Kenna Morton's Journal, 19 Feb 21

First of all Kenna, nothing beats meatloaf and very few restaurants make it how I like it, (pretty plain is my cup of tea). Second, nothing beats exploring old cemeteries! They are always so quiet! Traveling, I love to explore small town diners, you can hear the local gossip and hear them talking about the day’s work, and basically get a feel for the town besides enjoying the local food. Then exploring old abandoned farm houses and old barns just can’t be beat, except for the grave yards, so interesting and just plain fascinating!! Lastly, I enjoy your posts, you share lots of wisdom and I love science and you seem to be all into it also. Well, I better get back to my weekend chores, enjoy your day!😊  

Thank you Shrewdness, that is really kind of you. I do the same thing when I travel. I always stop and look at graveyards. I think the one site that has stuck with me for years was in Petaluma, California. I lived not far (50miles) from a much neglected cememetary so I decided to start a project and clean it up a bit. I came across one grave that was so covered in weeds that it took me forever just to get to the old, tipped headstone. It was from the Civil War. Union soldier14 years old. I sat there and cried. I have never forgotten that and I fear it is coming for us once again.  

Shrewdness— my meatloaf on the other hand is a compilation of things that are not growing mold in the refrigerator. Surprisingly it always turns out great and , of course, I can never actually reproduce it. One thing I do that works so well is make my own breadcrumbs. I have a container in the freezer and any bread product that is getting past it’s prime gets run through the food processor and added to the container. Wheat bread, rye , my Irish stout bread, always some raisin bread, Hawaiian sweet hamburger buns— doesn’t matter, it all goes in the freezer and ultimately into the meatloaf. It has been a really worthwhile thing to do over the years. . 

Wow Kenna, I never had seen anything like that! So young to be put into a war, just a baby still.😟The grave yards I have gone to have been pretty old, with just names and dates and broken down fencing with a lot of head stones down, they did have foot stones, which I never knew existed. So interesting of what life must have been like back then. My bread crumbs go to the crows. I have a jar I fill up with left overs and throw-away food from the refrigerator that I toss out at work for them. I am a crow and Raven lover. I made such good friends with a pair of crows at my house, they actually nested in our pretty low tree. My husband made them platforms to enjoy. About 15 years ago the West Nile Virus killed almost all the crows around us, it was unbelievably sad for me. There will never be another pair so tame and trusting.😞 I then had to make sure my horse got vaccinated against it. Sorry for the long post, but that is what I do with our bead crumbs. Thanks for the info!👍😊  

How interesting. I didn’t know that West Nile could be transmitted, but makes sense. I find birds and squirrels fascinating. 

By the end of the war so many of the 20-4o year old soldiers on both sides were dead, wounded, amputees, etc. they were down to literally using “old men” and boys as regular soldiers. This kid could well have been a drummer boy and was finally put into a uniform to fight. The civil war never extended further than Texas, Arizona and New Mexico so it makes you wonder about how the body made its way to Northern California . In total by the end of the war there were about 25 states involved if I remember my history correctly. 

I was wondering about that, why would his grave be in California? Maybe he migrated here after being seriously wounded with his parents or something. There are people that are still feel wounded by that war for many reasons. I wish more people would read about it. A little depressing though, it’s so interesting for it was so hard to even just exist in those days much less fight a war. I did read, Traveller, which was a book about seeing the civil war through the horses eyes. He was owned by Robert E. Lee. Loved it. Better get going have a wonderful Monday!🌺  

Thanks for the book recommendation, I’m a BIG reader. My brother’s back yard is the Manassas battlefield in Virginia. When I walked through there the first time it was such an eerie feeling. It was like I could feel the unsettled spirits of the dead.  

I wanna give you heads up Kenna, the book was fun, but a little silly too, because the horse will talk to the cat, stuff like that. I am buying a book, At Dawn We Slept, which is the story about Pearl Harbor, which sounds fascinating and has been highly recommend. I love books that are written from men in war that are actually their diaries, the written journals from themselves, few and far between to find good ones. Anyway, I just wanna give you heads up about the silliness of Traveller, which I personally loved for I can be silly. 😊 Unfortunately, a friend at work, brought me pizza today, that I didn’t plan on and I wasn’t going to eat it, yet, I ate it all!😳🌺