Free Bird's Adventures

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Site seeing in San Francisco

January 1-6, 2008

A summary of the twenty-five days that we spent in and the surrounding areas in .

On Tuesday, January 1, Lora, Meadow, and I were on a plane flying to San Francisco, and on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Meadow took several tests.

She had to stay overnight on Friday because her blood pressure bottomed out during that test.

We spent many weekends sightseeing. One weekend, we rode to San Francisco, where we walked part of the way across the , walked in , and ate Lunch at . We also traveled along the coast on hwy CA-1 to .

On Monday, January 7, Meadow has her first doctor's appointment with . Her first surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, January 8, and she will have to stay in the hospital until Friday.

The weekend after Meadow's first surgery, we went to Hollow Park Zoo and to the . Meadow's last surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, and she will stay in the hospital until Friday, January 17.

One weekend, we visited the , the , and .

Meadow's last doctor's appointment is on Wednesday, January 23, and if Doctor Steinberg gives us the okay, we will travel home on Friday, January 25.

Meadow will have to return in six months to make sure that the grafts have taken.

Day 1: January 1, Tuesday 2008

We are beginning the new year in a jet flying from Nashville, , to Palo Alto, California, where Meadow will have surgery on the right and left sides of her head to repair her .

Hubby was driving us to the , so we were both up at 1:30 A.M., we both took a shower and dressed.

We loaded my luggage into our and went to pick up Lora and Meadow.

Marcus, Jr., & JR (Marcus's Nephew), and JR's girlfriend were still sitting in the living room at 1:30 A.M. watching television.

I dressed Meadow in a one-piece suit after Lora put Meadow's medicine in her .

We loaded all of Lora's luggage into our VUE.

We arrived at the Nashville Airport at 4:30 A.M. Hubby helped us unload the luggage, and we said goodbye.

At the ticket counter, we checked our bags and received our e-tickets.

We went to the restroom to change Meadow's diaper before we stood in line at security.

We had to remove our shoes and watches, the computer had to be removed from its carrying case, and all our carry-on luggage had to be placed on the conveyor belt for scanning.

Meadow was pushed, in her wheelchair, through security, and the guard brought out a wand to scan Meadow's wheelchair for bombs and drugs.

After passing inspection, we again loaded the wheelchair down with all our carry-on baggage and started walking towards the gate area. We will be flying from Nashville to on .

We were among the small children and disabled people who entered the plane first.

We are seated near the front of the plane in seats 220A, B20, and C20C

All our carry-on baggage had to be stored in the compartment above our heads.

Flying over the now-capped Rocky Mountains near Denver, Colorado

We slept most of the way on our flight to Denver, Colorado.

I went to the restroom twice during our flight, and on one of those trips, my foot got tangled in the straps of Meadow's diaper bag.

Lora was still asleep, so I had to wake her up so she could help me untangle my foot.

Our flight from Nashville was delayed. We had to wait for another plane to taxi off, and it took a long time to take off, which in turn caused us to miss our connecting flight in Denver.

During our final descent into , the stewardess said over the intercom, "Please, see if you do not have a connecting flight, stay in your seat.

Since we were in front of the plane, and we had a connecting flight, we were the first to leave.

I took Meadow out of her car seat, rushed up the walkway, carrying her in my arms, and walked to the ticket counter for our connecting flight.

The person at the ticket counter said, "We have given your seats to someone else since the doors had not been closed for the flight's competition. We will have to ask the people we have given your seats to to get off the airplane."

Lora had to stay behind to wait for Meadow's wheelchair & our luggage to be brought up from the bottom of the plane and transferred to our connecting plane before she could board the plane with us.

We were flying with , and the plane we're on now has a porcupine on the wings and tail.

I sat in the aisle seat, Meadow sat in the middle seat, and Lora sat next to the window.

During the flight, we were served a drink and a small package of cookies. Meadow slept during most of the flight.

We saw the snow-capped, foggy from the airplane, where the landscape looked like chocolate-swirled ice cream.

Lora was sitting by the window, so she took several pictures of the snowy mountain range.

I tried to watch "A Harry Potter Movie", but I kept falling asleep.

