Do you know who Cordell Hull was?

On one side of the campground I’m staying in is Salt Lick Creek.  On the other side is Cordell Hull Lake.  If a big lake is named after a person, there’s usually a reason, and I decided to find out who Cordell Hull was.

This morning, Emma and I hopped in the car and drove to the Cordell Hull Birthplace State Historic Area.  It was about 60 miles away and took us quite a while to get there since I’m finding out that there are very few flat straight roads in Tennessee.  Gorgeous scenery along the way, but you have to pay attention to driving or suffer some not so nice consequences. 

It turns out that Cordell Hull was the first person from Tennessee to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  He earned that by being the Secretary of State during FDR’s presidency, and is thought of as the Father of the United Nations.  It was the formation of the United Nations that gained him the Nobel Prize. 

Cordell was born the son of a sharecropper in Picket County, TN, in 1871.  He was the only one of his siblings that was truly interested in education, so his father supported him.  He ended up going to school to become a lawyer, then judge, then was elected to the US House of Representatives where he served for 25 years before being elected as a Senator.  After two years as a Senator, FDR asked him to become the Secretary of State.  He was certainly a man that deserves the admiration of his fellow citizens. 

He came from very humble beginnings as can be seen at the replica of his birth cabin that is furnished with period pieces.  His life is a testament to the value of education and personal ambition.  A kitchen garden is grown each year as well.  What I’ve noticed in this area is that gardens contain pole beans climbing up tee pee shaped wooden stakes.  I’m a bush bean person myself.

“Peace should be our Passion” is one of the quotes attributed to Cordell Hull, and this historic site has taken on that quote as their motto.  That’s a good one, but I leave you tonight to think about another of his quotes:

                                If you think about it, that’s a pretty good philosophy to adhere to. 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

All’s well that ends well

It wasn’t exactly an uneventful 217 mile drive yesterday from Acworth, GA, to Cordell Hull Lake, TN.  I didn’t get on the road until 11:00 (very late for me) due to more rain pouring down.  The drive to Chattanooga went smoothly.  That’s where I headed off for over 100 miles onto some of those ‘blue roads’ that many others are fond of.  Me, not so much.  It was quite scenic, but the curvy, windy, steep graded roads didn’t afford me much time to enjoy the scenery. 

It was on one of those curvy grades that a great crashing sound made me jump in my seat.  Good thing no one sits in the copilot’s seat, or their arm might have been broken as the entire MCD shade mechanism fell down.  Uf-duh!  Then, five minutes later on another curve there was another crashing sound.  This time it turned out to be my pots and pans drawer flying open and spewing out its content.  It’s not like I was recklessly driving those curves either, as the folks in line behind me could attest to. 

As a counterpoint to my white knuckle drive, I stopped at a little local gas station that I could easily get into and out of to fill up.  The lady working inside said she already set the pump to just go as soon as I drove up.  I knew I’d need almost $200 in gas, so that was really appreciated.  As I went to pay, a local gentleman asked me if I wanted to see the two groundhogs he had just trapped.  “Uh, no thank you.”  I was sorry to disappoint him, but when I’m in travel mode over nerve wracking roads I’m too wired to enjoy the moment.  Guess I should work on that.

After some nasty turns on really skinny roads in a little town, I eventually found myself in the middle of nowhere.

 

Thankfully, the sign I was looking for appeared and I let out a great sigh of relief.  It turned out no one was on duty on Tuesdays, so I had to try to find site #135 on my own.  I sure would have liked a map to look at. 

 

Obviously I found the site and backed in without too much trouble.  Sadly, I had no cell phone service, no internet reception, and after four hours of trying to set up the DISH, no TV. 

On the bright side, this is the view from my rocker.  After another couple of hours of trying to get DISH reception today, I settled on only getting satellite 110. I gave up on finding 119.

Some folks have asked about my trucker’s antenna and amplifier, so here’s the jury-rig I did today.  Normally I put the bottom extension ladder on and Velcro the pole to the ladder.  Today I had to improvise as there is a steep drop-off at the end of the rig and there is no way I can put the ladder extension on.  My Blue Ox hitch for the toad was at shoulder height for me.  Instead, I crawled under the motor grid and used Velcro to hold the pole there.

Inside, the amplifier is attached to the inside of a cabinet below the entertainment center. 

 

I snake the inside antenna and wire to a convenient location by the window on my dining table.  I put my aircard on top of it.  I still wasn’t receiving any signal, but noticed that the two green lights on the amplifier were red instead.  I figured out that it was caused by a poor connection at the back and fixed that.  Took me until tonight to figure that out.  So now I have roaming coverage, and will try to publish this post.  I doubt I’ll be able to keep up on the blogs I like to read for the next week since Sprint is being a pain about my unlimited roaming coverage. 

