You guys are the best! Thank you so much for all the prayes and awsome words. You'd all love Mom, she's the strongest person I know and yet I know and have seen just wat makes her melt. My fabulous five have been their normal self but so kind by bringing me pictures and letters to mail. Mom and Dad are simple folks- they JUST put in a dish to watch local PBS !HA! No internet, no computer, just a billion cats, attack rooster (wish I was kidding) and a great old farm in IOwa.

I didn't even mention all the politial yuck with another group the kids are in! I'm done there. You know the feeling of just being done and could care less what anyone thinks if your family is there or not. Final straw there? The leader is expecting my family of 7 to ride a car trailer....wearing matching t-shirts I need to buy....no. It's our son's birthday and we promised him a day at the park because he was in the parade last year!

Anyway, I am really trying to go to Mom and Dad's in October after school board elections with my four year old.

Crew- I never knew my papa-in-law. He was killed while serving during the Vietnam War. I've heard he was a great man and would have approved of me because I'm alot like Grandma.

you know, after all, we all our our mom's kids!

Just popping in to say "HI!" This North Woods vacation is just what I needed. It's just what the whole family needed. It's the first year in just about forever that my father-in-law wasn't here. We loved him so much and it was a great way to honor him on the one year anniversary of his death.

I don't mean to drag the room down. It's really been a positive and upbeat vacation. My mother-in-law is the greatest woman I know and has been my personal mentor since I was 17 years old! The way she's approached this whole week has just given me another amazing thing to love about her!

mykidsmom - I'm sorry for everything you're going through right now. Strong women are a blessing and we're lucky to have them in our lives. You must love your mom very much. My prayers are with you!!!

good one a OK!

aaaw SCHUCKS. just found out the joke is totally BOGUS. check out www.snopes.com for the scoop. its still funny, just aint true!!

That's cute! Even though I live in the south, my neighbors, bless their hearts, fit that bill to a tee.

Absolutely dont mean to change the subject, and apologies if I inadvertently offend anyone by doing so; last week we were sharing jokes about the southern and midwestern folks among us BBers, heres a good one, dont know if its true or totally fictitious. GOod one for dog lovers too. The dog is fine at the end of the story, dont worry.

Wisconsin Duck Hunters
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE TWO DUCK HUNTERS FROM WISCONSIN? ABSOLUTELY A TRUE STORY HEARD ON A WISCONSIN RADIO STATION REPORTING ON THE INCIDENT.
A guy buys a new Lincoln Navigator for $42,500.00 (with monthly payments of $560.00).

He and a friend go duck hunting in upper Wisconsin. It's mid-winter; and of course all of the lakes are frozen. These two guys go out on the ice with their GUNS, a DOG, and of course the new NAVIGATOR.

They decide they want to make a natural looking open water area for the ducks to focus on, something for the decoys to float on.

Now making a hole in the ice large enough to invite a passing duck, is going to take a little more power than the average drill auger can produce.

So, out of the back of the new Navigator comes a stick of dynamite with a short 40 second-fuse. Now our two Rocket Scientists, afraid they might slip on the ice while trying to run away after lighting the fuse (and becoming toast, along with the Navigator), decide on the following course of action: they light the 40 second fuse; then, with a mighty thrust, they throw the
stick of dynamite as far away as possible.

Remember a couple of paragraphs back when I mentioned the NAVIGATOR, the GUNS, and the DOG?.???

Let's talk about the dog:? A highly trained Black Lab used for RETRIEVING; especially things thrown by the owner. You guessed it: the dog takes off across the ice at a high rate of speed and grabs the stick of dynamite, with the burning 40-second fuse, just as it hits the ice.

The two men swallow, blink, start waving their arms and, with veins in their necks swelling to resemble stalks of rhubarb, scream and holler at
the dog to stop. The dog, now apparently cheered on by his master, keeps coming.

One hunter panics, grabs the shotgun and shoots the dog. The shotgun is loaded with #8 bird shot, hardly big enough to stop a Black Lab. The dog stops for a moment, slightly confused, then continues on. Another shot, and this time the dog, still standing, becomes really confused and of course terrified, thinks these two geniuses have gone insane. The dog takes off to find cover, UNDER the brand new Navigator.

The men continue to scream as they run. The red hot exhaust pipe on the truck touches the dog's rear end, he yelps, drops the dynamite under the
truck and takes off after his master.

Then "BOOOOOOOOOOOOM"" ! ! ! !

The truck is blown to bits and sinks to the
bottom of the lake, leaving the two idiots standing there with "I can't believe this just happened" looks on their faces.

The insurance company says that sinking a vehicle in a lake by illegal use of explosives is NOT COVERED by the policy. And he still had yet to make the first of those $560.00 a month payments.

The dog is okay. . .doing fine.

And you thought Rednecks only lived in the South........