Fast Forward from Ralph 8

Saying for the day: Freedom requires sacrifice.

I have a good friend named Ralph who forwards me items of interest. Some of these need to be shared with a wider audience so every Wednesday I give you " Forward from Ralph".Here is today's forward.

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag! had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops

When you receive this, please stop for a moment and Say a prayer for our servicemen.

@@@@ News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my garage . Where the trains still run, boys talk to rocks, and basketball is king.-The quarterfinal game is now history. It will go down in the record books as one of the strangest quarterfinal games ever. Here the country bumpkin New Potatoes met the unbeaten Wizards with their star Brian Ozmire , “The Boy who can’t miss”. Brian is in the record books as having scored more points than any other player in the history of basketball in Michigan. It was rumored that he could close his eyes, shoot from mid court , and the ball would go in. He hadn’t missed a free throw in the entire year. The New Potatoes had no stars, no super players. The wizards expected an easy win. The New Potatoes scored first . Then at midcourt Brian stopped and fired, There was no reason to do it. He could have worked for a better shot but he wanted to show these country kids what real shooting was like. The ball arched toward the basket and then suddenly fell just short. He missed. He missed. That was the cry from the crowd, on both sides. The New Potatoes rebounded , did a fast break and scored. They were four points ahead. Down the court they went. The all went to Brian, his famous spiral shot. One that seemed to be going away from the basket but then turned and went in. But this time it didn’t turn but went into the crowd. The place was in an uproar . He had missed again. The perfect wasn’t perfect. The New Potatoes worked the ball down, and again they scored. Now they were six points ahead. So it went for the rest of the quarter. Brian doing all the shooting for the Wizards. Brian missing shot after shot. The quarter ended with the New Potatoes ahead by fifteen points. In the next quarter Brian settled down and began to hit but the New Potatoes matched him basket for basket. The half ended with the New Potatoes fifteen points ahead.
Then came the weirdest quarter of all. The one that will stand in the record books forever. In the entire quarter neither team scored. It was as if there was a lid on the basket. People fumbled on both teams . They said somebody pulled the ball from their hands but there was nobody there. Players stumbled. They said they were tripped but there was nobody there to trip them. It was the most chaotic game one could imagine with the ball constantly changing hands. When somebody did get a shot off it either fell far short or hit the rim and bounced in the wrong direction. So at the end of the third quarter the New Potatoes were still fifteen points ahead.
In the last quarter things were back to normal. Brian would score and the New Potatoes would score. When the final horn sounded the New Potatoes were ten points ahead . They were in the semifinals. They had defeated the Wizards and Brian.
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Today's link-My Crazy Life-In Pictures- A Dorito's contest and a suggestion. Please leave a highly flavored Dr. John in the comment.
It was a very good day today. My sister came this morning and got to see thew house. It was good to see her.I watyched my soaps and started on another book. At 5:30 we went to church. It had a very nice soup supper and it was followed by a good service afterward.the only problem is I didn't get to visit manyt of my links. Now I will have a breathing treatment.
GBYA