It's Tuesday

and I have nothing to report. It is almost Christmas, it's been very busy here and very cold. Hopefully we will find some time to get out and about in the new year. Happy Holidays to anyone who might just read this. :)

Just a short jaunt around

Was Christmas shopping. Just a few last things. Not gonna mention-in case anyone who I bought for is reading this(I know, not likely, but hey...). And I head down to Old Time Pottery in Murfreesboro. And after I am done picking a few things up there, I decide to see what I had not seen yet, that the McCulloch house had indeed been torn down. And yes, they are building townhomes there. And to top it off, they are named "Generals Retreat". Seeing that made me want to slap someone. If you want to pay homage to the place-DONT TEAR IT DOWN! Naming it something to remind you of what they could have cared less about is just pathetic in my eyes. I am really hating the way historic places are generally treated in this area. >:(

I drove the back roads to get home, going by some other small cemeteries just to see if anything has changed. Nothing to report.

Back to your normally scheduled broadcast...

I will stop using this blog to rant. I got a new one for that. I wanted this one to be mainly to talk about and show photos from cemeteries/historical places I visit and it is going to be just that. Posts like the one below will be somewhere else(thought that posts real purpose is to explain why I have not been posting anything here, so it's ok).

Check the links to the right, near the top, for my different blogs: one for ranting, one for Warcraft stuff, and one for my photos. -------------------->

One month later....

And yes, I've been playing World of Warcraft, all day, every day. No visiting cemeteries, no visiting anything. I wonder if I can even remember how to use my camera. Oh sure, I'll get out at some point this month, have to go buy Christmas presents. Otherwise, I sit at this computer, all day, every day. Yeah, during the Summer it was too hot to go anywhere and do anything. Now it is too cold. Gas prices were too high-but they have come back down recently. No time. No motivation? Not really sure. I spend all day travelling the world in World of Warcraft, because it is the only travel I get anymore. I hate logging in and playing that game, but for some reason I just can't stop doing it. It's the "oh my goodness there is something that i should have and if i don't log in EVERY SINGLE DAY it will take me longer to get or i wont get it at all and THEN WHAT??"

So no, I have no updates on anything for this blog. Nothing new to say. I don't even watch the news anymore because just seeing the "O" word makes me nauseaous. I am and will be oblivious for the next 4 years. The History Channel is my friend.

The only exciting thing that really happened lately...I FINALLY FOUND MY CHRIS GAINES CD! I'd been searching for it(and for a new copy) for it seems like 2 years now or longer. And the other day I popped open my Garth Double Live cd case, pried open the back part where the 2nd cd would be and there was this SHINY PRECIOUS that said "Greatest Hits" across it and I almost SCREAMED.

Yes, I love Chris Gaines. This is my favorite album of ALL TIME. I think I should go make a few copies of it now, maybe put one in the fireproof lockbox. One in the car. One in the truck. One in the cd player in the living room. Upload to the cheap fake Ipod-thingee we bought. Sigh.....

It's the end

of the world as we know it...and I DO NOT feel fine. In fact I foresee a severe depression coming on that will last at least the next four years. And maybe even includes looking into moving to Canada. Or at the very least spending LOTS of time playing World of Warcraft-ASSUMING we can still afford it after next January.

sorry, gotta go cry in the corner now...

Nashville City Cemetery Photos

Finally adding in a couple of photos from the Living History Tour at Old Nashville City Cemetery. I had such a wonderful time. I always love visiting this place and the actors did such a wonderful job.

The first photo is of a special presentation being made to former Nashville mayor, Richard Fulton.
This stop on the tour was about former Nashville mayor Ben West, and the part was played by his son, current Nashville State Representative Ben West Jr.

Also portrayed were Nashville's first citizens, James Robertson and his wife, Charlotte.
And one of the most famous buried here, Captain William Driver, the man who named "Old Glory".

I'm sorry

I wish I had posted those photos by now, but to be honest I just have not done anything but play World of Warcraft every day. I wish I had some news about some cemeteries I'd been too, but again, I do nothing but play Warcraft. Between being ill and sitting in a dark corner playing WoW all day, I haven't done much of anything in the past few months. It is frustrating. I wish I could bring myself to stop and work on my website or even get out and visit some places, but I cannot. Not even on weekends. Saturdays, from wake up to bedtime, we play Warcraft. Same with Sundays except for the three hours that we stop to watch Titans football. Sometimes it is aggravating. Lots of the time. I'm not sure what to do.

Nashville City Cemetery Living History Tour

This took place on Saturday. I must say that, though I've been there numerous times and know quite a bit about the history there, I never stop loving hearing the stories told about it and the people buried there.

This is just a short note to say how much I enjoyed the tour. I hope to add some photos I took as well as a bit of info from the reenactors. They did an incredible job. The restoration that has gone on at the cemetery is excellent as well. The place looks so different compared to the first time I visited back in 1996. I hope to visit again when there aren't as many visitors there. Speaking of which, there appeared to be an excellent turn out for the tour-always good to see!

Hurricane Ike

I write this with a heavy heart. I still have not heard how many family back in Houston(Pasadena) is doing. I'm sure they are ok. I also wonder how the cemetery that my grandparents are buried in fared. It is on the east side of Harris County, which I heard got hit the worst.

I scoured photos. I see places I grew up under water. I see memories from Galveston and the places now gone. It is like Katrina all over. Almost. Katrina was an immediate affect. My mom's place was wiped off the map. The whole Mississippi coast was wiped off the map. I saw it with my own eyes. I don't think I will ever see anything so horrible. With Ike, well, I spent the first 30 years of my life in Houston. Seeing it damaged, and in some cases destroyed is painful in a different way-but painful nonetheless. Seeing a souvenir shop you recall from your youth but haven't seen in maybe 12 or 13 years disappear on tv is one thing, seeing first hand the Taco Bell and Walmart you JUST WENT TO be completely GONE is something else.

Honestly I don't know what else to say now. I am avoiding the internet for several reasons...and yes mainly because I am playing a LOT of Warcraft with the new expansion game coming out soon, my characters have a lot to do to be ready for it. But mainly, really, is the places I used to feel comfortable are just overrun by liberals and I cannot spend time around them. Even ignoring them doesn't work because I know the crap they are spouting and if I were to even attempt to say anything from my side I would be smacked down faster than a hungry mosquito. I've already been called "ugly" just because I had the 'Nobama' graphic on my signature. Yes, called physically ugly just for that. How can I go back to a place where someone like that is part of the majority? I'm just not the kind that can argue and I'm not sure I can attempt to be 'friendly' regarding other matters with people who HATE me because I am conservative.

So I will talk to myself here. And head off the the World of Warcraft and get lost in that little world.

Oh and Sarah Palin rocks. Hockey moms FTW.

And football is back

Lucky me. Don't get me wrong, I love football. I mean I LOVE football. But generally my teams suck. They just do. I don't know if it is my fault, or I just pick crappy teams. I mean I do like underdogs, but there is a difference in rooting for a hard-luck team(like when I became a Braves fan back in the 80s), and being a hard-core fan and your team just starts SUCKING.

