This Scout's Life

Aaaaaaaaargh

2010-09-07T08:00:00.002-05:00

New computer a few months ago. It went deep fried within a week. New new computer now. Scared to put anything on it for fear of losing it to another deep fried. It won't accept my old programs that I used to fix photos and do html. It doesn't like half the websites I try to go to. And I lost my old password list.

Not sure what to do now. Can only play World of Warcraft and cry because I can't go anywhere and I can't do anything and can't afford ANYTHING.

I HATE 2010.

Looking into the past

2010-02-24T11:03:00.002-06:00

I thought I'd spend some time and pixels on posting some of my genealogy information, in the hopes that maybe someone out there googling for the same people might stumble across this page.

I'm going to start on my mother's side, I know more about it. Going back a few generations brings me to the following(I will call where I am starting "generation 1"):

Generation 1

Emanuel Clayton Shriner(1873-1942, Maryland) married Mary Carter(1891-1915, Indiana), probably in California and probably in 1909 or 1910. They are found, married but living as lodgers with someone else, in the 1910 census. They are buried in Oakdale Cemetery, Glendora, California

Generation 2

Emanuel Shriner(1827-1897, Maryland) married Adeline Wetzel(1832-??, Maryland). They are found in the 1880 census living near Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Maryland. Emanuel is buried in Friends Creek Cemetery, Friends Creek, Maryland. Not certain where Adeline is buried. Adeline is in the 1900 census as widowed, but I do not find her as a 'Shriner' in the 1910 census. Possibly she died in this time frame.

Generation 3

Peter Shriner(1800-1860, Maryland) married Sarah Jane Fleagle(1805-1860, Maryland). They are buried in Friends Creek Cemetery, Friends Creek, Maryland. Sarah's last name found through other people's information found on Familysearch.org or Worldconnect.rootsweb.com; I cannot confirm it yet through any documents. Sarah died before the 1860 census was taken, and I do not find them in the 1850 census.

Generation 4

the parents of Peter Shriner are unknown. Johan Valentin Fleagle(1762-1845, Maryland) is the father of Sarah Fleagle, assuming she is indeed Peter Shriner's spouse. Johan was a fifer in the Revolutionary War and has a Revolutionary War Veteran marker on his tombstone. He married Margaret E. Hahn(1770-1842, Maryland). They are buried in Baust Church Cemetery, Tyrone, Maryland. The surname is also seen as Fleegle, Fluegle, Flegal, Flugel, and possibly other similar ways of spelling.

That is all I will post for today.It's about all I know on this section of my family. I'm sure the way I typed that all up isn't the 'right way', but as long as I get the information out there.

I started here because Mary Carter is my most mysterious roadblock. Even in a 1947 written family tree, her parents are listed as 'unknown'. She had one brother(as far as anyone knows), Harry, born in 1887. He died in 1912. In 1900, at age 13, he is listed as being an 'inmate' at the Julia E Work Training School/Brightside Orphanage. This "school" was for orphans, troubled kids, and mentally challenged children. *IF* he was an orphan, Mary(who would be 9 years old), is not listed as being there as well. He died young, age 25, so it is possible he had a disorder that made him difficult to keep at home. Or he could have just been a bad kid. However, even after searching nearly every Carter household in Indiana, I have not been able to locate Mary in order to find out who her parents were. She died when her only son was 3 years old, so perhaps once I order the death certificate I will find out more. Until then, I like getting this information out there...just in case!

Bones of the Cedar Bucket, part 3

2010-01-22T06:32:00.003-06:00

This sculpture was created from the charred remains of the world's largest cedar bucket. Sculpted by Murfreesboro-Rutherford Art League member Carl Morris Brandon. Carl brought to bear much of the remains including charred nails.

Red Cedar (or Juniper) is one of nature's many gifts to Middle Tennessee. in "Bones of the Cedar Bucket" the natural grace of the tree limb, the beauty of the red heartwood and the skill of the artist are all represented. The last vestiges of the world's largest cedar bucket are used to represent the bones of the human hand, symbol of the artist's creativity, making beauty out of destruction. One mad cut the cedar, another made the bucket, someone set a fire, the artist creates a memorial.

At the time, July 2008, this sculpture to the memory of the bucket sat just inside the entrance to the museum in Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro. It is still unknown to me the fate of the rest of the remains of the charred bucket. It is still unknown whether or not a new bucket will ever be built. You can never truly replace history, but you should never forget it.

The night the bucket burned; part 2

2010-01-20T10:08:00.007-06:00

In the early morning hours of Father's Day, June 19, 2005, an arsonist went to the historic village of Cannonsburgh in Murfreesboro and set fire to the World's Largest Cedar Bucket. By the time the fire department arrived, most of the bucket was a total loss. The upper half of the bucket was scorched, the roof of its shelter had burned through, and the walls of the next door blacksmith were blackened.

Two days later, I hurried down to see it with my own eyes and was horrified at the scene. The marvelous bucket, which my daughter and I had just visited and photographed a few weeks earlier(for the umpteenth time), was in ruins. Surrounded by crime scene tape, the smell of burnt wood was overwhelming.

As you can see, the bucket wasn't burned completely to ashes, but the damage was done. The guilty party-to my knowledge-has never been found. Local blacksmiths have vowed to rebuild the bucket, but it won't be the same. A local artist has taken some of the charred remains and created a sculpture that now stands in the museum at the village.

Big Red Bucket, a 3 part story

2010-01-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

The World's Largest Red Cedar Bucket. This bucket was originally built as a promotional item in 1887 by Tennessee Red Cedar Woodenworks Company in Murfreesboro. A height of 6 feet, weight of 800 pounds, and capacity of 1,556 gallons. It spent time at its factory in Murfreesboro, with trips to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 and St Louis in 1904. It was sold to a grocer where it sat from 1950 to around 1965. It was sold to an amusement park in Georgia. It was eventually brought back to Murfreesboro in 1976 where it was placed on display at Cannonsburgh Historic Village.

Cannonsburgh was created as Murfreesboro's 1976 Bicentennial project. The buildings around the village, for the most part, were brought from around the county and some date back as far as the 1830s. The bucket sat next to the blacksmith shop, and across the path from the grist mill.

June 19, 2005, arsonists visited Cannonsburgh late at night and set fire to the Bucket. What was left was mostly charred remains.

Snow expected!

2010-01-05T07:36:00.003-06:00

They are predicting 2-4 inches of snow for the Middle Tennessee area! I have been waiting a few years now for a really good snow in order to get out and take some cemetery photos in the snow, particularly Stones River National Cemetery. If I can get out and get any photos, I will certainly post them here.

**update: they have downgraded us to only maybe 1-2 inches. That stinks. I WANT SNOW!

**update 2: 11:03am on Thursday, still no snow!

The New Year

2010-01-04T08:32:00.002-06:00

Time to think about the things I want to get done in 2010. I think last year pretty much sucked. I have my fingers crossed that this year will be better.

