Melinda Slade

I have been so busy fixing up houses for others that it has made me realize that I need to do some home improvements of my own.  The first thing I need to do is redo my bathroom.  I hate it.  It has one of those old huge heavy bath tubs in it and not one that has the feet on it.  I would love it if it did but it doesn’t.  I think what I want in there is a rounded shower.  That will give me more room in my small bathroom so I can add some shelves in there for towels and what ever else.

Then I need a couple of new ceiling fans and I really need to do something with my kitchen.  Maybe new cabinets and appliances.  I don’ t know, I’m going to have to look  around and see what I really want to do.  I just know I need a change.  Maybe I need to find myself a new house and then sell this one to another military family.  Something to think about anyway.

Well the first family I helped into a new home for them have invited me over for dinner.  It’s that nice of them.  They said they just wanted to thank me again for all I have done to help the out.  What they don’t realize is how much helping them has helped me.  I feel very blessed to be in the position I have found myself in that allows me to help others.

I was brought up being taught that you give back what is given to you and like I told you, I was adopted and given a good chance at a good life and that’s what I’m doing, giving them another chance at a good life.  I’m looking forward to it but really hope they don’ t go to much trouble just on my account.  They are a great family and I feel honored to know them.

Today is my sisters birthday.  I’m not going to tell you how old she is because I don’t think she would want me to do that but I will tell you what an amazing woman she is.  She has raised sons that are very loving and giving of themselves selfishly.  All I have to do is tell them I need a little help with something, and they fix it, no questions asked and ask for nothing in return either.  Isn’t that amazing.  Well they definitely take after their mother.  She too gives very unselfishly too.  In fact, if it wasn’t for her, I don’t know where I would be today.  She’s the rock I lean on when the world closes in on me.  It’s not just for me either, she’s there for just about anyone in need.  Absolutely amazing woman!!!!!

I guess I’m weird but I always have great days on Friday the 13th.  They are usually lucky days or at least happy days for me.  I know that the number 13 is supposed to be bad luck because of there being 13 people at the last supper but if you ask me, that was lucky for them in all reality because they were having the last supper with Jesus Christ.  I don’t know, I’m not much of a superstitious person anyway.  I believe that we can take a perfectly good day and  make it an awful day just by the way you choose to look at it.

Let’s say it’s raining and you walk out the door and step in a mud puddle with your new boots on, then when you get in your car, you get mud in it, you start to pull out and you run over the neighbors dog, then you’ve had a bad day.  But if you made sure to put waterproofing on your boots then the mud can be wiped off and you got mud in your car but thank goodness it’s on the floor mats and the dog wasn’t hurt so maybe now the stupid little thing will stay out of your yard so if you look at it that way then you’ve had a good day.  See what I’m saying?

Fishermen are some of the most resilient of all sportsman there is.  They’ll cut a hole in the ice just to be able to drown a few worms.  Well these guys take the cake if you ask me.  Just read this:

At least one fisherman has died and 134 others were rescued on Lake Erie off the shores of Ohio after an eight mile wide piece of ice broke off the frozen lake’s ice shelf and began to drift. The United States Coast Guard says the unidentified man who died fell into the water while trying to find a way off the ice. Rescuers were able to get him out of the water, but he died while being flown to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The Coast Guard also said that the fishermen were warned that the ice could break, but many didn’t believe there was any danger. “We were in no danger. We knew there was enough ice out there,” said Swanton, Ohio resident Norb Pilaczynski, one of those rescued from the ice. Before heading onto the already broken ice, they made a makeshift bridge from wooden pallets to get to and from the shore, but the ice shifted and the bridge was destroyed. It left all 135 people stranded more than 1,000 yards from the shoreline.

The ice in most parts of the lake can be up to two feet thick, but on Saturday temperatures rose above freezing, with winds of over 35 miles per hour. The combination of both high winds and temperatures, broke the thick ice into dozens of large pieces.

Ottawa County sheriff Bob Bratton called those who avoided the warnings “idiotic”. “What happened here today was just idiotic. I don’t know how else to put it,” stated Bratton. The rescue operation took nearly five hours to complete. Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in the U.S., but the smallest by volume, and the tenth largest fresh water lake in the world.

Well it seems that I’m not the only one that thinks these guys were idiots.  Even the Ottawa County sheriff thought so too.  It’s a shame that someone had to lose their life in the whole ordeal.  I just hope that all of these idiots learned something important that day.  First of all, read the warning signs, ya know.