This weekend was opening weekend for college football. I think maybe ONE team out of all the ones I pulled for actually won their game-and shocker that was Vanderbilt! Losses by Tennessee, MTSU, Michigan, whoever plays Florida and Alabama, on and on. Good grief. Well, ok, Texas and Mizzou won their games. USC, but at the expense of Virginia, and VA Tech blows their game at the end. I know normally I would be happy for UCLA, but seeing my beloved Vols look absolutely horrible last night just killed me a little inside.

So next week is the opening weekend of NFL. Go Titans, Broncos, Falcons, Patriots, Giants and Jets. Oh and this week Philly, Cincy and Cleveland(playing St Louis, Baltimore and Dallas).

I hope this really means that Fall is just about here. I want the cold weather. Badly. To be able to head out to the cemeteries in NOT heat will be nice. But not on Saturdays or Sundays.

Labor Day weekend-short trip

Had a really good day on Saturday. Sort of out of the blue, hubby says 'why don't we go down and visit Shiloh again?' Cool! I'm not feeling 100% still, but I cannot pass up a day trip!

We went down the Natchez Trace to near Waynesboro. Hit a gas station, "Jugs", just off the Trace in order to grab some more sodas and a snack-it was about 10am. The very nice fella that ran the place had a very cool story about this outlaw who was buried in an unusual place down in Florence, Alabama. Very interesting story. And I found an old candy bar there with Brad Paisley on it!

So we head on to Shiloh. Nice, not too bad of a day, not too hot. Took loads of photos, though I always wish I had more time to take loads more. Some of the park was off-limits due to some "construction" or something, and it was quite busy-busier than I expected. Nice to see the excellent new Tennessee state monument.

After we left, we went a round-about way back to Savannah, by going south and around across the Pickwick Dam. As we headed back into Savannah looking for some place for lunch, we decide to eat at Darryl Worley's restaurant, the Worleybird Cafe. It was great! Prices were good, and so was the food. I had a grilled chicken on Texas toast with Swiss cheese. Yum! The inside is absolutely covered top to bottom in DW memorabilia and photos! And the table we sat at-was right beside a photo of DW onstage with Brad Paisley! I kid you not!

So after we leave Savannah, I got an idea...I want to see this very unique burial place in Florence, AL. How could I not? I've never been to Florence before, and I can only hope we actually FIND the right cemetery, but we had to try! It was only about 40 miles away. So we head on down to Florence. And with absolutely no knowledge and no good map of this town(a decent sized town, which surprised me), we DID manage to find the right cemetery! And sure enough, there out front is the historical marker telling about the outlaw who preyed on the locals during the Civil War. He boasted that "No one would EVER run over him". And when he was finally caught, tried, and hung-the locals had him buried in the center of the main street outside the cemetery so that EVERYONE could run over him! Heh. I would loved to have stayed and taken loads more photos there, but it was getting late and we still had a long ride home.

All in all in was an excellent day. And I really felt good for awhile. I'm back to feeling like crap now, but the fresh air and distraction was nice. I may post some photos later.

Man I play too much

World of Warcraft. Sigh. I just can't bring myself to do anything else.

Well, ok, last week I chased the Goodyear Blimp all over Smyrna for 30 minutes trying to get to where I could take some photos of it. Ended up back at the airport, got some good shots and headed home. And what followed me home? Of course, the blimp did. >.<

School started, it is nice to have peace and quiet during the day again. But of course I then log in and play Warcraft all day.

Have LOVED the show "Bones" for 3 seasons now. Never knew that hotty Booth was on other tv shows. Like really HUGE tv shows that I just never watched. For the past 2 weeks I have been getting up at 5am to watch 2 episodes of "Angel". Still have never seen an episode of "Buffy". My goodness this man, David Boreanaz, is HOT! Wow. I have a picture of him on my desktop now.

Still looking HIGHLY forward to Brad Paisley's new album coming out in November. Any Brad is awesome. Love his new video for "Waitin on a Woman"-still tear up nearly every time I see it.

Got this stupid bronchitis thing that won't go away. And yeah, I hate doctors so I won't go see anyone. Somedays it isn't that easy to breath and I cough a lot. Some days I just don't want to get out of bed. And some days I feel almost completely fine. It's been about a month now, started up right after we got back from Gatlinburg. Ugh.

Soo very sick and tired of hearing about the election. Just seeing or hearing Oblahma makes me want to PUKE.

Watched TONS of Olympics. Dissappointed to miss so much in the middle of the night. Ping Pong should not be a sport. Will lawn darts or horseshoes be added soon? Bummed about us losing the final game in softball. Really bummed. Also bummed how we continued to get screwed by judges in diving and gymnastics. Thrilled to watch Phelps each night.

Almost lunch time. I should eat some leftover lasagna or maybe just make some mac'n'cheese(my healing/comfort food).

Signing off for now.

More photos from our trip...

First up is a shot of some lightning I got-this is why we didn't get out much and tried to make the most of when we could get out. Every afternoon looked like this.
Still amazed that I got a photo of the lightning!


Our first day we went over to the Greeneville/Jonesborough area. This is the Earnest Fort Home, built in the late 1700s by my 7th great-grandfather on the banks of the Chuckey River. Pretty darn cool.


Then we went to Dollywood. So many photos, I couldn't decide. I went with this one that shows the new coaster, Mystery Mine, on the other side of Timber! Lots of fun there, Mystery Mine rocked!


This is a Zonkey, at the Exotic Deer Petting Zoo. Cool place, fun to see the animals, they need more hand washing places though. Those animals slobber a LOT.


And finally, on the way to the east, at Interstate 81 at 40, this beer truck had overturned. What a tragedy. No, the driver was fine. But all that beer.....!

I know, I know

Too much World of Warcraft again. I can't help it. I feel like there are so many things that need to get done before the new expansion hits and I am playing like crazy, all day every day. So behind on everything else.

What I want to do today, since today the Warcraft realms are down and I cannot play(heh), is add some random photos from our trip to the Smokies.

First up is a photo of Chris Kratt of the Kratt Brothers, from the Zoboomafoo show on PBS. They performed at Dollywood, a very interesting show featuring many native and non-native animals, including the coati, seen below on Chris' shoulders.

Updated to add another Kratt Brothers photo-and a friendly big snake!

Several days in the Smokies

Yes, we took another trip. It is summer after all. Went to visit my mom in the Smokies. We took one day to visit Jonesborough(oldest town in Tennessee) and Chuckey(a town my ancestor started up, Henry Earnest-his log home fort and burial place). One day at Dollywood(and saw the awesome Kratt Brothers in a show(and I took nearly 200 pix of them, yes, MOSTLY of Chris, sigh...). Rode the new awesome Mystery Mine-loved it. And the Tornado and Thunderhead-both awesome. Had fun until the end when it began raining and we got trapped in the parking lot for an hour because traffic going out simply did not move an inch. No idea on that one, sucked rocks though.

Next day we saw the Exotic Deer Park and Petting Zoo. It was fun, though they could really use some place to wash your hands along the way-those animals slobber and walking around with your hands like that is GROSS!

Last day was putt putt golf(which would have been funner if the morons ahead of us would have been a bit faster, spent too much time waiting, and waiting). And then Cades Cove. No bears this time, but some nice shots of deer. And a nice drive.

And now I have almost 800 photos to go through and figure out what to do with. Maybe add some here.

