Colors in the Desert

Never thought too much about it, but the desert has amazing colors.  I have no idea what these plants are (except for the cactus - that's pretty easy!), but I loved taking pictures of all the pretty colors. 

Enjoy . . .

The intrepid flower photographer

The last six pictures are worth their weight in every step
we took to hike along the Wildcat Trail at the Navajo
Nation's Monument Valley - the sand was so soft, it was
misery walking in it.  And the trail started off going down,
down, and down which meant we had to trudge up, up,
and up to get back!

Was it worth the effort?  I'd say Yes!

Until next time . . .

Red Rock Canyon - National Conservation Area

Long range view of the ancient sand dune that dominates the beginning
of the 13 mile loop that winds through the Red Rock Canyon.  Hard to
believe that the glitz of Las Vegas is just a few short miles away.

This place almost became a second home for us while we worked a NOMADS project at Camp Potosi Pines located outside of Las Vegas. There were pictures of the Red Rock formations on the dining room walls of the camp and we became intrigued with the beauty of the colors. When we drove through the park the first time, we were mesmerized by the size of the formations and the starkness of the desert lands that lay before them. We visited the park on three different occasions.



More red stone - same old ancient sand dune

The first rock formations you see as you drive the park's 13 mile loop (and can see from miles before you reach the park's entrance) are huge, rounded, and red in color. Imagine my surprise when I learned these were originally sand dunes! Sand dunes? Yeah, sand dunes. If this area had once been covered by a vast body of water, I guess you could have sand dunes. But how in the world did they become these immense rocks?

The land on one side of the road flows towards the huge rocks like a long slow wave approaching the sandy beach but in this case it's flowing across the stark relatively flat desert floor towards the rock formations rising up out of nowhere. Apparently, over 500 million years ago, this whole area was underwater and for more than 250 million years limestone sediment piled up that contained the fossils of sea life that lived back then. All kinds of these fossils can be found everywhere. Then during the Jurassic Age of Dinosaurs (remember the movie) southern Nevada came out of the ocean and million of years of other deposits started. Thus formed what is called Aztec sandstone. The sandstone cliffs of Red Rock that are thousands of feet high are made up of this Aztec sandstone.

Okay – now for more geology lessons. And I quote the park's literature: This formation, about 180 million years old, are lithified (whoa! now that's a geological term I'll have to look up once I have an Internet connection) sand dunes that formed in a vast desert that covered a large part of the SW US during the Jurassic age. The sand slowly changed into sandstone when subsurface water percolated through the sediments and left cements of iron oxide and calcium carbonate in the pore spaces between the sand grains. These sandstone rocks were slowly uplifted thousands of feet to their present elevation, and then exposed to weathering and erosion.

It's hard to imagine how very long ago all this happened and how it's continuing to change. Made me feel very small and very inconsequential in the scope of things!



A closer view of the sand dune structure - you can see
the wind striations made on the stone over millions of years
of erosion.

But then it dawned on me that people had lived in this area for thousands of years. How in the world had they survived here? Obviously, the plants and animals evolved to survive in this harsh environment (and that's a whole lesson in biology, zoology, or whatever by itself), but it intrigued me most to learn how people survived living in this area.

As I looked across the uninviting, flat desert, all I could see were low-growing, apparently inedible, unappetizing bushes, cactus, and other sparse plants. If you look closely enough, the answers are there. These plants support a surprising number of animals. And those animals and plants supported a large number of people over the years. There are pits dotted around the park where ancient peoples roasted nuts harvested from a number of plants and small springs that provided the vital water they needed.

Petroglyth carved into the rock
by ancient people - Looks like a
tree or some sort of bug

Bill and I took a hike on a short trail called the Stone Quarry Trail, named after the obvious – a stone quarry that was located there for a few years. We started off on a sandy pathway that turned very rocky a short distance from the parking area. We crossed a dry wash and began to go up a little. Not too far later we entered a grove a trees. A real grove a trees! All of this running along the stone formation that I kept called the sand dune! I couldn't believe this grove. It just seemed so out of place. Anyway, not long after that, the trail narrowed down and we found ourselves scrambling over good-sized rocks that had fallen from the higher cliffs above us. The trail narrowed even more and we started climbing over more rocks as the trail ascended. When we came to a natural rock shelf, there were at least a dozen little rock cairns other hikers had left there. I added my little cairn to the collection there and then headed back down towards the parking area. Enough was enough but was really enjoyable.

