All Things Must Come To An End

No silly rabbits and much to the dismay of some I am not leaving the blogisphere....   Cant get rid of me that easy!

After about 7 years of keeping clothes up on my little clothesline I am closing it down

Senior and I are so busy, and keeping up with two separate blogs has been a bit of a task. So, one night while sitting around our firepit and indulging in adult beverages we decided to merge our blogs into one new one..   Thus I give you :

Haze Gray and Red Clay

So update your blog rolls and go over and hit our all new follow button. I look forward to seeing you all over there as we embark on our new adventure...

-JUGM 

Rainy Sunday

A cool and light,slow moving rain has settled in this morning, and I got up early to tend to all the animals before the heavier stuff starts. I apologize for the lack of posts lately...we have just been really busy around here.

Spring break came and went way too fast, but we got some things done. Like the new pen for the hogs. Senior took a couple of days off during that week so we could get it finished and move the girls in.

 They have nearly doubled in size since we first brought them home. It has been quite the experience...they are lots of fun to watch, and now that they have acclimated themselves to us, they like nuzzling up to us and even let us rub their backs and scratch their heads sometimes. We have decided to keep the spotted one, later in the summer we will start looking for a boar and hope to successfully breed her. Piglets are big money around here...especially the sows. The next building project is her own enclosure, we are going to put it right next to where her sisters are so they can still see and interact with each other. The two black ones are from a different litter then her and they over take the feeding trough and boot her out of everything. Those two will eventually be in the freezer....I guess that is poetic justice in a way because one day the spotted one could potentially eat the scraps of her bully sisters....

We have also been busy with the garden, got the corn in two weeks ago and the first sprouts popped though last week. We spent the money and time putting together a drip irrigation system which helps tremendously with watering and keeping the weeds under control. Then last weekend spent almost the entire evening on Easter Sunday putting in everything else like green beans, onions, squash, tomatoes, cabbage, a variety of different peppers, pickle bush cucumbers, and a load of cantaloupe plants. I hit the annual high school garden sale, and was only going to get 3 cantaloupe plants, but we had a cold snap the night before and they all looked crummy, so the lady said to take the entire tray at no extra charge just in case some don't make it...well, she obviously did not know me, I brought them home, loved them and gave them water and sunlight...and "POOF" they all came back so 12 plants went into the garden...hope all my friends and neighbors around here like cantaloupe..lol

We planted red potatoes in February and I have to tell you, the crop is looking very promising. Blooms have started to come out and I know with this rain that is moving in it will only help...

Last year the boys and I worked on a little garden area... Kind of like a memorial place for mine and Seniors parents, well yesterday we got out there and did some cleaning up and  added in pine needles. My gladiolas have broken through and blooms should start popping out any day..my mother loved her gladiolas I added them in just for her. And while they have not sprouted yet, I do have some elephant ears in there. It sits  outside of the kitchen window and I can look down at it and watch the birds on the feeders and even one pesky squirrel that wont stay off. The next thing to add will probably be a bird bath.  It is very nice here in the evenings, as it over looks the garden and faces west so we can watch the sun go down. There is an aspect of each of our parents in this little area, and it makes us feel closer to them.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday, now that the garden is in, all there is left to do is watch it all grow, so I hope to post more often and yes Senior and I are still working on the one project I mentioned in an earlier post...

-JUGM

Ha!

The Three Little Pigs....

Once upon a time....Okay no this is not a fairy tale...  

But If you had told Senior and I Ten years ago, that we would be living out in the country, with property, chickens and now hogs..I would have just shaken my head. And said you were living in some fantasy world...
 While I was ready to leave living in a subdivision, I just did not see or could have predicted all that would happen to our family.  However time has flown by and with that came changes that we would have never thought possible.
God has truly blessed us, we have grown closer as a couple and as a family....Life is certainly good here at our little estate.

