Honoring A Hometown Soldier

Wednesday
September 30, 2009

Before I get started with today’s blog I would like to begin by honoring a hometown soldier killed in Iraq. United States Army Specialist Michael Shane Cote, Jr. who was laid to rest on Tuesday September 29, 2009. He leaves behind a wife and a six month old daughter. It is because of men and women like Michael, who are willing to serve and defend our country and pay the ultimate price by laying down their life for each of us. As Americans, we are able to enjoy the freedoms we have. Additionally, I ask that you keep this soldier’s family in your prayers as Gina & I know the next few months will be the hardest.

SPC Michael Shane Cote, Jr.

October 5, 1988 - September 19, 2009

We both woke up this morning around eight o’clock. We didn’t have any plans for today other than enjoying each other. We sat outside enjoying the beautiful weather. It was a very nice 56 degrees. The weatherman did say that we better enjoy today since thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow. I finally decided to grab my computer and start going through all the pictures that I took and get the best ones loaded onto our online photo album. I was having a lot of difficulty with our internet connection and trying to upload these photos. I got that started then I started writing our blog entry. The pictures still had not uploaded so I told Gina I was going to the truck and see if that would give me a better connection. I then got into the truck and low and behold I had three bars and the connection was great.

Here I am Desperately Trying To Post the Blog

While I was in the truck online Gina received a phone call from our daughter, Ashley. They talked for over an hour catching up. She was a little upset that her hard drive crashed in her one year old laptop. Luckily, she had the extended warranty for a full replacement. Now it’s just the hassle of shipping the broken computer back and waiting on a new one to be shipped to her. Otherwise they are doing great. Both she and Parker are kicking butt in medical school. We are so proud of them.

I got the pictures uploaded and the blog entry posted by one o’clock. I would like to say that I was frustrated but I wasn’t. When you stay in the boondocks you have to expect some of today’s technologies will not work as well. With the difficulties we have experienced here in getting online we have decided to purchase an amplifier and external antenna for our air card.

After that we noticed that the wind had picked up and was blowing rather hard. The wind blew an easy 15 to 20 mph all day. We went inside and turned on the weather channel to see where the storm was currently located. It looked like it was located over western Oklahoma and Kansas. The weatherman advised us that we should expect severe weather tonight starting around ten o’clock. That means we will have to have everything packed up and put into its place before tonight.

In the mean time we decided to grill some pork country style ribs. While they were on the grill I started boiling some potatoes and eggs for a potato salad. To me barbeque just doesn’t taste the same without potato salad. We finally had all the food done and then we sat down to eat around six o’clock. The ribs tasted excellent and the potato salad was even better. We let our food digest for a few minutes until it was time to head back outside and start packing everything up in preparation for this severe weather tonight. We got done with all of that and I went back inside and Gina went out to the truck to see what was up on Facebook. I watched a little TV until Gina came back inside around nine o’clock. There was a Law & Order coming on so we sat up watching it. We both woke up at midnight still in our recliners. We both got up and went to bed. I guess watching and enjoying nature just wore us out. It was another great day here at Coon Creek Cove Campground. We’ll be getting on the road tomorrow heading for Hutchinson, Kansas.

Until tomorrow, Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.