A "General" Thing, But An Exciting Story!

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are doing well.

During the past few days I have been doing some research on "The Great Locomotive Chase". As I found out, this exciting event happened in North Georgia, just minutes from my doorstep! So even though the Chase isn't Tennessee history, naturally I was interested.

For those of you who aren't Civil War buffs, (I know I'm not, particularly) but here is a brief summary of what happened in April, 1862.

Confederate General Beauregard, in Chattanooga, was totally dependent on supplies coming from Atlanta-by way of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. So Union General Buell commissioned Yankee spy James J. Andrews to lead a party of solders to tear up the W&ARR from Big Shanty-to-Chattanooga-to stop Confederate supplies, and in general tear up track, bridges, and telegraph lines.

So Andrews' Raiders boarded the "General", a mixed passenger/freight train headed from Atlanta to Chattanooga. And when the passengers and train crew went in to the Lacy Hotel at Big Shanty (now Kenesaw, GA) to eat breakfast-well, Andrews' Raiders steeled the "General"...and the chase was on!

And then, well...I'll let you read the story by one of the Raiders, William Pittenger.

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/Page0006.Html

If you want to see the General today, learn more about its home in Kenesaw, GA at:

http://www.southernmuseum.org/

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"The Sun is Rising Down"...

....and other such crazy events in my life!

Hi Everyone! I thought I'd mights well recap a bit on my past (and crazy) week!

First of all, from the title of this article, (above) is a picture I took of the sun this morning. For me, this is a real achievement, because for over a month and a half I haven't been able to walk outside and take pictures on my own! I am currently in a walking cast and go back to the Dr. in 3 weeks.

Today, instead of going to church in a building, the Earliteen Sabbath School went and had Sabbath School, Church, and a Potluck over at Red Clay State Park. It was a lot of fun! Some staff from Cohutta came and did song service, and we had a really good sermon by Pastor Cook on running the Christian race. See 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. ^^Camp staff singing songs for the church service.
^^Camp staff up close. Stephen (far right) is from Earliteens.

^^Pastor Cook preaching.

After church we had a potluck, which (of course!) was fun. See what I ate below!

Yes, besides the Aquarium we did do a lot!

One of the biggest things was that I "officially" started 9th grade. Quail Ridge Academy, the homeschool I attend, has done exceptionally well this year. The enrolment has doubled, (to 2!) and the principal (Dad) is now teaching chemistry. Mom oversees the rest of my school and also specializes in the preschool division. (Alison!) This year I'm studying Algebra, Chemistry, English, Computers, World History, and Keyboarding.

Monday Schiffbauers left, and Dad's friend Julie came and stayed for a day. Monday also we took Punky to a vet visit. I know something happened Tuesday, but I forget....will post it when I remember! Of course we went to the Aquarium, and Thursday was a busy day as well. Mom got her health checked, and I had a P.T. appointment in Ringgold, GA.

And then...it's today! Will write more later....

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TNAQ, Part 2: "Ocean Journey"

Hi Everybody!

As promised, I am posting pictures of the other half of the Aquarium today. We went there yesterday, and I took about 140 shots. We stayed for supper there, as Dad's employer treated us to dinner. ;) Anyway, enjoy!

Will post more later-LOTS of things happening this week!!

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My fabulous father!
Jellyfish! Dad brought his tripod so I could get better, more stable shots.

TNAQ Part 1 of 2-"River Journey"

Wednesday our family and Schift-Bowers played "tourist" to the Tennessee Aqaurium.

I took 166 shots, taking 9 more pictures than in my June visit! ;) Anyway, we got there about lunch time, so we ate our lunch and with that out of the way, we took on the Tennessee Aquarium!

We started with the River Journey building, as oppossed to the Aquarium's Ocean Journey building. We saw seahorses, otters, (were they a favorite!) numoris fish, turtles, frogs, and even donated our 2 cents worth to the Tennessee River Gorge Wishing Well, making it possible to keep the Gorge in tip-top shape.

Besides our genourous donations, (ha!) I bought 2 postcards which totaled about $1.00. AND we grasiously gave $1.53 to the always-hungery squished penny machines! ;D

Since Dad had work to do, we parted company with Schift-Bowers after the River Journey building to go home while Schift-Bowers stayed on to enjoy the macaws, penguins, butterflies, sharks, and other fish in the Ocean Journey building.

