Five Minute Friday: Friend

Today we are all telling our stories about what it feels like to trust a friend. And not trust a friend.  Come just as you are and be encouraged.  So let’s spend our five minutes of writing today, sharing about friendship. Fight it, love it, hate it, hurt or healed by it, we were certainly built for it.
Set a timer and just write. Don’t worry about making it just right or not.
Go all in with your words.
Are you ready?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back to Lisa-Jo's blog and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

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Friend…

GO:
As I began this post I cannot get past the tears.  Over the past couple of years I have lost some friends.  They were lost to me not because we had a tift....or difference of opinion.  My sweet friends are gone from this earth.....so momentarily we are separated.  When I think of the word friend. I think, "sweet!"   I think of mine.  I am so blessed with friends.  I have some I have known since I was 5 and since I just turned 59 it is safe to say I have known them a long while.  I have friends from work that I love and would do anything for and they would for me.  I have friends I act crazy with, go thrift shopping with, travel with, gave birth to, married to, and am related to.  All of my friends are there for a reason.  In the final days of my father's life and when I was losing my mother to Alzheimers I had special friends at Waverly UMC.  They held me up.  They loved me when I did not feel love and just wanted my parents.  I have friends at Rock Mills who write poems for me, surprise me, include me.....and I love them.  When my mom died and I was sinking fast they were there to lift me up.  I have friends I sing with....in the car or on a stage.  I love having friends and being one.  Some people go through their whole lives and never have one single friends.  I am blessed with a multitude of them.  My momma used to sing about her best friend all the time and everytime I hear this song I smile.  "What a friend we have in Jesus.  All our sins and griefs to bear.  What a priviledge to carry.  Everything to God in prayer."  She believed the words of this song.....and so do I.  Yes, I am blessed with friends....are you?

STOP:

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W is for Westport

"The Battle of Westport, fought October 21-23, 1864, was the last full-scale action of the Civil War in Missouri and west of the Mississippi. This major battle, the largest engagement west of the Mississippi River, marked the climactic end of a decade of war and turbulence along the Missouri and Kansas border."   So what exactly happened from October 21st-23rd, 1864?  

"On this day in 1864, Confederate General Sterling Price's raid on Missouri nearly turns into disaster when his army is pinned between two Union forces at Westport, Missouri, near Kansas City. Although outnumbered, Price's forces managed to slip safely away after the Battle of Westport, which was the biggest conflict west of the Mississippi River. Price's six-week raid on Missouri was intended to capture a state that had been firmly in Union hands during much of the war. Price hoped to divert attention from the East, where Confederate armies had not done well in the late summer of 1864. A blow against Northern territory could also hurt the Republicans in the fall elections, and it could raise much-needed supplies.  Price entered Missouri from Arkansas in mid-September. His force moved through the state with little opposition, but Price failed to capture either St. Louis or Jefferson City. In mid-October, he turned west up the Missouri River and captured several small Federal outposts. At Byram's Ford on October 22, Price's men pushed aside a small Union force attached to General Samuel Curtis's army. The rest of Curtis's men waited at Westport to the northwest. Price also faced a threat to his rear because Yankee cavalry under Alfred Pleasonton were moving in from the southeast. In short, Union troops were converging on Price from two directions.  On October 23, Price tried to fight his way out of his predicament by first attacking Curtis's troops along Brush Creek, near Westport. The Confederates enjoyed some initial success as they drove the Federals across Brush Creek, but Price did not have sufficient reserves to continue the drive. Meanwhile, Pleasonton's men were attacking on the other side of the battlefield, placing Price in a dangerous position. As Pleasonton's men pushed the Confederates back, Curtis's men also turned the tide on the northwestern side of the battlefield. Price's troops broke, and a mad retreat to the southwest ensued. Price's army might have been completely destroyed if the two Union forces could have coordinated pursuit. Instead, the exhausted Yankees halted, hesitant to continue the fight. Price's force was soundly defeated, though each side lost about 1,500 men. That was only about 10 percent of the Union troops, but it was 20 percent of the Rebel force. Price's men retreated into Kansas before the remnants of the force dispersed back into Texas and Oklahoma. In the end, Price's raid did little to disrupt the fall elections."  Whew....all that is left is "X", "Y", and (gulp and profuse sweating) "Z".  Will I make it?

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Husband Deploys. Things Break.

After Tom deployed I thought, okay, well, now things are probably going to break.

It’s what happened when he went to Korea for a year.

I kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t happen this time.

But....






.....it’s starting.

Help.

