Civil War Weekend and Mom I blew up the dog

Oh my goodness, I have so much to tell.

First I'll start with Friday. Friday was an interesting day all around. I had planned a lunch with my boys but first my #1 son calls and says that Bosco had a little accident. Here's the conversation.

#1 son: He's ok but a tennis ball exploded in his face and he is a little singed.

Hysterical mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN A TENNIS BALL EXPLODED!?

#1 son: Well Barbie (#2 sons girlfriend), Dave (#2 son) and Mike (#3 son) made a bomb out of a tennis ball and Bosco found it and tried to play with it and it blew up.

Hysterical mom: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MADE A BOMB OUT OF A TENNIS BALL!? HOW DO YOU MAKE A BOMB OUT OF A TENNIS BALL!?

This is where #1 son tells me how to make a bomb out of a tennis ball and I will NOT share it here because it is stupid, dangerous and probebly illegal.

Hysterical mom: WHY DID THEY LEAVE IT AROUND!? DON'T THEY KNOW HOW MUCH BOSCO LOVES TENNIS BALLS!?

#1 son: Yes but they put it on the table and Bosco found it.

Not screeming anymore mom: Don't they know Bosco has no problem getting anything off the table?

#1 son: I don't know but Boz is a little hurt so maybe you could look at it.

So I husstle off to the house to find a burned and singed doggie. Want to see his owie?

This is really the worst of it. It does not appear to be too deep but it will need to be cleaned and watched. No vet necessary at this time.

In this picture you can see his singed chest hairs.
Also he has no whiskers.
I couldn't get a pic of that. He was a little freaked out. He doesn't limp but it is sore.


I did have lunch later in the afternoon with #2, girlfriend and #3 son. It was rather late by the time we could get together. My boys called it Linner. Lunch/dinner. I'm sure I heard this on a commercial.


Ok so now the Civil War. How very awsome. While an enactment was going off my phone rang. I think it rang, if it hadn't buzzed I never would have heard it. It's the office so I yell,"I'm in the middle of the Civil War you have to speak up." I think I don't hear anything so I yell, "Can you hear me?" Oh yes, she hears me. She tells me today that she thinks I have either discovered a time machine or I need to up my meds.

They have a lot of little tents all around. They all look the same. There is a tent part where they sleep the night and then an awning part where they entertain. One gal called it her parlor. Cute. So I am looking in this one tent and I see an old sewing machine. Looks a lot like my treadle. So I take a good look and it's not. It's a hand crank! Ewwwww, I want one! So BH is trying to get my attention but I'm in the middle of an important conversation with owner of hand crank so I ignore him and then BOOM. A canon goes off, then another, then another! HOLY COW! I throw my arms up and screem (who could hear?) and almost hit the dirt. Oh my goodness. I wasn't all that close and I felt like all the air was being sucked out of me. I run out and look for BH who is nowhere to be found. OH MY GOD! A canon goes off and he totally leaves me. He sees me spinning in circles trying to find him, he thinks it's me, he has never seen my face in complete panic before but he recognizes the clothes. "Babe I was trying to warn you that the canon's were about to go off." No. No he didn't. He could have yelled "Canon's about to go off" or something to that effect, not "Babe? Babe?" That could mean anything, I'm bored lets move on, I'm going to get a beer, pee, whatever. How was I to know it meant CANON'S GOING OFF. Lord have mercy.

The entire valley looked like this.

This gentleman had a ear phone hearing aide. Very very cool. If you look close you can see it. We had lunch at the table next to him and his precious wife.

Then I happen to catch President Lincoln strolling about before his speech. And here he is delivering his speech.
I was able to sidetrack the very important President for a snapshot.

This is The Mary Todd Lincoln. Now this is an interesting story. She is a 4th generation from Todd or a 4th cousin of Ms. Todd Lincoln. I forget the whole story. She had some black lace with sequins that came from one of Mary's dresses. She is the same height (5'2) and weight (didn't ask) as Mary. She also volunteered that she shares some of the same aliments of the first lady. I didn't ask that either. She was a bit of a chatterbug and I was ready to move on.

This is a friend of ours who is always at these reenactments. This weekend he played Jefferson Davis. I think that was what he said. We sat in his parlor with his lovely wife and chatted for a bit.

In the parlor of the Executive Mansion (as the White House was known then) with Jefferson Davis and wife. Yep that is a Miller High Life Beer and salt water taffy. On the table behind is Rebel Yell Whisky. I understand that Rebel Yell was made back then. Not too sure about the Millers.

John Twoshirts

This fine gentleman sat with us in the Davis's parlor. He called himself John Twoshirts. I have never heard of him. We called him John Twopants, Nopants, Pantshirts, everything but Twoshirts. He was a very nice man but looked more like Colonel Sanders to me.