http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=4316350785635987648 Cave Dwellings: March 2013
Cave Dwellings

Buckhorn Creek, Lake O' The Pines, Jefferson, TX

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Re-visiting the history of Goliad, Texas

  Since my last blog, a few of you commented on the header photo.  That was taken on one of our different visits to Goliad State Historic Park in Goliad, Texas…Dennis and I soooo enjoy this trip and we visited it for the first time in February, 2006…again in March, 2009, and one more time in February, 2012.  If  you have never been there, let me just say that it is well worth the trip if you are a history lover as we are.  The Goliad State Historic Park is where we love to stay. 

Above photos are from 2006, when we had our Cougar.  The park has 2 distinct camping areas…The first photo is the a lower level area that is basically a huge parking lot with grass on all sides, (water and electric).  We stayed there for one week the first time we went…The next week, we decided to move to the upper campground… the right photo..(full hook-up)..The upper level campground is right next to the mission.  The Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santgo de Zuniga is amazing…and if you camp here, you are steps from that mission and you can come and go into the mission any time it is open..all day long.

There often are school buses of kids touring and they always ring the mission bells…I love that sound…Right photo is the sanctuary of the mission.

Left is from 2009, with our Hiker…On the right is the choir loft of the mission…They still have events in the sanctuary….

Another great feature of this park is that you can walk into the town square of Goliad on a trail that goes through the woods..about 1 1/2 miles each way..

Left photo is part of the walking trail to town, and middle photo is the Goliad County Courthouse…Right is the “Hanging Tree” outside the courthouse..frequently used at one time in history..Surprised smile

Also within walking distance of the park is the Presidio La Bahia.  “The Presidio chapel still serves as a community church.  Our Lady of Loreto Chapel at Presidio La Bahia has served the spiritual needs of Catholics - Spanish, Mexican, Texas, American, in turn - since 1779. Even today, mass services are held every Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at the Our Lady of Loreto Chapel.”

Left is the entrance to the chapel and the presidio…middle is the sanctuary…and right is one of the cannons at the presidio…

  There is sooo much more to see…..”The presidio, the restored mission, the battleground where Fannin surrendered, Fannin's grave and the restored birthplace of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, the Cinco de Mayo hero, are stand-alone entities, each telling a narrow story.  Even Goliad's singular moment, the slaughter of Fannin and his men, is not given its due. The killing grounds -- three sites less than a mile from the presidio, where the Texans were held captive -- have never been thoroughly studied. And although more than 12,000 historical markers have been placed across the state, addressing everything from barbed wire to fruitcake, no marker stands on or adjacent to those blood-stained grounds.  Goliad is best known for what happened here on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, during the Texas revolution. Col. James Fannin and 341 of his men, after surrendering and being held captive for a week, were killed by Mexican troops under Gen. Santa Anna. That was nearly double the number of Texans killed three weeks earlier at the Alamo. The two events inspired the Texans' battle cry at San Jacinto, where independence was secured: "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!"

I have sooo many photos of Goliad… We even went there for the Goliad County Fair once, which is held right across the road from the State Park Campgrounds…another place to walk to…I am going to do a couple of collages to finish this up…

2009-03-21

2006-02-1302-16-2012

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I had to include the above two photos…These doors are from the Mission Espiritu Santo, and they are on opposite sides of the building..They both enter into the Mission sanctuary…Left is called “The Door of Life”, used for baptisms…Right is “The Door of Death”, where you entered for funerals….I found it very interesting that you could use the door of life, notice that it was open…but the door of death was chained so no one could enter…Rest assured that I did have to touch both so I could channel history ( my way of getting in touch with souls who lived in another time).

I hope any or all of you get to see Goliad Texas…It is waaaay at the top of our “Places to visit in Texas “ list, and I know we will do it again if we get down there!

McGuyver and “moi”…Goliad, TX…February 2006, with the ol’ Cougar..

WE LOVE THAT PLACE!!

“Ghosts are a metaphor for memory and remembrance and metaphorically connect our world to the world we cannot know about.”

                                                                                                          ~Leslie What

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Got a GEM of WWII History…In The Words of a WWII Vet…

  Not too much going on here, as usual.. McGyver and I have been helping Uncle Jr. and Aunt Jeanette with grocery shopping and his bi-weekly Physical Therapy appointments.  Our weather here has been horrible…cold and windy…It usually is in the “teens” when we get up, and we both have missed walking in the morning the  past few days…When those wind chill temps are in the single digits….it just isn’t happening!!

