Happy New Year!

I love Santa!

Ahhh the holidays!

Stress relief!

Men!

Truer words

Cookies anyone?

So true

I feel the same way about my house.

Oh Wow!

Oh Snap!

Bless You!

For some reason this reminds me of my brother.

That's how we do it in GA

I tell my kids that all the time...

LoL

Just my luck

We all know folks like that...

Now that is flat out funny...

Monday Funny

I told you so

I recently read a “true” story about a pilot and his wife taking their small plane on a cross country trip.  During an overnight stay at a hotel the woman had a vision that she and her husband would be in a plane crash.  When she gets up the next morning the woman at the front desk of the hotel tells them she “doesn’t like the thought” of them flying that day.

That got me thinking, what would I have done?  What would my husband have done?  He doesn’t really believe in paranormal experiences, but I do.  Would my belief be enough for him?  Would the hotel clerk also having a “feeling” push it over the edge for him?  Or would he insist on continuing the trip?  What would you have done?

I would not have flown, with or without him, I would have chilled at the hotel.  I will have to ask him what he would have done.  By the way they did fly and they did crash, but they lived.  I would have loved to have heard that “I TOLD YOU SO!!!”

If you like to cook ...

or need some inspiration, this is my other blog, it has tons of recipes. I hope you will check it out. Cakes, pies, salads, BBQ, meats, cookies, holiday foods, and more

Financial planning

Building a Greenhouse

 http://doorgarden.com/10/50-dollar-hoop-house-green-house

This is why I don't diet!

Homesteading / Survivalism

 

This site is wonderful, they have some very usful information.  Even if you are not into survivalism, they have great ideas.

 

Homesteading / Survivalism

‎6 Air Purifying House Plants

1. Bamboo Palm: According to NASA, it removes formaldahyde and is also said to act as a natural humidifier.

2. Snake Plant: Found by NASA to absorb nitrogen oxides and formaldahyde.
...
3. Areca Palm: One of the best air purifying plants for general air cleanliness.

4. Spider Plant: Great indoor plant for removing carbon monoxide and other toxins or impurities. Spider plants are one of three plants NASA deems best at removing formaldahyde from the air.

5. Peace Lily: Peace lilies could be called the “clean-all.” They’re often placed in bathrooms or laundry rooms because they’re known for removing mold spores. Also know to remove formaldahyde and trichloroethylene.

6. Gerbera Daisy: Not only do these gorgeous flowers remove benzene from the air, they’re known to improve sleep by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving off more oxygen over night.
http://bit.ly/LS36QK

Just throw a shoe...

Healthy eating.

Killer Kookin'

The kindness of strangers

I read an interesting news story out of Montana this week.  It seems a man that has been hitchhiking around the country working on a photographic memoir about the kindness of strangers.   In a shameless act of self-promotion he shot himself in the upper arm.  He then flagged down a lady and her daughter for help, claiming a random guy in a pickup just pulled up and shot him for no apparent reason.

Here is where the story takes a turn.  Police find and arrest a man fitting the description given by the photographer.  The man was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, but claimed his innocence.  The police detective really believed him, but he did fit the description.  The photographer did eventually confess and the charges were dropped against the other guy, but he was held on charges of DUI. 

I wonder and hope that the pickup driver uses this as a huge wakeup call.  This could have turned out a whole lot different than it did.  God was giving him a nudge, sure hope he is smart enough to follow it.

IM me.

Dead Dolphins

Over the last 5 months there have been around 120 dolphins washed up dead on Texas beaches.   They are calling it an "unusual mortality event".  No one is sure what is going on or why.  They have found some gray sludge in some of the dolphins’ stomachs.  Could this be more environmental fallout from the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico?  Or is it another sign of the impending apocalypse?  Who knows, but it sure is sad.

Stressed...

It's 5:00 somewhere!

