My Glory All, The Cross

A Real Life James Bond

2011-01-27T19:12:00.001-05:00

Hmmm I guess it has been a little while since I posted eh:)

Here is a story you might like:

Israeli Spy Recounts Daring Mission When He Captured Nazi Adolf Eichmann, Architect of the 'Final Solution’

By Leland Vittert

Published January 27, 2011

FoxNews.com

Holocaust survivors often refer to the "banality of evil" when describing how remarkably ordinary even the highest-ranking Nazis seemed after their capture for aiding the mass murder of more than 6 million Jews during World War II.

At a gathering for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which marks the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps, Rafi Eitan looks like any other aging great-uncle: hearing aids, thick glasses, and a gray sweater under his blazer. His demeanor and appearance is much more fitting an aging insurance salesman than James Bond. The casual observer would give him the highest compliment for an intelligence field operative: There is simply no way he could be a spy.

"I knew we are doing something (that) will be in Jewish history, maybe world history, will be written as one of the just operations," he said, perhaps giving away that behind his kind and quiet smile is a man who embodies the banality of greatness.

The only thing that betrays his past is the twinkle that comes to his eyes when he tells the story of a spy mission so daring, so incredible, so brilliantly executed that it’s still held as the gold standard for intelligence services worldwide.

Eitan led the Israeli Mossad team that captured Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust, on a street in Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial in 1960.

Eichmann had been in charge of organizing the Holocausts’ “Final Solution" -- the Nazi plan to exterminate Jewish people -- right down to the schedules of Death Trains to the camps.

Like many Nazi war criminals, Eichmann escaped to Argentina in the confusion following WWII.
He lived under the name Ricardo Klement while working various jobs and living with his family, whom he had brought from Germany. Rumors began leaking out of Argentina in the mid-1950s that Eichmann was there.

Famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal received a postcard from a friend who said he saw Eichmann on the street, and slowly Israel's intelligence services began closing in on him.
For months, surveillance teams trailed Eichmann, trying to match pictures of him to those from his days in the SS.

Finally, they sent word back to Tel Aviv that they thought they had their man.

Israel, as a country, was less than two decades old. The Mossad was very adept at operating in Israel and the Arab world, but Argentina was a very long way from home.

Mossad officers hatched a plan so simple, yet so daring, that it would stun the world. A Mossad team would fly to Buenos Aires as part of the Israeli delegation to celebrate Argentina's 150th birthday. The team would then kidnap "Klement" as he came home from work, verify that it was indeed Eichmann, and smuggle him out of the country.

What if Eichmann put up a fight? What if someone saw them snatch him? What if his family called the Argentinean authorities when he didn't come home? Everything had to work perfectly: just one wrong turn, one observant cop, one contingency unplanned for could land the Mossad team in jail and allow Eichmann to escape.

On the night of May 11, 1960, as Eichmann walked home from his bus stop, two Mossad agents were "fixing" their broken down car. One of the agents asked for a cigarette, and that’s when they grabbed him.

They threw Klement into the car and, driving into the night, one agent told him, "if you value your life...keep quiet."

Eitan ripped off the man's sleeve to check for a scar on his left arm, and pulled his shirt up to feel the scar on Eichmann's belly.

"The moment I have Eichmann, on my knees I am, saying to myself the song of the Jewish partisans which says at the end, ‘We are here and we shall return,’" Eitan remembers.
The Mossad team began questioning him and Klement finally acknowledged what the team already knew: He was Adolf Eichmann.

Next came smuggling one of the world's most wanted men out of Argentina.
They drugged Eichmann and dressed him up as an El Al airline mechanic. The Mossad team donned similar disguises and they set out for the airport talking their way passed a guard shack under the rouse that the "mechanics" in the backseat were drunk.

Eventually they made it to the El Al plane for a long flight home -- a flight where they almost ran out of fuel before making it to Dakar, in western Africa, for a scheduled stop.

