My Eyes Fastened To The Ground

The porch is continuing to move along as another milestone is met, the completion of exterior trim, and the fish pond has taken shape.  My wife and I were actually able to work together for 2 hours, an accomplishment in itself, and will be tweaking the design for years to come.    

More proof that good things can happen to good people.    Here is a local woman who won 1 Million, yes a million, dollars by accepting a free magazine.    BethP is a local softball legend and a founding member of the Warren Athletic Hall Of Fame and I play pickup basketball with her equally as talented brother JoeP.  

Another update on the Nathaniel Greene story with connections with my hometown and streets that now are home to the country’s oldest 4th of July Parade in Bristol.       From the day the British first invaded Newport -- Dec. 7, 1776 -- Rhode Islanders had badgered Greene to use his influence with Washington to bring the Continental Army home for a battle.  And Rhode Islanders had ample cause to grumble. While their crack troops were off killing and dying in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, their own state capital was occupied by a large force.

The occupying force did not confine itself to Newport. In May 1778, a force of 500 British and Hessians rowed under cover of night to Bristol Neck, arriving at 3:30 a.m. Their goal was to destroy military stores in Warren, including 70 open boats moored in the Kickemuit River; they had been used to transport American militia in an aborted attack on Newport the previous fall.  

At the river they burned all but 12 of the boats, the Kickemuit bridge, a corn mill. In town they torched a house used for gunpowder storage. The explosion from the powder magazine engulfed the meeting house and spread to six other houses.

Then they marched for Bristol.

The Staggering Statistics will be playing live tomorrow on Internet WOXY at 6pm in support of their new full length All Of This And More.. on Shake It Records.    There are still limited foil stamped covers available from 75orless Records of their limited EP along with other new, fun, limited cd’s from other great, new bands.  

Visit just to enter the FREE CONTEST for a limited Staggering Statistics Promo Box.  

The last week or so there has been a fantastic series in the Providence Journal about a RI hero, Nathaniel Greene, and the Revolutionary War.   He consistently wrote home during the Winter of 1776 and all of the letters have been documented, analyzed and stitched together with history to form a fascinating story.    

I’ve previously mentioned Bristol as the home of King Phillip, who ended up with his head on a pole in Plymouth, and thought this portion of the story describing my hometown was interesting.    In his diary, On Dec. 7, 1776 the British Lt. Frederick Mackenzie found Narragansett and Mount Hope bays to be studded with many fine and well cultivated Islands, and the beautiful bays and inlets, with the distant view of towns, farms, and cultivated lands intermixed with Woods make this (even at this bleak season of the year) the finest, most diversified, and extensive prospect I have yet seen in America.

This is fabulous rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit, by UK ukele orchestra.    If you got 5 minutes take some time and enjoy.

Porch turned into a “cat-proof” zone over the weekend and we couldn’t be happier.   Still lots of work to do including exterior trim, interior finishes and painting.  The orientation is what makes the room work to well for such a small space.   I’m having a little difficulty figuring out the gable end screen but hope to complete that work on another off-weekend if the weather holds out.     Ecliptic