My Gay Marriage Rant

Recently there has been a lot of upheaval over North Carolina’s vote to deny gays the right to marry.  In the interest of full disclosure I have known gay people my entire life, and I have several gay friends.  I also know two separate gay couples that have been/were together for more than 30 years.  I only personally know  two straight couples that I can say the same thing about, so in my eyes gay and straight marriage are on even ground.   I know this is a hot button topic and most people fall either on one side of the fence or the other, very few people have no opinion on the matter.  I try to respect everyone’s opinions, even when they are wrong. 

Honestly, what it boils down to for me is civil rights.  Why any state should be allowed to require gays to live by the same laws, and pay the same taxes but not have the same rights as all other citizens is beyond me.   I believe gay marriage falls under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, as simple as that.  That is not really what I want to talk about though.

A week or so ago I had a discussion on Facebook with a woman that actually said “being gay is a sin, just like murder.” At first I was dumbfounded by the stupidity of this statement… no I still am.   To equate a hate filled murder to being in love with or even just attracted to a member of your same sex, is crazy!  She went on to say that she had to believe and obey the entire Bible; she could not pick and choose what to believe.  I of course came back with some rules/laws of the Bible that are at best out of date, only to have her ignore my points.  I also pointed out that in this country we have a separation of church and state.  I asked for one, just one, non-religious reason to prevent gays from marrying.  I was told “The Constitution is wrong, the further we get from God the worse off we are.”  This would be the same Constitution that gave blacks and women their rights, and gave this idiot the right to religious freedom.  That really riled me up (if you didn’t notice). 

I thought about what things would be like if we all went back to the strict ways of the Bible.  I also noticed that the same people telling gays live your life according to what we believe; don’t really live their own lives that way.    Let us explore some of these rule/laws that these people do not “pick and choose:

·         Leviticus 11:7-8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.    

  Easter ham anyone?

·         Leviticus 19:19 “Keep my decrees. "'Do not mate different kinds of animals. "'Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. "'Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

Well, they probably don’t own a Liger but they may own a mule, even if they don’t, what are the chances that none of these religious people own a poly-cotton blend, or plant a garden?

·         Leviticus 19:27   Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. 

In other words no haircuts or shaving.

·         Leviticus 20:9  For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

Ironically, this is the same fate should befall gays according to the Bible

Long story short we all pick and choose what parts of the Bible we cling too.  Do some homework; look up what the Bible says about rape, slavery, and any number of other things that shouldn’t be going on in this day and age.   I guess that is the beauty of small town life, everyone walks out of their glass house with a pocket full of stones.

Friday Funny!

Kate plus hate

Kate Gosselin wants to get back on TV.  I am not surprised by that, it was her life for a long time.  What does surprise me is the anger people feel toward this woman.  The comments people make are shocking to me.  Really, what has she done to invoke such anger?  She had trouble conceiving so she had fertility treatments.  The treatments took and she had twins.  A few years later she and her husband wanted more kids so they tried the fertility treatments again.  This time they took a little too well.  So what does she do?  She has the kids.  What did people want her to do?   Do people really believe this woman that had problems conceiving in the first place should have aborted what I am sure could be considered “miracle babies”?

Maybe people are angry because she is/was “living off her kids”.  Well, if you are on that high horse let me clue you in to something.  It is expensive to raise 8 kids.  Even if both parents have really good jobs it is hard.  Now take into consideration the babies had some health problems, there were older twins in the terrible twos, just the fact that there were six babies, the cost of nannies for 8 kids, and any number of other factors.  She had to stop working and raise these kids.  Once they got older the costs of raising them would only get higher, so they saw an opportunity and took it.  The truth is that the Gosselin kids have done SO many more things because they were on TV, than they ever would have been able to do otherwise.  There are many large families out there that don’t get to do even half of those things because it cost too much.    Think about it, a family of four goes to the  movies, so let’s call tickets,  popcorn and drinks about $15 each  person=  $60.  The same movie for a family of 10 costs $150. 

The way I see it this couple saw a chance at a better life for them and their children and they took it.  I say good for them.