Eichmann stood trial in Israel for his crimes. The proceedings were broadcast live around the world and it was one of the first times Holocaust survivors told their stories on television.

On December 15, 1961, the court of three Israeli judges convicted Eichmann and sentenced him to death by hanging.

At a reunion of those involved in Eichmann's capture and trial, Eitan looks like the kindly great-uncle with a twinkle in his eye.

“I was 51 years younger (then)," he said. "But I am able and ready to do the same thing again."

This Day in History - Admiral Nelson's Burial

2010-01-09T20:22:00.012-05:00

Hey everybody, sorry I haven't posted in sooooo long. I had a pretty busy holidays and I've been busy with school. I'm a bit behind in school so it could be a while again before I do another post. Seeing as there's not much new in my own life except school and more school I thought I'd do another one on history. This one is about one of my favorite military heroes, Sir Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson (he actually has a lot more titles than that).

Horatio Nelson was born on September 29, 1758, in Burnham Thorpe, England. After having some schooling he joined the navy through the influence of his uncle and he quickly began to climb through the ranks. After some civilian sailing, which included a trip close to the North Pole, as well as some time on Navy escort ships, Nelson was given command of his own ship. He was only twenty. His obvious skills soon came to the attention of Sir Peter Parker, the British commander in charge of the Caribbean area, under whose command he served for some time. Nelson was given charge of bigger and bigger ships and he sailed and fought all around the Caribbean as well as some other places in the Atlantic before returning to England in 1783. He was married in 1787 and stayed home in peace until France declared war in 1793. When this happened he was given command of a ship and fought the French navy in different skirmishes around the Mediterranean. In 1794 he lost his right eye while fighting with land forces trying to take a French held town. In 1795 Nelson routed a French attack on the Island of Corsica in what is known as the battle of Genoa. Other than that and a few small skirmishes there was not much action until the battle of Cape St. Vincent. In this battle Nelson showed his skill and bravery by sailing straight for the enemy ships instead of staying in a line with the other ships, as was British naval tradition. This was direct disobedience of orders but he captured two Spanish ships that were both much bigger than his own. Soon after this Nelson lost his arm in a failed attack on a Spanish held island. Although Nelson was partly to blame for the failure, he returned home a hero because of his bravery at Cape St. Vincent. In 1798 Napoleon was reported to be building an invasion fleet and Nelson sailed back to the Mediterranean in command of a fleet, bent on destroying Napoleon's invasion fleet. At first he didn't know where Napoleon was planning to land and he spent several months trying to locate the enemy fleet. By the time he found them, the French troops had landed safely in Egypt. He had failed to stop the invasion but Nelson still wanted to destroy the escorting French warships, which were anchored Aboukir Bay, near Alexandria. In a brilliant tactical move, Nelson managed to get some of his ships in between the shore and the French ships and then attacked them from the seaward side with the rest of his ships. Surrounded on both sides by British ships the French fleet was almost completely destroyed. He returned home but was soon called again, this time to fight in the Baltic. Several northern nations had begun to form an alliance against Britain so Nelson launched a strike against Denmark, hoping to nip this threat in the bud. He attacked the Danish fleet in Copenhagen harbor and captured or destroyed many of their ships. Nelson's last great battle came when Napoleon began planning an invasion of England. Napoleon needed the combined French and Spanish fleets to protect his invasion barges so if Nelson could destroy this fleet beforehand, the invasion would be thwarted. He pursued the combined enemy fleet for over two years before finally forcing them to fight on October 21, 1805 off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. The standard tactic of the day was to form two parallel lines of ships and fire at each other but instead Nelson formed his ships into two lines that were perpendicular to the enemy line. He then sailed these two lines of ships directly into the enemy line, cutting the French and Spanish line in three pieces. This plan worked. The French and Spanish lost 22 ships and the English didn't lose any. This was a crucial victory for England because if they had lost, it is quite likely Napoleon would have been able to carry through with his plans to invade England. But this monumental victory came at a cost. While directing the battle from his flagship the Victory, Nelson was shot by a sniper from a nearby French ship and died three hours later. He was buried on this day, January 9, 1806, in St. Paul's Cathedral, in a coffin made from the mast of the French flagship at the Battle of Aboukir Bay.

