Barking Maddddd

~ Sadie says, "Certainly not me!"

And, in my neighboring state of West Virginia, where they'll allow anyone in the class room (including me), a Marshall University employee by the name of Christopher Swindell went on a rant about killing folks. Apparently it's fine though, because he's a liberal and wants the conservatives dead ...he wants people with whom he doesn't agree dead and that makes it okay, right...? His rant, an op-ed commentary in the Charleston Gazette stated, "The NRA advocates armed rebellion against the duly elected government of the United States of America. That's treason, and it's worthy of the firing squad." His tirade piece says ever so much more; if your stomach is strong, click on the link to read the whole thing.

As Mr. Jefferson said, "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." and "The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."  And, "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." Gee, I suppose when one doesn't quite grasp the concept of freedom, free speech even when practicing same and similar crazy ideas, one doesn't think it's outside the norm to call for the killing of those not in agreement.

Swindell also claims the War Between the States was over slavery; we in the South wanted slavery while Lincoln didn't, yet another case of revisionist history. In the 1960's, in grade school, we were taught the War was because the economics of the South were agrarian based and the Northern economics industrial based while slavery played a distant role. Further, in Virginia's Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession by Beverley Mumford and L. H. Jenkins, 1909, page 197, it's recorded, "On the 25th of July, 1861, both Houses of Congress with but a few dissenting votes [117 to 2] adopted a joint resolution which declared: 
"This war is not waged, on our part, in any spirit of oppression, not for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States; but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution, and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired; that, as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease." 

oops.

It's become politically incorrect to say the War was over anything other than slavery but, over the decades, people have conveniently forgotten about black men owning slaves and who were Black Confederates. Slaves were owned by white men and black men north and south of the Mason Dixon Line. Among others, Mr. King's The 10 Causes of the War Between the States makes for interesting reading. 

Dave called himself a Libertarian and thought people should be permitted to run their lives as they saw fit excepting, of course, for illegal activities. I call myself a Constitutionalist first and a Libertarian second and believe the Constitution takes precedence over the opinions and actions of people, especially elected officials. I believe in the U.S. Constitution even especially when someone thinks it should be changed. I believe in First Amendments rights...freedom of speech even when Swindell someone doesn't agree with me. It's also called tolerance but, unfortunately, so many people only believe in tolerance when they are all in agreement and, when disagreement occurs, some one is calling for a firing squad. If a conservative person had called for a firing squad on an elected official, my best bet is law enforcement would be involved followed, very quickly, by sentencing. 

Oh, but there's no double standard...right?

Swindell apologized, sort of, and I suppose he thinks that makes nice. Well, it doesn't. Not to many anyway and I hope the folks spending their hard earned money to send their child to Marshall, remove their child from his class. Journalism used to be a respected profession where both sides of the news were told with calm and lack of emotion. Just as a coin has two sides, so does every story and, in most cases, more than two sides. Unfortunately, bigots folks such as Swindell feel their voice is the only legitimate voice and he takes that firebrand into his classroom. UGH! More propaganda from someone who fears dissenting voices. 

Further, in the West Virginia barking maddddd nutter department, employees in Logan County are terrified of a 14 year old boy who wore his NRA tee-shirt to school. They must be because the teacher took exception to the "NRA Protect Your Rights" message on the boy's tee-shirt. So terrified were they, school employees had the 14 year old boy arrested and now he's at risk for being fined $500 and put in jail for a year! Apparently, he was arrested for "disturbing the education process and for obstructing an officer", according to court documents obtained by WOWK. Marcum, the boy, refused to stop talking, and the arresting officer couldn't do his job. Gee, if the arresting officer couldn't do his job while arresting a talkative 14 year old, what's he gonna do when he runs up against a crack head ho? BTW, there's no mention in the arresting officer's report about the boy resisting arrest or acting violently; simply talking and, one surmises, talking and talking and talking all while engaging in his 1st Amendment Rights!

Yessireee, the inmates are running the asylum! 

Law enforcement officers have a difficult job and, usually, I'm on their side. I've baked and delivered cookies at Christmas, tell the sheriff's deputies they are always welcome here and support them as best I can even outside of tax dollars. But. But. But, this goes beyond the pale. Just as Internal Revenue Agents are now training with AR-15 semi-automatic weapons...what the XXXX???

Marcum, the 14 year old boy, wore his tee-shirt to school again...courage some adults can't show don't have...and is standing up -again- for his 1st Amendment Rights...Hurrah for Marcum! I've seen children wearing tee-shirts with all sorts of crap trash...demons, alcohol, race cars (oh wait, that's perfectly fine because Virginia tax dollars support NASCAR here and here.)  

Oh yeah. That's certainly how I want MY tax dollars spent! How about you?

Thomas Jefferson, as usual, says it best: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty...And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rules are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." 

