Historic bits...

Our State was one of the original 13 colonies...

and it had some failures  trying to gain Independence from the British Empire, the Revolutionary War.  The history is lengthy today I want to share this little bit.  

Unfortunately the stately tree fell down about 10 yrs ago during a bad storm.....these plaques stand on this site and are written as if the Old Oak was a witness to the history that took place all around it, so have a quick read of these plaques...

Our town grew from a Catawba Tribe foot  path and was founded in 1733.  Joseph Kershaw a local merchant had a trade route from the nearby Wateree River,  to the ports in Charleston, named for King Charles II the path became  the Kings Road.  Now it's called US Highway 1. 

German national Baron Johann de Kalb had come to the colonies to spy for the French against the British and he returned to the colonies with the Marquis Lafayette ...to help the Americans with their fight for freedom.  He was made a Major General in the Continental Army and  was unfortunately killed at the battle of Camden here in our town  after having success in Maryland and Delaware.

The Hero  Baron DeKalb was originally buried on this spot...when the Old Oak was 10 yrs old...after he was and most of the Patriots led by Horatio Gates were killed.   Gen Cornwallis,  whopped us good and then he moved on down to Charleston!    I found it interesting to learn the name of the White Stallion we always see George Washington riding, was named Prescott!  He came thru the town feeling obliged to do so due to the huge loss suffered by the Continental Army and he stopped here to pay tribute to the Baron de Kalb. His remains were later moved to the Presbyterian Church in town which was designed by the famous Robert Mills....who also designed the town's Court House and  the Washington Monument..

And if you look to the east of this spot and across the highway up on the hill is  a replica of the Joseph Kershaw - Cornwallis House which was built on the original foundation of the building. 
 British General Charles Cornwallis used this as his command center when he had siege of the town from 1780-81.  Cornwallis had the Baron brought to his surgery in this mansion that had belong to the merchant Joseph Kershaw...but he passed away. 

 Gen Cornwallis moved south about one year after he took control of the town with his roughly 4000 redcoats.....and left the town in shambles.

  all this history is just outside the gates of the Quaker Cemetery where I go birding sometimes, and its only yards away from this historic grounds.  

There is a new HQ building under way one day when it's all done I will go photograph it. 

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The cemetery is full of old Live Oaks, and other nice trees..

the birds I found after  my little history tour....

White throated Sparrow

The rest are some yard birds from over the weekend...

Hermit Thrush

And the large Pileated Woodpecker, these birds are  crow sized and quite striking and have a  loud piercing call. 

The Northern Cardinal 

the  snow over the weekend....it was pretty but it was COLD,.

And now it's gone, Im happy to report! 
BUT we may get more on the 28th which is Today!! So I hope to include more town history in some future posts and you can get a feel of how our town has kept some of the history alive. 

 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

The Premier of 2018!

It has been dang cold! Record breaking...like 9F and then 11F degrees overnight for 5 days straight...and daytime temps barely getting to freezing, or one degree above.  Just not what we signed  up for here in the deep south!  Daytime I chop wood, nighttime I binge watch Breaking Bad, wrapped in blankets, while I burn the wood in the fireplace!  It's hard to get any rest when you chop and saw all day and are up and down every 10 minutes feeding the fire I'm exhausted! And you can see this is a morning photo of the conditions outside and inside my house! When I first got up it read 52 inside I had to put on extra heat to get it up to 57.  This was on Thursday. And 2 days before....
SNOW.

We got about 1/2" in total, not a lot but some parts of the state are still buried. The coastal regions were hit with snow and ice...I'm just happy I'm not traveling right now that would not have been fun to have to hold up in the snow and cold.  Southern weather is very unpredictable.  So I've been keeping the bird feeders filled and I've had some nice birds in the yard...I heard Casey barking up a storm in the front yard, it was a Northern Harrier on the ground...I didn't see any prey so I think he tried for something and missed. Hope it wasn't Casey he missed?  I didn't have the camera ready for that one.

I very seldom see these guys on the feeders..the Downy Woodpecker, with all the trees in the yard they have more than enough food...

Even tho they didn't hang around 6 Blue Jays were in one of the dogwood trees for a few minutes by the time I got this shot through the front window all but one had moved on.  The never eat at the feeders anymore...I don't understand that.

Everybody is all puffed up from the cold as you can tell... bad for the migrating birds like the American Goldfinch they come here to escape northern winters...

