Back again...

Sorry it's been awhile...so I'm posting several pics from our Neel family reunion in Leakesville, MS from June 2009...plus some extras of the new puppy in the house..."Zoe."

Swine Flu

You know...when Obama was running for President, some people said "When pigs fly...that is when a black man will become President." Well Folks...Pigs have flown...actually Pigs flew...or pig flu...swine flu...you know what I mean. I'm amazed at the absolute idiocy some people are making this whole deal out to be. Granted where I work we have almost 100 percent Mexican nationals housed in our facilities..so naturally visitors will be from either Mexico or have had recent contact in Mexico. In order to be safe...as a precautionary measure...we have curtailed visits at least for a couple of weeks. But for people to run around in masks and goggles in Walmart for crying out loud is absolute idiocracy. No kidding. I was driving through the parking lot and this elderly woman had on a Trapper John MD mask on...never mind the fact that she was wearing a mumu and had a dog with about 4 stages of the mange. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I apologize by the way for that earlier Obama statement...I'm just waiting for the inevitable moment in time when I can say..."I told you so..."

Softball Belles

Proof she made it to 2nd.....

"It's too easy...................."

"I'm thirsty Daddy...."

"Hit it already...."

Last week was the first full week of Sierra's inaugural softball season. Beginning early on a Saturday morning with the opening ceremonies at our newly built ballpark/complex...we proceeded to be slaughtered by what I swear is the East German 6-under league. No doubt that these girls have played several years already...this is the first year for all but one on our team. Anyways...I've included some pictures of the first couple of games...I forgot the camera for the third game (oops..that was our best game yet). It's actually cool to help with the coaching...at first I was ho-hum...oh well...then I became more into the whole deal. Now I'm helping at practices with fielding and "THROW IT TO FIRST!!!!!!!!!!" etc. No kidding...it's been a lesson in who can yell the loudest in order to get their attention.

TORNADO ALLEY

Top left photo...looked odd to me. Top right...where's National Geographic??

Where I said.."Oh crap it's spinning."

Had to adjust the lighting here...photo was dark on camera...contrast picks up the funnel really well here. Passing just to the north of my house...approximately 100 to 200 yds.

This past week we've received a blessing from God in the form of much needed rain. What I didn't expect however was to look off my front porch and see a tornado forming less than a quarter mile away and coming towards our neighborhood. Well...it wasn't a tornado...yet. It was however a funnel/rotating wall cloud that later dropped a quarter mile wide tornado just approximately 30 minutes later to the northeast and about 10-15 miles. I've attached the photos in progression from essentially birth to "adolescent" as it passed just to my north approximately 200 yards away. Way cool. Wish Will had been here...we'd have had to administer oxygen to him when it was all said and done.

Ducklings.....

I'd hate to be the duck when Steven lets loose.

Of course, just a few months ago Steven would not even come near the ducks...he'd hide behind your legs and yell "here duck" from relative safety.

Softball

My baby's now in softball at the age of 5. I'm fully vested in this deal as well since I've been signed as an "assistant coach." I deal with unruly and potentially dangerous inmates on a daily basis...but get me in group of 5 year old girls and try to teach them about softball just makes me want to curl up in the fetal position, suck my thumb and cry. No kidding.

I guess the big key is PATIENCE...of which I inherited none. Seriously. Nothing frustrates me more than showing the kids how to hold their glove and catch the ball...toss the ball and then..."OW...that man hit me...WAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Then I'm like..."Oh sorry...I told her to catch it." As if a kid is going to listen. Then Sierra gets mad because I'm throwing ball to the other girls...she huffs up and throws her glove down and emphatically states "I don't wanna play...you won't play with me." That's when I had call time-out and sorta have one on one time with her. Of course she really hated me after that because I started throwing too hard...like she's already on Team USA. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Hah.

Sierra Birthday...Cinco Anos

Sierra proudly displaying her gifts...such as eating sweets...

Hannah Montana seems to be the perennial favorite...


