Hey, y'all. We drove to Shiloh yesterday only to find a sign at the
entrance to the park that said "Weekend Demonstrations Cancelled."
D'oh!! (They'd had some pretty heavy rains over the past couple of
days, and it was a soggy mess.) However, having driven 150+ miles to
get there, we weren't about to turn around and go home with our tails
tucked. We had a cooler full of cold drinks, cold fried chicken, cole
slaw and baked beans, and other snacky things to sustain us throughout
the day, and had intended to be out all day, so we did what any
sensible person would do when handed a bag of lemons - we made
lemonade, of course!

We took the driving tour of the
battlefield; stopped at every marked stop on their map, as well as a
few places that weren't marked but looked interesting. Every marker
that explained who, what, when about the Battle of Shiloh that had
taken place on Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th in 1862 was
examined and read, and the ones that had a button to push and listen to
a narrative about the particular site were listened to with great
interest. We did a lot of walking, too. It was cold and windy, but we
didn't really care. We'd been to Shiloh once before, years ago, but it
was pouring down rain so we did the driving tour but never got out of
the car, so we missed all the interesting points at that time. This
time we saw a lot, and we'll go back again some day and catch things
that I'm sure we missed this time. The peach orchard figured big in the
battle, and they've just planted a new crop of peach trees, so it will
be neat to see it when the trees are mature and you can actually
picture the scene as it played out among the peach trees in bloom. (Did
you catch the dates above....Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th -
same date/day of the week in 2008 as in 1862?) Anyway, Jack took 99
pictures; he posted 34 of them on his page. I only posted the ones with
me/us in them - didn't wanna steal his thunder...**giggle**...

We
got home around 8:00 last night, so today I'm doing all the chores I
didn't get done yesterday because we were out gallivanting around and
goofing off. As I was wheeling the laundry cart from the bedroom to the
laundry room, Shawn looked up from the couch where he was sitting
watching DIY TV or the History Channel or whatever and asked "Does the
laundry ever stop?" I told him that until everybody started running
around naked, and not bathing and using so many towels and washcloths,
that I didn't see the laundry every slowing down, let alone
stopping...he allowed as how he couldn't see that happening any time
soon, and I went on with the laundry cart and left him to his
television. Apparently he did laundry yesterday while we were gone,
because when I opened the dryer to put in a load of wet jeans, it was
full of his jeans and t-shirts and boxers. (Why don't "kids" sort their
clothes before they wash them? Jini doesn't sort hers either....it's
not just a "Shawn" thing...Don't they realize the jeans will beat the
crap out of the lighter weight t-shirts and stuff, or that colors will
bleed and make your light colored stuff come out dingy? Or don't they
care? Hmmmmmm.......)

Peggy Jane says they're raising the
campground fees at Fox Ridge, from $15 a night to $20 a night, or $30 a
night on holiday weekends. And if you want to camp on holiday weekends,
you have to pay for three nights. Well, crap, we always go to stay and
visit Mom and Dad on holiday weekends, because we've got the holiday
off and don't have to use up vacation days (which are limited, of
course). So where it used to cost $45 for a weekend of camping, it's
going to cost $90, and gas is inching ever closer to $4.00 a gallon.
You know how the oil companies like to raise the gas prices around
holidays....We've already cut the budget as close as we can - I don't
get to send care packages to our troops any more, all I can do is write
letters and send e-mails. Groceries have gotten ridiculous, gas has
been ridiculous for awhile (and yes, Pitbull, I am aware of what you're
having to pay for a gallon of gas in Canada - but us folk south of the
border aren't used to it being so high, and just getting higher every
day.) Everything is costing more and more every day, and our
salaries/wages are staying right where they are. We might not get to go
to Fox Ridge for Memorial Day; we're going to have to start scrimping
and saving pennies to pay for a stay over Labor Day. We usually go up
for both, but if it has to be one or the other we'll go Labor Day,
because that puts us there for Dad's birthday, August 31st, and Paul
and Jennifer and the girls are planning on going up then as well. It'll
be tougher for the siblings who live close to the park to camp and
spend time with Mom & Dad, as it is. But we have to drive 300 miles
to get there, so we have to figure the cost of fuel into the equation
as well. Darn it!!

Well, I've got laundry going and a stack of
dirty dishes that need to be washed, and if I don't get up from here
and get busy, the boss might fire me. That could be bad news. LOL!!