Family History Facts ~ Indisputable

Pursuing family history uncovers facts which are interesting and indisputable. Facts as well as legends are both heart warming and heart breaking.

One of our great, great grandmothers' stories is written of how she came to Alabama and met our great, great grandfather.
Amanda was from Virginia~ a young girl from a family who educated her beyond that of most young girls. It is safe to say she was from a distinguished family of considerable means and influence. We descendants were left with the question of just how she was connected, or if she was connected to General Robert E. Lee.

Her husband, George Washington Richards served under the General during the Civil War and was at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered to General Grant. The date was April 9, 1865. That is fact....indisputable fact.

Knowing legends it is easy to believe could be of the same blood line as the Lee Family of Virginia. We don't know that Amanda discussed her family line, however, many years later, we descendants came to wonder about this. Why? It was her demeanor~ the way she lived her life. She ruled the family as when grandpa came home from Appomattox, he was had suffered a sever head injury and it apparently was easy to allow her to continue as she had in his absence.

No doubt Amanda had a brilliant mind. She was courageous in all senses~ adventuresome, brave, bold, fearless and was filled with unparalleled pride and those are other indisputable facts.

I investigated though facts and family lines available. The bottom line is she was from the Lee Family of Virginia, however, NOT a descendant of Robert E. Lee. He was a cousin of her father. Our family line is available back to the eleventh century.

Think of Climbing A Tree~ The Last Time

There are so many Titles for this blog~
"Where There's a Will, There's a Way" most certainly is appropriate.

We had no stairs in the house from Monday until last this afternoon.
WHY?
We wanted a new staircase~
We thought this project would be only an overnight deal...
BUT....
The workman came on Monday and took out three flights of stairs ...totally leaving an open staircase to the top floor.

Looking back with that 20-20...
...maybe this should have been a summer time project...WHY? Because, as they drove away Monday night snow was falling. Was only about 2 inches of tiny icy snow crystals, but that was enough to give the workmen a day off...
Their insurance didn't cover them on the icy roads... Geeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Tuesday night, conditions worsened~ we had ice to cover the snow...all roads closed ...even though we have excellent snow removal...salt/sand won't work on ice...
Therefore.....the workmen got another day off.
UGH~
WELL...
I missed going up there, covering with a warm blanket to watch TV.

I missed my very own recorded shows. The Doctors, Dr. Phil (don't watch many of those), Oprah (ditto), Medium (that is a great story each week), Judge Judy, etc...
My husband won't watch any of those...he has his own TV and programs, so we both are happy campers.
Anyway... I wanted to sleep in up there too.

I decided to make a "tree" to climb up to the top floor...
you know...this and that here and there to step on to climb higher and higher?

After several attempts...I had it high enough to reach the landing and put a ladder up from the landing to the top. From the ladder, we could reach the banister and walk the pickets across the landing to the entrance of that floor.

Dangerous, I guess, but worth the experience. Sort of fun~ and great exercise.
Husband was in shock....but as I showed him....he thought it ok. We were like two kids on a jungle gym.

We marveled at our steadiness and agility. One slip and would have been a dead duck~
My Dad would have said "That's God's way of getting rid of stupid people."
(He had little patience with anyone who takes chances.)

We even transported Jackson, the dog so he could stay with us.
TODAY, two flights of the stairs are in...am so excited...they look so beautiful.
Tonight, we can walk on the unfinished stairs to go upstairs. YEAH!
Photos to be added later tonight.

For The Birds

Feeding the bird is a kind act in this harsh winter weather. They reward you with quite a show as they feed.
Once you start feeding the little creatures, they do become dependant on your feeders to stay alive. Plan your site. Place your feeders so they are is easy to get to when there is snow on the ground. That is a critical time in their little lives. You might find the feeders need to be refilled each day.
Ideally, we need two seed dispensers. One for wild bird seed mix and the other for sunflower seeds. I have a third for thistle, as there are many wild finch in our area.

Here's a recipe to make suet patties for the finches.

Finch Fries

Raw beef suet (ask the butcher...that's beef tallow) and put through grinder or have butcher grind it for you.

1/2 Cup American cheese

1 cup millet

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Sand for grit

Save tuna or cat food size cans.

Cibethe cheese; add to millet, bread crumbs and sand and devide into 4 of the cans.

Melt the suet in double boiler and set aside to cool.

When hardened slightly and then re-heat again to make it smoother.
When in liquid form, for the second time, fill the 4 tins to the top and then refrigerate to harden.

Nail to trees with 6 inch nails. Cover the end of the nails with tape to make a

safe perch for the birds.

Finch change color in winter to all brown and grey. In the springtime, they become their bright and beauitful colors.

January 26, 2009 Weather

It's a snowy day in Northern Virginia. Our little angel's smile doesn't look much like a smile this morning, does it? The layer of ice covers her and tiny snow flakes are softly falling~

I turn the camera towards the fairway and small pond.....

