Work, work and more work with a little bit of fun.

Wow. We haven't posted since this past winter. I guess we've just been consumed with going to work, coming home tired and doing it all over again. The heat and humidity this year has been horrible.

Truly not a lot going on. We did have company for a day and a half, Jackie stopped on her way home with a Jared, a friend of hers. It was a nice visit but too short.

The politics of the day have also taken our time as we are continually frustrated with the current administrations attempts to ruin this once great nation of ours.

We can see November from here though and hope and pray for a defeat of the democrats.

If we don't win in November the new taxes will be very destructive. The house in Georgia has not sold yet, of course the housing market has been totally destroy by obama so we have no expectation of selling it soon.

We have managed some range time now and then but we are trying to reduce expenses so it has been limited. The picture is of one fun event with some friends of ours as Sam and Rob laugh about destroying a metal target Rob's dad just bought and brought to the range. lol.

That's my update, not much but we will try to pay more attention and get something up monthly in the future.

Hugs and love to family and friends.

FUBO

February 2010

And I thought last year was cold. Ha! Am I in South Carolina or somewhere north of the Mason Dixon? Yesiree we got 6-8 inches of snow. It only lasted a day but we have had a month of nights in the twenties and that just isn't acceptable here in Dixie. I sure miss Georgia.

Merry Christmas

This has been a tough year for our country. This Christmas may we remember who really is in control, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May we remember to turn to him in good times and bad and to rely on his saving grace for our future. May He protect us in our time of danger and help us in our fight against those who would try to destroy us. God bless America, God bless us everyone.

Throw Away The Scabbard - A must read for alternate history and Civil War fans

THROW AWAY THE SCABBARD - click on the picture to buy it.


What if Stonewall Jackson had survived Chancellorsville?


In this alternate history, Jackson survives Chancellorsville. With Jackson leading his Second Corps in an invasion of the North, the war shifts from the Virginia wilderness to the Pennsylvania countryside. After the Army of Northern Virginia wins a stunning victory on the banks of the Susquehanna, General Ulysses S. Grant comes east to drive the Confederates from northern soil. But when Grant fails to dislodge Lee's army, President Abraham Lincoln risks all in a desperate attempt to win the war and restore the Union.

Throw Away the Scabbard is the first book of a trilogy that provides the exciting answer to the Civil War's most enduring question: What if Stonewall Jackson had survived Chancellorsville?

This is a wonderful book, the characters come alive and we hated to put it down. We are anxiously awaiting the second book in this trilogy.

Foxhole January 09 Update

It's been colder this year than last. Quite a string of below freezing nights than we are used to. We even had school closing and delays last week because we had 1/2 inch of snow and the temps below freezing.

The birds have been going through 50 lbs. of seed a week. We have huge flocks of goldfinches down from the north, the front and backyard feeders and the ground are full of them. The blue jays are back at the feeders as well as our feathered friends that never leave, the nuthatches, chickadees, red bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, etc.

We had some bad news with a bright side. Sam's son was hurt while playing soccer and will have to have some facial surgery next week, we are thankful to God that he wasn't hurt worse and we pray for a quick recovery.

We received mail from a friend of ours from New York, a wonderful poet who we think dearly of. It's been a cold winter up her way. Getting hand written letters is such a rarity in today's Internet world, it was a nice surprise and we wrote back, yes, in paper and ink, by hand. It is too bad that form of communication is nearly lost.

As always during these winter months we are anxious for spring. After all, we live in the South and expect to be warm!

We are avoiding most political news, only keeping an eye on what is going on without dwelling on it, we are conservatives in exile.

We did do one fun thing a couple weeks ago, we went to a local gun show and boy was it packed. That was a fun outing. We spent more than we should but we will sacrifice elsewhere to stay on our budget. Suffice it to say, Sam is a happy camper.

Hugs to all.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

This weekend we shopped for our first real tree for the SC foxhole. We found a local gentleman selling pre-cut trees or you could cut your own. He had many varieties and he also had some wreaths and garland. The air was cool and the smell was wonderful.

His father has a grist mill and we also bought some fresh stone ground grits. What a wonderful way to spend the morning. As you can see we put the tree up as soon as we got home. We dug out some decorations and the place has a nice, not too overly done, Christmas spirit about it.