Cool cake though....better than a girly girl cake.

Lil Brother Steven gets in on the action as well...never without a smile.

What we did not show you is the finger marks where Steven had decided to sample the wares ahead of time...hah.

Well, my baby's five years old as of March 30. Miss Sierra actually had two birthday parties...one at the house on the aforementioned date and then another one just recently at the local pizza joint since we were extremely tied up that first week and her friends couldn't make it. Anyways...she had fun...as the pictures show.

Next big hurdle...softball.

Tribute

I recently received an email from a coworker who is sponsoring this year's Relay For Life for Cornell Companies in Big Spring. One of the things she asked is that we put a honor board or memory board up for those family members who are or have been affected by cancer. At first I didn't pay too much attention until it dawned on me that I have two very influential men in my life who passed due to cancer. The first is Harold E. Powell, my maternal grandfather, who passed away on Aug. 24, 1971 from lung cancer. Although this was 2 years and 355 days before I was born, the influence on my life has always been present. I can't always put a finger on it but there are sometimes where I find myself contemplating the "what-ifs." What if he was there whenever I was young? Would I be where I am today if he never had passed away before I was born? What if? I do feel an influence occasionally...I even had a dream about him not too long ago. Of course I didn't know what he looked like but in my dream I knew it was him and I remembered hugging him and he would quietly smile as if to say "I know who you are...I've watched you all along and I'm proud of you."

Papa Ed Willis stepped into some very big shoes when he married Meme. He basically took all the children under his wing...blood or marriage...it did not matter. He didn't play favorites. And with God's strength and guidance to lead him, he did an outstanding job with Meme in raising all of the kids, grandkids, and greatgrands in the way things should be...in church..in Christ.

So on March 7, 2007 when Pop passed away, I often like to think that he woke up that morning and saw my grandfather Harold sitting there with a big smile on his face and saying "Thanks Ed...you've done well...let's go Home."

Happy Easter

I know this is several days late...although the message of course is always perfectly on time regardless of when or where.

We had our first services in the new building this past (EASTER) Sunday and the emotion was palpable...as soon as you walked in you almost wanted to cry from happiness.

Our Youth pastor does the Sunday morning prayer time each Sunday but this Sunday he deviated slightly...he said "If you came here this morning to find Jesus you are looking in the wrong place...for He is not here...He is Risen." Appropriate words to remind us of the message told to the disciples who went to the tomb early that first morning of the week to see the "dead amongst the dead." Instead they found an angel admonishing them "Why do you seek the Living amongst the dead?"

Happy Easter

A Great Finale...

To those of you who don't know...I'm a HUGE Battlestar Galactica fan. Not the 70's TV series, but the Sci-Fi Channel's highly acclaimed series which began 4 years ago and ended rather climactically Friday night in a 2 hour deal. Now for those of you who say "Good Lord how can you watch a show so religiously?" Mom and Dad can't complain because every time I call them they are always..."Can I call you back...24 is on right now."

Talk about loose ends being tied up rather nicely. For those of you who either followed the show or somewhat followed it...you know how the humans were fleeing the Cylon rebellion against their human creators (or so you thought). So they sought out the mythical "Earth" or "Kobol" where the 13th tribe apparently fled to many centuries ago. Not only did they find "Earth" but they found it utterly desolate and devastated by nuclear war...obviously the Cylon problem was bigger than they thought. But along the way...a Cylon/human hybrid and a human fell in love and had a child...who became the saviour of the human race. In the finale, Galactica arrives at the predestined coordinates that Starbuck has been dreaming all throughout the series...and it is our Earth...150,000 years ago.

There are theories out there which basically hypothesize that the human race may have been visited many millenia ago by intelligent life, which jump started our evolution. And this ending played that idea to the hilt. It's not Biblical in any sense of the imagination...but there was an underlying theme that there is a Higher Power out there guiding us along the way. Of course, the final scene showing the Cylon #6 and Gaius Baltar in modern day times threw that theme all to heck...when #6 (also known as the blonde chick) remarked..
"Decadence, chaos...remind you of anything such as Earth..the real Earth before this one...Kobol...and Caprica before the fall? Maybe this time it will be different...perhaps God's ways are different every time."

