February 29, 2008- Leap Day

I haven't blogged in a week and although I've thought about it and have had things I wanted to chat about, I just never made it over here. But I'm here now so here goes.....

First, is this election getting nasty or what on the Democratic side? I believe when Obama is declared the Democratic candidate things will explode. On the Republican side Huckabee is just making me laugh, in a good way. He's going to hold on until John McCain gets those delegates and he's not leaving until he does. I like him but Mike Huckabee doesn't have a chance. When both candidates are declared I hope the Democrats and Republicans will play nice. It's not likely though. Sigh, I wish it were over ALREADY!

Secondly, I want to talk about and remember something that happened in both my husband's and my life 36 years ago, Feb 26th.

February 26, 1972 was on a Saturday, a cold raining Saturday. Around 8:30am I was sweeping up in my Mom's Fabric Shop getting ready for the day while Mom and my sis were sleeping in the back of the store, where we lived. My dad came rushing in (he and Mom were divorcing) saying we had to get out of the store immediately because the dam had broke. The Buffalo Creek Dam had broke. I didn't have a clue what he meant.

Mom got up and didn't believe a word dad said. She said "Oh I've heard that for years. That dam isn't going to break!" Again I want to say I didn't have any idea about any dam or where it was and so forth. We were living in the tiny town of Man, West Virginia and my "future" husband lived 3 miles up Buffalo Creek but still miles from the initial break. I was 15 years old and he was 18 and we both attended High School. I do believe if we had stayed in the store we may have been hurt- but, Mom finally got dressed and we all left the store for higher ground.



The dam I'm talking about is the Buffalo Creek Dam and it did break sending over a 150 millions gallons of dirty coal sludge, water and debris down a 17 mile valley killing 125 people, some of them my class mates and friends. The photo above doesn't begin to reveal how big this dam was. It was 3 different inpoundment dams stacked against each other. When it broke the initial wave of water was 40 feet high. The black wave kept hitting one side of the mountain and bouncing into the other side of the mountain in a zigzag motion on down Buffalo Creek leaving devastation in it's wake. On and on it traveled ripping into one little community after another until it roared into the Guyandotte River at Man leaving 125 dead, 1100 hurt and 4000 left homeless.

Houses that were tossed against each other and slammed into bridges and mountainsides disintegrated into toothpicks. The force of the water was so strong it wrapped railroad steel around trees and warped bridges into odd shapes. 17 miles from the dam, on the street I lived the water was still 6 feet high, picking up cars and moving them down the road leaving mud a foot deep.







When they found the victims, most had the clothes torn off their bodies and they were unrecognizable because of the blackness and dirt on their skin. One girl in my class was identified by her class ring that miraculously stayed on her hand- her name was etched on the inside band. One miracle baby was found buried in the mud and is alive today. Our little area was inundated with major news networks, national guard, the red cross, the salvation army and so many others who came to help and assist. Needless to say, our little valley took years to be cleaned up and restored. If you travel the road up Buffalo Creek "holler" today, you would never realize that a disaster ever happened. Many people moved vowing to never come back but my family stayed and so did my husband's and we will never forget that cold dark Saturday.



There is so much more I could write about that day and how it changed and did not change our lives but I believe anyone reading this will know that it was a dark time in the history of our little area. The flood was caused by the negligence of a coal company. At that time coal was king and it still is today. My husband and I both come from coal mining families. I am a coal miner's grand daughter, daughter and wife. That's right, my husband and 2 of his brothers are still coal miners and I guess we all have a little coal dust running in our veins. It's still a nasty, dirty, dangerous job but it may provide some of your electricity. I know it does mine. I'm proud of my heritage because we are a strong, hardworking breed of people and whether anyone likes it or not coal is important to our country.

There's alot of debate in this country about being green and conservation and so forth and I'm all for that if it doesn't devastate the economy and livelihood of hundreds of communities and thousands and thousand of lives. There's a way to make it all right and I hope one day we will, but that is a subject for another blog though.

I just wanted to commemorate February 26, 1972, the Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster, a little bit because I have never written about it before. I thank God more people didn't get killed that day and my family stayed safe.

Until next time, Be Blessed.

February 22, 2008

LOST was a little bit of a let down tonight. Except for the ending, I would give this episode a B, just an ordinary B. I shouldn't expect A+ episodes every week now should I? And hey, I'm not liking the new Locke! Sheesh, he's getting to be a total pain in the rear! What's going on with him, he's such a smarty pants. I'll be the first one to say I do not like Kate at all, but Locke coming right out telling her he'd shoot her.... well come on!

I need to ponder this episode for a day or two and read a half dozen LOST blogs. Be Blessed.