Work on my personal website more.

I did get some things done on it last year, fixing up a new look and sectioning it out more. Now I just need to add more of the hundreds of thousands of photos I have to it. I really want to work on the cemetery and historic places sections. Those seem to be what I have the most.

Add more and better photos to my Flickr page.

I don't have a 'premium' membership, so I'm only allowed around 200 photos. I just want to make sure that I upload the best and most interesting photos I have and hope that it leads people who look there to my personal website to see more. I don't get many views right now though, not really sure what I need to do to get more out there. Maybe I should comment on other photos I like more, and that will lead others back to my page. Not certain.

Get back to posting more often on my Photo of the Day blog and Cemetery of the Day blog.

Maybe I'll just get over my fear of rejection and link my 'photo of the day' to some of the contests that they have. And maybe link the other to some cemetery blogs I've come across. Either way, they need help and they need me posting more often and not playing games so much.

The big one, of course, is to get more organized.

I have stacks of photos all over, they need to be scanned and re-filed. I have boxes of tourism pamphlets that I've considered scanning and organizing somehow. A box of maps that need filing. Books need to be straightened out. Copies from reference books at the library need to be placed in notebooks. I even need to go through the cups of pens on my desk and throw out the ones that don't work anymore!

And finally, get out more!

If only I can convince the hubby. January and February really are the best times to get out and see things, when all the foliage has died back and there are no bugs or snakes! So much to see, so little time. So much to do, time to get started!

Battle of Franklin 145 years reenactment

2009-12-02T09:35:00.008-06:00

On Saturday, November 28th, we attended the Blue and Gray Days and Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee. As a part of this day, they had a small reenactment. I wasn't certain if this was supposed to be a show of what happened in this area at the time of the Battle(somehow that didn't seem right), or just a small show for the people who came to pay their respects. Unfortunately, we happened to be standing next a group of teenagers who had very little respect. Shame to think of how many of those who died that day were the same age as these punks. And yet one hundred and forty years ago, the boys of this age fought bravely and had respect.

I hate to compare this small reenactment to the one five years ago that took place at a plantation home in Spring Hill. It was massive and quite impressive. Today there were only about 20-30 soldiers on each side, and two cannons each. Their dedication to recreating and keeping alive the memory of those who fought and those who died so many years ago does not go unnoticed by me. It is the closest those of us now can get to feeling as if we were there. And for someone like me, who reads and researches so much about this period of time, it is truly thought provoking.

I'm not much of a photographer I think, but I imagine myself as a Matthew Brady or Alexander Gardner when I watch reenactments, or visit the reenactors in their camps. I've posted just a few of my photos from Saturday here. A few of them I've done a little playing in Photoshop to see about getting a more historical look and feel to the photos.

And a big Thank You to these reenactors, for all you do.

Battle of Franklin 145 years later

2009-11-30T09:24:00.000-06:00

It is the 145th Anniversary of the Battle of Franklin. This past Saturday we attended the Blue and Gray Days at Carnton Plantation in Franklin. They had a small reenactment and a luminary lighting.

This post will be about the luminaries. There were 10,000 of them, for all the casualties of this horrific battle in 1864. We arrived at Carnton at about 1:30pm. Sunset came around 5pm. As the sky grew darker, the sight of so many lights was stunning. I stood across the Confederate Cemetery from them, and I couldn't help think about the lights that were taken away so many years ago, and lay under the ground here before me.

I hope these photos can give some sense of the amazing sight of so many candles.

Just when you think

2009-11-29T11:36:00.000-06:00

you are out of the woods. And JUST when we had finished paying off the broken wrist that my daughter managed back in April-she breaks it again. Yes, on a lovely early November trip to the Smokies, on a beautiful day that I will get to spend with my mother and my husband. Daughter is going with my sister and nephew to a Boy Scouts cavern trip, and before they even leave the parking lot, she falls while racing around and breaks it again. There goes the weekend. And the Christmas money.

We have had a bit of time to visit some local places lately, and some local events, and I will be posting about those in the next few days.

Things have been crazy

2009-09-01T10:37:00.003-05:00

I was pretty upset for awhile after July 4, as can be seen in the post below.

The rest of the summer was a mixed bag.

Our air conditioner went out, it was rough for a few days. And then my daughter and I were told to go spend a few weeks with my mom in Sevierville. I felt bad for my husband having to stay at home in the heat-but at least he wasn't home all day in it like we would have been.

So we spent a couple of weeks near the Smokies. I got out to visit quite a few places that I had been wanting to see for a long time. John Sevier's home, Sam Houston's schoolhouse, several cemeteries and other historical places. And I got to spend time with family.

I'd like to say I will post photos, but I won't lie-I've been playing a LOT of World of Warcraft lately and I just can't seem to bring myself to work on my website-as much as part of me REALLY wants to get it done. C'est le vie. :(

And now school has started, and the kiddo has already brought home a cold that she shook off in one weekend-but has stuck with me for just over a week now.

And the car has so many things wrong with it that I fear driving it around during the day-and the AC on the truck doesn't work. So I sit at home...and play.

Well, at least we were lucky enough to get out for a Titans game(hubby's boss gave him the tickets), and I got to take loads of photos at that.

Sigh.

Memorial at LP Field

2009-07-09T16:17:00.010-05:00

Fitting that today is July 9th. We went to the memorial for Steve McNair at the Titans playing field, LP Field, today. We went early to avoid the crowds. And I couldn't bring myself to go to the actual funeral home and viewing. I wanted to remember Steve where he made us happy.

There was a photo board, notebooks to sign, and a video playing on the jumbotron. I don't recall much of what I wrote on the notebook, I could barely see what I was writing, I just couldn't stop crying.

I took a few photos. Just a few. It was a beautiful Columbia Blue sky. I remember as a kid, back in Houston we always said that God was an Oilers fan, that was why the sky was Columbia Blue. I thought about that today.
This poster was just outside the gates. Someone had placed some candles near the base of the pillar.
The photos of Steve.
Flower arrangements and mementos.
Video of Steve's life on the jumbotron.
Steve's name on the "Ring of Honor".

Thanks for the memories Steve.

Remembering a Titan

2009-07-05T07:45:00.002-05:00

There are times when life is shown to be bigger than a game. Yesterday was one of those days.

I live near Nashville. I moved to Tennessee the same year that the Oilers moved from Houston to Tennessee. If I'd gotten a dollar for every time someone asked me "are you following the Oilers?", well it probably would have paid for the U-haul truck. But no, I was following my mom and just starting over in my life. But the Oilers had recently given me a reason to be happy that I was moving to the same place that they were. It was Steve McNair. He really hadn't played very much by the time I left late in 1996(he was drafted in 1995), but we knew he was going to be good.

