Six Gun Territory, Silver springsFFF

 

One of the first things I asked Bing Image Creator to make for me was a Cowboy on a horse.

For all of my life I have loved Cowboys. Ask me what movie I wanted to see as a teenager, and it was always a Western. My dad loved them, the old silent ones. I wanted to be a cowboy. NOT a cowgirl. a Cowboy! 

You may have seen this AI creation below on Beaus Blog.

I added us walking in a Western Frontier Town. 

This stirred up fond memories of Six Gun Territory. 

In 1963 they opened this frontier town, right in the center of Ocala, Florida, which was on the highway we drove from Savannah GA to Palmetto Fl several times a year to visit my mother's birthplace. I think we visited Six Gun Territory 3 times. There was a train with a steam engine that picked us up in the parking lot and deposited us right into the street where there was a gun battle raging.

As a child I loved reading and from as far back as my memory goes, I loved gunfights in the street.

photos from Six-gun Territory found in vintage google images.

And the scandal of it all was the skimpily costumed Cancan dancers in the saloon and since my family were all teetotalers' (no alcohol allowed)

 the place I went first was the saloon to see the girls dance, no dancing allowed in our life either.

It was thrilling to me. Like I had landed in a favorite Movie or TV show.

there were Teepees and Indians with headdresses and dancing around the fires.

Jut a memory now, and Hollywood has forgotten how to make a decent western.

I still love them. 

The video says Glu Galagher visited their often to take part but at the time I did not know that.

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THINGS THAT GO BOOM

I still love action movies, I have moved on to Spies and Spooks, think Jason Bourne! I have seen all of them several times and now they are making the last one. I also love all things CIA/FBI/Detectives and anything that is about Seal Teams. That is what I read, those type movies, every day of my life.

I read Louis Lamour and Zane Gray at early age, now I read. 

Lee Child, James Patterson, who is known for his Alex Cross and Women's Murder Club series.

David Baldacci, who is known for his John Puller and Will Robie series.

Michael Connelly, who is known for his Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series.

John Sandford, who is known for his Prey and Virgil Flowers series.

Vince Flynn, who is known for his Mitch Rapp series.

Robert Crais, who is known for his Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series.

Jeffery Deaver, who is known for his Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance series. 

Do you like any of these authors? I have read all the books of these authors and am waiting to read my favorite, the next Jack Reacher, by Lee Child. 

When my boys were small, I stood frying chicken, with a book in my hand, fitting reading into my busy life as a working Mom.

LONG LIVE OUR LIBRARIES, thank you for 75 years of wonder.

Long live Kindle Unlimited at Amazon, that allows me to read as many books as I want for 10 dollars a month. What a deal...

I have to say I love reading their books, not the movies because it's so much better with my vivid imagination. 

Did you watch westerns in your youth? Do you like Westerns, would you go with me to a frontier town? HERE is a link to Six Gun Territory Images.

Last but not least, are you shocked that I love and have loved Action Books/Movies my entire life?

Joining Yam  for FFF Final Friday Feature...at . Click here for the Rules and join the fun or just go to her blog, My Take:doses of Wild Yam 

The Chicken Coop Home

 

AI and I creation

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

This is Not a Chicken Coop 

And I am not a Chicken!

Below my dear friends, is the chicken coop I lived in from age 2 until age 9.

I am on the left, my cousin on the right, the tall roof you see is her home, the small one is the 

REMODELED Chicken Coop.

Time Period 1946-1953. I am sure those of you who read in prior posts that I lived in a chicken coop, were just a tad shocked.

The house below belonged to my dad's only surviving sister and her husband with two daughters. The photo is from Google earth as it looks now, the only difference back then, was it was painted white and black, had no yard to speak of because it was a dirt road in the country part of Savannah GA. My cousin inherited the house and still lives there.

WWII raged, we were desperately poor, I think most of the world lived under the poverty level if there was one then. My mother never had a job, she was a FEMALE, born in The South, had me at age 18, 15 days before she turned 19, 4 year later, 1948 my brother appeared. that is what good Southern Women Did back then.

the war raged. Food rationed,  no jobs, the apartment  tiny, only one room on the 3rd floor walkup. A tiny back yard, down 3 flights of stairs and a huge kitchen sink to wash clothing in, with clotheslines to dry them.