We were the last to leave the plane when we landed at because we had to wait for Meadow's wheelchair to be brought up from the plane's bottom.

The flight attendant and pilots were very helpful in getting us into the wheelchair and out of the airplane with all our carry-on luggage.

We walked to baggage claim, found a cart, loaded our luggage, and took the shuttle to the rental car area.

We got off the shuttle at the airport's basement level, which was not the rental car area.

We met a woman who worked at the airpor,t and we asked for directionstor the rental cars.

She said the directions I am about to give you are the ones I take to cut down on walking time, and that you can go this way. Signs are posted to discourage people from flying in and out of the airport, which helps workers get around.

She said that we would come to an area with a sign that reads, "This is a security area."

She said we could go through the area, which we did, and it led us to the airport area, where we could take the shuttle to the area.

Lora had rented a . We loaded the car with all our luggage, buckled Meadow into her car seat, and Lora drove us down Highway 101 to Palo Alto, California.

We arrived at the just before 3:00 P.M., which was when the office closed.

The woman working in the front office checked us in, then she gave us a copy of the rules, and we were shown around and were given two keycards to our room.

I pushed Meadow to our room, M213, while Lora parked the PT Cruiser in the garage under the RMH building.

After parking, Lora loaded our luggage onto a cart and pulled it upstairs to our room, where we unloaded it.

Meadow and I went back downstairs with Lora to return the cart.

We rode to for lunch, where I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, Lora ordered a Fish Sandwich, and Meadow some chicken nuggets.

We rode back to RMH, where we rested for a couple of hours.

Pasta, a large salad, and several sweets had been prepared and brought to the RMH for supper, which Lora and I ate.

After supper, we rode to Safe Way Grocery Store to buy Meadow some Pedi-light and some snacks.

Then we rode to to check it out; this is where Meadow will have her surgery.

It had been a long day, so we rode back to RMH and went to bed.

Day 2: January 2, Wednesday 2008

It is day two, and Meadow was awake at 6 A.M. Alabama time, not California time, which is 4A.M.

It was just a little too early to be getting up, but Meadow did not know the difference, and she played for two hours.

Meadow will have an today. She can only have clear liquids, so she is fed only apple juice.

Meadow after MRI

Lora and I both ate oatmeal with canned fruit for breakfast.

Meadow was crying because she wanted her , which she could have after her MRI at 2:30 P.M.

We left Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at 6:30 P.M., stopping at for a package of tea and a box of cookies.

We stopped at to buy a large unsweetened tea; most of the employees there spoke Spanish and did not understand our .

Lora said repeatedly, "I would like to order a large unsweetened tea." Finally, I said, "You know, a large drink like Coke." They were still laughing as we drove away. Lora rode to , where she ordered an unsweetened tea and a sandwich. Ironically, they all spoke English.

We rode back to the RMH, where we ate supper, watched some TV, and were in bed around 12:00 P.M.

Day 3: January 3, Thursday 2008

Again, Meadow woke up early; she was up at 6:00 A.M., and her diaper was soaking wet. I changed her and put her back to bed with us.

Both of Meadow's eyes were very red because she was allergic to the tape that the used to put over her eyes when he put her to sleep for the MRI test.

They put an into Meadows' arm for the MRI test, and she will be having another test tomorrow, so they left the IV needle in her arm.

They covered the IV with so Meadow would not pull it out, but she is biting at the Coban with her teeth, trying to remove it.

Meadow is trying to remove the cob from her teeth.

Lora and I both got up, showered, dressed, and walked downstairs for breakfast.

Again, Meadow could only have clear liquids, so she was fed a can of chicken broth.

Both Lora and I ate a bowl of for breakfast, and after breakfast, we rode over to Save A Lot Grocery Store, where Lora bought some diaper wipes.

Meadow was taken back at 1:30 P.M. for her second at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and Lora and I stayed with Meadow until she went to sleep.

During Meadows's test, Lora and I went to the hospital cafeteria for lunch.

Lora ordered a cheeseburger and fries, and I ordered chicken fingers, a salad, and a parfait.

After her test, Meadow was taken back to for recovery. After she recovered, she drank a can of Pedi-Sure.

By the time we returned to the RMH, it was pouring rain.

Meadow's test went very well, and she was playful for the remainder of the day.

