Dear Mr. Postman

Please Mr. Postman look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a PACKAGE in your bag for me
(Please, please, Mr. Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time

I've been standin' here
Waitin' Mr. Postman so patiently
For just a card or just a letter
Sayin' it's for me

Maderia Town Square Christmas Trees

 

Yep Sammy and Wally my pals sent me, Sweet William The Scot, a Christmas package all the way from South Africa.  Do you know what that cost? That is big bucks! But they used the zip that was on the Christmas List.  WRONG! 

December 19, 2015 , 8:30 am	Arrived at USPS Facility	INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241
UPDATE IT IS Louisville an Annex which is NOT GOOD December 21, 2015 , 3:23 am Departed USPS Facility LOUISVILLE, KY 40231   Your item arrived at our USPS facility in INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241 on December 19, 2015 at 8:30 am. The item is currently in transit to the destination.
December 19, 2015 , 2:23 am	Departed USPS Facility	DETROIT, MI 48233
December 18, 2015 , 6:48 pm	Arrived at USPS Facility	DETROIT, MI 48233
December 15, 2015 , 7:18 am	Forwarded	EATON, OH
December 15, 2015 , 7:17 am	Arrived at USPS Facility	EATON, OH 45320
December 15, 2015 , 6:09 am	Arrived at Unit	EATON, OH 45320
December 15, 2015 , 12:52 am	Departed USPS Facility	CINCINNATI, OH 45235
December 14, 2015 , 10:39 pm	Arrived at USPS Facility	CINCINNATI, OH 45235
December 13, 2015 , 2:18 pm	Forwarded	EATON, OH
December 13, 2015 , 2:17 pm	Arrived at USPS Facility	EATON, OH 45320
December 13, 2015 , 1:50 pm	Arrived at Hub	EATON, OH 45320
December 12, 2015 , 9:54 pm	Arrived at USPS Facility	CINCINNATI, OH 45235
December 12, 2015 , 7:53 am	Arrived at USPS Facility	EATON, OH 45320
December 11, 2015 , 11:47 pm	Arrived at USPS Facility	CINCINNATI, OH 45235
December 11, 2015 , 4:35 am	Departed USPS Facility	EASTERN NASSAU, NY
December 10, 2015 , 3:19 pm	Arrived at USPS Facility	EASTERN NASSAU, NY
December 9, 2015 , 10:23 am	Inbound Out of Customs
	Inbound Into Customs
December 4, 2015 , 5:43 pm	Processed Through Sort Facility	ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
	Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
December 2, 2015 , 1:47 pm	Processed Through Sort Facility	JIMC C AIR, PRIORITY MAIL PARCELS, SOUTH AFRICA
December 2, 2015 , 9:09 am	Processed Through Sort Facility	JIMC C AIR, PRIORITY MAIL PARCELS, SOUTH AFRICA
November 25, 2015 , 6:09 pm	Acceptance	SOUTH AFRICA

       Darn this is like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  This package is racking up the milage.

It gets to the States clears customs yippie ki-yay.  Then it is Cincinnati, my city, OH BOY!

No don't send it to the other part of the state, yep there it went. Cincinnati ~ Eaton ~ Cincinnati ~ Eaton ~ Cincinnati ~ Eaton ~ DETROIT (what the HBO Word) ~ Indianapolis.

I don't live in Indianapolis!

Hey if you can tell me where it is going next first I will send you something by way of the USPS.

Yep maybe it might reach you sometime In the year 2525, if man is still alive.

 

 

I tried to put an intercept on the tracking number but you can only do that for domestic not international mail because of all the terror threats in the world now.

The plaque in Maderia says

"Civic work is the rent we pay

for the space we occupy

in the community

in which we live"

 

Montgomery Town Square Christmas Tree

 

Yep I was going into town last week to show you Fountain Square, the heart of Cincinnati, all decorated with the giant tree and the ice skating rink a Nati City tradition and darn as we were driving Lee had the radio on and the station announced that the Federal Building was being evacuated and all traffic around would be stopped.  Well the Square is just in the next block, so we turned around and came home.

Am I having fun yet?

 

 Lee's Christmas card count 12

My count ~ GULP!

 

Please Mr. Postman look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a LETTER in your bag for me
(Please, please, Mr. Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time

I've been standin' here
Waitin' Mr. Postman so patiently
For just a card or just a letter
Sayin' it's for me

 

Lee ~ yes William ~ I was on hold with the post office for an hour and forty seven minutes and GUESS WHAT ~ what William ~ I GOT DISCONNECTED!

What the crap!

Lee can I take the Christmas tree down now?