Color exists in the desert

Now the question is – how am I going to get this blog posted? The last blog I posted necessitated a trip into the city and an hour at a Best Buy using their wifi. I don't have that luxury now so I guess I'll have to be patient until I can find a strong enough internet connection that will handle this load. Some day I will have to bite the bullet and get my own hotspot. Relying on finding a reliable wifi is getting old in a hurry!

Until next time . . .

One of the wild burros that live in the desert - this
one wandered across the road towards us . . .




and Lexi and Belle weren't too sure what to make
of it.

Long range view of the huge stone cliffs.




View of the valley floor



Can you imagne that this was once the bottom of
a huge inland ocean?

Camp Potosi Pines, Nevada

Wow! We are 2/3s of the way through this project at Camp Potosi Pines. Where has the time gone? Have we really been gone for three weeks? Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Savannah with her 6 year old haircut



Scarlett in her new birthday dress I made

We left home on April 11th heading west. Three and a half days later, we arrived in Albuquerque to spend a couple of days with Eric, Staci, and the girls. We helped Scarlett celebrate her 4th birthday, watch Savannah at her gymnastics class, and play with little Ms. Evie. I can't believe how much she has grown since Christmas! All

Little Ms Evie at six months old

three girls are so cute, it was so hard to leave to drive on west.














We arrived at Camp Potosi Pines a week after we left home. Potosi is located in the mountains about 20 miles west of the outskirts of Las Vegas. We are nestled in a valley

John and Kathy finishing the swinging bridge



10,000+ mountain on the south side
of the camp

between a very high mountain ridge to the east and lower rolling desert hills to the west. When we started working two weeks ago, it was rather warm but by the end of the week, the temperatures had really dropped and rain rolled in. Last Saturday, while we were down in the city, our team members said they had snow flurries here. You could see white all over the tops of the peaks to the east! This past week was definitely not cold! Las Vegas had temperatures in the 90s but up here, it was in the mid-80s. Rather warm, but not too bad.

I've never out here before so this place is very different than any place I've ever visited. The desert environment takes some getting used to – not only the scenery but the super dry air. Thank goodness for Aveeno Bath Oil or my dry skin would have itched me to craziness. In the NC mountains, we live among a lot of tall green trees and green bushes everywhere. In the desert, the trees are low with twisted trunks. Sage bushes abound everywhere. When I cleaned my paint brushes the other day and the water splashed on the nearby sage bushes, the aroma was so strong and smelled so good, I could have sat there forever surrounded by that sweet smell.

We drive up from Las Vegas on Hwy 160 then turn off on a gravel road for about five miles until to we reach the camp. The gravel road is actually the old wagon road that people took to southern California. It also leads to an failed Morman lead mine. The valley here was the home to a tribe of Paiute Indians. They would come here in the summer to avoid the heat of the valley. On the Boy Scout camp lands just across and down the road a quarter of a mile are the archaic Paiute ceremonial grounds. And just on the other side of the mountain with the double peaks is where Carole Lombard, her mom, 22 servicemen, and the rest of war bond raising group met their death when their airplane crashed into the mountain in lousy weather early 1942.

The outdoor stage we rebuilt
and painted

Okay, what have we done so far? We dismantled an outdoor stage, replaced rotted wood then replaced and painted the stage flooring, railing, and steps. Then we did the same thing to an old bridge that goes over a dry creek bed. We also replaced disintegrated boards on one of the walkways to the dorms and painted the archery stands. Not sure what we have planned for next week, but I know it will be worthwhile.

Little Mr Sawyer at 7 months old

Last weekend we got up with Jessica and Sawyer and spent the evening and went out to dinner.  Little sure has grown since we first saw him at Christmastime.  He's now seven months old and is so amiable.  Smiles all the time and is delightful.

Driving through this country of ours makes you realize how vast and wonderfully diverse this land is. And once you start looking into the stories and histories of those who lived here before us, you begin to understand how everyone contributed to our national identity and how important each individual is to the whole of this country. It truly is amazing!



I must say that getting this blog online has been a test of patience.  At the camp we have extremely limited WiFi so Bill and I drove into town to a fast food place whose WiFi was not strong enough.  So two days later, here we are at Best Buy and finally have a strong enough signal to download the pictures and post this.  Thank you, thank you Best Buy for letting us use your strong WiFi!!!!!

