Cutting Meat Post Card

Marie's postcards.  This one looks like it could be the Folk Art of C.W. Conners, but it isn't.  The name is CUTTIN OUT THE MEAT, what used to be southern tradition on cold mornings.  

When they killed a pig or cow everybody knew their job.

That reminds me, the job that kills live stock for processing:  I read that it has a high turnover rate.  Snuffing the life out of something with furry innocent eyes will get to a person.

One time recently, someone, I forgot who, told me last winter  they killed three pigs and packed up their parts.  I asked him did he give the pigs names and he sadly said yes.

Post Card of Harry Truman Home

We are leaning something new about my late mother-in-law almost daily presently.  We just came across a huge post card collection she kept up.   There are hundreds of them.

I think I am going to go through them and post the unique  or educational ones until my short attention span mind latches on to something else.

The first one is the house of Harry S. Truman, or 33rd president, in Independence, Mo.

Give Em Hell Harry!

Old Post Car of the John Ross Home, near Rossville, Ga.

Here is an old post card of the John Ross Home near Rossville, Georgia.  John Ross was a Cherokee Indian.  He owned a ferry on the Tennessee River.   His ferry was a step in  The Trail of Tears herding the Cherokee Indians off their native land to Oklahoma.  Ironic.  

Pink Dogwoods on West Paces Rd, Atlanta

Above is a postcard of a driveway leading off West Paces Road in Atlanta.

Interesting, this driveway is just down the street a few blocks from the Governor's Mansion.  Also, it is almost across the street from the front yard of what was supposed to be the Butler's estate in GONE WITH THE WIND, but the yard itself is not there now, in its place is a subdivision.    

I knew then  a worker at the Atlanta Post Office that lived within a house of two of this picture.  It was a house his wife inherited.  He threw packages all night long with an apron on.  But his neighbors did not know that, he left for work every evening wearing a suit and carrying an  briefcase with his lunch in it.

One time while throwing packages  he heard one that was ticking or hissing.   He hollered over to his supervisor and told him and they evacuated the building.   It was his moment:  He grabbed the package and ran out of the building, in case it exploded.  I don't know if the evacuees ran back in to get away from the bomb or not.  The bomb squad came and took over .  He was a hero.  He got a promotion to supervisor.

Below is a picture I took unknowing  the existence of the above post card at the time.  I thought through the years they might have been the same driveway but now I don't think so.  The slope of the driveways looks differently.

Old Postcard of the Seminole Indians in Florida

This old postcard card of the Seminole Indians in the  Florida Everglades reminds me of the movie DISTANT DRUMS that I saw years go.  It was produced in 1951.  It starred Gary Cooper as an Army officer in charge of a group of settlers, trying to get them out of harms way.  I don't remember the details, I was so young and the message was simple.  The Indians were the bad guys.   I'm sure the Indians had their side of the story too. 

The Indians should have demanded equal time.  That is what they should have done.   There were about a  seventy or eighty year span in movie production where the Indians were automatically the bad guys.  those mean old Indians didn't step aside when the white people started pushing them off their lands.  They were savages.

I remember I was so impressed with the movie and body parts I sat through it twice and saw it a third time a couple years later. 

Postcard of Asa Chandler's Home

Back when this postcard (1920s) was made the way you spelled COCA COLA was:
 Y-E-S-S-I-R M-R-.  C-H-A-N-D-L-E-R-!

And the way you spelled Asa Chandler was C-O-K-E.

Fort Payne, Alabama - Old Post Card

This is an old post card of Fort Payne, Alabama.  While doing family research I come across Fort Payne, and nearby Sand Mountain, Alabama, fairly often.  It is almost like this area was a gathering place for unrelated people who their off-spring would be someday be related to me in one surname line or another.

Old Selma, Alabama, Post Card

Main Street, Selma, Alabama.  This is the city that the authorities had a confrontation with Afro-Americans who wanted to register to vote in 1965.

Of course this post card is much earlier.  It was probably before automobiles.  See that post in the middle of the street?  What do you suppose that is?  Have you ever heard of a "whipping post"?

Old Postcard of Lenoir, NC

My ancestor Andres (Andrew) Killian (1701-1788) is buried in Lenoir, North Carolina. He was born in Koenigsberg, , Germany. He is buried at Saint Paul's Lutherine Church, Lincoln Co., NC. But Lenoir is not in Lincoln County it is Caldwell County.

Well... I just don't Know.

Postal Was a Way of Life

The Postal Service has been in hot water ever since I retired from there. If I didn't know better I would think it was me that was holding it all together. Years ago when my active duty status ended at HU-4 Helliocpter Utility Squadron in Lakehurst, NJ, they changed their name not long afterwards, then after 3 or 4 years of working at Sinclair Refining Company I quit and they changed their name to BP. Now according to this it may all be over for the Postal Service.

Speaking of Prison Again

When I first got out of the Navy I went to work for the Atlanta News Agency. The Atlanta News kept most of north Georgia supplied in magazine.

I was a route man. I went into a convenience store, a drug store, or some other store that sold magazines and took a quick inventory of the magazines that had on hand. When I turned in my inventories an office staff would quickly go over it and determine what to send the each store on their next delivery.

Sometimes they would supply us with books to unload on the stores. They usually were not magazines but books to push off on the people that sold our magazines.

Once they gave me several boxes of coloring books. I think there were almost a thousand coloring books I had to try to sell to some poor store. I quickly found no one wanted the coloring books..

