I know. I go from extremely long blogs, that no one makes it to the end of, to extremely short ones. There's no consistency. Don't even try to keep up.

Here's my problem. The short one was written a while ago, but I didn't think it was finished, so I left it until today when I said, hmph, good enough.

So now, I'm writing the real thing.

And my blog is actually related to the title today. Something I feel is slightly an accomplishment.

It takes some back history though, so here I go. Oh and I know I said no more waxing philosophical, but FYI, watch out there just might be some to come.

It all starts with my mother. (Doesn't it always?)

Sunday she destroyed her pointer finger when she decided to pull out a chunk of grass from a still running lawn mower.

Oh, good gracious. My mother.

So if you think of her and her mangled finger, with the tip of the bone missing and the rest of it shattered, pray for her.

It's all just before her first knuckle, but she still required 9 stitches and she's in a splint and she will never have a normal looking finger again, nor will she have feeling in the tip of it.

The stitches wrap most of the way down her finger, but the break is only before her knuckle.

She needed lots of help the last couple of days.

And today she left for a ten day conference in Orlando. (I'm suppressing my jealousy. Suppressing it. Suppressing it......)

Not only would I love to be on a vacation of sorts right now, but you know I love my conferences!!!

I just can't learn enough!

Ok anyways, so it was my job as the devoted daughter to drive her to the airport. Downside, I had to be up and out of the house by 4:30 AM this morning. Upside, I get the privilege of borrowing her van for the next ten days, since ours is still in the shop. Or chop shop, since we haven't heard anything in two months......

So on the way back I had on my old fave morning show, Pat and JT. Come on you Omahans. Please try to tell me you don't love some good Sweet, ahem, I mean Q 98 in the morning!

By this time it was like 5 something and they had a special interest piece on. I thought that was weird since how many people are seriously listening right now? Well, I guess I was, but really, the story(Which I'm finally getting to and is my point for today) was really interesting and I doubt their listener volume is high at that time.

The story goes like this. There is this woman who lives in an apartment building in Bellevue, close to the Airforce Base. Her husband is military and currently deployed overseas. For 9/11 this year, she out of respect for the deceased and in honor of her husband and the military hung an American flag in her window and had yet to take it down. So it had been a month basically of an American Flag in her window.

In the last week, she had received several letters from the Apartment Management asking her to remove the American Flag from the window because it was an Unsightly Distractant. Which I don't even think Distractant is a word!

And this is the American Flag!

The lady was very upset not only because her husband is in the military, not only because it wasn't like she was the only one with something in her window(Lots of people have stuff up for Halloween and the Huskers and she was the only one getting harassed) but because she had started to be threatened because of the fact that she had the American Flag in her window.

They(The tenants harassing her) posted her work schedule on the apartments online forum(People who mean her harm) and a picture of her car so people know what she drives.

I listened to the story not entirely understanding why not only her Apartment management, but also the residents of her complex would bother her over an American flag.

Isn't this America?

I'm pretty sure, the American Flag, although not the prettiest piece of home decor is still a necessary element in our fastly-waning patriotic society.

Besides this isn't San Francisco! (Sorry, but you know you're a liberal city). This is Bellevue. A few blocks from an Airforce Base where President Bush was flown to safety only hours after the planes attacked the Towers! And they want her to take down the American Flag because it is distracting for people to look at?

Good. Let it be distracting. Let it distract people into remembering what this country stands for and what that flag represents and what our own soldiers are doing for us right now!

Say what you want about our government or even our military. (Ok, don't say whatever you want. And especially don't say it around me.....) Because you have the right to, thanks to that good old constitution. Which also means you have the right to hang the symbol for all of those rights which is the American Flag from your freaking window.

I'm sorry. I was just outraged. And obviously still am.... And that is a LOT of emotion for me to feel at 5:00 AM. Trust me.

It doesn't even make sense.

But the woman did say she and her husband(Who wasn't even here to be able to defend her because he was um, off protecting this damn country and giving all those idiots their freedoms which I am not even sure they deserve now!) had decided to refuse to take it down unless every single window was clean and clear in the complex and not just hers. And they were even willing to face eviction because of it.

Good for them.

And especially good for her.

If I had any neighbors, I would be outraged enough to just go buy an American Flag(I know, it's kind of sad we don't already have one.... We do have a Husker Flag though. Not the same thing? Fine....) and hang it in my own window just out of a spirit of camaraderie for this poor woman.

Maybe I still will.

At least the dog and cat and mice and bugs and giant bunny rabbits and deer and hand-sized spiders would appreciate it.

America, America God shed His grace on thee. And crowned thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea means just as much to them(The bugs and wildlife) as it does to us!