We hung the dogs Christmas stockings on the fireplace mantel but will wait to fill them until Christmas morning. The dogs are curious but not bothering it at all.

We called Pa while we were decorating to wish him a happy birthday. We are looking forward to Christmas vacation to just hang around the house and chill out for a couple weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be greatful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.....
George Washington.

Eight days until family arrives for Thanksgiving. We are really looking forward to it. It's getting very chilly later this week, lows of 25, highs in the 50s. Brrr. Hopefully it will warm up some for our Thanksgiving week, can't have company coming South and have them freezing!

I had planned on working from home this next week to tend to fall chores but the boss is not so willing. I have a presentation Tuesday and an all day meeting Wednesday. It looks like I will not be able to use all my vacation this year and there is no carry over. In these times though I am glad I have a job.

We find that in these frightful times for our country that we still have many things to be thankful for.

Out of the Fog

We will rise again.

Gearing up...Come what may

Beautiful day today for a long drive in the country hills of South Carolina. Headed out to a range and met some nice people with about six dogs! The owners told us they all came to them. Nice folks to take them in, then again they have almost 400 acres! They did not have everything we needed but it was a pleasant drive. We are enjoying the cooler weather.

Our home is full of political talk of course, more than usual considering we are only two days away from the election. Frightening prospect but we are ever hopeful. Tuesday is going to be a long, long night. I already voted for Sarah in Georgia and Sam will vote here on election day.

On the domestic side, the dogs have been tearing up the new grass and frustrating Sam. Sarge likes to kick his hind legs after a pee and Scarlett likes to dig little holes. Beat up grass is still far better than sand. The grass has proven to be a great big door mat, no more sand in the house. Yippee.

We're looking forward to company for Thanksgiving, we've already acquired the bird and most of the fixins'. Having the time off work will be an added bonus!

The leaves are just starting to turn here so it should be a pretty show for a couple months. If gas prices stay low we may be able to get out and scout around a little more. There is so much we have yet to explore around here.

Sam is reading about the Italy campaign, the book is concentrating on Anzio and I am re-reading Mary Chestnut's Civil War. I recently finished Lone Survivor, the true story of a Special Forces (Navy SEALs) operation in Afghanistan. Incredible book.

We received an early Christmas present from Ma and Pa in Chicago, Polish sausage, sweets and Tamales. Good stuff always!!

Hugs to all and stay safe. Those willing, please join us in prayer for our country this election day.

Southern Georgia Pine - 1 Acre and Home for Sale

One Acre Southern Georgia home for Sale

We finally have our Georgia home on the market with a great realty company. We really hate to sell it but we must. We like our place in South Carolina but someone looking for a great place to relax and hide away will love it and love Georgia. My favorite part about it was that you couldn't go in any room without seeing pines outside every window. The stars at night are awesome, it's the darkest place I've ever lived at night so the stars seem really close. It's rural but only 10 miles from town. Wonderful.

The Grass is indeed greener...than sand. Life in South Carolina

We love it, the dogs love it (see their blog for a review) and I am certain our home will be much cleaner because of it! Finally after almost a year we were able to get some sod laid. No plants or flowers yet but that can wait. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing but the grass acts like a giant door mat by keeping the sand off the dogs before they come inside. No more rolling around in the sand and dirt, they are enjoying the grass and so are we. Of course our water bill will be through the roof but remember my earlier blog about creature comforts, well this is one of them.

Of course there were trials and tribulations along with it but that's normal isn't it? The guy unloading the sod ran over the water line out front after Sam and our builder Josh warned him where not to drive! So Josh and Sam spent a couple very hot hours repairing it. That is the fourth, yes FOURTH time it has been run over and broken. We high tailed it to Lowe's and Sam found some ornate wrought iron fence about 4ft high by 4 ft wide, we bought two pieces and angled it over the water pipe so the next person to run over it will have to drive right into the fencing to do it! We also put a rather ugly "Welcome" sign we had left over from the store beside it, it has a picture of a big red poinsettia on it, no one should be able to miss it now.

Gnats seem to have come with the sod so they are very thick out there, plus they are attracted to water which we have to do regularly. It's been in for four days now and I can already see a difference in the house. I sweep it and it actually stays clean. We can walk around in our bare feet and not walk on sand indoors. It's wonderful. It makes the yard look so much better so we have lots of blessings from putting it down and are grateful to be able to finally have it.