American Gold & House Finch

I haven't been out with my camera searching for birds much don't want to take my gloves off to deal with the buttons...so these were shot on the run as I went about my chores in the yard...the Northern Cardinal is like a bright red beacon against the cold sky...it is almost impossible for this bird to hide.

I've been lucky to have not one but two Pine Warblers in the yard and they chase each other off the feeder, it's a nice bright limey green/yellow color almost breeding color as Spring is really NOT that far away! By late February some of these birds will be preparing for nesting! Of course that all depends on the fickle weather. 

                                            Pine Warbler                                              

The puffy little Chipping Sparrow is one of my favorites they have some sounds that sometimes leave me guessing...I always seem to forget what great song birds they are...

The Hermit Thrush is not hanging around to get at the feeder he does expect some water to be provided so I gotta get out there and put out some nice warm water for him/her This bird looks small here but honestly he is nearly the size of an American Robin. 

It warmed today to 34 It actually felt good! A Yellow Bellied Sapsucker came around checking his "holes" I made a video of him but my camera is really starting to misbehave and it never actually recorded. 

The first week so far so good I didn't go anywhere just hung close by so I was happy to have these birds come to me. 

chipping sparrows

A very cold start but hopefully we have 3 more days and on Tuesday it is supposed to start warming up some!  I'm ready for that. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Good Grief!

....sort of an addition to my last blog is this weeks blog.  Before 9 am I'm not only up and filled my bird feeders, I've also cooked enough food to last 3 days!  Just simple stuff a pot of red beans rice is on the other burner, and in the oven some corn, potatoes, then in the microwave a bag of steaming broccoli, and then some tea bags on the boil....

not a good shot of the downy? woodpecker at the suet, due to being taken through the glass...

The reason for all this flurry of activity so early?

...it's snowing again!! AND they say its an 80% chance of ICE later so we could lose our power...at least we will have food cooked to eat and if we dont lose power we have our meals ready to warm up and eat.  We caught up some drinking water and got our lanterns at the ready, and thats about all one can do in prep for the loss of electric.  Now we wait and see..

The birds  are not happy campers it will soon be time for our spring birds to start nest building!

The new wood on the benches

This snow is a very wet and heavy snow...its almost like slush, the temp is 34 degrees...so once it dips tonight it will be ice for sure.

...oh well nothing we can do about that.  

in unrelated news, I found this awesome hard shell camera bag at Goodwill, my Kodak fits in perfectly!  I paid $2.85 I bought it for resale but when I saw how well it fit my camera Im keeping it!

PHOTO?

Here's a short video of the snow..its pretty coming down.
 

              

                                            Today is my son's 33rd! happy birthday JT.

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

White Stuff!

WE had snow! It was late arriving we were looking for it on Tuesday, but it came Tuesday night looks like 3 inches...its cold~

 One good thing it brings the birds into better focus, they dont disapear into the foilage...I got that yellow shafted Flicker through the window...there was a small flock around.

              

I'm having some trouble with the spacing of these photos...but I'm not gonna mess too much the more I mess the worse they get :o(~ so its all over the place! Anyways the Northern cardinal and Blue Jays were busy in the yard, 

                               As well as the chipping sparrows, female cardinals ....

Annie, and a last days Camelia....

                        

Dark eyed Juncos males and females abound, and a few American Goldfinch showed up- for snacks too!!

                     

At least I don't have to look at all the pine needles I have not removed off the front lawn this winter...that's kinda nice!

Course it will still be there when the snow melts, but for now I can imagine its perfect under there...

                      

The mail hasn't run yet, hope the mail person doesn't have an encounter with that icicle!

Annie likes it....and so do I!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

DixxeLand Christmas Wish

We have no snow for Christmas, but here is some from times past to wish you a Happy Holiday from ME here in DixxeLand!!

For anyone who wonders where and what DixxeLand is, I shall explain!  DixxeLand is where I go inside my mind when I want peace and tranquility. It comes expressly from my imagination, and its  that comfort zone I turn to when I need solace and when my spirit needs to be refreshed.  ITS my special place to commune with my  friends real and imagined and its a place where ALL my Dreams DO COME TRUE! So wont you join me in DixxeLand? You can be anyone you want to be when you're there and you can enjoy doing anything--- you are only limited by what you can imagine!

IT is my virtual reality and my sanctuary when times are hard.

A bright spot that I can carry with me no matter what!

...cause whatever burns on the inside, shows on the outside...

hope you can find your way to DixxeLand when ever you feel the urge!

No matter who you are or what you're facing it can be made better, in DixxeLand!

Y'ALL COME 

PEACE