November 30, 2010

New Yorkie Pups Who are Chunky Dunks, Our First Vet Visit and Why We Did Not Have their Tails Docked

Mackie
Today was an extremely stressful day, for me the human owner of five newly born Yorkies and their parents that is. I called he Vet first thing to make a specific appointment to bring Mommy Zoie and five Pups in to get checked, certified, and to make sure all were healthy, happy, and that if we needed to do more to ensure their health and growth as well as taking care of them correctly. I also scheduled to have "dew claws" removed and talk with the Vet about tail Docking, which, I was totally against. In fact my family - aka - husband and daughter were viciously against me until I showed them my research and web sites which are primed to encourage you to make the right decision for the right decision.



Mizzie
So here goes - tail docking is all about show dogs and not necessary for pets. In long haired dogs - it is suppose to offer more cleanliness in the poop area - which - I am sorry but doesn't make sense, because Yorkie show dogs still have a lot of hair and the tail has nothing to do with runny poop.

Chewie aka Chewbaca
Lizzy
The Dew Clew on the other hand, should be removed. and so Puppies will have this removed. Zoie too needs special attention to one claw from paw because while digging intensely at her burrow/whelp area, lost a claw.

We live about three minutes away from our Vet,. My husband drove while I held puppies in doggie bus, forgot Zoie's leash, and had to let her out of bus because I was afraid she would sit on pups. All the while my husband drove between 20 and 30 mph - well below the speed limit --- he said, "I didn't want to rock the boat with our precious cargo."

So after watching a troop of strangers take my babies away, we went back home and I spent a restless hour and a half while Zoie and her brood were at the Vet. In fact, I lifted my cel phone to my ear, shook it, and expected it to automatically call me. It did and it was Dr Gates who called  (really) right on time to say they are ready to go home and we were off.  


So this is what we found out -
Aggie
We have a remarkable mommy Yorkie who is taking care of her Pups perfectly. In fact what we thought were two runts, are now considered chunky dunks. - We will need to devise a color coded way to identify them by their names (we probably shouldn't have named them because our bed is only queen size and my husband is actually saying it's time for us to get a new bed - is it possible to sleep with seven Yorkies in a King Size Bed?)

Back to what the Vet said . . .  I need to control my urge to feed Zoie people food, particularly Vanilla ice cream, make sure she eats a good puppy food - we give her Iams, and go home and lavish love on all are Yorkies, which of course is a piece of cake!

November 28, 2010

Zach and Zoie's Puppies Day 2

I had to rearrange the whelping arrangements because Zoie's bed was just not conducive to moving around puppies - they kept sliding into the ledge around the bed. So I tried the box with the blankets and papers and Zoie hated it. She's used to sleeping in a comfortable human bed with lots of room - the box was definitely too crowded for Zoie and five nursing babies and of course my bed is not the place for puppies, a least until they are much older . Off to Pet Smart, I found the perfect solution, at least until puppies get bigger and more active and then it's find a baby plastic swimming pool. The bed I found is therapeutic and with the heating pad beneath, we have some very contented Yorkies. Having new puppies is like having a new baby, really. I needn't worry about Zoie because she is perfectly relaxed, tending the babies and doing everything that comes naturally.
The babies are plumping up and doing their puppy thing too. But just to be safe I got a postal scale and will track their weight. I probably should weigh Zoie to - she is getting extra food and is becoming addicted to Vanilla ice cream (it's full of calcium and wet) and canned soft puppy food, as well as being hand-fed.

November 27, 2010

Zoie and New Puppies

Zoie's Babies
Boy and Girl
Zoie and Zach, our Yorkies, are the proud new mommy and daddy of two boys and three girls. Zoie went to the Vet yesterday morning and then went into labor a little after four. We had an Xray taken so knew that we should prepare for five puppies with one pointed in the wrong direction. He happened to be the first and was difficult and a little scary, but Zoie was a trooper. Thankfully we had Leya here to help with the delivery - her grandma is a breeder and so Leya was a God send. The rest of the pups came less then thirty minutes a part and all were cleaned and taken care of by mommy Zoie. This was an amazing experience to watch. I feel so protective and must contain myself from disturbing them.
Zoie and Zach

November 13, 2010

WWII Memorabilia and Ephemera

The Story of the 73rd: The Unofficial History of the 73rd Bomb Wing 

This is a fascinating book and was published by the Newsphoto Pub. Co., San Angelo, TX. Hard Cover and is a First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall in 1946.  The book is the original unit history, not a Battery Press or other reprint, some of which sell over $100.00. Stationed on Saipan, this unit flew B-29 bombing raids primarily on the Japanese mainland. THe book contains approx. 200 pages, maps, extensive photos (including 61 close-ups of nose art), drawings, endpaper maps, list of decorations and awards, organizational charts, sample propaganda leaflets dropped. 

