Michele

Parachutes are important, Pep... Sorry to hear about the injury. Heal fully and fast...the sky will wait! And make the most out of the neighbor thing.... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Thanks, Sebazz...I was going to hunt that one down and link it.... Hi, FFF.... here are some sites for you to read through...huge hugs to you, and this is not the end of the world. It's not even the beginning of the end. Some diabetic recipe sites... http://www.diabetic-recipes.com/ http://www.recipesource.com/special-diets/diabetic/ http://diabeticgourmet.com/ http://www.diabetic-lifestyle.com/ http://www.allrecipes.com/directory/822.asp Some information sites http://www.niddk.nih.gov/ http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/diabetes/diabetes.htm (same as above, but more specific) http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/diabetic/retinopathy.htm(something about the eye health) http://www.diabetes.org/main/application/commercewf (thorough site) http://www.diabeticnews.org/ http://www.joslin.org/news/ (excellent organization) Hope this keeps you reading for a while, and gives you some answers to your questions. hugs, my friend... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Jess, between you and your bat event, and my raccoon in the kitchen, it's a wild day! Sorry you couldn't adopt him; I, however, had far different intentions with the 'coon... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hi, Weid... Well, I thought I was feeding Penguin. I have no idea when the raccoon discovered dinner was served on my porch. I did feed Penguin at the same time I feed my indoor girls, round about 6-6:30 p.m...nothing during the day. As for them being scared, this 'coon was anything but. He was very placid, really like he thought he belonged inside. I mean, I was feeding him...unintentionally as that may have been...and I have no intention of messing with him at all. He kept looking at me as if wondering "why is she yelling like that? This is my house..." Isn't it odd, though, that there'd be raccoons this far into the city? I mean, it was literally the last thing I thought would come waltzing into my house...lordy, lordy, lordy! I was thinking that if the broom didn't work, I'd start chucking the pots at him or something. Chad, bless his heart, was no help whatsoever. I'm still kinda wiggy about it... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Penguin is a cat. Penguin is shy, Penguin is homeless. Penguin is cute, sleek and disabled (she was hit by a car and she waddles, which is why she's named "Penguin"...). Once upon a time she lived with my neighbor. My neighbor got her spayed, and then turned her loose. The neighbor doesn't live here anymore. Penguin does. Bitchy-assed neighbor. I see Penguin during the day, and try to get close enough to pet her...but have had no success. At night, when I give my cats their dinner, I also have been putting out food for Penguin. Every morning, I collect the dishes, and they are clean. I think I am doing right by this thrown away kitty. Tonight, as I am switching the laundry, Charlotte and Esse are at the back door. They have always shown an interest in Penguin, and I figure it's been about an hour and a half since I put the food out, so it must be Penguin...I look out the door, see something, and think, well, maybe tonight she'll let me pet her. This is the dumb part. I unlock the door and open it. Not really looking, I open the door wide. Esse and Charlotte both arch their backs, hiss, and start yowling, running. Door open, I lean out to see what's going on, and in walks... ...saunters, may be a better word... No, strut. That's it.... In struts a furry, fuzzy, ring-eyed, huge (likely about 30 lbs) raccoon. I leap back, imitating the cats, and start hollering "shoo". So it does Shoo. Into the kitchen. I can't think what to do...the cats are screaming, I am barefoot, startled, and absolutely unprepared for a 'coon to be in my house. The 'coon, on the other hand, is staring at me. "Huh? Don't I belong here??" (They look just like the pictures this city girl has seen all her life). And now my neighbor Chad comes running, storms into my house, shouting at the top of his lungs "Leave her alone!" He does one of those trip-to-a-stop sort of thing and whacks his hip on the counter trying to climb onto it when he sees the 'coon. Chad's yelling. I'm hollering. The cats are shrieking...and the coon's standing there, looking around... I sidle around to the broom, grab it, and start waving it at the 'coon. Chad's girlfriend comes to the kitchen window, and says "I've called the cops. They're on the way"...and I reply "call Animal Control instead, please"... I manage to shoo the raccoon out the back door, get the cats back in, reassure the cops, and the Animal Control people have just left. They say they will set some traps, and to stop feeding it. Uh, yeah.... If I had known it was a freekin' raccoon, I would NOT HAVE FED IT!!! I wonder where Penguin is? Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Dayum....bigger balls than me. Quick question, though. In my helmet, I have the goggle strap under it, and holding my hair in place. Having never tried to remove my goggles before I removed my helmet, would that have been possible to do? I guess you could scrabble it down, but did you try to take them down while still wearing your helmet before jumping? And I agree about the trust thing. One of the neatest aspects of this sport is that trust. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hang in, Jan... Big gigantic hugs to you. It's been really hard lately. It will get better, I promise. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Brings back some fond memories, Cora....expecially the Bozo pix... Actually, the Bozo should be it's own post. What's that saying? The camera never lies? I have a few I want to post, but am having difficulties getting them sized right....will keep trying! Hey - Viking - where're the ones I took with your cam? Hugs- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Jessica, you do not deserve it. What you deserve is lots of love and hugs and girl talk. And if I had long distance, I could do all those things, too! Sigh...hugs and love and adoration to you from the West Coast via the 'net...we can do the girl talk thing in pm's... As to claiming the "prize", I have a candidate or two...... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Welcome home, Darkzone. The sky missed you when you were gone!!!

