Spring?

Two days ago it was a hot day reaching up to 80 degrees!A day after that it was starting to rain. 'Oh-well, rain is nice' I was thinking. Then it started snowing.And snowing. And snowing. Today we woke up to one whole foot of snow! And now at 3:40 most of it has already melted, making lots and lots of mud.

Just another example of Montana's wacky weather.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is the Holocaust remembrance day, to remember one of the worse atrocities in human history. It began when Hitler took command of Germany and told the people the reason for the German's loosing the first World War was the Jews fault. One night his followers broke Jewish shops and beat the Jewish people. This night is known as the night of broken glass. This was just the beginning though. The Jews weren't allowed to have government jobs and many Jewish shops where closed. Many Jews citizenship were taken away. Hitler then ordered all Jews must where a yellow star of David on their clothes so they could be identified. Many were rounded up and sent to ghettos where many where starved. They were then sent to "labor" camps. Most were actually death camps, such as Auschwitz. Prisoners were given rations so small it barely made a difference to the prisoners. They were worked to death, beaten, shot or gassed. Some were used by Nazi doctors as experiments. They lived this way day after day, month after month year after year. Their troubles didn't end when the war did though. If their camp was liberated by the soviets they suffered almost as much as they did with the Nazis. Many prisoners preferred the Germans over the Russians. Still, many held out and moved from war torn Germany to Israel. They were the ones that helped form the modern state of Israel.

Please take a few minutes today and remember those who were killed and those whose family and friends where killed.

History Question

This question has plagued me for almost all my life. Why are German soldiers called 'Jerry'?

I know they're called Huns since the Huns originated from Germany and they're called krauts since most Germans love sauerkraut. But why Jerry?

Many believe that Jerry was an alteration of the word German. Or it could be because the Germans World War One helmet that was shaped liked a chamber pot or jeroboam. In a way then the Allies where calling the Germans toilet heads.

Gardening

Gardening in Montana is extremely hard. Last year our garden was killed by snow in June and the rest was killed in July in a cold frost. What the cold doesn't kill, the grasshoppers will. This year we tried a new strategy. We planted the seeds in small containers and kept them in the house under a grow light. During the nice days we had them in a cold frame. Soon the plants were to big to go in the cold frame. We now have them in our kitchen by a window so they can have both light and darkness. Today we're transferring them to bigger buckets to finish planting. We won't plant them out side until it gets much warmer.

A Bike Ride

This morning I went on a bike ride to our neighbors house about a mile away.On my way back a small dog started to follow me. I was expecting it to turn back but it didn't, instead it ran all the way to my house. After consulting my Mom I rode back the mile to to the neighbors house. The dog ran up to it and disappeared."finally" I thought. When I was about 20 feat from my house the dog shot by in full force. I rode to my house, slumped in side exhausted and told my family the story and that I give up. My Mom agreed and I started to eat. One of my younger siblings jumped up and shouted that the dog was running back to its house and sure enough it was running back and barely showing signs of tiring!

Pow-Wow

Today we went to a Indian Pow-Wow. Each dancer wore his or her own hand made outfit. Most all of them were real elaborate. At one point they had the Indians dancing one way and soldiers marching the other way, symbolising that the soldiers where protecting the people. It was a lot of fun.

Passover

Friday night was Passover. On Passover we have a family Seder dinner including parsley and salt water, horseradish, horoset(a apple nut and Honey mix) and the lamb shank bone,(We didn't have any lamb, we had a toy lamb instead) and of course matza( unleavened bread.) Each of these foods represents something to do with the Exodus story. The parsley and salt water represents the tears the Israelites shed during there time as slaves. The horseradish is to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. The horoset is to remind us even the worse circumstances can be sweetened by the Lord.The lamb is to remind us of the lamb of God, Yeshua. The matza reminds us of Yeshua.(Both were scared, broken, both rapped in linen, etc.)

For the actual dinner we had roasted chicken,cous-cous, tabuli(a middle eastern salad) beets, matza and horoset.