How much !!?!!

This morning, T and I went to shop at Wally World.  Afterward, we filled the car with gas.  Fortunately we had put some money on a Walmart card.  We got 3 cents off the posted price of  $3.41 and only paid $3.38.  Only, she says.  We spoke with a young man while checking out and the word on the street is that we will be paying $5.00 a gallon by the Summertime. 

Still you need to keep a sense of humor about these things.  Either that or take over a small, oil producing country and have a tanker bring the deliveries straight to your car. 

SIGN ABBREVIATIONS:  LOL - Love Our Leaded (but it's not cheap).
OMG - Ouch, More Gas needed . 
WTF - Wait, There's  Financing!

Would anyone have a pair of Draft Horses and a set of harness that would fit a 1992 Olds Cutlass Supreme?  Will supply my own shovel.

The Battle of Olustee

This Friday begins the festival weekend surrounding the re-enactment of the Battle of Olustee.  Does anyone know when this battle was fought?  How about where it was fought or why?  Okay, please don't shout out your answers.  I can't hear when you all speak at once.  Oh - wait, maybe no one was yelling out answers.  That could just be the sound of silence.

Well, for those who may enjoy a parade and a good fight, our small north central Florida town will present both this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  It is the commemoration of the almost 147th anniversary of the Civil War battle fought on February 20, 1864.  The battle was between Union troops out of Jacksonville and Confederate troops.  The battle took place very near a a clear body of water called Ocean Pond and  not far from the small town of  Olustee, Florida. 

Our local paper describes what happened.  In the morning of February 20th,  Federal soldiers left Barber's Station near Jacksonville and advanced westward.  Skirmishes started with Southerners.  As the Union troops drew closer to the railroad Station at Olustee, the intensity of the skirmishes grew.  Both sides sent additional troops until, by midafternoon it was a major battle.  While the Union had the early advantage, poor communications led to the collapse of the 7th New Hampshire Regiment, turning the tide of battle to the Confederates.  They advanced and then surged forward.  The Union realized the battle was lost and began to retreat.  By dusk, Union troops were on their way back to Jacksonville.  Although they retained that port city, they would never again venture in force into Florida. 

The North lost 203 men killed, 1,152 wounded and 506 missing.  Southern losses were 93 dead, 847 wounded and six missing.  Florida remained a Confederate state until the end of the war, less than 14 months later. 

The parade is held each year now and residents who don't get to attend the Battle of Olustee re-enactment at Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park will still attend this event.  There will be people lining the roadsides, watching elected officials and several Civil War re-enactment groups as they march by.  There will be the 2011 Miss Olustee pageant winners, the 2012 Teacher of the Year for our county, other community organizations and businesses will be marching or driving horse and buggy.  Some groups will be driving in old fashioned carriages decorated with flowers.  There will be re-enactors dressed in period uniforms with weaponry and music.  Abraham Lincoln will ride in a carriage.  Robert E. Lee will be in the parade.  Ladies in hoop skirts will wave as they are drawn past the viewing crowds. 

The parade is held in honor of the soldiers who fought in the battle.  It is like watching living history to see the men and boys step by.  Festival dates are February 18th, 19th and 20th.  The festival is organized by a group called the Blue-Grey Army.  There will be vendors with arts and crafts, food and entertainers along the main street downtown.  At the battlefield, a Sutler's camp will present authentic living conditions and Friday morning there will be a memorial ceremony in one of our oldest cemeteries, where 100 unknown soldiers are buried.  They were recovered from the battlefield and given honorable burial here.  That brings things into focus for me. 

The  Olustee Descendant family will also be recognized. A man named Robert Christie fought in the battle with Company F, Fourth Georgia Cavalry.  His actions as well as his descendants will be recognized during this year's festival.  More than 300 of his family members are expected to attend.

 Friday afternoon there will be a skirmish in our downtown area. Now the actual battle was fought several miles away from our town, mind you.  If there had been real soldiers sighted within our city limits, there would have been panic in the streets.  Nowadays, we see soldiers in period uniforms shopping at our local groceries and while it gives one pause, you know they won't be taking anyone prisoner.  Things are safe, now.  The first day of re-enactment activities will be at Olustee Battlefield on Saturday.  The re-enactment will be at 3:30PM that day and the main re-enactment will be at held next day at 1:30PM, Sunday. 

I have been to the main battle.  The skirmishers advance.  Contact is made with the enemy.  Weapons are fired - smoke and the sound of rifles and the cannon surround you.  Horses charge.  Bugles are blown.  Cannonballs hit the ground and dirt and grass explode upward.  Men fall dead, other men advance in the field.  Women rush in to attend the wounded and dying.  It seems very real.

For those who don't want to make the trip to the battlefield during the festival  - you can go out on another day and look in the small museum or walk the battlefield in solitude while you ponder the events of the past.  I have been there, under the pines in the quiet of the afternoon.  There,a passing train blew its eerie whistle.  The sound echoed across the ground and absolutely raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

Valentine Memories.

Happy Valentine's day to all. 

The candy companies are happy. 

The card companies are happy. 

The e-card companies are happy. 

The florists are ecstatic.  Tired though.  When Mama's and Uncle Bob and Aunt Mo owned the flower shop in Lake Worth many moons ago, I used to drive up from our home to help out on flower intense holidays like Easter, Christmas and Valentine's Day.    St. Valentine's day was a telephone nightmare.  The gentlemen would wait until the last minute of the last day before the fourteenth and then call to order a dozen red roses delivered to their lady-love in time for the holiday.  Uh huh.  It was as though they hadn't heard about the holiday coming and had realized at the last minute that the girl they were dating or engaged to or even married to - deserved to be sent a token of their feelings.  Roses were the biggest item.