We did get one good day of rain thanks to Tropical Storm Fay and the Lord, thank you very much!

We have two hummingbirds visiting the feeder and the sprinklers. The birds love it because of all the watering. Everybody is happy!

It also cooled down from the upper ninety's to the mid 80's which helps. It's been quite pleasant and we are sitting out on the back porch much more often. I hope the worst of the heat is finally ending.

Happy Birthday to Tim and Ma this month. Pa sent us a picture of himself in front of his Hall of Fame photo that is really nice. Talked to Ma on the phone today.

That's it for now, we hope everyone is doing fine and in good health. Hugs to you all.

Spread the Word - Speak Out!

make custom gifts at Zazzle

For Just One Day

We saw a sad soul laying under the pickup truck. This cat, actually still a kitten, extremely emaciated, with ants swarming on it's back leg. It was timid at first, then immediately friendly, not feral at all. It's back leg had no fur left, it was just a large open wound, along most of the leg all the way up to the thigh. We dreaded the thought of introducing a cat into our lives with the two dogs but we also knew we were both suckers for animals. The least we could do was to care for it until we could get it to the vet in the morning.

We were stingy with food for fear of harming the young cat, reminding ourselves of what we new about the history of concentration camp victims. We gave it just a little milk and a teaspoon of tuna. We did not want to bring it into the house, not knowing what other problems it might have and worried the dogs would upset it.

We took Scarlett's cage outside, put in a sheet and a towel and a container with water. It was going to be in the upper 60's and dry. We set it by the front door, facing the door. We were concerned that other critters not bother it. Sam would go out periodically during the night to check on it. It was resting fine.

The vet would open at 8 this morning and we transferred the cat into a box and headed out. It seemed to enjoy the ride, looking all around, crying occasionally.

There is only one vet in this rural town, very good people and they are always busy. Saturday is first come first serve. We pulled up at 7:45 and found 5 or 6 people already waiting. At triage we found out it was a girl. I said we should name it Sally. I don't know why except that it began with an S and sounded southern.

We finally got in to an examining room at about 10 o'clock. Sally weighed in at under 4.5 pounds. They guessed she was about six months old. The vet was puzzled some by the wound and how Sally may have gotten it. She asked us if we were going to keep the cat. We couldn't imagine what else we could do. The vet suggested before we put a lot of money into all that would need done that they do a feline leukemia test there in the office. It would cost 45 dollars. We said of course knowing full well the list of shots and care she would need would be great.

While they took her away for the test Sam and I discussed what would be the best way to introduce Sally to the dogs, how would we keep her away from them while she healed, should we keep her separate anytime we were away, how would the dogs behave and so on.

The vet came in and told us the bad news. Sally in fact tested positive for feline leukemia. Our hearts fell to the floor. We had barely cared for this cat for 12 hours and yet it broke our hearts. There is no cure. To best describe the condition is to compare it to AIDS. It is an autoimmune deficiency. Now the vet understood the way her leg was, it was not healing because of her low immunity.

I had a cat die of this 30 years ago before the vaccine was discovered. It was too late for my cat 30 years ago and because this cat never had been vaccinated, it was too late for her. I know what it is like to watch a cat die from this and I didn't want to do it again. It's not fair to them and I honestly don't have the time needed for the commitment. We sadly made the decision to have her put down. It was an awful day for all of us.

Reassured by the vet we had done the right thing and that she at least wouldn't have to die alone or in the wild we could at least find comfort in that. We cried and we drove home in silence. God sent us a cat to send home to him. We did what we could.

We gave each other a little love for just one day.

July Foxhole Update

It is still hot and I expect that won't change until October. For the long holiday weekend we did a lot of relaxing and hung a ceiling fan on the back porch, thankful for Father's Day gifts. More than cooling, though that is good, it keeps the bugs off you. Wonderful!

It rains nearly every afternoon. It either pours down like a torrent or we get lots of lightning and thunder and barely a drop. Today we had a quick downpour and had 4 inches in our rain gauge! In case your wondering, no the rain does not cool things down. It only gets more humid.

We had to take the car in for it's 60,000 mile work up, that hurt! But have no fear we are blessed and we know it and take nothing for granted. Despite it all we are happy. Having reached this age, we both can still remember a time in our own lives when we were worse off.