November 11, 2010

I Am The American Spirit


When God formed the earth, the waters, 
the clouds in the sky,
When God formed man and woman,
When God formed the beast and food for all to feed upon,
God formed a silent wind
To lie in wait throughout many ages
And gather strength, and life, and love
In the hopes that one day
Mankind would live without hate,
And as the tides flow and ebb in the great seas,
Learn to live in a world that was free

I am the American Spirit
I was born in the hearts and minds of men, women, and children,
long before I was named.
At first, they called me the red man and I was a native,
Born in this land,
Then ships came, bringing many people,
From far off shores,
They wore strange clothing
And many spoke in foreign tongues,
They worked and toiled,
They dug deep into my soil,
In the richness of the dirt, they buried deep,
Their roots, their loved ones, until
They themselves became one with me.

I am the American Spirit
I became an immigrant nation
Settled by people
From far off shores,
Who sought a better life,
Freedom of political oppression,
Freedom to practice their religion
Freedom to seek adventure and opportunity
And in the richness of the soil,
I buried deep, roots, that meshed and intertwined
And took hold,
And began to sprout,
Buds and blooms of faith, and hope,
And as I grow, my spirit become one with the earth
The sky, the moon, and the sun

I am the American Spirit,
I hold these truths to be self evident
That I was conceived in Liberty,
And dedicated to the proposition, that
All men were created equal,
My creator did endow me with certain unalienable rights,
And that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Freedom was my right, only others
Wished to suppress it and hold my allegiance
To far off lands that I left  to establish
My domestic tranquility,
I became the United States Of America


I am the American Spirit,
I grew bold and strong from the hearts and
Minds of real men and women,
In the year of seventeen and seventy six
I was born from thirteen states
Into a new nation under God
And established a constitution,
To form a more perfect union,
To establish justice
To insure domestic tranquility
To provide for the common defense
To promote the general welfare
To secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity,
I became We the people

I am the American Spirit
I now was visible for all to see
From cloth of red, and white, and blue
Stars and stripes were formed,
Red for valor and bravery
White for purity and innocence
Blue for vigilance, perseverance, and justice
I was given stars to signify the Heavens above
And the divine role that man has aspired
Since time immemorial.
I was given stripes for the rays emanating from the sun.
And though through the years I have had many changes,
I have emerged, stronger, as I became
The American Flag and I stand
For Liberty.

I am the American Spirit
I was born in the hearts and minds of men and women,
And through the years from then until today,
I have known heartache and loss,
I have battled brother against brother,
In a house divided,
I have turned my back on darkened skin,
I have held my women at bay,
I have struggled internally against my own
Injustices,
My own oppressions,
My own weaknesses,
And because of this, blood has been shed for me,
Yet when I stand there, sometimes tattered and torn,
I am still the spirit of Freedom, that is American born.

I am the American Spirit
For in God we do trust,
My land is a free land,
For those who hunger and thirst for air to breathe free,
I lend them a hand, in the spirit
That has become me,
So that maybe one day, others may be,
Conceived in liberty,
And dedicated to the proposition that,
All men, all women, no matter what the color of their skin,
The language that they speak,
The religion that they worship,
Are equal, in liberty and in peace for all.



And, I am the American Spirit,
I am the American Flag,
I fly beneath spacious skies
And over amber waves of grain,
I fly from mountain tops, from hills and valleys and plains,
From the New York harbor,
To the Gulf Stream waters,
From the Atlantic to the Pacific,
My colors remain constant, red white and blue,
RED, for the blood of many heroes shed,
WHITE, for freedom’s light still shining bright; and
BLUE, for the courage to stand tall and true!

The Colors of War

The Colors of War

They fight in his land not mine
because our skies are beautiful and spacious
where enemies can’t hide behind shafts of amber grain
or breathe the same air we breathe
beneath the same golden sun where
young men were never taught how to die
or turn purple beneath a pale blue sky
or make a young woman cry, or ask
what if the lights went dim
how would I know his land from mine?

Thirty five years later, I can close my eyes and recall it all.
At the corner of time I stood beside a bed wearing a simple white dress.
The young man lay in front of me, soft baby face touched by dark shadows,
eyes smiling gently as a summer breeze, “Please” he said, “go ahead.”
I peeled the sheet back from his chest, my hand whispering a caress,
expecting to touch flesh, instead met by a cold wet field,
red stains seeping from gauze and tape.
Pits and raw jagged scars replaced silken sinew,
legs now stumps, only a torso.
“I have a Purple Heart you know.”
Blue eyes blankly stared beyond my amber gaze and I cried,
blood stains wept across my nurse’s dress.
All because he stepped on a land mine,
in a land that was neither his nor mine.


