Wordless Wednesday

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Driving Through The Georgia Backcountry

I packed a hurried repast to satisfy the hunger pains

while ensuring that the camera was charged and ready.

Then we cranked up the trusty "cage"

for a trek through the countryside.

These are a few I, or husband, snapped along the way.

Gladiolus alatus

A local herald of Spring, they're not native but they grow wild here.

Byrd Farm

Ralston Road

Corn field

on Cross Swamp Road

Mother Goose and her two

surviving goslings.

Sinclair Road

Abandoned farm

Ralston Road

Otter Creek

Otter Creek Road

Ride Safe,

(NOTE: More photos reside here. All where taken in Pierce County, Georgia USA)

Our Day In Pictures: Southeast Georgia Countryside

Today it was quite pretty but too windy to ride comfortably. So we parked the metal steeds took the 'cage' (4 wheels for you non-riders) for a spin. All these photos were taken on Big Creek Road then Bennett Still Road in Bacon County, Georgia.

 This was an abandoned farm house

on Big Creek Road. From the outbuildings

still standing, they must have specialized

in raising tobacco.

---

A little ways from the above place,

just around the corner on Bennett Still Road,

Sweetie spied this cute little place.

The horses looked so contented and well fed.

Just had to snap a pic.

Hope you enjoyed the ride too on this lovely Sunday!

Ride Safe

~ Sparky ~

Country Surprises In Pictures

Living in the country, sometimes one sees all manner of nature. Today, driving down a frequented nearby road, I spied a sleeping Barred Owl on a branch. He was a few feet off the road, so, I managed to snap this photo from inside the vehicle.

I made sure to not disturb his beauty rest.

Below, I saw this long ago abandoned barn on Scuffletown Road on our cold, sunny, winters day and had to stop and take a photo.

When I see it I wonder, "Why is the barn abandoned? Are the owners long gone?"

My hubby snapped the photo below of a pond, also on Scuffletown Road. Scuffletown is located in Pierce County, Georgia.

I always see God's handywork in nature. It's His signature on His beautiful creation.

"And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” Genesis 1:20 ESV

Thank you God for reminding me who You are and who I am in your creation.

House Architecture Style Question

For all my wonderful followers out there, I have a quick question please. Does anyone recognize this diamond style? Most of the decoration had deteriorated and disappeared. It appears that it was used to decorate all around the house. Just curious as to what it's called.



The abandoned farm house is located in Bacon County, Georgia. Very unusual looking, I thought. It's quite old.

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday.

Thanks! :))

Our Day In Pictures

It was a rainy day in paradise today in Southeast Georgia. Even as I "pen" these late night musings, it's still coming down. So, Steve and I hopped in Ye Ol' Jeep and went exploring.

Wanna come with? Here's our day in pictures. [click on photos to enlarge]

Altamaha Apiaries
Gardi, Wayne County, Georgia
Built circa 1900, this structure originally served the community as a post office and general store. I found this message posted at another blog: "The Altamaha Apiary [sic], in Gardi, was started by my wife's family around the turn of the century (circa 1903) ... it was sold and left the family. The building is currently owned by a close family friend." Signed "Co A". I don't know who the family was!

Look at all the old bee hives
stored behind the building.
I'll bet they were all once busy as little bees.

Altamaha Waterfowl Wildlife Management Area
Then we skeedaddled over to the coast, north of Brunswick, and drove around in the Altamaha WWMA. We saw several small birds but no waterfowl. I wonder if it was even too wet for them?!

No problem!!
I think I'll stay in the truck, thank you. I've had my lunch, don't want to risk feeding them too. :)

Champney Island Road

Opps! We drove off the map!

The Church Of The Good Shepard (Episcopal)
There's a lady buried in their front lawn. It's the only marked grave there. It states, "Deaconess Anna E. B. Alexander, Founder, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church 1894, Parochical School 1902, First Black Deaconess Ordained 1907, 18?? - 1947, Rest In Peace". There's a newer church building right next to the original.

Saint Cyprians Episcopal Church
There was another neat old black church in Darien (McIntosh county) just across the way. Crossing the Butler River north of Brunswick on into Darien. The Episcopals must have had a lot of missionaries in this area. The historical sign states the church was established in 1876.

Neat Old House
These two photos (above and below) were taken on Highway 99 leading out of Darien towards Ludowici.

Another interesting old house

Rain, rain, go away ...
Finally headed home down historical Hwy 57 towards Ludowici. Had to stop at the IGA to get a 'secret ingredient' for Steve's super venison meatballs.

