On The Beach

How well do you know your fellow blogger?

We read each other post and once in a great while if we are lucky we get to meet them for an hour or so.  But do we really know them?

I, Sweet William The Scot, was talking to my girlfriend Bella

who lives in Australia over the holidays.  And I asked Bella why did HER live in Australia.  I knew that HER was originally from the States.  I caught that in a post HER had wrote. 

Well Bella told me that when HER was a wee puppy HER had went to the movies with HER sisters and saw a movie called On The Beach.  From then on HER talked about going to Australia.

Has something like that changed your life????

Well I said to Lee we have to see this movie and we checked with the library and they had one copy in storage.  So we put in a request and when it got to us the day after Christmas we stacked up the pillows and laid down to watch.

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boil
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.

Yep our minds still have the Matilda bug humming away.

Well there was only one Aussie in the movie but HER found that out later.

Well the last scene has a banner flapping in the wind proclaiming

"THERE IS STILL TIME".

So while there is still time tell me something about your peep!

I am not asking for that moment that changed their life forever.

But tell me something about your peep ~ like what was their favorite book they have read or what has been their favorite movie.

Have a slice of fruit ectdsy while you tell me something about your peep. 

You can even ask me a question!

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 Changing Season

Why I, Sweet William The Scot, was asked to do a review. I get asked all the time but seldom do I say yes. 

Well I got an e-mail along with several other bloggers about doing a book review on a book coming out in February.  And you all know how I like to read.  Why being a reader dog  I just love the smell and feel of a book in my paws and when the author said he would send me a book I jumped at the chance to read an author not familiar to me.

Ed Asner, the actor, said "Manchester's The Changing Season will be to young adults what Old Yeller is to my grandson."

  The book is written through the eyes of a teenage boy the summer of his eighteenth year from the time of graduation till fall as he leaves for college.  His journey on finding his career in the world. 

Along the way you meet his two friends their family dynamics and how bad decisions always have repercussions.  There is a statement that says justice is karma's twin sister.  How true.

The boys are boys of today with being constant video game junkies.

Billy the main character in a week thinks he has met the love of his life.  With the I Love You, I Love You More thirsty.  In a hurry for the well ~

Thirsty ~ This word used to mean that you wanted something to drink. Now, thirsty means that you are desperate for something. Mostly sex.

The one constant is Jimmy, a mix breed in his twelfth year of dog life.  A boy and his dog, well any story about a person and their dog is kind of what Blogville is about.  Peeps and their animals.

We particularly loved Manchester's last twenty five pages. They were right on with emotion between Jimmy and Billy.  How dogs are there to get us through the toughest of times with their ever unconditional love.

The author Steven Manchester has written bestsellers Twelve Months, Pressed Pennies, Gooseberry Island. 

Mr. Manchester served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  He has worked in Criminal Justice and he has written 16 books, with 12 being published.

We want to thank him for the opportunity to read his latest book and we are giving our copy to the Hamilton County Library in Nati City.
His book is available on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Changing-Season-Steven-Manchester/dp/1611882265

This was on the bumper of a car in front of us this week!
The owner of the car took a double take at us.
I think the guy kind of panicked thinking I was taking a picture of his license plate.
Dalton a character in the book sadly needed this bumper sticker.

Friends don't let the aliens get you this week.

The "I Love You, I Love You More" quote,  Lee got to laughing thinking about  neighbors who moved into the hood several years ago.  It was a May December marriage. Everytime one of them would leave they yelled that till they were out of sight of each other.  They divorced two years later.  The December man was always saying how soft the May wife was.  We ran into him at the grocery he no longer thinks that way driving a beater of a car with fewer pennies in his pocket.  

A neighbor got so tired of hearing them yelling about love that he always yelled "dam it I love myself more".  Oh the life and times of life in my hood. 

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

Sweet William The Scot

Talking Blogville Retreat

Duchess 1995 my grandmother's horse.



I showed you Harrison's Tomb here in Nati City he was responsible for getting the land now called Indiana where the BAR is being held.  It was the Ten O’clock Treaty.

This area of the state called Indiana was opened to European settlement on September 30, 1809, upon the consummation of a treaty between Governor William Henry Harrison and the Miami Indians.   Brown County Indiana State Park is about 130 miles from our door and we have been there in the past a lot during the fall season.

Do any of you remember a show called Twilight Zone?  In one episode this couple were caught in a dense fog and suddenly a town appeared.  Then at the end the couple were driving out of the town and encompassed in the fog again.  With the fog everything starts and everything ends. 

