.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Grizzly Mama

There's a Grizzly who has escaped the City of Brotherly Love..(and she's going back to homeschooling!!)

My Photo
Name:
Location: Out of Philly, Pennsylvania, United States

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." Aristotle - Greek Philosopher.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Skye's collage is up

And it's beautiful! Thanks to all who supported the project.

You just have to go and see it. It's right here!

I love my country and I am not afraid to show it. It isn't hard to understand why people from across the globe want to come here and work hard for the dream.

God bless America.

Friday, July 29, 2005

What's on your night stand?

Zendo Deb has raised an interesting question and has invited me to answer. It's the What's on Your Nightstand? meme about personal firearms.

Before I had the girlies I always had my Ruger .357 close at hand. (Security Six) It is now locked away in the gun safe. She's awwwwful purty! And to be hidden away...*sigh*. Well - soon the girlies will be getting their shooting and gun safety lessons down at the range.

Nowadays what I have hidden beneath the bed would never fit on my nightstand. The shotgun is down there awaiting a moment when the damsel may be in distress. Yes. Yes. Yes. It has a trigger lock on it. God forbid I ever have to use it.

Thank God we live in America - every day now - where it is legal for us to own firearms for the defense of our families and ourselves.

I DO keep extra shotgun shells actually ON the nightstand. Along with about a years worth of the Weekly Standard.

I'll have to think of who to tag - and when I do I will post an update.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

here are my daughters pics


If you love America and support our troops...

I ask you to leave a comment of support either in the comments here OR over at Skye's blog

Skye is creating a piece of artwork to display in response to the 'Flag in the toilet' piece of crap....uh...I mean art.

Skye's artwork, in contrast to 'Flag in the toilet', is pro-America and supportive of our troops. Your messages of support will be a part of the artwork. The art will be displayed as Move America Forward describes and is in response to the anti-American 'Flag in the toilet'. After the display I understand that Skye's work of art will be sent to the troops in Iraq so that they have something other than anti-American propaganda crap to look at.

If I haven't explained it well - please visit Skye's blog. I'm sure that her explanation is much more lucid. Grizzly Mama has had a grizzly day in Filthadelphia - this nasty City. of Brotherly. Love.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Some links.

I refer you to A Tangled Web for information, reactions and updates to the most recent bombing attempt in London.

As per Iraq the Model there is a petition that I (and many others) signed to show our unity against terror. Although I am not Muslim it seems that many Muslims who have signed the petition are uniting against Islamist terror. That's a good thing.

The Institute for Justice has filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking for a re-hearing on the infamous Kelo v. City of New London ruling.

An update on Katie, who was removed from her home by the state because her parents didn't agree with the medical treatment that her doctors outlined, is at this link. Pray for Katie and her family. God save the Republic.

The plan to go forward with taking Judge Souter's home and build the Liberty Hotel using the new shiny, eminent domain power granted by the Supreme Court is proceeding apace. They are seeking a volunteers and donations here. Updates are posted at this link as well.

Recently on another blog a person who I disagreed with urged the readers of that blog to contact the State of Pennsylvania and report me for homeschooling my children. This person left a link to the Philadephia School Board. This person suggested that our children were in danger because (apparently) our political views differed from hers. I offer a link to the homeschooling law in Pennsylvania just so's we all understand that homeschooling is LEGAL! Hoo-haw.

Homeschooling is Legal!

Saturday, July 16, 2005

I've been tagged again...

Arggghhh. It was that young upstart whippersnapper that did it. I tell ya - this next generation coming up, well, they're all-a-bunch-a-little ball busters. ;-) I'm not really mad, Neo.


Number of books I own: Can't count them - too many.

Last book I bought: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Ph.D. (I adore it by the way)

Books I like: This is a tough one to answer but here are some of my favorites. Anything Dickens. Then I love every single last one of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Hmmmmm...some Science Fiction. Asimov and the Robot stuff. Fantasy would be The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist and then Janny Wurts joined with him to write Daughter of the Empire. I read some fantasy many, many years ago that I think was called Dragon Riders of Pern - can't remember the author but they were all great. Then the Little House books - wonderful. Wuthering Heights - Bronte. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn - Twain. The Death of Ivan Ilych - Tolstoy. Neo reminded me of Metamorphosis - Kafka - and how much I enjoyed it. Odyssey of course...Penelope and her weaving (oh - and all the other stuff that happens too). And last, but not least, my absolute favorite of ALL time: Eloise. The story of that naughty, naughty little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel. My fave since I was about 5 years old. More and more titles are piling into my thoughts but I really must stop here. It's too many.

Last book I read: I have to split it between two because I actually was reading them at the same time. 1. Churchill - A Study in Greatness by Geoffrey Best and 2. Radical Son - A Generational Odyssey by David Horowitz. Both highly recommended.

Now I tag someone, right? Well. Then I shall tag my newest blogosphere acquaintance Sparky and another that I am intimately acquainted with, The Troll.

Have at it. I look forward to reading their responses.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Another labor and delivery horror story...(but with a happy ending.)

Five years ago today the little one was born. She was a wee bit early due to an inferior vessel. But she's beautiful and five now. It's hard to believe.

