Microsoft OneDrive Civil War Battle Memory With Linda Lou

It has been a few days since I remembered the Microsoft OneDrive Memories of a particular day. But, today, I remember all the memories.

At the upper left we are looking at a Civil War battle re-enactment at a battlefield a few miles west of Granbury, Texas.

I've been to two Civil War battle re-enactment. They were impressive productions.

At the upper right, that would be Linda Lou you see, on our way to the top of South Mountain, in Phoenix, Arizona, back in October of 2018. Below that first Linda Lou photo is another, with Linda Lou now at the top of South Mountain, talking to a little dog.

The photo on the lower left is also at the top of South Mountain, where several Native Americans of, I think, the Apache Tribe, were selling products they'd handcrafted. If I remember correctly, Linda Lou bought a jewelry item of the earring or bracelet sort.

On the lower right that would be the Baker Hotel you are looking at, in Mineral Wells, Texas.

Hard to believe it was five years ago that I had fun driving Linda Lou to various Arizona locations. The drive to Tortilla Flats was another memorable moment. Seems like only yesterday...

Remembering The Civil War & When Linda Lou Pointed The Way Up South Mountain In Phoenix

 Today is one of the rare times that I remember the memories Google emails me, every day.

The upper left is a Civil War battle reenactment I watched at a battlefield west of Weatherford, or maybe it was the battle I watched southwest of Granbury. What I know for sure is I watched a Civil War battle reenactment on two occasions, one near Weatherford, one near Granbury.

It has been a long time since I have heard of any Civil War battle reenactments. They are a HUGE production. Maybe the people participating tired of doing so.

The memory on the lower right is the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. I wonder how the restoration of this giant old hotel is going.

The other three memories are of South Mountain in Phoenix.

At the lower left that is Linda Lou pointing the way to the summit of South Mountain.

The two remaining memories are from the summit of South Mountain.

The last time I spoke to Linda Lou she brought up that memory of being on top of South Mountain, and how we witnessed some trinket selling Native Americans being hassled by incoming park rangers. We found this extremely offputting, at the time, and still do.

I wonder what Google will remember for me tomorrow?

Fort Worth Weekly Static Over Confederate Battle Flag Ku Klux Klan Parade Infiltration

This week's Fort Worth Weekly Static column reflected on last Saturday's Fort Worth Stock Show Parade in downtown Fort Worth, opining the parade resembled a backwoods Ku Klux Klan rally.

Fort Worth Weekly made a good case as to what made the Stock Show Parade resemble a Ku Klux Klan rally, and before any Yankees reading this prejudge Fort Worth and its signature parade, you need to read in its entirety what Fort Worth Weekly's Static had to say.....

Stock Show Parade or Klan Rally?

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo officials are barring people from displaying the Confederate battle flag at official events from now on. The ban included participants at last Saturday’s downtown parade that drew thousands of spectators. One participating group has long displayed the flag during previous parades. A local branch of the Sons of Confederate Veterans protested by carrying flagless poles with black streamers. The group, founded in 1896 in Richmond, Va., by descendants of Confederate soldiers, sent out volunteers to distribute Confederate flags to 1,400 spectators, ensuring that the parade resembled an inbred, redneck, backwoods, Ku Klux Klan rally.

Afterward, on the Facebook page for “R.E. Lee Camp 239 Sons of Confederate Veterans,” administrators bragged about polluting the parade: “Most of the crowd loved us, and all went pretty well with only the occasional sarcastic comment,” read a post from Sunday, Jan. 17, the day after the event. “Of course, the media went to great pains to edit and crop their shots to try and not show the flags in the crowd. A couple of the flaggers were hassled by police and parade marshals for getting too close to what they determined to be private property; but conversations with Fort Worth’s finest let [sic] us to believe that they were with us but couldn’t speak out for fear of job reprisal.”

You know who wasn’t with you? People who equate the flag with pro-slavery sentiments. Waving it in public, putting a decal on your truck, or wearing it on a t-shirt are ways of saying, “I support people who fought to own slaves.”

Supporters say the familiar red flag with the blue X and white stars stands for states’ rights, independence, freedom, and preservation of history. Others see it as a fashion statement or a harmless homage to the Dukes of Hazzard. Whatever. If a huge group of people sees the flag as a grand insult, why would you want to flaunt it? The swastika was considered sacred for thousands of years. In the early 20th century, the symbol was thought to be lucky and was often engraved on flammable items such as space heaters as an added safety precaution. And then Hitler came along.

Who among you wants to walk around town waving a swastika flag today? You could explain to each person you meet that it’s really a religious symbol or that it means luck. But why would you want to? If you wear a swastika or a Confederate flag in this day and age, you look like someone who supports racism. If you flew the flag in battle 150 years ago, power to you. If you’re flying it now, you’re just an ass hat.