   When we go to Uncle Jr’s house we usually end up in their kitchen having some snacks and a glass of wine/beer…(I really think that the wine is the reason they are still here…That’s my theory and I’m stickin’ to it!)…Anyway, we always sit and have a really nice visit, and many times Uncle Jr. starts talking about his WWII experience…

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No, it isn’t that warm here..This was taken August of 2012…..ahhh the good ol’ days of summer Crying face!!

Well, Uncle Jr. didn’t disappoint…. He began to reflect about what happened to him on December 7th, 1941…the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor…He had enlisted in September of 1941, and was in Pensacola, FL at the base there on Dec. 7th that year.  …The minute I had a feeling he was “going there”, I casually put my cell phone on the table and turned on the voice recorder….I didn’t want to alert them I was recording, and I’m sure he never realized it…I had it on for about 20 minutes, and WOW… I got some great stuff about his duty ..and in his own voice ( sometimes muffled by tearsSad smile..) In another blog I will give you a short rendition of his experiences in the Pacific Fleet during the war…amazing. …I also caught Jeanette telling about growing up in the little town of Earlville, IL…(FYI, Jeanette will be 98 years young this year..)..

scan0003Clarence Bark, Jr. 1944scan0021

I didn’t even dare listen to it until we got home…I was hoping and praying that it turned out OK…..AND IT IS UNBELIEVABLE!!  Today, McGyver loaded the audio onto our computer so we can make a disk of those conversations…Our kids and grandkids need to hear this and it is really neat that we can keep it with us long after they are gone…I fully intend to get some more audio of them another time we go up there….Young people can certainly benefit from hearing what our elders experienced…I feel very blessed to have gotten this on audio….SCORE!!!!

I also want to mention that today is our “baby’s” (Christie),39th birthday….

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“Moi” and Christie, left picture…On the right, our 2 beautiful daughters, left is Terrie, and right is Christie..our babyRolling on the floor laughing….

Sooooo…we zoomed right over the first official day of Spring…with snow and cold and wind chills at zero, I might add.  There IS one member of our family who refuses to let this weather bother her….Our granddaughter, Taylor, age 14 1/2…Ah, youth…

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Never mind the snow in the backyard, Taylor Kate Heiser is excited that next week is SPRING BREAK for the kids in Sugar Grove, IL….a little crazy, this one…wonder where she gets that???Flirt male???

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
                                                                                                                                                                                                            ― Ronald Reagan

Friday, March 15, 2013

“ Sure and Beggorah, What a surprise!”

  2013-03-14 12.26.03

 

 

McGyver and I went up to Uncle Jr.’s house yesterday to take them to Physical Therapy…..When we got back, I looked out Jeanette’s kitchen window and saw huge snow flakes coming down all around….Left is the view from their kitchen window….That is the Fox River in the background…I wish we had her wonderful big kitchen windows!!!

 

 

This February (and so far March) have had some of the worst Winter weather we have seen in a few years…It sure seems to me that every time we have to come home early from our Winter RV trip, we face a pretty crappy weather pattern…January was darn nice up here, so we heard, but the minute we came home it all “went South” (like I wish we could!)…In an attempt to get my Spring game face on, I planted some herb seeds in the hopes of having a herb garden inside, even before I could have one outside…I guess I’m trying to beat Mother Nature at her own game…good luck with that, right?…

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Here we have 54 little spots for plants…Parsley, Dill, Oregano, Basil, Cilantro and Chives…If I get JUST ONE  healthy plant of each,  kind I will faint.  My thumb isn’t very green…

Speaking of green, I want to wish everyone a wonderful St. Paddy’s Day, Irish or Irish wantabe, it just doesn’t matter. This is one of those “feel good” celebration days that puts a bit of the Irish Jig in everyone’s step…We had quite a surprise in store for us here at the Cave Dwellings…

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Our son, Kelly, has been secretly practicing up for the last 15 months to become part of Oswego Fire Dept. Pipes and Drums group….

keldrums

Turn up your volume and enjoy..Kel is the big guy on the left playing drums…

….IF THAT MUSIC DIDN’T PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE, NOTHING WILL!!

“May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.”

 

“ Sure and Beggorah, What a surprise!”