 

If you who are going to the BAR and have time, go to Story.  I have always enjoyed Story.
If we come we will be staying at Story which is about 36 miles from Red Roof Inn.
Probably we will not come though.
http://storyinn.com/about-us

The first time I went to Story it was as if I was caught in the Twilight Zone.  The town just stopped literally and figuratively in a dense fog.

It was founded in 1851.

It's  heydays were from 1880-1929.

It never recovered from the Great Depression 1929-1933.

Brown County lost half of its population between 1930 and 1940. 

This exodus of people paved the way for the creation of the Brown County State Park .

The United States Army Corps of Engineers flooded the area in 1960, creating Lake Monroe, Indiana’s second largest lake cutting Story’s access.

Story’s main street,  now dead-ends four miles to the west at a fallen iron bridge.  It just stops and the first time I was driving this I was in Twilight Zone's fog.

No one attempted to modernize Story!

 Story is perhaps the best preserved example of a 19th century small town that survives in the American Midwest.

 Story, the entire town, is now a country inn/bed & breakfast offering fine dining (Gordon Ramsay style fancy), catering, and lodging.  None of their rooms have televisions, telephones, clocks or radios.
It is a Midwest’s premier place to see.
Story has been said to be haunted by the Blue Lady.  Many have reported seeing her, Lee has not.  Lee has so enjoyed the quiet of this step back into history small town.
 Story Inn’s restaurant has been acclaimed as one of the finest in the State.  Fine dining in a 1916 General Store.  All food served is grown locally or on the grounds.  Great wine list.  They have elk and bison along with fish and chicken locavore dining.  In the summer wonderful vegetables plates are served all from their own gardens.  Indiana has sweetest corn and muskmelons.  Unfortunately the harvest calendar for Indiana has very little coming in during early June.  Asparagus, peas and collards should be great.  I had the most wonderful cucumber and cantaloupe salad with lime and cilantro with seasonal cheeses.
http://storyinn.com/restaurant-winter-hours
Oh an if your dog gets one of their free range chicken which can be found roaming around expect to pay for the chicken.
For the Ten O’clock Treaty well in September a shadow cast at ten passed right through the heart of what would become the town of Story.  A monument sets in the town.

Lee personally has always thought of Brown County Park more of a horse park that kind of frowned on dogs.  Horses can be spooked by unfamiliar dogs.  Lee always pulled a horse trailer when going and always entered by the south having never entered through the covered bridge north entrance because it was prohibited.  Lee would definitely recommend all going have a six foot nylon leash not a retractable leash for we have seen fines given to pet owners who could not prove it was not out further than six feet.
Just a picture taken year 1994 of one of the trails at Brown County that Lee was riding.  The "E" trail takes you to Story.

That is a picnic shelter in the distance.
It is also bicycle friendly.

We have never been there in the heat of summer always going in the fall with the splendid fall foliage because Brown County is 80% forested today.  Beautiful in the fall!

One of the beautiful roads going over to the park October 2011.

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

Wonder what's coming down the road next week?
 

My Package From South Africa

 Our package from Samuel and Wallace arrived finally after visiting almost all of the lower forty eight states.  Yep the package took the scenic route.  Yep it was traveling down the road and back again because it had the wrong zip code.  I enlisted the help of my Post Office to catch it an bring it back to Nati City.

 This box is deep.  But I can smell what I want so I knows it is in here somewhere.

They sent them to me last year and I told them they are the bestest treats I ever had.  Why I smell them and I start to drool.



  There they are.  They sent me the Billtongs.

Sure wish they sold them in the States.

Sammy & Wally say sometimes you have to order them and yep they ordered them special for me.

  Our gifts are wrapped in the prettiest Christmas paper.

And they wrote a long note telling us on what days to open the packages why that took time to write and I cannot follow it because Christmas is over.

I'm not going to wait till next Christmas Eve to start.

  I got a gingy reindeer stuffie and the billtongs.  I am so excited I just can't hide it! 

  Lee got a giraffe print wonderful pink scarf.  Why pink is her second favorite color.  A mini iced fruitcake which had raisins, I wanted a bite but I didn't get it.  It was a moist fruit cake and was doused in liquior so it was really good.  The icing had kind of an anise flavor but that was not listed as being in the fruitcake.  It is ALL GONE!

Lee has not tried the fruit bar nor has she tried the Milo.  But she will.

  Then we got a marvelous tote.  They read about our neighbor taking the Sumatran rhino home the tote says "FOR HIM, YOU CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE".

Isn't that the truth ~ STOP POACHING THESE ENDANGERED ANIMALS.

