It has been a wonderful and sometimes emotional weekend for me. Today is the one year anniversary of this blog. I have enjoyed the first year tremendously and have been blessed by all the people across this country and even in Canada who have been regular readers. I hope you have enjoyed the posts and that in someway they have been informational and inspirational to you.
I guess the emotional part of the weekend started Friday night. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. drove a car owned by Richard Childress, his father's former car owner, to victory in the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona. It was special because Junior's car carried the old Wrangler Jeans blue and yellow paint scheme that Dale Sr. drove for a number of years and won two Winston Cup Championships (1986 & '87) in. In fact, in 1987, Dale Sr. won eleven races, the most in one season during his career, driving the Wrangler car. On behalf of myself and millions of Dale Sr. fans across the country, thank you Junior for another great #3 memory. I imagine your dad was watching Friday night through those trademark mirrored sunglasses with that big sly grin on his face that said, "that's my boy."
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia and Darryl Moran on Flicker.
On Saturday, we had some fun. In the evening, my wife and I attended the Watertown, TN Independence Day Parade. For a small town, it was a big parade with a number of floats. It was an honor to actually participate in the parade. My truck was turned into a float for State Representative Susan Lynn who is currently running for State Senate in District 17. Rep. Lynn's magnets, 5 of them, covered the sides and the tailgate. One of her campaigns signs was attached to the front of my truck and one to the back window. We also had a large American flag, on a pole, flying on the back. It was pretty neat.
Rep. Lynn (center), two young Conservative Republicans (right) and myself (left) before parade.
The parade was wild !! There was a squirt gun and water balloon fight along the length of the parade route. Onlookers along the route and participants in the parade had "shootouts" and hurled water ballons at each other. At one point, some guys were filling buckets out of the back of their pickup truck and then dumping them on parade participants. It was wild but fun. There were two sections of parade participants - ones in the water fight and ones in the "water free" section behind us. All of the political candidates whom particpated in the parade wimped out and got in the "water free" section except Rep. Lynn. Her participation in the "water war" was welcomed and enjoyed by the onlookers. It appeared that they felt she was one of them by playing along. Anyone that knows Rep. Lynn knows that is exactly who she is - one of us. I think she enjoyed it as much as they did.
Rep. "Gunslinger" Lynn in a "shootout" during the parade. (Note her "shield.")
Lastly, the other emotional part of the weekend has been today. Not only is this the one year anniversary of this blog, but it also marks one year since my friend Robert passed away. He sent me the article "On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs" that inspired this blog shortly before his death. As he protected our freedoms during his days in the U.S. military, I attempt to do the same with this blog. As the current administration continues it's attempt to scale back our freedoms, let us continue to be vigilant to protect our freedoms. The ones of us that do are often referred to as "right-wing nuts." However, that's fine by me. An e-mail I received from a friend last week (Thanks Colonel) contained a quote that said, "Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held it's ground." Holding our ground is the least we can do for our military men and women risking their lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places every day. Happy 4th of July everyone. !!!
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