True

Paparazzi let me live my life…

Ok so the story is two Scottish tourists were on a dream birthday trip to South Africa.  They stopped at a game preserve and were having pictures taken with "tame" cheetahs.    Here is where things go bad.  The “tame” cheetahs turned on the woman and began to eat her head.  So what is a loving husband to do?  Well, continue to snap pictures of course.  For 3 full minutes this guy took pictures, while an animal ate his wife!  He later said he “didn’t realize what was going on”.  What was he taking pictures of then?    All I know is the first place I would head when I got home is divorce court.  See the link below for the story.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/woman-attacked-by-cheetahs-husband-proceeds-to-take-pictures-74403/

Exception to the rules?

I recently read a news story about a 19 year old boy that won't be allowed to play basketball with his team this year.  In Michigan they have a rule that anyone that turns 19 before September 1st is ineligible to play.  This particular boy has Downs syndrome and was held back in kindergarten, so he is now 19.  His parents are trying to get them to make an exception for students with special needs. 

The story itself is not what catches my attention, what really made me stop and do a double take was the comments after the story.  They were mostly negative against the boy and his and his family.  I don't know why but I was really surprised by that.  I guess I thought it was human nature to look at people with special needs in a kinder light.  To give them more of a pass than you would a "normal" kid.

One person even said that if they do make an exception for this boy, the athletic board would be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Wow!  I can see where that case can be made but is it correct?  This person’s argument was, the whole point of tAwDA is for everyone to be treated with equality, and if they made an exception, well that wouldn’t be equal now would it.  I see their point.

However, I completely disagree.  People with special needs, sometimes are just that, people with Special needs.    The point of tAwDA, as I see it, is to make sure people are allowed to live as full a life as possible given the challenges they already face.   It is there to make sure someone of sound mind cannot be turned away from a job just because they are in a wheelchair.  It is there to make sure a blind person is allowed to bring their service animal is permitted inside a restaurant.  It is not there to be used against people whose mental capacity is may not be where it should be for their age.

I have a daughter with Autism, so this is something that has always bothered me- physical age limits for the disabled.   How do you explain to a child that she is too old physically for something she is the right age for mentally?   The first time I can remember this being a problem was at a company Christmas party.  Santa was to show up with gifts for all the kids under 12.  Our daughter was 12 physically but probably 7 mentally, so she had aged out of the party, but how do you explain to a 7 year old that she is the only one Santa doesn’t have a gift for. 

The tAwDA is a great thing, but it should take into account that there are some Americans with disabilities that simply can’t and shouldn’t be treated equally.  There are some people that should have concessions made for them.   Just something to think about, as you go through your day. 

Site number…

Dear Reader,

It was supposed to be a fun family outing, a quick little get away.  That’s what it was supposed to be, but that wasn’t how things worked out.

I am getting ahead of myself, for you to understand my story, for you to attempt to fathom the terrible fate that befell my family, you must first meet them.

Sara was the oldest and at 15 you couldn’t tell her much she didn’t already know.  Then there we Jacob, he was 14, and I guess what the girls would call handsome.  Jacob was big for his age but bigger in his own mind.  There was me, I am really nothing special, just your average kid.  Oh, and of course there was mom and dad.  You know the ones, laughing at their own stupid jokes, droning on about keeping the campsite tidy and yelling “Be careful with that flaming marshmallow”.

Yeah, that where this all started, with a simple camping trip.  We were at our favorite campground, in our favorite spot.  Looking back maybe that should have been a red flag.  You see our favorite spot was very popular, and we were shocked to find it was unreserved when we planned our little impromptu camping trip.  We just counted it as our good fortune and went off to enjoy ourselves.

Things were great the first day, we set up camp, swam, rode our bikes, and ate hotdogs roasted over the fire. 

Later that night Sara walked to the bath house, for a shower.  We heard a scream, and ran in that direction.  We got there in time to see Sara run out wrapped in a towel.  She was babbling about something cutting her.  She was bleeding, but Mom said it was probably just a piece of rough plastic from the shower curtain, and she would be ok.