And good he was. Even great at times. He was everything I loved about football and he was what I expect out of people. He loved life. He gave back. He never complained. He never wanted the credit for the good but always took credit for the bad. He played no matter what. His heart was as big as Nashville and his smile was as wide as Tennessee. Yes, I cursed him when he defected to our hated rivals in his final years, but I still loved him.

Yes, I met him once. We went to one training camp practice day back in 1999. It was a very hot August day, but Steve, out of all of those that came over to the fans, stayed and signed for everyone that was there. I still have that card. And the two jerseys(Oilers and Titans), the bobblehead, the action figures. And I was excited to know that after retiring, he was coming back to Nashville to live. And I am shocked that it is over so soon.

So many people I find lately who think it is all about them at all times. I mean, the jerks who obviously don't care about anyone but themself and continue to shoot fireworks until late in the night-do they think everyone else in the neighborhood cannot hear them? But they don't care about anyone else. And the people in game who think their fun is more important than MY fun. Really? Would you block off all of the other checkout lanes in the grocery store so everyone else can't check out because you think it's funny? No, whether it is the internet or being in a vehicle, people just think they can get away with whatever they want to do, regardless of the consequences-because usually there are no consequences. And for some reason, so many people in this world have gotten in their heads that it really doesn't matter how what they are doing affects other people, so they will just do what they want. It's all me, me, me. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person left with a conscience.

Sorry for that ramble, but Steve was not one of those people. And with all of the celebrity deaths in the past week, I am saddened by this one the most. Because Steve wasn't really a "celebrity", regardless of how many people knew who he was and the stage he played on. Steve was Superman and Clark Kent at the same time. Steve was a true hero when most sports figures really should not be.

I'm going to miss you Steve. I still can't believe this has happened. I had hoped to wake up this morning to find it all a bad dream. But it wasn't. And I will be sad for a long time.

The Unlucky photographer

2009-06-13T06:59:00.002-05:00

That's me.

I've been perusing quite a lot of Flickr lately. I've noticed that many of the best photos(or at least from the photographers I like the most), get the best shots with the right light. Whether it be bright, sunny, no clouds in the sky days, or the perfect light of sunrise or sunset. And I hear that some won't even post photos from days that was cloudy.

And then there's me. I wish I was a photographer I guess. I have taken thousands and thousands of photos since I bought that first Pentax back in 1984. But me, I have got to be the worst or unluckiest at getting shots.

I can't buy sunny days to save my life. If there is a great day to be out taking photos, well that's a day that I can't get out to take some for whatever reason. And if I can get out, by the time I get to what I want to photograph, the clouds have shown up and ruined the day.

The things I want to photograph always seem to:
Face north when it's winter
Face east in the evening and west in the morning
Look terrible without foliage and I find them in the winter or I find them in the summer and you can't see them at all because of all of the foliage
Or of course, nobody feels good and we don't feel like stopping at every single place just to take a photo, so I take it from the car and it's 1.blurry 2.cut off half 3.crooked 4.shows all the dirt on the windows or parts of the frame.

Sigh. I can't win. Makes me wonder if I should even keep taking photos. But I know I want to because I just love doing it. Even if I am the only person(as it always appears) that likes looking at my photos. They are a record of what I've seen. My memory can't always recall all of these things. Plus they help record things that will be gone(are gone now) before they are gone.

I just wish I had better luck actually getting the photos taken. :(

YaY Penguins!!

2009-06-13T06:55:00.002-05:00

Pittsburgh Penguins are Stanley Cup Champions! Hooray! I've been a Pens fan for a long time, my third fave team behind the Preds and Bruins, so I was a happy camper last night! I think I'll be wearing my old Jagr jersey around all summer. :)

Almost as important, the Wings lost. I can't fricken stand them. And their lovely fans sitting up in the stands booing the whole time after the game. Nice. Losers. I will always root for the Lions and Tigers, the Wings can rot for all I care.

My website

2009-06-09T11:59:00.005-05:00

isn't working for some reason. The service page says there are no problems, but the pages won't come up. I hate when it does this. So I log out of Warcraft to work on adding some pages and it's not working. Does that mean I should go back to playing Warcraft?? I guess so. Or spend hours reading other blogs and staring at photos on Flickr. I'm always worried that I screwed something up to make it not work. But it should be fine-I can log into my account, everything is up-to-date, it doesn't list any outages and says 'no problems reported', I can log into my ftp(not sure if I can upload anything though), but that page just takes forever to load and then only shows a white page. :(

Or I could search Google maps and street view trying to figure out where this house is located. I think it is near Springfield, TN, as the photos around in the original photos folder show the Robertson County Courthouse right before this-but I have looked all around Google maps in that area and cannot find it!
Windmill House somewhere near Sprinfield, Robertson County, Tennessee

update: went to the library, come back and now the website works just fine. Just a kink for awhile I suppose. Sigh.

Road trip

2009-06-07T13:37:00.002-05:00

It's the little things that make me happy. Really, all I need is my husband and daughter in the car headed someplace I've never been(or even someplace I've haven't been since I got my new camera). After sitting in our den for a week, missing my kid at camp, feeling like I've never felt before, we got out Saturday to get some Vitamin D from that big shiny thing in the sky.

Our trip took us down I-24 towards Chattanooga. We exited in Manchester and picked up State Route 41 South. This is the Dixie Highway and was the north/south route prior to the Interstate coming through. Along this little stretch, near the small towns of Hillsboro and Pelham, I got photos of 2 "See Rock City" barns. The road then climbed up onto the Cumberland Plateau and we were in Monteagle. We drove east a bit, but then backtracked towards Monteagle and points west.

Just past Monteagle is a town called Sewanee. Located here is the University of the South. We stopped and walked around and took tons of photos of one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The gothic architecture, the towers, the stained glass windows, it was amazing. And then we got hungry. There isn't much in Sewanee(not that we could find anyway), so we headed down the road. The road meanders down the mountains towards the west. The first town you come to is Cowan. They have a nice little Railroad Museum(we didn't have time to go in, but we stopped and I got several photos of the train and downtown area). But no fast food here either. Finally, a few more miles down the road we come to Winchester, county seat of Franklin County, and a Burger King(which thrilled the kid, she got Pokemon cards).

Unforunately after that hubby's back started to ache and my stomach started to ache, so we headed up towards Tullahoma to catch I-24 home. And I spent the rest of the day on the couch in pain watching D-Day shows on the History Channel.

Hopefully will post some photos soon.

Lonely, I'm so lonely

2009-06-02T10:52:00.003-05:00

My baby is at camp this week. I've never really been away from her for this long. Oh sure she spent a week with Grandma when she was about 5, but she was with Grandma! She is 10 now and she is spending a week over 2 hours away with nobody I know!! I know she will be having so much fun, she won't even miss me. But I worry. She is going to be doing things I wish I could watch her do. Swimming, canoeing, archery, ping pong, arts and crafts. And I am thinking about her with nearly every waking moment. It's been a day and a half and I feel sick to my stomach most of the time and I had trouble sleeping last night.

