Ver-ti-go-o-o-o !

Oh, my goodness!  Stop the world, I want to get OFF!  Spinning, and spinning, and spinning!  Holding onto the mattress so it doesn't throw me onto the floor!  Move my head even the slightest and nauseau follows.  Oh-h-h, man.  Dry heaves for a whole day.  Uughh.  I try walking across the room, and I end up on my hands and knees crawling so that I don't topple over and smack my head on the floor or the corner of a piece of furniture.  (Grab the minicam kids!  She's fallen and can't get up!)

As a child, throwing my hands out and twirling around the front yard a million times until I couldn't walk in a straight line was funny.  THIS is not funny.  This is ugly.

John had this once before, and he ended up in the emergency room.  We found out then that it was an inner ear problem.  Oh, yeah... we knew that, because John's mother has Meniere's Disease.  That's characterized by vertigo.  She had to have a nerve cut in one ear before they got the vertigo fully under control.  But John's vertigo was simply mega-allergies fouling up his inner ear and making him spin.

So when I started spinning out of control we thought it might be allergies, too.  I started immediately taking allergy medications.  That held the nausea at bay for about 24 hours. Finally, I called my doctor back in Texas, explained the problem and asked that he phone some super-duper prescription into our local Wal-Mart pharmacy.  Hours later his nurse called back saying one of the prescriptions I was already taking could be causing the problem:  Cymbalta.

You see, I have Sjogren's Disease.  Sounds terrible, doesn't it.  In fact, it's a form of arthritis.  It is an autoimmune disease that results in the abnormal production of extra antibodies in the blood that are directed against various tissues of the body.  It's characterized by dry mouth, dry lips, and dry eyes, fatigue, joint pain, difficulty swallowing.  Nothing incapacitating, but combined it can make you pretty miserable.  I had all of the above and went to a series of doctors before finally convincing my Primary that, by jingo, I'd been in this body over half a century (sounds good, doesn't it?  That just meant I was over 50.)  I'd been in this body over half a century, and I KNOW something is wrong.  I had just spent six weeks deployed to New Orleans and Port Arthur, Texas for disaster relief with the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention ministry.  Perhaps I had acquired some kind of bacteria that was the problem.  But SOMEONE needs to take me seriously.  He did.  He did blood tests for everything under the sun.  Finally he came up with two possibilities that explained the symptoms and sent me to a rheumatologist.  Overnight I ended up on six prescriptions and told to, for the dry eyes, see my ophthalmologist.  That resulted in a seventh prescription.

The Cymbalta is for the migrating joint and tissue pains throughout my body.  I had run out of my prescription and it took several days (well, actually, about two weeks) for me to get a refill.  Apparently, withdrawal from Cymbalta ain't pretty.  That's where the vertigo came from.  Once I got the prescription it took six days to get my equilibrium back.  Now I know that, if I ever want to get off the Cymbalta, I had better e-e-ease off of it.  I'm taking the lowest dosage (thank goodness), but even so I'll have to have a plan if I ever decide to ditch the Cymbalta.

So now you know where I've been for a week - flat on my back holding onto the mattress so as to not fall out of bed.  For the first four days all I had to eat was soda crackers, water and a little Pedialyte.  I wouldn't recommend it as a weight loss program.  And ALL of this time John has catered to me, cleaned house, done dishes, the whole kit 'n caboodle.  What a man!  Why!  I think I'll keep him another 25 years!

Penn's Landing on the Delaware River

Well, what do we see when we walk across the I-95 bridge to the banks of the Delaware River?  First thing is a 3-masted barque, the Gazela, (a barque is anything with three or more masts) swarming with sailors (some women) changing out one of the masts!

3-masted Barque, the Gazela

Block-and-tackle everywhere, lines (Not ropes, ships don't use ropes; cowboys use ropes.) lines strung out to slowly lower the mast to the deck and swing it around to be lashed down.  While we were on Kauai we visited a place where there was a stand of pine trees called Cook's Pines.  Captain Cook "discovered" and named the islands the Sandwich Islands (for the Earl of Sandwich) and Cook very much favored these pine trees for use as masts for his ships.  Standing this close to the schooner and being up close and personal to the mast, it's now easy to see why he would.  Those pines were at least 100 feet tall and straight as an arrow.

We moseyed down the shore line past an amphitheatre the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra performs at (especially for 4th of July celebrations), past a replica of a paddle-wheeler, and on to a group of ships behind a man-made breakwater.

What's this?

A yacht, a 4-Masted Barque, Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet, and a Submarine

The Moshulu ("Moshulu" means one who fears nothing) is a four-masted steel barque built by William Hamilton on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1904 for a German.  Originally launched as the KURT, she was appropriated by the U.S. Government, first renamed the Dreadnought and then the Moshulu by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. The Moshulu sailed under the American flag until 1935, was used as a floating warehouse for years before being discovered, refurbished, brought first to New York and then Penn's Landing as a floating AAA-rated Four-Diamond restaurant able to host up to 2,500 guests! 

Moshulu

The "Great White Fleet," sent around the world by President Theodore Roosevelt from December, 1907 thru February, 1909, consisted of sixteen new battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. The battleships were painted white except for gilded scrollwork on their bows.  The fourteen-month long voyage was a grand pageant of American sea power. The squadrons were manned by 14,000 sailors. They covered some 43,000 miles and made twenty port calls on six continents.

Olympia, last of The Great White Fleet

Launched in San Francisco in 1892, the Olympia is the sole surviving naval ship of the Spanish-American War.  She had no sister ship, making her a rare treasure in the ship world, and is the world's oldest floating steel warship. On May 1, 1898, Olympia devastated a Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines,
beginning the Spanish-American War, and she saw service in World War I. She was used to carry the body of the Unknown Soldier from France in 1921, is on the  National Register of Historic Places, is a National Historic Landmark, a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, and a part of the Save America's Treasures Program.