When...to my surprise... 4 beautiful deer joined the photo~

I wasn't ready but took my best shots. Interestingly the 4th deer at the back of the pack heard the click of the camera, stopped to look back. It was unimaginable he could hear that one shallow click.

The snow makes for poor visibility and the deer are running. That's my excuse for a bad shot.

They apparently have a known hiding place in the trees of the Indian Burial Grounds~

which is our view with the small pond there...(to the right is the big Lake Manassas...

the deer went down the shortest part of the steep bank. There is a culvert down in that area which they must know about and go for refuge in this kind of weather.

Sorry my photographer friends~ just didn't expect this surprise so early in the day.

Nightmare Terrifies Little Girl

World War 11 was something no one could really comprehend. It was a awful time and terrifying to all. Especially terrifying to a child.

I was a toddler and remember going with the older children to collect cans and even the foil from chewing gum for the "war effort."
I remember we had no sugar, no bananas, no telephone, no car...and of course it was before the age of television. We only had one radio. Tommy and I listed to our radio shows...can you name any of them?

I remember the neighborhood Store ...Crump's Store...
they would spread the word when they got in any of the rashioned items such as coffee, sugar, meat, bananas, etc... therefore everyone in the community had an opportunity to have a share.

Other things rationsed were gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, stoves, shoes, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies and fruit butter. Everyone had "Victory Gardens" for vegetables which was canned for wintertime. Everyone had "Ice Boxes" as refridgerators and freezers were still things in the future. An Ice Man came around and everyone bought ice for the boxes. Chickens were home grown as well.

So much for what we didn't have during the war...
The war was difficult in many other ways.
I remember my Aunt Dot, who lived with us writing to her special guy almost everyday. He was in Europe flying the dangerous sorties. I remember her grief when word came that his plane had been shot down.
She didn't write letters anymore. She didn't smile. The neighbor who had a phone...the only line for the entire community. Her son was lost in a battle at sea~
From sitting with the grown ups in the living room with a grieving mother, I knew war was a terrible thing.

We were put to bed before the grown ups would actually talk about the bombing and destruction. I stayed awake to listen. I didn't know anything about geography therefore, when I could overhear all these things, it could have been in the next city~ it was terrifying indeed.

One night I had a nightmare...one that I never, ever told....as "if you tell a dream before breakfast, it would come true." I never told and I never forgot.

The nightmare:

I was with my older brother Tommy, standing on the hilltop behind our house when a place flew into our sight. The plane had German crossed Z's which was the Swastika ...
the official emblem of the Nazi Party and the Third Reich; a cross with the arms bent at right angles in a clockwise direction is the official name. As a little girl, I already knew it and knew it was "the bad people."

My brother pointed to the plane and yelled, "It an enemy plane!"

In the dream, we ran. I rushed into our family home calling out, "Mama, Mama!"

She didn't answer, then I remember what we had been told. Go to the basement for safety from storms, so I knew she would be there waiting for us.

I ran back and around the house when the plane came back ...I could see it just above the trees. It flew very low and dropped a bomb.

How could I know what a real bomb looked like...therefore in the vision, it was a car sized football shaped object which floated down from the sky. It fell softly on the sidewalk in front of me. Then it slowing started cracking apart, as did the house...I could see all being destroyed...I fell to the ground screaming...and WOKE UP. I worried so about that coming true

~~~~~~~~~

The war was over and we grew up. It was now the Dawn of Space Age and Russia launched the first object to orbit the earth. That was big news.

I was home from College for the weekend, as was my brother. Tommy told me that at sunset we would be able to see "Sputnik" with naked eye.
This was something we really wanted to see.

We kept an eye on the time and walked up the hillside for the best view to Sputnik watch.

Soon, there in the twilight, was a little bright object moving high across the sky. "There it is!" Tommy told me and pointed into the sky. "Can you believe that is actually an enemy aircraft." We watch in awe. Then it dawned on me that Mama should see it...everyone should see it~

I ran down the same hill as in my nightmare years and years ago...
I rushed into the house and called "Mama! Mama!" She didn't answer and my nightmare flooded my mind.
Then Mama answered...she was there and all was OK.

I often wondered over the years what that dream/nightmare meant. We actually were standing in the same spot as in that dream...almost the same words were spoken...and my brother pointed just has he had in my dream. Mama didn't answer right away...
it was eerie.

Now, a lifetime has passed~ and I just now know the meaning of that nightmare~

It came to me as clear as anything ever has...

Only last week, Tommy and I were reminiscing and afterwards, thinking about just how long ago our thoughts went back and wondered just when was the last time our family, Daddy, Mama, Tommy, our little sister and I were together in the family home as a family unit.

A light came on...
IT WAS THE NIGHT SPUTNIK FLEW OVER.

The nightmare had elements of what would happen in the future.
The family/home broke apart and as a little girl, that was terrifying to me.