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Why History??	Because everybody has one.

History_Nut

Name: Wanda
Birthday: 12/21/1951
Gender: Female

Interests: History, genealogy, writing, cooking, family, God and my faith, surviving college, studying and monitoring earthquakes and volcanoes. I can generally always be found with a book in hand and actually know how to read it. All of it and not necessarily in this order.Also, did I ever mention I collect children's series books? I really like books!
Expertise: You've got to be kidding. Actually, I'm told I'm good at genealogy and have parts of the family tree traced to before 1409. I love research and have been nationally acclaimed as an artist in both oils and as a floral designer.
Occupation: Student

Message: message me

Member Since: 7/25/2005

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Posting Calendar

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Currently Reading
The Luck of the Irish: Our Life in County Clare
By Niall Williams, Christine Breen
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Looking Back

Looking back I can remember the reasons we fell in love with this place. We had been flooded out three times in four years so the priority was to be above the water level of any surrounding bodies or potential bodies of water. We needed enough room for the three of us plus pets. We really liked the idea of having some space.

That day we met the realtor (Sunny) out here and she opened the door, we already knew it was home. The hardwood floors, the fireplace, the...holy cow...Was that a jacuzzi in the master bath? Well, you get the idea. And the price was way below anything else in the area because someone else had lost their home to foreclosure. It was sad for them but a blessing for us.

How could we know in the middle of Winter when we moved in that we would be sharing life here with so many others?

Right now, at this very moment, a lanky little white-tailed deer stands about forty feet from where I am sitting. He's in that area between the trees and the pasture we border and is simply interested in watching life in the treetops as he listens to a bird chattering on about something. Mom is standing off a little further back in the trees and watching out for him.

As if that isn't enough, today on the way home from school, I came around a corner to find our old-world German Baptist neighbors out in their family buggy. I slowed down and got a big wave from everyone just like many times before. Still, it always feels good to see them out on such a beautiful day.

Some have suggested that, with the price of fuel, we move to town. I can only reply, "Not a chance." You see, out here we really live.

6:06 PM - 20 eprops - 13 comments - email it

Friday, May 30, 2008

Currently Listening
Take Me Home Country Roads
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Something is Wrong With America

Night before last I looked out the front door to check on a noise and saw them. There were two little faces looking at me, wide-eyed, curious, cute, and scrawny. Two beautiful tiny calico kittens who sat terrified and waiting for the next shoe to fall. Quite literally, a shoe fall is what I had heard and we suspect it was the tread of someone dumping off these two sweet little calico babies. One is pastel and the other dark and we are estimating them to be about five weeks old.

I mentioned them to Chuck when I saw them and he said he had seen them earlier. (Odd, I thought to myself.) At 3:00 AM it was a different story. I awoke from a restless sleep to his voice saying that those were NOT the strays he had seen earlier and asked how we were set up for taking in two new babies. By 5:00 AM he had captured the pastel because she simply would not leave the body of a third sibling behind. She had patiently stood watch over him perhaps waiting for him to wake up. The dark one with little white boots had gone off into the dark and we caught her later in the afternoon in spite of her boisterous hissing and valiant stand for freedom. Patience and Boots are safe today, warm and fed, playing together in Britt's bathroom. They have a home here with us and even the dogs and Spunky (the Maine Coon cat) sense that they are special and in need of extra love and care.

But what of the others out there?

Something is wrong with an America where dumping animals on someone's porch or at the side of a country road seems okay with people. Just because we choose to live out where the deer graze in our yard and we tend to not lock the cars doesn't mean we want you to drop off your unwanted and unloved dogs and cats.

Let me go back in time a bit and share how others see this. Eighteen years ago, I left England for the US. Part of that process was taking my two dogs to the vet to obtain a rabies certificate so they could make the trip. When I let out veterinarian know why I was there, he got all teary-eyed and gave me a hug, travel pills for both Lacey (an English Pointer) and Sidney (a Yorkshire Terrier), and all sorts of extra little toys for them to have when they got to the States. He insisted I write and let him know how we were all doing. Then he told me how proud he was to know that we were taking our babies with us because so many Americans saw them as disposable, similar to a paper plate. He couldn't tell me the number of pets he had put into rescue or how many he had found deserted and dying in and around base housing. As we left, he walked with us to the front lobby and announced to a full house that we were taking our little ones to the States. The entire room stood and applauded and those cool, quiet, and normally reserved Brits all gave me hugs. They were amazed and tickled that an American family was taking their furbabies on the long journey home and were willing to do whatever it took on arrival to keep them together. Sidney lived to be twelve and Lacey to fifteen. They are buried side by side under a red bud tree in Maitland, Missouri. I miss them very much.

That day in the veterinarian's office, I heard things about America that I had never heard in all the years of living in England. Other societies consider this country to be one in which everything is disposable, from the aforementioned paper plates to cars left at the side of the road, from puppies and kittens to babies. Whatever happened to stewardship? To caring about someone besides ourselves? To wanting the best for our country? Yes, I realize this is a rant. I don't do it very often but finding two little unwanteds quite literally dropped as foundlings on our doorstep was probably the nudge that set this one off. They will join our 'stray' Maine Coon cat, and the rescue Schipperke and rescue Pembroke Welsh Corgi and we will go on with living a good and simple life out here in the country.

~Symledd

11:03 AM - 22 eprops - 22 comments - email it

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Currently Reading
The Chase
By Clive Cussler
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Probably TMI

46 Things about me. (as if it really mattered)

1. Do you like blue cheese? It's a food group around our house!

2. Have you ever smoked? Nope

3. Do you own a gun? You mean the two besides the one I keep next to my desk?

4. What flavor of kool aid was your favorite? Cherry and grape.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? That really depends on what I am there for.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Nathans are the absolute bestest!

