Civil War - Battle of Stones River

 
 
 The Battle of Stones River,at Murfreesboro, was one of the bloodiest encounters of the Civil War - over 1,800 Confederates were killed or wounded in less than an hour in the battle's final action. The Union victory gave them control of the road to Nashville which was a major supply line; this was a pivotal point in the war. The battle was fought from December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863. At first the Confederates beat back the Union soldiers and thought they would be victorious. The rocky landscape played an important part in this battle - the Confederates were unable to move their artillery over the large rocks. Union soldiers moved their cannons to higher ground and slaughtered the Confederate soldiers.
Only 600 of 6,000 acres have been saved - part of the original battleground now is a shopping mall. The park service has a very nice building with many exhibits and a short movie of the battle. We went on a guided tour with a ranger who explained the action that took place on a few of the sites. I was trying to imagine the horror those young men endured.

Christmas at Mitzner's

 
 
 
We had a lovely Christmas at Carol and Roger's house in Murfreesboro TN. Jeff came to visit from Wichita where he is in nursing school. Michelle, Rob and Ty live in Murfreesboro. Ty is 10 years old. It was good to be with family at Christmas. We had a great dinner of turkey, meatballs, green beans, glazed carrots, baked macaroni and cheese, rolls, and apple and pecan pies. We all gathered the day after Christmas to celebrate Michelle's birthday - another good day to be together.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We drove through Cade's Cove, part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The cove is a beautiful sheltered valley with a mixture of forests, meadows, and an outdoor museum of pioneer life in the 1800's. The drive is eleven miles of one way narrow loop road; around two million visitors come each year to this part of the park, so we were glad we came in the off season. You can drive without ever leaving your vehicle, but we did get out and walk to see several old homestead places. Buildings in the cove were of log construction until the 1870's because there was no nearby sawmill to saw logs into timber. The house you see was probably built just after the Civil War - it was the Elijah Oliver place. A "stranger room" was added to the front porch to accomodate overnight visitors. The kind of orange stuff between the logs is clay mud chinking; they added horse hair to the mud.
These hardy people did without a lot, but at least they had an abundance of wood for fire and construction, and nearby springs for water. They didn't have to use cow chips for fuel like the prairie pioneers.

This is the only national park that has free admittance. When Tennessee transferred state roads to the park in the 1950's, they included restrictions that prohibit charging the usual fee of $25 per vehicle found at other major national parks. We only saw a small part of the Smokies - we'd love to come back someday to see more!

Museum of Appalachia

 
 
 
  We are camped at the Escapee membership campground (Raccoon Valley) outside Knoxville TN. Today we visited the Museum of Appalachia, a living history museum. It is on 65 acres, includes dozens of authentic log structures -- barns, log houses, from fairly large two story to a tiny cabin with one window. There are also several large display buildings filled with interesting primitive items from the remote hills and isolated hollows of Southern Appalachia. The first building had a wall of photos -- most were candid portraits of rugged mountain men and women. These faces showed hard work and also humor - toothless old men in tattered overalls on porches, women working in vegetable gardens, all full of character. Looking at these photos, I wish I could have a conversation with these no-nonsense hard working folks. They surely didn't have an easy life, but I think they also knew how to entertain themselves. Certainly they only had what they made themselves. We saw many handmade items, from toys to tools, and lots of home-made music instruments.
This was the off season, so most of the buildings did not have interpreters present. The weaving shed and blacksmith shop were vacant. In one old house there were two musicians "picking guitar" by the fire - they were pretty good and we bought their CD. In another small cabin, a woman dressed in period costume was sitting by the fire making a quilt.
Outside, there were sheep and goats running around, and chickens in a coop. There was an old whiskey still.
There is so much history here -- we stayed three hours and did not see it all.

Leaving Rocky Top

This is our last day at Rocky Top Campground. It looks quite different from when we got here -- most of the trees are bare. We have enjoyed our workamping experience for the most part. Sue and Joe certainly have been flexible and gave us plenty of days off. We have done a variety of work here -- splitting firewood, cleaning bathrooms and cabins, watering trees, blowing leaves and decorating for Christmas.
We have come to really like the Kingsport TN area in the last three months. The land here is very scenic, good shopping, easy to get around, good weather for the most part.

We will be glad to get back on the road -- too many new places to explore to stay put for long!

Awning problems

We might have to get a new awning. We have had a lot of rain here lately, and evidently we didn't have the awning tipped enough to let the water run off. We are usually pretty careful about that, but guess we messed up this time. This morning we discovered a sagging awning, and the metal roller tube is bent. Doug was able to get it rolled up after a bit of a struggle. Luckily, we will be able to travel -- we'll fasten it securely so it won't accidentally unfurl on the highway! Replacing the awning will put a dent in the budget, but workamping has been kind to the budget.

Our Family

 
  Thought it was time to have photos of us with the dogs. Until we get a good "family photo" taken, this will have to do.
Leonard is with Pat. Leonard is approximately 12 years old but we don't know his exact age. We adopted him when he was a young adult. He was picked up by animal control in a small Iowa town. That county had a standing order to euthanize any Rottweiler, Pit Bull, or Chow. The veterinarian who was also the animal control officer noticed immediately that this dog had a wonderful temperament. His assistant knew us, and knew that we had Rottweilers, so she called us and asked if we could come right away and "sneak" this dog out to avoid putting him down. Of course we said yes, so the vet went ahead and neutered the dog. We had intentions of keeping Leonard just until we found the right home for him. Yeah, right! He quickly became part of the family, and went on to become a wonderful therapy dog. He loves all people and is a registered Pet Partner with Delta Society (www.deltasociety.org) Leonard has worked with cancer support groups, and was the founding dog for a "PAWS FOR BOOKS" program at Keene Memorial Library in Fremont Nebraska. This is part of a nationwide READ program that uses animals to encourage young children to read. Before we moved away, Leonard would lay on his rug at the library and a child would sit beside him and read to him. It was hard to tell who enjoyed it more, Leonard or the kids. Now that he is older and has some arthritis, he uses a ramp to get in and out of the RV and truck. Leonard continues to make new friends at campgrounds everywhere.