I am sure she will be fine, but is it so wrong that I jump every time the phone rings? I know it's quiet, really REALLY quiet around the house-just the way I like it-but I just can't wait until Friday gets here!

Civil War bones found in Franklin

2009-05-15T06:39:00.005-05:00

While I am extremely interested in this story, I'm scratching my head over the news stories I've read so far.

This one from ?Columbus, Ohio? actually says...

About 2,000 soldiers died in the 1864 Battle of Franklin. Nearly all who died were Union soldiers.

Uh, what? Let's try 10,000 casualties*-7,300 were Confederate! Nice try yankee.

Then there is this one from Fox News 17 in Nashville(you'd think they get the facts straight) that says this:

Historians believe the body belongs to a Union soldier, who may have been killed around November 30, 1864.

That's when the Union Army was pursuing Confederate soldiers as they retreated from the Battle of Nashville.

Yes, the Battle of Franklin was November 30, 1864. But the Battle of Nashville was December 15-16, 1864. And if they meant "Battle of Franklin" from the date, well this guy was found at the base of Winstead Hill, which is where the Confederate higher-ups(namely Hood) watched the slaughter unfold. It is just over a mile south of the Union's line of defense.

So this soldier could have died as the Union made their way north from Spring Hill and was quickly buried where he fell(most likely of an old wound or disease) before the trenches were built near the Carter House. Or he died on the way South after December 16.

Or is it possible that this soldier was killed during a cavalry skirmish that occurred on April 10, 1863 when Confederate troops moved north from Spring Hill just to scout whether the Union held Franklin or not. Forrest was one of the cavalry leaders here and he was moving north along the Lewisburg Pike, which is just east of this site. There were Union pickets in the area and there were roughly 100 casualties on both sides.

I'm not an archaeologist or a certified historian or anything. My guesses on when this soldier died are just that, guesses. But they are educated guesses. How do these news sources get away without any fact-checking? Oh wait, they do that every day, why should I be surprised?

As to the site where the remains were found, I am ambivalent. On one hand, yeah they are going to stop the construction and do more searching, and yeah another golf course built on battleground bites the dust. But for what...more townhouses and shops. I'm already disgusted at the site of that Target sitting next door. And not to mention the Pizza Hut that was allowed to be built on top of a known mass grave. What a sad thing to see. To see the difference between such historic places like Gettysburg and Franklin. Yes, yes, we lost. That's no excuse to forget what happened and act like it never did happen. What a shame, Franklin, what a shame.

*want to clear up "casualties": "casualties" are listed as dead/wounded/captured. For Franklin, Union had 189 killed, 1033 wounded and 1104 captured. Confederates had 1750 died(or died from wounds within a few days), 3800 wounded and 702 captured. There were more Confederates killed in this 5 hour battle than the whole 2 days at Shiloh(often called the Bloodiest Battle of the Civil War).

Too much rain

2009-05-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

We just haven't had the chance to get out lately-it seems like it is always raining. The cemetery that I stopped at a few months ago on Old Hickory-the one I could barely see the headstones from the overgrowth. It was mostly lots and lots of dead bushes and bushes with massive pickers on them. I could see the headstones, just not get close enough to read them. Drove by it on Saturday and it looked like a jungle. The green growth was so thick you couldn't even see the fence around the cemetery. I'd wager many graveyards look like that about now. Just no time for anyone to cut the grass and weeds.

We did go see "Star Trek" Saturday-a good indoor thing while it rained. The movie was awesome! And I loved Karl Urban. He was fabulous as Bones.

The kiddo's cast comes off in 2 more weeks. Just in time for camp!

Working on my website a bit more. Found a good new look for the new pages-need to get more motivated to "git 'er done"!

Bad days

2009-04-22T09:28:00.001-05:00

Posting from my husband's computer. My computer died this morning. But that isn't the worst thing. My daughter fell from a swing at recess yesterday and broke her wrist. I'm feeling lower than dirt right now. I'm so numb I can't even cry. I don't even know what to do now.

EF 4 Tornado

2009-04-14T07:28:00.002-05:00

That is what the National Weather Service has deemed this tornado. Wow. They have also added EIGHT more miles of damage to the length of the tornado making it a 23 mile path. It also puts some other cemeteries in our county in the path. Most notably the Rocky Glade(Downing) Cemetery. I will wait a few weeks before getting out to check on these places(more bad weather forecast for this weekend).

One of the homes near Medical Center Parkway.

Hazens Brigade Monument. The tornado went right over the monument. From other photos I've seen on Daily News Journal, some tree branches ended up in the small fenced graveyard, but it didn't appear there was any damage to anything. The Stones River National Cemetery did receive damage though, a tree fell over and took out a section of the southern wall. I could also see some other trees down inside the cemetery, but I couldn't tell if any markers were damaged.

Tornadoes here in Rutherford County

2009-04-10T17:38:00.006-05:00

It was a scary Good Friday. This is the closest any tornado has hit since we moved here in 2002. As the crow flies, the Blackman area that was hit hard is about 5-6 miles south of me. I thank God for sparing my neighborhood. I pray for the family who lost a mother with her 3 month old baby.

As the news broadcast the weather warnings live, and with the weather alert radio going off every ten minutes(seemingly), my daughter and I huddled in the bathroomt(yes, with the cat too). I could tell eventually that the worst of it would pass south of us. And then WKRN, news channel 2, showed a TDOT video of the huge tornado passing just north of Hwy 96 across Interstate 24 I breathed a small sigh of relief. For us at least. The worst was past and "big one" was at least 5 miles to the south.

And then I started figuring out what would be in its path. I knew it would cross Stones River Battlefield(and sure enough there are reports of many trees down there now). It took a diagonal path and headed towards the VA Hospital at Compton Rd and Hwy 231. There are so many homes destroyed. As much as the photographer in me wants to document this, I will heed the call of the Sheriff and PD to stay off the roads.

We had planned to travel some backroads to do some grave hunting tomorrow, but I'm not certain that will happen now. Perhaps next weekend we can get out to check on the status of any cemeteries in that path.

Oh, and now I find out that Rutherford County has had more reported tornadoes than any other county in Middle Tennessee since tornadoes began being tracked. Yikes.

Just adding in: cemeteries possibly in the path of the tornado:

Stones River National Cemetery, Old Nashville Hwy
Wade Cemetery, Thompson Lane
McFadden Cemetery, Van Cleve Ln
Mitchell Cemetery, Haynes Dr
Green Cemetery, Sulphur Springs Rd
Watkins Cemetery, Hwy 231
Rucker-Pitts Cemetery, Compton Rd
Emery Cemetery, Compton Rd

I hope to get out and check on them as soon as possible.