Oh William remember Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

 

Thanks for being a friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine

Signing Off 
Sweet William The Scot

 

Oh that does not apply to the USPS

Lee has been painting a lot of shop windows since Thanksgiving, her hands are all cracked and bloody.  While Lee paints I sleep on my bed because I know I am not allowed off my bed when we are at the shops. If you are going through Nati town and see a shop window painted we sign with a paw print so you will know it is ours.



I've Been Chasing My Tail

FOR THOSE SENDING CHRISTMAS CARDS OUR ZIP IS 45230
IT IS INCORRECT ON THE LIST
As of January 1st we will be getting a new Post Office Box.  So our address is no longer viable.
Oh have I, Sweet William The Scot, been working hard.

Yep Lee has been on me "like white on rice".  Why I've hardly had time to take a potty break.

First it was William you got to help me with the Deviled Eggs and Tahitian Fruit Salad which we took to the Thanksgiving Dinner. 

 Then it was William you know you got to get your Christmas Cards addressed.

Then the printer quit.  Lee told me to get under the desk and pull the cords and replug to see if it would start.  Darn near electrocuted myself.  Yep that electricity gave my furs a perm.

Then I ran out of stamps and had to run to the post office.  Those peeps actually told me they were out of Christmas stamps and they were no where near in a Christmas mood.  Bah Humbug on those scrooge postal workers. 

Then it was William, why can't Lee scream for Simon, Theodore or Alvin the Chipmunks for help.

No it is always my name that I hear.

 

Lee needed me to help with decorations.  Crap it has been raining so I can't go outside to decorate but I got the tree up.  Now I just got to get all her handmade porcelain ornaments on the tree that Lee has painstaking poured, fired, sanded and painted over the years on our tree.  New one this year.

Oh darn look at the time.  Lee is screaming William you got to get those cards in the mail before the post office closes.  Got to go.  Maybe I can leave some pee mail on the post office shrubbery.
 Yep I was a real big help licking bowls clean, trying to get Lee to play with my ball while she was replugging our printer and sticking my nose in the ornament box and riding along in the car.
A REAL BIG HELP!

We were going to go to the lighting of the big Christmas tree and see Santa propel from the roof top of a tall building and show you the ice skating rink another Nati City tradition but darn it poured and poured rain.

Thanks for being a friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine

Signing Off 
Sweet William The Scot



My Neighbor

All of us in Blogville know Puddles talked about her neighbors the stupids.  Last week Bouncing Bertie had a terrific post about the diversity of her street.  Well I want to show you my neighbor.
No my neighbor is not the Rhino.

They traveled 10,000 miles to save a species.

Yes my neighbor, Paul, traveled from the Cincinnati Zoo to Lampung, Sumatra Indonesia with the rhino.
Harapan is one of less than a hundred of these Rhinos left on our planet scientist believe.
He will now live with six others like himself.  Hopefully he will mate with a female and procreate.
I was helping Lee rake leaves the day Paul went past getting home from Indonesia.
We got to see all the photos on his cell phone.  He has cared for this animal at our wonderful Cincinnati Zoo and loved him as Lee loves me.  Paul has worked for the Zoo thirty four years. 
Lee has known Paul since they were teenagers.  I have to say Paul had a tear in his eye while he was showing us the pictures.
The rhino was transported overseas to be relocated at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park. Paul was on a cargo plane with the 8-year-old Sumatran rhino next to him in the cargo area.  The flight was around 36 hours.
Because of wonderful people like Paul this species has a chance.
I always smile when I see his plates on his vehicle RHINO 1.
I hope you enjoy watching this video and meeting my neighbor.
Paul invited us for Thanksgiving so I know where my turkey is coming from.

Lookie what I found while I was snooping around the house.
I think Lee got this big box of treats for me for Christmas.

Our Christmas Cactus is once again blooming for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

See you next week.

Thanks for being a friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine

Signing
Off 
Sweet William The Scot

Harrison Tomb

Before our post begins I want to tell you how proud I was of my Wills on Sunday. 

 We went to PetSmart and I had loaded his food in our cart then stopped to look at the dogs up for adoption.  Wills was patiently waiting by my foot when I felt a little tug on his six foot leash.  As I looked Wills was up on his back legs sitting in front of a Down Syndrome young boy.  The boy had his hands cupped by his chest.  Wills gently put his front feet on the boy and his head in the boys hands looking him in the face.  Wills then got down sitting in front of the boy.  The boy with hesitation tapped Wills on the head three times.  Wills then returned to being at my feet.  The boys Mom said, as I had not seen what Wills did, that Wills came over very slowly to her son wagging his funny tail wag and sat in front of her son before he proceeded to raise himself up to get the Down Syndrome boy to pet him.  The Mom said the child talks about dogs all the time but when they come to look or are around dogs he will not touch them and totally goes into his shell.  My Wills was his first touch of a dog.  How he picked out the child to go to or why only Wills know.  But Wills sure put a smile in the boys Mom's heart Sunday.  And I am still smiling.