Flight 7 - Eagle Riddle Answer

2009-12-21T18:38:00.007-05:00

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately guys, life has been keeping me kinda busy.
A couple posts back I put this picture on and I asked you what way the plane was flying.

For those of you who said it was flying towards the camera, you are right. Maybe it wasn't as hard to tell as I thought it was but I found it pretty hard to tell at first. I was convinced of both views at different times as were some of my family members so I thought I'd put in on here at see what you guys thought.
If you wondering how to tell for sure that its flying towards the camera, look at the pods on top of the tails, one is thicker and one is thinner. In the pictures lower down if the plane is flying towards the camera the thicker pod is on the right, as it is on this picture.

Remember Pearl Harbor!

2009-12-08T22:42:00.009-05:00

I could have titled this either under flight since it was the first major naval attack using airplanes or I could have titled it under this day in history since it happened on December 7 but I decided to neither and title it Remember Pearl Harbor!, a slogan which quickly became popular immediately after the attacks. President Roosevelt's words the following day sum up quite simply and quite well (especially considering I am posting this on December 8) what happened that day "Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." The Japanese had, completely unprovoked, a nation with which they said they were at peace. Early Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the Japanese navy and air force attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii by launching over 400 planes from 5 aircraft carriers and using them to bomb and launch torpedoes. They sank 5 battleships and 4 other ships and damaged at least 14 other ships. 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 more wounded. 188 American aircraft were also destroyed. But why would Japan do such a thing, especially to a nation they were supposedly at peace with? The reason is this: they desperately needed oil and other raw materials for their war with China so to get these materials they decided to conquer many of the islands in the Pacific, on which these materials were readily available. They knew that their main opposition would come from the U.S.A. To prevent American interference they tried to wipe out American power in the Pacific in one blow, by attacking Pearl Harbor. They failed miserably. But why did they fail if they killed so many men and sank so many ships? Well first of all out of the five battleships they sunk, one was not being used anymore and two others were pulled back up and repaired. Second and more importantly, battleships were outdated at the time of Pearl Harbor. The most important ship was the aircraft carrier, not the battleship, and all the American carriers were at sea at the time and were unharmed. The U.S. then used these carriers to quickly strike back at the Japanese and take the islands back one at a time until after 3 years, 8 months and 24 days of war, the Japanese surrendered. The question then is why did the Japanese make such a suicidal and shortsighted attack? The answer to that question is that they did not understand the American ideology and philosophy. They believed that they could shatter American resolve and morale in one blow, but instead they strengthened American resolve so much that the U.S. decided they were going to defeat Japan no matter what the cost and no matter how long it took. As was said at the time "they awoke a sleeping giant".

These pictures are from top to bottom:

The USS Arizona burning.
A Japanese aerial photo of Pearl Harbor under attack.
The USS Maryland and the capsized USS Oklahoma.
An army airfield burning.
The USS Arizona exploding.
The USS Arizona burning.
Burning ships in Pearl Harbor dry docks.
USS Virginia burning.

Flight 6 - Eagles (cont.)

2009-12-03T18:30:00.007-05:00

Ok one last post on eagles, this is the last one, I promise. It has been requested that I do a post on Golden Eagles so enjoy!

The Golden Eagle is North America's largest bird of prey, with a wingspan of over seven feet and a length of over three feet! They weigh between 5 and 15 pounds and can dive at 240 kilometers per hour! These eagles are so strong they have been known to attack caribou, wolves and even a bear cub! They are vicious hunters with sharp talons, a strong beak and very, very good eyesight. They mate for life and have approximately two chicks per year but usually only one survives. In the wild they live for about 30 years.

