Medal of Honor Recipient

Since March is Women in History month, I thought I would share some of information on the only female military Medal of Honor recipient -- Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. 

 

Dr. Walker was born on November 26, 1832, in Oswego, New York.  She was the youngest of five daughters and had one younger brother.  As a young woman, she taught at the local school and earned enough money to pay her way through Syracuse Medical College, where she graduated as a medical doctor in 1855 as the only woman in her class.  She married a fellow medical student, Albert Miller, and they set up a joint practice in Rome, New York.  The practice did not do well, as female physicians were neither trusted or respected.  In 1860, Dr. Walker briefly attended Bowen Collegiate Institute in Hopkinton, Iowa, where she was suspended because she would not quit the all-male debating society.

At the beginning of the Civil War, she volunteered for the Union Army as a civilian, working in the nation's capital.  Although Dr. Walker was a physician,  she was only allowed to practice as a nurse.  Finally, in September 1863, she was awarded a commission as a "Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon," becoming the first ever female U.S. Army Surgeon.  Later, Dr. Walker was appointed assistant surgeon of the 52nd Ohio Infantry.  During this service, she frequently crossed battle lines, treating civilians.  On April 16, 1864, she was captured by Confederate troops and arrested as a spy.  She was sent to Virginia, but in August of that same year, she was released as part of a prisoner exchange.  

Her work so impressed leaders that after the war, Dr. Walker was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor by Generals William Sherman and George Thomas.  On November 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill to present her the Medal of Honor, the first woman to receive that award.  To date, Dr. Walker is still the only female recipient of the Medal of Honor.  

In 1917, Congress created a pension act for Medal of Honor recipients and in so doing created separate Army and Navy Medal of Honor Rolls.  At that time, the Army decided to review eligibility requirements for the Army Medal of Honor Roll.  The Medal of Honor Board never rescinded any medals but deleted 911 names from the Army Medal of Honor Roll, including that of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker.  Dr. Walker continued to wear her medal until her death on February 21, 1919, at the age of 86.

And in 1977, President Carter restored her medal posthumously.

Today, the Medal of Honor is as follows, from left,

                                     the Army, Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard, and Air Force.

Following the war, Dr. Walker became a writer and lecturer, fighting for the right of women to wear healthy clothing which did not restrict their movement or hurt their internal organs, as did heavy skirts and corsets.  She frequently wore her own "uniform," which was comprised of a long coat and bloomers.  When women began enlisting and even receiving commissions in the military, they were often issued uniforms consisting mostly of skirts, with pants rarely seen and then only worn by female officers.  Women weren't issued "fatigues" until the 1970s, and the Battle Dress Uniform (BDUs) was issued to women soldiers for the first time in the 1990s, shortly after I started working for the United States Air Force.

As of September 30, 2010, women comprised 14.5% of the total active duty forces, 19.6% of the total Reserve forces and 15.2% of the National Guard, for a total of 404,228 female Americans currently serving their nation.

To say women in the military have come a long way is an understatement, but there is still only one female Medal of Honor recipient.  There have been hundreds of military men awarded the Medal of Honor.  Wouldn't it be great to see another female receive this prestigious award?


Until next time, may God continue to bless our voyage and our family and friends, near and far.  And may God bless and keep our military men and women safe throughout the world, as they fight to protect us.

Fort Bragg Pope Army Airfield

Yesterday, we took a little car trip to Fayetteville, North Carolina.  From reading various blogs and forums, we learned about the Norcold recall.  We have not received anything from Norcold to indicate our fridge was on the recall list, but after checking with Norcold's website, we learned it is on the list.  Also, our entry door steps will not stay locked in the stowed position because the gear is stripped. Since we have an extended warranty on our Motorhome with Route 66, Hawley's RV in Fayetteville was the closest Route 66 dealership.  We wanted to check it out before we  allowed them to work on our Motorhome.  Fayetteville is approximately 90 miles from where we are parked in Nashville.

It was a beautiful, blue-sky kind of day.  The Bradford pear trees were in full bloom and aligned the streets of the smaller towns we drove through.   

 

After visiting with the Service Manager at Hawley's RV, we were satisfied he was well versed in the Norcold recalls and he ordered the recall kit.  When the kit arrives next week, we will make an appointment to have it installed, and John will also check out our steps and order what is needed to repair those.  Like some have done, we would like to replace our Norcold with a residential fridge, but do not feel it is financially feasible to do so now, but perhaps in the future.  Thank goodness the steps are covered under our extended warranty because to replace the steps would cost around $1700, plus labor. 

