at the rear of the hotel property caught my eye. I stepped back into the room to get my camera and got this shot of it. Click on the image to enlarge.