Something like this decayed building in Savannah shown in a vintage photo from those years.

 Daddy was a meat cutter in a small grocery store. His pay was very little, but it included a case of Carnation Milk for my first 2 years. We never went hungry.

A few might shudder to think of moving a small family into a chicken coop.

to Us it Was Heaven!

Daddy's sister had married Money! Not Millions! Just a lot more  much further above the poverty level than we were. My Uncle had several acres of land, with pig pens, chicken coop and fields of flowers. He got rid of the pig pens,  and he made that chicken Coop into a home for us to live in, He built four walls to divide it.

Imagine A Square building, divided equally into 4 rooms, cement floors, just a wooden box. 

Imagine the circles as doors. each room had 2 windows. the doors opened from room to room. 

The floors were linoleum. Mother wallpapered every wall, floor to ceiling.

The kitchen had this exact sink in front of a large window. the bedroom my brother and I slept in, was the exact size of  2 metal cots, with blue striped ticking, stuffed with cotton, with tucks all over it.

 I can still feel those lumps. 

A bed in each corner, a tall skinny chest of drawers, the three pieces crammed next to each other was the exact size of the room. The sink in the bathroom was like a Childs sink, facing the door with barely room for the free standing metal shower stall. The commode tucked up against the side of the shower wall, facing 

 the Dreaded Closet with the MOVING red curtain for as a door.

I sat staring at that curtain as it slowly shifted, in and out, in and out. the MONSTER lived in there, the same monster that made me sleep with my hands and arms tucked against my body, protecting me from the closet monster that waited each night under my bed at night. 

I loved living 20 feet away from my second Mother and my 1st cousin. We has oatmeal, they had bacon, eggs and the best toast ever. She made her toast in the oven, slathered with real butter and toasted. If they ate before I got up, there was always a plate left in the oven just for me. If she made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she made two. I gobbled mine, and the last half of Andreas. She was a picky eater. Uncle Jimmy had a smoke house tucked up against our coop. I was terrified of it, even then, claustrophobic, but had no idea what that was. Because I refused to play house in the smoke shed when not in use, he built another tiny shed that resembles our coop, with a window and curtains and it was our girls only play house for years. Andrea was not afraid of monsters, or being shut in the smoke shed, but I did have a great big laugh when a tiny green lizard Trapped her inside. I was on the outside, the lizard just inside and she would not come out. 

Do you think I may have scared the lizard further in the play house? I might have been a little jealous because she was the princess of the Big House and had any and everything she wanted or needed.

At that time I did not realize how blessed we were to have a Chicken Coop Home with eating privileges next door. I might add my dad's mother lived with my Aunt, giving me three mothers in one place.

the year I turned 9, Uncle Jimmy divided his land into room for 3 houses, and built us a 3 bedroom house. Daddy went to the bank and with his signature only borrowed $5000.00 to be paid back 50 dollars a month. A year later, we rented the house to friends and we moved to Kentucky for 5 years.

My aunt kept my first dog, Sticky Baby and collected the rent and paid the mortgage for Daddy.

. 

Joining Yam's Final Friday Feature....

Fear of Traffic

Photos of traffic at 2 of our bridges taken from the Bradenton Herald. 

Todays Post is a PS to the Prior Post , Road trip with Bonnie,  

I was afraid to try and find my cousins new home and would not drive it alone and missed our last Cousin Reunion. My cousin Bonnie volunteered to give me a trial run to show me how easy it is to find. some of you were shocked, since the trip to my cousins homes is ONLY 18 miles.

Jamie lives in Parrish, our entire county, both sides of the river have in the past 10 years Exploded in Growth, and they are building everywhere there is a patch of grass. the above ad is a housing subdivision and the two roads you see are not roads but the entrance to the houses.

When I moved here 40 years ago, to my mother's small hometown, there were 2 bridges and very little traffic except at Christmas when EVERYONE in the county came to the ONLY mall in the county to shop. Now the Mall is locked up and empty and the small town is gone leave us to this chaos which is 2 miles from my house on the roads that go North and South on the West Coast of Florida, Called the Suncoast because everyone wants to live here or visit here.