That night at RMH, we played .

Lora won two dolls, one for Madison and a Dora doll for Meadow.

It was terribly stormy that night, leaving 1 ½ million people in San Francisco without power.

Day 4: January 4, Friday 2008

Meadow will have two tests today; she can only clear liquids, so once again, she is fed Chicken Broth.

Her first test will be the second part of the SPEC Scan Test.

Lora had Meadow's Pedi Sure shipped to Doctor Stanford's Office.

We met Jill from Dr. Stanford's office in front of to pick up the Pedi-Sure.

Both Lora and Jill got wet while loading the Pedi-Sure into the car because it was pouring.

Lora parked the car in the parking deck at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

We walked to admitting, where Meadow was admitted to the hospital once again for the two tests.

We met with Dr. Dodd in the . He is doing Meadows's and explained the procedure he will be doing on Meadow.

Dr. Dodd said Meadow will be under until the Angio and the second part of the SPEC SCAN are completed.

Meadow's little body could not stand all the stress of the two tests; her blood pressure and pulse dropped.

The team administered B/P meds and IV Solu-Cortef (Cortisol replacement) or .

The doctor came looking for Lora and me, but he couldn't find Lora because she had fallen asleep at the lobby door, and I had gone downstairs to use the restroom.

When the doctor found Lora,, he explained what had happened, and took her back to be with Meadow.

When I returned to the lobby, a male nurse took me back to the .

Meadow was placed in the PICU overnight for observation. Lora and I stayed with Meadow until 12 A.M.

We went to the second-floor lobby and tried to sleep.

I walked up and down the stairs about 5 times during the night because there was no public restroom on the second floor.

Lora said they got cold sleeping in the lobby corner and that it made them sick.

Day 5: January 5, Saturday 2008

I was up at 6 A.M. I checked on Meadow, then went to the cafeteria for breakfast.

I ordered muffins, eggs, and bacon, and I went back to the lobby to work on my computer.

Meadow was discharged from the hospital at 12 P.M. We rode back to the RMH, and everyone took a nap.

The RMH had grilled hamburgers for supper, and after supper, we talked to other families staying there.

We met a couple from Oregon who had lost their little girl to kidney failure and had come back to the RMH to bury her. They had four more children waiting for them back home in Oregon.

Day 6: January 6, Sunday 2008

We were up at 8:30 A.M., we both took showers, ate breakfast, and Lora drove on Highway 101 toward San Francisco.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, and Lora stopped at .

We had to put our jackets on before we got out because it was still a bit chilly outside.

We put Meadow in her wheelchair, and then we wrapped her up in her pink blanket.

We stop to take a picture with a statue of " and his duffle bag." This memorial commemorates the sacrifices made by sailors of all branches for the sake of freedom. In the background, we saw rolling hills of green and brown.

The Lone Sailor

We had walked about halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge when we stopped to take pictures.

A lovely woman offered to take a group picture, and we said yes.

Standing on the Golden Gate Bridge

While we were on the Golden Gate Bridge, both Lora and I took many pictures of San Francisco and (the Rock), the now-deserted prison.

We returned to the car to feed Meadow a can of Pedi-Sure.

We rode to Muir Woods Memorial Park, with all the twisty curves we made as we descended into the canyon below.

Driving to Muri Woods

There was no electricity at Muir Woods; the storm the night before had knocked out the power.

We paid three dollars each to enter the park.

Some of the paths we walked in the park were concrete, while others were wooden, and some were just dirt.

We saw a bubbling creek flowing beside the path we were walking on, and next to it was a white wooden fence to keep people on the trodden path.

The dense forest was loaded with Redwood and Sequoia trees, and they were big enough to stand inside.

The forest was probably full of bears and other wild creatures, but we did not see any.

The path was muddy and full of debris, and the rough terrain made it hard to push Meadow in her wheelchair. Meadow's little head bobbed up and down as I wheeled her along in her wheelchair, which she found funny, and she laughed.

We walked about two miles into the woods, crossing a bridge to reach the other side.

We looked up at the sky from inside the forest, where we saw the tops of the Redwood and Sequoia Trees.