Sure, Americans enjoy personal freedoms and can display that flag if we wish. Freedom of expression is a wonderful thing. And, wonderfully, Texas Rep. Ramon Romero of Fort Worth didn’t curb his expressions. (Romero rode in the Stock Show parade, took photos of people waving Confederate flags, and posted them on his Facebook page. One photo showed baby carriages adorned with the controversial flags.)

“Hate was front and center today!!” Romero posted shortly after the parade. “What a shame that our city is so full of hate and ignorance that Confederate flags were distributed to Stock Show parade watchers all along the route…! Who gives Confederate flags to kids????! Racists! Our city deserves so much better!! Teachers teach, parents teach, elected officials speak out against this small minority of people that shamed our city today.”

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I thought I read somewhere that the yahoos who infiltrated Fort Worth's Stock Show Parade with Confederate Battle Flags were based in Weatherford. Weatherford is the county seat of Parker County, located on the far west end of the D/FW Metroplex.

This morning I was looking for a photo of being snowed in at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon when I came upon the photo you see at the top of a group of what appear to be Rebel troops assembled under the Confederate Battle Flag.

This photo was taken at a Civil War Battle Re-Enactment taking place at a location a few miles west of Weatherford.

This took place way back at the start of this century. In recent years I have not noticed announcements of Civil War Battle Re-Enactments. I was extremely impressed by what a HUGE deal the Weatherford re-enactment was. There was a Union Camp and a Confederate Camp. You could visit both. In the camps you could get yourself period appropriate vittles, like giant smoked turkey legs.

Watching the battle take place were women and other spectators in period garb. Even the "hospital" was very realistic, with limbs being sawed off and left in a pile where rats and dogs added to the realism.

As you can see the now notorious Confederate Battle Flag was part of this re-enactment. I thought nothing of it at the time. I am sure those hoisting that flag were doing so for authenticity, with doing so having nothing to do with making any sort of ugly racist statement.

Which I don't think was maybe the case with those yahoos who distributed Confederate Battle Flags at last Saturday's Fort Worth parade....

MLK DAY & Civil War Re-Enactments

It is a cold and drippy Martin Luther King Day here in Texas. And once more I am dead dog tired having been up since 4am. I brought the Puerto Rican Terror to the airport early today. And just like I said she would be, when I mentioned this yesterday, she was deep into her cups. I think it was wine this time. At 7am. She called me from San Juan a few hours later and sounded sober. I think she prefers the second leg of her Puerto Rico trips to be sober because she is in a little prop plane in which the ride has turned scary a time or two, particularly the last time, on her return, when it had to make an emergency landing, and the rest of the journey to San Juan had to be in a taxi that went over the speed limit all the way to the airport. She called me when she got to San Juan and insisted I bring a bottle of vodka to the airport when I picked her up a few hours later. I'm passive aggressive, though, so somehow I forgot the booze.

Lulu called today when I was up at the north end of the D/FW Metroplex in the boomtown of Flower Mound. Lulu is being deathly ill with a cold. She sounded awful. I wanted her off the phone, she was not pleasant to listen to, like a wheezing, stuffed up old man is how she was sounding. Lulu has developed a somewhat deep voice in her later years, sort of like what happened with Lucille Ball. I believe Lulu's voice is now quite a bit deeper than her first husband's, which sort of makes their world more logical these days since she has always been the macho one in that relationship. Though he is 100% purebred German and has a nasty Nazi-level temper when provoked, when he yells it is rather high pitched and thus not all that intimidating. Now Lulu does not even have to yell and her voice is intimidating. All Lulu has to do is give you the look and you know there's gonna be trouble.

So, change of subject and I'm being too lazy to insert a horizontal line to make note of a change. So, it's Martin Luther King Day. There were interesting transcripts of phone conversations between MLK and LBJ in the paper today. They were quite supportive of each other. Interesting in the context of the odd brouhaha between Miss Hilllary and Mr. Obama of late over who gets credit for the advances in Civil Rights during the 60s.

I think since I've been in Texas I've only seen the results of the Civil Rights Movement, I've not seen a single incident of the type which made it necessary. I have been to a Civil War Re-Enactment, the Civil War was sort of a major Civil Rights Movement. I don't know if Martin Luther King would have approved of Civil War Re-Enactments, but I'm pretty certain he approved of the results of the Civil War.

The last of these Civil War Re-Enactment photos may be a bit disturbing. The wounded get brought to the field hospital where amputations take place. They make it look very realistic, including sawed-off limbs and rats sniffing about. The soldier getting cut on contributes to the realism by screaming real loud. And some of the women in period costume get the vapors and swoon. Quite a spectacle. And you can observe it all while gnawing down on a BBQ turkey leg that you can purchase for only $3. (U.S. currency only, no Confederate notes allowed)