I, Sweet William The Scot, am telling you to stop NOW! 

Why lookie the Christmas Card even has a Rhino on the front.

Sammy and Wally are so co-ordinated.

THANKS SAMMY & WALLY.

 

Please remember to say a pray for their Oumie she is having a chemo

 treatment tomorrow and the last one made her really feel terrible, her bones just ached and ached.

 

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

Our Christmas Candle & Daisy's Present

Why I bet my Christmas Candle was bigger than your candle.
Yep I, Sweet William The Scot, call my water tower a candle at Christmas time.

My community is dominated by the water tower and we light it up at Christmas.

On a slow night in Nati City cars just park and watch the lights on the water tower change colors.

 It’s  a landmark for most of the east side.  As far away as Blue Ash, north of the city, the tower’s rotating light can be seen.
It starts out with the bulbs all white.

Then Christmas Carols begin to play and the lights begin to change colors.

We love the red and green colors going round the water tower.

Then you can see it dressed in red.

Then it is dressed in green.

There are probably a thousand different versions.

Why we were standing here taking pictures for over thirty five minutes and the candy cane red and white never appeared but yet we have seen it from the car when we are driving Columbia Parkway.

A crèche still sits on the grounds.

We got a Christmas Card from Daisy and the envelope had a little surprise box. 

Why wasn't that the nicest thing that she remembered Lee had given out some goat milk soap and Carrie sent her a bar from her farmer's market.  Lee can I send Daisy one of our Scottie bars?

Yes William you can send one back to her.

 

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

Psssssss ~ Our package from Samuel and Wallace arrived finally after visiting almost all of the lower forty eight states.  Yep the package took the scenic route.  Yep it was traveling down the road and back again. We will show you our treasure trove next week.

Sweet William The Scot Genealogy Search

BEFORE 

AFTER

 

My official Christmas photo that will probably only happen once in my life.  It cost money to look like this and my piggy doesn't rattle now.

Lee set me up as a follower of another Scottie and they responded back that "they were not going to follow us as I was not as handsome as Stuart or Sparhawk and they did not like Scotties that  sadly misrepresented the breed".

"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)"

Last year Lee said she was going to get DNA Kits for both of us. 

When my kit came from the vet it had two small brushes like what a women uses to apply mascara.  One for each side of my inside cheeks. Not my bum cheeks!  Lee scraped the inside of my mouth and put the brushes

in tubes that were then sealed tight till they popped and a liquid immerged then off the kit went in the pre addressed and paid for box.

The results kind of surprised us ~ as you do not list your breed.

Well the test showed I am like 95% Scottish Terrier 3% Wild Dog and 2% Dog.  Every dog carries wild dog genes and not determined dog genes from when they began.

Then we got my AKC Pedigree back as far as it went.

On my mothers side it went back to July 27, 1885.  My fourth great grandfather was

 AM CH Anstamm Venture On ROMS. With seventy one champs in that line.

On the other side were champs champs and more champs back to 1889.

But you know what all those fancy dancy genes landed in a puppy mill. 

Yep this is how my mother was kept.  Tied to her crate by a bungee cord left to have her pups in the dirt without a birthing crate.  My father was chained to his crate, we will spare you that picture.

The pictures were hard to get so pardon the poor quality.
Lee did not get me there.  From there I was taken to a nice house in Cincinnati and shown as their puppies.

On my first set of AKC Papers my grandfather and great grandfather we noticed a DNA # check and inquired.  Which set us on a search to my truth.

Seems the AKC had been watching how much breeding these dogs had done.

Well long story shorten the puppy mill can no longer license dogs with the AKC and the County SPCA took away the dogs because my Lee took a stand.  Yep Lee takes a stand when she gets unrefuted evidence.
Oh an it is O.K. if you tell me I misrepresent the breed, I will still lick your hand, be in the Van Andel Institute study to help dogs live longer healthier lives and give my blood to the vet when they have had an emergency because I live close by and can get there fast.
My friend Nessa Noodledog is in the Van Andel study also.

The Daily Pip is doing a series called The Specials.  Featuring the stories of successful special needs adoptions.  Ku·dos to those who open their hearts to those that misrepresent the breed.
 

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

PS ~ Lee did her DNA  ~two test ~ to be sure and she got a whopping surprise.  She represents a small percent of the population in the world in that her DNA is not mixed from all over but her ethnicity is made up of only Scandinavia and Great Britain.

We wanted this year to take you on more Nati City Christmas Traditions.
Like the Reindog Parade on Dec. 12th.
Seems we have been having a nasty gremlin who has taken up residence this Christmas.
 

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.