Deuce? (Edited to add:

Hey. YOU! Yes, YOU!!!!! Miss you, all has been o.k.? Wondered where you were...and more, how you were. Sweetie, great to see/hear from you!

I am aware of what Rumsfeld said last week, and while it may be seen as a threat to expand the war, it was a warning shot across the bow...as in "we know what you're doing, stop it..." similar to Ramadan thrusting his fists in the air and saying the suicide bombers will continue to strike, and follow the US into their land. It's designed for effect, I suppose is one way to say it...to scare us/them into remediating actions. As to the "Arab street", those were some of the same people who danced in the street during 9/11. There is a palpable hatred for the US there, and this is an excuse to demonstrate. I am not too concerned just yet. Ask me again if we invade Iran, Turkey and Syria. Same thing with Turkey - I will wait and see. I am not too familiar with that area...perhaps I need to study up on it a bit more. Israel made no bones about having nukes, and using them should they be attacked...deterence value, as it were, I suppose. I still worry about it, and those invisible Scuds are some of the weapons banned (aren't they?), which he "doesn't" have... As for the catagorizing of "as the war drags on", it's still only 10 days old. Give it some time....it isn't "dragging on" just yet...there is a lack of patience and clear understanding of what this entails that I see with some folk that is personally irritating. Not that you shouldn't have your own opinion, but I highly doubt that anyone can honestly catagorize this as "dragging on" at 10 days into the fray...and with one of the largest battles still ahead... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Thank you, Seedy. I appreciate the clarification. That is what I meant! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hi, Meatmissle.... I think Lisa is trying to get HH to spank her. Or maybe take her into the greenie dungeon. Or chase her with a hot fork or something....or, maybe all of it. At once. In the dark. But maybe she's just poking a sleeping lion... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Hi, Tf15 Agreed. And should I be invaded, I will be out there fighting however I can. My distinction is that it's not "terrorism", per se, because of the target. The target for the suicide bombing was military, not civilian, not, oh gosh, the WTC, or Montreal or Paris or wherever. Not that they "deserve" it, but if the roles were reversed, and Burbank got invaded, and I felt the need to protect, it wouldn't be the civilians as my target. In my humble estimation, and it is indeed humble, it is terrorism when innocents are targeted...be it the Mombasa hotel, the WTC, or the Bali bombing. Hi, Bill Yes, perhaps. But Richard (I believe it was Richard) had quoted that it was "Wyatt or Doc Holiday", and then clarified who he meant, and it wasn't Rumsfeld. I do think that there are some who underestimated the difficulties we would encounter, but it wasn't me. And I think that some in the media would fan the flames of panic, inasmuch as saying "you said it's going to be short....", when in fact even Rumsfeld didn't give it specificity - his quote was "six days, six weeks"...I think we are jumping to a detrimental conclusion when the shortest time anyone ever said, off the cuff as it were, included an estimation of "six weeks"...at the end of the first week of the war. Agreed to an extent. I also think that there would've been some more attacks in any event...but I find it very difficult to quantify a future event in which the plans are not known and