Sam has a dentist appointment this week and we should both be done with that for awhile, yippee.

Work continues to fill most of my time. I enjoy it but these type of projects are alwalys time limited and it seems we are always on a critical path for deliverables.

We have a new bluebird nest in the box out front, this will be our second brood this year. We imagine we'll get at least three sets of baby birds before they stop for the winter.

Sarge turned 3 on the 4th and he still acts like a pup! We spoiled him all day long. The neighbor has gotten more cows and they have been quite noisy in the mornings. It's fun to listen to them. I took the dogs on a walk to see them and neither of them wanted much to do with them. Those cows are awfully big close up.

Crops are already being harvested down here so we recently got some wonderful tomatoes and some sweet plums from a co-worker. I'd love to grow a garden but I would be battling the bugs and pests all the time out here, not to mention all the time it would take.

That's all I have for now, not very exciting but I figure that's a good thing. Y'all stay safe. Hugs from us both.

Dixie Land Update

It's warm, the air is thick and humid. Trees and flowers all fully bloomed and the baby bluebirds have left the nest. Sam cleaned it out in hopes for another brood. We've been getting spotty afternoon thunderstorms, some hits, some misses so we still have to water. We are only allowed to water three days a week.

It's actually warmer here than at our place in Georgia. Doesn't make sense to me. As you can see by our new widget on the sidebar our absolute favorite TV show will soon be in it's fourth season. It's the only show we really watch regularly and it is only on for about 10 weeks. Sam has a couple others that are also short season shows, Psych and the Sarah Conner Chronicles. Television isn't something we watch much of at all. When it is on we tune it to GAC and listen to country, although CMT still has some good stuff on, it's always just background music to whatever else we are doing.

The downside to living in the south is that most of the time it is too darn hot to get out for walks unless it's really early in the morning and sometimes even then it's stifling.

I found a short cut to the mall near work so that has become the lunchtime activity. It is too hot to sit in the car for lunch and this way I can get a little exercise in too. Just window shopping and staying cool. There is no shade in the parking lot at work and the car is super hot at quitting time.

With the price of gas so high we've lessened our weekend trips out to town. I think it has been three weeks since we made the trip. Tomorrow we will go in and stock up at the grocery, yippee! We really enjoy the morning as funny as it sounds, a trip to the local dump and then off to the grocery. Every other trip we treat ourselves to a Starbucks coffee at the Target in town. We're living large. LOL.

The folks across the road from us have been increasing their supply of cows and calves. Cute buggers. We'd like to take the dogs over to see them. They hear them all the time but can't see them through our privacy fence. Scarlett would just love to herd them. I'll get some pictures and post them later this weekend if I remember.

That's it for now. Sarge's birthday is the 4th of July, pronounced 'JOO-lie' down here in Dixie. He will be three years old though he still thinks and acts like a puppy. Hugs to everyone.

A Day at the Lake

This past weekend we were invited to a get together at the local lake around here. Lake Murray. A gentlemen from work and his wife have some lakefront property they are developing and invited the Project staff out for an afternoon of food, music and boat rides.

It's been quite warm here so the breeze from the lake was welcome. We took the first ride down the river in a co-worker's pontoon, very pleasant. We were over dressed for the weather. We wore jeans when we should have worn shorts! We'll have to rethink that next time we go out to the lake. The food was catered in, fried chicken, veggies and folks brought homemade desserts. Sam made brownies. We spent about 3 1/2 hours and then headed for home. It was about a half hour drive but quite hot. Sam was smart enough to wear a hat but I didn't. We got home and immediately took a nap. Old farts.

Sam was quite pleased on Father's Day that all three of his children gave him a call to wish him Happy Father's Day. He of course gave his father a call. I wish we could get up to Chicago again but I don't know how or when.

That's about it. We're staying cool inside and it was in the sixties overnight so the morning on the back porch was pleasant. We should get down to the sixties again this week so that makes for a nice break before hitting the 90's by lunchtime. Hugs to all.

Was I complaining about the cold a while back?

Not now. It is hot, hot hot! On average it's been 100 degrees at quitting time. There is virtually no shade in the parking lot at work so the fact that our car is black is not a good thing. The nights have not gone below 70. That would be fine if there was a breeze at least but that's not happening. We get afternoon storms almost daily, more lightning than rain and still no cooling off. It's like August up north.