Redwoods and Sequoia Trees

Standing inside one of the many trees in Muri Woods

We also saw a giant redwood stump that dated back to 1100 AD.

We stopped at the restroom to change Meadow and use the restrooms.

We met two strangers outside the restaurant, and they asked one of us to take a picture of them with their camera.

Then one of them took a group picture of us, we were standing next to a wooden carved brown bear.

I told Lora I would be afraid to eat a picnic lunch in Muri Woods because the bears might smell my food.

We saw an Indian family from Europe eating a picnic lunch in the forest.

We headed back to the car and wiped the debris off Meadow's wheelchair and our shoes before getting in.

We cross the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco and turn left toward Fisherman's Wharf.

Lora parked the car inside a parking deck, and we walked across the street to Pier 39.

We took the elevator up to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Restaurant and Market, where we were seated at a table overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

Bubba Gump's Seafood and Company at Pier 39
Bubba Gump's was a movie sign that read: Movie posters, Pirates of the Caribbean.

We start our meal with a spinach dip appetizer and chips.

Lora and I split a plate of salmon cooked in rice, served with asparagus, carrots, and snow peas.

When we finished eating our meal, we took Meadow to the restroom, changed her diaper, and then took the elevator to the lower level.

We walked to the end of the pier, where we both took pictures of Alcatraz.

Alcatraz

Along the pier were piles of brown and black sea lions lying on pallets, bathing in the drizzling rain.

Sea Lions on Pier 39
We saw a sign posted that read: PIER 39 Harassment of the Sea Lions is a Violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. No docking, approaching, feeding, or throwing objects allowed.

We stopped in at to buy some . They have 66 varieties to choose from, and Lora bought Meadow a colorful sucker.

We all rode the , handcrafted in , and I filmed Lora holding Meadow as the Carousel went up and down.

At Pier 39 Marina, we saw 39 houses, a 300-berth marina with a double-fingered wooden dock, boat slips that housed sailboats and powerboats, and a vast white cruiser with the name Regent painted in black.

Lora wanted to drive down Pacific One Highway, the road that runs along California's coast.

Lora needed direction, so when we spotted a parked police officer, she pulled over next to him and asked for directions.

He said I can give you a shorter route so you will not have to drive back into the city.

He said, "Follow Third Street; you will go under the Golden Gate Bridge to Market Street, then follow Market Street to Highway 19, and stay in the middle lane."

We followed Highway 19 to I-280 to Pacifica Highway One. By the time we reached Pacifica Highway One, it was too dark to see the ocean.

We enjoyed the ride, even though it was drizzling, as we traveled up the winding, mountainous roads.

By the time we reached Half Moon Bay Beach, it was closed.

We stopped at a local store near Half Moon Bay, where I purchased some cough drops and a non-winning lottery ticket.

Lora purchased a bottle of water, and we used the restrooms.

Lora drove us back to Palo Alto, driving down I-280 to San Hill Road.

We saw a family of deer on the mountainous road that Lora took to bypass the city on the way back to the RMH.

We stopped at a local grocery store to buy washing powder. When we arrived back at the RMH, I washed three loads of clothes.

Events with my grandparents2

were one of my favorite desserts that my grandmother would prepare for us.

The receipt of her potato kisses:

Boil a small potato with the skin on and cook it until done.

Peel the potato, mash it up, and roll it out.

Add powdered sugar and peanut butter to the center.

Roll all ingredients into a ball and slice them into pieces.

During the holidays, my grandmother would spend hours making our Christmas presents.

She was very handy with a needle and thread. She would make , , and dresses for us; every stitch was sewn in love.

My grandmother had very little income, but she was able to make it stretch.

She always had a beautifully decorated Christmas tree that would light up any room.

When she plugged the into the wall sockets, they would start to bubble, and the and icicles would gleam.

She would make a pot of popcorn that we would string. She would cut construction paper into strips, which we would glue together to create a rope to string on her tree.

My grandfather loved to smoke . When he ran out, he would give us grandkids a nickel, and we would walk to the store to buy him some smoking tobacco and white paper.

I loved to watch my grandfather take the white papers and roll his tobacco inside.

While playing outside, I once stepped on a honey bee barefoot. My grandfather pulled the stinger out of my foot and covered the swollen spot with some of his Prince Albert tobacco.

