Tornado Update... as it relates to Jasper?

As you all well know, on Good Friday (April 10, 2009) the town & county I live in was hit by a tremendously devastating tornado. The only bright spot that we could see from all of this was that our town pulled together like I haven't seen since September of 2001. When Hurricane Catrina slammed hard against New Orleans the entire state of Louisiana rallied together to rescue, place, and ultimately restore and resurrect the Big Easy. When Mother Nature twisted her way through Rutherford County, Tennessee leaving death and destruction in her wake, it sounded a rally call for more good neighbor feelings and more good steward actions. This town became a family that day. Our arms stretched and enveloped people we did not know and hands and hearts worked overtime to insure that the clean up was rapid and timely. I have posted about Kori and her daughter losing their lives. I have posted about the families that we knew losing their homes. I have posted about good people losing their businesses and their jobs. What I have not posted about is the effect all of this had on the animals in our town that were equally as effected by these tornadoes. One such little fellow is my newest buddy. My daughter insists that he looks like a Jasper. I don't know anything for sure except that she has read one too many Twilight episodes. That is where she got the name, but considering that this little fellow came to us out of that night of horror, perhaps it is fitting.
Jasper is 4 weeks old. He was born on Thursday, April 9th, the night before the storm. The people who owned his parents lost everything. Everything except the male Gator Head American Pit Bull that was Jasper's father. The Red Nose American Staffordshire Terrior that was Jasper's mother was taken by the storm leaving them with a litter of cute little fellows like Jasper.

After hand feeding them for three weeks (until their eyes opened) the task of weaning them onto hard food was simple. After four short weeks they were physically ready to place. They would not be psycologically ready as they started life without a mother. If they can overcome this just think what good dogs they will make. What an adversity! My son and I picked this little fellow out of the 3 pups that were left. Another fellow was on his way to pick the other male pup. That leaves the original owner with the father and a female pup. I am hoping he will decide to keep them both, but you never know. At this point, Jasper is the only one we can worry about. I am going to start him on trails early so as to give him the hang of letterboxing, and he will be my new letterboxing partner. I am going to introduce him to everyone at the Smack Dad In The Middle gathering. I hope everyone will like him, as he sure has added a little flavor to our lives. I don't think Lydia knows just what to think yet, but she will get used to sharing her water dish sooner or later. After all he is a Pit Bull.

Tornado Update... as it relates to Letterboxing

I took a little drive Sunday and the thing that was plain to me is that There is no possibility that all of the boxes in town survived. I made my way to the Stones River Battlefield to check on a few boxes that I have over there. I also planted the Box Of The Month over there as well.I was stopped at the visitors center and told that the 2 mile paved park loop won't be open for another 2 weeks and the trail system won't be open for several months. I searched and searched for a way to get over to the area where Fairy Box #1 and #2/ Fairy Thoughts and Day Dreamer were planted and was stopped by 3 state troopers and 4 Park Rangers before I could even get close. Eventually, I went in through the Greenway. I found a place on the Greenway where I could access the Rail Road tracks and walked them for 2 miles and finally came out about 100 yards from where each box is...or was. Fairy Thoughts FBS#1 was present and accounted for. An easy pick up. After that, I had to wait till it was almost dark as clean up crews are working by electric light and on into the dark. I crept as slowly and as quietly down towards Day Dreamer FBS#2 when it dawned on me that nothing looked familiar. Everything had changed. All of the trees that used to be here were gone and so was the tree FBS#2 was in. I figured it was not worth getting caught so I started making my way back towards the RR tracks when I heard a voice yell at me to bring them a box that was on the ground. I bent down and grabbed the box and took it to the man who proceeded to tell me all of the reasons why I should have on a hard hat. As I was looking down trying to avoid eye contact with the man, I saw a familiar chunk of tree in a burn pile. I walked over to the pile and stuck my hand in the section of tree and there was FBS#2. I tucked her into my shirt and told the man I left my hard by the stump where I had gone to the bathroom. He yelled at me to get it on so I went as if I were going to grab it and kept going. The RR tracks were about 150 yards away, there was no one following me and I had FBS's #1 and #2. Mission accomplished. As I was driving home I went to the back side and played hide and seek with another work crew and about 5 more state troopers, but I was able to get the BOM and it has already been replanted. If you are interested in continuing to collect the BOM please look at the clue, as it has changed. If you are a SRNB hiker, please avoid this park until the first of the summer. It has sustained a lot of damage. There are a couple of boxes that belong to other people that I did not get but if you have a box there and want it rescued I am planning 1 more trip inside the boundries. Let me know and I will look for it.