Included with this post are some of my better shots. However, I most give credit to my fabulous father who took some of these pictures for me because I couldn't get up high enough.

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P.S.-Even though our family couldn't see the Ocean Jouney Wed., we will go back next Tuesday to see it. ;)

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

Hi Everyone! Here are some pictures of Melissa and her cake I thought you'd might enjoy. She is currently out shopping with her mom and dad. Michael stayed here and he and I watched the movie Secret of the Cave for the second time! ;)

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NOTICE: To all of you who read my posts by e-mail, please still check my blog. Even if you don't read my post again, I do have every so often contests that can't be put in a blog post, only in the sidebar of my blog. So please check my blog as well as reading my post by e-mail! ;)

The Mystery is Opened

The Schift-Bowers, above: (l to r) Michael, Christa, Dan, Melissa

Well, for all of those who voted, thank-you, all 3 of you! Yes, the majority voted for the correct option, a turtle shell. I took this shot at the Chatt. Zoo on Alison's birthday. (See "Zoo Pictures" article).

So the "Mystery" is finally opened! ;D

As you may have already known, my cousins the Schift-Bowers from FL are here for the week. Melissa and I have played fooseball, and Michael especially enjoys air hockey. We all have enjoyed playing Polor Golfer and Polar Bowler.

Michael and I have also played Laurenopoly and Connect Four.

Today is Melissa's birthday and we expect to have cake and presents at lunchtime. See her blog at: http://www.aquagirl-oceansoffun.blogspot.com/.

Anyway, sorry this is such a short post, but I will try to post later this week.

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NOTICE: To all of you who read my posts by e-mail, please still check my blog. Even if you don't read my post again, I do have every so often contests that can't be put in a blog post, only in the sidebar of my blog. So please check my blog as well as reading my post by e-mail! ;)

Hip-hip hooray!~my uncle's coming this way!

Hip-hip hooray!~my uncle's coming this way!

Yes, it's true! My funny Uncle Brian from Arizona is coming to visit me and my sister next month. ;) He's probably going to be here from the 13th through the 22nd. Anyway, I thought y'all might enjoy knowing that. We were able to see him this past June in Michigan, and he and I played over 20 games of SORRY! Unfortunately, he won the majority of the games, thus earning the championship.

But look out-in case he didn't know, this visit's championship is called, "Revenge of the Nephew"! ;D

Anyway, so much for that. Today I did more chemistry and ITBS (achievement) tests. I "officially" start school on the 18th of this month, though I've been doing chemistry throughout the summer.

But next week will be an exciting one! My cousins from Florida (the ones I saw this past March), the Shift-Bowers, are coming for almost a week. That will be a lot of fun!

Guess that's all for now. More exciting news coming!

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Zoo Pictures

Remember about a month ago I told you we went to the zoo for my sister's birthday?

Well, (yes, I know I'm slow!) finally I've gotten the photos uploaded!

Enjoy!

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^^A primate's McDonald's: "uh, yeah, a veggieburger and fries will be fine, thanks!" ;)

^^Alison really enjoyed the merry-go-round! ;)

Subscribe by E-mail!

Hi Everyone!

I have just figured out how to add a gadget to this blog so you can get my posts by e-mail.

This is nice because more of you friends and family can get my posts by e-mail. It's nice so you don't have to check my blog all the time, you can just read my posts when you check your e-mail.

I know I enjoy that. Instead of checking every little blog I like to read, I can just subscribe to that blog's feed.

Anyway, so much for that. If you just look to the right in the sidebar on this blog, you'll see a form that says "Subscribe via email". Below that there's a space for you to enter your e-mail address.

After you do that, you click "Subscribe". A window will automatically open after you do that, prompting you to enter the letters you see in a picture above.

Well, anyway I know I'm rambling too much but what I'm trying to get at is when you type in the letters, don't allow for spaces, just type in the letters in lower-case.

To see how this subscribing-thing worked, I tried it myself. I tried countless times to type in the letters and allowing spaces, but alas it didn't work. But when I typed in the letters with no spaces, surprise! It worked!

After you type in the letters, (don't worry, it really ISN'T that hard!) you will receive an e-mail. Open up your e-mail account, and click the link which is in the e-mail you have received. That will bring up another box, which will say "E-mail Subscription Confirmed", or something like that.

And then when I post, you will get an e-mail!

Anyway, I really hope you will try this. It really isn't hard! ;)

Happy Sabbath!

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