Good morning.
36ยบ and we got about another 1/4" of rain out of this storm. So far only 1/2".
We're pretty close to that full moon... which will appear on Monday the
25th
I'm still blogged out and not in the mood for historical stuff or
birthdays...
Although, today is Iwo Jima Day....
"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" is a historic photograph taken on 23
February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of
the United States atop Mount Suribachi. The photograph was extremely popular,
being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only
photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its
publication, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant
and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph
of all time. Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) did not
survive the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became celebrities
upon the publication of the photo. For a while, it was believed that the man now
known to be Block was actually Hank Hansen, but Hayes set
the record straight. The picture was later used by Felix de Weldon to
sculpt the Marine Corps War
Memorial, located adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery.
By the morning of 23
February, Mount Suribachi was effectively cut off above ground from the rest of
the island. The Marines knew that the Japanese defenders had an extensive
network of below-ground defenses, and knew that in spite of its isolation above
ground, the volcano was still connected to Japanese defenders via the tunnel
network. They expected a fierce fight for the summit. Two four-man patrols were
sent up the volcano to reconnoiter routes on the mountain's north face. Popular
legend (embroidered by the press in the aftermath of the release of the famous
photo) has it that the Marines fought all the way up to the summit. Although
American riflemen expected an ambush, they encountered only small groups of
Japanese defenders on Suribachi. The majority of the Japanese troops stayed in
the tunnel network, only occasionally attacking in small groups, and were
generally all killed. The patrols made it to the summit and scrambled down
again, reporting the lack of enemy contact to Colonel Chandler Johnson.
Johnson then called for a platoon of Marines to climb Suribachi; with
them, he sent a small American flag to fly if they reached the summit. The
Marines again anticipated an ambush, but they reached the top of Mount Suribachi
without incident. Using a length of pipe they found among the wreckage atop the
mountain, the Marines hoisted the U.S. flag over Mount Suribachi: the first
foreign flag to fly on Japanese soil. A photograph of this "first flag raising"
was taken by photographer Louis R. Lowery.
As the flag went up,
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had just
landed on the beach at the foot of Mount Suribachi and decided that he wanted
the flag as a souvenir. Popular legend has it that Colonel Johnson wanted the
flag for himself, but, in fact, he believed that the flag belonged to the 2nd Battalion
28th Marines, who had captured that section of the island. Johnson sent
Sergeant Mike Strank to take a second (larger) flag up the volcano to replace
the first. It was as the replacement flag went up that Rosenthal took the famous
photograph "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima".
Here is a funny English humor video... you might enjoy. I did. I think
Lydia sent this a few years back.
I like to take pictures so thought you might enjoy some of these...
Driving into Grants Pass...
Observing the local poleeece doin' the work of the Lord.....
Mr and Mrs Buck up in my pasture....
I'm watchin' ... you are watchin' me......
I cooked some artichokes and tried something different for the dipping
sauce. I mixed some of my Franks's Red Hot sauce that I had added melted butter
to for the chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday... with BF Mayonnaise.
OMGOOD!!!
I know, a lot of you just go with the traditional melted butter with your
artichokes, and I was raised eating them that way too, but it's like working on
an assembly line..I could NEVER do that. I would go out of my mind...same old
same old day after day. Another reason why law enforcement is a fun job. Nothing
is ever the same. Or I know some of you cook and eat the same basic things day
after day and never change or add to recipes to make them slightly different
from the last time. As with dipping sauce for artichokes... be adventurous and
try ranch dressing, or cheese queso dip, or Kraft chipotle mayonnaise, hummus, or mix
mayo and sour cream and lemon and cracked black pepper for a great dip. If you
like butter, add garlic to it. Mix mayo with capers or/and sriracha sauce or
sweet/hot chili sauce. TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
All I know. Nuff said. Happy Saturday.
February 23rd
National Banana Bread Day