The road on the left is what Fort Hamer looked like 5 years ago, the bridge is part of the new road they built. 

All of the above has led me to where I am now....a new word I discovered for this post.

Fear of  driving in TRAFFIC is a real thing.. AMAXOPHOBIA.  Google tells me I need therapy to overcome it. HA HA HA HA HA

Amaxophobia (also called hamaxophobia) makes you feel anxious or fearful when you drive or ride in a vehicle, such as a car, bus or plane. With it, you have a fear of driving and may also get anxious being a passenger. This fear can interfere with work, socializing and travel.

Yamini made this comment on the prior post.

Hari OM

Oh my word... I think that all those animals are going to be the incentive for you to make that drive all by yourself in future!!! YAM xx

THANK YOU, BRIAN, for your comment.

Brian has left a new comment on your post "Roadtrip with Bonnie2":Well, I know you'd like to see the cousins but if you don't feel good about driving it I say don't go.

Finally, a man I can agree with. Does it matter if Brian is a cat???? Not to me it doesn't, and Yam, I will not be driving in that traffic.

click HERE to see what Yam wrote today.

you will find the Rules HERE 

Joining Yam in Final Friday Feature

Death of a Bullet Blender my Final Friday Feature

 

Some of you might remember I posted my excitement about my new Bullet Blender exactly 94 days ago. For 94 days, I ate fake ice cream at 10 am every day, in love with the Bullet Blender...it lived 94 days and Friday at 10 it died, lucky thing was, it made my fake ice cream before it died.

The longer I fretted over they might not have one at Walmart and I would have to order one, the later it got. I fretted that I would have to wait two days, if I did have to order.

Knowing I could not live without my 10 am fake ice cream made from frozen strawberries/mangos in Vanilla soy milk, I did the unthinkable and went to WALMART at 11:30 AM. ( I  always shop at 6 am, empty store/empty parking lot/zero traffic) 

 I drove through traffic, and when I got to the last traffic signal IT TURNED GREEN!

Searching for a parking spot that I can drive through park because backing out of a Walmart Parking Lot at noon, on the only road to our beaches, is a dangerous thing.

 I saw ONE spot, NOT a drive through and thought JUST PARK, and be careful backing out. for some reason, I always park next to a LARGE VAN/TRUCK. As I pulled in next to the TRUCK, the one that would block the view when I backed out,  I spied the woman in front of me, climbing in her jeep and pulling on her seat belt.

I left the car running and waited for her to fiddle with her phone, reach into the back seat, fiddle some more and at last carefully back out from between two small cars. I pulled forward and sighed in relief. After shopping I would be able to pull out and I was aimed right at the traffic signal that would allow me into the BEACH traffic.

Fretting in my head, KNOWING they would not have the MagicBullet, the one I wanted last time and did not buy because of the price, which created this problem in the first place, I walked to the aisle, and they had TWO, just like I wanted.

 Grabbing it, I raced around the store with my list of 4 other items I needed, each one in a far corner of the 10-acre store. 

As I put the last item in the basket and headed for the check out, I saw the new sign that said Charley's Philly Steaks had opened, right next to the check out and thought YAY! I will order one for Bob and avoid the dreaded cooking.  I stood waiting behind the only person ordering, the one who had 3 children and her mother, and all 5 of them Could NOT decide what they wanted. 

The store is flooded at lunch time because it is an easy drive from the beaches to get food. I asked the cashier If I could pick it up after I went through the check out and she smiled and said I will keep it right here, just come to me, she patted the counter, and I flew to the self-checkout to come to a screeching halt because all 20 self-checks had someone using it. Something I had never seen before. (Remember the 6 am shopping)

I scanned all items, ran back to Charley's and she pointed at me, pointed at the grill and mouthed the words, that's yours. She brought it to me, with a smile, I fought my way through the crowd and to my car.

NO BIG TRUCK had parked beside me, I saw there were still two tiny see around cars and as I pulled out, not backing up, behold the traffic signal TURNED GREEN!

For the first time ever, I had to WAIT for a self-check out!  there were 20 and all had people using them. 