I know my grandfather had a kind heart, or my grandmother would not have married my grandfather. As the years passed, my grandfather became increasingly dependent on alcohol.

When I was young, I remember sitting next to my grandfather on the sofa as he told scary stories.

The one I remember most was about .

The story would end with my grandfather saying,

He would go up one step, then two, and continue counting the steps, until suddenly he would shout, "Got you." We would jump up in fright.

My grandfather loved the feel of the earth with his hands. For many years, my grandparents maintained a vegetable garden that not only provided food for them but also sold the produce for income.

My grandparents' backyard was filled with apple, peach, pear, and plum trees, which my grandmother would pick and use to make jams and jellies. They sold the access for cash, which was their source of income.

My grandfather had one that produced , of which I never knew the use, and they stunk to high heaven.

We were forbidden to climb in the fruit trees, but that never stopped us.

My grandfather loved to tease us; he would tell us that if we swallowed a seed from any plant, it would grow inside of us.

It was my grandmother who introduced me to God and .

I would ride with my cousin and grand Church to a small Church on the north side of .

Mr. Ulman, a member of the Church, volunteered to take my grandmother and the Church Children to Church, as he passed by her house on his way to Church.

I'm unsure if Mr. Ulman was single, but his wife never attended Church. He was an older man, so he could have been a churchgoer.

If not for Mr. Ulman, my grandmother would have had to walk to Church.

In Sunday class, I learned about , the , , , , and how the angel walked inside the blazing furnace with them.

We were given a pamphlet each week that included a picture of that week's lesson, which we could take home. I treasured this.

After Sunday school class, we would reassemble in the auditorium for Church.

There would be someone playing the piano or a squeezebox accordion.

It was terrific, the music that the machine would belt out. A man would stand while compressing and expanding the bellows while pressing buttons on the right side of the accordion.

One of my favorite Christian songs we sang during service was "."

The preacher would give a long sermon and then be dismissed, as would everyone.

I remember one Sunday night after services, Mr. Ullman was driving us home when the right door on the passenger's side of his car flew open. When Mr. Ullman turned left at the red light on , my cousin flew out right into the street.

Thank goodness we were not going too fast. She only had a few scratches on her elbow and hands.

My mom's parents relied on my dad to take them places, and my grandparents couldn't afford a car.

When my grandmother wanted to visit her sister, who lived on , everyone would load into my parents' station wagon, and we would ride to Huntsville.

It would be a day trip, and my aunt would prepare a nice meal for our visit.

My grandmother's father and stepmother lived in .

When my grandmother wanted to visit her father, she and my grandfather would take the train from Sheffield to Town Creek.

The was within walking distance of my grandparents' house.

In fact, the train tracks were so close that when I spent the night at my grandparents' house, I could hear the trains blowing their horns to warn people they were approaching as I lay in bed trying to sleep.

Sometimes, our whole family would pile into our station wagon, along with my grandparents, and we would all ride to Town Creek.

I loved to visit my great-grandfather. He was a kind-hearted soul, a jolly man, and very involved with us kids.

I remember my grandfather showing us how to put a straw stick into a hole, wiggle the straw, and pull out a worm he called .

Chicken Choppers are that ambush predators of other insects. They lie in wait in their burrows, their heads flush with the soil's surface.

The chickens do more harm to the larvae than the grubs.

My great-grandparents lived in an old, discarded that they had purchased from the army.

In the middle of the trailer, three steps led to the front door.

Once inside, to the right was a large, round, oak dining table with a half-round bench encircling it.

A couple of steps down was the living room, which had a couple of rockers. Next to the rockers was their bed, and standing just out from the wall was a coal heater.

The kitchen was built to cook for a large crowd of men at the very end of mess time.

My great-grandfather was visiting his son in , when he passed away at the age of eighty. His body was returned to Alabama, where he was buried.

The first funeral that I ever remember attending was that of my great-grandfather.

Two little girls Adventures after school 2

The two little girls, both in the first grade, walked every day to the located on .

The girls stayed with their grandmother, who never owned a vehicle in her entire life, during the school year.

The two little girls were constantly getting into trouble, both were like the monkey in the stories of and the man with the yellow hat.