Late that night I woke to a noise outside our camper. I sat up to listen, but no one else stirred.  Maybe I imagined it, or it was an animal foraging pieces of carelessly dropped hot dog buns.  No, there it was again, a scratching noise, followed by a thump and what is that?  Is it dragging something?  I couldn’t be sure, and I couldn’t bring myself to look out the window.  I pulled the covers up to my eyes and listened.  The next thing I knew the first rays of dawn crept through the small openings around the curtains of our old camper.  Something was moving outside.  Mustering the courage that seems to accompany daylight I slowly pulled back the curtain.  Mom was making breakfast.

When I walked outside, mom asked if I had seen Jacob.  I hadn’t, he was probably up early for a run.  When he hadn’t come back by that afternoon, the police were called and a search party was formed.  There was no trace of him.

Our family was worried and there was no chance of enjoying the rest of the trip, but my mom would not think of leaving.  So we stayed. 

That evening my sister walked down to the water to watch the sun set.  She took a towel and a book with her.  That was all we found, when she didn’t come back to camp, just her towel and a book.  No Sara, not a sigh of what had happened.  

The police were again called and a search party again formed, and again they turned up nothing.  There were mumblings about runaways or suicides, but no one really knew what to think. 

We stayed; I guess we had no choice.  What if they found their ways back to camp?  What if they were simply lost in the woods?  We couldn’t leave them. As much as every cell in my body wished we could just go home, I knew we had to stay. 

That night Mom and Dad walked together to the bath house.  Almost from the second they left I felt something.  I’m not sure I can really describe it, it was just something in the air, a thickness. I waited and listened.

The screams pierced the night in a thousand places.  They seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. I wanted to run, but where could I go?  Into the water?  Into the woods?  Past the bath house toward the main road?  None of these sounded like good options. There was nowhere to go and nothing left to do but wait.

This letter was my only hope to get our story out and warn others.  What is that?  The scratching has started again.  It sounds as if there are more of them now. I have to hurry I know there isn’t much time left for me, but maybe I can save others if I can just warn them.  They are at the door, the scratching is so loud, I can’t take it.  My time is up but I have to focus. Listen to me no matter what, no matter how perfect you think it is, you have to STAY AWAY from campsite site num^FDA

Mary Celeste-Jinxed?

The Mary Celeste

On November 7, 1872 the ship departed New York with 1700 barrels of raw American alcohol bound for Genoa, Italy.  At its helm was a man named Captain Briggs.  He was young but had already been in charge of three other ships. Also aboard was the Captain’s wife, young daughter and a crew of seven.

On December 4^th 1872 the Mary Celeste was found floating alone in the Atlantic Ocean.  There was enough food and water on board for approximately 6 months.  The weather at the time was good, although there had been sporadic reports of bad weather in the Atlantic during that time frame.  The passengers and crew were missing along with one life boat,  the sextant, marine, and all the ships papers other than the Captain’s log.    

So what happened to the ten souls that left port with the Mary Celeste?  There has been a lot of speculation over that very question.

Were they attacked by pirates?  All the crew’s personal belongings and the ship’s cargo were still on board so that is unlikely.

 Were they, as some believed, robbed by the very people that “found” the Marie Celeste?  The Captains of the Dei Gratia Captain Morehouse and Captain Briggs were family friends.  In fact they dined together the night before Briggs set out.  There was some disagreement as to whether there were signs on a struggle on board or not.  Ultimately the court decided there was no evidence of piracy or foul play, nor of mutiny, struggle or violence. Afterward, the salvagers or crew of the Dei Gratia were awarded a payment, amounting to one-sixth of the $46,000 insurance covering the ship and its cargo ($730,000 in current money).  

The most logical theory was that some of the alcohol in the cargo hold began to leak.  When faces with toxic fumes and the possibility of an explosion, the people on board simply trailed behind the ship in a life raft to let the fumes dissipate.  The rope wore and they were lost to the sea.  This theory is supported by the fact that there was reportedly a hank of rope found “tied to the ship very strongly and the other end, very frayed, was trailing in the water”.  Moreover, although the ship’s cargo was first thought to be intact, once it was unloaded, nine barrels were found to be empty.

We will probably never know what really happened, and it is an interesting story for sure, but not the only strange story to surround the Marie Celeste.  Some even say she was jinxed.