Piper and Chester are sitting on Doug's lap. Piper is the Jack Russell Terrier and Chester is the Chihuahua. Both were adopted from the Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha. Chester is about 6 or 7 years old, weighs 6 pounds and like most Chihuahuas, thinks he is "ten feet tall and bulletproof". He is very loving at home but is not good with small kids. Chester has Doug wrapped around his paw. Piper is about 9 years old and very mellow for a JRT. We adopted her three years ago. I was doing some volunteer training at NHS and had finished working with the big dogs. This little terrier looked so cute and forlorn so I took her out for some extra attention. I noticed her kennel card said that she was not housetrained and had been returned several times to the shelter. We already had four dogs at the time, and sure didn't need another one. So I waited three days but kept thinking of her. I was hoping someone else would adopt her, but knew that with her history, her chances were not good. When NHS said she was still there, Doug and I went to get her. She just loved to be held. It took us the better part of a year and a lot of consistency, but she is now housetrained and is such a good sweet little dog. At first she was very shy so I never pursued making her a therapy dog, but now she loves people. Piper is my shadow.

Ancient Brick Museum

  Okay, you have to be a real history buff to get excited over this one. While I was researching something else online, I came across the General Shale Ancient Brick Museum. After finding out that it was only 20 minutes away (and free), we decided to go check it out. The "museum" consists of several glass cases in the office of the General Shale Brick company. This is a collection of bricks ranging from more recent famous buildings, to really ancient sites. Some are the size of modern bricks but most are the size of large tiles.
Here is a description of some of them:
A burned clay brick from Pompeii, destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
A sun-dried mud brick from a town in Israel that was located on the shortcut route from Egypt to Jerusalem and was also the last town before Gaza on the Great Incense Route from Southern Arabia, 3rd century B.C.
Byzantine brick from Constantinople (modern Instanbul Turkey) bears Greek brick masters stamp, 1,500 years old.
A Plano-convex brick from Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlement discovered beneath the biblical city of Jerico. Indisputably the oldest brick ever found and possibly one of the first bricks man ever made. Carbon 14 tests establish that this brick is between 9,000 and 10,000 years old.
Brick found in the ruins of Babylon and inscribed in cuneiform: "Nebuchadnazzar, King of Baylon, Beautifier of the Temple of Esagila and Ezida, First Son of Nebupolassar, King of Babylon." (Nebuchadnazzar reigned from 604 - 562 B.C.)
We found these old bricks to be very interesting. I wish we had been able to touch them. I spent long moments looking at them and wondering what life was like and who walked on them.

Omaha Tragedy

Our hearts go out to all the people involved in the shooting at the Westroads Mall yesterday. Nine people killed - what a terrible waste of life. We consider Omaha our hometown, so it comes as a shock that such an awful thing happened there.

While walking the dogs this morning in the sunshine, I felt fully alive and appreciative of all the small wonders in our everyday life.

Let us all be kind to one another -- we never know the problems someone might be facing. Even a smile might make a difference.

"Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today." James Dean

Natural History Museum and Fossil Site

We found an interesting museum to explore in nearby Johnson City: East Tennessee State University Natural History Museum and Gray Fossil Site. The site was discovered accidentally. In May 2000, a road crew realigning a highway hit some dark colored soil. They had to stop and investigate to make sure the soil would hold up for a road. Scientists discovered some fossil bones and construction stopped while they investigated. At first it was thought the bones dated from the Ice Age, but further investigation proved the site to be much older - from 4.5 to 7 million years ago. The governor eventually halted road construction permanently and preserved the site. Interpretations suggest that it was a sinkhole, which filled to become a pond or lake surrounded by oak and hickory forest. Animals grazing or running from predators likely fell in and drowned or became stuck.

Since 2001, scientists from ETSU have been excavating and making amazing discoveries. One of the most notable is a red panda. The Gray Fossil site is unique because it records a forest ecosystem; most other site are from grassy plains or have a coastal influence.

The museum building is right next to the fossil dig site. The museum opened in Sept 2007 so is new. There is a wonderful free (donations accepted) self guided tour that starts with a short movie giving the history of the site. There are many interactive exhibits including a "dig pit" with fake bones so kids can discover fossils. One room took us through the whole process from first discovery and excavation, to the preservation of the fossils. This would be a great place to take kids, but fun for us adults too.
We took the group tour for $5. We were the only ones on our tour, which included the Paleontology Research Center on the second floor. We were not allowed in the large research lab or fossil preparation rooms, but we had a good view through large windows. The guided tour also takes visitors outside to the actual dig sites. We got a close look at the original dig pit where the large rhino bones were found.
Most ancient fossil sites are in remote areas - this one is just two miles off I-26 exit 13, so very easy to visit. We hope a lot of people take advantage of this most interesting place.

Merry Christmas

 
One of our jobs was decorating for Christmas. Doug put up the outside lights and I put ornaments on the office tree. This was the first time I tried taking night photos with our new digital camera. It is just a little point and shoot Fuji and I am not a photo expert. It was very hard to get a picture without motion, as the shutter speed is much slower at night.
If you want to see the photo better, you can double click on it.
Decorating sure beats cleaning bathrooms!