Home again, Home again, Jigity Jig

Precisely two hours after my last blog post late Sunday night. I felt a rumbly in my tumbly, and spent the rest of the night getting to know the toilet better. I don't know for sure but I must have lost 10 pounds in  four hours. I don't mean to be too graphic or anything, but I think I set a new record for tossing cookies the most times in four hours: 13. 

Anna was the best, she made me a bed on the hotel bathroom floor with the extra pillows we had and I did not get up from this cozy spot until late the next morning. 

(sorry no pictures, you'll have to use your imagination).

Luckily, it was only food poisoning from the Bean Burrito I ate at taco bell, so nobody else shared my agony. After a day in bed, Tuesday morning rolled around and I felt much better. But the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium had not been checked off Joshua's "Road Trip To-Do List" so even though there was a 10 hour drive ahead of us we went for it.

Boy was it fun: huge Sharks, giant Jelly Fish, jumbo Sting Rays, a big Sea Turtle and a little tiny sea shell filled with deadly poison (not kidding). Best of all everything was designed for maximum kid enjoyment.

We pulled in the drive way at 12:30am early Wednesday morning, just 31 minutes later than planned. The extra 31  minutes may have been the Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo we enjoyed in Cincinnati. 

You know what? the it seems we have had some great chefs on our trip. The chef at Buca brought us out a free Calamari (out of the blue) so all the kids got to eat baby squids. Thanks to God for that nice touch: after looking at more sea creatures than you can shake a squid at we get to eat some too.

The Appalachian Mountains are Beautiful

We got up extra early this morning, partly because there was an 8AM mass at St. Paul's in Seneca SC that we wanted to get to. But also because we could not wait to get out of our ultra crappy hotel room. It was what you would call a "dive" and it was abysmal...we now have both a good and a bad experience from using Priceline.com.

Our plan for today was to get from Seneca, SC to Gatlinburg, TN which google maps said should be about a 2.5 hour drive...it took us 

10 hours.  

We stopped at practically every spot to pull over and with the GPS set to "shorte

st" instead of "fastest" route we also found some beautiful back roads through the mountains, including some dirt roads with steep drops and no barriers. 

We found breath-taking untouched land, an

d stumbled upon some of the most gorgeous building sites 

with waterfalls in their ba

ck yard and mountain v

iews. And some of the scenic communities that we passed through lead me to feel

 that I was in Switzerland 

(except that everyone talked with a souther

n drawl instead of French). 

The Smokey 

Mountain National Park Road was the last park of our journey today. I cannot imagine taking the trip on a foggy or snowy day because mountain motoring 

is so challenging on its own. Someday I would like to do this drive again in a Mini Cooper or Porsche with a stick 5 speed stick!! 

Anna was a

 real trooper through the whole trip

 as she was not feeling good yet hardly complained that I was taking sooooooo long.

We are now safe at a comfy hotel in Gatlinburg. The kids went straight for the pool when we got here. 

Maria has been pushing the limits of a 4 year old trying summer-salts under water, trying to touch the bottom

 of the pool (5 feet down) and swimming with great strength across the pool and back many times with no assistance. 

Samuel has no fear leaping into the pool, wanting to go completely underwate

r without plugging his nose, and only then can I lift him up. He is also very close to swimming on his own. 

Joshua has a desire to swim, and he is overcoming his fears bit by bit. He was venturing out on his own where the water came up over his mouth. 

We crossed strom thurmond dam onto south Carolina

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A bright RED dirt road near Harlem Georgia

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Okefenokee National Swamp

It sounds like Okeedokee, but Okefenokee, in the language of the Seminole Indian, means trembling/unsteady earth. You might guess that it refers to the swampy ground, and you'd be right. But I think it also had to do with how trembling scared they were walking though the swamp with all the alligators and poisonous snakes lurking about. Even the little 18" long alligators that the staff held in their hands have 45lbs of biting pressure and bacteria in their mouths that kills people more than the bite does.

Luckily we didn't see any wild snakes. It's not that I wouldn't have enjoyed seeing them, but in Michigan we are so comfortable with the fact that most snakes are safe that we drop our guard when we come across them. In Georgia there are 6 poisonous snakes, and they had some of them in cages. The Diamond-Back and Cane Break Rattle snakes were huge. And the herpetologist said that recently a Cotton Mouth was swimming in the water at the edge of the amphitheater. That story got better because she said a huge non-venomous King Snake darted out from under the stage and bit the Cotton Mouth behind the head...and proceeded to eat him over the next 40 minutes.