Leaving Hawley's, we headed to Pope AFB, which is located 12 miles Northwest of Fayetteville's business district.  When we first saw this sign, we were like, what is "Pope AAF?"  

Then we learned that in accordance with the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC), as of Tuesday, 1 March, Pope AFB became part of Fort Bragg and assumed the name it held before becoming a United States Air Force base -- that is -- Pope Field.  Pope was Fort  Bragg's Army Airfield from World War I to World War II, thus "Pope AAF."

I knew when I was still working at Little Rock AFB that Little Rock was acquiring Pope's C-130s but had forgotten that eventually there would be no Pope Air Force Base, as it was known then. The few active-duty airmen who remain at the base will be responsible for operating "Green Ramp," where Fort Bragg paratroopers board airplanes.  The Air Force Reserve's 440th Airlift Group will operate the airfield and a wing of 16 C-130H2 cargo airplanes.  The gates that separated Fort Bragg and Pope AFB no longer exist.  

Just past what used to be Pope AFB's entrance gate is the normal static display of various AF planes.

 

We were a little surprised  when we pulled up at a stoplight on base behind this truck:

Why you ask?  The fact that both the driver and passenger in this truck were Army soldiers and were obviously expressing their open political opinion in this way on a military installation.  Having worked for the military, as well as being a military spouse, it was well known that we were not to express our political opinions in any open forum,  to include bumper stickers on our vehicle.   If you  look really close, one sticker says, "Voting Democrat is just Stupid."    It's right under the sticker that says, " Drill for American Oil NOW!"     I didn't want to expose the license plate but to the left of it was a sticker that simply said, "Palin."  Maybe times have changed since I retired in 2008 and it's okay to now express such an open opinion on a military installation -- or maybe it's allowed in the Army.  With their opinions, we couldn't help but wonder what these soldiers thought about obeying the orders of the current Commander-in-Chief.

Another political statement of some kind we became aware of is this gas station in Rocky Mount, just down the road from Nashville.

We have no idea what the story behind this is -- maybe we'll find out.  We do know there is road construction in the area and perhaps somehow it's related.   

We are hanging in with our no-meat regimen -- however, I did cheat a little and had some turkey bacon with my pancakes at Denny's.  We read we should lose weight not eating meat and we should save money on food.  So far, neither of those have happened -- I haven't lost any more than the five pounds I had originally lost and Alan hasn't lost any more than his original ten pounds.  And we haven't seen much difference in the grocery bill, but maybe that's because the price of food -- along with gas -- just continues to rise.  Anyway, we will continue to press on meatless -- for now.

That's it for now.  As always, may God continue to bless our voyage, as well as our family and friends, near and far.

Hawk-Watching, Et Cetera

Something is snatching our son-in-law's birds -- 4 chicks and 2 ducks so far.  I wish I could get a pic of the sneaky chicken hawk, but that probably won't happen.  It even got Henryetta:(  If you will remember, I posted a pic of Henryetta a week or so ago.  Every morning Henryetta would "fly the coop" and sneak in the garage for a helping of cat food.  Now, she is gone.

So, Alan has been appointed as the  official hawk watchdog, hoping to scare it away before it claims another soul.

Scattered throughout rural Eastern North Carolina are many old tobacco drying barns such as these:

The introduction of tobacco into North Carolina has a long history.  When settlers moved from Virginia to North Carolina in the 1600s, they struggled to grow any other crop besides tobacco because of the dry, sandy soil.  At the time, the Europeans viewed tobacco as a luxury and bought it from Spain.  The new settlers saw the opportunity in the overseas demand for tobacco and started growing tobacco in North Carolina as a way to gain entry into the European market. 


Even today, tobacco continues to be an integral part of North Carolina's economy, ranking number one in the production of tobacco, with an approximate annual income of over $750 million dollars -- even with so much negative emphasis on tobacco use.  I am thankful tobacco has never been a part of my life.  However, Alan smoked for many years but finally gave it up a few years ago.

I completed my root canal last week -- with no pain.  So thankful we found Dr. Weeks.  I will start deep pocket cleaning tomorrow, so half of my mouth will be numbed and then in two weeks, the other half will be treated.  We are so ready to be rid of all these doc/dentist appointments -- they are cramping our style:(

We are moving right along with our no meat lifestyle-- three weeks and counting.  