The USS Becuna, SS/AGSS-319, a Philadelphia built submarine launched in 1944 completed five tours in the Pacific during World War II.  After the war she spent her time in the Mediterranean before being decommissioned in 1969.  Her home now is right here at Penn's Landing!

W-a-a-a-y across the Delaware River we see more modern battleships...  I have to admit that I had completely forgotten Philadelphia was / is a major ship-building port!

Where to next?

So much to see and learn; so little time!  Two days was definitely not enough.  It's a really good thing John's traveler contract runs into January - but.... but.... but there's all of the OTHER places in Virginia, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania...  Nope, no way.  Just not enough time.

Well, no worries.  We'll do what we can for the time being, so, where do we go next?  How about a stroll through the park to the Todd House.

The Todd House is the first home of lawyer John Todd and Dolley Payne Todd who lived here from 1791 to 1793.  The rooms are very small, functional and utilitarian, furnished in the Quaker style, and the brick building is four stories tall.  (Remember William Penn's desire for all buildings to be made of brick.)  In 1793 a yellow fever epidemic struck Philadelphia.  Most residents fled to the countryside, but Todd felt, as an attorney, he should stay and help those who had fallen ill get their affairs in order and prepare wills.  Once the fever hit, one only had a very few days to live.  Unfortunately, Todd, too contracted yellow fever and died.  The house was left in Todd's will to their young son (since women couldn't own property) and could not be sold until the son came of age.

Dolley was widowed less than a year when she met and married one James Madison.  Yes, THE James Madison of Presidential history.  And, yes, Dolley Madison is the one who was the last to evacuate the White House when the British invaded and burned Washington, D.C. and the White House in the war of 1812.  Because Dolley served as first lady during the last part of Thomas Jefferson's presidency and for James Madison's two terms, she was probably our longest serving first lady.

Included in this tour was a home at the opposite end of the block owned and occupied by Bishop White.  The Bishop's home contradicted totally the home of the Todd's.

The rooms were huge even by today's standards, the stairways wide, the furnishings bordering on opulent.

Bishop White was a permanent resident and definitely a leading citizen in Philadelphia.   White was the only Episcopal cleric in Pennsylvania who sided with the American revolutionary cause, while the other ordained priests remained loyal to the British.  He served as Chaplain to the Continental Congress and Senate.

Philadelphia was founded in 1682.  Almost 100 years later, in 1776, the population was an amazing 30,000, making it the largest city in America at that time.  George Washington and John Adams "created" the office of president of the United States while living and working in Philadelphia.  Bishop White would have absolutely entertained Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin - all of the people we know to be our Founding Fathers.  All of these people would have been frequent visitors to this home.  And so were we!  How cool is that?!

The Bell Tower Restoration

Throughout the Independence area there are screen prints that, once you notice them, are really cool.  See what might look like a sketch of the Bell Tower on the left?  They had life size screen prints on all four sides of the bell tower designed to "hide" the scaffolds and restoration taking place.

The restoration will be comprehensive from the weather vane down.  They've x-rayed the wood siding and discovered imbedded iron rods are rusted away or failing, brick and mortar will be replaced or repaired, windows and doors in the tower will be removed, refurbished, and replaced, the clock face joints will be repaired, balustrades and column capitals will be refurbished, and the metal ball below the weather vane will be re-soldered where it has split open.  Until all of this is done, no visitor is allowed in the tower.  Even after they finish I'm not sure they'll let John Q. Public up there.

We were, however, allowed on the second floor of Independence Hall.  It's a great long room used for banquets, dances, and meetings.  There were small rooms off to the side, one of which was the armory for the Minute Men.  There were flintlocks, gunpowder, bayonets, swords - everything they might need to defend the colony.  (Ever heard the term "lock, stock, and barrel," meaning "the whole thing?"  That comes from guns - the whole thing consisted of the lock, stock, and barrel.  If you packed replacement parts, that meant you were movin' on and had everything you need to feed and protect yourself.)

Can you use your vast and vivid imagination to hear the State House bell ringing and see Minute Men coming from all directions to get weapons and form up on the greenspace out in front of the State House, all the while looking for the dreaded red coats of the British ?  As the people of this century walk around Independence Square, if you pay attention, you will suddenly see locals dressed in the attire of 1776 walking briskly through the crowds.  How fun! 

A Cell Phone Tour of the Independence Area

When we toured the home of "Stonewall" Jackson we were able to use our cell phone, dial up a number, and punch in certain numbers to create an audio self-guided tour of his gardens.  Same thing here.  Notice the oval on the top right-hand corner of the plaque.  You can do it right now from home: 267-519-4295 for Independence Hall and nearby.  Then punch in numbers 1 through 20.  How great is that for kids studying the American Revolution?  How great is that for history buffs like ME!!  How great is that for people who get on site five minutes after the tour guide has left?

Independence Hall

Entrance to the old Philadelphia State House, ultimately to be known as Independence Hall

If you're planning to visit from March 1st to December 31st you have to get tickets to go into Independence Hall where the debates raged about declaring independence (or not.)  The tickets are free, but you have to have them, and get there in plenty of time to pick up your tickets, go through security, show a photo ID, get frisked, and if you are late getting through the line - tough luck.  They will NOT let you go with the next group.  Reservation fee is only $1.50 per ticket.

Notice the boot scrapers to either side of the doorway.  I don't think that they were only for the mud; I think that they were for some of that horse manure, too!