Lake Huron Retreat Center, Burtchville, MI



Storm over Canada and Lake Huron - view taken
just down a short path from the cabin we worked on

One more day left here at the beautiful Lake Huron Retreat Center in Burtchville Township, MI. Okay, where is Burtchville and what is a “township”. We know where Burtchville is but haven't quite figured out what a “township” is. And we do know where it is. Look for Detroit then follow I-94 to the northeast to Port Huron then follow M-25 (Michigan's state highway system) up the lake for about 20 miles, and here you are – at the retreat center.

When I say this place is beautiful, I'm not kidding. It's located right on the lake and reminds me of looking out at the Gulf of Mexico from the beaches I grew up on in Pensacola (except the sand here is not as pretty as the Pensacola beaches). You look straight out and see nothing but water. But if you look closely to the right, you can barely see Canada. The beach here is gravely and a light brownish color. And the water is cold. Almost as cold as Fires Creek. Needless to say, I did not go swimmiing.



One of the many freighters we saw heading north

We have five Rvs at this NOMADS project and are parked in a nice area across the highway from the retreat center. Secluded off the road, we can hardly hear the traffic going by. Our main job was to rehabilitate an old cabin to make it into a two-bedroom, one-bath with kitchenette cabin. 

The retreat started out years and years ago as a Jewish girl's summer camp. In 1946, the camp ran into financial difficulty and was put on the market. A number of local Methodist churches pooled their resources and bought it. A few years later, the Methodist Conference took it over to make it into what it is today – mostly an adult retreat center. It has done very well hosting many different groups. While we've been here, one week hosted disadvantaged adults, another week a group of we-don't-know-what-they-were (but our main contact Dan called them grown up hippies), and this week is a “License to Preach” session for deacons and lay ministers. Everyone we have met have been super nice so it's made working here a pleasure.

Dan knocking off the side room of the original cabin -
you can see a bit of Lake Huron in the background

But back to the cabin. We started out thinking we were going to replace the roof and take all the old cedar-shake panels off the walls then replace the roof and the panels. But after the building inspector came out, things changed. Yes, the roof was still coming off but we had to tear down three of the original walls and replace them. You wonder why not just tear down all the walls and start over again. Well, that's where local regulations entered the picture. The cagin is located too close to the water for modern set-back laws, but if the cabin was not being completely torn down, it could remain in its current position. So, we had to leave at least one wall and build new walls off of it. What fun!



There goes half of the roof.



But you know what we say about ourselves - “NOMADS are flexible!”

Dan had a company come in to take off the roof. That's was interesting. We all stayed way back out of the way but scrambled like a bunch of busy ants tearing off the roof shingles and tar paper once the roof structure was on the ground. After that, we tore down the old chimney and hauled the bricks across the busy highway to an area behind our Rvs then we got to work tearing down the walls. New walls were built and braced into place, new roof trusses were set in place, and now we are almost done putting the roof sheathing on and should get close to finishing the sheathing on the walls. A lot of work for nine NOMADS and intripid Dan to do in three weeks.



There it goes - flying through the air.  Note how far
back we stayed!

This has been a really nice place for a project. For the most part, the weather here has been great. We've had a few hot days and few rainy and very windy days, but mostly it's been cool. One morning, it was 51 degrees and warmed up to the high 60s by the afternoon. A relief from our hot southern summers and I loved it!

It's been fun driving around this part of Michigan. We even went over to Canada for a day. Let's see, we've been to London, Memphis, Paris, Richmond, Yale, just to name a few of the places we visited. Of course, they were all in a 70 mile radius from Port Huron. And I got to stop in six different quilt shops – one was in an old decommissioned Catholic church, another one was in an old motel (the shop itself took up four or five of the original rooms – fantastic shop), and a couple were in old storefronts in poor downtown areas.



Bill directing the first new roof truss into place

We started packing up this evening; heading out tomorrow evening after we finish working. Need to get to Elkhart, IN by Friday morning to have some problems with the RV resolved. Elkhart is the home for Forest River so we want them to solve our minor problems. Then we head down to Mitchell, IN for another project. That's probably why I'm sitting here composing a blog entry because we packed away the television satellite antenna and don't feel like using the over-the-air antenna (all we can get on it is a couple of Canadian

The cabin starting to take shape with all the new
roof trusses in place and one wall built

channels that we already know we don't like) so it's rather quiet now. Except for Lexi wandering around shaking her dog fur all over everything. Belle is sound asleep in the back on our bed.
And so it goes for another enjoyable NOMADS project.

