OMG, I Freaking Did It Again

Lost ANOTHER blog entry due to owner stupidity, yet again. The Squarespace site locked up on me, so I copied my as yet unposted blog entry. Then, not thinking, I quickly cut and pasted a link, THEN hit escape to get out of the locked situation. The result? My last copy was a link, not my text. Rrrrrrrrr.....

I'll quickly recreate it. The original title was: AMERICAN FLAG - BEST GIFT EVER. The text was a slightly longer version of this:

A few months ago I reconnected with a friend from high school via Facebook. He and his wife now live in Alaska (the lengths people will go to to escape Ohio) and he is stationed through the Airforce in Joint Base Balad in Iraq. Discovering that he and wife are cat lovers, I sent them a signed copy of one of my books. In return, my friend asked for my address to send me a small gift. That was weeks ago, but on Wednesday a package was waiting for me when I got home. Inside was a note from my friend and a boxed American Flag. "How sweet," I thought. I lifted the flag up and discovered a certificate at the bottom of the box that reads, in part:

This is to certify this American Flag was flown over the skies of Iraq on a combat mission in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Flown in an F-16CG, Aircraft #88-0528, Mission #I-6045 on the 16th of February, 2009.

It's signed by a Captain in the USAF.

How awesome is that? I love this gift! The best gifts are the ones you didn't even know you wanted until someone gave them to you. I'm looking forward to buying a flag holder, flying the flag, and taking a picture of it waving in front of our house to send to my friend. 

Reconnecting with a friend and a gift with such thought and meaning behind it that it left me breathless. Today is a good day.

Still Pouting

Still nursing a grudge about losing yesterday's post. No blog today. However, for those looking for good writing and inspiration, strongly recommend you check out my friend Chris' blog, Lessons From the Cockpit. Unlike me, Chris doesn't hold grudges. A friend and I have a standing joke that, when in a bad situation, we ask ourselves, WWCLD? (What would Chris Laney do?)

Cheers,

Dena

Sob-whimper-moan.

Just spent twenty minutes writing this hysterically funny (trust me - so funny) blog entry and then hit the wrong button and DELETED the whole thing. That just deflated me for the evening. No more funny. I think I'll go write bad poetry about highway deaths and the meaninglessness of life.

$^#$%#!!!!!

Dena

The Cleansing Flight of Bees

Did you know in the winter that bees venture outside the hive to take a "cleansing flight" where they release bee poo all over fresh fallen snow? I didn't either.  But now that I know, I'm thinking of having some sort of bumper sticker made.

I'm all about bees these days. A character in the middle-grade novel I'm working on is a 11-year-old girl who keeps bees. It didn't long for me to realize I know little to nothing about bees other than, "they're yellow-ish" and "they sting." I ordered some books about bees from Amazon and am fascinated by what I'm finding. A few quick facts:

• A queen bee can lay 2000 eggs a day
• Even if fed and given shelter, a bee will die if isolated. 
• You can tell a bee's age by the condition of the wings
• If a bee can't be an asset to the colony she is expected to kill herself or be kicked out / killed by other bees.

I have to admit that while reading about bees I'm thinking, "Hm. Wonder if we should keep bees?" The fact is though, I'm terrified of them. I've never been stung and have mentally worked that possibility into being along the same catacylsmic line of "rattlesnake bite" or "thermo-nuclear war." 

I'm off to read more now. There's a whole world of cleansing flight information just waiting to be discovered.