X-MAS LETTER

We hope the Christmas season finds you well; our family is especially blessed this year.
The first annual Christmas letter finds Brandon graduated from Ole Miss and beginning the Army’s Infantry Officer’s Basic Course at Fort Benning, Ga. This past summer we and the in-laws drove 18 hours to Tupelo, Mississippi to see the auspicious occasion. Even Aunt Peggy visited from Tenerife to make the drive! God bless her. A tornado blew through that night and damaged the town and gave us a good scare – not many tornadoes in the Canary Islands.
Graduation day was beautiful and we enjoyed a tour of the campus. Brandon’s roommates threw him a graduation party in the finest Southeastern Conference tradition, complete with beer drinking-games. Brandon’s grandparents also competed in the games and kept pace with the young coeds.
Brandon is now a Second Lieutenant, still drives his Mustang, and still asks for advice from his mother. We are all tremendously proud of him. He is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in the spring of ’09 with the “Mississippi Rifles.” He says he is currently dating a Russian Supermodel. (I was unaware that Jackson, Mississippi was a center of fashion.)
Damien turned 18, graduated from High School, received his Eagle Scout award, and is doing well at Tidewater Community College. On the weekends he volunteers in various community programs. He helps feed the elderly – the little old ladies love him as he “chats them up” while opening fruit cups. He is the fish-section manager in a part-time job at the local pet store while he is in college. He rescues fish with malfunctioning swim bladders and brings them home to a tank in his room. This condition causes the fish to swim in dizzying circles around the tank in his room.
Ciaran recently camped in 34 degree weather with the Scout Troop at the local Church. The church’s men’s club sells Christmas trees, and the Scouts are assisting. The same day he ran a 5k race to raise money for some debilitating disease and headed to the school sock-hop later that night. He runs cross-country for his school and plays soccer. This past summer he, Bryan, and Uncle Andrew and Aaron went to scout camp in the Poconos and had a great time!
Elizabeth is our angel and is doing well in school. She picked up field hockey this year and had a good time. She received her First Holy Communion on a cold but bright day this spring. She loves spending the weekends with her cousins (Sara and Andrew’s kids) who live just down the block. She is also working hard to learn the piano.
Tracey volunteers as an administrative assistant at the kids’ school, chauffeurs them to activities, and continues to add to her shoe and purse collection. She has not increased her dog collection (thank goodness!).
Bryan continues to work to support the shoe and purse collection and was recently selected to the rank of colonel. Clearly he slipped through the cracks for promotion. No word on if and when they will move to DC next summer. He picked up surf-fishing this summer and has begun a modest rod and lure collection.
The dogs (Eilish, Molly, Gracie, and Emma) continue working to set new longevity records for their breeds. They also compete daily as to who can welcome visitors the loudest to our home. See picture of the Girls and visiting cousin, Smokey the poodle. We’ve certainly been blessed this year with good health and prosperity for our families – which is the greatest Christmas gift of all!

Photos of Spencer's Wedding from Rachel

http://picasaweb.google.com/allthepicture/SpencerWedding?authkey=QU8GNSZVgk4#

Spencer and Tesora's Wedding Slideshow

Spencer and Tesora's Wedding

Spencer and Tesora's wedding 2

Lisa and J's Wedding!

Idol on the Beach

Tracey and Billy at Virginia Beach

Second Red Drum/First Flounder

Second Red Drum caught two weeks later as I was releasing a small flounder. The other pole was jerked from its holder and again dragged into the surf. 28 inchs. Caught on live bait fish, photographed, measured and released. 09 Aug 2009

First Fish

Caught my first relatively big fish off the surf this evening. Previous outings to Dam Neck Navy Base had only resulted in 8 inch Whiting.
This evening I switched to cut squid instead of frozen cut fish - all purchased at Walmart's fine selection of frozen bait.
The evening was slow with no bites. Heavy seaweed kept dragging the lines and fooling me as false strikes. The tide was at its lowest - purportedly the worst time for fishing. But the weather was great, the water warm and the sand soft.
The family came with me to the beach. They chased crabs, threw sand, and watched me clean weeds of the lines for the first hour or so. They finally got bored and went for a walk on the windswept beach. Few beachcombers were out this evening.
Rip currents from the offshore storm pulled the heavily weighted poles down - I forgot my pole holders at home! I glance over and my far left pole had fallen into the sand again! Dang it! A second glance over and the pole with reel were being dragged into the surf! I reach into the foam to where I last saw it dive.
Fight's on! I grab the pole and feel the weight of a living creature fighting my pull! The reel jams from sand as it was dragged through four feet of beach before it disappeared into the surf. I had previous problems with the reel and through home repair thought it was fixed.
The beast pulls hard as I quickly troubleshoot and perform immediate action on the reel. The drag sings as she rushes to deep water. For the next few minutes the reel alternates between function and failure. I am forced to run away from the waterline to drag her in and quickly reel in the slack as I run back into the surf. The water churns as I can begin to see the fish close with the shore. In the in-between moments I wave frantically at my family to get their attention. The distance, wind, and crashing waves makes it hard for them to hear. Finally, Granny sees me and they all come running.
I pull her in. She is beautiful - a Red Drum as long as my arm.