So, I sort of have TV, and sort of have internet.  It’s amazing to me how it picked up my spirits so when my connectivity was partially restored to me.  When I was working, a week away from everything was heaven on vacation, but I’m not on vacation; this is my life.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

PS.  I obviously can’t post any pictures, so I had to remove them.

A brief note

I was ready to roll this morning, but Mother Nature had her way.  It was raining when I awoke, and the forecast was for possible severe storms all day in my area of Georgia.  I checked the forecast for where I was headed in Tennessee, and the storms there were predicted to arrive in the early afternoon.  So being retired with no reason to tempt fate, I sat still and signed up for one more night here.  Of course, once I did that the storms abated and eventually the sun came out. 

I’ll give it another go tomorrow.  I could have left in the early afternoon, but I’m a morning driver and prefer not to arrive at my destination in the evening.  I truly enjoy having that option.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

Ready to roll?

Just about.  Everything is packed away except the DISH and the internet antenna.  It won’t take me long to hit the road in the morning for Tennessee.  It’s also much quieter in the campground tonight as all of the weekend folks have taken leave.  I think the deer are relieved as well.  They’ve been walking up and down the roads, and in and out of the campsites like crazy this evening.  Much to Emma’s consternation I might add.

After I was finished visiting Pickett’s Mill Battlegrounds yesterday morning, I headed a few miles away to the Etowah Mounds State Historic Site.  Sorry to say, I lost the information booklet that I got there so now I’ll have to rely on my memory (a tricky thing at times) for tonight’s post.

I always thought Indian mounds were only burial places.  Wrong again, Grasshopper!  While one of the mounds in this ancient community was a burial place, the others were used by the top crust of their society to build their houses upon.

In this model you can see that there were several mounds.  The tallest and biggest was for the chieftain.  Archeologists found that there are four separate layers to that mound.  The common folk lived in the mud huts around the village.

What remains today is a replica home, and three of the mounds.  The largest is in the top left.  The other two were smaller, and the one in the bottom right is the burial mound.

While the ancient ones lived here, their weaponry developed from mere poking sticks to blow guns to spears with wooden points to spears with stone points, and the bow and arrow. 

My mission for the afternoon was to pretend I was that chieftain, and climb the 130 steps to the top of the largest mound without looking too much like an invalid with the hitch-in-my-get-along.  I made it, and the view was wonderful.  That’s where I got the pictures of the other two mounds.  There was a nice breeze on top, and the only thing I wondered about was how they got a mower up here to keep the grass so nicely cut.  Of course, after enjoying the view, I had to descend those same 130 steps with that miserable hitch.

Once I got down, I saw this staff member on a mower so I flagged him down and asked how they kept the mounds so neatly trimmed.  He had an interesting answer for me.  It seems there is a well hidden path on one side of the mound that he uses to drive the mower up to the top.  But what about the neatness of the sides of the steep mounds?  It turns out they use 12 inmates from a local prison, each with a weed whacker to take care of the sides.  It takes those inmates three days to whack the mounds on foot.  I guess if you are incarcerated it’s a privilege to get outside even if it is hard work.  The grounds of this historic site were immaculate, and I took advantage of the very nice picnic grounds.

Well, I had time traveled through 1000 A.D. to 1864 to 2012 by the time I got home yesterday afternoon.  It was quite the ‘historic’ day me.

                                    However, when I got home, I found some things never change!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

I got hollered at today

It was a special day today at the Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site. 

On May 25, 1864, this was the scene of a Civil War battle that resulted in the loss of over 2000 lives.  Sherman and his troops encountered a grave defeat here on his march to take Atlanta.

I have a general knowledge of the Civil War, but little knowledge of specific battles, so my first stop was at the visitor’s center to view the museum and the movie.  I was happy that I watched the movie first, as that gave me an understanding of the horrific battle that took place in this seemingly out of the way place.  To add to that, a small re-enactment was occurring today.  In 1864, there was a wheat field in the lower left of the above map.  That’s where the re-enactment I observed occurred.

As I made my way to that field, I came upon Confederate troops readying a grapeshot cannon.  (This is my term for it.  I’m sure these gentlemen told me its official name, but I can’t remember.)  This was an anti-personnel cannon which means the ‘grapeshot’ literally mowed down troops in front of it like a giant shotgun.  In under five hours, 1600 Union soldiers laid dead in the field and forests.

Along the edge of the wheat field, Confederate troops were occasionally firing off rounds at the Union troops on the other side of the field.  They were expecting the Union soldiers to maneuver to their flank. 

I decided to walk down the side of the field and visit the boys in blue.  That’s when I got into trouble.

Suddenly the guy with the little bar on his shoulder shouted, “Stop Sir!  You are in the line of fire, and we are shooting at those Confederates!”  I, of course ignored him since I’m not a ‘Sir’.  Whoops!  Guess that haircut I got a week or so ago was a little shorter than I thought.  He stomped over and ordered me behind the lines.  I, of course, obeyed.  Only problem was, when you’re behind the lines you can’t see anything.  These re-enactors really take their job seriously.  I thought they only used blanks in their guns.