Oh, and since we got back and before we left, we've been playing A LOT of World of Warcraft. The expansion is in Beta testing now and between pouring over every website I can find and reading everything about it and playing our characters and wanting to get everything ready for when the expansion comes out, well we've been busy. Of course, being summer, I've been playing quite a bit alongside my kid's characters. I am hoping to get back to working on the website more when she gets back to school. Fingers crossed!

Trip to Kentucky

Long trip to Kentucky last Saturday, made even longer by unforeseen circumstances.

First stop: Wigwam hotel in Cave City. Just wanted a few pix of this classic roadside site. Lots of the folks staying there were sitting out in their jammies and whatnot and I felt odd taking photos of them, so I only took a few from the car and we left.

Second stop: Stonehenge replica in Munfordville. Yep, it's right there in someone's side yard. Not a complete reproduction, but close enough and at least half full sized! Pretty cool.

Third stop: Hubby spotted a sign in Munfordville that said "Civil War site 2 miles" so we went to check it out. (there is a website but it doesn't seem well put together) "Battle for the Bridge" site consisted of a home that the skirmish was fought near and a few signs. I think there was a monument, but the sign at the home said it was on private property so we didn't even go looking for it. We saw lots of Amish in this town too.

Fourth stop: Abraham Lincoln's birthplace, 'symbolic' home. Maybe it's the same logs from the actual home, maybe it isn't. Nobody knows. Still interesting to visit.

Fifth stop: Lincoln's boyhood home. He lived in a log cabin like this from 1811-1816. This one belonged to a neighbor. When I came here in 1996ish, it was only the little home that you could walk inside and all. Now they have built a visitor center(though it didn't appear open yet) and the home is closed off because it needs major repairs. And only about 25 miles down the road from where my 3x-great grandfather was living at the time. Interesting.

Sixth stop: Lutheran Church Cemetery, Bardstown. My great-great-great grandparents, Samuel and Elizabeth Hefley are buried here. Shame that the little historic cemetery(no church any more) has seen such vandalism, almost made me cry. Luckily I took lots of other photos of the graves around them, Elizabeth's father, Conrad Mathes, was there-and possibly a Revolutionary War soldier! There are no military markers or anything to note this or the fact that Samuel was a sharpshooter at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814. Shame.

Seventh stop: Frankfort Cemetery, grave of Daniel Boone. Very interesting. Great view of the Capitol building across the river. Would love to spend more time there. Took lots of photos of the Kentucky War Memorial as well. The man who wrote "Bivouac of the Dead", Theodore O'Hara, is buried here. Incredible.

Eighth stop: the Castle of Versailles, just outside Lexington. It burned down a few years ago, but it is being rebuilt to look similar but bigger and better! Pretty cool place.

Ninth stop: Disappointedly driving by the farm where Affirmed, Triple Crown winning racehorse, is buried. But alas, there doesn't seem to be public access to the grave. Big fancy gates, some big event was going on. At least I got close. I loved Affirmed.

Then came the ride home. It was about 3pm and we ate lunch in Lexington at an Arby's. Then caught I-75 south to Knoxville and then I-40 west to home. Because "going back the way we came would be boring". Wish I hadn't said that. Not far past Knoxville, but PAST the 40/75 split, and a few miles past the Clinch River we hit traffic. Not just traffic but actual STOPPED traffic. It was right at 7pm. After an hour and we hadn't moved much, I called mom(who lives near Knoxville). It wasn't until 9pm(yes two hours) and we hadn't moved but a mile or so that mom called back to tell us what the local news told on the problem. A truck had crashed with a few other cars. A tanker carrying Titanium tetrachloride. And the interstate was shut down for 10 miles, the accident being at mm331. We would be rerouted off at exit 338. Onto a two lane backroad of Highway 70. It took us another two hours to get to the other end of 70 and back on to the interstate at exit 229. FOUR HOURS. The accident happened at TWO PM!! There could easily have been a sign before the 40/75 split in the FIVE hours after it happened and we could have gone south on 75 to Chattanooga and gotten home sooner! But noooooooooooo! As it was, we sat on the interstate and inched down a hilly backroad for FOUR hours and got home close to 1AM! Yes, thank God that nobody was injured seriously in the accident. And the tanker never blew up though they eventually closed Hwy 70 because it runs right next to and under the interstate right where the wreck was and rain was coming and water mixed with this stuff creates Hydrochloric Acid! Great, good to know we were that close to DANGER!

I think THP could have done a much better job rerouting way earlier than they did. They would have known right off the bat what was in this tanker. And that rain was COMING(hello? supposedly they hydroplaned in the RAIN and caused the wreck in the first place!). Guess I just chalk it up to a very interesting experience. And I got some interesting night photos of the traffic with my camera, playing with the settings until I got them just right. Had plenty of time to do so.

This past week

It's been a busy week. With the Fourth of July and the weekend, here is what I have been up to:

Fourth of July:
We grilled out, and watched "1776", a classic and a must for watching that day. And we played a LOT of Warcraft. All weekend.

Saturday:
We drove out to Wilson County to visit a cemetery that hubby had come across. And what luck, a Revolutionary War Soldier buried there!

John Williamson, Green's North Carolina Regiment. I will be adding more info about this cemetery to the website soon, I hope.

Sunday:
We went down to Manchester to visit the Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. It was a very nice mile and a 1/4 hike with a few waterfalls to stop and photograph. Got to play around with my tripod and using slower shutter speeds to get those cool blurry water shots. Not extremely thrilled with how most of the photos came out, but I am still learning, it was my first try doing that. The site was very interesting, completely not what I had expected before visiting. But I love to learn and it was fascinating. I want to make a resolution to visit every park listed in the book "Hikes of Middle Tennessee". I should post about that tomorrow maybe, list the ones I have already visited, list the ones I want to visit the most. Man I love to travel.

No more Flickr

I have deleted all the photos I had on Flickr. It wasn't very many, but I don't want to do business with them anymore. I was listening to Kim Komando show this weekend and she talked about how Flickr is not a very trusted site. I know I can't keep my photos completely safe, but seeing as how it seems people troll that site for photos to steal, I'd rather not have any of mine there.

I will continue to watermark my photos as well as post a photo a day on my other blog(when I am available to do so), and eventually add them to my private website. Not interested in hosting them somewhere else for now.

Guess I'm a dummy!

At the library today. Checked out "Digital Photography for Dummies". Huge, thick book. I'm about halfway through it. Learning alot. I suppose I could just point and shoot all the time, but I'd like to be able to control how the shots look at times-when I have time to think about it. Still get so confused over all the f-stops and shutter speeds and ISOs and what the numbers mean. And I've been taking photos for over 20 years. Sigh. I guess I've been mostly lucky up to this point. I hope this book will help me take much better photos. Still adding a photo a day at my other blog. It's fun looking back through photos to find something that matches the theme. Have not had the chance to go out and take a photo that applies-only using old ones. And I have quite a few to choose from. Used one from 1989 yesterday! Fun times. :)

Playing too much Warcraft

Just in case anyone is wondering. I got sort of hooked on getting something done and lost track of time. Sigh.

Father's Day weekend

Did not get much done these past 3 days. Well, depends on what you mean "done". These are some of the things we did in the last 3 days: signed up for library summer reading; research on some Blount County cemeteries; about 10 Rutherford County cemetery pages done for website, not uploaded yet; car tires rotated; more photos developed(more hockey photos); buy Father's Day gifts; watch "Blazing Saddles"; watch Tiger come from behind on last hole to tie up US Open; watch "When We Left Earth" on Discovery Channel; and lots and lots of World of Warcraft!

