Benefits of Wall Street Crash Found

I just figured out how the failure of the banks and Wall Street are helping the environment!

Yep, it truly is. How, you say?

Just check your mailbox and see how light all of the junk mail is these days. Why, it used to be I needed a crane to lift all the offers of credit cards and gotta-refinance-now envelopes. It was just all too much for my arms.

Now, all that junk mail has stopped. So, guess what? Those useless papers aren't going into the trash and filling up our local landfills. But then again, I'm not getting my daily bicep workout either.

Yep, there was a silver lining in that crisis.

Ms. Georgia Gal

Noise and American Pride, All Rolled into One Show

Front Porch Friends,

I'm sorry I was not on my porch this weekend. I was inside hovering, waiting for the bombs to land. Did you hear all the noise from the Air Show? Why, my poor fish were shivering from all the vibrations of those gigantic planes bellowing overhead.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for the poor people during World War II when those bombers were flying overhead? Why, they must have thought the world was coming to an end. I guess it did for some of them.

The Air Show is really a fun thing to do in Peachtree City. Seeing all those men in uniform and listening to them as their pride spills over and out about their flying machines and our country just brings tear glistens to my eyes. I also like to see all the stunts and the cheers from the folks on the ground.

Now, if I could just stop the noise.

Have a good day, my friends. It's gotta get better-- I hear the stock market is feeling a bit better today after it tried its suicide run last week.

Miss Etta

Casting My Vote

Well, girlfriends, I went to vote yesterday. First time I've done
anything early in a long, long time. They were kinda' busy there, and
when I commented to one of the gals who works there about the brisk
business they were doing, she said it wasn't nearly as busy as usual.
It was raining yesterday, and I guess hubbie and I are 2 people who
know with absolute certainty that we aren't going to melt. Plus it
actually makes my hair look better when I'm out in the rain.

Let me tell you: they had the cutest pens there - you know, writing
pens - ready for us to fill out the form. Somebody (perhaps in the
days before they got so busy) had taped colorful fall leaves to the
pens. Not only will the pens likely stay there, saving us taxpayers
some money, but they were just adorable. So much more fun to write
with than plain ole' unadorned stick pens. You should've seen it: all
those leaves blowing in the wind as people wrote.

Anyway, we went from that room to the room with the voting booths, and
once again, we were greeted in a friendly, smiling manner and we
didn't have to wait in line. Walked right up to a booth, popped that
yellow card in, and voted. Quick and easy. Felt good to have it done.

The only thing that frustrated me about the whole process is that at
the end of the ballot where there are all those long, indecipherable
questions, there were only options for "yes" and "no". Me, I wanted to
be able to vote "HELL NO".

Have y'all voted yet?

Miz Vul

Houses, Houses Everywhere Today

Today, at the Barack Obama concert/rally/voter registration drive held
on the campus of Ohio State University, Bruce Springsteen told the
crowd: "Despite the terrible erosion to our standing in the world, we
remain for many people a house of dreams, and 1,000 George Bushes and
1,000 Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down."

Quite interesting to read that tired, old, rearview mirror statement
while watching an Extreme Home Makeover show in which an entire
community - also in Ohio - came together to rebuild a house for the
Jason Thomas family. Before the show, the Thomas house was in such a
dismal condition that it barely provided shelter for the family. After
this show, it was a house of strength, just like its owners and
inhabitants.

And why this particular family? Because on 9/11/2001, Jason Thomas was
a Marine who worked long and hard (and has the melted boots to prove
it) to extract people who landed beneath tons and tons of building
that had once been the Twin Towers. Two of the men who were extracted
by Thomas were interviewed on the show. As best I remember, one man
was trapped for 13 hours, the other for 22 hours. Both men thanked
Thomas and all the other heroes who were ordinary citizens before that
day.

Jason Thomas is a man who keeps his love of country no secret. The man
flat out loves this country. He does.

The show brought many tears. The family cried, of course, when they
first saw the house. Crew members cried when local Marine recruiters
presented them with flags (one American, one Marine) to fly at the
remodeled house. The Marine Sergeant teared-up as he explained to
Jason Thomas why the Marines were honored to be part of this project.
Ed, one of the carpenters on the Extreme Home Makeover crew, cried
openly as he spoke of his love of America and said, in his heavy
foreign accent, how he could not wait to become an American citizen.

Ed also cried when he cut his hand badly while carving an American
flag to decorate the Thomas' new home. When Jason Thomas saw the flag
and was told about Ed's injury that occurred while carving the flag,
he quietly commented that people bleed for the American flag every
day, and to know that Ed bled for this flag would make it the
centerpiece of the house. Forever.

Two stories of houses. Two stories of people coming together in Ohio.

Just goes to show, doesn't it girls? Just goes to show.

Miz Vul