Sunday Stealing

Thursday Thunks

1. It's the middle of the night. There isn't another car in sight. You're stuck at a red light that just won't change. How long do wait until you run it?

A. Probably not very long, although with my luck there would be a police car with no lights on it hiding behind a bush somewhere.

2. What's your favorite recipe?

A. Anything I don't have to cook. Otherwise, I suppose it's my grandmother's recipe for what she called Chocolate Lush.

3. When did you last ask yourself, "What the hell was I thinking?"

A. Every day. I ask myself that every day.

4. Have you ever had a mole removed? If yes, where on your body was it?

A. I had a huge mole removed from my chest when I was five years old. I was born with it and it covered most of my chest. It was shaped like a bullet and had white spots in it. I have been told it was precancerous so that is why they removed it. I have a huge scar on my chest in between my breasts where they cut it out. When I was in school, I used to tell my gym teachers I couldn't take gym because I'd had heart surgery and wasn't feeling well. If they argued with me, I would raise my shirt and show them the scar. It was hard to argue with a massive scar in the middle of my chest.

5. What website do you faithfully check (other than email)?

A. I do Wordle, I check Facebook once a day, and I play my Elvenar video game in my browser every day. I read the New York Times and The Roanoke Times online.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Four-Leaf Clover

Saturday 9: I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover (2001)

Selected in honor of St. Patrick's Day. 

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

1) This is one of the songs included in Willie Nelson's Rainbow Connection album. He named it after his daughter Amy's favorite song when she was a little girl. She'd been asking him to record "The Rainbow Connection" for 20 years and finally, in 2001, he came through for her. Think of something you had to wait for. Was it worth the wait?

A. I knew two months after we met that I would marry my then-boyfriend, but it took him another seven months to come around and propose. He was definitely worth the wait!

2) Willie can trace his family tree back to the Revolutionary War. Are you interested in genealogy?

A. I can trace my family tree back to the Revolutionary War, too. I have always had an interest in genealogy but it's something I hope to pick up again at some point.

3) Today Willie is legendary performer, but as a child, he was very uncomfortable in front of crowds. He recalled that during his school days, reciting in front of his class made him so uncomfortable he suffered nose bleeds. When did you most recently have a bloody nose?

A. I don't generally get a bloody nose. I can't recall when I last had one.

4) During the 1990s, Willie had problems with the IRS. His management team set up illegal tax shelters, and he ended up owing millions in back taxes and penalties. This year's IRS filing deadline is Wednesday, April 15. Will you be early, on time, or will you need an extension?

A. I have my taxes for 2025 taken care of.

5) In "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover," Willie sings about appreciating something he has previously overlooked. Is there anything positive in your life you feel you may take for granted? 

A. I'm sure there are lots of things. Think about it: I have a roof over my head, food, a little extra spending money if I want to buy a book or something. I have electricity and water. I have a man who loves me. What else could a woman want, really?

6) Four leaf clovers and shamrocks are considered good luck. Do you have a lucky charm?

A. I do not have a lucky charm.

7) "The wearing o' the green" is one way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Will you wear something green in honor of the day?

A. I generally don't, but I will be going out that day so I will see if I can find something for the occasion. I don't want to get pinched.

8) According to Irish folklore, if you catch a leprechaun, he must either give you his pot o' gold or grant you three wishes. Would you choose the gold or the wishes?

A. I think I'd take the three wishes. With one, you could wish for gold if that's what you want. Although as fairy tales and legends generally point out, it is important to be careful what you wish for and how you word the wish.

   

9) Traditional Irish stew is made with mutton or lamb, though here in the US beef is also very popular. What's your favorite soup/stew?

A. I'm afraid I'm a very boring soup eater. I just like chicken soup.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen #950

Things that March teaches you -

1. Patience, because the ground thaws when it’s ready and not a day sooner.

2. Timing, because there a narrow space between too early and too late. Plant too early, you lose your seedlings. Wait too long, and the heat will burn them.

3. When to wait, especially when mud or weather would only punish you for pushing ahead. Take a tractor through a muddy field and you'll pay for it later when you have to mow.

4. When to act, catching the small openings March gives you before they close again. That means grabbing a warm day to clear the weeds from the garden or a wet day to catch up on reading.

5. How to read mud, because its color, its pull, all tell a story about the week that was and the week that will be.

6. How to read sky, noticing which clouds mean “go” and which mean “wrap it up.” Stay too long and you'll find yourself in an early thunderstorm.

7. How to read yourself, the places where winter still lingers in your body. You'll know it by the ache in your bones.

8. The value of a good list when everything feels half-started. It's so easy to forget that you've already bought zucchini seeds.

9. The value of ignoring that list when the day rearranges itself. Take the time to forget the list and watch the sunset. There's enormous value in that soft beauty.

10. What’s predictable: the same gates, the same low spots, the same chores returning on cue. They're rather endless on a farm. Actually, they're endless in life, they just change their shape.

11. What never is predictable are surprises, equipment breakdowns, fast-brewing storms that rewrite the day.

12. What returns, like green grass, birdsong, light in the evening, and the sense of a year beginning again.

13. What doesn’t return, like the birds that nested in the tree that fell over during the ice storm, and how to keep working with what remains, like what to do with those broken limbs.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 950th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

How I Am

Not that anyone's asked, really, and I don't normally write about health issues, but at the moment, I have:

1) a superficial thrombophlebitis, which is to say, a blood clot in my calf that is not a deep vein thrombosis but instead is on the outside of my leg. It hurts and aches, and there's swelling. It started February 20 and has not yet quite resolved. I can still see a remnant of the clot through the skin in my leg.