unquantifiable. However, if it is projected that more anger will be generated, and because of that anger there will likely be additional attacks, that I can and will agree with. There are many many reasons for terrorism, as I understand it. And those reasons have been building for many, many years - in truth, decades. Sudan and Iraq - that's an interesting pair. Kenya, Mombasa, and many other African nations(not necessarily the governments, however) are complicit in the fomenting of terrorism. Add to that Egypt's unrest, the issues with Israel, the Russian issues with Chechnya, and on and on, and you have decades of difficulties which are not easily resolved. One of my original concerns about this war was the attacks on Israel and Kuwait, and the subsequent enmeshing of those states in the war. I was concerned about the Iraqi air defense. I was concerned about the Kurds uprising immediately, and Turkey invading to take the Kurdish land; I was worried about the ecological damage from burning oil wells and the flooding of the plains...I was worried about Embassies all over the world being bombed. I was worried that there would be suicide attacks at Universal City Walk....and all these were hinted at or promised directly as a result of our "war of aggression". And yet, here it is, day 10, and there hasn't been any of that. Maybe I'm being a little hot off the mark, as there is still quite a ways to go before it's over. But I still think that if there was going to be an attack on Israel, it would've happened. Instead, we are 50 miles outside of Baghdad, carefully bombing (as best we can), planning for the rebuilding of Iraq, and starting to clear harbors of mines so that not only can we bring in troops and munitions, but that we can also bring in humanitarian aid. It's been 10 days. Let's give it some time before we jump around hollering "quagmire". Let's give it some time to see just what will transpire. In 1991, there were 43 days (I think) of bombing Iraq before we put "boots in country". We didn't do any of that this time. People forget that, I think. People forget that while it was 100 hours of ground troops in country, there were 1032 hours of airstrikes prior to that creating a way in. I can't remember if there was a 72 hour sandstorm, the likes of which hadn't been seen in many years, during the 1991 conflict, either. Just my opinions...feel free to have your own! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

I knew that....it was just a tickle to read it the way you quoted. Made me giggle...I didn't know Malachi was that highly placed! ROFL...

Flyingferret is doing something wrong with Halliburton? (LOL, Richard, the way you quoted that was funny!

All I am saying, Richard, is that terrorism already is part of our lives...and has been for quite a few years. Overreaction, imho, leads to panic, and I for one don't want to see people panicking. I know there will be attacks; I take the measures I can for me in my city, and then I get on with my life. Touting that additional terrorist attacks will definitely occur, and have occurred, with no understanding of the mentality of those who would attack and where they would (and are) attacking can make some people more frightened than they really need to be. Since 9/11, there is no-one who believes that we are protected any longer. I was aware from WTC '93 that we were no longer "safe"... Oh. O.K., then. Because it really did seem like you were saying people don't know what's going on, and are uninformed, and should get informed and protected. That's what I was responding to... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

