We Gather to Give Thanks For….
Thanksgiving Day is upon us. Most of us gather with family, stuff ourselves, and sack out in front of the TV to watch football or whatever. Some of us do other things, like wash dishes and deal with leftovers, especially the excessive amount of gravy that will come in handy through the weekend. We have a place to go to, or maybe we have the place people come to, gathering for this one day when we’re supposed to be thankful for something.
I know when the birds show up for their portion, they wait patiently until I put out the bird food and then I go into my bird observatory with a camera at the ready. They know I’m there. I’m just glad they show up.
D-Day stuff
Me: I’m grateful to live in a country where i’m free to come and go as I please, without having to produce identity papers or a voter ID card like they do in Venezuela, just to be allowed to buy food, because someone beat the crap out of some Very Bad Guys a year or so before I was born.
I’m grateful that I can go to a store and pick up good food at a reasonable price and can count on finding more the next time I go, without stiffing myself financially.
I’m thankful that I can be out at sunset to get shots of incoming migrating geese without having to explain myself.
There are people who want to take these things away from us. Freedom is a threat to them. They are afraid of a free people like us.
Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
I never want to lose it.
Here’s your place to tell us what you’re grateful for. Like someone used to say to us, “Knock yourselves out.”
Category: Open thread
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m thankful that Hillary remains inconsequential in America and that she may always remain irrelevant to civilized society.
Hear! Hear!
Three cheers!
^What PH said^
Family, friends, country, God… I got it good.
And don’t forget, this is the weekend we set the bathroom scales back ten pounds!
This!!!
I, for one, am grateful for this forum.
Same here, both for dealing with stolen valor creeps as well as the general sense of comradery.
I learn new and interesting things here nearly every week.
“I, for one, am grateful for this forum.”
Roger that. One of my first visits each day. One of the more entertaining aspects of this site is when sock puppets come from the woodwork to defend the ‘falsely accuser’ poser. I remember one case where two, maybe three sock puppets came out and it was ON for hours. Damn, that was great fun.
Also, as above, really enjoy give and take with fellow vets. Reminds me of how much I enjoyed the Navy and particularly my job in the Navy. I do wish, though, that the Army types would speak Navy or at least English. Those abbreviations drive me nuts.
Go Navy … Beat Army
Says the folks who think COMCINCPAC is normal speech?
Did you really just call him a NINCOMPAC? 😉
LOL right on chief!
What everyone has said, plus, I’m grateful for the arrival of our great grandson this past month. And that my youngest son survived being t-boned by a semi driver at an intersection a month and a half ago. Looking at his car, it’s hard to believe that anyone survived the collision. But, he got to see his grandson born, and he’s slowly making a recovery.
My wife’s dad, Major, Retired Russ B G Darden passed today.
He was a combat Talon driver in the USAF special forces sqdns…including be present at Desert One I believe.
Thankful that such men have lived among us!
Condolences and prayers for your father in law and the family. Losing anyone is hard enough but then having to associate the loss with a prominent holiday is even tougher.
Thoughts and prayers out to you and your family, Ret_25X.
Yes, the association of a loss with a holiday can hurt, but it can also become something good – remembering the relationship with fondness and gratitude. That doesn’t typically happen over night, but it can occur with time. It did for me with my father.
It is ALWAYS hard to lose a parent or an in law….My prayer is always that they had accepted Jesus and we will all meet again in paradise!
My condolences to your family, my friend.
sigh…should say “present, I believe”
I’m thankful that we have a real President in the White House. After eight years of that damn commie Obummer, seeing a REAL AMERICAN in the White House is a real breath of fresh air.
It seems the older I get, the longer my thankful list grows. It now includes, in addition to the usual big ones like friends & loved ones, such things as knees that still work (more or less). Novocaine and modern dentistry is another one.
I would like to think it’s because as I “mature” I become more observant, but in reality I think it is like an old shoe, where when the shoe heel wears down the nails start sticking into your heels.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. \\ //,
Haha! Novocaine? When I finally capitulated to fear of modern dentistry I spent the longest two and a half hours of my life getting them all pulled. Now, I have better teeth than Robert Redford had, in his prime. No other pain meds, just Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen.
I am thankful for analgesics, Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatories and beer. Now, time to deal with the rotator cuff situation.
We live a great country, in a great era and now have the obligation to keep it that way.
Good luck with you teeth!
I’m thankful for Flexeral, Tramadol, and Vitamin T (Tordol).
Daily flexeral and occasional tramadol allow me to live an normal life–well, as normal as I’ll ever be–most of the time.
Vitamin T gets me through those really tough weeks where the legs go numb and I’m reduced to leaning on a cane.
As for dentistry, I was “kissed” by 50 cal that swung loose on an M113 after the retaining pin sheered off….took 4 years to “repair” the damage. I thought the dentists were pretty good (for Army dentists), but I think I have more gold than enamel now…LOL
A friend of mine had all his teeth pulled. He said it was the best thing he ever did.
Having all my teeth pulled was definitely the best thing I did! I think anyone about to do that needs to get their mind straight…thinking that it will not only be fine, it will be BETTER than the original..it was for me! Mostly a mental preparation I think! imo
I’m thankful for; Venison, CDN beer, single-malt Scotch, balanced Indica strains and young ladies who love anal.
Amen
I have a huge gratitude list, so long that I would bore the hell out of everyone and you would all get together and vote me off the island…
The one thing that I am the most grateful for besides my 3 beautiful, intelligent and talented daughters are my Guardian Angels.
This poor guy, gal or team has worked their butts off keeping me out of the morgue.
I have had so many close calls over my lengthy lifespan that my survival can only be attributed to either just plain dumb luck, or the intervention of a power greater than myself and the sum of the entire human race…
I read the book, “With the Old Breed” on Peleliu and Okinawa from E.B. Sledge and can understand the words he heard that he attributed to “God” or another higher power that told him he would survive the war, and he did. That is why he firmly believed that God wanted him to write the book that was turned into the the HBO Miniseries, “The Pacific”.
I am very grateful for the “Band of Brothers” that I have been associated with in all the places I have been.
I’m thankful for MRS D and our son, who have gotten me through an adventurous couple of years of health and employment issues. We’re not done yet, but the roller coaster has been replaced with fairly smooth road. And I’m grateful for all The lionesses and dickweeds here, no better group of miscreants ever existed. Raising a glass to you all! I’ll even toast Commissar and Colt Bulot, the finest examples of what not to do in the history of my beloved Army.
I’m trying to be grateful that Gavin Newsom will be my next governor. I’m grateful that the One True Living God will show through all that His providence will show through in this apparent disaster as He does through the obviously wonderful things He has given me, like my wife, my church and (most of) my Shipmates.
Happy holidays,
DOUGout
There is always hope, Doug. Any Twosome Newsom might be hit by a bus driven by someone’s LGBTQWERTY wife or husband. Karma can be a harsh mistress.
In addition to having been born in this wonderful Country and being able to some to this site, I’m grateful for having been able to find a motel room within a couple of miles of my temporary work site after evacuating from the Camp Fire. Also grateful for having been able to return home after only ten days. Too many thousands lost their homes. I only suffered an inconvenience.