Anna was most excited to see the aligators, and see them se did. We saw a bunch of of them. They were very cool and they like to keep their distance from us. Our boat tour guide was a bit crazy though and took the boat right up to the edge where a pair of gators were sunning in the 67 degree weather. We were literally only 5 feet from them with nothing to keep them from joining us in the boat. That was exciting.
It was a bit unnerving to bring along three little morsels (I mean children) because the gators were free roaming and wild. There were actually signs placed on a tree near the handicap parking warning about the alligators. The first sign said that "alligators are dangerous," but because the creatures would come right up to the edge of the side walk (not when we were there thankfully) and hold so still people thought they were statues. Visitors, we were told, would even arguing with the park staff in disbelief. So the a second sign was added warning that the alligators are "not fake."

The boat tour guide spoke with a thick-as-molasses southern accent. He used words that I didn't even know existed. But man could he pilot that boat down the narrow waterways. He said his daddy drove boats in the swamp, and so did his granddaddy before that. He told us many a tale about his childhood, making the 30 minute boat ride last 50 minutes. What a character he was.
Joshua wanted to touch anything that he thought might be alive. The herpetologist brought out three big snakes to touch, a big King snake, a Corn snake, and a Grey Rat Snake? and Joshua wanted to get up real close. More than once she had to tell him to stop touching around the mouths because they were likely to bite him. There is a picture that I will post soon that looks like he was actually trying get his finger into the snake's mouth. This crazy kid is fearless when it comes to animals. The other two had no problems petting the snakes, but they didn't seem to have the same gusto that Josh was bursting with.

Joshua at the Georgia swamp entrance

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38 bucks buys a night near Okefenokee

Following the advice of Dave Campbell I tried Priceline's "name your price" for a hotel room in Waycross Georgia. We got one for cheap, the Hampton next door was $68 but we are staying at a southern chain of motels that has everything we need, and it is only $38 a night. 

Today we are heading out to the Okefenokee Swamp. Hopefully we will see some alligators, but not become their dinner. I am also thinking that a old fashioned steam train ride is also on the horizon, so we'll try to get some videos of that for Anthony Love.

We'll have more Peanut Butter sandwiches now...

...because of Winn Dixie

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An Armadillo as we left Canaveral National Beach

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Canaveral National Seashore is COVERED is seashells

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Joshua's favorite: Comb Jellyfish - with flashing lights

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Sea World was a Blast

There is no time today to share all the fun of the day, but here are a few pictures to hold you over.

Mary, Queen of the Universe

I like to think that this church was named before Universal Studios was built, but I am not too sure. The church was built 25 years ago. Does anybody know?

Anyway, the structure did not carry the gravitas of a 500 y

ear old church in Rome, but the stained glass bible stories were amazin

g. One could spend hours just looking at them, an

d there were lots of them telling the whole sto

ry of salvation from Genesis to the M

artyrs.

The side chapel had dark blue stained glass with stars that looked just like we were in space.

Crazy People Drive all night

...and God must like crazy people. We left Nashville at 11:00 am Sunday morning, and we planned to end our day in Valdosta Georgia, just north of the border of Florida. We also planned to stop at Cloudland Canyon along the way, a Georgian state park that is "off the beaten path" and very beautiful.

But the crazy part came in when we spent more time at Cloudland, just because of the sheer beauty of the whole place, and the friendliness of the few people who happened

 to be there with us (including the

 owners of this Porsche parked next to our van, which put me in a precarious  situation...which one to drive back down the mountain???). 

Anyway, we where still pretty far from Valdosta when the kids were begging for sleep, and I was not interested in

 driving another 6+hours on the day we were supposed to be arriving in Florida. So we stopped, got the kids as ready for bed as we could, brushed their teeth with plain water, filled the little kid potty (ewww) and got them in their PJ's (for Maria that is just undies and nothing else :), tipped the kids seats back as far as we could with all the luggage and food behind them, then daddy got some Mountain dew (ignoring the calories for the caffeine), and off we went. Anna was a real trooper. 

We only stopped

 for who hours along the w

ay from 2-4am, Anna slept on the floor under the kids feet while I tosse

d and turned in the front seats. I don't think we would request to sleep like that again under norm

al circumstances. But it worked this time.

