The American Patriot's Almanac

This is a review of the book The American Patriot's Almanac. This book is a treasure trove of cool facts about our wonderful country. Sometimes significant, some times rather insignificant, but always interesting. For example November 6th tells us about the first football game between Rutgers and the College of New Jersey. Besides a short article about something that happened on that day in our history there is 4-5 more quick facts at the bottom of each page. Between the months are other special bits of info, between September and October there are a whole host of patriotic songs and the way they came into being, when they were popular and the words for that song. This book is written in an easy to read but detailed style making it enjoyable for most ages to read and listen too. I think this will be a wonderful addition to our schooling for learning our United States History. Tying it into the day something happened gives it added interest. This is also a beautifully bound book, lovely to have sitting out for casual reading in a sitting room.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

The Doctor is In

Our family took most of the months of October and November to be sick. We weren't flat on our back much of that time we just weren't well. Maybe if we could have just stopped for a week we could have kicked our problems quicker than we did, needless to say we ended up feeling rough for forever. In that time we got to use a lot of my home remedies for curing all sorts of troubles. In case you were curious what to use vinegar and salt for, read on.Although we haven't had a broken leg in our house for some time I thought I would post this picture for old time sake.

Before I begin I need to tell you I am not a Doctor, I only dreamed of being one when I was young. So this is info I have gleaned from experience and hope it might help you as well. It might not, it could just be wishful thinking on our part that it helps.

1. Margaret had an awful earache for a day or so and she began running a fever with it. She was putting hot packs on her ear to soothe it and then I added a few drops of tea tree oil for good measure before she went to sleep that night. Her ear was all better in the morning!

I wish I would have known to do that when my boys had all of their ear infections as young toddlers.

2. If your throat is sore and scratchy dissolve some salt in warm water and gargle often through out the day.

3. We were at the beach and in the sun a bit to long for some of our fair skins. We did try to sun screen ourselves but clearly, not enough. Travis was burnt on his back and chest, oh, he was very red. He actually isn't my best advertisement for this cure but, I think I didn't douse him enough. It always works for me. The remedy for sunburn is VINEGAR. Spread it on with a cotton ball and the burning will go away, it will soon turn to a tan. Keep applying it as you need to for pain control.

4. If you are so nauseated nothing will stay down drink some plain old black tea. It settles your stomach right down. You can add a little sugar if you don't like it on its own. That is all Gregory had for 24 hours or so. At least he wasn't dry heaving his insides out.

5. Sometimes there is so much pressure in my sinuses I just give up and eat a garlic clove and an orange or some other high vitamin C fruit. Then I drink a quart or two of water and I feel so much better. No one wants to be close to me but that is okay, the pain is away! Once in awhile I have to do it another time in about 1/2 hour. It is all good for you so go ahead, try it. 6. Try praying, it works!

7. Beatrice's hair went crazy from to much salt water, or something and was terrible. It was dry and even if you got it all brushed out, she moved and the snarls were right back in there. After weeks of trying to condition it good in her bath and not washing it very often to try to renew her natural oils I gave up and got out the mayonnaise. I slathered it all over her head and she smelled like potato salad for the rest of the evening but the next day after her bath she had slightly greasy hair! and a week or so later she has nice hair, not frizzy, not greasy.

8. I should have paid attention to the warning signals my body was sending me but I didn't and I had a big old UTI. I was in Pain. So, I went to the kitchen and drank myself a couple ounces of vinegar. Then I ate a garlic clove and gallons of water this time. I kept drinking and taking a couple of tablespoons regularly of vinegar. The next morning I felt so much better it was truly amazing, I wasn't running a fever and I could do my job much more comfortably. I continued to take vinegar by the tablespoon for a few days to make sure everything washed out. I have heard if you have a tendency to have kidney or UTI problems you should take a tablespoon every day for maintenance. We also ate dill pickles for a more fun way of getting that vinegar in.

9. Nothing is better for a sore, achy body than a hot shower.

10. Remember to heal your body needs lot of sleep and plenty of fresh fruits and veggies to give it all the vitamins it needs to make those new and healthy cells.

To a more healthy winter!

~Anna

Armistice Day

Happy Veterans Day to you all! Thank you, thank you to all who have served in keeping me free!! I do truly appreciate what you have given up for me.

A little history for you. This day began as a holiday at the end of the Great War. A cease fire was called at 11 am on the 11the day of the 11th month of 1918. It was a great and sudden silence that was the end to four years of horrific fighting all over Europe.

In 1954 it was changed to Veterans Day so we could remember all who have served our country to keep it, and so many other countries of the world free.

Our family remembered this day, this year, by, writing letters to some of the veterans in our life and thanking them. A rousing time of singing and playing the trumpet, recorder, piano and harmonica to a whole host of songs that remind us of different wars and other patriotic tunes. We may think of more to do this afternoon, we shall see.

