Arts and Crafts of Myra and Dad

It's a rainy day in our Georgia paradise. Hurricane Gustav is playing with Louisianna, hundreds of miles away. Our little area is enjoying some nice, easy rain off of it. Steve is napping in his easy chair, watching TV, and I was strolling around the house looking at all our nice photos, art work, and other 'treasures'. I thought it would be a good idea to share. Above is one of Myra's works: Mabry's Mill in Virginia. I don't know the precise year she painted this one. Myra didn't date her work, but I think it was in the early 1980's (but that could be inaccurate).

These treasures are only treasured by me, I'm sure. They are the works of my now deceased step-mother, Myra Cook Ackman and my adopted father Donald Willard Ackman. Myra was a talented artist.

The one above is her rendition of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral in Titusville, Florida where I grew up. The building is so large it could be easily seen from across Indian River.

Dad found late in life that he could create beautiful woodwork. He had quite a collection of tools in his workshop when he died. These tools were given to his good friend and neighbor Clyde Lovelace. That was OK, since I already have a workshop full of new tools (and prefer them over the old ones). To the right is one of Dad's rocking chairs. It was modeled after Mum Mum's rocker. Mrs. Edna Bella Ehle Ackman, affectionately known as "Mum Mum", was my grandmother and his mother.

Dad also crafted little wallhanging do-dads, like the sconces and clock below that he sold at craft shows. I put the artificial orange flower on the sconces and painted the Southwest art on the clock. :o) Well, I thought they were too plain. I had to trash them up a little.
Well, that's the end of our tour Ladies and Gentleman. I hope you enjoyed my little trip down Memory Lane. Thanks for tagging along. Please file out single file and be sure to sign the Guestbook (leave a comment) on your way out. Friendly Folks are always welcome here!

I miss ya 'Mom'. 'Til we all meet in Heaven. ♥ ∞



Donald Willard Ackman (adopted father)
Born: 02 March 1924 Imperial, Allegheny County, PA
Died: 03 January 2006 Forest City, Rutherford County, NC
Cremated, remains rest in Titusville, Florida

Myra Cook Morgan Ricketts Ackman (step mother)
born: 09 January 1921 Democrat, Letcher County, KY
Died: 18 Janaury 2004 Forest City, Rutherford County, NC
Cremated, remains at lawyer's office in Forest City, NC

Blog Has Yet Another New Look

Ok, I've changed the blog look again. Whatya think? Blue my color? :o) Next week I may go purple or yellow, who knows. I'm so fickle. The tedium is partly due to the fact that we're housebound this month because of Steve's rotator cuff surgery and the weather. [sigh] Maybe we'll be able to do more in September.

Sparky ♥ ∞

Photos Taken On Our Country 'Estate'

Photos taken whilst strolling around our estate on a lazy Sunday afternoon. OK, so it's only 7 acres. It feels like an estate after living in the big city of Jacksonville, FL on that postage stamp size yard. :o)

This is an unknown vine intertwining itself with our sapling red oaks by the fence. Can anyone identify this plant? I can not find it in my plant identification book for Southeastern Plants (Zone 8).



This lovely plant with vibrant purple berries is Beauty Berry. They are very common here in Southeast Georgia. I believe the berry's are poisonous to humans, I could be wrong. Anyway, I wouldn't eat one to find out.





This is a cluster of wild grapes growing along the fence close to the 'branch' (creek). They must like wet feet because it does stay damper back in this area. Steve said the berry's are quite good if peeled. The berries can also be made into jams and jellies.


As always, there are more photos at myphotoalbum under "Landscapes, Animals, Insects, Nature, Etc".
http://redbirdacres.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album04&page=7

Enjoy ~ Sparky ♥ ∞

Found A Hornets Nest!

We were just finishing our daily walk around the yard this morning and I happened to see a hornet's nest right on our driveway near the carport! How in the world we and the dogs managed to escape getting stung, is beyond me. I'm told the doggone nest was about two years old too. It's just a miracle.

I called Allgood Exterminating in Waycross and Randy came out this afternoon. I sure like them. They give good service and don't overcharge. Anyway, Randy even cleaned up and sprayed the cedar tree afterwards so the tree wasn't even damaged. We're thankful this was taken care of so quickly.

There are more full size photos at: http://redbirdacres.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album11 . I got some very good photos of the whole extermination.