Dad and Mom 1944
Army Navy Game Day
San, Juan, Puerto Rico
1973

November 6, 2010

Lincoln Oak Freeport, Illinois 1912 and Lost History


On August 27 of 1858 the town of Freeport, Illinois was the site for the second of the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates. The drawbacks of wind and rain did not prevent a crowd of more than 15,000 hurry to the grove north of the Brewster Hotel which stood on the corner of then Stephenson and Mechanic Streets.

The scene must have been mayhem - the entire country was in turmoil over the escalating issues on slavery in the South. "After dinner the crowd hurried to a grove near the hotel, where the speakers' stand and the seats for listeners has been arranged. Here also were confusion and disorder. They have a wretched way in Illinois of leaving the platform unguarded and exposed to the forcible entry of the mob, who seize upon it an hour or so before the notabilities arrive, and turn a deaf ear to all urgent appeals to evacuation."

"Lincoln Oak"
Over the next half century, Freeport grew with many fine homes sprouting along avenues and other streets carved from the famed grove and debate site. The townspeople and residents of Freeport were careful to preserve a tree which came to be known as the "Lincoln Oak" A Stately Victorian home was built by Mr. R. Johnson who owned Johnson Brothers Company and the manufacturer of the "Tiger" adjustable ratchet cylinder wrench and the Johnson Automatic Coupler. 

In the front of the home and nearby "Lincoln Oak" is a monument, a giant boulder imported from Wisconsin and reads:

Within this block was held the second joint debate in the senatorial contest between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, August 27, 1858. "I am not for the dissolution of the union under any circumstances." - Douglas. "This government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." - Lincoln. Presented by the Freeport Woman's Club, 1903. Dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt, June 8, 1903."

Original Site of the Freeport
Lincoln and Douglas Debate
The tree though, became sickly, "had shed all its leaves and was seemingly dead," and it was feared would be lost. A Mr. P. L. Phelps of Rockford, Illinois was brought in to see if the tree could be saved. After his treatment of the tree, the tree was "in full foliage and looks beautiful again."

The Brewster Hotel was torn down long ago and a park now exists in its place along with two life-size statues of Lincoln and Douglas. Somewhere in the 20th century, the house and "Lincoln Oak" were replaced by a parking lot though the commemorative boulder remained. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Phelps were unsung heroes of a long ago time when history and memory worked together in preserving our American past.  I found this letter and photographs years ago when I lived in the Chicago area. They were in a box destined for the dump, but this is what I do, rescue the past and preserve history.  

November 5, 2010

United Confederate Veteran Ribbon Forsyth County, NC 1898

UCV Ribbon 1898
Value $350.00


I have stacks and boxes of Ephemera, papers, memorabilia and because I am a hoarder of said items, I often forget what I have. Case in point is this U. C. V, ribbon which stands for the United Confederate Veterans and which, I unearthed a few days ago. I wish I had it with me last week I had the pleasure of speaking to the Forsyth County chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.


My research for my book, Bethania: The Village by the Black Walnut Bottom, covered 250 years and I had to write this history within the confines of word count. One of the most difficult and challenging chapters I wrote was concerning the Civil War years and slavery. This was primarily due to the original documents, diaries, letters and papers I have and used which painted a very powerful picture of this dark era in our American history. I have a great deal of material that I did not use and which I hope to incorporate into another book. But back to this ribbon. I knew that it was local because along with it was another ribbon from a local estate and then I began to google. Wikipedia stated that prior to 1899, the organization did not exist on a national level though there were some local and regional levels. This ribbon bears the date May 10th, 1898. Significantly May 10th commemorates Andrew Jackson's death as well as the day on which North Carolina recognized as the Confederate Memorial Day. The year 1898 signifies the year prior to the national organizing of the UCV which was active until the 1940s. THE REPUBLICAN - a local Winston (now Winston-Salem) paper had this to say of the first Confederate Memorial Day Celebration:

Winston NC May 10, 1898
April 28, 1898:  10th of May Exercises - Norfleet Camp of Confederate Veterans met at the Armory one night the past week. There was a creditable turnout.  A committee was appointed to revise the roll  members and put the camp in first class condition.  A committee was appointed to select an orator for the 10th of May exercises.  Also to assist the Daughters of the Confederacy in providing dinner for the veterans.  Those of the latter both in city and county, in good standing who have not joined the Camp, are earnestly requested so to do at once.  Application for membership should be handed to either T.J. Brown, commander, S.H. Smith, adjutant, or Z.T. Bynum, Secretary.  It is hoped there will be a good attendance on the 10th of May.