Weekly update

2009-04-06T06:00:00.003-05:00

I've been working on getting the Rutherford County Tombstone page re-done and completed. So far I've completely re-listed the entire county, alphabetically(which also means numerically). Over 700 cemeteries, so it took me a few days to finish it. One thing bugged me though-there is a small cemetery in Murfreesboro that I had found a few months ago but needed to revisit when the weeds wouldn't be so bad(and threat of snakes). And from descriptions in the new Rutherford County Cemeteries and Graveyards book, I figured it could be one of 2 different cemeteries, since both descriptions showed them to be near each other(and if I found one, where was the other?)...

Note to self...read the ENTIRE cemetery description including names when thinking two are awfully close to each other in location!

One cemetery was the "Kirk"(#368) cemetery, the other was "Nisbett"(#491). We went back out to visit it on Saturday. I didn't bring the book along with me, but when I got there and started reading the names on the headstones I found both Kirk AND Nisbetts there! When I got home I checked the names for those I had found....yep, sure enough the exact same names are listed in BOTH cemeteries in the book! So there are Kirks and Nisbetts, so this will from now on be the Kirk-Nisbett Cemetery.

Wanted to get out more as Saturday was a gorgeous day, but I wasn't feeling well and we had things like yardwork that REALLY needed to get done before it rained again on Sunday.

More country music awards on Sunday night. I can never remember which are which but I love watching any of them! Especially when Brad Paisley won for Best Male Artist!! I let out a huge scream! And he's at home here in Nashville(well, Spring Hill) waiting for Kimberly to have their 2nd baby any day now. Awwwwww! So sweet! Carrie Underwood won Entertainer, which is fine by me, as long as it wasn't Kenny Chesney again. And the song that Trace Adkins sang with the military choir, my goodness I was in tears from the start of it. The opening lyrics are:

I was there in the winter of '64
When we camped in the ice
at Nashville's doors
Three hundred miles our trail had led
We barely had time to bury our dead
When the Yankees charged and the colors fell
Overton hill was a living hell
When we called retreat it was almost dark
I died with a grapeshot in my heart

Oh man that hits home. And of course anything moving like this makes me cry like a baby. I also cried when Jamey Johnson sang "In Color" even though I've heard the song a thousand times. I just love it so much. And I was sooo happy when it won "Song of the Year". It was an excellent field with some really great songs this year, but I was thrilled that it won even though it meant that Brad didn't win that one. And finally, the performance that got me off of the couch to clap and cheer at the end of it was John Rich's "Shutting Detroit Down". It says so much. I love John Rich.

Nashville Zoo

2009-03-26T14:45:00.004-05:00

This is probably one of my all time favorite photos that I've taken!

The Nashville Zoo has new Bengal Tiger cubs, born December 2008. They are only at our zoo temporarily, but we had to take the opportunity to see them. Honestly, I could have stayed all day and watched them! They are just like any other 4 month old kitten you have ever seen. Very playful and hysterical to watch! We must have sat and watched them for half an hour, I took around 114 photos of them(well, I took over 500 total at the zoo-great subject matter!)! At this moment, one was chasing the other and suddenly her little front legs just tumbled out from under her and she did a face plant! It was so funny and I couldn't believe I managed to capture it!

Benwah and Taboo will not be at our zoo for long, so if you can you should jump at the chance to go and see these 2 adorable tigers!

Weekly update

2009-03-26T13:32:00.004-05:00

This past week has been pretty good. My kid has been off for Spring Break and my husband got the week off from work. So we took a little trip to East Tennessee to visit my mom and see some sites.

On Sunday we took a scenic drive north of Knoxville, called by some the "Devil's Triangle". The route to the road takes you through Oakridge, site of the Manhattan Project-where the nuclear bombs from World War II were built. You can't really see much from the main road, and that is just fine with me. The "triangle", on Route 116, starts up near Frozen Head State Park and Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary . It winds northeast through the mountains before turning southeast near the town of Stainville. When it reaches the southeastern corner, the road connects with Route 330 and heads back towards Olive Springs. However, we followed Route 116 as it headed back northeast through a long valley full of coal mining towns. We passed Briceville and stopped at the cemetery to see the memorial to the fallen miners of the Cross Mountain Mine Disaster that took place December 9, 1911(84 miners lost their lives). As you continue a few miles up you pass through Fraterville, site of an even worse mine disaster, where 216 miners were killed on May 19, 1902. Another few miles takes you to the town of Lake City, where the Leach Cemetery holds the memorial for the Fraterville disaster and 89 of the deceased. Going across Interstate 75 brought us to Norris Dam, one of TVA's many projects; and then on to Hwy 441 and back to Sevierville and my mom's place.

Monday saw us take a long way home. From Sevierville we followed Hwy 411 to Maryville, and then turn south on Hwy 129. Once you get to the Little Tennessee River, the road turns east towards North Carolina. When the road leaves the river, you have entered the "Tail of the Dragon"! It is touted as 318 curves in 11 miles, and they aren't kidding. You need to take extra caution to watch your speed around corners, watch for the many motorcyclists that ride this road, and the 18-wheelers that shouldn't. Along the Little Tennessee River are 3 dams that you will see, the Chilhowee, Calderwood, and Cheoah(this one being famous for the dam scene in the movie "The Fugutive"). After leaving the Dragon(and making a pit stop at Deal's Gap store), we continued the route to Robbinsville, NC and followed the signs for Cherohala Skyway. It runs back into Tennessee for 43 miles. The highest point along the route is 5390 feet and the views are amazing! It comes down from the mountains near Tellico Plains, TN and a sideroad just before reaching the town leads you to an incredible waterfall, Bald River Falls, where the Bald River dumps itself into the Tellico River. A great site that you don't even need to leave your car to see! We then followed Highway 30 from Etowah to McMinnville and then on home.

Tuesday we visited the Nashville Zoo and the Adventure Science Center. There is so much to talk about these places that I might just leave them for another post!

Hopefully I can get around to adding photos very soon!

Graving this past weekend

2009-02-10T06:33:00.003-06:00

It was a very nice weekend and we finally had the chance to get out and see some things.

First we stopped at 5 cemeteries:

Richards Cemetery, near Hickory Hollow Mall. It has been nicely fenced, grass added and a small historical marker added recently. It doesn't mention anything about the one person I was interested in here, Guy McFadden died 1835. Possible relative? I'm not sure yet.

Johnson-Thompson Cemetery,(thanks for the info!) near where Starwood Amphitheater used to be. Unfortunately it is behind a warehouse-type building that is currently unoccupied and it appears nobody has been around to clean this one out inside the fence in quite awhile. Despite not having to worry about snakes and whatnot, the brush was simply too thick to even get close enough to the headstones to read the names on them.

