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