19 Nov
Last Cow?
Kelsay left a comment with this link for what should be my last cow post…check the damage to the mini-van…poor Michelle.
Marshy sent me a link to this old classic song updated with an animation!
12 Nov
More Cow
There’s more. Here’s part of an email written by Mrs. Sarah Sanderson of Chelan. Beth told me it’s ok to share and it’s an awesome story so here it is!
Hi Everyone,
I’m sure you have all heard the story of the falling cow that crushed the vehicle of Charles and Linda Everson out here in Manson. They are some of the friends that are visiting from Michigan. Tonight at Wed. night mtg. they were sharing some more about their story and I thought that I would pass it on to you. After meeting on Sunday as they were driving back to their condo a cow fell on the hood of their minivan. Charles kept driving and saying “That did not just happen.” His wife convinced him to pull over. The engine ended up being destroyed, so he wouldn’t have made it much farther anyway. Supposedly Charles has a sister whom he hasn’t had any contact with for 3 years. He has no idea where she is or what she is up to. He has been praying that she would call or reach out to him. Well, she happened to hear his name on her T.V. At first she assumed it was “some white folks.” (Charles is a black man) But she realized it was her brother that the news was describing. She called him. So, I guess that maybe this was God’s way of answering a prayer. He sure works in mysterious ways! Charles says that next time he prays for something, he’s going to ask God to leave the flying cows out of it. :) They have been trying to relax on their vacation, but they have had lots of phone calls. They have been asked to be on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Tyra (Tyra Banks’ show), etc. They have turned down all T.V. opportunities. They have also been asked to give a phone interview. [...] Charles and Linda decided that they didn’t want to do that either. [...] The couple is very good-natured about the whole situation. They have enjoyed their vacation, but are looking forward to going home on Friday. [....]
Amazing, encouraging, crazy, and remember that even flying cows can bring blessing! Hey can someone tell me, can you use the word “blessing” as a verb? Did I use it as a verb? Should I have said “bring [a] blessing!” instead?
I know you won’t believe me now but I haven’t really been huffing Jenkem, or as the hip kids call it, Butthash. The real issue is that the longer I wait to write about an adventure, the harder it gets because I lose my “in the moment” thoughts and feelings. In Southeast Asia I was generally able to write about my daily adventure on that same day, like a journal. But now, I mean I still have never said anything about my Washington D.C./North Carolina/Virginia trip from this April! Buh.
My struggle is that I want to write things that make me laugh so I don’t bore myself to tears when I reread it some day. You know, because like anyone else really reads my blog, so as long as I make myself laugh that’s all that matters right?
Now that I just finished talking about writing things that make me laugh, I remembered that this post is not about things that make me laugh. (So far it’s about me thinking out loud).
A few weeks ago I visited the Shiloh battlefield from the Civil War down in Tennessee. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. There’s a pond appropriately named the Bloody Pond because it was the one water hole around and all the injured and dying soldiers gathered in and around it to cool their wounds and drink bloody water. Lovely.
The heart of the battle occurred in the “Hornet’s Nest,” a small clearing the size of maybe a couple city blocks? The Union were lined up behind a little wood fence along the Sunken Road. Imagine chillin’ here waiting for the Confederates to pop out from those trees a’blazin’! Scary!
Well even scarier is what happened, the Confederates got a line of cannons along those trees and started bombing the heck out of the Union soldiers, busting ‘em up real bad. So much that they were able to start running across the field and make the Union soldiers retreat into the woods behind and to the left. It was from here they retreated to the Bloody Pond and then on further to Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.
It was a powerful victory for the Confederates but shortlived. That night General Ulysses S. Grant arrived with his reinforcements and decisively worked over the Confederates the next day.
I’ll spare all of us any more details but here’s a cool cannon line accurately modeling a part of the battle.
It’s interesting to remember that a lot of these battles took place on people’s private property. That building is a replica of the dude’s house that lived here and owned this land.
Closer…
If you’ve never been to a National Cemetery, it’s amazing. They are meticulously maintained and there are huge fines for breaking even a little tree branch. And of course the real amazing part is that it’s filled with courageous soldiers who died fighting for the freedoms they believed in. Freedoms too often taken for granted and misunderstood nowadays. Freedoms they believed so strongly in there were divided families fighting on opposite sides but meeting at night to make plans to be in different locations the next day so they wouldn’t kill each other. Freedoms they believed so strongly in they were willing to die for them so that their children and future generations could have them.
I know I’ve been absolutely terrible on blogging about myself lately but I just haven’t been into blogging about myself lately. I mean there’s so many things to talk about and I know everyone wants to hear about my amazing adventures and how awesome I am but sometimes you have to take a break and get a little before you can give again. Actually, it’s just that I’ve been too busy mixing my urine and fecal matter and getting high…
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/1105072jenkem1.html
This video is also linked to in the link above.
So Beth calls me yesterday morning to share an incredible story about a couple she met in Sunday morning meeting in Wenatchee. On my way to work this morning, I catch the tail end of a similar story that Rush Limbaugh was mentioning in passing. I think, “No way that’s gotta be the same story! I wonder if it’s on Drudge?” I call Beth right away and tell her. Well then sure enough, I get to work, bring up the Drudge Report, and bam there it is!
“Couple escapes injury when falling cow hits minivan…”
UPDATE: Beth just informed that the story is now posted on FoxNews.com as well, linked on their front page!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308676,00.html
UPDATE: A local story with a little more detail.
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/NEWS04/711050054