Eskridge Cemetery, off Hobson Pike near Percy Priest Lake. This one is an enigma. Rutherford County cemetery book states these graves were moved to other places for Percy Priest Lake, and was near to an old slave cemetery. First thoughts say this is the slave cemetery then. There are many depressions that show that clearly there are still burials here. And then there are the headstones. There are quite a few fieldstones(typical of slave cemeteries). But I also found the clearly marked headstone of WB and Addie Charlton Eskridge. They are mentioned as having been removed, not only by the Rutherford County book, but also on this page of the Davidson County Cemetery Survey(it says they were moved to Merritt Cemetery-which is not listed on their site!). However THIS listing, also on the Davidson Co site, simply lists an Eskridge Cemetery with them being buried there. There are also 2 other names listed-we did not find those headstones, but we DID find the headstone of someone not listed there-John J Leigh...SO...That leads me to look elsewhere. And lo and behold I find the LEIGH CEMETERY listed in the Rutherford County book, but NOT on the Davidson County site(it is in Davidson Co). And voila! listed here are John J Leigh 1856-1875 AND (drumroll please) WB and Addie Eskridge! And it says in the book that this cemetery was surveyed by Army Corps of Engineers but NOT moved. So we solve it. It is the Leigh Cemetery, the Eskridge Cemetery was somewhere else, WB and Addie were moved HERE. There *is* a Johnie Merritt buried here, but it is listed as 'Leigh Cemetery' and not 'Merritt'. AND Davidson County does NOT have John J Leigh or Johnie Merritt listed. Though they clearly still think this is the Eskridge Cemetery and have a photo from the road of the woods it is located in. The other 15 or so names listed for Eskridge Cemetery *may* be at Mt Juliet(or somewhere else), but I've never searched for Davidson County names at Mt Juliet-I may in the future now!

HAYS CEMETERY - or Vivrett or Eatherly Cemetery, Old Mt Juliet Rd, Mt Juliet. I didn't spend much time here, just took a few photos. This is an old cemetery with many of the graves being marked by fieldstones. There is a section surrounded by large cement bricks(which appeared to me to have been placed a number of years after the headstones inside as the names on many of them are nearly up against the edge of the wall and as such are unreadable), the names inside primarily being Vivrett. The older markers that could be read had the surnames of Hays. I wasn't certain on many others. Mt Juliet official records list this as Hays Cemetery. A quick search for Vivretts has someone listing them as being buried in a 'Vivrett-Eatherly Cemetery'. I'll go with city records right now.

Mt Juliet Cemetery -just came here to rephotograph 2 headstones for a relative who was searching for them. Showed up just in time to get a photo of the front of the Watertown Excursion Train as it zoomed by! We actually were IN Watertown later in the day and saw the same train, already turned around and ready to head back to Nashville!

After leaving Mt Juliet, we went downtown Nashville to visit Fort Nashborough. Then we took 1st Avenue back east, as it became Hwy 70 and followed that all the way to Crossville. There were went to Cumberland Mountain State Park. From there we drove back to Sparta and then headed south and went to Rock Island State Park to take some photos of the waterfalls there. It was a good day.

Photos to be added later.

No Smokies

2009-01-20T12:12:00.000-06:00

Too cold last weekend. No Smokies trip. Truck is broke down, no going anywhere anytime soon, except for the grocery store every Saturday morning. Stinks.

Smokies this weekend

2009-01-13T11:10:00.001-06:00

Not sure if I will get to visit any cemeteries. Could be snowy. Not sure what we will be able to visit.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-06T06:37:00.000-06:00

I am hoping to visit more cemeteries this year. And work more on my website. We'll see.

It's Tuesday

2008-12-23T08:54:00.001-06:00

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

2008-12-09T13:46:00.002-06:00

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...

2008-12-03T13:19:00.002-06:00

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....

2008-12-02T11:37:00.002-06:00

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

2008-11-05T06:30:00.001-06:00

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

2008-11-04T09:06:00.005-06:00

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

2008-10-31T13:42:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-29T06:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-16T07:08:00.002-05:00

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

2008-09-02T08:18:00.003-05:00

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

2008-09-02T07:51:00.003-05:00

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

2008-08-26T10:46:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-08-12T09:03:00.006-05:00

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

2008-08-12T07:45:00.004-05:00

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

2008-07-29T09:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-15T07:21:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-10T13:35:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-30T10:24:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-06-25T15:38:00.003-05:00

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

2008-06-20T09:11:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-16T07:58:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-12T08:42:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-06-11T07:23:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-09T08:55:00.003-05:00

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

2008-06-05T11:39:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-05T10:57:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-06-05T08:36:00.002-05:00

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

2008-06-04T12:55:00.002-05:00

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.

--

2008-06-03T18:14:00.003-05:00

Universal Studios

2008-06-02T15:25:00.002-05:00

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!!

2008-06-01T13:19:00.007-05:00

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

2008-05-28T15:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-27T07:02:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-24T12:09:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-23T18:27:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-23T08:47:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-23T06:11:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-22T05:44:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-05-21T05:52:00.003-05:00

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...

2008-05-20T11:36:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-19T08:11:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-16T15:02:00.002-05:00

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...

2008-05-12T16:31:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-12T16:23:00.007-05:00

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

2008-04-23T06:55:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-20T13:23:00.005-05:00

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

2008-04-15T15:24:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-14T08:58:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-11T18:10:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-10T09:40:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-10T10:15:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-03-06T15:21:00.002-06:00

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.

---------------------------------------------------------

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

2008-02-28T16:06:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-27T12:54:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-26T08:15:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-25T14:11:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-25T11:36:00.002-06:00

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

2008-02-25T11:29:00.002-06:00

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

Country Music

2008-02-14T12:01:00.003-06:00

I came to see her daddy for sit down man to man
It wasn't any secret i'd be asking for her hand
I guess that's why he left me waiting in the living room by myself
with at least a dozen pictures of her sitting on a shelf

[Chorus;]

She was playing Cinderella
She was riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight
Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him
In her eyes i'm Prince Charming
But to him i'm just some fella
riding in and stealing Cinderella

I leaned in towards those pictures to get a better look at one
When I heard a voice behind me say "Now, ain't she something, son?"
I said "Yes, she quite a woman" and he just stared at me
Then I realized that in his eyes she would always be

Playing Cinderella
Riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight
Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him
In her eyes i'm Prince Charming
But to him i'm just some fella riding in and stealing Cinderella

He slapped me on the shoulder
Then he called her in the room
When she threw her arms around him
That's when I could see it too

She was Playing Cinderella
Riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed and looking for a pillow fight
Running through the sprinkler with a big popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad, looking up at him
If he gives me a hard time
I can't blame the fella
I'm the one who's stealing Cinderella

That song really gets me. My little Cinderella will be there someday. She is growing up so fast. Oh and that is "Stealing Cinderella" by Chuck Wix. Awesome song!

I'm really in the mood for Brad Paisley! I hope I get his new album, 5th Gear, today! His songs are so great, and this one has "Ticks", "Online" and "Letter to Me", they just keep getting better! I can't get enough and it drives me crazy waiting for the radio stations to play his songs! More Brad!!