That about sums it up. More work to be done on cemetery section of website coming today.

Graveyards in the Smokies

Quite some time ago I really wanted to be able to visit and photograph all of the graveyards and cemeteries in the Smoky Mountains. After spending my honeymoon hiking six miles to one-and then not being able to walk for a couple of days-I realized that I won't get to most of them. But I cannot resist the ones that are more accessible. With our visit to the Smokies a couple weeks ago, I was able to add one to the "visited" list.

Cades Cove is an area in the western part of the park, located in Blount County and one of the more popular places for people to visit. The one-way loop road attracts thousands of cars a day in the hopes of seeing bear in their natural habitat(see post a few days down). There are three church cemeteries, easily visited and well marked. There is the Cable Cemetery, located near the visitor center at the far western end of the loop road. The Lawson Cemetery is not far from the Dan Lawson home, but it is in the woods and up a hill and not often visited. I finally was able to visit one that I had not previously, the LeQuire Cemetery. It is not far from the end of the loop, in a field near a pullout. There had been a fence up(as there is around most of the inner edge of the loop), but on this visit a section of fence was gone and a large path was cut into the high grass of the field leading out to the small graveyard. Finally I was able to visit when so many times I had just looked longingly as we passed by. To my dismay, there are absolutely no marked graves here, just a few simple fieldstones. But at least I know now and have photographed it(below).

We also took a trip through the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, a smaller version of Cades Cove just outside the town of Gatlinburg. It is darker and hillier though. Many of the trails start from this area, as was evidenced by the many parked cars at each of the trailheads along the way. Parking at the back end of the Baskins Creek Trail and walking about 50 yards along the trail leads to the Bales Cemetery. I've been there previously, but had not taken as many photos. This time the gate was open and I ventured inside to get many more photos, including the "one little headstone" photo below.

A final cemetery we visited was not in the park, but certainly in the shadow of the mountains there. It was the Huff Cemetery, in far eastern Sevier County, almost into Cocke County. We went in search of this cemetery to look for Revolutionary War Soldier Joseph Large. Luckily the graveyard was easy to find next to the road, and well kept. Aside from some obvious signs of vandalism, this was a very nice little cemetery. Strange how my camera battery died JUST as I photographed the marker for the found soldier. I took it as a sign, just to say "hey thanks for looking for me". But then I'm weird like that.

Finally got the photos back!

Yeah, so Kroger was a day late with them-I will be going to Walmart and using the one hour service from now on. Can't handle waiting a week!

So what were the photos?
Roll one...Battle of Franklin/Nashville reenactment, October 2004

Roll two...kiddo playing softball, IRL race July 2005

Roll three...hockey, Predators vs Columbus Blue Jackets, ?2002 or so

Roll four...lots of pix of kiddo, Memorial Day at Henry Horton State Park, 2002

So nothing spectacular, but some good memories!

Just too hot

We went out looking for something to take photos of yesterday. We tried to find a long hidden cemetery, but were just not looking in the right place-very close, but just a bit off(I can see it in the aerial photos, but the area from the ground looks a bit different now). Then we headed in a round about way to Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro. Would like to have stopped at a few graveyards along the way, but we were in sort of a rush I guess. At Cannonsburgh there was a wedding taking place, and I felt a bit odd walking about taking photos. Did take a few, but it just got so darn hot that we left and then went home. We should have left earlier in the morning. Oh well. Anxious to put my camera to really good use and don't want to drive around alone now.

I've also been really bored lately. Not "bored I need something to do" but "bored and I have loads to do but I don't feel like doing anything at all". Sorry. I'm trying.

No actually I'm not trying anymore. I am not allowed to voice my opinion anywhere, when I do I am chastised. I should just shut my f'n mouth and crawl in a hole.

Brad Paisley

Before I stop posting about random stuff here, I just wanted to take the time to say HOW MUCH I LOVE BRAD PAISLEY!! I cannot listen to his CDs enough, they are simply the best music I've ever heard. I love him!!

Started a new blog

Need to separate ideas. So I have started another blog with Blogger here. This one was turning into a "photo of the day" when I really wanted it to be just about Rutherford County, Tennessee as well as the cemeteries I come across when I go graving. It also became a venting place. I don't want that. So here is where I will post things now...

This blog will be all about cemeteries and historical places in my county.

Scouts Pix is a "photo of the day" blog. I started it today.

My World of Warcraft blog is where I talk about how much I hate the game but can't stop playing it every single day. >.<

My Myspace page, isn't updated often, but it is where I am going to go to vent. I feel more comfortable screaming at idiots there for some reason. And if the Dems win the White House, there will be LOTS of complaining from me.

I also post in the Find A Grave forums, though not often and I am virtually invisible there.

So starting today, less talking here, more photos everywhere!

It will be like Christmas!

In cleaning up a few months ago and going through loads of boxes and throwing things out I found a small treasure. Sad but true, I found a bag FULL of used rolls of 35mm film. There are at least 20 rolls if not more, I have not counted. I've been meaning to take them in and have them developed, but well I am Queen Procrastinator and basically forgot about them. Last night I dragged them out and I will take in about 4 or 5 a week to the Kroger for developing. I can't wait to see what is on these rolls!! I'm hoping for things like Cape Hatteras and more places back in Texas. Who knows! There may also be loads of old hockey photos. I can't wait to find out!

One little headstone

I liked how this photo came out of this one little headstone in a small cemetery in the Smoky Mountains. I have a list of who is buried there, but I have not looked up to see who this is yet. I just like how the photo came out.

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Universal Studios

Sad to hear about some of the sets of Universal Studios going up in flames yesterday. I've been there several times, it is such a cool place. We go nearly every time we visit California. So I was inspired to scan some of my old photos and add them to the website in the California travel section.
http://www.kimshockey.com/travel/ca/universal.html

I know it's only movie sets, but once you experience something and photograph it, it hurts a bit when you find out it has been destroyed.

We aggroed bears!!

So we went to the Smokies. And THEN we made the mistake of going to Cades Cove on a nice Saturday morning(well, we didn't get there until about 11am). We were almost all the way around, had only seen a couple of deer, lots of butterflies and about a billion nasty cicadas when it happened. Lots of red lights up ahead, vehicles are stopped, flashes can be seen going off in the woods. We were about 7 or 8 cars back and I hopped out with my camera to see what the fuss was all about. As I got there a nice old man pointed out that there were 2 bears, about 20 yards back, laying down in the woods. I got a higher vantage point and with my zoom lens in the darkness of the forest, I was going to be happy to come away with a photo like this one:

So I snapped a few shots and was about to head back to the car. They had made it up to where I was and my mom and kiddo had gotten out wanting to see it for themselves. As I turned to go back I heard "HERE HE COMES!" and turned to snap this shot:

UH OH! I thought! GET IN THE CAR! NOW! In my haste I kept turning to try to get closer shots, but they mostly ended up like this one...focusing WONDERFULLY on the branches and bushes between the bear and I:

We got in the car and what does Mr Bear do? Finds himself a good tree beside the road and gets to really itching a spot on his side. We were laughing up a storm, so excited at what we were seeing! The truck you see was parked right in front of us, we were so close to the bear!