To which Baltar replies..."You know IT doesn't like being called that." Cue suspenseful orchestral music...fade to black...

Off to see the 70 virgins...

This is grainy footage taken from a c-130 Galaxy on Line-of-Sight from approximately 15 miles away. Apparently the radio traffic indicates that these are forward volunteers either attempting to defuse an IED (improvised explosive device) in the form of an 110 mm shell, or they are Islamic militants trying to put one together. In any case, somebody is going to need a small bodybag to pick up what's left.

Look at the size of the hole it leaves. Talk about ripping someone a new one.

Videos

In the clip above, this was taken at the TDCJ Wallace unit in Colorado City, TX. Flash bangs exceed 180 decibels and emit a pressure wave designed to disorient and incapacitate briefly. Just make sure you secure the cell door before it goes off or this will happen.

Mondays.......

Well, it's officially Monday again. It's my day off so I'm trying to get some odds and ends finished around the house. Of course I had to start off my day by running by work and straightening up some administrative issues...off the clock of course. That's one of the few things I don't like about being a captain...strict salary. Hah. I was involved in two officer-related incidences over the weekend which I have to use my powers of administration and determine disciplinary actions as needed. One was a rather serious case of insubordination, the second was merely an accident...literally...the officer was responding to a call from yours truly and in his quick response managed to broadside a fire hydrant.

Anyways, I'm also recommending a great movie that was on HBO recently called "Taking Chance" with Kevin Bacon. It's a tearjerker. Seriously, it's the true story of Marine Lt. Col. Mike Strobl who saw that one of our fallen heroes, PFC Chance Phelps was from his hometown in Wyoming, and he volunteered to escort the fallen home. The movie shows the true nature and the protocol involved in making that last voyage home. It showed the dignity and honor that common everyday Americans have for our fallen heroes. One powerful scene was during his first layover in Minnesota where he sees another American serviceman standing on the tarmac. As he approaches, he realizes that the serviceman is escorting another hero home..only this time it is that serviceman's own brother. He describes the scene as poignant in that not only is this brother performing one final act of love, but that he maintains his strict military bearing and demeanor during the entire process.

And in conclusion, Strobl writes:
From Dover to Philadelphia; Philadelphia to Minneapolis; Minneapolis to Billings; Billings to Riverton; and Riverton to Dubois we had been together. Now, as I watched them carry him the final 15 yards, I was choking up. I felt that, as long as he was still moving, he was somehow still alive.
Then they put him down above his grave. He had stopped moving.

I left Dubois in the morning before sunrise for my long drive back to Billings. It had been my honor to take Chance Phelps to his final post. Now he was on the high ground overlooking his town.

I miss him.

Regards,LtCol Strobl.

In the end of the credits, there is a montage of home videos and photographs of Lance Corporal (posthumous) Chance Russell Phelps, and it is then that you realize that this was not fiction, that this was indeed a true American hero.

No Snow...

Unlike my brothers and parents in Tupelo MS, it did not snow here. However, what you consider a snow storm here is a lot different from over there. See photo...

Yes it's dust and dirt. No kidding. Since our cold fronts come roaring in at about 50 miles an hour...the dust gets picked up as well. No snow per se...but it does get mighty chilly on the back end of the deal. This storm was mild though compared to ones we had several years ago...total brown/red out and you couldn't even see the house across the street.

Back again...

Sorry it's been a while. A disease called laziness can often present itself in similar fashions. IE not wanting to do anything...not having enough time...etc. Well...it's been cured. Another curious note...on the day that George W came home to Midland after Obama was sworn in rather auspiciously...Sierra was highly upset that Grandpa Steve was in town and didn't visit her. Of course, I don't recall Grandpa Steve ever being a good cook either. HAH.