All of this was JUST TOO MUCH! 

I returned home with my new Magic Bullet Blender,

 I did not have to cook, 

I found a parking spot, 

TWO LIGHTS TURNED GREEN 

and I was home in under 45 minutes.

PLUS not only does it spin like crazy, making super fake shakes, it came with THREE cups with Lids and a sippy lid in case I want to take a shake with me the next time I go to Walmart at NOON.

Joining Final Feature with Yam...

Alesandra and The Barber (circa 1985) FFF

  The Barber (circa 1985)

Sandra slammed the front door, making the doorknob bounce from the wall, entering the house while shouting, " I am so sick of that beautician never listening to how I want my hair cut. 

One month it's great, the next month the bangs are so short I look like Julius Caesar! I mean how hard could it be to LEAVE THE BANGS touching my eyebrows?"

Pulling his eyes from the football game on TV, Bob, "you say this every month, why don't you listen to me and next time let me cut it? I have told you many times I cut Robby's hair his whole life." She answered, I am afraid to let you cut it, you have never had any training! He replied, the hairdressers you use are trained and per your ranting, never get it right. Next time we will try it. You have nothing to lose."

6 weeks later:

Samar says "I HAVE to get my hair cut! I have waited as long as I can stand it. You know I like my hair really short!

I can't even stand to think about an appointment because then I will be crying again about the bangs."

Bob answered, 'there is a beautician supply place down on 66th street, let's go there and see if they have scissors that will fit my thumb and finger. Sighing with aggravation, Sandra agreed and an hour later stood wrapped in a towel in the bathroom waiting to be scalped. Robert growled, Stand Still! Do you want me to cut your ear?"

Fifteen minutes later, he said "Done, now Look in the mirror and tell me if you like it!  Staring in the mirror she started to smile and laugh and hug Bob because it was the Best Haircut EVER!

She said I had my hair cut in this Sassoon Style in 1980 and it's never been as good as this!

She said no one will ever cut my hair again! Now its 2022 and no scissors have touched her hair without Bobs fingers in them since that first FREE haircut.

Now time has changed the 40-year-old into the stiff and old 78-year-old, and the hair is stiff and old, the barber is 86, stiff and old. Yes, he has cut the ear twice in those years, but never cut the bangs to short. 

Nearly 200 haircuts in 38 years, if Samar paid him, he could buy her a new car! 

Now they dream of what could have been if they had placed the cost of a haircut and tip in a piggy bank! or Wall Street!

38 years of Haircuts from 1985 top right to Now

 photo number 6 is what happens when I let the hair get too long. Until 2006 when I retired, I curled the bangs, after retirement it became wash and fluff. The reason it has to touch the eyebrows is I have my dad HUGE forehead and it must be covered, lest I revert to Julius Ceasar Look A like.

THE END

Joining FFF Final Friday Feature with Yammi. for details click FFF Rulz and join the fun

Tale of Theodosia Thistle FFF Fiction

I sat staring at this Thistle on Time Stand Still post by Rose.

It came to mind, what a face this could be,

I could add two eyes and a mouth to see who I would see.

I said in my comment, 

it needs two eyes and a nose and lips,

it might even need a script.

Minutes later, came and email from Rose

two attachments arose.

Play with these or you can delete,

I replied Thank you, I will make something neat.

 

I added two eyes, 

and lips the right size.

I named her Theodosia Thistle

and whispered to her, Thistle be your best day ever, all the male thistles will at you whistle.

My mad mind madded, 

I added and added.

Up popped the devil, that seemed painful,

I then added an angel.

The Devil and the Angel started to speak,

They gave us much info, I say take a peek.

Devil said: Theodosia, you are sharp and prickly, ugly and dry.

Angel said:  Listen, Theodosia you are perfect and have a purpose, there is something wrong with his eye.

Devil said:  "you are just a weed"

Angel replied:  "you are here to fill a need"

Devil shouted: Everyone hates you, you spread through your seed.

Angel said softly: Your seed fulfill their  purpose, the birds and bees you do feed.

Your flowers provide humans food,

and this is good.

If humans are careful, your stalk provides water, if your lost you can find a drink.