Enjoy ~ Sparky ♥ ∞

Pilot Record Search Database at LDS

I have copied this from another web site: http://mountaingenealogy.blogspot.com/ . I have been using this Pilot Family Search today and it has oodles of wonderful genealogy information.

FamilySearch added over 2 million new images or indexed records this week to its pilot Record Search databases. Thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers who help bring these projects to the Web for public access. Patrons can search these databases for free online at FamilySearch.org or directly at http://pilot.familysearch.org/ .

WWII Draft Reg. Cards
1,651,453 images
Updated - 1 new state (Ohio)

1930 Mexico Census Index
314,548 indexed records
104,849 digital images
Updated - 1 new state (Coahulia)

West Virginia Vital Records (Marriages)
306,782 index records
Updated - 14 new counties

Lima, Peru Civil Registration
134,664 digital image
Updated - User guidance added

1885 Florida State Census
8,468 digital images
New collection

1935 Florida State Census
36,019 digital images
New collection

1945 Florida State Census
51,686 digital images
New collection

So, whatchya waiting for! Go find your family!

Enjoy ~ Sparky ♥ ∞

Tropical Storm Fay "Aftermath"

We're in day three of several inches of rain. Our rain gauge registered 5.5 inches as of last night, and that's only one day of measuring! Wow! It's rained off and on today too, but I haven't checked the gauge yet to see how much we've received. When I drove out to get the Sunday paper this morning the two miles of dirt road to the paved road is almost completely destroyed. I wish that worthless County Commissioner would get on the stick and have our road paved! I still think there's something fishy going on with the way our county is being run.



Here's Sammy hiding behind my recliner during one of the rain onslaughts. He shakes like a leaf and hides. I still can't figure out why he hates rain so much. The other two do just fine. Maxie looks at Sammy like she's thinking "What's your problem silly? Mommy's right here. Relax." He's getting over a mild eye infection. Good thing I had the medicine right here. I didn't have to go out and get that in this wet mess.

This is a view from my office window during one of the many torrents that day. That's my dog Maxie in the shadows. Thankfully, there's been very little wind. We only lost power once for about 45 minutes. The lights flickered real bad once, but they stayed on. Ever since the Satilla REMC had Asplunda tree service cut down and back all those trees near powerlines, we very seldom do without power. Good work guys! We sure appreciate ya! :o) My Dad did that kind of work. He retired with 33 years of faithful service with Florida Power & Light in Titusville, FL. He was called out in many a bad storm.


This pic is taken from our master bedroom out into the bad yard. That's about has hard as the rain got. We live on a small sand ridge, so, rain just perculates down into the soil really fast. Our yard seldom floods, and when it does it runs off really quickly. One thing for sure, we sure have some happy plants! I'll bet if they could they'd be jumping up and down that this drought is over. We lost so many trees and plants because of the adverse dry conditions. It lasted for about 7 or 8 years in our area. Enough is enough! Thank you God for the rain.

We're just sitting around today, having coffee, listening to rock music on XM radio, watching Independance Day and planning more mini-vacations. Cranked the bikes for awhile to keep the on-board computers all energized. I wish we could ride. [sigh] Nothing else to do.

Oh, and Steve is still getting better: he's fussy as ever. [lol]

TTFN ~ Sparky ♥ ∞

More About Tropical Storm Fay

Seems that after all the hoopla, most of the fun will stay south of us. Check out the projections now. Oh well. At least we've got plenty of beer and food. [smile] Check out the joke below. Hubby and I laughed so hard I just had to share it. The joke was e-mailed to me this afternoon by a friend down in Florida.

Also, Hubby is improving every day. His shoulder and under his armpit is still all purple and yellow but the actual surgery cut is healing nicely. He's still quite sore and is completely immobile on his left side. I know he's anxious to get back on 2 wheels again, as I am also. I keep going out in the carport and cranking the bikes. His Triumph needs to be run every so many days to keep the battery from running down because of it's on-board computer. It draws a lot of current and can be difficult to crank. You ought to hear that thing power down: whirl, pop, wheeze, ping, boop, pop. [lol] It's really humourous. The bike makes sounds like one of those 1980's Sci-Fi robots. Mine is quiet as a japanese mouse.

TTFN ~ Sparky ♥ ∞