Not much else going on.  I've been organizing the cabinets -- if we haven't used it in the past year, it's out of here!  It was cold this morning, but the sun came out this afternoon and warmed things up a bit.  Rain is predicted tomorrow and Friday.


I want to end our blog today with the following:  We have had a picture in storage that was given to me by dear friends when I retired in 2008.  It now hangs proudly next to our door in the Motorhome, and I wanted to share it with you.

At the bottom, it states, "It's Not Just the Destination God is Interested in, It's How You Make the Journey."

And the Bible verse, "Go ye therefore...Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen."  Matthew 28:19-20
   


Lord, help us to remember that You, and only You, are in control of our journey and no matter where we go, You are with us.  And may we, in some way, reflect You as we travel.

Until next time, may God continue to bless our voyage, as well as our family and friends near and far. 

 

What Shall We Eat?

We have been talking for quite some time about giving up meat.  Following Alan's cancer scare, we started researching ways to decrease an enlarged prostate.  We learned that red meat can often lead to prostate enlargement.  Then, a few weeks ago, Oprah had Kathy Freston on her show -- the author of the Veganist -- so we ordered the book from Amazon.  After only reading the first couple of chapters, we decided to give it a try.  We have just completed our first meatless week and can honestly say we have not missed meat in our diet -- not yet anyway.

At first, we wanted to go straight Vegan -- a totally plant-based diet, with no dairy whatsoever.  We purchased soy milk.  After tasting several, we settled on "Silk Light" -- 100% lactose and dairy-free.  For cheese, we purchased "Veggie Shreds" and "Veggie Slices," with pepper-jack flavor. We also bought "Earth Balance" -- a non-dairy, natural buttery spread and "Almond Butter"   to replace our hydrogenated oil peanut butter. 


So far, we "think" we are more vegan than vegetarian, but we realize it will be difficult to stay away from eggs.  Of course, there is egg substitute, which I used this morning in our pancakes, so it is possible to cook and eat without eggs, but deviled eggs is a holiday tradition and I may not be able to pass them up.  Of course, we both know there will be times when we may not stay totally true to the vegetarian lifestyle, but hopefully, those times will be few and far between. Also, for breakfast, we tried veggie bacon and sausage -- which we will not purchase again.

There are a couple of categories under the term "Vegetarian."  

     1) Semi-vegetarian may include fish or poultry on an infrequent basis; 

     2) Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian eats eggs and milk products:

          (a) Ovo-Vegetarian eats eggs but no dairy
          (b) Lacto-Vegetarian eats dairy but no eggs.

It has only been a week without meat, so we're still trying to figure it all out and certainly have a lot to learn.  We went out to eat with the kids after church on Sunday -- buffet at Pizza Inn.  We ate a salad and asked for a veggie pizza, which they made for us -- so we had both veggie and cheese pizza.


We've had both veggie burgers and veggie chicken patties and liked them both.  Most days we've had salads -- similar to this one we had for lunch today with lettuce, spinach, broccoli, pico de gallo and topped with various nuts and dried fruit, along with wheat crackers smeared with Almond butter.

We have had fruit smoothies most days as well, with all kinds of fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple, etc -- frozen with no sugar added.  We have not had a problem finding something to eat, but like I said previously, we know we still have a lot to learn.

Moving on...there have been two more sets of baby goats born this week -- 2 females and 2 males for a total of 6.

They truly are fun to watch as they romp and play.

Today Alan caught sight of the two adult males butting heads-- guess they were tired of the females getting all the attention.

"But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind."  Job 12:7-10

May God continue to bless our voyage, as well as our family and friends near and far.

        

A Little Bit of This...A Little Bit of That

We've had another nice -- but windy -- Carolina day.  We had a dusting of snow earlier in the week, but it was gone by noon -- thank goodness.  

 
It's pretty when it's falling, but can be a mess if it sticks around very long.  Arkansas and Oklahoma has been slammed this year with snow and ice, as have many others.  Our Oklahoma grandkids have missed nine days of school and some in Arkansas have missed as many as five days.  Global warming -- so they say.

There was also an addition to the mini-farm this week -- two baby goats.

 They are so cute when they are little.

From the looks of it, there may be more in the next couple of weeks.

"Don't fence me in" -- that apparently is Henryetta's theme song.  Every morning you can find her outside the fenced area.  She's even been known to sneak in the garage for a helping of cat food.

"Hey guys, how do I get back over there with you?"

 

And there's always someone looking for a ride.