Venison Meatballs
These are ABSOLUTELY HEAVENLY!!! Want the recipe? Maybe another post.

I'm too pooped to pop and too old to stroll after all this 'work'. [ha ha]

Hope y'all enjoyed the photos! (More here if interested)

Hudson Motorcar Company

Cars. TM & © 1995- Disney/Pixar
We were watching the Disney movie "Cars" on DVD last night, and one of the 'characters' in the animated movie is a Hudson Hornet.

That got me to wondering about the Hudson Motorcar Company. Could the company have been created by a relative?

It turns out there really was a 1951 Hudson Hornet and it was indeed fast ... fast for it's day, anyway!

"In 1909, four former associates of Ransom E. Olds (Roy Chapin, Howard Coffin, Frederick Bezner and James Brady) began building a line of cars that became known for value, performance and solid engineering.

Each of the founders put up $1,500, not much by auto industry standards, even in those days. The big bankroller was Joseph L. Hudson, department store magnate who invested $90,000 in the new motor-car venture. Hudson's portion was by far the largest investment. Roy Chapin, who emerged as the leader of Hudson Motor Car Co. and whose son, Roy Jr., would later run American Motors, the result of a merger of Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson, prudently decided to name the car after the man who put up most of the money.

The Hudson Motor Car Co. came to life in the winter of 1909, with a total capitalization of $100,000. First factory was that of the Aerocar, a venture that had gone under. Chapin and Coffin both were "graduates" of Ransom Olds' Olds Motor Works. They subsequently had built the Thomas-Detroit and the Chalmers-Detroit before launching Hudson."

In the 1930's Hudson was an innovator with its Essex and Terraplane lines, offering a choice of either six or eight cylinder engines. The Company was the first to use "unibody" designs. Eventually Hudson languished, merged with others and moved on to other endeavors.

1951 Hudson Hornet
After reading about the Company, I decided to study more about the man behind the money, Joseph Lowthian Hudson and his genealogy. I was curious to whether he was one of my husband's distant cousins or not.

According to other researchers, Joseph L. Hudson was born Oct. 17, 1846 in England and died Jul. 5, 1912 in England from a bout with pneumonia. He earned his money by being a Department store magnate in Detroit. He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan. I did a little more digging and Joseph was the son of Richard Hudson (b:c1820 New Castle-Upon-Tyme, England) and wife Elizabeth Lowthian (b: c1824 England).

Joseph never married, but his brothers and sisters did. Looks like he's not one of hubby's long-lost cousins but probably back somewhere in the murky waters of history, he and hubby are related. He may be one of the "lost" direct descendants of hubby's original Gentleman Henry "Harry" HERDSON, or a brother of same, but that is beyond my expertise and current monetary situation.

Well, it was fun learning about yet another Hudson anyway and a car company I'd never paid much attention to until today.

Sources: Hudson Motorcar Company, Pixar, FindAGrave, FamilySearch.Org, Personal Knowledge

A Drive Down Memory Lane

As I was surveying a local cemetery close to home recently (i.e. snapping photos of tombstones for family genealogists to use at FindAGrave) I happened to glance off into the mature pinewoods and there was another kind of graveyard. I found old abandoned 'skeletons' of vehicles and farm equipment.

When I happened upon the Chevy pickup, a flood of memories hit me. It was the memory of my father and I building an antique 1949 pickup together.


Abandoned Chevrolet Pickup
In the early 1970's, while I was still in High School, my Dad bought two 1949 Chevrolet pickup's. One was for parts and one to actually rebuild. Previously, Dad had built a large workshop on our 1 acre of land, so, there was plenty of room. We pulled motors, scavenged oil soaked parts to find something usable, spent many an hour down at NAPA Auto Parts, haunted junk yards. Finally, it was ready for the finishing touches: the paint job. Dad took it somewhere locally and cheap and had it painted the original Dark Green.

Everybody in our small town of Titusville talked about Don Ackman's truck.

I quite often drove it to school. It was a pickle to handle too. The 3 speed gear shift was on the column. The starter was on the floor ... it was quite a trick to hold down the starter and crank the motor at the same time, it took a little finesse. There was no power steering or power windows. The seats were the hard, uncomfortable, bench-style. The windshield wipers were horrible. I recall driving home from a friends house one night in one of our frog strangler Central Florida thunderstorms and the vacuum-driven windshield wipers would slow down as I applied the gas! So, in order to see, when I thought it was safe enough I would get going as fast as possible then let off the gas and coast so the wipers would speed up, then I could see well enough to proceed a little farther.