William Penn had specific ideas about how to build a colony and a city.  (What must it have been like for a man to literally own all of the land in what would become the state of Pennsylvania?)  He wanted all of the buildings to be of brick and mortar, the streets to be laid out in a grid pattern, streets running one direction would be numbered, streets the other direction would be named for trees, there would be lots of green space and trees in amongst the buildings.  Homes would have privy holes dug for inside use.  Though Benjamin Franklin's home was torn down, his privy hole has been capped and inscribe:

 What an ignominious marker!  I think Franklin would be lol!  (More on Franklin later...)

When the State House was built it was on the outside edge of Philadelphia, the largest city in the American colonies at the time, and the State House became the largest structure in the colonies.  It was easy to see why Philadelphia became the first capital of the new United States.  Thanks to Penn it was a beautiful, thriving city on the banks of the wide Delaware River.

We've all seen pictures of the inside of Independence Hall.

It's just pictures until you've stood inside, realized the height of the ceilings, the rooms large enough to hold all of the representatives of the colonies (barely), lit by candles only, screens at the outside doors to stop ice cold drafts on the members sitting closest to the doors.  Those high ceilings probably never gave the room a chance to warm at all.  Folks in the 1700's were very hardy stock - we tend to fall over in a dead faint when the temperature varies 10 degrees off of 78.

Directly across the foyer is an identical room only it's set up as a British courtroom.  Can you imagine discussing opposing the Crown, maybe even declaring independence from the Crown, across the hall from the courtroom you might very well end up in, defending your very life?!  Brave, brave men.

If you look closely on the right, you see the Park Ranger conducting the tour, standing in a cage.  In a British court, the accused must stand in there, never sitting down, for days on end as the trial goes on.  This is where we get the term "stand trial."

The first Continental Congress in 1774 was formed to appeal to King George III and negotiate with the British Parliament to repeal  the horrendous taxes being waged on American colonists to pay for the Seven Years War waged by England against the American colonies.  Failing that, the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775.

The Second Continental Congress was formed in May, 1775 to decide what to do next.  More than a year after the American Revolution began, Thomas Jefferson was asked by the Second Continental Congress, sitting in Philadelphia's State House, to draft a declaration of independence.  It took him just seventeen days to pen the words so famous and familiar to us now:  When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands...

Having accomplished that, they then set about writing the Articles of Confederation which were completed in November of 1777.  Interestingly enough, the Articles were not ratified by the states until March of 1781.  By 1787 it was acknowledged that the Articles were insufficient for good governing and a Constitutional Convention, presided over by President George Washington, was formed.  The Constitution as we know it today replaced the Articles of Confederation in March of 1789.

Benjamin Franklin wondered to himself during the debates whether the emblem on the back of President Washington's chair was a rising or a setting sun.  With the completion of the document, he said, he knew it was a rising sun.  Kinda gives ya' chills, huh?  These men pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to establish independence from an oppressively taxing government.  Have we honored them by keeping the new American government in proper check?  Look at those dates again.  1774 - 1789.  For fifteen years they negotiated, fought with words and weapons, compromised, stood firm, worked at creating a solid foundation for our representative democracy.  For fifteen years they were away from their families and comforts of home - with no telegraph, telephones, internet, no wallet-size snapshots of loved ones.  Have we honored their sacrifices?

Off to Philadelphia for a 3-day Weekend

It's our 25th wedding anniversary, and we're off to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, but, more importantly to us, the cradle of American independence.

We thought there would be enough to keep us busy for two full days, and it's a seven hour drive from our farmhouse in Danville, so we are glad for this three day weekend.  On our way home we'll visit the Gettysburg battlefield.  (That's where we chatted with Lincoln.)

John has done his research and found us a hotel in Chester, PA twenty minutes from Independence Hall, and it's only $60 a night.  King-size bed, clean sheets and clean bathroom, big screen TV, fridge, microwave, overlooking a beautiful college campus, right on the interstate.  Saving on the hotel room leaves more money for souvenirs.  Woo-hoo!  I love to buy books!  John loves to save money - it's a win-win.

I will say that arriving via Lil' Miss and her GPS was downright scary.  We never did figure out WHY she took us by a convoluted route through a pretty scary neighborhood in the dark of midnight.  Narrow streets, boarded up buildings, lots of graffiti.  I just told John to have faith, Lil' Miss knows what she's doing, she hasn't steered us wrong yet... (All the while I'm thinkin' to myself, "Lady, if you get this one wrong I'm gonna take you out and SMASH YOU!")  Thank goodness we emerged at the brightly lit, well-kept lawns of the Widener University campus and our hotel safe and sound.

Again, John did his research and found the exact street address of Independence Hall.  (He loves to go on-line and research our travels.)  We put that into Lil' Miss and headed for the most concentrated historic sight-seeing we've ever done.  In about a ten block area of cobblestone streets, open green space, and wonderful buildings we found incredible facts, original documents, paintings, objects (like the Liberty Bell), there were horse-drawn carriages, private tour guides, National Park tour guides, folks were even on those nifty things you ride (It's?) following a tour guide around.  We went at it hard but not wanting to miss learning anything, and after two full days we still hadn't seen it all.  All of this in about a ten block area.
If you're going to Philly and want the full Monty, give yourself a minimum of three days. 

The carriages have a sling that hangs under the horses behind to catch its manure.  On Friday there were a few carriages; on Saturday there were a LOT of carriages.  By noon-ish all of those slings full of poo, especially on Saturday, gave us the aromatic sense of what it would have been like in 1776.  Also, we passed up the carriage ride on Friday for $10 a person thinking we'd do it the next day.  Saturday the price went to $30 per person.  Needless to say we got no carriage ride!

There's underground parking at the Independence Visitor Center, a magnificent place in and of itself.

Parking was $16 for the day - not bad.  Elevators take you right up to the inside of the Visitor Center. There was a man in period costume playing a hammered dulcimer.  It was beautiful music.  He stopped between songs to explain that the idea for the piano as we know it today came from the hammered dulcimer.

