Back from New Mexico

Unfortunatly, my vacation is clouded by the recent deaths of 4 Scout Leaders in VA. They were from Alaska and were electricuted by accident. All of this, on the heels of the wonderous ACLU trying to sue the Pentagon for sponsoring this event because, "Boy Scouts of America swear a duty to God (never mind they ignore the second part) and country." Maybe we should just get rid of 1/2 the military who feel the same way? The ACLU will be the undoing of us all. I'd hate to be in their shoes at the end of all things, when they stand ignorantly before the One Holy God that will display their lives for all to see. Then will their pompous little attitudes waiver? Will their knees shake and their strength leave them? Will they beg for mercy and plead ignorance for their actions? Yes, I am most certain they will. Unfortunatly, it will be too late and then they will experience the punishment due them. Truly frightening.

Yes, I advocate Boy Scouts of America or from here on out BSA. My son is 2 years away from being an Eagle. The highest honor a scout can recieve. My youngest son is a Cub Scout. He lives for the day he achieves that honor as well. My girls are looking forward to when they turn 14 so that they can be Venture Scouts; a co-ed program for boys and girls. Sure we have Boys and Girls Clubs of America in our area, but I do not think they instill the moral obligation to serve God and their country the way BSA does. I also think that BSA, although it is not without a few bad apples, also stands strong in the face of harder times. In order to fully understand what BSA is all about, you really need to read about the founder and what the mission and vision of BSA is. Here is a link. http://www.scouting.org

ok, off of that for the time being. My trip was great! We stayed overnight in Oklahoma City, went on thru a bit of Northern Texas. (Did you know, on some of the highways, if someone is wanting to get around you that YOU are supposed to drive off on the shoulder and let them pass? Yup, learned some new Texas driving ettiquette!) Then we stayed in Clayton, New Mexico, where Black Jack the outlaw, was hung. I guess that is their claim to fame. Neat little town. Then we drove on to Raton, then to Cimarron and finally the Philmont Scout Ranch. I LOVE NEW MEXICO! It's dry and the nights are cool and it reminds me of the badlands of South Dakota. *sigh* I felt so at home there and was melancholy when we drove back across the Texas/ New Mexico line on the way home.

PSR is a fascinating place and constantly humming with activity. Here is a cool link for that too. http://www.scouting.org/philmont/main.shtml

Hubby had to sit in class all week while we got to play. Ok, so he had Wednesday off. But, I did the C.O.P.E course. It's a personal challenge program where you insanely climb 35 foot poles and zip-line off, etc. I loved it! I even earned a patch for it. I went on a beautiful 5 mile hike to Lover's Leap, I will post pics when I get them back. I also went trail riding on horseback. A rattlesnake slithered past about 2 feet from my horse. He rattled and was poised to strike, but our horses just ambled out of the way and acted like nothing was different. Some of the women were freakin' out but it didn't bother me. (SDakota has a lot of them!) Anyway, it was really fun. I also did some Handicrafts up at there facility. The kids had a blast too. They made lots of friends, as did my husband and myself. Looks like we have been invited to Cape Cod for visit. Don't think we won't take them up on it. The first time they said something I took it as politeness, the second time I stopped them and said, "If you invite us again, we'll take you seriously. We are from the South you know?" They laughed and said they were serious. LOL

The only thing I do complain about is that I put on weight while there! My level of activity was very good, BUT they feed you high carb, high calorie, high fat food. They do that (especially for the kids) because the hikes and trails are tough. So they feed everyone like that all week! Ack! So guess who has to work out and lose weight AGAIN!? I have heard that the boys who go on the Mountain Treks (I think it is an 80 mile climb?) consume over 4,000 a day and will burn it off easily by dinnertime. I saw a group of boys and girls come off of one of those. They looked tired, smelled and looked dirty, but looked plenty healthy. There are bears up in the mountains so they can't have "smellable items" that would attract the bears. Such as, bandaids (bears like the glue!?), deodorant, film? etc. Weird, but I trust these people, they know their business.

I should have pictures Friday. I put them on CD only so I could pick and choose and email them. Besides, to have prints was going to cost me $5.97 each and the CD only was $2.97! I had 10 rolls of film, you do the math. LOL

I hope everyone has had a good week while I was gone and I will write more tomorrow, sooner if something comes up.

katcha