I woke up refreshed (no joke) at 4am to the crickets chirping on my phone alarm. The only thing we weren't too sure about was checking into the hotel. We apprehensively called at 5am to ask what our options were. We are told 4pm was normal check in time, but w

e could check in as early as 7am. I was overjoyed.  

And by golly we arrived in Orlando at 6:30 after a 20 minute 

GPS mistake which took us to the wrong Lake Street in a little neighborhood that looked scary in the dark.   As we pulled in to the Embassy suites at 6:30 the kids started waking up, to them it was normal to wake up and be safely in Orlando where mom and dad told them they would. But we don't want to take for granted all the little details that God worked out for us along the way. Yes, God really blessed us, either in spite of our craziness or because of it.

The T-Rex display near Lego land in downtown Disney

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Our room has a kitchenette and a livingroom! Yay

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Arrived in Orlando@ 6:30 am; and they let us check in 10 hours early

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Driving through the Appalachians at Cumberland

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Sad to leave Nashville

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How many chefs care this much?

Yes, I think we found a very unique man. Someone who really cares about how others feel. He made us feel like family, or better, like royalty. The food he made at his restaurant Volare is unmatched: Anna’s Crab-stuffed Salmon, and my Chilean Sea Bass were so good they were almost spiritual. Every bite gave off a magical burst of flavors that kept our taste buds busy, and our souls praising God for such talent. Despite the busyness of the restaurant on a Saturday night, before during and after the meal he came out to just be with us, listen to the kids get to know us a little bit better, and just smile. I don’t mean to over do all this praise; but rarely has the world found a man with such visible a talent that also can focus on “people” as and balance those gifts of relationships as if people were what was really important to his world. Would you not agree that this is a rarely found balance? Our kids and we too love our new uncle Bobby Bell.
If you are ever in Nashville, stop by the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and see Bobby at the Volare Italian Resturant. (and don’t forget to ask for a free valet parking validation and save $25 on parking) :) 

Of the event at: www.rayclan.com/roadtrip

The Miracle Hotel Room

After the Mammoth Cave expedition this morning we did not have any plans set in stone. Our goal was to get two more hours south to Nashville see the and find a cheap place to sleep. On our drive down Anna searched for a hotel on our iphone but many of the known-brand hotels in Nashville were pricey. The King of all hotels in Nashville is the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and it runs $260-$300 per night with taxes, but it is the MOST beautiful place I have ever stayed at in my life. So anyway, about that miracle, after dinner at the aquarium restaurant we arrived at the hotel, but after a 10 minute walk from a nearby mall (because even parking is $20 at this place). We entered one of the three gorgeous glass-covered atriums just after dark. We wandered around a bit, watched the fountain/light show, stopped the kids from grabbing at the koi goldfish, and just enjoyed ourselves...we even commented that time spent without “somewhere to go next” is much more fun than having a rigid schedule. It was getting a bit late though and we needed to find a hotel room before the kids got too sleepy to walk. I told Anna that I would really like to spend the night here at the Opryland Hotel, and that we should pray and ask God to get us a cheap room. So we did. We held hands at the little koi pond with the gold fish listening and told God that we needed a place to stay tonight and that we would really like him to help us to stay here. As we started walking again I contemplated calling the reservation desk, I even pulled out my phone and looked at the number, but I got a sense that it was not the way God was going to bless us.
Minutes after, we walked past a familiar resturant, Volare, a fancy italian place: “$30 a plate” fancy, and we remembered that we ate there 3 years ago during a conference for my Dad’s company. Sam was just a baby, and when we asked for something soft for him to eat the Chef actually came out to our table and talked to us for few minutes. He told us about his family and his kids and his faith in God. He then brought us a bowl of blended up carrots decorated like it was for the president. He was the kind of guy whose manager you call to lavish praise upon, (which we did).

As we walked past the restaurant we recalled this event and tried to remember the Chef’s name: Freddy, maybe, something catchy that ended in a “y” for sure. He had made such an impact on us with his friendliness we thought it would be really cool to see him again and tell him how we still remembered how he took care of us. I approached the maitrde’ and asked if they had a very friendly chef whose name was Freddy or something like that. She recognized his description of “friendly” right away, which was no surprise, but his name is Bobby she told us. She quickly offered to go get him...and quickly hopped away before we could say that it was not important enough to pull him away from his work.