There were, of course, videos and gift stores, snack foods, interpretive things on the walls, National Park rangers to guide and instruct, and sparkling clean restrooms.  But we must move on to the security lines for Independence Hall.

Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg ... with John and me!

He just sat their, completely immobilize, still as a statue, absolutely enthralled with my rhetoric.  I was SO eloquent, so erudite ... Hmmm.  Now I can't remember a thing I said.  Well, no matter. I shook hands with a governor who became president, kissed a governor who is now a presidential candidate (at his request - in a very public setting), and "talked story" (as they say in Kauai) with Abraham Lincoln (so to speak.)  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

God alone knows what comes next.  Really.  Literally.  God knows.

This is John.  He's commiserating with Lincoln.  After being married to me for 25 years he knows just what Lincoln had to listen to.  :-)  Bless his pea-pickin' heart!  He still loves me!

Farmhouse Memories

Being in this farmhouse brings to mind my grandparent's place in west Texas.  She had a flour bin built into her kitchen cabinet.  To you and I it might look like a drawer, but it doesn't pull out, it tilts forward, and you could put more than 25 pounds of flour in it.  There was no air conditioning back then, so if you didn't use the flour up pretty quickly it would get full of weevils.  How long do you think it would take us today to use up 25 pounds of flour?

My grandmother was born in 1899 and brought to Texas by her parents in a covered wagon.  My grandfather was the first child born in this tiny town in the early 1890's.  Think about that!  That was only 25 years after the Civil War!  They both lived into the 1970's.  That means they lived thru World War I, the Great Depression,  the Dust Bowl, World War II, the Korean conflict, Viet Nam, the first man walking on the moon.  Actually, my grandfather fought in World War I.  These were amazing people!

My grandmother had her flock of chickens and a brooder area of the chicken coopwas set up  to keep umpteen baby chickens warm and healthy.  My grandfather had his smokehouse where he cured the ham from the pigs they raised.  They had cattle and horses, raised hundreds of acres of cotton and wheat.  He was always proud to have the first bale of cotton nearly enclosed every year sitting on the curb downtown. There was a windmill that pumped water from the well into the horse trough and, when the trough was full, into a cistern mounted above a stone shower enclosure.  First you had to make sure no snakes were hiding in there and then you could go in and take a (way-cold) shower to wash off the field dirt - and there was a LOT of dirt back then when tractors didn't have air conditioned/stereo/CD equipped cabs.  By the time I came along there was indoor plumbing and there wasn't any way on earth you could get me to get anywhere close to that outside shower.  No-sir-ee-bob!

The barn had huge bins that must have held several hundred pounds of horse feed.  There was a tack room for all of the ropes, leads, harnesses, etc. the horses required.  There's a wonderful story from when one of my brothers was in his teenage rebellious years and went to live with our grandparents for a year.  Our grandmother went to town one Saturday morning to collect the mail and stop at the drugstore for her morning coke when some of the town gossips approached her about my brother being seen "parking" on Lover's Lane the night before.  When she got home she was giving my brother what for while our grandfather was quietly reading the newspaper she'd brought from town.  Wrapping up her tirade, she whacked the newspaper and said, "Sam, we never did anything like that, did we?"  He raised the paper a bit higher and said, "Didn't have to.  The horses knew the way home."

Mmmm-mmmm.  I do love that story!

Naked in the Shower

Yup.  That was me!  The other night, luxuriating in a hot shower, washing my hair, covered in soap head to toe, having a WONDERFUL time when -- the water stopped.  Just stopped.  Normally, because the water comes from the well with the help of a pump, the water, mmmm, "breathes."  It flows fast and then slower and then fast and then slower.  No major change, just not steady.    But last night, it stopped completely.  Thank goodness John was home, or I'd have had to run around the house dripping soap bubbles trying to check breakers and figure out what happened!

John was being wonderful about trying to keep me from freezing and the soap from drying.  The water was off all through the house.  The breaker hadn't been tripped.  I'm suggesting heating water on the stove when he stuck his head around the shower curtain and looked at me like I was stupid - which I was.  There was no water TO heat!

He was in the process of looking up the landlord's phone number when, wonderful surprise, the water came back on, all by itself.  I waited about 10 seconds for some sort-of warm water and quickly started rinsing the shampoo out of my hair and soap off the ol' bod before the water shut off again.  All seems to be just fine and the hot water is exquisite, so I decide to shave my legs as planned.  One leg done, now to the next.  Lather it up, take a couple of swipes and ... no water.

This time, John was ready.  I had had a teapot full of hot water on the stove.  He got a large bowl, poured the hot water in, got a couple of bottles of water we keep on hand for traveling, mixed the two and handed me a perfectly warm bowl of water.  I finished shaving and rinsed off with John's water - just as the shower started again.  I quickly rinsed again in it's hot water and got out before anything else quirky could happen.

Dried, dressed, and warm I went to the phone and called Cheryl to 'splain what had been going on.  It went to voice mail, but I left a message asking if folks in Virginia had a weird sense of humor along about Halloween.  (Just teasing.)  I wanted to let her know just in case the well pump was going out or something.  Bless her heart, she couldn't decide whether to laugh or not.  LAUGH, of course!  No harm done.  Stuff happens.  What? she maybe sent a lil' Menehune/gnome down to torture me?  Of course we should laugh.  These are the things that make life interesting!  But thank goodness John was home...

MiFi Hot Spot

Well, dogie!  After another hour-plus today on the phone (this time with Kodak) I was able to connect wirelessly to the printer and, with a Kodak app, I was able to send a photo from my iPhone directly to the printer.  Apparently until Apple shares some more proprietary information with Kodak, I won't be able to print emails, etc. from the iPhone.  Apple has shared with Blackberry but not iPhone - so if you have a Blackberry, print away!