February 21, 2008

This edition of my personal blog might be listed under the definition of TMI- too much information. But, I had that tinkle dream again. I have it all the time. I just can't wake up normally with the urge to go to the bathroom, no. My mind has to create little dreams telling my sleeping self I need to go tinkle. Does anyone else have these kinds of dreams? Sometimes I have the same dream over and over. This morning's dream was different.

I dreamed I was in a huge building of some sort but apparently I knew there were movie theaters and some restaurants downstairs, so I went looking for a rest room. I asked a lady who was bussing a table where the bathroom was and she pointed to a tiny closet and said that was the only one. What! That was the only one in this huge building? Behind me was a group of people- men, women and children and of course they all needed to go to the bathroom too.

I went into the bathroom and the commode was a tiny little thing and the sink was a tiny little thing because--- this bathroom was a tiny little thing. And being a plus size lady who hates little tiny places I was getting anxious. I could barely close the door which of course wouldn't lock. The people outside who wanted to use the facilities too were all crowded against and leaning on the door with one child particularly trying to open the door. Here I was trying to do what you do in a bathroom with a child's hand slipping through the door and a crowd of people outside talking and so forth.

I cracked open the door and asked the lady with the child to please stop opening the door because it was hindering me from doing what I needed to do. A man behind her heard me and just burst out laughing hysterically and of course I woke up, needing desperately to go to the bathroom. What was unusual about this dream is usually when I dream these silly little dreams it's just me and no one else. This dream had people in it! Definitely different!

A couple of tinkle dreams I have are standards. One of them is of me going to a bathroom in a school or some place that has many stalls of toilets, some with doors and some without doors. I go from stall to stall and every commode is nasty. As I move on looking for a place to use the bathroom, each commode is not good enough for me to use. The floor is nasty, no tolit paper, dirty, whatever, but I just can't make myself use any of these toilets and so I wake up needing desperately to go to the bathroom.

The best tinkle dream and the one I have most often is the one where I am in some kind of fancy home. There are beautiful bedrooms and it seems like there are different wings to this house. As I go up and down the hallways of this home, there seems to be a bathroom at every other door. Each bathroom is more beautiful than the other. Some have ornate facilities and beautiful architecture and I am taken back at the beauty of each one, so much so I can't decide which one to use. I go back and forth exploring all these bathrooms until I wake up desperately needing to go to the bathroom. HA! Is this weird? Eh, probably not.

So I had my little bathroom dream this morning and it was a new one and I thought it was interesting. Definitely TMI, sorry! HA!

Tonight LOST comes on again and I can't wait! That's about all I have for right now so until next time, Be Blessed!

February 19, 2008

Barack Obama is steamrolling over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential campaign. I thought it was going to be a dog fight, I had no idea it would be a bloodbath. I sort of feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. I mean I do not like her as a candidate by no means, but if her husband Bill would just shut his mouth she might have a fighting chance. Naw, she probably wouldn't. I don't trust her and probably lots of others do not either. I feel she's a candidate in the same vein as John Kerry and Al Gore- say and/or do anything to get elected.

One thing you can't take away from Mr. Obama is his speaking style. He can move an crowd like no other. I hope if he is elected to the highest office in the land that he backs up those words with fairness and insight into the real America. I've told my son and I think he agrees that these politicians have no idea how real Americans live. I know they go from state to state shaking hands and kissing babies but they only meet with people for a small amount of time. They need to live a month with someone and see how real America lives- like a month right here in the coal fields of my state. Yeah that would be sweet. *smile*

I took a 10 question quiz today to see how my ideas line up with the candidates and I came out closer to both Clinton and Obama. It was a tie between them and it surprised me a little. None the less I will NOT be voting for either one of these candidates.

Today it snowed a bit. It's also been cold and it's supposed to be so all week. Since I'm built for the cold weather I think it's ok. Paula Ann, my sister, has gotten into some Sycamore tree spores AGAIN and is broken out all over. The last time her face swelled up so bad. I hope that doesn't happen this time.

I'm in a better mood than the last time I posted. Eh. LOL.


Oh, btw, LOST this week WAS awesome as always. All I could say at the end of the episode was WHOA! I can't wait until this Thursday. My son said I should watch Dexter that is on Showtime but is now airing on CBS. Well I did, and wow, I don't know what to say about that show. It made me feel dirty watching it. LOL. It's like a car wreck, you just can't stop looking. (OOPS did I just plagiarize you son?) haha. Anywho, until next time, Be Blessed. :)

February 17, 2008

I'm down today. Life fills like it sucks. Only thing good about today is I got to watch the Daytona 500. My driver didn't win, but it was a nail biter down to the finish line. My son called and we watched the ending together. Thanks Son. Love you.