Then I realized the other bear was headed our way too and I rolled down the window. In all this time I had been panicking and freaking and was so excited, I was getting ticked because the camera wouldn't focus and was taking forever to recharge the flash. It finally HIT ME to turn OFF the flash and use the MANUAL focus! Doh! About that time I nabbed this shot of the other bear very near our car:

We said our goodbyes and thank yous to the bears as he watched us drive away...

Of all the trips I've made to the Smokies and Cades Cove, and I've seen quite a few bears, this was the closest and by far the most memorable! It was incredible!

I have much more to say about the trip, but we just got home and I wanted to get this up ASAP!

School is out for the summer

Joy. Today was the last day of school for the kiddo. Now I get to have her company all day, every day until school starts back up. I hope she doesn't drive me too crazy! And I hope we can manage to get out and do something, even if it's just to the park or outside in the yard. Not complaining about gas prices, complaining about getting our butts away from the computer and actually DOING something! Last summer it was too darn hot all summer. No excuses this year. Things to do, places to go, people to see. Well, ok, not too many people. I generally don't like people. Especially ones in crowds. Must. Stop. Playing. Warcraft. Ugh.

Memorial Day weekend

Here is a run down on what we did on the 3 day weekend.
Saturday...was already explained, Radnor Lake

Sunday...we saw "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". My review? Well, I absolutely adore Harrison, he has been my favorite actor ever since Han Solo strode onto the screen in the first "Star Wars" when I was TEN years old!! That was a loooong time ago. Yes, he looks awesome. Yes, he appeared to do a LOT more of his own stunts that Shia did. The story, well a bit corny. Ok, I wrote out a line and realized I didn't want to give out any spoilers, so let's just leave it at corny! It wasn't as good as "Raiders" or "Last Crusade", but it was definitely better than "Temple"(which we watched when we got home!). IT WAS FUN, that was the best thing to say about it! I enjoyed it! I don't know much about Shia, but I have heard of him before. It was great seeing Ray Winstone again(still love him from "Robin of Sherwood"!). I didn't realize that the bad chick was Galadrial from LotR until I got home and did an IMDB search! So, all in all, I give it a 7 out of 10.

Monday...we cooked out. Wanted to head down to the cemetery but wasn't feeling good and then we got the food grilled just before the rains came, and came, and came. We watched "National Treasure 2" which we had bought the other day. After seeing "Indiana Jones", it felt like an "all archaeology weekend"! I really liked "NT2" also, the history things really get me! AND...this one is about the Lincoln "conspiracy", so they show this 'lost page' from Boothe's diary with names on it of the 'conspirators'. And the third name on the list is SPANGLER....he's a cousin of mine! My 2xgreat-grandma was Regina Spangler(m. Gideon P Wallace). She was the 3xgreat-granddaughter of Hans Rudolph Spangler, the father of several children who immigrated to America from Germany in the early 1700s. One son was Hans Kasper(my line), another was Johann Balthasar(Edman Spangler's line). Edman didn't really have much to do with the assassination of Lincoln, and spent only 6 years in jail and was pardoned by President Johnson. Still it was quite cool seeing that name on the big screen like that!

We've also played a LOT of World of Warcraft this weekend. If you ever wonder when I don't update this page-check the Warcraft blog of mine(link at right) and if that is updated, that is where I am!

Radnor Lake

This morning we woke up good and early and went down to Radnor Lake to go for a walk. Before we even got to the lake, we saw 3 deer. They were far enough off the road, and the woods were dark enough, that most of the photos were either too blurry(no flash) or mostly lit up eyeballs(with flash). Around the road trail along the lake we saw many turtles, but mostly just their heads peeping up. Saw a few more deer in the woods along there too. When we reached the visitor center/dam area we saw one Snapper, right beside the road-but he hid himself well enough in the brush that getting a photo was tough. Then we saw some Canadian Geese, and there were goslings! I took tons of photos of them, they were just so cute! They gathered the group up, Momma, Daddy, and 5 goslings, and headed to the lake. We walked over to the spillway for the small dam and photographed two other Canadian Geese and a Mallard Duck. One of the geese here kept calling, and the Daddy goose from before kept answering. Eventually the little family made it over to the dam and Daddy goose promptly shooed everyone else away so that the babies could breakfast on the moss growing all over the spillway. Again, tons more photos! We watched them for awhile and then headed down the Lake Trail that follows the backside of the lake. Saw three more deer, one large noisy woodpecker(that was tough to photograph), a Pill Millipede and a American Giant Millipede(took pictures of both but can't stand to look at them now!) and lots of noisy people. When we finally got back to the car, we were beat and hit the nearest Shoney's for breakfast buffet!

Unfortunately we did not see what I was hoping to, an American Bald Eagle. I had planned this trip a few weeks in advance, but found out in the past few days that a couple of Eagles had been spotted there. The news last night said they may be gone by now, and we did not see them, but we still had fun! A few photos have been posted on my Flickr page under "Nature"(link is over there on the right).

Also want to say that I have passed down my old digital camera to my nine year old. She took 88 photos at the lake today and I have to say, for her first attempts, some of them turned out pretty dern good! Hooray for her!

Another place to show my photos

Well, I've gone and done it. I started a Flickr account. I suppose it seems like the place *real* photographers show off their work. So I figured what the hey, I'll throw a few on there every now and then. They upload quickly and I don't have to worry about html and all that. The best will eventually go on my website, the way I want them. For now this will work for quantity to show my family recent things we've seen. Just have to decide what to add. I already put a few from the Renaissance Fest and a few random others. Will think more about it next week.

Complain, complain, complain

Dear God,
Grant me the courage to change those things I can
Grant me the patience to accept those things I can't change
Grant me the wisdom to know the difference between the two

I am so sick of people complaining about gas prices. Complaining isn't going to do anything. I wanted to write a much longer post about this, but really I don't feel like complaining about complainers matters much. We are nowhere near rich, but I guarantee you our wallets are not hurting at this time. It's called budgeting. Our food bills are not ANY higher than they were 6 months ago or a year ago. Life goes on, ADJUST.

Isn't there anyone else out there TRYING to have a positive attitude in spite of the situation in America? I LOVE AMERICA! I AM ALWAYS PROUD TO BE AMERICAN! I CAN DO IT(not I could do it, but I'd rather sit here and complain about it instead)! Is there a forum for people who like to have fun and not complain all the time? I wish I could find it, just to have someone to talk to about POSITIVE things.

Stonewall Jackson Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia

Just wanted to spotlight the awesome cemetery that is Stonewall Jackson Cemetery in Lexington, Virginia. Aside from the mass of bugs that I fought there one summer, it is probably my favorite that I've ever visited and I wish I had more time to visit it again. I've been three times so far, paying my respects to the General and trying to look at as many of the headstones as possible. The first time I was there I attempted to photograph as many of the Confederates as possible-they are marked with the crosses that make them easy to find. And there are hundreds there. I suppose so many wanted to be buried near Jackson. The last time I was there I spent time in the older section of the graveyard. Several Revolutionary War vets are buried here. The photo shows one of the more interesting older marker. Looks to be hieroglyphics near the bottom of the marker, though it probably has something to do with mortality or maybe even Mason symbols. I love the older markers. I love this cemetery.