More later . . .

 

 

p.s. It has taken me forever to get the dumb pictures to download.  For some reason, the "before" pictures I took of the cabin won't download onto this blog.  Frustration personafied!  But I will try to remember to download the pictures I took of the cabin as we finished it at the end of this project then you can really see what we got done. 



My Sewing Room (aka “There is Hope After All”)

This is the saga of my sewing room. For the longest period of time, I have been content to drop things in any open space – floor, shelf, under a table, on the steps, on the back of chairs. You know the drill - anywhere. And I just kept on sewing. If I couldn't find something I needed, I'd fret and fume and waste tons of time (is there such a thing as a “ton” of time – since when did time weigh anything? I found it weighs a lot when you can't find something!) looking, looking, and looking some more.



So easy to pile up your treasures

Another "before" picture

 

Somewhere along the line, I read articles about pristine sewing rooms. How could anyone sew in a place so neat and orderly? It just didn't seem right.

Then I spent a weekend with my sister Jeanie and her husband David in Colleyville, TX, located between Dallas and Fort Worth. My sister is an excellent needleworker and has made the most amazing pieces of needle art. She also is a dynamite seamstress. And she is very organized. Everything is put away in labeled clear boxes and looks so nice.

I admit to excessive drooling.

Then, we arrived home from a couple of NOMADS projects. Of course, I brought home some more fabric and books from our travels. And could not find a clear place anywhere in my sewing room to put them. Nowhere, and I mean, absolutely nowhere. Not even on the floor.

This had gotten out of hand. Plumb beyond ridiculous.

I started researching blog articles on how to organize a sewing room. Sure, many of the ladies who wrote the articles had bank accounts far larger than mine and the companies who promote organization want you to buy their products. You can spend a fortune in rearranging your treasures.

Nope, not me. I insisted on using what I had. Except I did learn about foam board. What a wonderful product. But in my tiny mountain town of Hayesville, where was I going to find foam board? Guess I could order it, but it would never arrive before we left on the next project. 

So back to the computer. Aren't computers great tools? Yeah – I found the Dollar Tree chain sold foam board for $1.00/sheet. Now that was something I could afford. But would the only Dollar Tree I knew of anywhere near home (in Murphy, 15 miles to the west of Hayesville) have foam board? I could not believe my eyes when I walked into the store and there was my prize foam board. And it was even made in the USA. Wow! What a find!

Now, you are probably wondering what I needed foam board for? It's great for wrapping your longer pieces of fabric around. In essence, I made my own bolt boards. How? Oh, that's easy.

If I had thought about it sooner, I'd have taken pictures showing how I cut the board. But I used up every piece I bought so I'll try to explain it. 

You will need:

Foam board 30” x 20”

Razor knife (I used the knife I use for cutting drywall board – with a new blade in it)

Or an Xacto knife should work
24” Quilt ruler

Lay the board on a cutting mat with the 30” side in front of you. Use the 24” quilter ruler and measure 23” from the left side. Cut the board from top to bottom at the 23” mark. That will give you a piece 7” x 20” on the right side. Take that piece and cut it in half to made two 7” x 10” pieces. With the big piece, cut it along the length to get two 6 1/2” x 23” and one 7” x 23” pieces. I used the smaller pieces to wrap fabric that was less than two yards long (lay this fabric out and fold into thirds along the length then wrap on the small foam board). Fabric that was longer than two yards was wrapped on the larger pieces. Pin the ends to keep the fabric in place and, with a pencil, write the yardage on the upper right corner. When you use any of the fabric, you can erase and write the new yardage in the corner. Yeah! No more wondering how long a piece of fabric is!

A "during" picture - many of my containers were
gone through, fabric put aside for donation or
folded on foam board

"During" - looking into the computer
alcove with everything trying to find a new
home. The big containers in the middle hold
my Quilt of Valor fabric - I need lots of that!

 

Then, of course, I went through all the remnants and supposed fat quarters. Amazing how many of what I thought were fat quarters were not fat quarters but some weird size. True fat quarters were all folded the same way and put in a drawer. The weird pieces were either put in a container for “Odd ball cuts” or thrown in the basket for really weird pieces. Where else should they go? Certainly not into the trash! I might need them someday.