This is your purpose I think.

the milk from your stalk, treats arthritis and tendons and joints

and this is for sure the whole point.

You are needed

And must not be weeded.

by Sandra the MadSnapper

for 

The thistle is the symbol of Scotland, Found HERE

For those of you who also follow Beaus Blog, he is closed today. 

Info on food/drink from Foraging Thistle for Food and Medicine

Final Friday Fiction Feb 25, 2022

source HERE

 

I last saw a James Bond movie 60 years ago, the first was Dr. No and I was a senior in high school. Although I was shocked to the core of Ursulla Andress in the skimpy bikini with a knife on her hip, I was not all that impressed with the first 3 movie and they were the last of watching Bond movies.

Movies were expensive and after having my 2 sons, I rarely went to movies. In my 37 years with Bob he has refused to watch all things James Bond 007.  

We have been to exactly 2 movies in a theater in 37 years. The company I worked for rented an entire theater with 5 screens for our company picnic. Free pick of 5 movies and free hotdogs, popcorn and drinks. I dragged him and chose Harrison Ford in Random Hearts. It was not really worth watching. The other movie was The Passion, our church rented the theater, and it was free.  

We do like movies, but prefer them at home, where if he talks during the movie, I can say SHHHH and it doesn't matter if he gets up and down and there is no competing noise level. Also when he talks I can rewind to hear what was said while he was talking.

Browsing for a movie on our cable,  I stumbled on Skyfall, the 2012 James Bond movie and recorded it to watch when Bob lets go of the remote and goes to the YMCA to swim.

 I watched it. I watched it alone.

Yes, it is a tad Over the Top but then so are Zombies and the Living Dead, which is another set of movies I have never seen. 

Click here for the opening scene of the train fight. 

This is Bonds Home near the end of the movie.

I thought, Wow! now I know what Scotland looks like and can picture my blog friends there.

While watching this is what happened to the house

Since I love all things flames and things that go boom, I wondered if they burned a beautiful house.

Google Girl said Don't fret the house was a fake. It was a shell built in Surrey and I did get to see some of Scotland because it part of it was filmed there. How do I know what was real or not?

The special effects were mind blowing.

And now I want that car you see up above because it has MACHINE guns that come out of the headlights. Wow! I can think of many uses for THOSE.

I loved it! all of it!

 I am Shocked to find there are 26 James Bond movies! 

I am making a list and will be checking to find a few more. It will take me many years because Bob Rarely let's go of the Remote! 

About that I am NOT shocked!

NOTE: since I created this I watched Spectre! 

MEH! not all that good

How many of these movies have you seen? Did you like them?

Please don't hate me, but I much prefer Daniel Craig over Sean Connery, who is the only one I ever saw. Remember Dr No was 60 years ago and I saw it just before I graduated from High School.

If you have any time left after all this click HERE to see James Bond at Queen Elizabeths Birthday. 

If you Love it as much as I did, here is the search and I watched most of the videos HERE including listening to the Queens Guard playing the James Bond theme.

Joining Yam on Final Friday Fiction, Click HERE for the Rules if you want to try it.

The Oath-1865 FFF

 

Carrie, stood on the back porch with her hands deep in the soapy water, dragging each heavy piece of clothing up out of the water and scrubbing hard over the washboard. Each time she raised her eyes to the reflections in her kitchen window, her heart pounded with fear. She could see the two Union Soldiers, one on guard at her barn and one just behind her at the foot of the steps onto her porch.

Her mind filled with what she saw at the General Store the day before, her eyes downcast, so as not to meet the eyes of the Yankee Soldiers of the Northern Army 7th Volunteer. 

She saw only the feet of the soldiers as she walked carefully and listened to snatches of what words she could overhear.  She winced when she heard a soldier say, "Those damn rebels will sign The Oath, or rot in prison"      

She remembered two days ago when the Confederates set up a camp and the rebels had been gathering now for days.

She realized her mind had wandered to the day before, and pulled herself back into the here and now 

realizing she could smell the campfire burning and the smell of bacon as it floated across her porch and she could also hear their voices as they waited in trepidation.

 Sitting around in camp, waiting to see what would happen. They were upset, The War never came into this area of Florida during the war and now the Northen Army was only a few steps away.  