2) an impingement in my right shoulder along with a sprained acromion bone. I did this by falling off the treadmill. My physical therapist says I should be back to playing the guitar in a few weeks.

3) my normal health issues of chronic abdominal pain, ulcers, and other issues that I won't go into. 

It's also been a difficult six weeks since my father died, for reasons I won't go into now, but death has its own weight to it and each of us must bear whatever that poundage may be and in whatever way we find it best to handle. 

When friends or family pass away, there is always a change, for good or ill, and we can only navigate it the best way we know how to at the time. We may look back and wish things had gone differently, but humans move forward through life, not backwards, and all we can do is the best we can at the time with the knowledge we have at that moment. 

Most of us do the best we can. Those who like to judge may find that my best is wanting in their mind, but that's on them, if they must find fault. As for me, I deal with my own demons and let others fight their own. There are plenty to go around.

Colonel William Preston and the Greenfield Legacy

With Virginia and the nation celebrating 250 years of freedom from England in 2026, I thought it might be fun to occasionally bring up some local history. At one time, Botetourt County stretched all the way to the Mississippi and into Wisconsin, which means my county's history is also the history of much of the nation.

The Botetourt Center at Greenfield, now an industrial park in Botetourt County, VA, was once part of a 20,000-acre spread owned by Revolutionary War hero Colonel William Preston.

Preston came to Virginia from Ireland in 1729, when he was nine years old. As a young man, he was active in the formation of Botetourt County. He was named First Surveyor, coroner, Escheator, and Member of the House of Burgesses. He also served as Colonel of the Militia when Botetourt County was formed from Augusta County in 1769.

He purchased Greenfield in 1759 and lived there until 1774, when he moved to Smithfield in present-day Montgomery County. In 1775, he was one of the signers of the Fincastle Resolutions, one of the earliest local documents to express support for American independence.

When Preston died in 1783, he was thought to be the wealthiest man in the state.

Six of Preston’s 12 children were born at Greenfield, and his legacy has left a large footprint on the nation. Preston descendants founded six universities and influenced two others — including Columbia College in South Carolina, now the University of South Carolina, and the University of Chicago.

Additionally, Preston’s descendants served in the Virginia House of Delegates and in the U.S. Congress. His son, James Patton Preston, served as governor of Virginia from 1816 to 1819.

When the county purchased Greenfield, the supervisors authorized an extensive review of the historic assets on the property. The remaining structures are pre-Civil War and include a slave dwelling and kitchen.

The kitchen measures 16 by 18 feet and faces the southwest wall of the original mansion, which no longer stands. The slave dwelling is a log saddlebag double slave house located west of the house site.

The house foundation is the remains of a structure built in the antebellum era. Historic photographs indicate the structure was a two-story brick dwelling before it burned. There is also an outbuilding dating back to approximately 1834.

One cemetery contains a number of Preston family graves. Another has been partitioned off with white fencing and is thought to be the burial ground for the Black servants of the Prestons.

Up until about 2007, the historic structures were untouched and unprotected, with old logs exposed to weather, until the county stepped in to secure the buildings.

The Botetourt Center at Greenfield is a 922-acre site the county purchased for $4.5 million in 1995. The land was divided into an industrial area, a parks and recreation area, and a school area. The county built Greenfield Elementary School and the Greenfield Education and Training Center in 2000, then completed a couple of ball fields and a $3 million sports complex at the Recreation Center at Greenfield.

Even though the county has not yet created the Greenfield historic area, the remaining structures are often visited by people who come to walk the fields or the Cherry Blossom Trail.

A memorial to Colonel Preston can be found on the grounds of the Botetourt County Administration Building. It features benches and a history of the man and the property.

Courtesy of The Fincastle Herald

From Wikipedia:

William Preston
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Botetourt County
In office 1769–1771 Serving with John Bowyer
Preceded by	position created
Succeeded by	Andrew Lewis
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Augusta County
In office 1766–1769 Serving with John Wilson
Preceded by	Israel Christian
Succeeded by	Gabriel Jones
Personal details
Born	December 25, 1729 Limavady, Ireland
Died	June 28, 1783 (aged 53) Price's Fork, Montgomery County, Virginia
Resting place	Smithfield Plantation
Nationality	American
Spouse	Susanna Smith
Occupation	surveyor, officer, planter, politician
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United Colonies
Branch/service	Virginia militia
Years of service	1765–1781
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	Draper's Meadow massacre Sandy Creek Expedition Lord Dunmore's War American Revolutionary War Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Sunday Stealing

 

National Oreo Cookie Day

1. Are you able to pass by a plate of cookies and not take one or are you a bit of a "Cookie Monster?"

A. It depends on the cookie. Chocolate chip? I'm there. Something with coconut in it? You can keep those.

2. Tell us about your favorite cookie. Have your tastes changed since you were a kid?

A. My favorite cookie is chocolate chip. I think it has always been my favorite cookie.

3. Enquiring minds want to know if you are a dunker and, if so, do you dunk in milk, coffee, or tea?

A. I am not a cookie dunker.

4. It is that time of year and they are selling them on every corner and in front of every store!  Do you buy Girl Scout cookies and if you do, which is your favorite?

A. I do not buy Girl Scout cookies. I suppose someone sells them locally, I just don't know where.

5. Raw cookie dough. Yay or Nay?

A. Yay!

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.