Out came the familiar face of Bobby Bell, the chef who cared about us like only a Christian ever could. He remembered us immediately, from 3 years and thousands of customers ago. In fact he told us that we had given him a Curious George book for his son the night he had given us our memory. He sat down on the stairs at the entrance to his restaurant, asked about the kids, what we were doing here, etc. We told him about our trip and how we plan to go to Sea World and back on a tight budget. “Good Luck,” he said. When he asked where we were staying and found out we were not staying at his hotel, and had not found one yet, he said, “wait here, I might be able to do something for you.” We waited for a few minutes, he came back and said to wait a few more. After waiting for about 10 minutes, he came out with a big smile on his face and told us normally he has to go though the HR department to get room discounts for family members only, but because it was late and at the last minute the HR office was closed so he thought he could go to the reservation desk with us and pull some strings. Right then and there he walked with us, about 20 minutes round trip, to the reservation desk and got us a room for $49.95.
You can only imagine our joy gratitude that God chose to bless us through Chef Bobby Bell, father of four, and six-year-old christian. So God Bless Bobby Bell and his family for generations.

When we got to our wonderful room with a balcony overlooking an indoor tropical paradise, we got on our knees and praised God. Ask and we shall receive. Give Him our trust he will not forsake us. For He delights in providing us with our needs. And I am sure that he delights even more when we are truly thankful to Him. It is now 12:53 AM and I am going to go to sleep. Who knows what adventures lie ahead.

Our miracle hotel room in Nashville, more on the story later

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We're eating at the Aquarium Restaurant in Nashville: 200,000 gallons

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Only 500 miles to find warm weather!

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Maria's stripey tights - at Mammoth caves

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Road Trip Links

By The Way
we are simultaniously posting some stories and pictures on our website www.rayclan.com/roadtrip

Also, we are posting pictures on a cool mapping site that can be found at Panoramio

Only 400 miles from home and it's 44 degrees already!!

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Fun with glowsticks in Kentucky

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Getting started early

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Elizabeth Rose at 23 weeks.

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A child's sense of time

One thing I love about kids is their sense of time and the phrases they use to describe time. 

Joshua, "Wow that took me ten whole years" (actual time was 2 months)

Samuel, "When I was bigger..."

Maria, very dramatically, "I'm dying, I haven't had water in 3 days!"

Joshua, "When I was a hundred I was bigger than daddy"

Maria, "a thousand years ago..."

Joshua, "a hundred weeks ago..."

Samuel, "When we went to that park tomorrow..." (meaning yesterday)

Maria, "remember when we went to that park a few miles ago..." (meaning a few days)

Mom, "your turn is in two minutes"

Samuel whining, "I can't wait, that's so long...."

Mom, "it's in 3 days"

Maria, "How much is 3 days? Is it 1,2,3?"

Maria," I'm starving, I haven't had any food in weeks!"

Funny Apple Spoof

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Samuel was complaining the other day that he didn't feel so good. He Then said, "My tummy is so fat I am going to have a baby soon."

Happy New Year from the Rays

Enjoy a look back at 2008 with us...



...and something a bit more fast paced and loud:

Nations's Wealthy Cruelly Deprived of the True Meaning of Christmas

I know this is meant to be humorous (it is from a satirical news website), but there is a little bit of truth buried in all this sarcasm. Let's see if you can find it.


Report: Nation's Wealthy Cruelly Deprived Of True Meaning Of Christmas

How Many Days Until Christmas?

Maria does not like wearing a coat, well none of our kids like clothes very much, but being forced to wear a coat is the ultimate tragedy. So I'll give you the inside scoop one of our kids Christmas presents: Mrs. Campbell made them hooded fleece capes (shhhh, don't spoil the surprise). Up until today we have allowed the kids to carry their coats with them in case "the car breaks down" and they are stranded for a long period in the cold of winter. But today was bitter cold and the wind-chill brought the temp down towards -20F. Maria was sobbing on our way to church that she didn't want to wear a coat. After she calmed down I told her that one of her presents would allow her to stay warm without wearing a coat. She seemed intrigued, and this 4 year-old's Christmas anticipation was raised to a higher grade level. It was 12-noon when she started asking questions to Anna about how many times she had to sleep before Christmas would be here. After going through the pattern of "go to sleep, wake up, go to sleep again, wake up...." she said in her sleepiest voice, "Mom, I am tired, I want to go to sleep."