We picked up the girls this past weekend..  I think we will call them " Joanie, Lisa and Kathryn"  Since there are people out there that seem to follow suit and do what we do, I suspect it will be only a matter of time before they get hogs...  ( okay enough of being catty) 

The beginning of March a little bit of snow fell...  One thing I notice when it gets cold like that and snow falls is that all the song birds tend to come out..

And the woodpeckers....they seem to like playing in snow:

But, all that is gone now, it melted by that afternoon, it was fun though while it lasted. And made for some great pics..

Well kids, I got chores to do, time to bug out of here for a bit. Stay tuned to the clothesline, as changes may be coming soon...oh we aren't leaving the blogisphere....just thinking of doing a make over of sorts... 

-JUGM

Safe Places...

If you are in need of entertainment then here ya go..

Its something for all the little snowflakes out there...and its pretty funny.

-JUGM

piglets and other things

So we started off our search for piglets by going to a livestock auction, which produced nothing. Then I went to the craiglist ads. After searching and searching, emailing this one and that one, we finally found a hog farmer that was about 30 minutes away. So this past Sunday we took a drive. 

The daddy is a red waddle, and the moms are berkshire/hampshire mixes... the end results were some nice colorful and very healthy babies. He had three litters and we got to have our pick of the last litter. So we put a deposit down on 3 Sows.  They will be fully weaned and  available for pickup at the end of this month. 

Honestly we can't wait. This is a new adventure for us, and if we do well I think we are going to buy our own boar and sow and do some breeding. The market around here for sows is insane.

And we already have them named: Breakfast, Lunch and Supper....LOL 

The farmer had a menagerie of everything, but his real passion besides the pigs were his birds, all kinds of quails, peacocks, chickens and one "Guard Turkey" appropriately named Big Black. This darn bird followed us everywhere.

He also has two ponds with a full flock of Muskogee ducks that are actually his wife's doing. This guys farm was absolutely beautiful, we can't wait to go back to pick up the piglets....

________________________________________________________________

In other news, our warm weather is turning and we are do some freak cold air with even a chance for snow on Sunday. Yes snow in March here...not actually unheard of but, with this warm winter we thought it would never happen.. But, it is just a chance and the weather forecasters always screw these things up so we will see what happens. Either way, the temps are supposed to drop. First its all been unseasonably warm, now the lows are going to go below normal... So now I wonder if the trend is going to be cooler then normal temps for spring and summer...well it really wouldn't surprise me. The weather has just been plain wonky everywhere!... 

-JUGM

Kids Bug-Out Survival Bag

 When we asked the boys what they would like for Christmas this year, the first answer was for dad to put together a grown up survival/bug out bag for them. When they were little we started them off with some simple items, like a water bottle, change of clothes, compass and some small form of entertainment.

Senior was in all his glory shopping for these bags, looking for useful items that kids could use in the event we needed to bug out. 

First we found these bags from Mossy Oak, extremely roomy and can hold a lot of stuff:

 

The bags are so roomy inside that they can even carry their Hennessy Hammocks they got for their birthdays in 2015. 

Senior addressed three main areas when planning for these bags: First it was food, he got them a couple of bags of Mountain Houses, and a block of Emergency Food rations, these bricks are available anywhere and give you around 2400 calories..

Next came Warmth...before we added this to their bag Senior held several fire starting classes with them, and made sure he knew that they were well educated and versed in fire safety.  The orange can is "Murray's Super Light" hair dressing it is  very flammable,  Just rub a cotton ball around in it and put it in some tender. We also included some fire starters to spark a flame.  Fire is not only essential in keeping warm and cooking but it is essential to a persons morale.

Next and probably the most important item is water... He found this water bag squeeze filtration system. You put water in the blue bag and filter it out through the orange thing at the top.  A person can go three weeks without food, but the human body can only go three days without water...  A water filtration source should be the most important thing in anyone's bug out bag...