And since I love apparel sewing along with quilting, all the many and various projects were put into containers that I already owned and labeled. At one point I became horrified at the number and variety of the things I have bought over the years and put on a shelf with the idea of sewing it up some day. I will have to live to 150 years old in order to have enough time to finish all these projects. 

Then the containers were stacked on top of my bookshelf or on shelves I cleaned off for this purpose. With everything labeled, it's easy to see what project is where.

Wow! Four days of work paid off. As my pictures can attest, I now have a neat, clean, and organized sewing room.

The final result!  I am sooooo happy!

Two of my bookshelves - the large is duly
utilized for books and fabric.  All the
containers are labeled, the small bolts hold
shorter fabric pieces, and the large bolts hold
fabric longer than 2 yards.

 

Another view of the other large bookshelf.  The blank
wall will eventually hold a big bulletin board and pictures,
all of which I already own.

 

The computer alcove and a Quilt of Valor
waiting for binding (on tomorrow's list).
Another blank wall waiting for
who-knows-what.

 

So what did I do today? Stopped at one of my favorite quilt stores, A Stitch in Time in Franklin, NC, to wish Courtney many happy days for her upcoming wedding. And came home with a tunic top pattern and a couple of fabrics I could not live without.

Do I feel guilty? Overwhelmed by it all?

Heck, no!

I tell everyone that before I die, I'm going to leave my sons a big note here in my sewing room that reads: “Remember what mama said about pay-backs?” And laugh all the way to Heaven.

 

 

More later . . .

Here Now, There Then

Four weeks ago we arrived in Wichita Falls, TX to an area like none we had ever worked before. Whispers of Hope Horse Ranch targets children with disabilities and disabled vets by teaching them how to interact with horses. The ranch started over twelve years ago by a lady who had a love for horses and a vision of how her love could be used to help others. Mary Elizabeth Pearce is a small bundle of energy and her vision has grown by leaps and bounds. 

The uncompleted barn - notice all the red dirt.  After all
the dirt that blew around us, I'm surprised there was
any left to be on the ground!



The barn almost finished - you can barely see Barry
on top constructing the copula

The interior office framed out with the wood walls installed.

The reconstructed Wichita Falls waterfall.
The original falls disappeared years ago.
This man-made falls was a gift to the town
from the people of Niagara Falls, NY.

 

We were there to help with a huge new barn. It was a steel building that houses 20 horses and the new offices. We were the second team to work on it and should have been putting up drywall. Unfortunately, weather and numerous changes delayed the construction and it was nowhere near completion when we got there. I have no idea what the previous team did but we spent the first part of the project staining boards that would be installed for the stall walls and painting a fence. Halfway through the second week, we were able to start framing the office walls inside the barn.

By the time we left, the offices were completely framed and all the wood installed on the walls. I also helped stain the framework and deck around an above-ground pool that is used for the disabled children. We were both happy to finish the project and get on the road.

Wichita Falls must be the windiest and sandiest place we have ever been! Everything is covered in dry red dirt and it blows by in huge billows of clouds that gets into everywhere – eyes, ears, mouth, windows, doors, everything! Then one day it poured rain and turned all that red sand to red mud. One afternoon after the rain, we were driving away from the barn and as Bill backed up the Jeep, we started sliding sideways. Four-wheel drive solved that problem.

Me in front of the Gano cabin

 

While in Wichita Falls, I took advantage of being close to Dallas and drove down to spend a weekend with my sister Jeanie and her husband David.  Jeanie took me over to a really neat fabric/quilt shop, Sew It Up.  Jeanie introduced me to this shop's website and I've bought a number of things from there.  The owner is a darling person and, of course, I found some fabric I couldn't live without.  Saturday, David and I went to the Old City Dallas Park and went into the cabin built by Gen. Richard M. Gano, a very distant relation of mine.  Originally, the cabin was located on the grounds of the new Dallas-Ft. Worth Int'l Airport and was moved to the park location for preservation.  Gano descended down a different branch of the Gano family than I did.  Too bad.  His granddaughter was Howard Hughes's mother!  Then David and I went through the 6th Floor Museum, the site from which Oswald shot Kennedy.  Super crowded that day but still bone chilling to look out the windows of the book depository.