Nutcracker

We were introducing the nutcracker story to the kids and I asked them if they knew what a nutcracker is.
Maria quickly and confidently replied: a chipmunk.

Nonsense

Samuel has been reprimanded frequently of late for being silly at inappropriate times and during these events has picked up a new phrase...

As I was tickling him, in desperation he cried out, "Mom, you need to stop all this nonsense!!"

Funny Exchange

Papa " I'm going to give a talk to cloistered nuns today. That means they stay in a building and I have to talk them through a screen."
Joshua "Why?"
Papa "Well, they pray all day."
Joshua "that they can get out?"

(I guess the cloistered life isn't very appealing to Joshua who's top two fears are being locked in a room and getting trapped in an elevator.)

Christmas Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's a Girl!

The day before Thanksgiving we were very blessed to find out we have a beautiful baby girl! Jesse had claimed a girl from the beginning. Joshua was glad our family would be even. Maria talked all day about her baby sister who she can play "girl" stuff with.  She is also begging us to name her Rose, and although we don't have a name picked I'm not sure Rose Ray will make the cut. Samuel wanted a boy but seems okay with the fact that she is a girl. I'm just so thankful to have a healthy baby. 

The kids were with us for the ultrasound and after a few moments of looking at the screen Joshua exclaimed with delight "I see the baby and she's moving!"

Funny

Another potty story

Sammy had been calling to be wiped and when I arrived he said pleadingly "mom, you have to wipe me". I replied "Oh, I have too?" "Yes." "But what if I don't?" "Then you're a bad guy, bad guys don't wipe kids."

Pesky ants are so darn handy at cleaning up

Motherhood

Maria is just so cute. I was squeezing her and told her that I was going to keep her from growing because we want her to stay small. She told me she wanted keep growing. After a few seconds she asked if she would have any more birthdays.
Me: "No more birthdays."
Maria: "But I have to have more birthdays, because I want to be pregnant. I want to have a baby in my tummy like mommy."

We are going to need to be careful, because at this point in my little girl's life her goal is to be pregnant ;)

Just like Papa

I was reading a book about Jesus and the saints to the kids and Joshua got this bright look in his eye and told me "I know what I will do, (now nearly shaking with excitment), I'll read a book all about Jesus.

With just a short pause for a thought he then said, (in his most excited voice), "then I'll write a book all about Jesus."

I guess having a passionate and prolific writer for a a grandpa has rubbed off on this little boy.

Nobody's home

Samuel locked the door to the bathroom yesterday before he sat down on the potty. When he was finished doing his dooty he called to us in normal fashion: "I'M DONE!" When I found the door locked I jokingly knocked and called to him, he called back: "NOBODY"S HOME."
Well at this point I started looking for one of those pin-like keys that you stick in the indoor locks to open them up because I knew Sam was not going to hop off the toilet and unlock the door for me. It had become a game of I'm smarter than daddy; which is funny because he probably would have sat there waiting to be wiped for hours and that's not too smart. I couldn't find a key so I pulled out a credit card and used that to pop the latch. As I opened the door he had a surprised look as if I was spoiling all the fun. I guess even waiting on the potty is fun for a 3 year old if your dad if it is predicated in tricking your dad.

You should see the other guy

Yesterday at a baptism party Maria was playing with an adult, who will remain nameless, and got swung into a coffee table. Ouch! She is feeling just fine and has a great attitude about her big ol' shiner.

Obama's Pick for Chief of Staff Tops Recipients of Wall Street Money

If you weren't scared enough already...let's take a look at what Jeff Schibler on AmericasRight revealed about the soon to be White House chief of staff.

We learned on Friday from ABC News that Rahm Emanuel sat on the board of directors of the now infamous Freddie Mac during the beginnings of the scandal, and was complicit in the board's failure to recognize "red flags" in accounting and lending practices, and that he accepted more than $50,000 in contributions from the organization. Now, we're learning that Emanuel was, just this year, the top House recipient of contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry, and that he has received more money from individuals and political action committees in the securities and investment business than from any other industry since being elected to Congress in 2002 after a previous job as an investment banker. Barack Hussein Obama tapping this gentleman to assist him in fixing the American economy is kind of like asking Rosie O'Donnell to manage a Weight Watchers franchise.