Shelter is also an important component, and we love the Hennessy Hammocks, first off they keep you off the cold wet ground. We gave them a Shemagh scarf to help camouflage them if we are out in the woods etc. And the boys think it is totally fun to wear them...lol

Some other useful items are a couple of pocket knifes, a multi tool and compass...got to know where you are going!

For this past Fathers Day we got Senior this folding saw...He loved it! And added one to the boys bags, it is great for cutting small branches and brush.

I know there are people out there probably scratching their heads as to why we  allow our kids to carry around knives and fire starting items..Well unlike yuppy kids, our kids are well versed in safety and carry with them the knowledge of using these items, they understand they are not a toy, and could one day save their lives. Our boys love to get outside and pretend to Bug-Out, they will set up their hammock tents and make a little campsite, it gives them responsibility and independence... They see their parents, prepping and carrying around this cool stuff and they want to as well. I guess it gives them a sense of importance.

So if you are searching for a gift idea for kids who are like ours, I recommend putting something together for them.
 Just keep the child's age in mind, some of the things we have for our kids, may not be age appropriate for yours.

Items that are not posted but just as important are A change of clothes, poncho,  flashlight, para-cord, toiletries and first aid items...

-JUGM

President Trumps speech, and a lack of respect....

Last night we sat proudly and watch our President give his first speech to a joint session of congress...  I found it inspiring, I felt like the adults were back in charge and was so proud of him. And I loved his new tie..  : )

What I found to be a pathetic show was of course the democrats: Nancy Pelosi, Wasserman-Shultz and all the others like them, dressed in white, and sitting on their hands, stone faced, and being completely disgusted by the fact that they had to sit there and listen to President Trump speak...  And what the heck was up with the white suits? I heard it was something about the suffragettes and woman's equality...who said women weren't given equal rights???? 

A very emotional moment came when:

 President Trump honored a fallen hero, Navy Seal Senior Chief Ryan Owens..  He also  honored his widow Carryn Owens, he reassured her that her husband did not die in vain, that the mission he was on had been highly successful, and he thanked her many times over. She received a standing ovation and a thunderous applause that went on for several minutes, as expected she was overwhelmed with emotion..my heart went out to her, I can't imagine the pain she must be going through. But then the worst of the worst came... a  public act of disrespect like none I have ever seen before from our elected leaders while some democrats stood to honor her, there were those pathetic people who didn't. These people are shameless and should not call themselves representatives of this country.  I understand it was their right to sit and behave like a 2 year old. But, when a military hero is being honored I expect them to be respected. I expect petty differences to be put aside.  You may not like President Trump, heck I never liked Obama, but when he honored our military I showed respect, these pathetic democrats should do the same.
Our military are not politicians, they volunteer and put their life on the line every day for this great country. I hope the constitutants of those that sat were watching and will hold them accountable next time there is a vote.
Oh and for those people who said Ivanka should have hugged her or something...I did see her comfort this poor lady, I saw several times that she whispered to her, and put a gentle hand on her... 

Then there was more disrespect when Trump was talking about murders caused by illegals... A father in attendance-his son murdered by an illegal who has been deported twice but kept coming back.... The GOP applauded Trumps new ideas but the Democrats sat...so I guess its okay for American citizens to be murdered by illegals. I loved how the President  looked at that side of the room and asked all the law makers in attendance what would they do if that was their child?

Then there was this guy:

 Who I felt bared a striking resemblance to this guy:

You remember him right ? The bad evil old man ghost from Poltergeist 2 ( the other side)...   

Well the first guy is the former governor of Kentucky Steve Beshear and given his likeness to the second guy I kept expecting to hear " Your all gonna die"!!!!!!!!

...This is the best the democrats could come up with for a rebuttal? The 72 year old ex democrat governor who was ousted by a republican, from the same state that Trump won overwhelmingly?  How Weak!
  He sat there in a diner with a bunch of old cronies around him, looking all pissed off like they forget their daily dose of stool softeners.  He is an EX for a reason, which I am sure has a lot to do with the way the coal industry has been done by the former administration and the EPA.