Still working on the website

Ok, so I goofed off a bit yesterday. I did get the "Architecture" and "Bridges" sections added to the website. Today I will be working on "Statues". This statue is George Washington, it is near the Capitol building in Richmond, Virginia. I took it on the wonderful two-day trip my mom, kiddo and I took in March 2006. That was such a fun trip because basically we just took off for two days and said 'let's see how much of Virginia can we see in 2 days?'. We saw Richmond, Appomattox, Red Hill(Patrick Henry's home), Natural Bridge, Lexington, Guinea Station(where Stonewall Jackson died), Harpers Ferry, and Strasburg(where I have family buried). So much fun. I ache to do that again.

I just wanted to add a little something. I hate attention. It is not something I seek, in fact I almost fear the thought of being the center of attention. All eyes on me is something from my nightmares. That said, "being noticed" is something entirely different, and aside from my wonderful family, I don't think I am ever "noticed" for what I can do. And that hurts. I would love to hear someone tell me my photos are really, really good-but I cannot bring myself to place them somewhere where there are a million eyes yet no one looks. I want respect, not a pat on the head... "oh those are nice...keep trying, you'll get better ones someday" I've considered myself a photographer since the day I plopped down my hard earned cash back in 1983 for a Pentax K1000. I was sixteen years old. I took so many photos with that old Pentax, the shutter inside the long lens was broken and it still took awesome photos. I used it until my hubby bought me my Canon EOS Rebel in 1999. And THAT took awesome photos too! The boxes upon boxes full of 4x6 photos tell me I used these cameras for everything they were worth. Then the digital came, and it was a Fuji Finepix, just a little thing, in 2002. And that was there to save so much money on printing-it definitely paid for itself within a few months! And now I have been lucky enough to upgrade to a truly awesome digital camera. Sure, my subject matter so far isn't nightscapes or the ruins of Italy, but I think the photos are pretty good. I'm just not sure what to do with them aside from posting a few here and adding as many as I can to my website, but I guess that will have to do. I have to go now. I have to go use my camera to take photos of my kid getting an award at school for Academic Excellence.

Must...take...photos!

So I drove around yesterday looking for something to photograph. It isn't easy when you don't want to go to far from home(not for gas reasons, I just prefer to stay closer to home when my kid is in school, just in case). So I checked out each of the boat ramp areas close by on Percy Priest Lake. And at most of them I got weird stares from creepy old men fishing and had to just keep on going. But I did manage to see a few Blue Herons that I could attempt to take pictures of. And it's not easy from a car that is running to take long distance photos-the shaking makes most of the photos out of focus. This one turned out alright though and I wanted to post it here.

I worked quite a bit on the website yesterday, got the "Abandoned Places" done and uploaded. I am almost done with "Interesting Architecture" and then will probably start on "Bridges". For some reason, the pages look really good on my computer, but not quite as good when I check them out on hubby's computer. Could be his settings or something. I just hope they look 'decent' for anyone who might stumble upon the site and check it out. Not that I care, I'm pretty sure nobody ever looks at my website OR this blog. It's just for me anyway, and I think maybe sometimes my mom and sister check it out too. Sometimes. When I remind them. Heh.

Photo(s) of the day...

I really like this photo. It was taken on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival in Triune, Tennessee. I used my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi with a 75-300mm Ultrasonic Canon Zoom Lens. This horse was itching to get going! It was a shame that we missed most of the jousting for the day, but at least I did get a few shots in.


This is a shot of the Muse Cemetery here in Rutherford County. It was once hidden far back in the woods somewhere behind John Coleman School and the Square D factory. We attempted to follow the trail behind JCE several years ago, but the weeds and spider webs were far too thick. Then about a year ago, the town of Smyrna extended the Smyrna Greenway around behind the school and lo and behold it went right beside the long forgotten little graveyard. I was thrilled and shamefully it took me quite awhile to get out there to actually photograph it. I did just that this past weekend. The photos and names will be added to my website soon.

Weekend Summary

Saturday we went to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. It was very fun, as usual! I think this makes our fourth year in a row to go. And we finally did what I had been wanting to do since I moved to Tennessee 12 years ago...get inside that awesome castle! The previous years we always seemed to forget about the free tour until it was too late. This year we hit it first thing. And it was so worth it! Seeing it up close and on the inside, well it was simply awesome. I can't think of much else to say about it. I will try to post a few photos later. We missed most of the jousting, which stank because I really wanted to give my new camera a good workout. Will have to come up with something else(like a trip to the Smokies in a few weeks?!). We bought a very cool Dragon incense burner, the smokes comes out the mouth-I love it!

We did head over to the Muse Cemetery, now located off the Smyrna Greenway near John Coleman school, to get a few photos. Need to get those fixed up and added to the website. I'm so behind on that. Grr.

Sunday night was the ACM Awards. Brad Paisley won Male Vocalist! Hooray! AND Best Video!! YEAH! (even though they didn't show the awarding of that award, which ticked me off!) He should have won Entertainer of the Year as well. Kenny Chesney won-but Kenny was right, the "fan voting" was a gimmick and it sucked. If all of the other votes were made my ACM members, why shouldn't this one still be? There are other "fan voted" award shows-leave that stuff to them. I'm not saying Kenny wouldn't have won otherwise, or if Brad(who deserved it) would have won, but PLEASE keep the gimmick crap off one of the only "industry" voted awards show. Gah.

And the bees...heh

Ok, I haven't gotten out much this week. Too much rain. Another thing I've been photographing is the flowers near our porch. These Daffodils are nice, and yesterday a bee was busy checking out the insides, then flying off to wherever and coming back. I caught a few shots of him before he finally had had enough and began buzzing around our heads! Figured I had gotten enough shots and went back inside!

Tomorrow is the Ren Fest. Will take LOADS of photos. Hope many of them turn out. I am really trying to learn how to use this camera, but I get so confused! So I just point and shoot, the same way I did with my Canon EOS Rebel 200 and my old Pentax K1000! And I get some not half bad shots, I guess. Just lucky maybe.

More birds...

Hopefully I will get more interesting things photographed in the future to add! I can't wait to get out. :)

Birds and the new camera

So I got a new camera for Mother's Day! Hooray! It is a Canon EOS Rebel XTi Digital. It is so schnazzy that I am almost scared to use it! And the good news is that my old 75-300mm lens off of my old Canon Rebel works with this one!

So since I've had it all of one day so far, the only thing I've really managed to photograph are birds in the front yard(through the window so as not to scare them away). Problem is, I really have no clue what kind of birds they are! I think some are Sparrows. Some perhaps Grackles? Well, ok I recognize Cardinals and Blue Jays and Doves. The rest, no clue and I can't find them after Googling for hours!

Oh well, I want to post a few here. Maybe someone, perhaps, will see this and now!



The two above are the ones I am really curious about. The ones below I am pretty sure are Swallows.


And perhaps I will add the others to a seperate post.

Excellent map source

I have recently discovered an excellent map to search for cemeteries. It is located on the Rutherford County website. It is called a GIS map and when zoomed in to a low enough level shows the zoning map for the entire county. More often that not, cemeteries show up as small squares on the map. Mousing over them gives the information that it is indeed a cemetery-often showing the name of the cemetery and sometimes even the exact address. It can also show who owns the land/property surrounding a cemetery, though that doesn't always help when it comes to contacting someone about it. My general motto is, that if it cannot be seen from the road and is on private property, then I will likely never see it. Unless of course progress steps in(see post below!).