I had been hospitalized the week before she was born. High blood pressure, diabetes, pre-term labor. I checked myself out after 3 days because the diet they put me on sent my blood sugar through the roof and then crashed me into ketosis every morning. My blood pressure was worse. I was insane and worried. I had lost so many babies before her. I missed my other little girl. I wanted to be home and keeping my blood sugar PERFECT with my diet and having a cup of tea on my own couch. I wanted my baby to be born alive NOW - before my body completely rejected her with disastrous results.

I was back in the ER a couple of days later and on to an emergency C-section. Protein in my urine, blood pressure 198/123. Finally - she was to be removed from this hostile environment. She was quiet when she was born but fine and beautiful. I thought - sigh - stitch me up and send me on my way with my Morphine pump. No easier way to have a baby. 1/2 hour and it's done.

My blood pressure had dropped because of the spinal and the anesthesiologist was pumping IV fluid into me fast to keep the BP up a bit. Well - he screwed up. I heard this horrendous sucking sound coming out of my arm and when I looked down I saw it! This humongous air bubble 6 inches long in the tube and traveling at what to me looked like the speed of light. In an instant intense pain and I was unable to breathe. It was excruciating pain in my chest. Anyhoo panic ensued. The anesthesiologist kept screaming over and over again in an ever higher pitched tone of voice 'Air Embolism'. The ER team was screaming a phone extension to call to code me but THEY COULDN'T REMEMBER THE NUMBER. They tried several numbers (and my husband told me later that the physician ran from the room to get a crash cart) and finally got it right.

My poor husband was standing there holding our little baby right by my head and watched the whole thing go straight to hell. I was in my own world completely conscious, completely overtaken by what was happening to me, and starting to get quite pissed off about the fact that nobody was stuffing some valium in that IV and shoving a tube down my throat. I could not breathe. I seized. It surprised me - my body so strong to do something like that. Up went my head, arms and legs...slam back down on the table. Wow, I thought, so that is why they tie you down when they operate on you. Again I seized. I was amazed by what my body was doing. The damn anesthesiologist kept trying to put one of those plastice oxygen masks over my nose and mouth...he's suffocating me!! He wouldn't stop screaming in panic. I turned my head back and forth away from it - from him trying to suffocate me.

Something clicked in my brain. There is oxygen coming out of that mask I had to tell myself. There is oxygen coming out of that mask and you MUST TRY TO BREATHE IT. I stuffed my face into the mask and attempted to breathe. Teeny, tiny, grating little breaths. Very slowly getting bigger until after about 30 tries I was breathing in great big breaths of that oxygen. My husband said that I kept repeating 'Please God don't let me die' over and over again.

I was never stitched up so fast in my life. It's bizarre what he remembers about it. Apparently my uterus was completely out of my abdomen at the time and it flopped over my side on the first seizure-like-whatever-the-hell-it-was. (He said it looked like a 'death throw') I was kept in recovery and on a heart monitor for six hours afterward. I'll never trust a vaunted university hospital again. EVER!

She's beautiful and we're both alive five years later. Thank you God! Grizzly Mama just doesn't do the birthing thing well at ALL! On second thought perhaps it was just good enough. I am alive to enjoy my two beautiful healthy girlies.

Friday, July 08, 2005

My heart goes out to the Brits

I am horrified by these Islamofascist bastards every time I turn around. We will hunt them down and kill every last one of them. My elected officials have my permission to go all out. Rest assured that if an Islamofascist bastard shows up at my door I will put one right between his eyes. Happily and with my .357 magnum.

I have prayed for the people who have died (again and again and again). I have prayed for the people who have survived. I will continue to pray. Although we have our squabbles with the British we are fast friends. Thank you for being such good friends to us.

I offer this in tribute so that the British know that we understand the pain and the rage.

You monster. You beast. You unspeakable bastard

The British are made of stronger stuff than the Spaniards - I am confident.

God bless you and God bless America.

HT The City Troll for 911 navexpress link.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Afghanistan

We don't hear much in our news about Afghanistan, do we? I'm not sure why but there are different ways to get some information about the region. One of my favorite is a blog called Afghan Lord. Afghan Lord has recently received threats from a user at an I.P. address that is apparently connected to the BBC in some way. I don't pretend to be an expert about these things but perhaps you are and can help.

Here is Afghan Lord's recent entry about the threats that he has received:

Afghan Lord being threatened!!

We here in America don't cotton too well to being threatened for utilizing our right to Free Speech. That's why we're so pissed off about a few things. McCain-Feingold for one. A judge in the Seattle area trying to limit the Free Speech of talk radio hosts discussing a reversal of a gasoline tax, for another.

Here is another link that shows the threats to our Afghani friend. They're terrible! Shame on them.

Global Voices

Afghan Lord - stay strong. In your quest to stay strong might I suggest remaining armed at all times? God bless Afghanistan and God bless you.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Down the Shore

Yes - we'll be doing something I always said I would NEVER do. Going 'down the shore' for the 4th of July holiday weekend.

Other things I have done that I said I would NEVER do:

Own a mini-van.
Buy a rowhouse.
Get bangs.
Wear a girdle. (swear to God)
Tell my kids, 'because I said so'.

Happy 4th of July and God Bless America!