Blessings ~ freedom of speech, even when we disagree ~ eternal vigilance ~ the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson ~ a 14 year old boy patriot ~ 

Thistle Cove Farm

~ our homestead ~

It's been said when the first Anglo settler's arrived on the shores of the New World, a squirrel could run from tree top to tree top from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Old growth, virgin forests provided the fodder for the cabins Anglo settler's needed from protection from the elements and to provide a home for the family.

Some time prior to the Revolutionary War, King George gave a land grant of several thousand acres to those first Anglo settlers. The Bowen's and the Ward's were the first Anglo families in the valley but I'm unsure to whom this farm was given in a land grant by King George. I've not yet researched back that far but hope to sometime this summer. 

The War Between the States brought discord, death and destruction; brother against brother, father against son, families against families. Down the valley, Melindy was a part of the Bowen clan, Dave's Mothers' clan, who freed her when she was a young girl. Today, so many people don't understand why a young black woman would stay with those who had owned her but where was an uneducated, poor black girl going? Her skills were survival and homemaking; during the War, she'd dress in men's clothing and march around the house, silhouetted against the light. She was trying to make the Yankee's think there were men on the premises when there was naught but woman and children. 

~ looking weary and tired ~

So the story goes, Aunt Melindy, as she came to be known, despised the Yankee's because when they finally came to the house, they made her kill her chickens and cook for them. She felt a strong kinship with her white family and they with her and she stayed with them until Dave's Grandfather bought her a small house in town. She moved to that small house but continued to return to her employer's as daily housekeeper. 

Our farm, nameless until Dave and I named it, was sold with several thousand acres to either Shadrach or Meshach or Abednego White for $300 in back taxes around 1870-1885. The White family lived here until 1948 when a Gillespie, a relative of Dave's Mother bought it and owned it until we bought it in 1995. Yes, Dave and I are the third buyers since the late 1800's.

When Dave and I moved to the Cove, our house was rather pathetic. Hay, several old, broken toilets and other debris were stored on the second floor and that first January winter of 1996, I had to shovel snow from the inside of the house to the outside of the house. Dave and I lived in three rooms with our bed set up about three feet from the soapstone stove we used to heat our few rooms. Each morning I'd walk through the house, kitchen pot and wooden spoon in hand, banging and making noise to run away the animals who'd sought shelter during the night. 

We'd stripped the house bare, removed the plaster walls and ceilings down to the studs and put up R-19 insulation that would pop out of the walls during violent winds. We finally realized we had no hope of walls before spring so we decided to put up 6 mm plastic to hold the insulation in the walls. It might surprise you the house became discernible warmer with such a small addition. If Dave and I could get the inside temperature up to 50 degrees F, we'd sit around in shirt sleeves and celebrate. Mostly, we wore three or four layers in order to keep warm and the coffee pot was never empty nor cold.

~ fresh paint ~

The weighted windows didn't work, the sky could been seen through sections of the roof, some chimneys had broken off at the roof and bricks tumbled into the fireplaces. It was colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra, as the saying goes. That same January of '96, on Monday the 22th at 7 a.m. the back porch thermometer read 35 degrees below Fahrenheit; thank God, there was no wind chill that night. Even so, Dave and I slept in 2 hour shifts in order to feed the stove so we wouldn't freeze to death. During the wee hours, Dave stuffed our two cats under the electric blanket but I'm not sure if that was to keep the cats or our feet warm smile. 

~ a new paint job ~

I kept a journal of those first 18 months and it provides excellent reading now. It also reminds me how strong and brave we were to take on such a huge job. Dave and I were newlyweds, having dated for six years before deciding it was time to make a change. We put our Richmond homes on the market and Dave moved to the farm in May 1995. In late June, I moved to the farm and on July 22 we were married on the front lawn. It was a small wedding with a few family members, a few friends, a neighbor or two and a picnic lunch with a country ham and a sheet cake that said "Congratulations Sandra and Dave". Sandra, my beloved best friend, stuffed Mason jars with thistles, Queen Anne's lace and ditch lilies to sit around the tables. The day was, in a word, perfect! 

Last week, Jude Sherlock and his crew, spray washed then spray painted the old farmhouse. After they spray washed, the poor old house reminded me of the first time Dave and I saw it. Paint was peeling, stripped to the wood and sadness was the crown. On Saturday afternoon, after being painted brilliant white, the Grand Olde Dame looked marvelous! Now, the house absolutely glows in both the morning and afternoon sun and it pleases me so much to have it painted. Everyone who has seen it comments on how beautiful it is now. 

We've come so far...this old house, Dave and I. Lives were formed and changed here, love was tasted and tested and proved worthy; our lives were filled with grace and peace and joy and, to be truthful, some arguing and disagreements. That's a good thing though because it means we were listening and talking with and to each other, always growing toward each other and not away. It was a good great life, filled with sweetness and I'm reminded of the verse "taste and see that the Lord is good". 

Blessings ~ Aunt Melindy ~ Thistle Cove Farm ~ a summer wedding ~ good friends ~ a sweet life ~