Here are some pictures:

This day in History - A great man was born

2009-11-30T20:07:00.007-05:00

Ok I'm going to take a break from my series on flight to do a quick post on one of my favorite statesmen and politicians of all time. The reason that I am doing this today is because he was born on this day in 1874. Although as far as I know he was not a Christian, God certainly used him to protect his people. This man led his people through five and a half long years of war. This man was a courageous and fiery orator. This man was a very keen and witty politician. This man was Winston Churchill. In the late 1930s when Adolf Hitler was taking Europe for himself one country at a time, Winston Churchill was one of the few politicians in England, or the world for that matter, who realized just how bad Hitler was. At the time almost nobody would listen to him and he was a social and political outcast, but eventually he was proven right and was made Prime Minister. He also proved to be an excellent military leader. His ability to lead came mostly from his ability to inspire people to follow him by his speaches. Here are some of my favorite quotes from him, first political quotes and then wit.
(P.S. Sorry if this doesn't sound very well written, I usually kinda ramble on without much of a logical pattern)

Political/Inspirational:

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

Wit:

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.

Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

These are just a few of my many favorite Churchill quotes, here is a link with a whole bunch more:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/winston_churchill.html

Oh and of course I should put some pictures on.

Flight 5 - Eagles (Cont.)

2009-11-28T00:00:00.003-05:00

Alright before I leave eagles there is one more post I have to do. I found this picture of an F-15 on the internet and I couldn't figure out which way it was flying; is it flying towards the camera or away from it?
Look at it and see if you can figure it out.

P.S. I did eventually figure it out. If you can't figure it out try using the pictures below.

Flight 4 - Eagles (Cont.)

2009-11-24T23:08:00.005-05:00

Ok now I'm moving on too mechanical flight. I'll start on the same subject that I left living flight on: Eagles. Specifically the F-15 Eagle. There is also a bomber version of this plane called the Strike Eagle, but this post will be dedicated to the fighter version. This plane boasts a record which no other fighter in history can claim: it has never been shot down.
Here are some pictures:

Flight 3 - Eagles

2009-11-19T23:55:00.004-05:00

As some of you may have noticed the only bird included in both of the last two posts was the eagle, specifically the bald eagle. I did this intentionally because I planned to dedicate this post to this bird alone. So here you are. Enjoy!

Flight 2 - Living flight (cont.)

2009-11-17T22:05:00.005-05:00

I decided one post on living flight wasn't enough, so here is another one:

Flight 1 - Living Flight

2009-11-16T23:23:00.010-05:00

To those of you who still read this, I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've been pretty busy with school and stuff so I haven't had much time. I have liked the idea of flight, both the living and mechanical kind, since I was young so I decided to do a series of posts on it. The first post will be dedicated to the living kind of flight.

Paying :(

2009-10-02T15:15:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy with school and such. While I was doing school the other day I came across this paragraph from the story of Moby Dick and I thought it was funny (although slightly irreverent) so I thought I would share it with you.

Ishmael is giving his reasons why he is going to sea as a sailor instead of a passenger.

" Again, I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I ever heard of. On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid. The act of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves entailed upon us. But being paid, -what will compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!"

Lest We Forget

2009-09-10T23:36:00.003-04:00

"None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world." - George W. Bush

More Tamarack!

2009-09-09T22:45:00.004-04:00

Ok since the last pictures ended up being mostly of landscape, I will try to make these mostly of people. And again the good ones are from Karen and the bad ones are from me.

Tamarack!!!

2009-09-07T18:58:00.006-04:00

What to say about Tamarack. It was so, well, its just beyond words. Anything I tried to say about it wouldn't do it justice so here are some pictures instead. Because we have so many pictures and I usually don't have much time I'll probably do a couple posts of Tamarack pictures. Oh and the pictures will be a combination of pictures taken by myself and Karen.