After talking to other route men I think the idea was to sell them the books knowing full well they would return them for credit in a week or two. In the meantime, in house inventory was performed… and guess what? You don’t have to pay taxes on books and magazine that are not in the building.

So where was I going to unload almost 1,000 coloring books? Nobody wanted them.

The Federal Pen at the end of the Boulevard in Atlanta was on my route. That was my next stop.

Ahah! I wrote out a bill for the number of coloring books and backed up to their loading dock and took them out of the truck. I had the guard sign for it, I gave him his copy of the bill and went on my way, smirking on the long driveway to get the heck out of there.

As far as I know the coloring books were a hit, not one was returned.

A couple of years later Anna and I went to an art show at the Federal Pen. Some of the art was fantastic. They didn’t sign their names, they signed their number. The prices were reasonable so we bought three canvases.

Who knows, I may have had a hand inspiring them.

Spring Has Sprung

Ahhhh. Spring is in the air.

White and some pink tree blossoms seem to be widely distributed, but still rare enough that each tree stands out.

And it is time for me to drag out my Atlanta Spring Postcard. This postcard is a picture of a home on West Paces Ferry Road just down from the Governor's Mansion.

While driving down West Paces Ferry not long ago I looked for that house. I have seen it many times. But this time I didn't. There are a few newly built mansions on the north side of the road, which was the same side as the pink dogwoods.

Did the beautiful dogwoods get bulldozed away to make way for a huge status symbol house, all paid for by us, via a bailout bonus?

The Mission of Nombre De Dios, St Augustine postcard

On the back:

"THE MISSION OF NOMBRE DE DIOS
ST AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA
Shrine of Nuestra Senora de la Leche, First establlished circa 1602 at Nombre De Dios.
John Hinde Curteich, Inc,
Printed in Ireland"

So, it was printed in Ireland eh? I found that many times the people who are not part of what they are looking at, or maybe on the outside looking in, can see things the people within do not see.... if that makes sense.

The little chapel itself reminds me of a little chapel we saw on the coast of Georgia one time... I forgot on exactly what island. For some reason every time I see the picture of the little Georgia chapel I think of authoress Eugenia Price. At the time I saw it for real, she must have lived near by.

Brennan's French Quarters, Royal St., New Orleans

On the back it says that the building was erected during the twilight of Spanish rule of Louisiana, later it was the Louisiana Bank, the first banking institution in the Louisiana Territory. After that it was the home of Paul Murphy, world-famous chess champion.

But when we went there it was a French restaurant.

I do not know of any specific fact, but I'm sure when we dined there the expression faux pas was used many times.

Ooo-La-La!

Long Man or Tennessee River postcard

or another postcard from the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, of their "celebrating the river" series. It says on the back:

" "Long Man" is one of 53 medallions at the Aquarium depicting the history of the Tennessee River from Cherokee myth to 1992. Yunwi Gunshita, or Long Man is the name the Cherokees gave for the Tennessee River."

I wonder if the name was given to the river before or after "The Trail of Tears"? The Indians were herded onto river boats at Ross Landing near Chattanooga and transported up river as a segment towards Oklahoma. If they named the river Yunwi Gunshita afterwards, it is understandable. If you look closely you will see the word shit in the word Gunshita

"The Dakwa" Tn Aquarium postcard

On the back of the card it says: " "The Dakwa" is one of 53 medallions of the Aquarium depicting the history of the Tennessee River from Cherokee myth to 1992. According to the Cherokee, a large fish called Dawka dwells in the Tennessee where it joins Toco Creek."

Speaking of the Tennessee River and Indians, my g-g-g-grandmother Polly Hogshed Trammell, an Indian, drowned in the Little Tennessee River while tending her fish baskets, so the story goes... or is it another myth?

This post card we bought when the Tennessee Aquarium was opened less than a year in Chattanooga. It is the first transmission from the scanner's new position on Anna's computer, then I emailed it to myself.

Clever, No? I say as I get right in your face and tap my finger on my temple.

Okefenokee Swamp postcard

Just south of Waycross, Georgia.

It is where Pogo Possum lives and many kinds of birds that make strange sounds all the time. The Indians said it was the “land of the trembling earth” It is not the earth that trembles – it just seems that way when you tremble. You tremble because snakes are hanging from all the low branch cypresses studying you… and in the dark water the gaters are studying you… and waiting.

One time about 1960 we were coming back from Daytona Beach with Harry and David… not the mail order fruit company – or maybe it was Bobby and David.. anyway, we were in David’s convertible, we were north of Folkston, speeding and we ran off the road and technically we were in the Okefenokee Swamp.. I remember plowing at a high rate of speed through bushes and foliage. I forgot if we had a flat or what…. But, we lived to tell about it. Really! See?


Also, besides Pogo, it is also the home of the Swamp Witch.

Mel's Drive-In postcard

It may be the famous Mel's Drive-In with carhops rollerskating. I'll a chili-burger at Varner's Drive-In in Marietta any day

Green County, Arkansas postcard

This is out of my old post card collection that I swiped off the ‘net.

My scanner is temporarily decommissioned.

This is a lily pond in Green County, Arkansas. When I came across it I lifted my eyebrows, because that is where my ancestor Jason Henderson Hunter lived the last segment of his life and is probably buried someplace near.

Hecker Products

One store clerk to a junior clerk: Keep your eyes on the cute little girl with the green hat on. She will try to leave the store without paying.