It was an experience.

Then one day Dad just up and sold the truck many years ago. Just broke my heart.

I thought I'd had a photo of it but it must be hidden in some boxes somewhere. So here's one from the Internet that is similar:


216 C.I.D. V-6, 3 speed, 5 window
Source: Larry Chapman
The only difference between the one above and Dad's truck was he had an oval window in the back. It was quaint but rendered watching traffic behind you an exercise in futility.

It wasn't comfortable or really very practical, but, oh, if that old truck could talk ... it would have such happy memories of growing up to regale.

♥ ∞

Of Abandoned Homes And Such

We live way out in the country. I'm amazed at how many abandoned barns, farm houses, Vehicles and buildings in general are still standing here. I look at these former homes and I wonder: who were they? Where they happy? Was there a lot of love in the house once? Why did the families seemingly walk off and let these nice old fashioned homes collapse into the ground. The structures are kind of artistic, really. Since I'm not good at drawing, I started taking digital photos of these places.


The land where this old home resides is very lovely. It's only 1 mile from our home, on slightly hilly ground (for southeast Georgia), has mature pine and oaks, and a fair size pond. Big Plus: it's on a paved road!

I waaaannnnttt! [lol]

I've been coveting this parcel for about a year now. My husband and I are avid motorcyclists and riding out on our one mile of dirt road gets kinda dicey.

Must be human nature ... just never happy.

Well, it's fun to dream ... and like my step-mom would so wisely say, "If you get eveything you want, dear, you'll be so bored." That's so true Myra. So true.

Have a great day y'all!

♥ ∞

Those Where The Days My Friend

In 1969, Steve was driving to work one morning in his 442 (a 1967 Oldsmobile). He drove by the Big R Chevrolet dealership daily. But this morning he glanced over at the dealership and they were unloading an orange and white 1969 Z-28 Camaro off a car carrier. It was Lust At First Sight! He immediately stopped at Big R and my ever impulsive husband traded on the spot.


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They hammered out a deal. Then the smiling salesman loaned him a brand new demo, an Impala, while the Camaro was being prepped. He picked up his new car two days later (he had to wait on all the usual financial shuffling, etc.). Then he drove home a happy boy, uh, man.

From all the tales I've heard this Camaro was something else!

Chevy built the new Z-28 so that they could qualify it for the TransAm Series Race. It had the only 302 cubic inch V-8 that Chevy ever made. All the parts of the motor where straight from the Chevrolet racing catalog. It would only run on Sunoco 460 Premium fuel or it would knock and fuel economy was not a factor (15 highway, 10 town). It had no air conditioning or any of the now common amenities because the motor turned over 6000 rpm. Chevy wouldn't guarantee the air conditioner motor at such high RPM's. It didn't have power steering, so it was a bear to drive at slow speeds and in parking lots!

He once drove it from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach Speedway, which is approximately 90 miles one way, in under 55 minutes. By the time he got there, none of guys in the car could hear and they all felt like their insides were shaken not stirred!

It was definitely a man's car. A true muscle car.

Unfortunately, he had traded the Z-28 by the time I came along, but I get to hear all the fun stories about his shenanigans.

These old autos where uncomfortable as can be, but I miss really fast cars. They had character.


♥ ∞

Let's Go For A Nature Walk

"28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"Matthew 6:28-30 6:28

Old house on Mershon Road surrounded by Goldenrod
(Solidago fistulosa)
Aster family

Living in high cotton

A pond on Cathleen Road

Spanish Needle "Begger Ticks"
(Bidens pilosa)
Composite family

Rabbit Bells
(Crotolaria spectabilis)
Pea family

Gardia or False Foxglove
(Agalinis fasciculata)
Figwort family

Narrow-Leaved Sunflower
(Helianthus angustifolius)
Aster family

Cypressvine
(Ipomoea quamoclit)
Morning Glory family

Sugarcane Plumegrass
(Saccharum giganteum)

Grass family

And that's just some of the fall wildflowers we have right now. They're growing everywhere! Farmers are harvesting their crops and the flowers put on a show on the sidelines. It's nature at her finest.
I hope y'all enjoyed our little sorjourn through one of the small pleasures of living in Pierce county, Georgia.
God bless! ♥ ∞