The Northern Soldiers were at the store, the oath was tacked on the wall by the doors, a wanted poster for Judah Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State was on the oak tree.

She heard in her head, talking about the 50,000 reward and the fact someone saw Judah in the nearby countryside. Smiling slightly, she thought, they don't know that he escaped to England and was no living there as the attorney/barrister that he was before the war. Her husband was the one who had started the rumor Judah was in the nearby woods

Hearing the bugle calls and the sounds of marching, she hung the last of her wash on the clothesline and headed to the front porch to stand with her sisters just in time to see her husband march past their home. 

Would there be a fight? Would the soldiers sign the oath and swear to allegiance of the United States Govt and abide by their laws? Would there be yet another battle fought here right in front of their home? 

The Stars and Stripes of the United States of America flew while the General shook hands with each of the Confederate soldiers that had signed the oath. 

Carrie sighed with relief; the signing of the oath meant The War Was over! Her husband had written his name on the oath and lifted his hand to swear allegiance. He was safe!

Ony the dead have seen the end of War! Plato

The signing of the oath is true, the story told by me is fiction. For Details of the signing visit Florida memory HERE 

All photos taken by and are the property of MadSnapper (Me) on Memorial Day 2015 at Manatee Historical Village Re-enactment 

Joining Final Friday Fiction with Yam 

The Ghost of Christmas Past FFF

 

In Sept of 2005, my dad had to move into a nursing home, suffering from advanced Parkinson's Disease and Dementia. He passed away July of 2006. During the year he was there, I spent many hours with him and all the staff and residents around him.

I fell in love with the home and the people. I retired Sept 26 of 2006 and went straight to the home and volunteered myself for 3 mornings a week, 9 to 12.

Christmas of 2006, above, I became Sandra Clause for the home until 2015.

My job was talking  to and loving the residents and also the official photographer for all events.

this included parties and dances and off-site visits to zoos and museums and parks.

I would take photos of the residents, make them into movies on CD's and then on a large screen TV we would all watch them over and over.

In 2007, new to the job of making CD movies, the Administrator said the families wanted copies of all the movies I made. I had no clue how to copy the movies.

Admin said go to room 401, Rich lives there and he will tell you how and might even copy them for you.

That visit to his room changed my life forever.

When I stepped in his room, there he sat, just like this. a twisted body, no movement except in his left arm and his head and of course his MOUTH which matched mine. 

We became Best Friends in that one visit. He not only copied all the movies for me but taught me how to do it and became my Photoshop Professor.  We spent hours and hours together.

It was a total shock to me that he could use a roller ball with only one hand and whip through his computer faster than the speed of light.

He brought laughter and joy to my life and to everyone who lived and worked in the home.

Nothing made him sad. this man who was picked up like a baby each morning and placed in his chair and lifted into bed at night. The aids that took care of him did it for LOVE not money.

Together Rich and I became Team Joy to the residents.

Every trip we took, every party we had, he and I were there together making people laugh.

That year, he invited me to meet him at the SPCA CANINE Festival, and we never missed going until the day he died. 

He left this earth Nov 8th, 2015, and remains in my heart still.

If you have a moment, scroll quickly through this link of my Life with Rich.

Rich could not hold a fork or spoon. He could feed himself at a special table, the height of his mouth. 

We laughed ourselves silly the first time I tried to put the harness on his hand that allowed a fork or spoon to be used to stab or rake food off the plate into his mouth.

I had in on backwards, not once but twice.

When we went out to eat, I fed him like a baby. Nothing bothered him, he laughed and talked and ate and made all the others at the table happy.

He had suffered from his disease his whole life, yet never complained, or whined, he was the most positive person I have ever known.

Christmas is the time of year I miss him most, because he loved Sandra Clause and she loved him.

Rich Rodgers LIFE in a wheelchair. As you scroll, be sure to click Older Post because the oldest are the best... you can see his life in photos, no need to read.

On this the day before the new Year of 2022, I wish all of you

a Year of the same Joy that Rich spread his entire life.

Happy New year from Sandra Clause and Rich of Christmas Past

Joining Yam on Final Friday Fiction, using a True Story