As for President Trumps speech, he really hit it out of the park. He was on point, did not meander off topic, and looked distinguished and quite Presidential. 

-JUGM

Spring and Updates

Well its pretty evident that due to all the warm weather that an early spring is in the air.   Senior and I have started working on the spring garden, we got it tilled pretty good, and put in some red potatoes. We have also started down the road to a new venture: Pigs.

Eventually I would like a couple of goats and have a strong affection for pygmies. My cousin out in San Antonio, TX has the Nubian goats. She bought them for her granddaughters 4-H project and she entered them in shows and made a nice profit once they went to auction.

Last weekend we visited a livestock auction. The only pigs they had were 4 pregnant pot bellied ones...so when you bought one you were also getting her litter...no thanks!

Goats though were in abundance, I know they are so cute when they are babies:

 

But then they have to grow up: 

So back to the pig issue, my uncle in NC is on the look out for us, he has been visiting some pig farms and getting prices and looking at the stock. He is going in with us monetarily for them as he would like at least half of one in his freezer...so we put him to work doing some of the leg work.
The pen is built, and we are hoping in the next couple of weeks to have them here...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I mentioned updates so here goes: Last Monday after dropping kids off at school I was pulling onto our road when I got rear ended by a driver who clearly was not paying attention...I had some minor damage to the back of my car, but his entire front end was hanging off... My trailer hitch went right into his radiator and ripped off his bumper...  antifreeze was everywhere. Thankfully no one was hurt, and the kids weren't with me.
He was very decent and immediately admitted fault, he claimed he looked down to grab his coffee-Yea Right! . So after the cop wrote him a nice big ticket, he got blessed out by his father...turns out he was on daddy's insurance-There goes those premiums!, apparently this was not his first rodeo and has had other traffic violations.
My car went in to the shop for a couple of days which was a huge inconvenience and his 2001 pickup truck went to the graveyard....it was totaled. 
But all is right again with the world, got my car back earlier then promised turned in the crappy rental car and drove happily home.

And in other news: On the 27th the guardian takes over for mom. My sister and I are very happy . I am thrilled that someone professional will be able to deal with all the paperwork and headache of medicare etc...  My brother is none to happy about it because for Christmas my sister and I got a very nasty letter where he claims he will never have anything more to do with us...okay A-hole!  no problem.
The best part about the letter is the coward did not have the testicular fortitude to address the envelope himself, he had his twit wife  do it...I guess he assumed we wouldn't open it up if we recognized his handwriting.. My sister got hers first so when mine came in the mail I simply wrote his return address and returned it back to him unopened..
 My sister had emailed it to me, so I printed it and keep a copy in my purse for in the future should our paths cross and he tries to speak to me, I can quickly whip it out and remind him of his actions...
There will truly be a special place in hell for him one of these days...

I just realized that my previous post was on Feb. 1st..   geez where does the time go????? 

-JUGM

Who would you be????

 As you all know I love to read. For me opening up a book is like jumping in to an adventure.
An old friend of mine who is a Christian Counselor and graduate of Liberty University, asked this question on her Facebook page:

Which book or movie character do you relate to and identify with the most and why? 

Gosh I really thought about that question for a while, most of the comments she was receiving was pretty superficial. I mean geez if you could jump into any book and become any character who would you be?   One of my favorite books and most read books was "To Kill a Mockingbird"  I always related to "Scout" she was a fearless kid and real smart mouth. But yet she cared for people and wanted to help others.