Battleship HSS NC

The next place of interest that we went is to the Battleship NC in Wilmington, NC.

This ship remains floating in a harbor there. We watched a short film about the life of the ship and then we got to tour it. One impressive fact about the battleship NC is that it was in almost all of the pivotal water battles during World War II yet only lost 10 men in fighting. During one battle it had a 30 foot whole blasted in its side yet it never left formation and continued on with the plan.Some of the crew on this tour. Here the boys are inside of a giant anti aircraft device. I was above a gyroscope to see them. There are a lot of gyroscopes on a ship of this sort. The quantity of kitchens in this place was amazing until you thought about feeding 2000 men three times a day. Then it seemed reasonable. There was a bread kitchen and several other specific types. This one had quite a number of huge pots like the one Heidi is in. I guess it was the soup kitchen. In one there was two machines for peeling potatoes. The guys sometimes got carried away with the fun of running it and the potatoes came out pretty miniature, I guess. We went up and down, and around and around this place until we had seen just about every part of it and we were plum tuckered out. This is where the captain worked. It had a gyroscope here too. And a steering wheel, and lots of windows. The captain had a bedroom near here in the event the seas were stormy or there were other navigational dilemas and then he also had a space below deck when the seas were calm. There was a laundry, a P.O., store, soda fountain, movies were played at times in one of the cafeterias but Harrison thought the guns were the coolest part.

~Anna

Huntington Beach State Park AND Atalaya

This was probably my favorite of the tours we took. It really was a neat place with a neat story. We also had a very enthused tour guide at Atalaya to tell the story of its inhabitants.

As we came into the state park we crossed a salt marsh area and both times we crossed it we got to see an alligator or two moseying around. We started with a picnic in a very mosquito infested area. Other than the bugs in the shade it was very nice. Then we took a walk out into the marsh on a board walk to see if we could see some wild life. We saw quite a few birds but no alligators. When we got done with our walk we hurried over for the 2pm tour of Atalaya. While we waited for the tour guide to arrive we read about the people whose home we were about to tour. Archer and Anna Huntington. They were both artist. His was words and hers were sculptures. Archer was the son of Collis Huntington a very ambitious man. Collis started his financial rise by getting tools and the things men would need into California for the gold rush days, then he got into railroads, then coal mining and shipyards. Always quite successful. Archer's mom, Arabella, was quite a creative lady and didn't trust him to anyone else to raise so she home schooled him. They did a lot of traveling to learn about what they were studying. Archer learned quite a few languages this way and this is what influenced the style of this home. They used Atalaya as a get away and a retreat for Anna's somewhat fragile health. It was very much in the middle of nowhere with a view of the ocean. To get there from their home in Connecticut they would use a modified camper to sleep in along the way and haul their menagerie of animal companions. A family of monkeys, always quite number of dogs, a horse and sometimes a bear and a few birds. Anna was really into a certain breed of dogs she introduced to the U.S. from England, they are a huge rangy type that I can't think of the name right now. They had a 100 or so at their home in the north. Some of the animals happened to be with them because they were models for Anna's sculptures.

When they started work on this place Archer wanted it to look like some of the Moorish homes he saw when he was growing up. He didn't use an architect to design this place instead he tried to tell some of the local workers he had hired what he wanted. Then he left them for the winter to go run the shipyard. When he returned he didn't like the way it was looking so he had them tear it down and they started again, one of the main things they were doing wrong was cleaning the joints between the bricks. He wanted a straight but sloppy look. This was during the depression, they didn't have any work so they stuck at it and tried again. Archer and Anna were the biggest employers in this part of SC during the depression. This is the Atalaya, the watchtower. It is in the center of a large courtyard with a hallway running most of the way through it. On three sides of the courtyard are the family rooms and the servants rooms. At the end you are looking are the stables, garage and other service buildings. One of them being a building just for the shelling and cleaning of seafood. They really enjoyed that and had someone hired just to keep them stocked with seafood. All around the courtyard while Anna was there she kept large pots with flowers growing in them, between each of the palm trees.

This small room was at the very end of the house facing the ocean. When they were there you could see the ocean but it has grown up with a lot of trees and brush blocking that view now.

Here is something I had never learned about before. During world war II the homes and businesses along this coast and the Gulf of Mexico had to black out their windows for their safety. There were many German U-boats patrolling these waters and blowing many ships out of them. So many interesting things were mentioned on this tour. I have now just read a book talking about this more in detail, very interesting. Looking out from the lookout above the family room towards the sea. I love brick work in homes, and although this place was certainly in a bit of disrepair you could still envision a lovely place to live here. And now it is time to leave Huntington Beach State Park, someday I would enjoy getting to browse around here again.

~Anna