My real highlight of this experience was meeting Johnny Lloyd.  He is one of the re-enactors, and was a wellspring of information.  Depending on the occasion, he can wear blue or grey.    From him I learned that hardtack is really hard!  In order to be edible, troops would first fry their bacon and then soak the hardtack in the grease so it would soften up.  Did you know that they had rubber tarps in those days?  I didn’t, and he even showed me the manufacturer’s seal on the tarp that said Goodyear. (I think. I hope I got that right.  I did recognize it as a famous tire name.)  The tobacco pouch was also made out of that same rubber.  I just always thought it would have been hides or leather of some sort.  Potatoes and other vegetables were also smaller in those days before hybrids and herbicides and such.  I also learned that soldiers wore hobnail boots so that the soles wouldn’t wear out so fast.  They also provided traction in slippery soils.  I always try to learn something new each day, but now I’m good for at least a week!

I’ll have to save where I went this afternoon for tomorrow’s post since it will be a stay at home pack up day for me.  Today was one of those days that was surely a diamond, not a stone!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

The weather forces me out of procrastination

I’m pretty good at procrastinating when it comes to things that aren’t my favorite chores.  (not that I can think of any chores that I love to do)  Anyway, it’s a new month today, and the deadline for making decisions concerning Medicare are looming at the end of this month.  I made the decision about a supplementary insurance plan last month, but hadn’t done anything about prescription drug coverage. 

Well, the day dawned very overcast with off and on drizzles, so I bit the bullet and dragged out the prescription drug coverage information.  I just couldn’t convince myself to put it off any longer since it wasn’t a good day for touring outdoor things.  For South Dakota, there was only one plan that was rated at 5 stars.  After reading everything in the booklet, going on-line, and talking on the phone to answer my questions, I went with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. 

One of my considerations was the ability to use mail order refills so I am not tied to having to be near a member pharmacy as I travel.  (although there are 62,000 member locations throughout the country with Blue Cross)  It turns out that Blue Cross uses the same mail order company that has supplied my meds for the last six years without any glitches.  I have often read of fulltimers having delays in getting prescriptions refilled at Walmart or Walgreens or some other place.  I can also receive a three month supply each time for the normal cost of two months using the mail order service.

Only the next year will tell whether or not my decisions were good ones for me.  It took me the better part of the day to get that taken care of, and I was relieved and exhausted when it was done.  I know it’s not real interesting unless you happen to maybe be at the same place in life that I am, but that’s how my day went.

As I hung up the phone…( ha ha, isn’t that archaic?  Not many people hang up phones any more.  )…the white-tailed doe was skulking around outside my window once again.  She actually seemed rather stoic as Emma was going berserk on the other side of the rig outside.

                      Mrs. Pileated Woodpecker came near to give one of the pine trees a good whack!

The sun came out once again in the late afternoon, and after a couple of good long walks around the campground Emma and I settled outside to watch everyone arriving for the weekend.  I am so glad I chose a site in the woods rather than near the water.  The noise down there from all the boats, and kids, and carryings on is muffled up here in the woods.

                                                  And it wasn’t long before her honey joined her.

As an addendum to yesterday’s post about the Popcorn Haven, I’d like to report that trying many different flavors of popcorn is very much like going to any other tasting or sniffing of fragrances.  After about three different varieties, your taster gets kind of numbed out.  It was like trying all the different varieties at a Jelly-Belly factory.    So far, parmesan/garlic is my favorite.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

letters/6

{heading to haeundae beach this weekend for the sand castle festival! one of the highlights is the hot sand bath where you're buried from head to toe. this will be my first stop of the day.}

dear friday,
thank you for coming so quickly and only making me work four hours. you're also my favorite because you are the one day in the week that the hubs doesn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn for class.

dear hubs,
i love that you know exactly what to temp me with for my bday. and that you know even better to spoil the surprise two weeks early.

dear dehli indian restaurant,
you have me hooked with your delicious spicy chicken curry and generous helpings of nan the size of your head. when i arrived in korea, i could hardly eat anything because it was all too spicy. now, i'm searching for spicy foods to cure my cravings for it. this is one thing that i never expected to change just by living in a different country. (ok, i should say that my spice tolerance still isn't the same as a normal person, but it's a lot better. whenever my korean teacher hands me a snack and swears that it's not spicy, i'm running to the water fountain while she sits there laughing at my weak american tastebuds.)

dear korean holidays,
keep 'em coming. i won't complain about the two weeks in a row that i have a four day workweek.

dear summer,
thanks for the awesome weekend beach weather. you're doing a much better job than last year.

dear costco,
thank you for being a foreign saving grace with all your delicious american food and better yet, the same cheap food court as back in the states.