 

One more item was checked off our medical list this week.  After wearing a heart monitor for three weeks, I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.  I also have a leaky Tricuspid valve, which the doc said "most" people have leaky valves.  I was started on meds for afib and the leaky valve will be carefully watched.  This week I will continue with the root canal that was started a couple of weeks ago. I still have a knot above the tooth, but it is smaller and I have had no pain -- praise the Lord!  

My brother made it home safely from his mission trip to India.  Together the medical team saw approximately 325 patients with various aliments.  Thanks to everyone who prayed for him -- he is looking forward to another mission trip in the future.  Please pray for the people of India...they are predominantly Hindu and there are so many who have never heard the Gospel.  

 

Until next time, may God continue to bless our voyage and may God bless our family and friends, near and far.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Today was a cloudless, blue sky day, with highs in the 50s. We started our day attending church.  We really enjoy the church we attend when we are here.  The pastor is  a great teacher of the gospel and the choir is phenomenal.  

Today's message was based on Luke 5, emphasizing we are all fishermen and if we are to be obedient, we must be willing to cast our nets.  

 

"For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.  Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid, from now on, you will catch men."  Luke 5:9-10

 

The pastor often preaches from a book of the Bible over several weeks, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

Following church, we joined our son-in-law's (Matt) parents at a local restaurant for lunch.  

Alissa is ready to dive into her pork chops.

I had Greek-style chicken.  Those little round things that look like onion rings are hush puppies -- different than the hush puppies we are accustomed to.

 

Alan had FRIED catfish...YIKES.  Originally coming from Arkansas, we know about catfish, but this catfish was HUGE!

 

Matt's parents both had fried cod

Having grown up in Arkansas and spent most of our life there, we thought it was the South.  However, we now know it is nothing compared to the "real south" of North Carolina with their fried food and sweet tea.

After lunch, we took a walk -- grandson, Dalton (12), leads the way, followed by grandson, 14-year-old Jordan, Matt and Alan -- aka Papa -- brings up the rear.  Actually, I bring up the rear with the camera.

 

 

 As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the things we find very interesting in this area is the fact there are numerous gravesites in people's yards.  Just down the road from the kids' house is this cemetery.  It's actually one of the largest ones we've seen.  

One of the grave sites is that of a Civil War Confederate Soldier.

 

We also met a couple of horseback riders -- Henry on the right and Rose on the left.

Back from our walk, we prepared our Super Bowl food, which consisted of cheese dip, chicken wings, redneck salsa -- my daughter's specialty -- not sure what makes it redneck unless it's the blackeyed peas and corn.  It was a good game -- didn't think the commercials were all that great.  Congrats to the Green Bay Packers who were able to hang in there and pull out the win.

Alan has been "training" me at Wii bowling.  One day last week I had nine -- 9 -- straight strikes.

 

 

And I beat him 264 to 223

 

And with that, I say good night and may God continue to bless our voyage, as well as our family and friends everywhere.

BORING

I have cabin fever.  It has done nothing but continuously rain since Thursday night.  I know we shouldn't complain -- so many people are deep in snow and cold.  We are thankful it wasn't cold enough for the rain to freeze, or we would definitely be in a mess!  This afternoon the rain slacked and we decided to go to Wally World.  It's pretty sad when going to Wally World is your entertainment!  We started at Home Depot.  Last year Home Depot in a nearby town closed and now another nearby Home Depot is closing.  We didn't need anything but just thought we would "look."  Couldn't help but think about the employees who will soon be in the unemployment line.  We then did a little shopping at Wal-Mart.  That's it -- that was our day for the most part.

Our thoughts and prayers have been with my cousin, Donna and her family, this week on the death of her 87 year old mother-in-law, Mildred, in Arkansas.  She was known for her wonderful smile and love for others and will be missed.

My brother should be landing in Little Rock just about now.  Last report I received he had not slept in two days and had made it through customs in Atlanta with all his bags.  I can't wait to hear all the details of his mission trip to India and see the pics.  I know last Sunday he was called on to speak to the congregation of a local church.  I am so proud of him and know he has been blessed on this mission trip and is looking forward to more trips.

We would like to say welcome to our new followers -- there are several -- and we are happy you found us and hope to provide more interesting things on our blog when we once again start traveling.  I am finally feeling more confident about blogging and trying new things.

Since I don't have any new pics to share, I thought I would post one from our trip to South Dakota last year.  

 Chapel in the Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota 

For more info on the Chapel in the Hills, check out our blog post of September 21, 2010. 

Until next time, God bless our family and friends, near and far.