It Huffed, and It Puffed, and it...

Yesterday, April 10, 2009, started just like any other day. I was going to ride my motorcycle to work that day but it was raining that morning. That was just it. It was merely raining. I went in to work at 5:00 AM and was looking forward to checking out at my usual 1:00 PM and going to the house. There was nothing unusual about the day until about noon. As I always do, I made my rounds before I left to see if anyone needed anything specific before I left and my friend and boss, Gretchen, suggested that I stick around. I went back out into the museum to ascertain what the problem might be. She was being tight lipped about most of it. I made my way out onto the floor and noticed that the staff had corralled most of our visitors and the other staff members into the center point of the museum. I said to myself, "this looks like an emergency lock down." I went to the service desk and noticed the computer was tracking a storm like I had never seen before. From there I made my way upstairs to make sure everyone was down and that no one needed any help. While I was up there I called home and my son, Justin (25), answered. He is Carmen Sanchez to you folks. He was playing stay at home brother that day and Godsbird (Gracy/ 11) was at home with him. They told me they had a pallet made in the closet under the stairs. It was then that I heard the alert sirens over the phone and I knew that this was all too serious. I went back downstairs and told Gretchen that as much as I loved them and enjoyed them, my place was at home with my kids. She knew she would not be able to talk any sense into me nor to stop me from leaving so she just told me to be careful. I left work and drove the 7 miles home, watching people freak out behind the wheel and even witnessed 3 accidents on the way. At one point I passed over an interstate bridge and looked to my right down I-24 underneath me and this is what I saw.


I drove on toward the house, hoping I would make it in time before this monster left a path of destruction that would prevent me ever reaching my house or seeing my kids again. I knew my wife was at work and I knew she would be worried so I called her on the cell phone to check in. As soon as I told her where I was she started screaming at me to pull over and get out of my SUV. I assured her that I was aware of the tornado and that I was watching it out my window.

I made my way on to the house and called her back when I found the kids were OK. Within seconds after I talked to her the second time, this is what went through within 2 miles of where she was.

We stayed where we were for about 20 minutes and the phone rang. 4 little piggies had thought about us in the midst of this desaster and called to check on our safty. There was an immediate lifting of our spirits and a lightening of our hearts knowing that folks cared enough about us to try contacting us. Our house was spared and so, for the most part, was our neighborhood, but the devistation that lay in the wake of this tremendous beast was vurtually brutal.

This picture was taken within a couple of miles of our house.



This one was taken about 3 miles from where my wife was at the time.



This is what it feels like to see this happen to the town you live in.



At the end of it all, 4 tornadoes hit 4 different parts of the county. There were 2 class #2 tornadoes, 1 class #3 and a class#4. 150 homes were destroyed. several hundred more suffered extensive damage, into the millions of dollars. Power was out virtually throughout Rutherford County, and that was the least of it.
A young mother, Kori Bryant (30) was in the process of trying to leave her home during this barrage. Her 9 week old infant daughter, Olivia, was already in her car seat. When it was over they were found by a storm chaser. Kori was in the yard and Olivia was still in her car seat. Kori was dead and all attempts to resuscitate Olivia failed. Kori was a photographer, and had taken photos for Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation on a number of occassions. I had met her several times during photo shoots of the Murfree Springs Wet Land at The Discovery Center.
The last count of injuries were near 50, and the casualties were 2. Rescue workers and authorities are still trying to dig folks out and clean up. The Red Cross has set up relief stations. Blackman High School and New Vision Baptist Church on Thompson Lane has formed hostiles for the homeless. I am certain that my family is fortunate and I thank God almighty for sparing us this desaster. Now, it is time to see what I can do to help others.
This is what I want. Those of you who AQ-mailed friends Smack Dab In The Middle should jump on the band wagon with me. Those of you who made phone calls to check on friends or loved ones, there is room on this band wagon for you as well. It is going to take a long time to clean this up. If you feel a need to help or a desire to contribute The American Red Cross has set up a relief number to call. That number is (615) 893-4272. God bless you all, who called and e-mailed me. Now get involved!

SPOILER ALERT! "TATTOO YOU!" 9 LTC's

This is a series of 9 LTCs that I made from the artwork on my right forearm. I thought that some day it was going to get faded and the lines would explode with time. I was just so taken by the design that I thought it had to be a set of LTCs. I made 5 copies of the set and then turned the stamps into a traditional plant of sorts. The reason for this post is for those of you who acquire the LTCs as well as those of you who find the box can get a key map for the original colors. The stamps are positive images so they stamp out like a coloring book. The idea was for you to color it what ever color you want to color it, and that is still the idea, but for those who want the original colors in tact, here they are. If this is a box you want to try to acquire keep in mind that it is 9 stamps.

Letterboxing Tennessee Treasure Hikers

Letterboxing Tennessee Treasure Hikers!

Announcing a fun new aspect to letterboxing in Tennessee (as brought to us by our wonderful friends and neighbors in the beautiful state of North Carolina)!!!

Several friends and cohorts have been tossing around ideas about this for a month or so and here’s what they have come up with, solely for fun and enjoyment! Where do we fit into this scheme here in Tennessee? Well these great neighbors to the east have invited us to partake in our own Treasure Hikers group using their rules and regulations. I think it would be fun to do this in every state in America, but let's start with Tennessee since we're here.

Introducing the Letterboxing Tennessee Treasure Hiker’s challenge – it works like this – accumulate 25 “hiking” points and you will be awarded a really cool pathtag. I here the amazing, beautiful and most astute Queen of the South, Mrs. Dixie, is designing the NC pathtag and if I play my cards right and do a little bread buttering I may be able to get her to assist us in the same venture. (as soon as Dixie gets over The Flu)

How do you accumulate the points, you ask? It’s very simple:

Hike while letterboxing.

See – it’s that simple.

But to make it easier – here are some guidelines.

*You get a point for every mile hiked while letterboxing (finding or planting) – but each hike must be a minimum of one (1) mile in length.

*If you plant a letterbox (or boxes) on a hike, you get one extra point (sorry, one per hike, not one per box planted).

*The start date is March 4, 2009 – all hiking must be done after that date.

*Keep track of your hikes and boxes found. When you get your 25 points, email me, Dixie or Knit Wit with your list, and you will receive your tag!! List should include date, mileage, boxes found.

*All hikes must be done IN the great state of Tennessee (anywhere in Tennessee, mountains to valleys, plateaus to plains... and all points in between) – but ANY letterboxer is eligible – you don’t have to be a resident of Tennessee to participate. That means if you go to North Carolina you can log miles for one of their special pathtags as well. I think South Carolina is in on this one as well.

*It’s on the honor system, we trust you!!

Why are we doing this? Just for fun! And to encourage hiking, planting and being in the great outdoors letterboxing in the great state of Tennessee.

Here is a more formal list of rules that were deliberated over long and hard. It took some real patience to do this. More than I have got.
http://www.atlasquest.com/aboutlb/wiki/search.html?gSearch=Treasure+Hikers&gAnswer=0

Also look for:

NC Treasure Hikers, brought to you by The Little Foxes and friends;
http://www.atlasquest.com/boards/message.html?gMsgId=357219;gThreadId=50533

SC Treasure Hikers, brought to you by dtandfambly and friends
http://www.atlasquest.com/boards/message.html?gMsgId=357212;gThreadId=50530

Separate pathtags will be awarded for each challenge - start your collection today!