When first built she was named Amazon.  Her first Captain was Robert McLellan.  He was the son of one of the owners, and the first to succumb to her “curse”.  He contracted pneumonia and died just days after leaving port.

 John Nutting Parker, the next captain of the Amazon, struck a fishing boat, and had to return to the shipyard for repairs. At the shipyard, a fire broke out in the middle of the ship, thus ending his short stint as Captain of the Amazon/Mary Celeste.

Her next voyage seemed to be going well, until it collided with another ship in the English Channel near Dover, England.  The third captain immediately left to seek other employment.

The next six years passed uneventfully, but in 1867, the ship ran aground during a storm off Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. After that she was salvaged, and bought by Richard Haines of New York, and repaired.  In 1868, she was transferred to the American registry, and in 1869, was renamed the Mary Celeste.  The ownership of this sailing ship was then divided into 24 shares, owned by four partners :James H. Winchester, Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs , Sylvester Goodwin, and Daniel T. Sampson. 

After Captain Briggs’ disappearance, James Winchester considered selling the Mary Celeste. He made up his mind after he felt the ship took his father Henry Winchester-Vinters’ life. Henry drowned in an accident in Boston, Massachusetts while bringing the ship back to America. Winchester sold the Mary Celeste at an enormous loss. Over the next 13 years, the ship changed hands 17 times.

By this time she was in bad condition, and her last captain and owner, G. C. Parker, over insured her cargo, and deliberately wrecked the Mary Celeste in the Caribbean Sea on January 3, 1885.   She refused to sink and Parker tried to set her on fire.  Even after the fire, the vessel remained intact, though the ship's log was destroyed along with Benjamin Briggs' prior entries.

Parker filed an inflated insurance claim for a cargo that never existed, the ensuing insurance investigation revealed his attempted fraud. Parker sold the salvage rights for $500.  Captain Parker was arrested, and put on trial for the intentional destruction of a vessel. At that time, the sentence for doing so was death.  Despite clear evidence of Parker's guilt, the jury deadlocked.  Despite his acquittal, he and almost everyone indicted for actions related to the shipwreck were ruined.  Captain Parker died three months later.

The partially burnt hulk of the Mary Celeste was deemed beyond repair and she was left to eventually slip off the shoal and sink.

In 2001, an expedition headed by author Clive Cussler (representing the National Underwater and Marine Agency) and Canadian film producer John Davis along with divers from the Nova Scotian company EcoNova announced that they had found the remains of the brigantine where Parker had wrecked her. Maritime archaeologist James P. Delgado identified the wreck as Mary Celeste based on the location, along with other factors.  One researcher has disputed Cussler's claim. Scott St. George of the University of Minnesota maintains that the wood recovered from the wreck, was cut from trees still living at least a decade after the Mary Celeste sank, putting the authenticity and identification of this shipwreck in question.

The Mariners' Museum in Newport News has a detailed waterline model of Mary Celeste, depicting the brigantine exactly as she was found in 1872.   The crew and passengers of the vessel are listed in the ship's records reproduced from the original in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. as;   Benjamin S. Briggs, 37, Captain, American; Albert G. Richardson, 28,Mate, American; Andrew Gilling, 25, 2nd Mate, Danish; Edward Wm Head, 23, Steward & Cook, American; Volkert Lorenson, 29, Seaman, German; Arian Martens, 35, Seaman, German; Boy Lorenson, 23, Seaman, German; Gottlieb Gondeschall, 23, Seaman, German; Sarah Elizabeth Briggs, 31, Captain’s Wife; Sophia Matilda Briggs, 2, Captain's daughter.

Flight 191

There have been at least 5 known plane crashes involving flights numbered 191.  Including American Air Flight 191 which was considered one of the worst air disasters in US history, until the 9-11 attacks. On take off one of the engine became separated from the plane.  Air traffic control tried to contact the plane to have it turn back, but didn't receive a response.  The plane climbed to about 300 ft then took a nose dive.  The crash killed  all 258 passengers, 13 crew members, and 2 people on the ground.  