A few pictures

2009-08-25T19:44:00.004-04:00

Rebecca recently got a camera for her birthday so today we were having fun taking pictures.

Here is a sample.

Some of these reminded me of one of J. R. R. Tolkien's poems; The Road Goes Ever On and On.

Next week is Camp Tamarack and I'm gonna be busy this week getting ready so I probably won't be able to post for a while.

Even More Lightning

2009-08-15T18:44:00.008-04:00

Since the last one was about the Lightning, I thought I would do this post about the Lighting 2. The F-35 Lightning 2 to be precise. Don't worry this is the last post about lightning :) As with last time, first some facts and then pictures.

Manufacturer: Led by Lockheed Martin, others include Northrop Grumman and BAE systems

Max. Speed: 2065 km/h

Range: 1,110 km (varies between versions)

Armament:1 25 mm cannon and
Internal: 4 missiles or 2 bombs and 2 missiles
External: 6 missiles or 4 bombs and 2 missiles

Although you may not be able to tell, the F-35 is hovering in this picture. This particular version has a huge lift fan in the center and the rear nozzle swivels downwards and together this allows it to hover.

More Lightning

2009-08-14T11:42:00.003-04:00

Since the last post was about lightning, I thought I would do this post about the Lighting. The P-38 Lightning to be precise. Here are some quick facts and then some pictures.

Manufacturer: Lockheed

Max. Speed: 712 km/h

Range: 1770 km

Armament: 1x 20mm cannon and 4x .50 cal. machine gun

Lightning

2009-08-12T09:32:00.005-04:00

Although they can be slightly scary at times, I find thunderstorms can be really exciting as well, especially the lightning. The other night I witnessed a huge storm which was hardly any thunder or rain just tons of lightning and I hadn't seen a big storm in a while so it was really cool. First there was lots of lightning in the clouds and then later there was some huge bolts that hit the ground and it would light the sky up like it was day! I didn't get any pictures but I thought I would search on the internet and see if I could find some cool pictures of lightning and put them on here.

This day in History - The Atomic Bomb

2009-08-06T23:00:00.006-04:00

Life's been pretty busy on the farm lately, thats why I don't post too often but I wanted to do something so I did another this day in history post. Hopefully all this history isn't boring you guys :)

64 years ago today the atomic bomb was used for the first time. It was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima from a B-29 bomber and flattened the city, killing over 140,000 people. The story starts like this. Towards the end of World War 2 scientists in the United States were working together on a project called the Manhattan Project. At the time it was very, very secret. They were working on the development of the atomic bomb. Very little was known about atomic energy at the time, let alone how to use it in a bomb, but they worked around the clock and were able to detonate a test bomb on May 7, 1945. This was to be the only test. More of these bombs were then built and sent to an airfield within reach of Japan. Specially modified bombers were also sent to this airfield. The atomic bomb called Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 and Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. Together these bombs killed over 200,000 people. Although there have been many tests these were the only times that atomic bombs were used in war.

Here are some pictures.

The mushroom cloud resulting from the detonation of Fat Man.

A B-29 Superfortress, the kind of bomber that was used to drop the atomic bombs.

The city of Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped on it.

The bomb Little Boy.

A quick note: whoever still reads my blog, can you please comment. I like to know who goes on my blog. Thanks.