 

Now for our post.

 

I, Sweet William The Scot, am on the westside of my Nati City today in North Bend.

 William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States, an American military officer.

He was the last President born as a British subject.

Harrison was the first sitting President to have his photograph taken, on Inauguration Day in 1841.

Why I, Sweet William The Scot, get my picture taken all the time.

He was a U.S. representative and senator from Ohio.  

His nickname was Old Tippecanoe.

Harrison's tomb was built in 1841.

 He was also the first president to die in office. He was 68 years old and the  oldest president to take office until Ronald Reagan.

After the War of 1812 he retired to Ohio.  He lived in relative retirement until he was nominated for the presidency in 1836. Defeated, he retired again to his farm. He was elected president in 1840.  

 

He served the shortest tenure in United States presidential history, 32 days in office. 

 Lee and I find it sad the state of disrepair this monument is in and poor grounds keeping.

I think Nati City could do much better. All the interpretive displays on the kiosks were gone, that were put in on January 29th, 2007.

President Harrison  Born February 9, 1773 ~ Died April 4, 1841.

Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison Born July 25, 1775 ~ Died February 25, 1864 wife of President William Henry Harrison.

To the far left is buried John Scott Harrison, the only man in U.S. history to be the son of a president and the father of a president (Benjamin Harrison).

Harrison's granddaughter by John Scot Harrison and son-in-law are interred in the Harrison Tomb also.

It was also meant as a temporary place for his family.  The Harrisons had ten children in all.

Hence all the empty spaces.



This picture depicts his final moments.  And says his body was placed in a glass coffin in the East Room of The White House.  And tells of the long road home to Ohio.

Harrison's grandson, Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, was the 23rd president.

 In the weeks to come I will tell you what William Henry Harrison has to do with the Brown County Indiana State Park where the BAR is happening next year.  The Park sits 135 miles from our door on the eastside of Nati City and Lee over the years has spent many hours horseback riding there.

  

Thanks for being a  friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine

Signing Off 

Sweet William The Scot 

Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river



I, Sweet William The Scot, want to show you something.

We have to follow these plaques.  They are smokestack plaques of a bygone era when paddlewheel and steamboats went up and down the Ohio River daily. 

This plaque tells of  the Robert E. Lee, nicknamed the "Monarch of the Mississippi," was a steamboat built in New Albany, Indiana in 1866.

Sidewheel Packet Buckeye State.

 Set the all-time steamboat speed record of 43 hours between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in May 1850

 Louisville and Cincinnati mail packet steamer "Jacob Strader".

The "Jacob Strader" was a troop carrier during the Civil War and was dismantled in 1866.

If you follow all the plaques which are dozens you get to this,

The National Steamboat Monument!

This monument is a reminder of the steamboat heritage of Cincinnati.

At the height of the riverboat era, in the mid 1800s, 8,000 riverboats a year, an average of about 22 per day, docked near this spot.

 The Monument is topped by a the original 30-foot diameter paddlewheel of the American Queen, the largest overnight passenger steamboat to be built in the last half century.  We have watched it pass by our city many times.  Lee would love to take a cruise on the American Queen.

Beneath the bright red wheel are two dozen stainless steel columns, or torchiers, built to represent smokestacks. Photo sensers set off steam jets that whistle and hiss through these stacks when a person passes them.

This center circular plaque tells you which way to walk to get them to play.  You have to walk in the order it states and you cannot do it slow.  But it is fun to hear them go off.  I got my ears up because they are playing now as Lee runs around.  Lee is being silly.

During the Civil War The Navy Department had under contract a man who had experience in designing river craft, one Samuel M. Pook.  Seven gunboats were made. The seven gunboats in the class were named for cities on the Mississippi or its tributaries. They were: USS Cairo, Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg, and St. Louis.

Their awkward appearance struck the fancy of the farm boys who saw them, and they christened them "Pook's Turtles."  

We like to read the history of the boats that traveled the Ohio.

 If you don't want to walk along you can rent bikes and wheel carts of all kinds to peddle around our riverfront.  It makes for a fun time. See the BB Riverboats in the background.