The snakes are out, you can view our It's a Dog's Life blog and see an update there from the dogs about that. Spiders, boy howdy have we got spiders. Fortunately they are staying outside. We have black widows out front and all kinds building webs out back.

Plenty of birds visiting and bringing their babies to the feeders. We are going through a box of suet a day. We have baby blue birds in the nest out front. Today we had a baby red-bellied woodpecker visit the backyard suet holder, he was soooo cute. We have baby finches galore, baby downy woodpeckers, nuthatches and I'm sure the cardinals and blue jays must have some nearby though they are harder to spot from the adults.

The baby squirrels are out and about driving Scarlett crazy. She loves to stalk them. She lies in wait but alas can never catch them. Southern living is great but without those hard long freezes the bugs won't die.

We are hoping to take a little trip to the coast soon. We haven't been yet and would like to get down to Charleston and Fort Sumter. It shoud be about a two hour drive. Between the price of gas and the heat we haven't ventured out much. It so nice to just hang out around the house on weekends we really don't mind not going anywhere. Lazy weekends in rural SC, almost as good as Georgia but we still think we like Georgia better.

Check out the dog's blog and catch their update and we'll see you all soon. Hugs!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a month since we wrote on News from the Foxhole. We've been having our teeth worked on and not felt much like writing. What a wonderful way to spend your free time and 'stimulus' check. We may never get grass in this yard, Boy howdy the price of dental work has gone up! We both maxed out our dental benefit in what will amount to two visits for each of us. As much as we hated to we had to get the dental work done but it sure did hurt in more ways than one.

Not much else going on, the birds are eating a suet block per day, feeding their young. We have five bluebird eggs in the nest box out front. It's been quite warm and we've enjoyed cool mornings.

Along with the price of gas we notice chicken went up a dollar since our trip to the grocery just two weeks ago. I expect other things have as well and will continue as the costs to get things to market will rise just based on fuel costs.

Yes, I believe the grass in the backyard will have to wait. We've been very busy at work and we are on a tight timeline so I've been working some every night and weekend at home, another reason I haven't blogged much.

We're both enjoying and bemoaning the election cycle as the chaos continues. The sleep number bed is still wonderful and the dogs still love it. I think they are in it more than we are.

Scarlett has been stalking the squirrels in the hopes that she can herd them all into a corner. Sam bought her a stuffed squirrel toy and put it in the ground feeder. LOL. She stared at it for four minutes trying to see it move. Sarge just moseyed up to it and grabbed it. The chase was on then! Just another reason why I love him, he keeps me laughing. Sam is truly provides my anchor and my balance in this crazy world.

We sent Pa's father's day card out today. Ma and Pa sent us some Polish ham and some of the great sweets they like to send. Yummy! Oh, Pa sent Sam a book that he is reading now on WWII. I'm reading a painfully awful book on Lee's Army, the writer is obviously a yankee and the book is very biased against the South. I don't mind reading both sides but this writer is too anti-south. I prefer just the facts please.

We are anxiously awaiting a friend of ours to get published. An excellent author who is writing a fictional book, an alternative history on the Army of Northern Virginia. We read the first manuscript and fell in love with it and the writer! Sam will go down in history as she has made him a Captain with his real last name in the book!! That's just icing on the cake because the writing is wonderful.

Speaking of cake, Sam baked one today (another reason I love him) and I think I'll go grab a piece. Hugs to all from both of us!

Birding in the Back Yard

Wow. If only my camera would have been charged up. Today we had a flock of Cedar Waxwings visit our yard. As we sat on the back porch all at once about 10 of them came from the trees where we had been watching them down to the bird bath. The bath was encircled by them and more were in the trees. It was a beautiful sight.

We also had an Indigo Bunting as a vistor for a few days.


Of course we have our regulars to the yard, Cardinals, Goldfinch, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Titmouse and Chickadees.

The Blue Jays have also taken up somewhere in the yard. We used to see them only occasionally but now we have quite a few and they are staying close to the yard and coming to the feeders.

I'm sure I've left a few out and visitors come and go. Spring and warm Southern temperatures are now getting pretty regular so we hope to see many different birds as they migrate to the North and hope many birds will "summer" here from further South.

Our very favorite so far has been this guy...