It can be time-consuming, going over so much area. I spent five hours looking over it yesterday and I only looked at the Smyrna, LaVergne and northern Murfreesboro areas. I will likely use this tool to get as much information as I can for cemeteries that I have yet to find when I list them on my website.

I am now very curious to see if there are GIS maps available for any surrounding counties, perhaps to aid in my hunt for the graves of Revolutionary War Soldiers of Williamson County.

Progress-the good, the bad and the ugly

I'm not really sure where I stand on "progress". Some days I despise it-most days it seems. And then some days, like today, I thank the heavens for it.

Today we went to a new subdivision. There is only one home built so far, and only a few roads laid out and paved. When I spotted the new roads a few days ago I prayed that it was indeed the property I had poured over for so many days on Google Maps. Driving out there today, parking at the farthest road in, and walking across a field of about 200 yards, proved me right. We located a small cemetery(pictured here), the Blackman Cemetery, that had been hidden back here for so many years. It sat about 1/2 mile from all surrounding roads. I was never sure exactly which property it sat on or who owned it. But thanks to progress, it has been found again.

The amount of farmland in my county that is being turned into subdivisions and strip malls is astounding.

And that brings me to the bad. The loss of two of the most historic homes in our county in the past few years, the Jenkin House and the McCulloch-Overall House.


Both of these homes played large roles in the Battle of Stones River. The top photo, the Jenkins Home, was the site of a field hospital for the Union forces. It sat near the intersection of Manson Pike and the interstate. It had sat abandoned for many years, and after exchanging hands a few times(and seemingly not allowing those who wanted to save to well, save it), it was torn down not long after this photo was taken in October of 2005. With the new interchange for Manson Pike, most assuredly someone wants to put a gas station or strip mall here. What a shame.

The other photo is of the McCulloch-Overall House. It was used as a headquarters for Confederate General William J Hardee before the battle. The home had been built in 1838 by Benjamin McCulloch. It was used as photographers studio for many years before being sold. From what I've heard, it was torn down in late 2006 for apartments or a strip mall, but I have not been back over there to see for myself-just the thought of losing this home makes my blood boil.

And then there is the ugly. I don't visit cemeteries in neighboring counties too often, unless they have a real historical significance. There had been one in Antioch, near Bell Road and Murfreesboro Rd, that we had stopped at once to photograph. It wasn't a large cemetery, just a few graves, but it was there and we stopped to photograph it. That was before I had a digital camera, probably back around 2002. I was recently informed that it had been destroyed by developers so we drove over to have a look. Now, I couldn't remember exactly where it was, but knew the general area, up on a small hill between some homes. When we drove by that area, the cemetery, the homes, and indeed the whole small hill had been flattened and there were bulldozers everywhere. Now, I don't know that these graves weren't moved first, but if they were not, that is a sad and miserable ending for this poor family and this little cemetery. I honestly can't imagine something like this happening, but it honestly does not surprise me.

Near the intersection where we exit the interstate to come to our house, there used to be a small graveyard. From what I had learned, when we first moved here, was that the markers had been plowed over when the subdivision was built in the 70s. However there still sat that little piece of land, with the tall weeds at the back, where I assumed the graveyard was-even if the stones were gone. Last year they built a Chem-Dry building on top of it. I hope they are haunted.

To sum this all up, progress can be good when it chooses to be. I can't count the number of small graveyards I have located thanks to progress over the past 5 1/2 years since I moved here and started this project-in fact I might make a list later in the week. But what we are losing at the same time makes me extremely sad and angry. Some subdivisions are built around existing historic homes(the Johns-King Home in Smyrna comes to mind), and some old homes are moved(the Morton house when Stewarts Creek schools were built), but when they are destroyed for no good reason, I cannot see the logic in this.

Please, whatever you do, save our history!

Nice day today

I actually went out and took some photos! Just a few, got some updated cemetery shots for a few that I think I had forgotten to take 'overall' shots of before. They were the Mitchell-Moore Cemetery here in Smyrna, the Baugh Cemetery-which is closer to Blackman, and the Walden Cemetery in Smyrna(which is basically nothing but a shot of some trees-the headstones are well hidden).

Working on the "B" cemeteries today, still getting easily distracted(and not for something productive! I *could* do the dishes, heh!), about 1/4 of the way through them.

Listening to Brad Paisley ALOT! Watched the CMT awards last night. Brad won 'Comedy Video' but didn't get to come up and accept-it was one of those "awarded previously". And he did not win Best Male or Overall Video. Bah, what do those people know anyway?? Smoochies, Brad!!

Blue Angels

We got to see the Blue Angels this weekend at the Smyrna Air Show. We weren't able to actually go *to* the Air Show, we parked at a parking lot across from the airport and watched from there. And despite the cold, it was quite a show! And despite using my little digital camera, I think I got some decent photos, including the one above! There isn't much that is equal to the feeling you get when one of those babies flies directly over you! The sound, the feel, it is incredible! And this comes from someone who is afraid of flying, but is obsessed with airplanes. Weird, I know.

TGIF

I worked on the site a bit today. I got all of the "A" cemeteries done for Rutherford County and uploaded. Working on the photos for the "B" cemeteries now. Thought it might be easier than going chronologically and completely redoing all of the photos, though I will probably do that at some point. I just want to get them all up and on the site as soon as possible. I am avoiding long lists of photos for now. I am trying to just add the "overall" area and gate photos for now. Individual pictures will come later.

The picture here is of one of the old columns from the Tennessee State Capitol. You can see the Capitol Building in the background. The old columns were replaced in 1955. They were originally placed in 1850 and were quarried nearby. Many of the columns ended up in a field near the old Tennessee State Prison. Some of them were brought back to the Capitol in 1996 as a memorial to the stonecutters who built it. Taken by me last summer.


A final note, and a sad one. One of my kid's softball coaches from last year passed away last week. He was only 37, with 2 young kids. His funeral was today. My heart and prayers are with Danielle and Aaron.

Random photo of the day

I have been lax as of late. In fact, I have been on a crusade to get one of my characters to a certain level in World of Warcraft. He will be there tomorrow. So I am hoping Monday to get back to getting serious about my website. In the meantime, I am going to add some photos here as a preview.

I plan to add quite a bit to the history section, and in fact should call it the history & interesting things section. The subsections include: Abandoned buildings; Architecture; Boats; Bridges; Churches; Forts; Historical Markers; Houses; Memorials; Planes; Signs; Statues; Trains; Trees; and Weird Buildings. And I have plenty to add to each I think!

More info to come, check back, oh around once a week maybe! Heh.

Forgot to add the info about the photo! I took this of the Trinity Church in downtown Nashville last year. Beautiful little historical church. It was a hospital during the Battle of Nashville, which was fought mostly just south of here.

My website-what to do

I know in my heart that I want to work on the website. I do. Friday the site was down, and when I was afraid that my account payment time was up, I couldn't even get into my service providers site, Powweb. Of course, doing some Googling finds that lots of people don't like them. And yes, they have screwed me a bit in the past. But I don't know where else to go. When I look for another one, it is either too expensive or I find bad reviews of it somewhere. I mean, I haven't found the "perfect" web host yet. Someone, somewhere out there hates the ones I look up info on. I suppose that only makes sense. Not everyone will have perfect service everywhere. I just want a place for my little website! That is reliable! And not too expensive!! Sigh....