There is a brief debate on catch and release. We decide to catch and eat at the urging of Lil. Tourists come to inspect the fish. Fish stories from strangers come without solicitation. Kids disburse as I conduct a field cleaning right on the beach. A small crab is found half-digested in its stomach. The rest goes into a hole in the surf zone.
Red Drum recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/187490

Had the drum for dinner the next night. Problems (of course) with the grill. Low heat for a while until I disconnected the tank and restarted.

So the fish was not seared but slow cooked. Tasted great. Pleasure to eat what you catch. Great feeling relative to the fish under plastic at Walmart - all frozen weeks ago after being caught and shipped from the Philippines.

Major Megan McClung

To see Megan's blog please go to http://majormeganmcclung.blogspot.com/

July 4th 2008

Ciaran & Bryan at Scout Camp in the Poconos

Damien's Graduation and Party!

Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith returns to his alma mater May 10 to deliver the University of Mississippi’s 155th commencement address. Photo by Kevin Bain.


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Fox News Anchor Shepard Smith Challenges Graduates to Be Ready for '10 Seconds Later'
05/10/2008


OXFORD, Miss. - Dramatic change often comes swiftly - in as little as 10 seconds - and how people react to such situations determines their success and legacy, Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith told University of Mississippi graduates Saturday morning in the Grove.

"There will be moments for which you cannot prepare, but moments for which you must be ready," said Smith, speaking at the university's 155th commencement. "When they come, you'll have a choice: you can be beaten back, you can be frightened or you can rise to meet those moments."

This year's graduating class included 2,148 candidates for degrees. Several thousand graduates and family members observed the speeches and academic pageantry on a breezy, overcast morning.

Following the general ceremony, the College of Liberal Arts and seven schools held separate ceremonies across campus to present baccalaureate, master's, doctor of pharmacy and law diplomas. Activities originally planned for the afternoon were moved closer to noon because thunderstorms were forecast for later in the day. Recipients of doctor of philosophy degrees were honored at a hooding ceremony Friday evening in the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

Smith, a native of Holly Springs, is the country's top-rated cable news anchor. The Ole Miss alumnus anchors the network's signature "The Fox Report" evening newscast and afternoon news-interview program "Studio B." He has won acclaim for his reporting, particularly his live coverage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in south Mississippi and New Orleans.

In March, he broadcast live from the Oxford Square for two days as part of the network's coverage of the Mississippi primaries. He plans to return in September to cover the first presidential debate of 2008, to be broadcast live from the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

In a speech punctuated with rah-rah enthusiasm for Ole Miss and his home state, Smith acknowledged that he left the university a few credit hours short of graduation, but credited the "push this amazing place gave me" for his success.

"I've watched the sun rise over the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf," he said. "I've spoken with presidents and interviewed kings. I've gotten up in Santorini and Split, and bedded down in Dubai and Dubrovnik and Amman and Amsterdam. But when I have a moment to breathe, when I have time to rest and relax and reflect, I want to be here."

Although he has often been asked to give commencement speeches, Smith said he had always declined because he wanted to deliver his first at his alma mater.

Quoting Mississippi authors William Faulkner and Eudora Welty, he urged graduates to strive for success even when failure seems likely. He also warned of unforeseen circumstances.

"On a normal day, 10 seconds later, a loved one can drop to a knee and say those words you so wanted to hear, but now you can't believe it's happening," he said. "On a normal day, 10 seconds later, the phone can ring and that job is there halfway across the country. Ten seconds later, Tyree can can catch a pass between his hand and his helmet - the great escape can happen, and our guy can be the Super Bowl MVP.

"On a normal day, with a perfect blue sky on a beautiful September morning, 10 seconds later, you look up and the biggest building you've ever been in is on fire. And there's about to be a new normal."

Smith cited two examples of national stories in which ordinary people performed acts of heroism: Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and last year's collapse of the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. He painted a vivid picture of the latter event.

"In the midst of it all, a yellow school bus sat perched on a section of that broken bridge," he recalled. "Inside were 52 little boys and girls. They were just coming back from a day at the water park and 'all of a sudden.' They were all 5 or 6 years old. As flames burned on that span still shifting, and as twisted metal and shattered concrete groaned in protest, heroes emerged.

"Ordinary men and women came out of the smoke and ran into the fire because there were little boys and girls on that bus. On that day, 13 people died on that bridge But every single child on that bus went home."

Charging graduates to be the "guardians of good," Smith wished them luck.

"Ten seconds later has just arrived," he said. "And you are ready."

During the ceremony, Gregory Schirmer, professor of English, was honored as recipient of the 2008 Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award, presented annually to the campuswide outstanding teacher.

Sam Shu-Wi Wang, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering, received the university's inaugural Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award.

The university also recognized the winners of this year's Frist Student Service Awards: Aileen Ajootian, chair and associate professor of classics and art, and Marc Showalter, director of the University Counseling Center and assistant professor of education.

by Mitchell Diggs

Mississippi Slide Show

Brandon Graduates from Ole Miss

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