One day, on their way home from school, they stopped at the local church, where they walked down into the basement to take a peek inside.

There they found a refrigerator full of food, they were very hungry so they poured themselves a glass of buttermilk and filled it with a slice of bread.

The little girls thought to themselves that the Lord would have said, "I have bread to spare."

For Christmas, their grandmother had given all her granddaughters .

The older little girl lost her , with a tassel attached to the back, one day on the way to school.

The little girl searched high and low for the cap but could not find it anywhere.

The little girl was determined to find the special cap her grandmother had given her, for she felt it would make her grandmother very sad.

The little girl continued searching for that special cap. One day, while walking home from school, she spied a cap just like the one she had lost, hanging on the front porch of a white, wooden, frame house not far from the school.

The little girl began to step onto the porch of the white-framed house when a grouchy old woman came outside and said, "What do you want?" 'My cap replied the little girl, but the grumpy old woman said, That is not your cap, it belongs to my granddaughter.

The grouchy old woman snatched up the cap and took it inside, never to be seen again by the little girl.

Sadly, the two little girls walked home and told their grandmother that she had lost her cap, but to their surprise, the grandmother was not angry.

She replied, "Sometimes things have a way of working out," and she surprised the little girl with a new red and white cap that the little girl treasured.

Two littles girls adventure across town

One summer morning, two little girls were playing outside on the lush green grass covered with clover, while bees buzzed all around, and they said to one another, "Let us go to town."

was within walking distance for the two girls, for they had walked to town many times with their parents, but on this special day, they felt they could do it without them.

So, the two little girls (ages six and seven)washed their faces, combed their long curly red and yellow hair, pulled their hair back into a ponytail, dressed in their new red and white short sets, and put their shoes on their feet because the streets would be too hot for bare feet.

It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day when the two little girls began walking up Street. They crossed onto , where they could walk along the sidewalks that lined the streets.

The two girls played a game," step on a crack, break your mother's back," as they tried to avoid the lines, cracks, and the humps on the sidewalk.

When the sidewalks were laid, many years before, the trees were small; as they grew, so did their roots, causing the sidewalks to bulge and crack.

Shop Pike ran into , which leads into downtown . Before the girls could enter downtown, they had to cross the running east-west along .

The girls looked both ways before crossing the train tracks because they became swamped when carrying came barreling down.

Sometimes trains would come from both the east and the west at the same time.

When a train came across the tracks that led into town, it took at least twenty to thirty minutes.

When our family would drive into town, we would wait patiently in the car for the train to pass, and when we saw the , we knew it was the end of the train, and we would begin to sing:

", Little Red Caboose, behind the train, the train.

Smokestack on its back, going down the track.

Little Red Caboose behind the train.

Woo-woo-woo!"

The two little girls were excited as they walked down without their parents tagging along.

They felt all grown up as they walked into their first store, which was a .

The two girls started looking around and even walked upstairs to the second level, pretending they were shopping.

A salesman came up to the two little girls and said, Where are your parents and the two little girls said ever so boldly They are shopping. The salesman gave both the little girls a bright yellow pencil as they were leaving the store.

Down the street, the little girls skipped, ever so excited to be shopping, without their parents saying You cannot have that.

They went from store to store, and they stopped at to look at the baby dolls wrapped in pink and blue blankets.

At , they saw dresses hanging on racks in shades of brown, with pleats, covered in tan lace, and large sashes attached to the backs. They saw red-checked dresses that buttoned down the front, and blue-and-white striped sailor dresses that would be ever so cute to wear to school to show off to the other students.

Oh, how they wished they had the money to buy one of those dresses, but they were penniless.

Abrom's was THE store; everyone with money came here to shop.

Abrom's had two levels, with a staircase leading to the upper level. It had tub carriers, a machine much like the banks use today at their drive-through windows, where they would send their tickets up and downstairs, which was fun to watch.

At the , the girls spent a long time looking, because there were many shelves filled with trinkets of all shapes and sizes that you could purchase for just ten cents.

The stomachs of the two little girls began to growl, so they stopped at the for an ice cream sandwich and a box of cookies.

The girls had now completely walked through every store in Sheffield, but the day was still young, and they were not ready to return home.