Historic Wynnewood severely damaged in storms

2008-02-06T10:12:00.000-06:00

This photo was taken of Wynnewood in September of 2006. Wynnewood was built in 1828 as an inn, it served travellers between Knoxville and Nashville. It is located on Old Hwy 25 in Castalian Springs, which is just east of Gallatin in Sumner County, Tennessee. It was one of the largest log buildings ever built in Tennessee, and by some accounts it was the largest historic one remaining in Tennessee, perhaps in all of America.

Last night a severe weather including several tornadoes ripped through Tennessee. One of the buildings hard hit was Wynnewood. As the sun came up this morning, News Channel 5's helicopter began showing the devastation. As soon as they showed Wynnewood, I knew what it was. It wasn't until later in the newscast that they went back and showed it again to tell of its significance. Some of the outbuildings are damaged or destroyed. The inn itself is a mess. The roof is gone(one that was being redone when I visited in 2006), and most of the second floor on the left side of the photo is just gone.

Not to put more emphasis on a building than human lives, seriously here, there were also 5 deaths(so far known) in the vicinity. There was a mother found dead, her infant found nearby, unharmed. So sad.

Luckily, my neck of the woods only got some very noisy rain and wind-that I know of. When and if I find or get a photo of the damage to Wynnewood, I will post it here.

Super Bowl

2008-02-04T09:21:00.000-06:00

However I would LOVE it for Eli to be able to win this game, just to SHUTUP all those nay-sayers. That would be sweeeeeeeet.

As written from below, on Jan 29. Nice. I know I said I like the Pats too and wouldn't mind them winning, but I think Eli winning is so much better! It felt so awesome watching Eli hold up that trophy. Awesome.

I've downloaded the trial version of Lord of the Rings:Online. It is similar to World of Warcraft, but so far it's so much better. None of the stuff that I despise about WoW is in this game! I hate PvP, there is no PvP except in staged areas where you play playervsmonsterplayer. Not interested, and it doesn't have to affect my every day play. With that, there are 4 races and all are on the same side, so no faction-hate and no stupid town raids or players from the other faction taunting you or calling you names. There is no pressure to be 'uber' or 'leet' and I don't see the players standing around the mailbox in their 'leet' gear calling anyone without full epics 'noobs'.

So far I haven't seen anywhere near as many players as you do in WoW, which also so far means no jerks, no horrible chat talk, no duel spams from much higher levels, none of that crap. And the scenery is awesome, gorgeous. The quests are fun and there are tons of them. The little goals to strive for alongside the quests, like getting titles, is very cool. I really like this game.

Here is my problem, I don't really need another thing to get addicted to!! I have pulled myself away from WoW enough right now to not care about playing until the next expansion comes out. I need to spend the time to work on my website. I would love to go back to taking small road trips once a month(though gas prices still suck). Games are fun when you have time to play them, but when you are paying $12 a month(for WoW, or $10 a month for LotRO) then you feel **obligated** to play as much as possible to 'get your money's worth'. I would prefer a home game, where you pay for the game ONCE for each computer and then you play when you want and don't feel the need to play because you are paying more and more each month. I also would prefer something where it is just hubby, kiddo and me playing together without outside interference or even the slightest chance some idiot will come along and ruin your gameplay. I am SICK AND TIRED of it. I just don't know what to do now. Sigh.

Enough for today.

My website...

2008-01-30T08:12:00.000-06:00

I really, really am trying to work on my website. Part of me wants it to be done, but for some reason I just can't get motivated to get it done. I do a few things here and there each day, but usually end up spending too much time reading message boards or just logging back in to World of Warcraft.

From feedback I've received in the past, it makes my thinking towards the site sort of mixed as well. I get the messages that say 'thanks for that putting that info out there, I was looking for it'. I get 'you took a picture of my ancestors grave, now obviously you must know everything about them so TELL ME NOW!'. I get the 'hey this is on your website, we must be related! yay write me, write me, write me!'. Uhm, no. I get the 'you visited this one cemetery in a distant place, why don't you put pictures from this other one on your site?' Uhm, cos I never went to that one and I can't just run over there right now.

I know the ones that are good, even though they are fewer, should outweigh the bad ones, but the bad ones just make me want to quit altogether.

And then there are the people who steal the photos and put them on their own site. Like the ones of mine from Virginia that I recently found on someone else's vacation page on the VirtualTourist website. I don't dig stealing and far too many people have stolen my photos over the years without asking and without giving credit. It makes me want to take my ball and go home. Screw you guys!

And then there is the $100 or so a year for keeping the site online. I know it's no biggie really, but it IS $100.

I know I could just take my photos and upload them all on FindAGrave or Flikr(or whatever its called) or some other 'free' place, but then I don't have control over how the page looks, what info is there, what ads are on the pages, etc. I just don't like that. I want to be different, even if that means not being liked or noticed. Whatever.

So I guess I will keep the site. I will work on it. Someday maybe I will be close to being done with it. At least my photo taking has **really** slowed down in the past 2 years(thanks to Warcraft), so I am not *too* backlogged in stuff to work on. It just needs to be done.

Keep checking back I guess.

State of my life

2008-01-29T07:27:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I didn't watch Bush last night. I already trust him and would agree with whatever he says, so I don't think it really mattered. We watched Batman, the original with Michael Keaton. The kid hadn't seen it and since we watched Batman Begins, with Christian Bale, a few days ago, I thought it made sense. I only have the VHS for that and the one with Val Kilmer though, and wouldn't mind having all 4 of the earlier movies. Wal-mart didn't have them though. Oh well. I do look forward to seeing Heath Ledger in the new one coming out this summer. God rest his soul.

Speaking of Heath, I just wanted to mention that it was just a few weeks ago that we were discussing Mel Gibson movies and hubby thought I had 'nearly all' of Mel's movies. I don't though, because I didn't even think about it until what happened to Heath, I don't have The Patriot. How could I not have that?? Will put it on my list for the next time we go to Best Buy.

Raining today and I need to go to the store. Great. And my back hurts, hurt yesterday too. Feel like crud.

Stayed up kinda late watching We Are Marshall. So sad. I'm headed to Wikipedia and IMDB later to see how much was real and what happened to everyone.

Speaking of Marshall, one of their own plays on Sunday. Super Sunday. Randy Moss. I don't really care about Moss, but the Patriots, I love 'em. Those Boston teams, yeah. But I also really like Eli Manning. So I am torn. I want the Pats to win because I like them and (almost) anything from Boston(hello Dane Cook!) and I want them to get that 19-0 record. However I would LOVE it for Eli to be able to win this game, just to SHUTUP all those nay-sayers. That would be sweeeeeeeet.

I love listening to Frank Wycheck every morning on the radio. He cracks me up. And cute to boot. Good combo.