  2013-03-14 12.26.03

 

 

McGyver and I went up to Uncle Jr.’s house yesterday to take them to Physical Therapy…..When we got back, I looked out Jeanette’s kitchen window and saw huge snow flakes coming down all around….Left is the view from their kitchen window….That is the Fox River in the background…I wish we had her wonderful big kitchen windows!!!

 

 

This February (and so far March) have had some of the worst Winter weather we have seen in a few years…It sure seems to me that every time we have to come home early from our Winter RV trip, we face a pretty crappy weather pattern…January was darn nice up here, so we heard, but the minute we came home it all “went South” (like I wish we could!)…In an attempt to get my Spring game face on, I planted some herb seeds in the hopes of having a herb garden inside, even before I could have one outside…I guess I’m trying to beat Mother Nature at her own game…good luck with that, right?…

2013-03-13 18.29.03

Here we have 54 little spots for plants…Parsley, Dill, Oregano, Basil, Cilantro and Chives…If I get JUST ONE  healthy plant of each,  kind I will faint.  My thumb isn’t very green…

Speaking of green, I want to wish everyone a wonderful St. Paddy’s Day, Irish or Irish wantabe, it just doesn’t matter. This is one of those “feel good” celebration days that puts a bit of the Irish Jig in everyone’s step…We had quite a surprise in store for us here at the Cave Dwellings…

pipesanddrums1pipesanddrums2

Our son, Kelly, has been secretly practicing up for the last 15 months to become part of Oswego Fire Dept. Pipes and Drums group….

keldrums

Turn up your volume and enjoy..Kel is the big guy on the left playing drums…

….IF THAT MUSIC DIDN’T PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE, NOTHING WILL!!

“May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.”

 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Dear God..I didn’t say I was THAT bored!!

  A little excitement here at the Cave Dwellings that started last Tuesday night…one week ago.  First, I got the Montezuma’s Revenge flu bug…Spent all day Wednesday alternating hovering over the commode (arse ON it) and lying comatose on the couch with a yuck tummy…Luckily for me it moved through me (LITERALLY)  pretty fast…McGyver thought he had dodged the proverbial bullet…not so…I share everything with the love of my life… 

Dennis succumbed Saturday, somewhat…He thought he had a mild case and was semi functional as long as he didn’t stray too far from the “facilities”…By Sunday he was “planking” on the couch…no food, and trying to get ice tea down…That night I thought he was turning the corner when he asked for some soup.  Little did I know that it wasn’t the correct corner…While we were turning off the lights and readying to go upstairs to bed, I wandered into the kitchen to find McGyver passed out in the chair in front of our computer…and I do mean PASSED OUT!..I patted his face and called his name, beat on his chest …(missed my chance to really whale on himWinking smile), and just about the time I was going to call 911, he came to…but, boy was he sick…and faint…and, I was sure, dehydrated…

Long story short, he knew we need to get some IV fluids, and I was fearful he would pass out on our way to the GMC…He was even considering an ambulance ride, but then said, “Call Kelly and Cindy”…(We are blessed to have our own personel paramedic and nurse in the family and they live only about 4 miles from us…Luckily, they were both home)…They helped us get to the ER and McGyver was pretty pasty..Cin grabbed a wheelchair and they whisked him into a bed and started IV fluids…His body was dry as a desert, and sucked that first liter down fast…They gave him a partial second dose and he began to feel much better…Take heed, people…This gastro-intestinal flu is brutal and keeping hydrated is very hard to do, but VITAL…Dehydration messes with all of your organs and especially kidneys…They did blood work on him and were satisfied that he could go home after 3 hours…I am happy to report he is now feeling fine, but he doesn’t want to be that sick ever again…I ditto that sentiment…Disappointed smile

We have had lots of rain here and the retention pond just down our street looks like a lake…

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Looks like you would expect to see a fishing boat out there…For the record, this is usually totally empty….and this is why our basement is still dry…God Bless the retention pond !!

I’m pretty tired of the gray days and cold temps so I am going to post some warm and Springtime photos …just to make myself feel better..Looking out the kitchen window right now is pretty depressing, and I certainly don’t hear any birdies tweeting, just a loud train horn.  That’s NOT what I look forward to when Spring comes and the windows are open…GRRRRSteaming mad

You can barely see his little feet tucked up inside his feathers…Sometimes my photos turn out better than I think they will.

SPRING…..BRING IT ON!

 

“If you think it is funny to drink apple juice out of a urine cup, you might be an ER nurse…”