(FROM: OpenSecrets and AmericasRight)

Gun sales up

Allegedly gun sales are up in this country. According to this video on msnbc.com it is because the economy is souring and people are planning on needing to defend themselves.

hmmmm. Do you think this is the main reason, or is it more likely that intelligent people worry that B. Hussein Obama may try to take away our right to buy/bear arms?? If I were to buy another gun to cling to it would have much more to do the president elect's liberal policies than anything else.

Obama was being misleading when he denied that his handwriting had been on a document endorsing a state ban on the sale and possession of handguns in Illinois. Obama responded, "No, my writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire. As I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns."

Actually, Obama's writing was on the 1996 document, which was filed when Obama was running for the Illinois state Senate. A Chicago nonprofit, Independent Voters of Illinois, had this question, and Obama took hard line:

35. Do you support state legislation to:
a. ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns? Yes.
b. ban assault weapons? Yes.
c. mandatory waiting periods and background checks? Yes.

Obama's campaign said, "Sen. Obama didn't fill out these state Senate questionnaires--a staffer did--and there are several answers that didn't reflect his views then or now. He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire, but some answers didn't reflect his views."

http://www.ontheissues.org/domestic/Barack_Obama_Gun_Control.htm

A little political humor to cheer you up

This is a surveillance video from the yard of a North Carolina electrical engineer who, sick and tired of having his McCain/Palin yard signs stolen and replaced with Obama/Biden signs, decided to hook the metal frame into his invisible dog fence. While it's sad that the person caught in the act was only a nine-year-old boy, he invariably learned a lesson he wasn't going to learn elsewhere.
(discovered on www.americasright.com

I laughed out loud at this mostly because it reminded me of my old friend Frank Galdoni who died of cancer a few years ago: after many diplomatic attempts failed, he put an electrified screen over a bush in his yard that his neighbors dog always did his business on.

America: "We want Barabas"

We were given a choice for a man who sacrificed so much of himself for his country, a man who can not even lift up his arms because they were broken so many times by our enemies. But in our greed, and desire for the government to "help" contribute to our grocery budget, we have ignored our founders' morals and our christial roots. Well our greatest fears have come true, our country has voted in a velvet-tounged pro-murdered who promised the largest abortion provider in the country that his first act as president would be to make it easier to kill babies in the womb (and even out of the womb if they are born alive during an abortion).

We were given a monumental choice and we chose poorly, now we shall suffer the consequenses that we deserve.

This may be the last post you see from me as we swing towards socialism this blog will most certainly be shut off by the censors.

Mixed results from initiatives in states all over the country now further promote embryonic destruction, and abortion. On a good note, voters in California saw it in their hearts to protect some mothers and their unborn from cruel treatment, a proposal passed there to "outlaw the confinement of pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal and egg-laying hens in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely."

silly boys

Joshua asked a question about the origin of the name duct tape: "Why do we call it 'duck tape'? Is it because it feels like a duck is biting you when you peel it off your skin?"

Samuel emerged from the pantry after being inside for a few minutes in suspicious silence, his face was covered in what appeared to be chocolate.
Before revealing what we saw on his face we asked what he had eaten.
We got a few sheepish "I don't know"s before we finally told him to point to what he ate.
He pointed at the powdered ovaltine.
Anna: "Did you eat the chocolate ovaltine Sam?"
Sam: "No it's coffee."

Twas The Night of Election

'Twas the night of elections*
And all through the town*
Tempers were flaring*
Emotions all up and down!*

I, in my bathrobe*
With a cat in my lap*
Had cut off the TV*
Tired of political crap.*

When all of a sudden*
There arose such a noise*
I peered out of my window*
Saw Obama and his boys*

They had come for my wallet*
They wanted my pay*
To give to the others*
Who had not worked a day!*

He snatched up my money*
And quick as a wink*
Jumped back on his bandwagon*
As I gagged from the stink*

He then rallied his henchmen*
Who were pulling his cart*
I could tell they were out*
To tear my country apart!*

'On Fannie, on Freddie, *
On Biden and Ayers!*
On Acorn, On Pelosi'*
He screamed at the pairs!*

They took off for his cause*
And as he flew out of sight*
I heard him laugh at the nation*
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!*

So I leave you to think*
On this one final note-*
IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM*
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!*

Keep Coming Down

What cost us over $70 to fill our minivan's gas tank only two months ago not only cost $35. I don't know what the root cause of this price drop is, but I am ok with it.