V is for Vicksburg

Vicksburg is one of my favorite places in Mississippi.  It is filled with history, legends, and ghosts  If you are a gambler you can find a floating casino on the river, eat at Sollies Tamales at a scenic viewpoint, hit some outlets, or just enjoy the town as a whole.  We are not talking about today.....we are talking about the 1860's when life was not pleasant and brothers fought against brothers.  The Battle(Seige) that took place at Vicksburg.  "During the late spring and early summer of 1863, Union and Confederate armies battled for control of  Vicksburg, Mississippi.  The beautiful city on the Mississippi River now preserves some of America's most  significant historic sites. Among these are forts, batteries, miles of fortifications, historic homes and structures and even the wreck of a Civil War ironclad. The fate of a continent was determined here and Vicksburg today draws visitors from around the world. It is a place where the modern world steps into the past and where visitors still walk in the foot-prints of the men and women that forged a nation.  The Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was the culmination of a two year effort by Union armies and navies to wrest control of the Mississippi River from Confederate forces.Located on a strategic bend of the great river, the city became a focal point of the Civil War when Confederate troops fortified the bluffs with an astounding array of heavy artillery.  New Orleans and Memphis both fell, along with other Confederate posts up and down the river, but by the spring of 1863 Vicksburg still remained firmly in Southern hands.  The task of conquering the "Gibraltar of the Mississippi" fell to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. With an array of impressive subordinates and a massive army, he moved down the Mississippi River.  Grant tried first to bypass the Confederate guns by digging a canal that would divert the flow of the river and bringing about the fall of the citadel without the firing of a shot. The effort failed.  Grant next tried to land troops downstream at Grand Gulf. Confederate troops dug in, however, and the firepower of the U.S. Navy could not blast them from their defenses.  Frustrated but undeterred, Grand moved further south and finally came ashore near Port Gibson. Fighting his way through Confederate defenders at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hill and Big Black River, he closed in on Vicksburg from the east.  The Confederate commander of the city, Gen. John C. Pemberton, withdrew his men into the fortifications surrounding Vicksburg. In addition to powerful batteries overlooking the Mississippi, Vicksburg was encircled by miles of massive earthwork forts, batteries and infantry trenches. Although Pemberton's army was much smaller than Grant's, he and his thousands of determined men left no doubt that they planned to fight for control of the city.  Grant moved his forces into position around Vicksburg, surrounding the Confederate army but also trapping hundreds of civilians in the city now turned into a war zone. Union troops began to dig siege works and place artillery to bombard the town as Southern soldiers and civilians prepared to withstand the coming onslaught.  The Battle of Vicksburg began on May 19, 1863, when Grant sent thousands of men storming forward in an effort to overwhelm the Stockade Redan, a powerful Confederate fort with 17-foot high walls and an 8-foot wide ditch. Defended by the 36th Mississippi Infantry, the redan (a redan was a triangular fortification) provided impossible to take. By the time the smoke cleared, Grant had lost 157 men killed and 777 wounded compared to only 8 killed and 62 wounded for the Confederate defenders.  Determined to try again before Pemberton could further strengthen his fortifications, Grant opened fire on Vicksburg on the night of May 21st with more than 220 pieces of artillery. Union warships on the river joined in and Southern soldiers and civilians alike tunneled into the ground to try to save themselves from the barrage.  The next morning at 10 a.m., the Union army attacked in lines three miles wide. Far from demoralized by the bombardment, the soldiers in the Confederate fortifications opened on the oncoming Federal infantry with musket and cannon fire. The fighting became hand to hand in a few places as the Federals tried to break through the Southern lines, but for the most part Grant's men never even got close to the main Confederate works. When the smoke cleared, more than 3,000 Union soldiers lay dead or wounded while Southern casualties were estimated at fewer than 500.  The fight for Vicksburg now turned into a brutal, ongoing siege. Union troops inched closer to the Confederate lines by digging zigzag approach trenches and pushing their positions closer and closer. Mines were dug under Confederate forts and one, the 3rd Louisiana Redan, was destroyed in a major explosion on June 25th. Southern officers, however, had heard the sound of the digging beneath their feet and had anticipated the blast. When Union troops stormed into the crater, they found Confederate troops waiting for them in a new position just to the rear of the destroyed fort.Another explosion followed on July 1st, but in the end it was starvation and not Union attacks that brought the siege to an end. With his soldiers and the civilians of Vicksburg reduced to eating mules, rats and even boiled shoe leather, Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863.  The victory ended Confederate control of the Mississippi as the last remaining strongholds surrendered after learning of the fall of Vicksburg. A short time later President Abraham Lincoln penned wrote the immortal words, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea."  Vicksburg became an important Union bastion after the surrender and remained so through the end of the war."  (www.exploresouthernhistory.com)  It thrives today as a commercial and tourism destination.   If you get a chance to stop in and "sit a spell" in Vicksburg then do it!

