One of Washington's premier landmarks is the worlds largest statue.The huge statue looms alongside the Arlington National Cemetery.The flag raising image captured by Rosenthal in 1/400 of a second, made Rosenthal famous.It brought sculptor De Weldon both fame and wealth.
What has been lost in all of this is any collective memory of the six men who raised the flag then,Who were they? What happened to them?

The book Flags Of Our Fathers,By James Bradley,Has been made into a movie.I think it is opening at the theaters now.It is a must see movie for me.

The movie will bring the story of who these young men were. Where they came from. And what happened to them after the notoriety,passed .



I am doing this post on just one of the six Marines..."Ira Hayes"

Ira Hayes,
Was a Pima Indian, born on a small cotton farm in the Gila River reservation in Arizona.
Land his people had occupied for more than 2,000 years.

Ira joined the Marine's and fought for a country that did not even consider him a citizen.

Even though he and his people had lived on this land in Arizona, for 2,000 years,

He was in the military fighting for this country,but he was not a citizen in the eyes of our government.

Ira Hayes,
left Iwo Jima unwounded and nine months later was a civilian again,leaving behind in a mass graveyard on the island the best friends he ever had.



Following the war,
unable to cope with his new found fame,
Ira Hayes turned to alcohol.Unable to keep a steady job,
he was working as a cotton picker on an Arizona Indian Reservation when he was found dead from alcohol
and exposure on January 24,1955.He now lies in a section 34 of Arlington National Cemetery.
Note the rocks on top of his tombstone.

He was only 32 years old.

Misty added the song for me on a comment below .Thanks Misty!

Caution ! This post contains some graphic pictures !!!


Heres something a bit scary for Halloween.
Maybe you have seen one, or have been bitten by one.

They live in and around homes through out the south and some of the Midwest .

Brown Recluse Spider


The Brown recluse spider is found mainly in the central Midwestern states southward to the Gulf Of Mexico.

Isolated cases in Ohio are attributable to the spider being transported from other states.

Brown recluse spiders generally occupy dark sites,and they can occur indoors or outdoors.

In favorable habitats,Their populations are usually dense.They thrive in human-altered environments.

Indoors,they may be found in attics,basements,crawl spaces,cellars,closets,shoes clothing behind furniture.
About any place really!


These photos of bites from a brown Recluse,show what can happen. A bite needs medical attention as soon as possible.

I decided to do this post,to make people aware of what this spider looks like and what a bite from one can do.

My Grand Daughter was bitten by one 2 years ago when she lived in Ga.
None of these photos are of her bite.But it looked like the second bite photo down.

It happened in her bed,but she did not know she had been bit by a spider........
She went to school that day, and her knee was hurting so bad she had to be taken to the emergency room at the hospital.

They did not notice it was a spider bite,and treated her for a knee injury. So more time went by.

The pain got so bad that her Mom took her to an orthopedic Dr.and
He knew right away it was a Brown Recluse bite.
And started her on some very strong antibiotics,and pain medication.


Her knee turned blackish and drained this bloody puss from it for several weeks.

She came out of it better than I thought she would.Only a small scare,but her mental scares are deep.




We had a case here.
A friend of our was cleaning his basement when he got bit on the hand.
He felt a little sting,and thought he got a splinter....He was not aware he had a problem ,until that night he woke up in very bad pain. And his whole arm was swollen.

His wife took him right away to emergency room,and he was admitted to hospital.
And they even talked like he might loose his hand.

He plays guitar so he really did not want to loose his hand.
He was in the hospital for 6 days,
but his hand was saved.
























So beware of the BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER!!!!!

This is my story for Halloween. Hope I did not scare anyone to much!

When Bob found out he was going
to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died,
he decided he needed a woman to enjoy it with.

So one evening he went to a singles bar
where he spotted the most beautiful
woman he had seen. Her natural beauty took
his breath away.

"I may look like an ordinary man".
he said as he walked up to her,"
but in just a week or two ", my father will die ,
and I will inherit 20 million dollars."

Impressed, the woman went home with him
that evening,

and 3 days later
she became his stepmother!

This is the Coopers Hawk.This Hawk captures a bird with its feet,and will squeeze it repeatedly to kill it.It does not bite the prey to kill it in the fashion of Falcons.

Coopers Hawk

Over the week-end I was in the woods,just sitting by a tree enjoying the beauty of my surrounding,when out of no where this scream came, and there was a the Coopers Hawk dropping out the sky with a Red bellied Woodpecker in his grasp.


Red Bellied Woodpecker


To my surprise he landed just a few feet from me..... Totally unaware that I was there.

My very first impulse was to jump up and try and save the Woodpecker,but something stopped me.

I thought about the fact that the Woodpecker was most likely already mortally injured by the Hawks talons,and in nature its the way the Hawk survives. He must kill birds to live.........

It was very disturbing for me I must say! The Woodpecker screamed for its life while the Hawk pulled feathers from him.
This continued for several minutes,and I had to turn away.........

Wishing the Hawk would finish the kill soon, or take it somewhere else, so I would not have to witness the gruesome sight and sounds.

Thank goodness he did soon fly away with his kill....But the thought came to me.........Why did I not save the Woodpecker??? If it had been a Deer Fawn being killed by a Coyote I would have intervened.

Was it an act of being prejudice,Placing the Hawk, in higher esteem than the Coyote,Or the fact I care more for the Deer Fawn than the Woodpecker????

I think it is that I do care more about the Deer Fawn than the Woodpecker! Not that I liked the Hawk more than the Coyote.Anyway, I pondered my reasoning, with that question for sometime that day......

What do you think???? Would you have done the same thing that I did, or would you have tryed to take the Hawks food from him???

Did I do the right thing????

I am not into politics much, but the condition our country is in today I am looking at it more than I ever have before.......I watched Oprahs show on Wednesday.

Her guest was..." Senator Barack Obama "........A fasinating man,such a air about him that I
Havent seen or heard since Kennedy.

He has something great going on there! I do feel this man will be our President some day!

He has not said he was going to run yet,but if he runs I really feel he has a great chance of winning!!!

I think this man has what we need to can change our world,by creating better relationships with countrys that hate us....

He is a father of two little girls,and married to a beautiful woman!
His family would remind you of the next door neighbors,Just real down to earth people.

The way I feel about this man is if he runs...
he will get my vote!!!