7. Favorite Christmas movie? Christmas in Connecticut

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Tea or coffee (iced or hot).

9. Can you do push ups? Do I look like I am in the Marines?

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? The wedding ring my Dad gave me for the right day.

11. Favorite hobby? Hobbies…….Playing music, writing, cooking, and gaming.

12. Do you have A.D.D.? I embrace my A.D.D.

13. What is one trait you hate about yourself? Procrastination (and hate is really such a terrible word here).

14. Middle name? Ailene

15. Name three thoughts at this exact moment. This office really needs cleani...hmmm...maybe I need to start fixing dinner...OH HEY! Look!!! A Squirrel!!!!

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Tea, coffee, Vault.

17. Current worry? I don’t worry. It seems silly to be that concerned about things that have not happened.

18. Current hate? Nothing is worth that much effort.

19. Favorite place to be? Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk on a Saturday morning as the market day opens.

20. How did you bring in the new year? I drank sparkling grape juice with my sweet husband and watched a movie.

21. Where would you like to go? Plymouth, England to play with my grandbabies and spend time with my oldest daughter.

22. Name 3 people who will complete this. I'm hoping everybody does it!!!!.

23. Do you own slippers? Fleece lined moccasins that make my feet feel comfortable.

24. What shirt are you wearing? Nave blue t-shirt.

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Sur....(crash) Sorry...NO! I have issues about falling out of bed.

26. Can you whistle? Yeppers.

27. Favorite color? Light green, tans, and pale blue. Please refer to #12.

28. Would you be a pirate? ARRRRRR!! I knew I took History of Pirates for a reason.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Do people really do that?

30. Favorite girl’s name? Simplicity (Symledd).

31. Favorite boy’s name? Adrian

32. What’s in your pocket right now? House and car keys.

33. Last thing that made you laugh? The mice in Prince Caspian.

34. Worst injury you ever had? It's a toss-up between feet crushed by a fork lift and breaking my back in three places while sitting in an over-stuffed chair.

35. Do you love where you live? Tennessee is okay in the Fall - Spring but the summers are NOT conducive to surviving with any degree of comfort.

36. How many TV’s do you have at your house? Two, no tv reception, but two.

37. Who is your loudest friend? My sweetie.

38. How many dogs do you have? Like the TV's, Two!.

39. Does someone have a crush on you? Not a crush but he loves me a bunch.

40. What is your favorite book? The Bible first, after that, anything that makes me laugh or of history.

41. What is your favorite candy? Peanut or dark chocolate M&Ms, or Hershey's chocolates, or well....chocolate.

42. Favorite sports teams? Chattanooga Lookouts!!

43. What song do you want played at your funeral? When they scatter me in the rose garden at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral I would like a lone piper playing Amazing Grace. Forget the funeral.

44. Name two people that made an impact on your life that are still living. Andrea Wildman and Brittany VanderVeen.. (Their Dad has been an amazing influence on me, too.)

45. Name two people that made an impact on your life that are not living. Lester Worthington and Lona Bassham.

46. Who do you want to meet in heaven after Jesus? Daddy and the rest of my family.

4:49 PM - 10 eprops - 5 comments - email it

Monday, May 12, 2008

Currently Listening
Queen - Live at Wembley Stadium
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An Eclectic Life

I live an eclectic sort of life. Presently, I am in college studying for my MA in Teaching but I want more than that. I eventually want my Ph.D. in History and would prefer to teach in England. Don't laugh. You would be amazed what is out there.

Today, I was researching for my thesis and found a wonderful and knowledgeable site that, when researched further, was that of an English university for their American Studies program. WHOA!!! Back UP!! American Studies taught at an English University? Better still, there are a number of British universities that offer this program. Even better than that, they offer Ph.D.'s in this program!!!!

I have been advised by some professors that studying in England is not worthwhile, is remarkable, is undesirable, is... Well, you get the idea. But I have studied in England taking a few non-credit classes in business at Cambridge (for a prior job) and I loved it. Besides, most of my grandbabies live in England and it would be nice to at least be able to see them once in a while. One university even offers me the chance to combine hobby, home, and studies. The University of East Anglia offers American Indian Studies and is close enough to the Norfolk Broads that we could fulfill that lifelong ambition to finally buy a narrow boat on which to live.

While doing more research into these courses of study, I saw a news piece on Liverpool's John Moore University. The name Brian May stood out and I immediately thought of Queen and its lead guitarist. It would appear that the man finally received his Ph.D. in astrophysics in October last year (following a 30 year break in studies) and has been named Chancellor of John Moore University. He is quoted as saying, "It was unfinished business. I didn't want an honorary Ph.D. I wanted the real thing I worked for." He's 60 years old now, is ranked as one of the top 50 guitarists of all time according to Rolling Stone Magazine and is amazing.

As for stuff around here, we are good and I really am working on my thesis and research in spite of being slightly sidetracked from time to time. I have told my family, "I do not suffer from ADD. I simply see more and enjoy more of life because of it."

~Later

1:17 PM - 18 eprops - 12 comments - email it

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Currently Listening
Cliff Richard - Private Collection (1979-1988)
By Cliff Richard
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Testing...Testing...

It's BACK!!!! The Pride of Sony has been fixed and I am so grateful to my sweet husband for making the ultimate sacrifice of his own standby Sony to do it. (Big sighs, lots of tears) All is right with the world.

1:15 PM - 2 eprops - 2 comments - email it

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