So I went to Find A Grave and made 2 posts in the Lounge(the general message area). I haven't posted there in months. And just to prove my point of being 'invisible', no one responded to either of my posts. I don't think anyone even read them. I killed those threads. Maybe I should go respond to a whole bunch of threads and see how many more I can kill, or see how long it takes before someone says something like "omg you have 4000 posts, who are you?" or "hey where you been?"(yeah, don't think that will happen). Nah, why should I even bother with them?? Just trying to make a little humanly contact somewhere and on one hand I am reinforced with "you are invisible, you obviously suck and have nothing important to say" and on the other I feel like The Invisible Boy in the movie Mystery Men, people may be able to see me, but being invisible really is my superpower. I don't need to be around anyone, I'm just fine alone, but being noticed at least every once in awhile would be freakin nice, ya know.

Anyhoo....

And now a rant or two

2008-01-25T11:52:00.000-06:00

First things first...to give an indication of time flying by for me lately, I thought for sure I had visited this place and taken some pictures a few months ago-turns out it was over a year ago, closer to 15 months. Sheesh.

So I am at the library yesterday and see a new book, Images of 19th Century Rutherford County: Its Homes and People by Barry Lamb and I can't help but sit and look through it. It's only a research copy, not able to check out, that's ok though. As I look through it I am amazed at the number of houses he has photos of and I am just in love with them. Then I find one that I was expecting to find. The McCulloch House, site of the headquarters for Confederate General William J Hardee.

(this photo was taken in 2005)
And it says what I had feared(since I haven't actually been down to Murfreesboro in awhile-apparently), it has been razed. I had heard that some people were trying to save it, I guess they could not. It angers me to no end when I hear about these things. Man if only I could win the lottery or something so I could save them myself. Hearing about this just kills me inside. At least I got some photos of it. This and the Jenkins house. And with all the new construction and malls going up on the Stones River Battlefield, it makes me cringe every time I go anywhere near it. Progress sucks.

I think I'll leave it at that for now. I've got some things to do. If I think about something else to rant about, I'll be back.

Past six months...November

2008-01-25T11:47:00.000-06:00

Not much happened really. We've been playing waaaaaay too much World of Warcraft. I have 5 level 70s now(as of Jan 25). Too much. I miss traveling.

For Halloween the kiddo was an Elf/Pirate/Rogue. I made this ham and cheese mummy thing for dinner. Heh.

Looks yummy huh?

Christmas was ok, though we didn't go overboard this year like we usually do. No biggie really. My birthday...meh, whatever. And now it's 2008. Holy crap. Really? Wow.

Yep too much time playing Warcraft, time is flying right on by me.

What's happened in the last six months...August 2007

2008-01-25T11:40:00.000-06:00

Let's see, I shall start with August of 2007. We made a trip down to Mississippi to visit my sister. And to see how things have changed along the coast in 2 years. Honestly it hasn't changed much. It's so sad to see.

This one sums it up for me. This was Sharkheads souvenir shop. The one with the huge shark head. I loved that place. And 2 years later it still sits like this. So sad. Oh and we made a quick trip over to New Orleans. I didn't see much except what looked like flooded homes and businesses. In Mississippi all you see are empty lots because *everything* was washed away. :/

Gone again

2008-01-25T11:22:00.000-06:00

Yeah I know. Six months has been awhile. Nothing to say I guess. Well lots to say, but OK I forgot about this place!! So sue me. I'll vent later.

Fishing

2007-07-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

I do want to talk about something positive here. Last week, the 14th, we went fishing. Got up early, went down to the lake, it was awesome! I ended up catching 10 of the little suckers(I have no idea what they were-bluegill, crappie?). The kiddo caught one on her own, hubby had no luck. Then we went for a bit of a drive. Headed over to the Natchez Trace to stop for a picnic since we hadn't stayed at the lake long enough to eat the lunch we had brought. At the Garrison Creek rest area we had our picnic. Then they decided to check the creek for fish. Sure enough, after a few casts using lures(we had no bait), hubby pulls up a little fishie! Then kiddo asks to toss in a line and she reels one in on her first cast!

I would have loved to had stayed out later, but we had gotten up pretty early and were pretty tired by the time we got home. All in all it was a great day.

I just wish we could get out and do that more often.

I hate it but I can't get away from it

2007-07-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

Warcraft. As of yesterday, I officially hate it. First of all, let's just say that we've been convinced to do 2 things I couldn't stand in the game: #1 roll Alliance and #2 roll on a PvP server. Family members. Ugh. We, as a trio, have gotten to level 22, which is fine-you don't really come across any fighting anywhere yet. However we had to make the run to Shadowfang Keep. The amount of higher level players that will kill you just because they can is STUPID. What challenge is killing someone 40 levels lower than you who is not even attempting to fight back? Oooh you are soo tough. Not. Does it make you feel better sitting there behind your computer, hoping that some other human being sitting at their computer is getting mad and frustrated over your idiocy? You like trying to ruin another person's day? What pathetic people like the feeling of hurting others? IT SUCKS!!!! And it's why, after last night, I don't ever want to play Warcraft again. Ever. But I know I will, just because our whole family is playing and they are just gonna go "c'mon it's just a game". I can't enjoy myself anymore. I've got 12yr olds laughing at me because I don't care to get epic gear("haha you may have 2 level 70s but I'll have purple gear before you do!!" Uh, shutup.) and I think it's cooler to collect the mini-pets or different travel mounts. ("you shoulda rolled on a RP server but those are dumb". Yeah.)

So I really really want to quit now. And I know I won't. I hate this game.

weirdness

2007-07-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

Well, I was about to start this post but for some reason I couldn't click in the "title" box to write a title. I finally managed one by clicking inside the "compose" box and shift-tabbing. Strange.

Typical day I suppose. We went to see "Shrek III". First we went to Murfreesboro, got there early, as usual. Movie to start at 12:15, we are there at 11:30am. But wait, the chick says there might be something wrong with the film and they might not show it so she can't sell tickets to it. "Maybe we would like to watch some other kid movie??" Duhhhh, NO, we came to see "Shrek"! Well, we luckily, probably have time to reach Antioch's theatre, where it is also showing at 12:15.

Off we go. We make it to Antioch by 12:00. Buy our tickets, go inside. Where are the ushers? No idea. We start looking for the right theatre, but the overhead list and every single light-up dislay at each entrance does not list "Shrek" AT ALL! Wait, WHAT? We ask, he says, "er #3" Ok, back to #3. Oh NOW I see the little sign under the big flashy one(that says "Surf's Up") that says "Shrek". Oi. And to top it off, fifteen minutes or so into the movie, the side lights in the theatre do this weird flashing on and off thing for a few moments.

Aside from all that, "Shrek" was very, very funny! Perhaps not as funny as the first two. And learning that the kid in it was voiced by Justin Timberlake made me want to puke.

We did lots of cleaning today. Not as much playing Warcraft. Fine by me. Though my rogue is now almost exalted with Mag'har to get a Talbuk mount. Yeah I know that sounds totally weird to anyone not familiar with Warcraft. Heh.