I spent another hour on the phone with AT&T trying to find the upgrade order I placed for John last week.  When I placed the order, the product was available and would ship within 48 hours.  Here we are almost a week later and they can only say the iPhone 3G is on backorder.  I explain that I wanted to give John the upgrade for our wedding anniversary and am pretty frustrated that there was no notification to me that the item had been placed on backorder.

How about this?  If the AT&T store here in Danville has a 3G, may I just go there and pick it up?  (Way too simple a solution.)  Sure - but there will be a $99 charge.  UH, I DON'T THINK SO!

It is not conceivable to me that there is no 3G anywhere in the continental U.S. that AT&T can lay their hands on and get to us.  There seem to be a lot of the new 4G's but none of the 3G.  Okay.  How about sending me a 4G - at no cost.  Lots of being on hold while the tech and her supervisor chit-chat.  Eventually, they say, "Okay."  I ask for clarity on the "at no additional cost" and FedEx'ing to arrive NLT (no later than) 3 p.m. tomorrow.  More on hold, she comes back and says, again, yes, but before I can ask her to email confirmation to me the call is dropped - and she never calls me back.  So, I'm going on faith that all of the above will take place.

John doesn't want a 4G... or at least he says he doesn't.  Okay.  I'll take the 4G and give him my 3G.  That's a bummer because I just got everything re-setup on my 3G - including the wireless thing-a-mabob - but if that's what John wants, that's what John gets.  It's also a bummer because we ordered "otters" to fit his incoming 3G - that won't be coming in... (3G otters don't fit 4G phones.)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  Nothing in life is simple.  Stay tuned for continuing updates to the electronic saga.

But tomorrow we're heading up to Philadelphia for a three daywedding anniversary road trip.  Celebrating years of "captivity" at liberty central seems contradictory - but it'll be lots more fun than being on the phone for hours on end. 

Oh, no! Not again!

Yes, again!  Another whole day spent wrestling hardware and software and nerve-wear!  An hour on the cell phone trying to communicate verbally what the pea-pickin' problem was with the communication software that refused to communicate!  Communication my foot!  Aargh.

Seriously.  I started at 8 a.m. with the AT&T Mobile Hotspot MiFi gadget.  The good news is, it works in this tin roofed farmhouse.  (Well, it gets a strong signal anyway.)  The house came with high-speed internet that has been really, really nice.  But our thumb drive wireless connection was ready for an upgrade, and by upgrading we could downgrade the monthly cost by $25.  Mmmhmmm.  Better technology for a lower price.  That's always good.

But first you have to get the critter to work!  The instruction lists five easy steps.  They were easy; they just didn't seem to work.  I worked for two hours and realized I was gritting my teeth, so I took a deep cleansing breath and went for a walk.  After sneaking up on two deer and enjoying fresh air and falling leaves, I returned to the battle.

I went through the steps again before finally calling AT&T for help.  We did everything AGAIN -- TWICE!  The third time something clicked and ta-ta! it worked.  He confessed that he did something on his end and straightened out the problem.  (So, all along it was THEIR problem, not mine.)

At this point, WHO CARES!  It works.  Like a charm.

So, now to work on the bonus of making the Kodak printer connect wirelessly to the computer so I can finally un-tether.  Only four easy steps.  (I've heard that before...)  Use the menu on the printer itself to change from a USB connection to a Wi-Fi connection.  Couldn't be easier.  Only, again, it doesn't seem to work.  The printer definietly shows it's Wi-Fi light and it recognizes the AT&T Mi-Fi -- but not connection to the printer. 

John came home.  I fed him BBQ chicken and potato salad (yes, I managed to cook in the midst of my computer woes - gotta feed the man no matter what!)  During the meal I 'splained the troubles of the day, so afterward he sat down at the computer, read the manuals, went through the same steps I did.  By 10 p.m. I gave up and went to bed.  He came to bed shortly after, but still no wireless printing.  Only option left - call Kodak.

I did find out that Kodak has an iPhone app that will let you print photos wirelessly from the iPhone to a printer halfway around the world.  (Now, why do I think that is going to give me headaches, too, before I get it to actually print ??)

Confederate Gold

Have you ever watched the History Channel's "Decoding the Past?"  They have done an entire episode on the missing Confederate gold carried off from Richmond, Virginia when Jeff Davis fled the Union army.  Apparently, somewhere around here - maybe the Danville cemetery -

the rebels buried what was left of the Confederate treasury.  Ever heard, "The South will rise again!"  Well, that gold was what they planned to use in order to "rise again."

I guess the South never rose up again because they never found the gold...

They should have put our son in charge of the burial detail.  He buried some gold pieces in Palo Duro Canyon one year so that our grandkids could search for buried treasure there the next year.  Our son was smart enough to get GPS coordinates and give the coordinates to the grandkids.  They still had to search - but our son never lost track of the gold!

Is Jefferson Davis' fortune in gold buried underground?  Above ground in one of these mausoleums?  Jesse James was a Confederate soldier, and some folks think he and his gang were funded in part by some of the Confederate gold.  A million dollars in Confederate gold went to Canada, and some think it was used to pay John Wilkes Booth to do his dastardly deed.  (I think he was just a fanatic along the lines of Lee Harvey Oswald.) But us mere mortals will probably never learn the answers to these mysteries.


I do have my friendly groundhog on the lookout for any nefarious goings-on around here, though:

Halloween in Virginia

Folks hereabouts take Halloween seriously, huh?  I know a couple of horses in Texas that could sure use a spare bale of hay...  We found this castle on Snakepath Road (I think) on our way to Patrick Henry's Red Hill estate.  The road twists and turns just like it's namesake.  Lil' Miss GPS found it for us as the quickest way to Red Hill.  The roads here seem to always have cool names.

Halloween decorations are going up everywhere.  The offerings in all of the retail stores are pretty cool.  One of the things about living out on the farm, though, is that we don't get a lot of trick or treaters, here or in Texas.  Hmmm.  I guess no one gets many door to door spooks anymore.  If parents aren't afraid of the candy, they're afraid of the real ghouls that walk the streets with the children.  That's okay; churches do a lot of "trunk or treat," and television has some pretty good children's programs like Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin."

One of my favorite really scary stories was Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow."  That's Sleepy Hollow, New York.  I thought it was totally original, but apparently it's a legend found in many countries around the world.  Irving's story is probably the newest one created.  One of the ick-iest is Ireland's Dullahan.  It's so bad I don't even want to recount it for you here.  If you're into awful stories, look it up yourself.

Virginia has suffered from a drought this year almost as bad as Texas.  I've seen fields of corn, fields of watermelons, fields of pumpkins just dried up, and the harvest is slight.  Interestingly, the tobacco seemed gloriously healthy - drought or no drought.  Maybe that's why Virginians made it their money crop!

So, Halloween in Virginia doesn't seem much different that Halloween elsewhere in America.  Lots of kids, lots of candy, lots of relief that summer is over, the harvest is in, and there is time free to sit around the fireplace and tell spooky stories.

That Was Quick !

Things are moving so fast once our contracts are accepted that we simply head in the direction of the new assignment and work the details out on the road.  I got the iPhone and wireless Internet (Did you know that the word Internet should be capitalized?  That's what my spell check just taught me.) I got the iPhone and wireless Internet just for this reason.  The only problem is, sometimes calls and connections drop off passing from one cell tower to the next.  And, I learned the hard way, all that connecting and re-connecting can scramble the brains of an iPhone.  So, I get on the laptop wireless, find an AT&T store in the next town and tell Miss GPS where to go. (Oh!  Wouldn't I just LOVE to tell her where to go sometimes!)

I go in, and John goes window shopping.  That man can window shop or surf the Internet for hours and hours. John breaks a sweat if he has to write a check, getting cash out of his billfold is like pulling eye-teeth, and he never uses "plastic" without his blood pressure rising, so "shopping" for him does not mean "buying." Me?  I go.  I buy.  I go home.  This really works out wonderfully because John can tell me, from all of his research, just where to buy the best product at the best price.  I'm tellin' ya', we are the Team of all teams!

So, I go into the AT&T storefront and wait to tell my woeful story, expecting a time-consuming explanation and fix.  Not so.  In two seconds the guy holds down the "Home" button and simultaneously presses the "On/Off" button until the unit turns off.  That little maneuver is called a hard shock. He turns the phone back on and problem solved.  Why couldn't someone have told me to do that over the phone?

On the road again.  Lil' Miss GPS does have her advantages.  We can ask her to list all of the nearest restaurants to eat at, choose the one that fits our taste buds, and tell her to lead the way.  She can let us know when hotels are coming up and again we choose the one that fits us best.  There's a whole list of things she can do for us.  And I've discovered that if we know the town we want to go to but not an address, I just put in something-something Main Street (because EVERY town has a Main Street), and we can get more specific when we get to that town by asking directions.  If we could just get her to quit saying, "Make a legal u-turn ..." over and over and over.

If we have to sign documents on the road I have discovered that I can take a photograph of the document with the iPhone and send that photo via text message or email.  When we get to where we're going, John can fax the original from the hospital, or I can scan it with the printer and email the scan - but more often than not, the receiver is just as happy with the photo.

I have also opened a checking account with Chase bank because I can take a photo of the front and back of a check and Chase will accept that as a deposit to our account via iPhone.  Our sons used that feature to repay us when we had to spend money on the grandkids in Kauai that Granpa thought parents should cover.  (Granma's NEVER expect to be paid back.) 

And so we wend our way to Virginia.

First Days in Virginia / Natural Bridge

The house is in the middle of ready-to-harvest tobacco fields.  There is a garage, playhouse, and barn just behind the house and a tobacco-drying barn just to the right.  There's an oooold Ford tractor in the barn I'm going to ask about for our Dallas son, and there is a groundhog (also called a woodchuck) living under the garage.  Google groundhog; it's interesting reading.  They are as prevalent as squirrels around here.

It's a four room house with a shower/bath and very short potty (sigh!) The bed is a double bed - or we could open the sleeper sofa and have a queen size.  Sleeper sofas are none too comfortable, so we think we will just spoon in the double. There's a mud room off the back with an over/under washer and dryer.  Now I know I'll never buy one - it's a literal pain in the neck to reach under the dryer and over the washer to empty the washer of clothes.  John has a real nice recliner; I have a bottomed out chair I'm trying to fill up with pillows.

The TVs are small but so are the rooms, so it's okay.  There is a high-speed internet connection that is certainly nice - especially since our cell reception is lousy.  AT&T says they will come to Danville "soon."  Mmm-hmmm.

As you know, yesterday we headed for Monticello but got sidetracked at Natural Bridge.  It is one of the Seven Wonders of the New World along with the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and I can't remember what all.  George Washington surveyed it when he was just a surveyor's apprentice and carved his initials (teenagers never change!) about 20' up one wall.  Thomas Jefferson thought it was so cool that he bought the acreage it sits on for $3.50 (Ahhh, those were the days.)