The shop pre-ordered stock and roses were the bulk of the order for that February date.  Tulips were for Easter - or Lillies.  Poinsettias for Christmas.  But for Saint Valentine's Day, you gotta have roses.  Mostly red.  Some white.  But mostly red, tightly closed and thorn filled roses.  The florist supply van delivered the ordered beauties to the back door of the shop where we put them into buckets and buckets of water.  It was mostly my job to snip the rubber bands off the bunches and then de-thorn the stems before putting the flowers into fresh buckets and moving them out of the way on the floor.  I purely did not enjoy taking the thorns off.  It sometimes hurt!  You would take this device that looked much like a set of tongs - with a notch on one side that bit into the metal like a V,  .... and on the other half of the tongs the metal tip ended in a complementary V.

When you put the rose stem in between the V shaped notches and pulled the closed tongs down the stem, in theory the rose thorns were scraped away.  In theory she said, loudly, in case nobody was listening!

 In practice, my index finger picked up a thorn or two and the rest of the stems were dropped onto the concrete floor, leaving the rose head in my fist.  Uncle Bob was much better at this job than I ever was.  After a while, I got where I could scrape the stems and successfully de-thorn a dozen or more before I had to toss away a lone rose head.  I always thought we could have sold floating rose heads in shallow bowls just as well as long stemmed roses in fragile glass vases.    Fragile glass.  That's another tale for another day!

Once I was comfortable on the telephones they let me loose to answer the incoming calls.  The Valentine's question was always, "Do you have any roses?"  This was usually asked by a panicked sounding male voice.  I took joy in telling them I'd have to check and then I would put the phone on hold for a while, as I answered the other ringing line.  Back and forth I could go, assuring first one caller and then the other that we did indeed have a few quite nice roses and would he like to order a dozen before we ran out?  We had buckets and buckets of roses and it was the early in the week before the holiday.  Still, you never wanted your competition to hear that you were doing poorly on sales.  In a town like Lake Worth, we knew who else was doing business and they knew us.  

When the roses finally were gone, late in the day, the alternative floral arrangement would be red Carnations with Baby's Breath.  If we were getting low on the Carnations, we'd make up bud vases with 3 flowers and some ferns and Baby's Breath.  Tie a thin red satin ribbon on the vase and it made a nice gift for your girl without blowing the budget.  Teenage boys liked the 3 flower arrangements.   I liked Carnations. 
No thorns. 

The night of the 13th-14th, we would bunk in the shop so we could be ready to go in the morning.  All the arrangements for shop sales were in the freezer case waiting the walk-in trade.  The telephone orders were carded and tagged for the delivery van and we would load up on breakfast and coffee to energize the people working.  From early morning until after 5:00PM when the last delivery was out the door, we didn't stop running or answering phones or having a grand time.  I miss that little shop and those days.  I miss seeing Mamas in her element - working with two things she loved; flowers and her family. 

Carolyn's Flowers was  incorporated in 1970 - dissolved October 1974.

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.  Make happy memories.  Order early!

Stupor Bowl Sunday

It is finally Super Bowl Sunday.  After all the season, the playoffs and the build up to the big game we will sit down to see who wins tonight.  Green Bay or Pittsburgh.  I keep hearing this high pitched voice in my head that says "The Pack is back!" while laughing maniacally.  I don't know who will win.  The paper said Green Bay was favored by 2 points.  The game will be tight.  It could go either way and if the score is tied at the end of the 4th quarter, there are new rules that govern  overtime.  The team that wins the coin toss in overtime would have to score a touchdown to win.  No more does a field goal mean you win.  Get a field goal and the other team gets a try at making a touchdown.  Even some of the players haven't any idea what the rules say.  It should be interesting.  I just hope the commercials live up to their pre-game hype.  I saw the Doritos commerical and I must say it was kind of cute.  It stars a Pug. 

If the game goes into overtime, I could be asleep on the couch by the time it's over.  If this happens, someone please text message me so I will know the score.  We don't get a Monday paper and I'll have to wait until Tuesday to  find out who won. 

Walk like an Egyptian?

Remember that old song?  It had a catchy tune and was a special favorite at Girl Scouting meetings whenever  you had to present a skit.  There was nothing cuter than a troop of little girls all walking like Queen Cleopatra, in lockstep - and all chanting the refrain from the song. 

Today, the world is sitting and watching the Egyptians throw away their country with both hands.  One wonders what will be left after this uprising has flamed out.  Who will be in power?  What will the price of gas climb to?  Will America at last start to build a refinery in this country and direct our natural reserve of oil to within our shores or will we continue to sell it offshore.   Will the peace with Israel still stand?

Someone on Facebook posted her concerns over the situation:

"We have had Extreme Makeover and Extreme Home Makeover, but I think America really needs an Extreme Spiritual Makeover!!! We also need to be in prayer for Egypt, if Radical Islam takes over that country, it won't just affect Egypt!!. We also need to watch out here as Muslims take over in our own country and I don't care about being politically correct!!!"

I'm not in favor of offending our Muslim brothers and sisters but I do share her concerns about radicals residing in this country.  If the moderate voices of Islam aren't heard protesting the honor killings the building of mosques on ground in New York where the Twin Towers fell, if no one combats the increasing calls for Sharia compliant laws in this nation, who else will stand up. 

And  a week or so ago, the news reported that a book was found on the American side of the Mexican/US border.  It was supposedly left behind by someone crossing over.  The book details the last will and testaments of suicide bombers and the "heroes" who died.  It may be nothing, but what kind of person reads that kind of literature.  It may mean more than we want to know about. 

After 9/11 I saw the man with the sign that still speaks to me today.  Be Strong.  Be Brave.

I would add - Be Vigilant.  If you see something that concerns you, no matter how small - report it to your local law enforcement.