February 7, 2008

Update! Mitt Romney is out of the race! I didn't see that coming so early.


Super Tuesday didn't turn out to be so super for any of the candidates it would seem. Hillary and Barack are still battling it out and fighting over who got how many delegates and on the republican side things aren't any better. Huckabee and Romney are fighting over who is the real contender and neither are in my opinion. I believe it will be John McCain on the Republican side when it comes convention time. I'm not so sure on the Dem's side because I thought Hillary would take a commanding lead on Tuesday but that didn't happened. I believe Mr. Obama did better than anyone would believe.

Tuesday opened my eyes a bit. I do not believe a republican can win this election simply because of the sheer numbers coming out to vote for the democrats. The Democrat party is bringing voters out of the woodwork and their numbers voting outpaced the republicans voting sometimes 3 to 1. For example in one state a million people would vote on the democrat side and 400 thousand would vote on the republican side and this was even happening in the south, republican strongholds! This can only be credited to the democratic candidates firing up their supporters with hope, enthusiasm and passion while the republican party is not making it's base happy with the choices they have.

No doubt this is an historic election, the first woman and or the first black candidate who honestly has a chance to win the highest office in the land! And it's going to be a dog fight all the way to the White House I believe. But enough of politics for today because as I stated in my first post, I still don't know if there is any hope anymore. I want there to be, but nothing has changed my mind yet and that is sad. That last statement just makes me shake my head at myself, but that's how I really feel. Regardless these candidates may not be chosen until the very night of the convention and that will make some interesting political watching for sure.

On another note, my husband and I are going to try and lose some weight. We are making a video diary of it and maybe one day I will be brave enough to post them online. Maybe.

February 4, 2008

There's a lot of things I want to accomplish in my very first blog. I'm an older lady and I really have no need to please or impress anyone other than my husband and my creator. I'm debating on whether to make this blog private or public. Ultimately I would like to add video content to the blog but I just don't know if I am that brave to put my stuff out there to the world. I want to make the year 2008 a video year for my husband and me. I want a lot of changes to take place in my life from losing weight to being happier and much less of a worrier. I want this year to be a healthy year.

Tomorrow is super Tuesday and I've been sick of the political scene since last year. I don't want to vote for any of the candidates. Either they are way to liberal or the conservatives I am interested in are just slightly less liberal. George Bush let me down and this political year sucks. If I thought the Dems could change this country I would vote for them. I voted almost 20 years democrat. But they are only going to raise our taxes, hug trees, and give entitlements to people who are drug addicts, people who don't want to work, women (black and white) who continue to have 4 or 5 babies by 4 or 5 different men and so many other deadbeats who think they are entitled to be taken care of by everyone else. These people are in every small town and city milking our government for millions of dollars while we have people working 2 or 3 jobs just trying to take care of their families. Welfare reform, which Bill Clinton signed, is working some but it's just one piece of the pie that needs to be addressed. Everyone knows we have too much pork in our government, and most every congressman and senator (both republican and democrat) have padded the bills for favors to the people who helped get them elected. None are righteous, no not one.

I'm all for helping people who honestly need the help, those who work and still don't have insurance and can't afford to buy it. Child day care for people who absolutely couldn't work without it, seniors who live on limited incomes, and on and on. But instead of raising taxes, let's cut out all the special interest groups, like drug companies, oil companies, and all of these other corporations who get big tax breaks and make billions of dollars in profit a year. That's a down right sin. Everyone should have to pay their fair share. Everyone! How did it all go so wrong?

When did personal responsibility, integrity, and honor become archaic? And why did it? Why is it that you really can't believe a word any politician says because we know just as soon as they get to Washington, what they said doesn't mean a thing. Washington is not in touch with ordinary Americans. These politicians say they are, but are they really? To run for president in this day and time costs one billion dollars! I personally can not even comprehend that amount money in my every day life.

So what are we to do? I don't even know. I'll listen to the candidates and maybe vote. I've never not voted but I'm so disgusted by the whole process, I just don't know. After the elections, I'll still be this overweight southern woman who is still trying to take care of her family and home. I'll still be cooking, washing dishes, and cleaning house. I'll still be complaining about food and gas prices and wondering how in the world are people going to make it with prices being so high and wages not rising. I'll still be running errands and paying bills and trying to save a dollar which in this day and time is darn near impossible. I'll still be living in a one store town and wondering if my husband will have a job tomorrow. And I still will be going to church and thanking God for all the blessings I do have in my life. So my life will still be the same.

Can any of the candidates help this country? I want to have hope. I just don't know if I do anymore.