The two little girls continued walking north on Montgomery Avenue, then turned left onto Alabama Avenue and kept walking until they reached the .

The older little girl's family owned a boat that they had docked at Riverfront Park many times.

The Tennessee River has many dangerous drop-offs from the water's edge, which these two little girls knew, so they stayed close to the edge as they waded into the water to cool their feet, making sure they did not get their clothes wet.

The streetlight guided the girls as they began their journey home.

On their trip into town, the girls were given yellow pencils by the salesman at the furniture store.

The girls thought the yellow pencils were ugly, so they swapped them for bright purple, pink, and white pencils.

The girls also put small girls' slips into a shoebox at the five-and-dime.

The sun was shining brightly that day, so they each put on a pair of sunglasses.

Before the girls reached home, they buried the sunglasses, and the little girls slipped at the end of the street where their grandparents lived.

They began walking to their grandparents' house, only to be greeted by two heartbroken parents.

The two little girls told a lie; they said they had spent the day at a friend's house, but their parents knew differently because they had made a mistake. They had stopped at an aunt's house to visit before they walked to the Tennessee River.

Both girls received a whipping and were taken home.

Weeks later, the girls claimed to discover the items they had taken at the end of the street.

Their parents never knew the difference until years later, when the older girl told her mother the story of their trip to town, their visits to the many stores, and their taking all the items they had found at the end of the street.

Monday, March 2, 2015

1962~ The Battle of Shiloh April 6-8, 1862

1962~ The Battle of Shiloh April 6-8, 1862

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the , was significant in the , fought , in .

A Union army under had moved via the deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally at on the West bank of the river.

Confederate forces under and launched a surprise attack on Grant there.

In the summer of 1962, our family attended the one-hundred-year .

We were vacationing in , with my dad's friends Ronnie and Maria Cornelius.

Ronnie's parents lived in Savanna, within walking distance of the , where the

A reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh was taking place.
Ronnie, Maria, and their children were staying with Ronnie's parents.

From the Cornelius home, we could see the Merchants (Sutlers) setting up tents with period-style goods to sell to reenactors and the public.

There were men dressed as , preparing to engage in battle.

We were amazed as we watched the cannons and rifles being fired during the reenactment

The smell of gunfire ()and black smoke filled the air. The battle raged on, men were dying, bodies covered the ground, what an awful sight, death.
We walked back to the Cornelius house, and Dad was ready to return to our vacation campsite on the Tennessee River.

We had arrived in Shiloh in Dad's new , pulling our red and white nine-seater outboard motorboat.

The truck bed was filled with eight kids, water skis, orange life jackets, swimsuits, extra clothes, food, and water.

We had come prepared to swim, fish, and camp on the Tennessee River.
We brought a large green military tent for all our belongings and for all of us to sleep.

Dad and Ronnie had put out early that morning, and by late that afternoon.
They had caught enough catfish to cook for dinner.

After Dad and Ronnie had cleaned all the catfish, they built a roaring fire.

Mom had a cast-iron pot with a handle, and it hung over the hot, roaring fire.

Mom would fill the cast iron pot full of Mazola oil when the oil was boiling,

she would drop in the catfish.

While the oil was still hot, Mom would make hush puppies and drop them one by one into the pot.
She stopped cooking hush puppies when there was enough for the family.

In preparation for our upcoming meal, we would cover the picnic tables with a white sheet.

We would set out paper plates, forks, napkins, cups, ketchup, tartar sauce, and cups for iced tea.

We had purchased a cooler full of ice at the local store.

The kids would retreat back into the Tennessee River until dark, leaving mom to clean up after dinner.

It would be way after nine when we headed to the tent and would fall onto our pallets (a place for us to sleep.

We would be awakened by the buzzing of , which left red blotches everywhere on us.

Insect repellent was the most.

We were invited to eat Sunday dinner with the Cornelius family.

Mrs. Cornelius had prepared cornbread, meatloaf, fried potatoes, white beans, corn, and for dessert.

Our vacation included eating catfish, camping, skiing, and swimming on the Tennessee River, and the reenactment of the Battle of Shiloh.

My least favorite thing about our vacation was the vampire mosquitoes.