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Settling in

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist......" General John Sedgwick, killed in battle, 1864

Ok, the quote doesn't fit the blog entry today, but I thought it was funny. More on the story of Sedgwick at the end.


We've been settling in to my Mom's beautiful house here in Port St. Lucie, and basking in the novelty of newness. It just feels strange being in a new house with new appliances, new fixtures, new everything! Don't worry Mom, we're treating it better than we would our own!


There's more than a little culture shock moving from Deltaville, VA down here to Port St. Lucie, where we have a Publix, a pharmacy, a Walmart, Arby's, and everything else significant, all within a quarter mile of us. We'll miss all of our friends, family, and good people in Virginia but not the cold and snow.


After looking at numerous oil leaking, dilapidated, wrecked, junkyard destined cars; I finally found my 4 wheeled machine. A '96 Chevy Blazer with a 4.3 Liter engine, automatic, AC, and four wheel drive. A good strong engine with 131K miles; I think we got a good deal on it because I was willing to put a little work and money into it. It didn't test drive well; the steering was horrible because it had a bad tire, the AC didn't work because it was out of freon, and the radiator was cracked. I drove it straight to the tire place and got 2 new front tires for $150 which fixed the steering issue, bought a new radiator for $200 and installed it, and will charge the AC today. It rides surprisingly well, has a strong motor that sounds great and has no leaks, lots of cargo space, and 20 mpg on the highway. Not bad for $1,000!
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While checking the veracity of the quote I put up in the beginning of this entry, I found this on Wikipedia:
In a rather ironic turn of events, Sedgwick fell at the beginning of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on May 9, 1864. His corps was probing skirmish lines ahead of the left flank of Confederate defenses and he was directing artillery placements. Confederate sharpshooters were about 1,000 yards (910 m) away and their shots caused members of his staff and artillerymen to duck for cover. Sedgwick strode around in the open and was quoted as saying, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Although ashamed, his men continued to flinch and he repeated, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."[4] Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye.

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 31, 2009 at 9:41 AM

    you wusses, you didn't even make it to the cold part, Jan and Feb.
    Welcome back to Flori-duh. And Happy New Year.
    Hope to see you soon.

    ReplyDelete

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