One quick note of the odd-  There were some notable people on board this flight.  One of which, Judith Wax an author, had written about her fear of flying on page 191, of her book Starting in the Middle. 

The list also includes:

X-15 Flight 191 (1967), experimental test plane, broke apart in flight, killing its test pilot

Prinair Flight 191 (1972), crashed at Mercedita Airport in Ponce, Puerto Rico, killing five people

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 (1985), crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 135

Comair Flight 191, also known as Delta Air Lines Flight 5191 (2006), crashed at Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.

 American and Delta have both retired the number.  Then just this week a Jet Blue pilot on Flight 191, suffered a "medical incident"  during which he went a little mad and had to be restrained by passengers. 

So, is it a coincidence that so many flights 191 have had problems?  Could it be that people believe in the curse?  I mean if a pilot believes there is there a curse of Flights 191, and then finds themselves scheduled on said flight, maybe they are freaked out enough to cause a problem, or not be able to handle a problem when it arises.   The only thing I know for sure is, if I ever get booked on Flight 191, I am gonna have to rethink my travel plans. 

John D. Long Lake cursed?

In the research I have done for this blog I have run across so many interesting stories.  Some from when I was a kid, some more current, but most I don't remember ever hearing before. 

That is not true about Susan Smith killing her children.   I remember the Susan Smith case so vividly, maybe because of my age.  I was old enough to care but not so old as to be over burdened with the responsibilities of everyday life.  Maybe it was my location, I was in my first year in college, in South Carolina.  Or maybe it was because up until that moment I was blessed enough to not have realized that mothers didn't always love their children.

I remember sitting in the common room in our dorm watching Smiths tearful pleas for the safe return of her boys.  One of our dorm mates stated very mater of factly 'That woman killed those kids."  The rest of us were stunned by her words, but were more stunned a short time later when her words we proven true.  There was a tangible layer of sadness that hung over what seemed like the entire state, the day they pulled those young bodies from John D.Long Lake.  I remember the case, so I was hesitant to write this story.

A memorial was erected, since the drownings of the Smith boys, and there have been reports of children both laughing and crying, and of orbs dancing across the water of the lake. 

Two years later, tragedy struck again.  A family was trying to shine their headlights on the memorial one night when their truck suddenly rolled into the lake.  Four children and 1 adult were drowned in the truck, and two drowned while trying to save them. 

The Union County Coroner, William Holcombe, identified the victims as Tim Phillips, 26; his wife, Angie, 22; their three children, Courtney, 4, Meleana, 1, and Kinsleigh, 4 months; Carl Sidney White, 29, a friend of the Phillipses, and Austin Dakota Roodvoets, 3, who had played all day with the Phillips children.

Mr.Phillips was inside the truck with the kids.  It rolled between the monuments and over a small tree planted in honor of the Smith boys.  The truck was found upside down about 20 feet down and 80 feet out.  The key was on, but transmission was in park, the parking brake was not engaged.  There were no skid marks or other indications that Mr.Phillips applied the brake before rolling into the lake.  A family member said later that the Phillips had "nothing but trouble" from their GMC Suburban, including transmission issues.

Is this tragic event the result of a curse or is it just a horrible coincidence, that four more young children lost their lives in an otherwise peaceful lake?  Whichever you believe there is no disputing the sadness surrounds John D. Long Lake.

Doomsday??? Part 1

In the last few years there has been a lot of talk about the coming of "Doomsday".  It seems to me that there are about a million and a half scenarios as to what might happen.  In fact the only thing they do seem to agree on is that something is going to go down. 

It is easy to dismiss these people as crazy, or stupid, but if you really stop to think about it, are they really? What are they doing that is so crazy?  Storing food, water and first aid supplies, getting into better shape, learning how to defend themselves and brushing up on their survival skills.  Why are those bad things?  Why are they stupid for planning for the WCS( worst case scenario)?

 Many of them believe there is a huge financial collapse coming.  Sound crazy?  Not when you remember The Great Depression here in the US in the 30's, and the fall of the Soviet Union in the 90's.  I remember watching news footage of people standing in line for hours to get a loaf of bread.  Preppers will not be in those lines.  They are taking their survival into their own hands.