Things That Annoy Me Thursday: Celebrities Behaving Badly

So I’m sure most of you heard that Reese Witherspoon and her husband were arrested last weekend. (Read about it here in case you did not.)

Her husband was arrested for DUI. This bothers me a lot. He could have killed someone.

Reese was arrested for disorderly conduct. I guess she asked the police officer if he “knew her name.”

This also bothers me. I HATE when people do that. Does it MATTER who you are? If you break the law, you should be punished. I don’t care how much is in your bank account.

I hate how the law seems to be lax towards celebrities. They are never in jail for long due to overcrowding. Here’s an idea: maybe they should be shoved in the crowds, get beaten up a bit, and then, perhaps, they’ll learn their lesson. Stop babying them. Stop treating them like they do something fantastic.

They don’t.

They entertain us. Which, okay, is nice.

But the real people who should be fawned over such as military folks, nurses, doctors, teachers, regular policemen, firemen, etc…rarely receive any praise.

Stop catering to these so called celebrities. I also roll my eyes when I read that celebrities need certain things to perform. Only brown M&Ms. White furniture. Everyone has to greet them with “Your hotness.” STOP IT. They wouldn’t be performing if it weren’t for us. Tell them to knock off that nonsense. Stop giving in.

I was so glad to read that the police officer who arrested Reese didn’t care who she was. Kudos to him.

Now if more people would follow suit…

(And yes, I saw Reese apologized. But I can almost bet her “people” wrote the statement for her image. She claims she was worried for her husband—she should have been worried about the people he could have killed while driving drunk.)

U is for Utoy Creek

 

One of the lesser known battles was at Utoy Creek in Georgia.  It appears that "after failing to envelop Hood’s left flank at Ezra Church, Sherman still wanted to extend his right flank to hit the railroad between East Point and Atlanta. He transferred John M. Schofield’ s Army of the Ohio from his left to his right flank and sent him to the north bank of Utoy Creek. Although Schofield’s troops were at Utoy Creek on August 2, they, along with the XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, did not cross until the 4th. Schofield’s force began its movement to exploit this situation on the morning of the 5th, which was initially successful. Schofield then had to regroup his forces, which took the rest of the day. The delay allowed the Rebels to strengthen their defenses with abatis, which slowed the Union attack when it restarted on the morning of the 6th. The Federals were repulsed with heavy losses by Bate’s Division and failed in an attempt to break the railroad. On the 7th, the Union troops moved toward the Confederate main line and entrenched. Here they remained until late August."(http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/ga019.htm)  There was no distinct winner of this battle.

Wednesday Hodge Podge

Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  Everyone is welcome to join the Hodgepodge here on Wednesdays...just answer the questions on your own blog then add a link back to your answers at the end of Joyce's post.
Here are mine~

1. April showers bring May flowers...what have you been showered with this month?  Church stuff(Clean up day, Homecoming), birthdays (a large number of my family have April birthdays, allergies, pollen.
2. What is the nature of compassion? Is it learned or innate? Can compassion be learned? If you're a parent is this something you've purposely sought to instill in your children, and if so how?  I  am like Joyce and think its a combination of nature and nurture. Some children come into this world with a gentle spirit that seems tuned in to the needs and emotions of the world around them and they almost automatically extend compassion. Others need to have that modeled for them and it's our job as parents to do just that. 
 
3. Do you prefer to watch romantic comedy or romantic drama...or are you rolling your eyes saying bring on the action flicks?  I am a chick flick girl all the way with a good comedy thrown in.  I do, however, like a good action movie once in a while (like Olympus Has Fallen)
4. It's April which means baseball season is officially upon us in the US of A. Humphrey Bogart is quoted as saying, "A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz." Agree or disagree?
I love a good ball park hotdog....but dinner at the Ritz wins out hands down. 

5. What's something in your community or city that needs fixing or improving?
We have just done a beautification project and the city itself is looking really spiffy.  There are still a number of buildings that need to be rennovated or torn down. The roads are full of pot holes and there is one road that if you hit the pot hole it will jar your teeth.

6. Share a song you enjoy that mentions flowers or a specific flower in its title.
The Rose - Janis Joplin
Daisy A Day - Jud Strunk (makes me cry)
Red Roses for a Blue Lady - Bobby Vinton
18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses - Kathy Mattea
A White Sports Coat and A Pink Carnation - Marty Robbins
(Remember I am the Queen of Music)

7. April 22nd is Earth Day...do you believe in life on other planets? That wasn't the question you were expecting was it?
I believe God created the heavens and the earth....and yes I do believe in life on other planets...not necessarily human....but not alien either.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
Do you and your significant other/husband have a song you call yours?  Mine and Franks is "Keeper of the Stars" as sung by Tracy Byrd.  I would love to hear yours.