This day in history - The Battle of Britain

2009-07-10T19:42:00.005-04:00

In September 1939 the troops of Nazi Germany invaded Poland. In April 1940 they invaded Denmark and Norway. In May of that year they invaded Belgium, Holland and France. Hitler's next target was Britain. But the English Channel stood in his way and Britain had a very powerful navy. But Hitler also had an advantage: his air force, known as the Luftwaffe. His plan was to bomb the British navy and the small British air force until his troops could cross the English Channel in safety. The Luftwaffe began by attacking convoys and radar stations. They then shifted their attacks to the airfields. But Hitler made two initial mistakes. One, he underestimated the British air force and two, he didn't realize the capabilities of the mysterious new British technology called Radar. Radar allowed the British to see when the German planes were coming long before they arrived which gave them time to scramble their fighters and attack the German planes before they bombed. But despite the attacks of the British fighters some bombers did manage to get through and many of the airfields and fighter factories were bombed. Soon the airfields were getting bombed faster than they could be repaired so the fighters had no place to take off from and the fighter factories were getting bombed faster than they could be repaired so the British fighters weren't being replaced as fast as they were getting shot down. A few more days like that and the British air force may have been destroyed and Britain may have eventually been conquered. But then Hitler made another mistake. The British had bombed Berlin in retaliation for several German bombers accidentally bombing London and Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack the British cities instead. This gave the British a chance to rebuild their factories, build more fighters and repair their airfields. The British soon began to shoot down bombers faster than the Germans could afford to lose them. Eventually the Germans had to stop their bombing attacks and ultimately Hitler had to give up his dreams of invading Britain. This series of battles in the air which lasted from July 10 to October 31 of 1940 was known as the Battle of Britain and it was the first battle to be fought completely in the air. Perhaps Prime Minister Churchill's words say it best:
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Here are some pictures of some of the planes used in the battle.

The Hienkel He 111, the main German bomber.

The Junkers Ju 88, another German bomber.

The Junkers Ju 87 Stukas, the infamous German dive bomber.

The Messerschmitt Me 109, the main German fighter.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, a German fighter which is lesser known but somewhat better than the Me 109.

The Supermarine Spitfire, the British fighter known for winning the Battle of Britain.

The Hawker Hurricane, a British fighter which was more numerous but less famous then the Spitfire.

This day in history - Liberation of Caen

2009-07-09T19:03:00.006-04:00

On June 6, 1944 thousands of Allied soldiers landed on the beaches of northern France. The Allied commanders had a line drawn on their map where they hoped the troops would be by nightfall of the first day. Inside that line was a town called Caen. In other words the commanders were hoping that Caen would be in Allied hands by midnight on June 6. It wasn't till this day July 9, over a month later, that Caen was taken by the Canadian and British soldiers. When the Allies first landed the German tanks in the area were held back but soon after they landed the German tanks and elite troops were placed between the Allies and Caen. First the Allies tried to go around and attack from the side and the back but that didn't work so eventually the Canadians and British troops attacked head on. By the time they actually took the town there was nothing left but piles of rubble because of the intense bombardment by artillery and by bombing from the air.

Here are some pictures:

The ruins of Caen after all the bombing and artillery fire.

A machine gun post in the wreckage.

A German tank.

An artillery gun.

A Canadian tank.

So who would know?

2009-07-08T23:23:00.004-04:00

On this day, July 8, in 1896 William Jennings Bryan delivered his "Cross of Gold" speech. At the time he was running to become the President of the United States. Although he lost, he was such a good speaker that he was known as the golden-tongued orator. William Bryan went on to run for President two more times, briefly served as the Secretary of State and was a lawyer in the Scopes trial. But he is known in our house for an event that happened much earlier in his life. He was in college and had been courting a young lady and had decided to ask her father if he could marry her. The following is an excerpt from the book "William Jennings Bryan" from the Sowers series, by Robert Allen.

When the big day arrived Bryan faced his future father-in-law in the parlor, armed with that which he knew best, the Proverbs.
"I have been reading," he told Mr. Baird, "where Solomon said in the book of Proverbs that 'whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord.' "
Mr. Baird who had suspected he would be approached for some time and shared his daughter's sense of humor, decided to reply in kind from the Scripture. "Yes, I believe Solomon did say that," he said , trying to look solemn. "But Paul suggests that while he that marrieth doeth well, he that marrieth not doeth better."
William hadn't seen Mr. Baird very often, and wasn't sure of what to think. He trid to come up with another Proverb that would answer Paul but instead remembered a bit of Bible history he thougth he could use to advantage. "Don't you think Solomon would be the better authority on the subject of marriage," he asked Mary's father. "After all Paul was never married, but Solomon had seven hundred wives."
Mr. Baird laughed heartily. "You have me there. If he could have seven hundred wives and still recommend the married state, he must have been the best authority. You have my permission and Mrs. Baird's as well. God bless you, my son."