Drywalling the bathroom.  Work in progress.
Nancy and I are doing this room.  Not bad
for two beginners!

Now we are in Ripley, MS (about 70 miles southeast of Memphis) and about ready to start

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Ripley, MS.  We are
working in the portion of the building on the right.

our second week of work at St. Paul's Methodist Church. The old original church had been closed years ago and not opened until last year. This is the second year of renovations to make it into a children's education center for the community. Our job was to get the framing done so the stained glass windows can be reinstalled in the sanctuary once the windows are ready. We don't think they will be ready before we leave but at least the framing is done. We are also working on the second floor where the Sunday school classrooms were located. All the old plaster walls were taken out last year and new drywalling and mudding started. We are finishing that part of the project and hope to get the wainscoting and the new walls painted before we leave in two weeks.

We are camped a couple of miles away from the church at the First Monday Trade Park. It is the oldest continuously operating flea market in the country. Started over 105 years ago in

Some of the merchandise available for sale at
the First Monday Trade Park.

the town as a trade fair for the local farmers, it evolved into a huge flea market. Recently, though, the numbers of participants has fallen drastically. It took place this past weekend and, as we wondered through it, we saw all kinds of stuff being sold – chickens, ducks, goats, rifles, dogs, t-shirts, outdoor furniture, tools, all manner of clothing, birds, junk, and more junk. And you saw every kind of person wandering too. We enjoyed just sitting there watching people go by.

This past Saturday, the whole team took a road trip and drove up to Corinth and then onto Shiloh Battlefield. In Corinth, we had lunch at Borrum's Drug Store, famous for their hamburgers and milk shakes. It was founded by a Civil War veteran and is still run by his descendants. I would go back there any day for another cheeseburger. Too good!

Lunch at Borrum's - Nancy, Bill, me, Bill, and Meredith.
Nancy's husband Dennis took the picture.

Corinth has a very good Civil War Interpretative Center. I didn't realize Corinth was a vital railroad center for the South and seeking to capture it was the original intent for Grant landing at Pittsburg Landing that precipitated the battle at Shiloh. What was really neat about this center was the walkway leading up to the building. Inbedded in the concrete sidewalk were all kinds of things a soldier would have carried into battle – rifles, ammo, backpacks, hats, canteens, cups – and other pieces of battle equipment. It was meant to demostrate what a battlefield looked like after the fighting was over. What was heartrendering about it was a replica of a letter a young soldier had written home.

Shiloh is, without a doubt, one of my most favorite battlefields to visit. It is so far off the beaten path that it takes a real effort to get there, but when you do, you are very glad you made the effort. It is so quiet. No airplanes flying over, no super highways with noisy trucks and cars whizzing by, no shopping centers cluttering the roads. It's a privilege to visit. And it is immense. The National Park Service grounds don't encompass the entire battle grounds. We drove by monuments and info markers placed among the few houses built in the area. And, like when I drove along Cemetery Ridge outside Chattanooga with all the houses perched along the battle line, I certainly wouldn't want to walk out of my house early one foggy morning and come face-to-face with the ghost of lost soldier! That could be conceivable at Shiloh – losses amounted to 23,746.

The battle was fought over two days in April 1862 in dense oak thickets and deep ravines where it was hard to distinguish friend from foe. The first day, the South prevailed but with tragic consequences because General Johnston was shot in the leg by a stray bullet and bled to death. He ended up being the highest ranking general from either side that was killed during the war. The next day Grant was reinforced and ended up winning the battle which led to Corinth being taken in October of that year.

We happened to be there while the park was observing the 152^nd Anniversary of the battle. There were some reenactors present and I met Generals Johnston, Beauregard, and Grant

Generals Johnston, Grant, and Beauregard

with their ladies at the Visitors Center. We missed the cannon barrage but arrived in time to see the last showing of the film. It was a very well done film that showed the battle from the viewpoints of two young soldiers, one from the north, one from the south. It brought home the fact that the war was a dirty, tragic affair and that Shiloh opened the eyes of this country to the horrors of a war that was tearing this country apart. Too many died and too many were maimed because a different solution to this country's problems could not have been found. A beautiful place it is and should continue to be remembered for what happened there.

Okay, it's getting far too late and I need to get up in the morning to work on the drywall I started last week. So for now, this is all I have to say.

More later . . .