Then the wheels in my head started turning and haven't stopped for the past few days....after reading the Brian Kilmeade book about Washington's spies, I think I would want to be Agent 355. The mysterious woman that was in the British circles and kept her ear open and reported the things she heard to the Continentals. She did all that until she was discovered and jailed on a British prison Ship- The "HMS Jersey"  No one is sure of what happened to her, after the British left NY in 1783 they abandoned the prison ship, so its unclear if she died on board or was able to escape.Of course I like to believe she escaped the horrors of the prison ship and moved west.
  Her true identity to this day still has not been discovered, theories have floated around about agent 355 and who she was, but nothing concrete.
Why could I identify with her? Because she helped to create this nation, she helped to rid NY of the British, albeit a small part  however still significant because without some of the intelligence she gathered, Benedict Arnold would have handed West Point over to the British. She knew the perils of her mission but still accepted the challenge. What an incredible woman she must have been.

So now I ask you the same question my friend asked....   If you could, what book character or movie character would you be????? 

I look forward to reading the responses

-JUGM

snowflake math....

Had a liberal say to my niece the other day:  "You think I am a snowflake, if enough of us get together we will make a political avalanche"..so it.got us all thinking....
 
There are approximately 100,000 snowflakes in one ounce of snow
The current U.S population ( as of 1/22/17)  is 325,436,815
46% identify as democrats
324,118,787 x .46 = 149,700,935 snowflakes ( I rounded up)
149,700,935 /100,000= 1,497.009349 ounces of snow
1,498 (rounded)oz /16 oz = 93.6 pounds of snow ( give or take)

All the snowflakes coast to coast would barely cover my car with snow, much less an avalanche.

deer and canned bacon

 

No we did not can deer meat with bacon all in the same jar!   I knew from my title that some of you might think that. There was no actual deer meat involved. Only bacon. If you have been over to my better half's page lately (Seniors Mess)  you would see the blog post he did on our recent bacon canning venture. The next morning we opened a jar up, fried it with some eggs and it was quite tasty.

I am only writing about it, because I posted it to facebook. I was a little surprised at how many comments I got in support of this prepping venture, one of my like minded gun toting friends even shared it on her facebook page, and tagged a couple of her other friends in it..  

But as with everything there is always that ONE person that can't understand why we do these things...  In this case she is a friend of my moms, and we have known her for well over 40 years. 

She simply asked " But Whyyyyyy"?????   just like that. 

I sweetly replied back to her that in the event of long time power outages whether it is man made, or natural, my family would like to be able to have some nice crispy bacon and not have it all go bad in the freezer.  She has yet to respond...  

 Now the deer part of my title comes in... hunting season is over and the deer seem to sense this as they have  been coming out more frequently. So, we set up the trail camera, and baited parts of the garden with a water trough, and corn. It took a few nights but the herd found its way here. This morning I was taking the dogs out and Libby caught site and chased about three of them from the garden. later I checked the trail camera. In other pics off to the right you can see the legs of another doe. I wonder if there is a big buck hanging out with them...

We had a our big ice and snow storm a couple of weeks ago now, and as I guessed it fizzled in my area. Ended up being more ice then anything. But it made for some great pics. I took this one going down the road, it has gotten quite a few compliments: 

 

The thermometer was tilted the other way now, we have been seeing record highs and I wonder if winter has remembered we are still here. Sucks wearing shorts in the middle of January. But, I will take it as the heating bill has been quite low.  

Hope you all have a wonder day....and smile on Friday we get to wave goodbye to BO..     : ) 

-JUGM

Yup!!!

I was in the office of imaging today getting the girls their yearly check up and while I waited to be called back that liberal rag of a show called "The View" came on  the waiting room  TV. The guest was none other than good ole Uncle Joe.
Whoopi was so excited that I thought she was gonna pee her pants right there on stage.  And Joy Behar got a tingly feeling all over....
Obama has been handing these things out like tic-tacs...

snow and christmas stuff

Did I say snow?  why yes I did. !
we are under a winter storm warning with a possibility of 4+ inches. And then there is the Arctic blast that is coming in behind it.
The boys are thrilled and hope the forecast holds. Of course if it doesn't I am sure our buddies Rob and Hobo can pack us up a truck load and gladly ship it to us...lol
Then there are the crazies out on the roads and in stores....everyone grabbing whatever off the shelves and what is a "milk and bread" storm and why is that what people go for first?  Now I see why we prep and stay prepared for these kinds of things....