Marianas Turkey Shoot

2009-06-20T19:42:00.002-04:00

Over the years the U.S.A. has won or been one of the winners of nearly every war she was in. Not only that she has often showed great superiority over her enemies. This was also displayed in the second world war when America and her allies completely conquered Germany and Japan. One of the greatest examples of American superiority in World War 2 was the Battle of the Philippine Sea, also known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot". This took place on June 18-20, 1944 making today the 65th anniversary of this battle. In a nutshell the battle went like this. The American forces kept taking island after island so the Japanese high command decided to counter-attack. The American high command had cracked the Japanese code so they knew the Japanese plans and lined up their carriers and battleships for the defense. The Japanese launched planes off of their carriers and nearby Guam to attack the American fleet. The Americans launched their fighters and shot down most of the attacking Japanese planes and then began to attack in return. By the end of the battle around 600 Japanese planes had been shot down and five ships had been sunk while only 120 American planes were shot down, most of who's crews were saved. This amazing victory was mostly because the American aircrews and naval crews were far more trained than the Japanese crews. The American planes were also of much better quality than the Japanese planes. The Grumman F6 was particularly good.
Ok now for some pictures.

The American fleet.

Fighter contrails.

The Grumman F6, the plane that helped the Americans win the battle.

An F6 landing on the USS Lexington.

A Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber.

Anti-aircraft fire covers the sky as a Japanese plane goes down in flames.

D-day

2009-06-06T08:46:00.003-04:00

Today is June 6. That makes today the 65th anniversary of D-day. On June 6, 1944, 156,000 men from the United States, Britain, Canada, France and Poland landed on the Normandy beaches, on the northern coast of Nazi-occupied France. Over 4,400 men died. But this was the beginning of the end for Hitler. From Normandy the Allies pushed through France, Beligum, Holland and eventually into the heart of Germany itself, which forced their surrender. Here are some pictures.

These are Canadian troops coming ashore on Juno Beach.

Sorry I was going to put more pictures on but the computer won't let me. Maybe I'll try again later.

His Masterpiece

2009-04-25T07:41:00.002-04:00

I got this poem from a friend of mind and I thought I would share it with you.

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colours, He worketh steadily,
Of times He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand,
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

(Anonymous)

Sunsets

2009-04-18T09:43:00.004-04:00

This is collection of pictures of sunsets from the past couple years. They're in no particular order.
Enjoy!

Ottawa!

2009-04-04T21:44:00.009-04:00

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I was planning to post before I went to Ottawa but I never got around to it. This post should make up for it though. The trip to Ottawa was awesome! On Monday we drove there and had supper with the Ottawa Valley homeschooling group. On Tuesday we went to the Royal Canadian Mint, the War Museum and in the afternoon we toured the Parliament buildings with Joe Preston's staff. He is our MP. On Wednesday we went to the National House of Prayer,the Supreme Court and the Nature Museum. On Thursday we went to the RCMP Musical Ride stables and the Museum of Civilization. On Friday we went to the museum of Science and technology and then we drove home. Ok now for the pictures.

The Canadain Shield, mainly trees interspersed with rocks and swamps.

I was very impressed by the architecture, especially of the Parliament buildings and the supreme court but also by the other buildings down town.

The Royal Canadian Mint, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.

The top of the entrance to the Mint.

The War Museum

There was some interesting models there.

The Parliament buildings, I took first one and Karen took the second one. The first one is more blurry because of the weather and because I took it out of the van.

The Supreme Court. This building is huge! Its true size is hard to capture on camera but hopefully the people give it some scale. That is me on the top of the front steps. Karen took the picture.

