Wednesday OYSTERS

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Quote of the day:

“Of all the actresses in show business, I think Liza Minelli’s face should win in the beagle category.”

                                    John Simon, film critic

Could be John, but several years ago when she was performing on Broadway in Cabaret, she was voted as having the best set of legs in show business. What do you have that is the best in show business...or any business?

I had casual contact with a lady online whose last name was Ousterdeaux. I asked her for phonetic pronunciation. She sent me a young novel from Ancestors about the root of that name. It originally was Spanish and was spelled Osterdo and meant “farm fields” or something similar When her ancestors came to Louisiana it was under the control of the French and so they spelled it the French way. I told her that Campbell meant “a redneck from South Carolina” and that we are of Scottish stock and have the scars to prove it. Actually the translation of Campbell (originally Cambuel) in Scottish means “crooked mouth”. The name Cameron (originally Camsron) means “crooked nose.” Don’t ask...I don't know.

A while back the incoming Governor of Alabama made a speech at the Dexter Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. This is the church that was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's first was a pastor. The governor stood up in front of the Lord and everybody else with his bare, hawk-looking face hanging out and said “If a person has not accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior they are not my brothers and sisters. I look on those that have not done so with a different viewpoint. I consider only Christians as my family.” That statement reached the Jewish community in just a few microseconds, not to mention the agnostic, atheists, Hindus among many others and last but not least, Islam. All of which now believe that they will not receive equal treatment under the law from “Hawksbill” Bentley as Governor. I used to think the former North Carolina Congressman Jesse Helms was the dumbest politician ever...along with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi but Governor Bentley takes the cake, y’all.

I saw on the web where someone was having grilled or sauteed scallops. It reminded me of a clam/scallop gathering trip I went on while living in Pensacola, Fl. Pensacola is the birthplace of US naval aviation beginning in WWI and there are several abandon airfields and hangers scattered throughout the area. There was one particular hanger that had a large concrete ramp leading to a fairly narrow cove in the bay, it was for amphibian aircraft.

I had a friend that was a native of Pensacola and told me about this hanger. It was on Naval air station property and no one had been back there for many years. We sneaked into the hanger area and walked out into the water on the concrete ramp. It was absolutely covered in crustaceans of various species. The water was so clear that we could see clams, oysters and scallops. We were able to just bend over and pick and choose and walked out with 2 five gallon buckets full. I could never find this place again but the feast we had later was a memorable one.

        This Date in History January 20

1863 The dispirited US Army of the Potomac was still reeling from the massacre at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13 where the US had 13,000 casualties and the CSA Army of Northern Virginia suffered only 5,000.The commanders at the Battle of Fredericksburg was US General Ambrose Burnside and CSA General Robert E. Lee. Burnside decided that the best way to re-install the morale of his army was to go on the offensive as soon as possible. After refitting and rearming, Burnside decided that the best course of action was to quickly swing around the left flank of Lee’s army. It had not rained for the whole month of January so Burnside’s army departed on dry roads but a sprinkle of rain began on the first day, then it became a deluge that lasted for four days. Needless to say, the quick movement of this Army was lost in the quagmires that once were dry roads. Any surprise of attack also was lost when this huge army bogged down to a crawl. At its worst the Army of the Potomac was moving at a speed of 1 ½ miles per day. To make things worse, Many Confederate troops moved close and began chanting “Burnside is stuck in the mud”. Due to conflicting orders an entire Corp crossed in front of another entire Corp churning whatever passable roads that might have been there into a slippery stew. Burnside then did the honorable thing hoping to cheer up the men; he brought up barrels of whiskey and dished it out. I don’t need to tell y'all what happened next. That’s right, Burnside ended up with literally hundreds of drunken US soldiers fighting, sometimes regiment against regiment, wallowing around in the mud. Mercifully, Burnside called an end to this attack forever known as the “Mud March”. This debacle was so embarrassing to Lincoln that Burnside was relieved three days later.

1974   Rae Carruth is born on this date in Sacramento, California. Some people may know who this man is and others will not so I will tell you:

Carruth was a gifted athlete and was a wide receiver in football. He played four years at the University of Colorado and was first team All-American his senior year. He was picked by the Carolina Panthers in the 1997 NFL draft and signed a contract for four years for $3.7 million. Carruth was hell on wheels from the git-go. He was on the all-rookie team with 44 catches averaging 12.7 yards per catch. Then something happened to this millionaire. On November 15, 1999 he met his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams at a movie house in Charlotte, NC. After the movie Rae and Cherica got into their separate cars and headed for Cherica’s house with Rae in the lead. Along the way a car pulled up beside Cherica and a passenger in the car pumped four rounds into Cherica’s car and sped off. Cherica was not killed and called 911 and mentioned that Rae is somehow involved in the shooting. When the paramedics arrived Rae is nowhere in sight. Cherica’s baby was delivered by emergency Caesarian section and survived. Cherica was in critical condition but was rational enough to tell the police that when the other car had pulled along side, Rae had slowed to a crawl forcing her to slow and blocked an avenue of escape and after the shots were fired Rae and the car with the shooter sped off. The shooter was captured and decided to squeal to get a lighter sentence. He said that Rae had contracted the shooting and soon after Rae was arrested for conspiracy. Nine days later Cherica died and Rae’s charges are changed to complicity to commit murder. Rae had been on his cell phone the whole time telling the shooter where he and Cherica were and his cell phone records proved it. Rae was tried, convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison. The reason he ordered the shooting was that he did not want to pay child support. I am without words at this point.

                   Thanks for listening  I can hardly wait until tomorrow