Okay I am about a week and a half late posting Christmas stuff but here goes...
 I was surprised with some really nice things... Books! and a guitar. I play piano and its always been on my bucket list to learn so Senior completely shocked me!  Learning is slow going, but I am getting it a little at a time... Pretty soon I will jammin some "kumbaya my Lord" while sitting by a campfire....lol

Santa also brought me some jewelry, Florida State stuff and books..... One is this one:

I saw a Brian Kilmeade interview about it and had wanted to get it. Its pretty good. I also got Bill OReillys "Killing the Rising Sun, and Legends and Lies - The Patriots".
Haven't started those yet but I am looking forward to it.

Well the initial rain is starting to set in, temps have dropped 6 degrees since about 2pm.  If you are in the Southeast stay warm , inside and off the roads....and don't stress it will be back in the 60s by Wednesday...

-JUGM

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas 2016...where in the heck did this year go?????

Our family would like to wish all our blogger friends a Very Merry Christmas.Please stay safe and warm...if you are enjoying a white Christmas...make us a snowman!!! It is in the 60s here....

Have a blessed Holiday, enjoy the day with all your family and friends.... and remember that Jesus is the reason for the Season....

Love
JUGM, Senior, and boys....oh and Libby and Ruger too

a visit to FL, and Wreaths Across America

ND and I left last Friday to head home to visit mama and visit dads grave for Christmas. My sister and I knew the 17th was "Wreaths Across America" day, but we had no idea of the extent it entailed. I just thought it would be volunteers putting the wreaths on and that was it well It was amazing.They do a simultaneous ceremony across the country, here it was at 11:45. The crowd was quite overwhelming, there must have been hundreds of people there. So many cars that it took us an hour to leave and to get back out to the main highway...normally its about a 10 minute drive...

Things got emotional when "Taps" was played and the Navy did a 21 gun salute. I play the piano and took formal lessons for years, my dad would sometimes sit down on the bench and play Taps...it was the only song he knew. So whenever I hear it, Taps has an extra emotional aspect for me. 

If you live near a national cemetery, and you have the chance this Christmas, go by pay your respects. The wreaths on the graves are absolutely beautiful and very touching....

My fortress of solitude

 “In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are

 absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books 

through your skin, without even opening them.” 

-Mark Twain

What is it about a library? It makes me feel at peace. I could walk the aisles all day reading titles and flipping through pages, just trying to find something that interest me.  I take deep breaths and breath in the smell of history, fantasy stories, love novels, and biographies.
Whatever it is, it makes me happy going into ours.  I think I am one of the rare ones that browses the books, most people these days go there to browse the Internet.This was "Our Internet". 
I remember having to sit going through encyclopedias to do a research paper, and sitting for hours taking notes.

My mom was not a book worm like me, I get it from my dad. I remember I had to do a term paper in 10th grade, and mom drove me to the library, I guess she thought I would just check a book out on the subject and we could go...  After my browsing for an hour she started getting testy with me..I saw her sitting in a chair tapping her feet and mouthing " hurry up" to me.   I got a "C" on that paper...  Thanks Mom !  

I like our library here, there is a room called "The Carolinian Room" and inside is a large meeting table with 4 shelves of books, they are the known history of families who settled in the area. Some are a first edition print , others are the only print ( like with our family) and no one is allowed to check them out. But you can sit there all day, reading through them, taking notes etc.... 

I am thankful the boys have inherited my love of books, they like spending time in the kids section and read just about as much as I do. Summers are the best, some days we sit at the tables reading and trying to decides what is a good book and what is not...  I guess it is whatever peaks their interest for that day...  I think about something funny little ND once said to me after leaving the library he said "Mom, I feel so much smarter after being in there" . He is always full of humor...  

