I swear, my Mom gave me a bumper sticker one time that said that. Gotta love a Mother with a good sense of humor :) She told me exactly what she wanted for Mother's Day and I ordered it online because that's what I do these days...listen well. What are ya'll doing to honor your mother this weekend? Tradition has it that if your mother is alive you wear a red rose and if she's passed on you wear a white one. Nobody loves ya like she does. Nobody.

I get occasional email dispatches from Michael Yon telling me what it's like to be one of the allies fighting in Iraq. In my humble opinion the problem seems to be that there will be no WIN. It is a civil war that has been raging for generations which became a political football a few years ago. If our homeland security had been "secure" and our government had been paying attention, the suckers would have never made it past the radar on our East Coast. Complacency, thy name is America. Use that night vision technology to protect the citizens of your own country as they work to support your fat lifestyle and weak leadership. 'Nuf said on that subject. We all know it's time to move on. Another hurricane season looms and Lord knows we need the National Guard here. *see Hurricane Katrina*

Now and then you meet somebody online who makes an impression with the intensity of their mission. John Ruskey has been one of those people for me. Though I've never met him in person, we have shared a lot of adventures on the Big Muddy and other rivers during the past few years. When he's not busy carving canoes or exploring the water there is the after-school apprentice program for at-risk Clarksdale MS youth who stay busy following in his footsteps.

Don't bother to call tommorrow. I'll be sleeping in and playin' in the yard later.

Love ya...mean it.

^j^