Independence Day

In the midst of your fireworks, BBQ and beer, your visiting with family and friends, your day off from work...remember the reason we celebrate Independence Day. Remember all the rag-tag colonists who risked their lives and livelihoods to fight the tyranny of the British Empire, and succeeded. Also remember all those who have fought since, in order to preserve the freedom those colonists secured. Don't take for granted the freedoms you have, or the blessings you have to live in the greatest country in the world (yes, I still believe that, despite what our own leaders would have you believe). If we take them for granted, we will find ourselves right back where we started...living under the thumb of tyranny.

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn,
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide
new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance
of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to
alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of
Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and
usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid
world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the
public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts
of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation
in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants
only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable,
and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly
firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to
be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have
returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in
the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and
convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that
purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to
pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions
of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to
Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of
Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent
of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the
Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our
constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts
of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the
same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and
waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and
destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to
bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends
and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to
bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages,
whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages,
sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the
most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by
repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which
may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have
warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the
circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to
their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties
of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably
interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the
voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the
necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the
rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in
General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for
the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of
the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these
United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;
that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that
all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and
ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they
have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish
Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may
of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance
on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:

New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham
Clark

Pennsylvania
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer,
James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas
Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

GeorgiaButton Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Update

Mom's surgery went fine. We went to visit her at the hospital last night, and she was still pretty doped up. She was also very cranky because she was thirsty and they would only let her have a few ice chips every 4 hours.

Carrie, Logan and Brynna are driving down tonight to go see her tomorrow, and we may have time to shoot some fireworks and have some other 4th of July-related festivities. The clinic is closed tomorrow, so I actually have a two-day weekend. Woohoo!

Mom's surgery

Mom is having surgery tomorrow morning, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Luckily, she does not have Nancy's surgeon (pictured) operating on her.

Happy Father's Day

Just throwin' a shout out to my dad and father-in-law on Dad's Day.

We had a fun weekend. We went to Lake Charles with some friends and gambled the night away. Played some poker and blackjack at the Isle of Capri Hotel and Casino, a classy, upscale (LOL) establishment. We've been there several times before, but something strange happened this time...we actually came back with more money than we went with. Seriously, that never happens. We all did pretty well at blackjack. Nancy won a shocking amount of money considering her aversion to betting anything other than the table minimum. I even got lucky and won a few hands on $2-5 No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em.

Since we are getting way too old to have that much fun, we came home today and were completely worthless. I don't think Nancy moved from the couch or I from the recliner all afternoon. And we really enjoyed it.

Good Times and Crabs

The beach was a blast. We stayed in Surfsaide Friday night and Saturday night. Even got to mis work, which I don't get to do that often. My boss works me like a dog. The house was nice and we had a really good time. It would have been nice to stay the whole week, but two days was better than nothing.

I would post some pictures, but all of the people who promised to send me pictures have so far failed to do so.

Logan loves any kind of critter. Crabs, jellyfish, spiders, insects, fish...you name it. So we went crabbing last weekend in Surfside, which Logan of course, loved. He wanted to keep every crab that we caught. If you've never done it, it's actually pretty fun. We bought some chicken necks at the store, tied them to a long string, and dangled them in the water. The crabs just latch on and ride all the way up into the net. We also took Logan fishing, but he was much more interested in playing with the bait than actually fishing. That, and we didn't actually catch anything to keep him interested.

I think Brynna and Makinley also enjoyed the beach. Since Makinley hates her swimming pool, Laura and Scott were pretty sure she would hate the ocean. But it was the exact opposite. She ran right in.

Tomorrow we are heading to Lake Charles with some friends to lose some money at the casino, and I've got to actually work tomorrow...so I'm off to bed.

The Beach

I'm going to actually skip out on work Saturday so we can go to Surfside Beach for the weekend with my family. They rented a beach house for the week. Unfortunately, I can't take the whole week off, but two days is better than nothing.

The last time we went (two years ago), I opened the cooler to grab something to drink. I had had plenty of beer the night before, so that was not particularly appealing at the time. So I grabbed a soda. It happened to be a Caffeine-Free Pepsi. Now that in and of itself is not that unusual. My mom drank Caffeine-Free Dr Pepper for years and years, so I just figured she was branching out. It wasn't half bad, so I had another later on. Then I may have had 6 or 7 more over the course of a couple of days. On the last day Nancy and I were there, as I reached into the cooler for another, I found that there was only one left. No worries. There were still lots of Diet Cokes, Dr Peppers and the like for everyone else. So I cracked it open and took a sip.

Laura looked at what I was drinking, got an evil, angry look on her face, and yelled, "You're the one who drank all my Pepsis!! I brought those for me!! Those were MINE!!"

Whoah! Easy there. I didn't know they were hers. She has never drank Pepsi in her life, let alone Caffeine-Free Pepsi. I felt kind of bad, but hey, there were still plenty of other options in the cooler. But she was mad at me the rest of the day, and kept bringing it up over and over. I even offered to pay her back for them. And we had brought plenty of food and drinks, and she was welcome to whatever she wanted of our stash. No need to be so stingy. I even told her to write her name on what she brought so that no one would make the mortal mistake of touching her precious property, since obviously she wasn't in the sharing mood.

Well, it turns out, a few weeks later we find out that Laura is pregnant with Makinley. She and Scott had known when we went to the beach, but had not yet shared the information with the family. So that was why she went the Caffeine-Free route. Evidently you are not supposed to drink Caffeine when you are pregnant. So Laura drank a lot of water after I unwittingly polished off the last of her only other option. Oops!

This year, I am going to ask before I eat anyone else's food or drink anyone else's drinks. Never know who might be pregnant. But the moral of the story is not to keep secrets from your family.

Surgery Videos

I told you I was going to post random videos. I am doing some filming of common surgeries for a web project I am working on. So far, I have a spay and a neuter, so I figured I would post them in case anyone wanted to see them. Nancy's mom was interested in seeing them, so I thought someone else might be. These are rough videos, without any voice over narration or fine-tuning yet...just the original audio. I did edit for brevity.


**Note: In the spay video, the whimpering dog is NOT the one we are doing surgery on. She is asleep. It usually works better that way.

WARNING: Blood and guts.