Senior bought us a really nice bookcase,.  I am inheriting some of dads books and buy so many on my own that I needed one. I never get tired of them. Books are an adventure, waiting for you to open them up and jump in to the story they tell..  They are like an old friend...they are always there for you offering wisdom to their reader.

-JUGM

Chiefs Pin

Hey military friends......Can anyone help to identify this Navy Chiefs pin? My guess is its probably from WW2. Because it says "Overseas Victory".

But if you have any more information  I would appreciate it. It belongs to a friend and I am Intrigued with its history.....

Thanks!

JUGM

75 years later.....

 

 75 years ago today was the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor that launched our country into
World War 2. Unless you were there, you can't imagine what it must have been like.... 

Some  facts about that fateful day: 

1. Crew of the Arizona was slow to respond...they were allowed to sleep in that day due to winning a dance contest the night before.

2. The radar crew on Oahu was newly trained and had never seen such a large formation before...they thought the radar was malfunctioning...

3. The attack was also considered a large failure...as the Japanese had intended to destroy our air craft carriers, but they were out to sea.

4. The Arizona still leaks up to 9 gallons of oil each day.

5. Twenty three sets of brothers was lost on board the Arizona

December 7th 1941 is indeed a day that changed our country forever and it is a day that will live in infamy.

Never Forget......

Pearl Harbors Baby.....

 
In my reading and research of the attack on Pearl Harbor, one story in particular hit me the hardest, I guess because I am a mom. It is the story of a baby girl, her name was Nancy Wagner and her dad was Chief Yeoman Albert Wagner and in December 1941 stationed on board the USS Utah BB -31 she was used as a aircraft training vessel and was  moored at the Far Side of Ford Island.
Nancy was a twin, and while her twin sister Mary survived, little Nancy died right after her birth. Her father Chief Wagner, had the babies ashes in a small urn in his locker.
He had planned to scatter them when the Utah put out to sea....

Then, its the morning of Dec. 7th. The Utah crew was at Colors when she was hit by three Japanese torpedos, she was a vulnerable target, her mooring lines snapped and she capsized. Wagner tried to reach his battle station, but due to the heavy listing of the ship was unable to do do. To save himself he had to jump into the water and swim to Ford Island, and watch the rest of the tragedy unfold.Within 14 minutes of being hit, the Utah rolled over, men trapped inside could be heard banging, hoping rescuers would come. 10 men. were rescued from her hull. 64 crew members perished that day on board the Utah. They could only remove 4 of the bodies and they were interred on shore.

Chief Wagner  made it through the war and left the navy in 1952. He passed away in 1975 and was buried at sea off the coast of San Diego this was  prior to the Utah survivors being allowed to have their ashes interned at the Utah memorial site. His surviving daughter, Mary would later described him as an old battleship sailor.

Mary, little Nancy's twin sister was the public relations director for the USS Utah. In 2003 at the 62nd memorial ceremony, She was finally able to give her twin sister the funeral that she had so much deserved.
  She said that day :

 "For sixty-two years, the courageous crew of USS Utah has watched over a tiny secret copper urn hidden in my father's watery locker,"  I am so grateful that my little twin sister Nancy Lynne has finally received God's blessing in the presence of men and women of the United States Navy. Our tears are tears of joy, not sadness. One day I hope to join Nancy Lynne aboard our beloved ship."

The Utah  sits there on the far side of Ford Island she is but a footnote in the Pearl Harbor attack, one of the forgotten ships.She is the resting place for 60 men, cremains of shipmates that wish to join them....and one baby girls urn, in her daddies locker.

"You joined the Navy to make sure the country is free,. "The flag, your uniform, come before anything else -- without them you don't have a family." --- Chief Albert Wagner