CMRivdogs

The former Tiffany Network is now Sarah Coventry (showing my age) bad costume jewelry

It is, in effect, a declaration of war, since the establishment of a blockade is an act of war.

Now they're targeting the Smithsonian...

December 22

That was the rumor. I was there he was tossing underhand. Probably from about 15-20 feet if I remember correctly. If he blew it doing that, his arm was toast anyway. (He also wasn't expected to be there, he was hanging with Jeff Weaver when he tried the toss

December 21 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-21?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2025-1221-12212025

Actually I prefer another viewing of Lion in Winter. The ultimate family gathering at Christmas. Katherine Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Timothy Dalton, Nigel Terry and a very young Anthony Hopkins.

Not a peeve, just a full out WTF. We've been going round and round the past week with Wayfair. My wife decided she would like an electric fireplace after visiting family over Thanksgiving. She found what she wanted on Wayfair. OK, the price was reasonable, it's Christmas, let's do. She ordered a combination TV stand and fireplace. Two boxes were delivered around December 6. One contained the TV cabinet the other a fireplace insert. We put the cabinet together, the fireplace insert was two big. That started a whole chain of calls and texts to Wayfare. Pictures included to show the boxes and the problem. OK they shipped a second box, this was supposed to be the correct stand. Nope, its another insert, the same size as the one they sent before. Wayfare is blaming it on the manufacturer. Meanwhile I'm trying to get clarification on whether or not we need to return something since they are giving us mixed symbols. I forgot to add, I broke down the box that contained the stand, trying to be helpful, and get it ready for the recycling center. We spent the morning taking apart the stand and taping together the box that evidently they now either do or do not want depending on who we get on the phone. The stand and both inserts are now sitting in the garage either waiting to be returned or put on the next neighborhood yard sale.There is another delivery coming at an undetermined time with either a new stand or a third insert. Meanwhile the TV is sitting on the floor, waiting for someone to attach it to the wall tomorrow morning.....

Gadsden left no record of why he chose the rattlesnake, although it was already established in his home city of Charleston as a symbol of defense and vigilance. One patriot there called it a “noble and useful” animal, and it was drawn there and elsewhere on militia flags and drums. Benjamin Franklin made the snake an icon of America in his 1754 cartoon “Join, or Die,” depicting the colonies as severed segments of a serpent. This illustration was much reproduced in the years since and is elaborated upon by Franklin in the Pennsylvania Journal on Dec. 27, 1775: ”She has no eye-lids. She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders…The Rattle-Snake is solitary, and associates with her kind only when it is necessary for their preservation. “Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. “The power of fascination attributed to her, by a generous construction, may be understood to mean, that those who consider the liberty and blessings which America affords, and once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, but spend their lives with her.”

December 20 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-20

My parents were members of a Moose lodge in their later years. They got into ballroom dancing and joined to go to dances. I also have a friend who works at Mooseheart, the residential school for children of Members of the Moose who's family is unable to care for them

They have lodges in Mt Clemens and St Claire Shores....