Wednesday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“Fishing is so much like mathematics that most people will never figure it out.”

                                                              Izaak Walton

I have a close friend that lives in the Asheville, North Carolina area and she has been there almost all her life and she is very talented. She is a kick-ass guitar picker, singer, harmonizer and what I treasure most…a wonderful poetess/songwriter. I am going to give y’all a treat…Here is a poem by Brenda McAfee known to me as “The Bard of The Blue Ridge”...IKYIM.

Where I Could Be Patsy

Writer Brenda McAfee

 

Legs dangling from a limb, salt shaker in my hand

Green apples and imagination, my childhood combination

For flights of fancy

 

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairyland, where I could be Patsy

 

Home alone, front porch for a stage

Crazy, Sweet Dreams and Wayward winds would take me away

But I never could stay

 

Rope on a limb, wood plank for a seat

I'd sing and swing my fantasy complete

Then there I'd be, back to reality

 

Queen of the hill, world at my command

Dreaming dreams beyond my means, a reverie of finer things

Utopia, my own fairy land, where I could be Patsy

 

My tribute to Patsy Cline.

Thanks Bard

Here is an example of stupidity that could cost you your life. Over on I-77 between Charlotte and Columbia a 17 year old girl was late for work and driving 91 MHP in a 60 MPH zone. A state trooper got behind her and turned on the blue lights. This girl quickly moved over to the left (passing) lane and stopped. According to the trooper, this girl moved over to the fast lane, and slammed on the brakes. The trooper and three other cars slammed into each other in a grinding crash. Pay attention, you can cause a deadly wreck by stopping or GOING TOO DAMNED SLOW! There were no deaths thanks to God but several people went to the hospital with injuries. The woman that slammed on her brakes was not only ticketed for reckless driving with injuries, she when went to the joint for a days rest courtesy of the local constabulary. This event proves that the old wives tale that any driver that hits another from behind is automatically guilty is baloney. There is such a thing in law enforcement as speed differential. If the speed limit is 45 and you are going 15 or 20 in a traffic lane and struck from behind, it is you that will be guilty of a traffic violation of probable reckless driving. Drive defensively, keep up with the flow, do not be an obstacle...someone could die...especially you if your gas tank explodes.

Then there was this 16 year old girl over in Gaffney, SC that had her cell phone taken from her by her parents because of breaking curfew. They then went through her phone messages and pics and guess what they found. It was pics of a 26 year old high school football coach. The pics were of every square inch of his body especially his face and genitalia. Naturally, the parents went to the cops and the coach was arrested and jailed. How did this jackass expect to get away with this? I know...it was stupidity. What I do have a problem here is the parents looking at the daughter's messages and pics. Everyone deserves a certain amount of privacy even a 16 year old. Any responses?

Here is the some statistics from The Windy City...or Chicago to those not in the know. Recently over a weekend there were 9 gunshot victims two of which died. The fatalities were 18 and 24 years old. Two of the surviving victims were women. Not that it matters but all but one was an African-American. I wonder who is doing all of this killing. I know it wasn't George Zimmerman...how about drug gangs?

Recently there was a hell of riot in Northern Ireland. 56 police were injured as was 5 civilians. It began when the “Protestants” held a parade that overflowed into a “Catholic” neighborhood. If y'all want to define violent discrimination look at Northern Ireland. It all began in about 1630 when King James of England got fed up with the Irish Catholics continually rioting and rebelling against British rule. King James ordered five “shires” or counties to be stripped of Catholics and all Catholic churches and their lands captured. The King felt that his would dilute the Catholics to a point where they would be more easily controlled. These five shires were given to a few Scottish lords with the stipulation that all of their farm workers would be Scots and Presbyterians and that is what happened, y'all. Over the centuries a few Catholics drifted back into Northern Ireland. Eventually all of Ireland that was mostly Catholic voted to become Independent...except Northern Ireland that was mostly Protestant. They wanted to stay under the umbrella of Great Britain and there is the rub. To this day the Protestants and the Catholics in Northern Ireland have been squabbling. I do not see and end to it because religion is involved and both sides think God is on their side. What made me think of this is while looking at one of the two “date sites” that I frequent I run across women that say things like “I am deeply religious and a Christian and I must insist that my partner/companion be the same.” How can anyone choose a partner dependent upon their religious beliefs? An individuals religious convictions is a personal one and is really no one else's business...that is unless you live in a certain communities in northeast Ireland....See how stupid that is? The majority of them also state as a pre-condition for a meeting is that the person must “not be looking for another relationship” and/or “must not be looking for an intimate relationship.” That sounds a hell of a lot like they are looking for a chauffeur, social planner, companion-on-demand, etc. That certainly is not me. There was another that wrote under the category of the “first date”. She wrote “He will come to my front door to pick me up. I will answer the door with an alluring smile. He will introduce himself and I to him and he will give me a kiss on the cheek and will give me a dozen yellow roses and a small teddy bear. He will walk me to his car, open the door for me and take me to a first class restaurant or play, open the door for me and we enjoy ourselves for the entire evening. We will leave and he will again open the car door for me, take me home, kiss me on the cheek at the door and we will part. What a wonderful evening that would be for me.” Go back over this statement and count the number of “I” and “me” there are. That is not for me either...not once did she say what she would say or do for him. She wants to be treated like a Princess. I am no Prince...but I am certainly anyone's equal. Does anyone have an explanation for this unseemly dream?