 It is pretty neat, but along with the ticket to see it, we got to see a live butterfly museum (now THAT was cool!),

a toy museum, a replica Indian village,

a saltpetre mine, the opening to an underground river (you could here it gushing by), and Lace Falls.  Because of the area drought I think the underground river had more water that the waterfall.  Oh, and let's not forget the wax museum and the factory where they made the wax figures.  Not bad for one ticket price.  Halfway thru the walking tour they had a geedunk that sold monster hotdogs fully dressed and refillable sodas for $6.  Not bad at all.

It took us 4 hours to get there going up the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it only took and hour and a half to get back the smart way.  The Parkway is just like Natchez Trace, but we'll go back in a month or so to see all those tree's leaves change color.  Maybe then we'll make it all the way to Monticello.

We got here last Saturday but delays in processing all the paperwork needed for medical personnel to wander thru the states (including their needing to see his diploma from the echo school he trained at almost 25 years ago!  His college diplomas are framed and on the wall of our bedroom back in Texas; where that certificate is, is anybody's guess) the need for documentations caused him to not be able to start until today, Friday.  So we had plenty of time to settle in and get our bearings.  There's not a straight road in this county, and we always have to go "over here" to get "over there."  Hurray for dashboard GPS!  She certainly knows what she's doin'!

Well, that's about all for now.  I doubt John will be on call his first weekend (and second day) on the job, so we'll probably traipse around the countryside again.  Look for the GSR's (and no, kids, that doesn't stand for gunshot residue).

Love to all,
Granma Mary

Deer, Turkey and Ground Hogs

I suppose we could have taken the lazy, sure way and let our traveler company get us lodging at an extended stay hotel - but then we wouldn't have four rooms, a FULL kitchen, front porch, and be surrounded by tobacco fields.  The tobacco plant is pretty - but more importantly is the wildlife we get to watch in and around the fields.

Nearly every evening about dusk there are three deer that mosey across the field southwest of the farmhouse.

Ultimately I begin to get brave (brave meaning I think I can get closer without scaring them) and slowly, step by step, I ease up closer and closer:

I've heard deer will raise their heads and look for predators every 7 seconds.  They are very alert to danger, and soon they decide, no matter how slow and careful and quiet I am, that there is a threat to their safety and high tail it out of there.  When a deer bounds off, it raises it's tail high and shows the snow white fur on the back side.  That's called "flagging."  Off they go!  But they'll be back, if not tomorrow night, then the next.  We've also discovered that they are in the front of the house nearly every morning about 8 a.m.

In the same place we see the deer, we sometimes see a small flock of wild turkey.

Wild Turkey

We absolutely can't get close to these guys, hence the not so wonderful picture - but you get the idea.  There were "wild" turkeys at Natural Bridge that I got only a few feet from - but the ones at the house are truly wild.

Natural Bridge's "Wild" Turkeys

Just outside the back door we have a goundhog.  Think "Punxsutawney Phil."  He apparently lives under the car port.  Eastern Groundhogs are cousins to the Rocky Mountain Marmot.  Ours is about as shy as the turkey and deer.

We also have squirrel and rabbits.  In fact, a rabbit was sitting in the driveway waiting for us the first evening we arrived!  So, yes, we prefer not to stay in hotels.  It's no big deal; John says we can do anything for a few weeks, but we do like our wildlife.  I suppose if we were younger we might like night life - but then, we never have before :-)  Hunting wildlife with a camera is our thing.  For Christmas I'd like to get John a better camera.  Our blog audience might like that, too!

Ominous Warning!

Take heed, George the Third!  It's 1765 and the sleeping giants in The Colonies are about to be wakened by your oppressive taxations!  Stamp Act, indeed!  A taxation on TEA?  Why, that would be like taxing the very air we breathe!  (Hmmm.  Is that what the EPA is doing to America right now??)

Have you ever READ the Declaration of Independence?  It's not just that opening paragraph.  It details exactly why the colonists had reached the limits of their tolerance for the King's governmental threats to the freedom those in America had found.  They came here for freedom, found it, and by-jingo, not even the King was going to take it away!

Patrick Henry, as a very young man, became a firebrand, a great Voice of Liberty:

Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third ...may profit by their example. -- May 29, 1765

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.  I know of no way of judging the future but by the past. -- March 23, 1775

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! -- March 23, 1775

And now his warnings to US!

June 5, 1788  Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings -- give us that precious jewel, and you may take every thing else! ... Guard with jealous attention the public liberty.  Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. --

1799  Whether (independence) will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us ... Reader! whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others. -- Patrick Henry's message for posterity

Patrick Henry knew something about posterity:  He had 17 children and 77 grandchildren!  The foundations of freedom no other population on earth has ever known were laid by Patrick Henry and those who crafted the Declaration of Independence.  It was won by those who fought the battles and died, or lived to build a nation like no other before or since.

He drew his strength from Red Hill, the home he built in central Virginia.  It is an exquisite estate, a peace exists there that we have not found at all the other locations we have been to.  There is a tree there that has been living undisturbed since Patrick Henry's time. 

Up close you can see it's age and it's strength.  One would have to step way, way back to see it's size.

The structures on the land are not magnificent like Point of Honor or Monticello, though Patrick Henry knew both Dr. George Cabell and Thomas Jefferson as close friends.

Notice the magnificent old tree on the left.

If I remember correctly, Henry's descendants continued to live here until the 1930's  (Again with the "no house payments for 300 years" thing!)

This outbuilding was his law office.  One room was for lawyer-ing and the other was where his law students slept.

 This was his desk and chair.  No massive filing system.  No copy machines or computers. 

And this is a very unique work table.  The "arms" would extend when Henry had large documents or maps to support.  (Think of the size of the parchment the Declaration of Independence was written on.)  I thought it was a pretty clever design.

But, is this what the Founding Fathers have come to mean to us?  Even those few of us that are even curious about the truth of those times?  Is it now all about old trees and buildings and land?  artifacts?