I can't vouch for any political leanings in the following links, but here are some interesting articles/sites for additional information. It may help... http://www.sss.gov/ Selective Service website Interesting article, http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26197 Additional article http://www.ncpa.org/iss/nat/pd092401e.html And one more... http://www.orgs.bucknell.edu/bucknellian/current/business_politics01.shtm Just stuff fyi... ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Richard, can you link to the story of the hijacking? And I was aware of the suicide bombing of our troops...at least 4 dead. But as that is something which was done under the guise of war, incountry (I think it was Iraq, please correct me if I'm wrong), would you then say it's state sponsored terrorism? I don't think it is, as it's during wartime and directed against our troops (not non-combatants like something in a parking lot or whatever), but I am interested in your opinion... As to the Mombasa hotel bombing, that was November 28, and it was a suicide attack on the Paradise hotel in Mombasa, which is a known Israeli tourist hotel. It took place during the elections (again, IIRC), and was attributed however tenuously to Al Queda. And again, IIRC, there was an attempt at shooting down a plane at the same time, but the airline was able to avoid (or they missed) the SAMs... It is well known that AQ is/has set up a cell in the area. Recall the Kenyan and Tansanian Embassy bombings several years prior, and you have the signature of them writ large. The only new thing, if it can be called 'new', is the use of SAMs...but there is specualtion that the attack on the El Al offices in Indonesia was also by a SAM, and also AQ (although that link is also rather tenuous). Not everyone, Richard, is uninformed about terrorist activities all over the world. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Uh, doesn't look too good.... From Weather Underground High Wind Warning through 230 PM today... Today Sunny. Highs 75 to 84. Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with local gusts to 70 mph below passes and canyons. Tonight Clear. Lows 51 to 63. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph. Sunday Sunny. Highs 76 to 85. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph in the morning. Sunday Night Clear. Perris is about 10 miles away or so...they are likely getting the same weather, or close to it... Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Good job, Tasadin... How fast were you losing alti? Seems like it was pretty quickly. Glad to hear you did well, and were able to continue jumping the same day. It took ma a lot longer than that to get back into the air after my cutaway - three days...and lots of handholding and support from DZ.comizens, too... Well done! Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~

Thanks, cgross... This is an interesting article, and I wish I had the clarity of thought to have put it in words like the author did. Thanks for bringing it here. It is really interesting to see people's opinions...I do not ever recall Bush or Cheney saying it will be short - "days"...what I clearly recall is them saying something along the lines of "if we go into Iraq, it will be hard. House to house, potential B/C, hard and long". I was surprised and disappointed when I heard people wailing that "it's been 6 whole days, and the state is not yet conquered...it must be a quagmire". How unrealistic is that? Quagmire - "buzz word". It is a demoralizing thing, and reflects the journalists' opinion, which is sometimes terribly different than mine, and those to whom I speak. I do not think we are in a quagmire - I think we've done enormously huge things in a very short amount of time. I hope that this war is as short as it can possibly be, but we are there, we need to get this job done, and we need to do it thoroughly. If we bombed indiscriminately, we would kill many thousands of Iraqi citizens; if we shot without caring, we would again kill many thousands as well. It would be far shorter, but far more costly in human lives. As it stands, because we are not doing so, we are being more strategic and specific, it will be longer than the pundits want....someone above stated something about this being over like a mini-series on tv, and I think that sums it up perfectly. We cannot both make it super-short, and be strategic. Those two ideas are mutually exclusive. As to the terrorist attacks, whether they will arrive or not is another situation. 9/11 (among other events...) taught terrorists that we are vulnerable, and that we can be hit. They are there, they will attack, but not simply because of Iraq. They will come because they hate us, have hated us for years, and found the soft spot. It has been that way for years - and if you don't think I'm correct, look at your history. We also heard a ton of the same kind of predictions when we went into Afghanistan, and they did not materialize. War is horrible, and I don't like it in the least; but people have placed unrealistic expectations on our troops and leaders, and they are contradictory. The least we can do at this juncture is look at things realistically and not emotionally, and not scream the sky is falling quite so fast...6-8 days is not long, and it may be a while longer before we are done with ousting Saddam. We are not in a quagmire - it's only been a few days. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~