I have to go now but I'll post more pictures later.

Future Weapons

2009-03-06T19:36:00.003-05:00

Lately on youtube I've been watching a show called Future Weapons. It is narrated by Richard Machowicz, known as Mack, he is a former Navy Seal and martial arts instructor. He shows different weapons or weapons systems that have recently been invented or upgraded. Sniper rifles and assault rifles are usually featured but he also sometimes has planes and vehicles. Some of the guns that have been featured are the Barret M82 sniper, AA12 shotgun and the XM307 grenade launcher. Here are some pictures.

Mack:

MQ9 Predator UAV

XM307 Grenade launcher

F-22 Raptor

M107

Apache Longbow

Blue Mountain!

2009-02-26T21:36:00.008-05:00

Hey guys, I've decided to start posting again. I'll try to post often but life on the farm can get rather busy so no guarantees. I used to not know what to post but I'll try to branch out a little more into some of my other interests such as history and politics. Hopefully I don't bore you guys with those. I've had a pretty fun winter so far but one of the funnest parts was going to Blue M0untain on Monday! It was awesome! I'd never been there before, only to Snow Valley and I was pretty nervous there about skiing and Blue Mountain is even bigger than Snow Valley so I wasn't sure how it would go but it was loads of fun! Basically all it takes is a bit a confidence, a bit of guts and a bit of skill (I managed with just the first two). For those of you who know skiing terms, I didn't try any of the black diamonds but I went on most of the blue hills. When the day was over we went to the Devisser's and had a delicious supper. Overall it was an awesome day! I slept over at Devisser's that night and Benj and I had a lot of fun the next day too. Benj if you read this, thanks again for having me! Sorry I'm not a very good photographer so I don't have any pictures of Blue Mountain but thanks to my siblings I have a couple pictures of whats going on around the farm.

Pouring the footings for the addition that we are building on our barn.

The finished product, after the foundations were poured and the backfilling was done.

Winter fun!

Busy Life

2008-05-05T15:50:00.007-04:00

So life's been pretty hectic around here lately. Its seems like there's always work to be done and on top of that we're still doing school. But now kidding season is almost over and we're settling into a bit of a routine so hopefully things will start slowing down soon. I went to OCHEC last weekend for my first time. It was really cool. The speakers were good and there were a lot of good books too. Anyways here's some pictures of Spring.

Benji with his frog.

The farmer that is renting our field used this tractor to cultivate. It has 12 wheels and 500 horsepower!

Pictures

2008-03-23T13:40:00.007-04:00

So I've been trying a little photography lately. I'm not very good but hopefully with a little practice I'll be able to get some good ones.
Here are a couple I've taken.

Every year around this time Tundra Swans migrate past here on their way to the arctic. There is a wildlife place a little ways north of here where they stop over. Today lots went over our farm and I tried to take some pictures but I couldn't get very many good ones. This was the best one I got.

2008-03-03T18:49:00.008-05:00

So Yah I don't really have anything new and exciting to post about, except that I'm getting glasses. Dad and I went to the optometrist this morning and she said I was nearsighted so I need glasses. Then later today a goat had twin girls so that was pretty cool. We've had a nice ratio of girls to boys so far, 29 girls and only 15 boys. On a sadder note we had a goat the was having some problems so the vet came this morning and she had to put it down. :( Here are some more pics of skating.

Steve

Andrew

Here's a shot of the pond in the fall.

Although this picture doesn't quite capture it all the pond is quite big and so far the conditions have been pretty good for skating. I also got new skates and a new hockey stick this year so I've been having a lot of fun.

My First Post!

2008-02-28T10:05:00.001-05:00

So I have a blog! I'll try to post often but with school and helping outside it might not be as often as I like. Here are some pictures of what I've been doing lately.

Benji was thrilled with the baby goats:)

(Picture credit goes to Karen)