This Date in History August 13

1781 On this date a Patriot force led by Colonel William Harden and Colonel Francis “The Swamp Fox” Marion sent their fastest riders to within sight of British Colonel William Fraser and his force of 450 British and Loyalist troops. The Patriot riders are spotted and Fraser sent his troops in pursuit. As ya’ll already have figured out, it was a trap designed by Harden and Marion. The riders led the enemy troops to a place 30 mile northwest of Charleston, South Carolina named Parker’s Ferry. Awaiting the Redcoats was an entrenched Patriot army who opened fire when they were within 50 yards and mowed down those jackasses like wheat. But Fraser was not to be outdone and ordered two more charges which would have annihilated Fraser’s troops but the Patriots ran out of ammo. Even Fraser was hit three times but was able to maintain control and withdrew from that bloodbath with what was left of his command. About this time 3,000 Patriot troops boarded ships of the French fleet that had already defeated the British Navy in the Caribbean and was headed for the Chesapeake Bay. For reasons known only to British General Charles Cornwallis, he had chosen Yorktown, Virginia to encamp his 8,000 man army with his back to the Chesapeake Bay. It is assumed that he thought the British Navy would be able to evacuate his army if necessary. Patriot General George Washington, knowing that the French fleet was on the way, saw his chance and encircled Cornwallis’ army on the land side and began a siege. As usual, General Henry Knox was close by and Washington tasked him with the deployment of the artillery with deadly effect. Cornwallis knew he was in deep shit and kept looking for the British navy which never showed up but the French fleet did and sealed off the Bay and began bombarding Cornwallis. Soon thereafter Cornwallis raised a white flag and asked Washington for terms. Washington demanded that all of the British and Loyalist troops to stack arms and all of Cornwallis’ officers to surrender their swords indicating unconditional surrender. Cornwallis showed no class when he sent one of his officers instead of himself out with his sword to give to Washington. The Patriot army took 8,000 prisoners and control of hundreds of muskets and artillery pieces. Essentially, after years of blood, sweat, misery and tears, our war for independence was over.

1864 The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee commanding, was entrenched at Petersburg, Virginia and were subject to a siege by the US Army of the Potomac, US General Ulysses Grant commanding. Grant mistakenly believed that Lee had sent a substantial number of troops to the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce CSA General Jubal Early. Lee had not sent anybody anywhere. Grant thinking the Confederate lines near a place called Deep Bottom Run had been weakened sent US General Winfield Hancock and a number of troops to break through the Confederate lines at this point. Hancock tried for six days to break the Confederate lines and did so on occasion but he had no re-enforcements and could not hold and was easily forced back by the Confederates. Finally Hancock and Grant said to hell with it and withdrew. The end result was 3,000 Union casualties to 1,500 Confederates and Grant realized that the Confederate lines were intact.

1878 On this date a lady named Kate Biondi, the owner of a restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee, died of yellow fever. This was just days after a man escaped from a quarantine barge docked in the Mississippi River and visited Kate’s restaurant. A yellow fever epidemic exploded in Memphis in a matter of days and people began dropping like flies. Within two days 25,000 people evacuate the city leaving the majority of the people left in the city being blacks. For some reason the blacks died at a slower rate that the whites but still there were over 200 people dying every day. There were corpses everywhere and most of the doctors had either left or died. The epidemic tapered off and ended in early October but over 20,000 people had died and 80,000 had sickened but survived. The people of Memphis knew that yellow fever was caused by mosquitoes and they sealed off all the sewers and drained all standing water they could to prevent a recurrence.

1940 On this date the Battle of Britain begins. Earlier the head of the German Air Force, Field Marshall Herman Goering, had persuaded Adolph Hitler that the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) could bring Great Britain to her knees with air power alone. Hitler agreed and on this day the German sent 1,500 aircraft across the English Channel to destroy the English Air Force (RAF) and then Hitler would unleash Operation Sea Lion which would be the amphibious invasion of England. The first thing Goering wanted to do was destroy the English radar system that warned the British Air Force of the arrival of the German aircraft. On the first raid only one of the British radar units was destroyed and only five were damaged. Then for some crazy reason, Hitler and Goering decided that the radar was not important and the wholesale bombing of the major cities in England was more important to break the spirit of the English people. So they sent wave after wave of bombers and bombed the hell out of many of England’s largest cities. The people of England withstood that bombing with bulldog determination whilst their radar units warned the British of the incoming German bombers and they got their Spitfires and Hurricanes airborne and were waiting when the bombers and fighters arrived and blew the hell out of them. On October 31 Hitler and Goering decided that they could not stand the losses the English pilots were inflicting and said to hell with it and the bombing and Operation Sea Lion went down the toilet. The RAF had prevailed in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Winston Churchill said about these pilots “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” Amen, Winston, Amen.

Born today:

1422 English linguist William Caxton. He said “Love lastest as long as the money endureth.” Damn, nothing has changed since the 15^th century.

Died today:

1910 English nurse Florence Nightingale. She said “I contribute my success to this: I never gave nor accepted an excuse.”

1946 English writer H.G. Wells. His last words were “Go away...I am alright.”

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow