Monthly Archives: July 2024

Recently, my sisters, Cheryl Masterson, Caryl Reed, Alena Stevens, Allyn Hadlock, and I started a book club. Before each meeting, we read a book, on our own time, and then come together to discuss the book we read. We chose the Presidents of the United States as our topics, and each time we progress to the next president. We began at the beginning, President George Washington. We went on to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and next will be James Monroe. One takeaway from these books has been that while our founding fathers may have had their faults, and some more than others, each tried to do what they saw as the best thing for this nation. They also knew that more than anything, we needed freedom. We could not continue to live under British rule.

We had to be free of England, and so it was that Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, is now a federal holiday in the United States commemorating that freedom, and the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence was largely written by Thomas Jefferson but was collectively the work of the Committee of Five, which also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. The Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress declared that “the Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.” The Congress voted to approve independence by passing the Lee Resolution on July 2 and adopted the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4. We were a free nation, but that did not mean that Great Britain would willingly accept that. In fact, Great Britain did not accept US independence until 1783…a full seven years after it was first declared.

Like many “start-up” countries, the United States met with heavy opposition the minute it tried to get going. The “Mother Country” didn’t want to let go. Great Britain called the United States the “Colonies” long after we were actually a free nation. Even when they knew they had lost any control over the United States, they tried to get it back, and in the absence of getting their control back, they downplayed the importance of the United States. That was probably the most ridiculous part of it, because the United States became the most powerful nation in the world. While some might disagree, and while we have had our ups and downs, this nation will always stand. Today, we celebrate the nation that we love. The United States of America…the home of the free, because of the brave. Happy Independence Day to this great nation!! Let the celebration begin!!

When I asked my niece, Cassie Franklin what was new with her son, my grandnephew, Lucas Iverson, she reminded me that this year, Lucas is 13 years old!! He is officially a teenager, and I must say that I am stunned!! That just seems impossible to me, He should be 6 or maybe 10. Ok, I know that I’m being ridiculous, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem possible that a kid could be as grown up as they are. Lucas is an amazing young man, is a number of ways. He has Down Syndrome, and that make life more work for him. To say that it is more difficult would be wrong, because Lucas just keeps plugging along, and he is a successful young man.

Lucas is very sweet, and with the help of his younger sister, Zoey, Lucas came a long way toward independence. Lucas has a heart of gold, and he loves his sisters. Now, he is going to be going to middle school, where he will be learning a lot more on life skills and how to function in life. These are important skills for Lucas, as they are for any child. Lucas is becoming more and more independent lately and learning how to self-entertain. These may not sound like great strides for most kids, but more Lucas these are amazing steps. He is becoming more of a little man and not a boy. That is another thing that I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around. The possibilities for Lucas are endless, just as they are for any other child, and I love seeing him spreading his wings and flying a little bit. Lucas is obsessed with stuffed animals…and his little baby sister, Alicen. He is becoming quite the babysitter and entertainer extraordinaire. His love of stuffed animals makes him a great entertainer for Alicen.

Over the years, Lucas’ health has been a struggle, but now, with changes that his mom, Cassie has implemented in his diet, like the removal of dairy and pork, he is feeling much better. He is off of his supplemental feeding juices and is independently drinking out of the glass. These are great strides for Lucas, and we are so proud of him. This year, they are having a coffee shop birthday party for his birthday, and they took him to the circus this last week as part of his birthday celebration. Life is a looking very sunny for Lucas and his family. Today is Lucas’ 13th birthday!! Happy 13th birthday Lucas!! Welcome to teenage!! Have a great day!! We love you!!

If you ask my sister, Allyn’s family about her daughter-in-law, Chelsea Hadlock, the overwhelming consensus will be that Chelsea is absolutely great!! In fact, I don’t think there is a single person in our whole family that would disagree either!! Chelsea a sweet and generous, kind and loving, and a beautiful person…inside and out!!

She is always willing to lend a helping hand. My niece, Kellie, Chelsea’s sister-in-law tells me, “Chelsea is the most generous! She is always willing to help me with anything that I need…anytime! She never hesitates to go out of her way and that kind kindness is hard to find! She has also grown a lot spiritually! She is always speaking the right things and applying what we are learning in church to her life and her family’s lives.”

This year, Chelsea; her husband Ryan Hadlock; son, Ethan; and daughter, Aurora have been camping as a family. They also joined the Hadlock family when they went camping at Guernsey, Wyoming to celebrate Mother’s Day. That camping trip is always nice, because the guys cook the moms a nice breakfast, while the moms relax. Chelsea and her family also recently went to the Big Horn Mountains for a week and just relaxed. The big event of that trip was that they got some snow while they were up there. This week they are on vacation and will be camping on the Hadlock property on Casper Mountain. They he rest of the family will be joining them for some evenings over the 4th.

Chelsea has had a long-standing hobby of crocheting, and while she had put that on the back burner for a while, she has started up again recently. When it comes to crafts or being creative in any way shape or form, Chelsea is the MVP! Almost every Sunday, Allyn and my brother-in-law have the whole family come out to their riverfront property east of Casper, for a family dinner and afternoon of catching up. Everyone enjoys that time, and Chelsea is a great part of that. She is such a sweet person to have around, and they really enjoy her company. Every Sunday that they are together is a wonderful and very relaxing time for all.

Chelsea is a really good mom and her kids show her dedication to motherhood in their behavior.  Allyn thinks it “speaks volumes when others love your children and think they are sweet and polite, and enjoy having them around,” and we would all have to agree that Ethan and Aurora are very sweet, polite, and well behaved.

Chelsea is a great girl, and a great addition to our whole family. Oh and did I mention…her tuna casserole is the bomb!! That’s what I’ve been told anyway!! I’ve never had it, but they all tell me that she makes a really superb Tuna Casserole!! I love Tuna Casserole!! Maybe I’ll try it sometime!! Today is Chelsea’s birthday!! Happy birthday Chelsea!! Have a great day!! We love you!!

Soldiers are trained to obey orders without thought of the moral aspects the order might have carried. Nevertheless, not every order is a good one. Still, there have been a number of times when disobeying an order was very questionable, such as the order given to General Daniel Sickles at the Battle of Gettysburg. Sickles was a Tammany Hall politician with ambitions of becoming president. Tammany Hall, which was also known as the Society of Saint Tammany, the Sons of Saint Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. In New York City and New York state politics, and it had become the main local political machine of the Democratic Party. The Tammany Hall politicians focused on bringing immigrants, most notably the Irish, into American politics from the 1850s, and into the 1960s. Tammany Hall politicians virtually controlled the Democratic nominations and political patronage in Manhattan for over 100 years following the mayoral victory of Fernando Wood in 1854. These politicians used their patronage resources to build a loyal, well-rewarded core of district and precinct leaders, and after 1850, the vast majority were Irish Catholics due to mass immigration from Ireland during and after the Irish Famine of the late 1840s.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Sickles raised a brigade with himself as its commander, hoping to improve his reputation, which had suffered greatly when he murdered his wife’s lover. On July 2, Sickles’s III Corps was ordered to defend a portion of Cemetery Ridge. This area included Little Round Top, and it was a central position between two other divisions. It seemed like the perfect strategy, but Sickles, feeling that the lay of the land made his position indefensible, asked Major General George S Meade for permission to advance three-quarters of a mile to the Emmitsburg Road. When Meade refused, Sickles ended up advancing, against a direct order, to the forward position anyway. That shift of position left his unit vulnerable to flanking attacks and also left Little Round Top undefended. Clearly, Sickles didn’t understand the strategies of war that were well known to Major General Meade. I guess soldiers are promoted for a reason.

Sickles was forced to retreat and lost almost 40% of his force in the Confederate attack that followed. After Sickles had abandoned his post, the task of defending Little Round Top fell to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V corps, and in fact made famous the 20th Maine brigade, under Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. In the end, they famously managed to repel the Confederate advance, but the victory would not have needed the heroics if Sickles had stayed at his post. Of course, typical of those who rebel and ignore the orders given, Sickles maintained to the end of his days that his insubordination helped the Army of the Potomac survive the day’s assaults. It was a crazy declaration, but I guess it helped him sleep at night. There are those on both sides of the coin on that one, but in the end, the disobedience cost him much more than he might have imagined, since he was never the president.

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