Even the pole shift and the solar flare scenarios have some merit.  There have been many, many natural disasters and blackouts in the history of the world. Freak snow storms, the dustbowl (in the 30's), flash floods.  If you look at these times how many people could have been saved if they were a little more prepared?

Even beyond the points I already listed,  a lot of these preppers are super smart.  They have built self sustainable terrariums in their pools,  invented tools that replace 10 other tools you would need to carry, they can make fuel, and that is just to name a few.  That is not something everyone can do, but they are handy skills to have. 

At first I was like yeah it wouldn't be a bad idea to just prepare a little for the unknown, but I didn't really believe anything was gonna happen.  Then more and more people started opening up about what they were doing to prepare.  These are ordinary people, people you never classify as "crazy preppers".  That got me thinking that maybe we should be doing more.  So I will start sharing here the things I will learn and the things I do to prepare.  You can follow suit and maybe prepare a little yourself, or you can sit back and laugh, but I would really encourage you to think it through.  Honestly, no one was ever hurt by being too prepared.





 

The Wog

I have been through Winder GA a number of times.  Yet until recently I have never heard of the Wog or the dormant volcano near which it lives.

The WOG is an old story that goes back to the days of Indians.  From the description it is the size of a deer and the color and shape of a wild hog, the head of a bear, a long tail with a tangled mass of hair at the end and  a forked tongue.  Apparently it waves this tail back and forth making a swishing sound that can be heard from a distance.

I wonder if the WOG might just be a wild hog.  They are all over Georgia and according to  http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hogzilla.htm 
there was at least one giant hog killed here.  The description kind fits, well not the forked tongue but the rest of it is pretty close.

Natives believed the bubbling bog was the gate to Hell and the Wog was Satan.  They routinely made sacrifices to into the bog to keep the wog from taking villages in the night.  I thought that was interesting because I could not find any stories about the WOG attacking or "kidnapping" any humans.  Not even small children, which in itself is odd since almost every southern scary story involves something sinister happening to a kid.

I did find a legend telling the story of a native American woman that killed and ate her children. It didn't say why, but I guess we can assume some form of mental illness, or that they were really bad kids.  The rest of her tribe took her and threw her into the bog as punishment.  Now her ghost can be seen running through the woods screaming, being chased by a group of laughing, clapping children.   No mention of the WOG.

I think I will keep some tabs on this one and see if there is any more info or sightings out there.  If anyone reads this and has any info or stories I would love to hear them.

Don't be Rude

I am not what you might call a people person.  People don't take to me like they do some other folks. I think part of it is that I don't really like people that much.  Plus, I am pretty awkward in a conversation with a stranger or anyone I don't know that well.  I just never know what to say. 

THEM- "My dog died." 
ME- " Oh, I am so sorry to hear that"
THEM- "It was 6 years ago" 
ME- "Uhhhhhh...." I have no idea what to say to that.
MY MIND- "It's just about time to move on then isn't it"
 But you can't say that can you?   That would be rude, and above all you should not be rude.  That is a major rule in the south. 

Now my husband would come up with something brilliant, like what kind of dog was it and I had the same kind of dog.   Then he would flawlessly change the conversation to something more current.  But not me, I would either spend the next few hours talking about a long dead dog, or spend the next 3 minutes in an awkward silence.  But I wouldn't be rude, I can promise you that much.

Grits Grip

Grits are such a funny thing.  They could not be easier to make, most southern girls don't even measure them out, we go by feel.  You boil some water, add some salt, stir in the grits, turn off the flame and cover till the rest of your breakfast is done, mix in a little more hot water if needed to thin them just a little, and eat. 
Well, at the restaurant we can't use much salt because we have been getting a good many Yankees in and they want sugar in their grits.  Then you have people that want their grits like soup. That is not how grits are meant to be.  They are supposed to be thick and perfectly salted. How on earth are you going to come to small town Georgia and tell me how to make grits.  I know grits, and if you don't like the way I cook them then you can just KISS MY GRITS!