Any questions – AQ mail me and wait patiently for a reply. mstrwndl@AQ.com

Go Ahead!!!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know, (I am so exited excuse me if I am just a little vachlem...) I just got back from talking to Angela Jackson (Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation) and Deborah Paschall (Director Barfield Crescent Park) and (OMG... I am soaring) and do you know what they told me? Of course you don't honey, cause if you did it would mean that you were folded up flat in my pocket and there with me, and of course we both know that if you had been folded up and in my pocket I would have eventually sat on you and squished you flat. But wait if you were folded flat already I could not have squished you flat cause there just isn't a such thing as twice flattened. You and I both know that a thing can only be flattened once, kind of like a tire you know? Only flat one one side? Well, actually it would be flat all the way around which doesn't make any sense to me because a thing can't be flat and round at the same time. Well, it can if it's a coin, cause you know, a coin is flat and round at the same time, unless it is a 3 1/2 dribnoss coin from Spallputistan and then they are square with a square whole in the middle. Yep! Right there......

.....SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE!
We got confirmation on our gathering. It will be at Barfield Crescent Park just outside the Wilderness Station in one of the pavillions.

In The Middle and Running!

After spending several hours in deliberation and several more on the phone with first one city official and then another, it would appear that we may have the go ahead with Barfield Park. This gathering has turned into a fiasco as far as procuring a location is concerned. For a moment I thought it was going to have to be moved to Murfree Springs wetland, but I finally got in touch with the lady at Parks and Recreation and she is excited about working with us again. Now I have an appointment with the lady who is the park manager to iron out the do's and don'ts. I am perfectly willing to work with them any way I can to pull this together. For those of you who don't remember this park, it is the same park where we had a mini meet for Maude, and a farewell for mashley. I have several new boxes to debut at the gathering and a new idea for another box. We also have boxes coming in from around the US again. Some coming from NC, OR, WA, NY, maybe AL, and quite possibly from AK. At any rate, the ones I am most excited about are from right here, Smack Dab In The Middle. 4 little piggies has volunteered to carve us a couple of boxes and an event stamp and you guys know what an awesome artist he is. I have a new event stamp for this shin-dig and I will be unveiling a new box called "Tattoo You". It is a large green bucket with a pad lock on it's lid. Inside there are 9 stamps that go together to make a large picture (this is one you will want to log on a separate piece of paper.) When you get the bucket opened it will be up to you to stamp the 9 different stamps in the correct order to make a picture. Then it will be up to you to color the picture as accurately as possible. The first one to complete this project will win another prize. OH, WAIT! Did I mention opening the bucket? Here is the kicker. The bucket will be sitting in plane sight for everyone to find. Inside the bucket there is a logbook, 9 stamps and the first finders prize. The first finder will win the prize. BUT WAIT, YET AGAIN! Did I mention the padlock on the lid? You won't be able to access any of this fine stuff until you get the lid off. The lid ain't coming off without the key. I have Carmen Sanchez to thank for that. He and I played at work for a half a day making sure that the lid wasn't coming off that darn bucket. You will need to find the key. ONE MORE WAIT! Did he say find the key? Yep! He said find the key. I know this sounds strange to a lot of you folks, but consider who's driving this bus. You wouldn't expect anything less complicated from me, now would you?
June is a beautiful time of the year in Rutherford County, Tennessee. There is one thing that I want to remind everyone of and talk frankly with everyone who is in attendance. The Barfield Crescent Park has a natural rattlesnake den in the rocky section of the trail. That does not mean that these animals will confine themselves to their den. Please, be on your guard while on the back country trails, and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will you be allowed to venture onto the "Rocky Trail loop". It will be off limits to the gathering. As a matter of fact it will be closed that day. This is a great place to hike and camp, but it is no place to be careless. One thing is for sure. If you leave them alone, they will return the favor.
Now, everyone tense up. It's getting closer. Let's have some summer fun at....
The Smack Dab In The Middle Letterbox Gathering!