You pass by the Great American Ball Park on the winding banks of the Ohio River.  Home of the Cincinnati Reds.  The ballpark officially opened for the 2003 season.  The ballpark has smokestacks which shoot fireworks when the Cincinnati Reds get a home run.

 The sign for the All Star Game is still up with Mr. Redlegs face.

The truck was parked at the top of the Stadium.  How in the world did it get up there.  That takes talent.

These are the BB Riverboats.  Dining Cruises, sight seeing cruises, private charter, weddings.

Lee has done their dining cruises which she enjoys.

Now this man we see often on the river.
What a way to travel the mighty Ohio River.

Well see you next week! 

Thanks for being a  friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine

Signing Off 

Sweet William The Scot

 

The Ship That Won The War



The LST 325 docked at the public landing, bringing with it living history to the Cincinnati riverfront.  I, Sweet William The Scot, am going to give you a tour. 

They call them "The ship that won the war".

 LST 325 could carry as many as 20 Sherman Tanks into combat, and saw action at both Sicily and Normandy.  It is a  2,300-ton ship.
The World War II-era landing craft delivered men and equipment to the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasions and liberation of Europe.
Of the over 6,000 ships that served in the D-Day landings, the LST 325 is one of the last remaining sea-worthy vessels.



It serviced in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

70% of these vessels were built on the Ohio and Illinois Rivers.  The largest ship ever designed to place tanks, troops and cargo onto hostile beaches then retract off.

They told me to go to the aft end of tank deck keep left and take the starboard ladder up.  Okie Dokie Lee I need to ride on your back so you can hold onto the ladder.

For $20 you can have a one year Memorial Membership.

The Bulkheads are the walls or sides of the ship.

On the 2nd deck is the Galley original to WWII, the kitchen, where you get your grub!  Sorry some of our pictures are fuzzy because of close quarters 

Ship's Office and Post Office.
I thought I was suppose to yell YEOMAN for service.
A yeoman is a petty officer in the US Navy or Coast Guard performing clerical duties on board ship.

Hatches are the doors. 

So much lingo to learn.

 This is one of the crew.  A real true super nice man. The ship has 53 crewmen that sail with it today. He stopped me and wanted to compare beards.  His beard won!

He wanted to keep me. They say most of the ships had a dog.  Yep we are good for raising the spirits of humans.  Cincinnati News was doing a video the day we were there.  This man is in the video.

http://www.wlwt.com/news/world-war-iiera-boat-shares-piece-of-history-with-greater-cincinnati/35252584

 We took the Upper Ladder to 01 Level.

Note to self ~ when on Lee's back duck head when we go through a hatch.  I got a knot on my noodle from the last hatch.

 On this level are the 40mm gun mounts. 

 A big barge passed by and you could not feel the water current because this ship weighs so much.

 Through this window you can see the wheelhouse where the ship is controlled.

The Combat Information Center and Radio Room are just aft of wheelhouse.

I could hear Morse code and I kept turning my ears but Lee has not taught me to read Morse.

 Well you can see the main deck.  This was where trucks, artillery, supplies are carried.  The helicopter pad, not original for WWII but used in Korea and Vietnam.

 A Passageway is a hallway. They call this Officer's Country. Usually 10-12 officers and room for 8 Marine or Army Officers.

Captain's Quarters.  He had a small office, separate bunk room and head (toilet).

 

Main Deck. Good to be out in the air again.

 The covered hatch, is a fully operational forward elevator that brings equipment up and down.

 Now that we have gotten all the way to the top deck we go down another way.

 This is a true Mash Jeep used in Korea. I wonder if this jeep was the one "Radar" O’Reilly sent home in pieces.

 

 Troop Berthing.  This ship could hold up to 200 troops for long distance.  These bunks are as they were in 1942.  Darn hard bed if you ask me.

 Well it is time to disembark. 

It took us three hours to tour this boat. 

I was the perfect dog, greeting everybody who acknowledged me and minding my manners, no fear in me for new adventures.

 The tour cost $10 and dogs are welcome.

 

 Thanks for being a  friend
Traveling down the road and back again
Your heart is true and your a friend of  mine

Signing Off 

Sweet William The Scot

Pssssssss ~ If you wonder how Lee carries me, well I have a boba wrap carrier.  It has a hook so it goes over either one of Lee's shoulders and then it ties around her waist evenly distributes weight for comfort and longer carrying time. She has used it for all her Scotties.
I was going to show a picture of Lee's knee.  Lee had her surgery on the 20th.  But it kind of made us sick when we looked at it loaded on my blog.  Maybe next time after it heals some.