To honor their memories and their sacrifice to gain the liberty and freedoms we still know today, shouldn't we continue to fight for those ideals, albeit at the voting booth?  As a matter of fact, if we DON'T fight for that liberty and those freedoms with our votes, we might very well have to fight with even stronger weapons. (God forbid!)  "Know the truth and the truth will set you free!"  Who said that?  Bless his heart, he did know what he was talking about! 

The Fall of Virginia

It's another cloudy, rainy, cool day in Virginia.  Light breezes scatter leaves over paved surfaces and sprinkle the lawns with bright crimson red, silvery-gray, orange, and lemon yellow leaves.

The tobacco fields have been plowed and made ready for the winter.  It is amazing to think that this cycle of life has gone on for a couple hundred years.  Maybe tobacco one year, corn another, or a field may have been allowed to lie fallow and hopefully regenerate it's willingness to spring up another crop.

John Adams had just five acres to provide food for he and Abigail.  It was important back then to maximize space and minimize effort.  They HAD to grow enough food to feed the family but not so much as to waste it.  If they couldn't eat it quickly, can it for the winter supply, have enough room for it in the root cellar, or sell it at market, then they would have put forth effort  uselessly.  I think that, with our abundant supply year round of food on supermarket shelves, we don't appreciate what was required back then.  We in America take food very much for granted.

Thomas Jefferson and "Stonewall" Jackson's letters and journal are full of the kinds of vegetables that grew best in this area. Instead of water-cooler talk they had feed store chat.  Jefferson was always experimenting with different things.  Jackson's kitchen garden was essentially his whole back yard and was beautifully kept.  Their version of a scarecrow consisted of a huge potato tied by twine to a very supple sapling so that it would bounce up and down.

He then stuck huge (turkey?) feathers into the potato so crows and other birds would think it was a giant predator bird and be scared away.

Fall is the time to get our flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, and fields ready for a winter rest and prep'd for spring planting and growing.  It will soon be time for people to settle in for long winter nights, too.

Sam Houston in Virginia ?

First Edgar Allen Poe in Virginia and now Sam Houston?  What gives?

I did find out why there's a statue of Poe in Richmond:  that was his home!  I always thought his home was in some opium den in New York City.  (So much for my English Lit class)

Sam Houston was born in Virginia.  (Shame on me, a Texan, for not knowing that.)

We are just a few miles up the road from the home of "Stonewall" Jackson.  At the visitor's center there John happened to see a blurp on the wall about Houston's birthplace.  Well, as Texans, OF COURSE we had to search this out.  If it hadn't been for lil' Miss GPS though we would never have found it.  I can't imagine why the state of Virginia hasn't had this at the top of their tourist promotion list... :-)

It's really a beautiful location and there's a really cool, very old church there - but Houston's home is long gone.  There is a huge chunk of red marble there:

 I'm not sure why it had to be fenced off... maybe to keep small children from climbing on it and falling off?

This was a really pretty monument, and we're glad we discovered it.

This plaque mentions Houston leading his forces "to victory in the battle of San Jacinto."  Interesting story about the San Jacinto battlefield.  John's grandmother was living on Galveston Island during the hurricane of 1900.  Her family evacuated, and during the night they witnessed and heard what they thought was cannon fire, rifle fire, and forms moving around as though in a battle.  When the sun came up and they surveyed their surroundings, they discovered they had ridden out the hurricane on the old San Jacinto battlefield.  To her dying day she believed that the ghosts of Houston's battle shared that stormy night with her and her family.

The Waterfall

One of John's co-workers told him about Crabtree Falls over by the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Not having a whole lot planned for the weekend we decided to check it out.  It was raining but not pouring.  We thought maybe the rain would actually improve the waterfall.

The drive is beautiful - as has been every drive we've done here in the Virginia area!  Once again we have to go on faith that our directions and GPS will get us there - eventually.  The farther we go on the Tye River Road the narrower it gets and the more scenic.  (Remember one of the waterfalls we told you about on Kauai?  The road narrowed and became covered in debris from a recent rain, but there was no place to turn around?  This wasn't quite as "spooky," but almost.  I LOVE it!)

The Falls is in the middle of the George Washington National Forest and operated by the National Forest Service.  And there it is!  A really nice parking area, and a PAY PHONE.  You know you are really in the boonies with no cell service when the National Forest Service provides a pay phone...  One is supposed to pay $3 to help fund the Forest Service, but it's on the Honor system.  While we are there we see not a single person slip money into the envelope provided.  Bummer.  The National Park Service and the National Forest Service are heritage kind of organizations.  They are the first to suffer when budget cutbacks come.  We even have to write a personal check to put in the envelope because we don't have cash on us (we're debit card fanatics.)  Finally, we are ready to take a hike.

Crabtree is a series of waterfalls stacked on top of each other.  The first one we come to is only a few hundred yards away from the parking area up a paved path.  Nice.

There ARE signs warning about the dangers of waterfalls and surrounding rocks due to perpetually being misted by the spray of the waterfall:

But this is for the edification of raucous teenagers and other silly people. 

John has one foot on the asphalt path and one on the rocks - he's safe.  And no, he doesn't have a broken rib sticking out - that's his camera.  He's trying to keep the lenses out of the rain!

The hike to the top of the Falls is just over a mile (so two miles round trip)  The path is VERY well maintained, steps are built into the path, and there are rails along the side to a) discourage folks from taking shortcuts on the switchback and b) to give ME an assist on the way up.  Just teasing.  You can see that the path is not terribly steep.

The second level of the falls is really pretty, too.

As the trail gets steeper the rails become anchored in concrete and made of metal.  It's cold and wet so you might want gloves of some kind.

It was a really nice visit.  Picnic tables are available and so are restrooms.