As for getting the info online, that is my other problem. With getting hooked on playing Warcraft or Lord of the Rings, some days I can't bear to pull myself away from them to actually get something done. And the days I do, when I am here on Firefox, I spend half the time checking message boards or over-researching every name I come across. I just can't focus. And I still can't figure out how to get focused. >.<

Well, I need to do some walking. Treadmill. Thank goodness. As much as I want to walk in parks or where ever, I can't do it alone. Not anymore. I want to-it's not that-I'd carry mace and a big stick and a knife, but hubby doesn't want me too. And then there is the old excuses, "it's too cold", "it's too hot", "I'm too tired". Too much.

That reminds me of this weekend, the big buildup to this snowstorm we were going to have. We barely got an inch, it wasn't even enough to cover the grass. I sooo wanted to be able to get out and get some cemetery photos in the snow, but the snow was gone by noon and the car was with hubby at work(on the weekend, NO! Grrrrrr!). WEEKEND SUCKED!

First comment!

Looky there! At the post before this! First ever comment from someone! So other people(or at least one!) *DO* read this page?! Wow!

Thank you for the nice comment. It does make me feel good when I get some kind of response regarding the website, especially the cemeteries section. Lets me know I am not wasting my time. Though at times I certainly feel as if I am.


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Just want to say that we bought a treadmill last week. And I have begun to make an attempt to watch what I eat. It isn't easy so far, and it's only been a few days, so we will see how(and if) it will continue. I really want this, and hopefully I can stick with it this time.

One final note.....I actually just went back and watched "Lord of the Rings", and I mean *really* watched it, for the first time. I think I've seen it before, but didn't care and didn't pay attention. And I've not seen all of the other two. But with playing Lord of the Rings Online game(and being slightly obsessed over the past couple of years with Dom Monaghan who played Merry-and Charlie on Lost), it makes sense. And now things *in the game* make more sense!! And places will be more interesting if I can relate them to something! Cool. =)

Rutherford County-the 'B's

Did the B's today for Rutherford County. Only the ones that I haven't been to, the ones I am only giving basic info on. There are TONS of Bs in our county! Hopefully the next few pages go faster! I think I will get all those pages done before I go back and redo all the pages with photos. Because that means I will have to go back and fix all the photos to better sizes and with the website name added to them.

So much to do, so little attention to keep at it.

Argh though writing about these places makes me want to get back out and find them!! At least a few of them. Sigh....

Rutherford County Tombstone Photo Project

I have finally re-added this page to my website. Shame I don't really have anything linked there yet. Over 700 cemeteries to add either basic info or a full page with photos and transcription. It's a LOT of work. And having to go back and re-do a lot of the photos to add my name to them so people will stop stealing them. Stinks but it has to be done. I just wish I could set myself down and FOCUS and get it done. I drift too easily, check message boards, check Google Earth, check Worldconnect, get distracted trying to find just the right info and spend too much time on something else.

And now its snowing. But not sticking to the ground. Bummer. But it did snow enough last night for the kiddo to get a snow day.

Nathan Bedford Forrest

We had a bit of time last week where I was able to visit the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest. It is in a small park in downtown Memphis. This was the only part of downtown we had time to see. We also visited Elmwood Cemetery. There are 2 Tennessee Governors and 14 Confederate Generals buried there. Unfortunately only a few are listed on the map that we paid 5 bucks for. Now I don't have a problem paying 5 bucks for a map, but I was hoping it would mark more of the important people. It only had one TN Governor, and we never found the other. It only marked a few Generals, and we actually noticed Gideon Pillow by chance and he wasn't on the list! I need to do lots more research on that place before we go back. And hope for a sunny day-use up less batteries and the pictures look so much nicer on sunny days.

Need to work on my website now, Warcraft is down for the day. :)

Ruby Falls in Chattanooga

Photo of Ruby Falls included. I believe it is the world's tallest underground waterfall. Impressive. It is not easy to get a photo of it either, especially when you are using a small digital camera with no tripod and loads of other people walking around. In two trips, this might be the best one turned out for me. I consider myself a bit claustrophobic but I haven't had a problem visiting these caverns. I certainly can't imagine going in this cave as small as it was when they first discovered it though!

Back from short trip...sort of

Ok, so we took sort of a vacation. We took the week and went to the Smoky Mountains(Gatlinburg, Newfound Gap); Chattanooga(Tennessee Aquarium, See Rock City, Ruby Falls); Fall Creek Falls; all over Nashville(seeing stars homes, Parthenon, downtown, Opry Mills); and Memphis(Elmwood Cemetery, Nathan Bedford Forrest).

You want more details? Ok, well I will try to give a few. Some family members came in for the week. We wanted to show them Tennessee. And we did. We could have showed them more.

We went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. We walked some of Gatlinburg, but weather chased us away. Ate dinner at Great American Steak Buffet(or something like that), it was good. Next day we drove up to Newfound Gap. Couldn't stay long as the Park Rangers were closing off the parking lot due to about a dozen cars in the lot that had been broken into overnight. Back down the mountain and off to Chattanooga. Shame we saw so little.

Got to Chattanooga, went to Tennessee Aquarium. It was nice, unfortunately the kiddo got sick and by the time we got to a restaurant she had a migraine and threw up her dinner. And I got to spend my dinner time in the car with her. And when they brought my dinner back to the hotel, I had no utensils to eat it with(try eating Cracker Barrel food with no fork!). Oh well. Next day she felt better and we hit See Rock City. It was nice as always, quite cold-which wasn't too bad, and completely empty-which was excellent. But we got through it so quickly. Oh well, we've seen it before. Then to Ruby Falls. I've seen that before too, but it is nice to see again. Then onto Fall Creek Falls, though it looked empty when we arrived, as we walked to the overlook several dozen EXTREMELY RUDE teenagers showed up, hogged the overlook and were general morons and assholes. Shame. Though I always enjoy the ride, the countryside, some just don't and we should have never went here.

Around Nashville, we stopped by the homes of George Jones, Alan Jackson, Ronnie Dunn, Vince Gill, and maybe a few more that I can't remember. Went to Centennial Park to see the Parthenon. Went downtown to show the Arena and Coliseum. I think we did too much driving around though. Then to Opry Mills, which I personally hate-mainly because I hate shopping. But we spent like 2 hours there. Thursday was a bad icy day. We saved Memphis for Friday.

Friday and leaving very early. We got to Memphis and dropped them off at Graceland(no interest in that from me), and we went to Elmwood Cemetery to find Tennessee Governors and Confederate Generals. We managed to run downtown and see the grave of Nathan Bedford Forrest, but we weren't finished when we had to run back to Graceland and pick them up. Oh well, next time. We had planned on hitting Paris, TN and Hurricane Mills on the way back, but we just didn't have time.

And that was the week. They flew out Saturday morning to go to Vegas, I hope they have more fun there than we were able to show them. Oh well.

Photos to come, the ones I was able to get anyway.

Yep

No, no I don't want to turn this into a political blog. Just want to state my point of view. Move along now.