Trenton 2006!

Yup. It was the 230th anniversary of The Battle of Trenton, and we had quite the turnout of Hessians for this battle.



We were able to field a company of Grenadiers and Musketeers. As well as a full set of music. Yay us! There were also a proper amount of Hessians present as well. Honestly, there wasn't a redcoat to be seen except for the local period band.

The sad news is that this is sort of the end for the long term plans for the Trenton Barracks. Sadly it will only be open maybe three of four seasons going on from here. New Jersey is facing a budget crunch, and rather than tackle the massive double dipping of politicians (You can have MULTIPLE local and municipal elected positions, most of which are redundant.) they have been going after the low hanging fruit, and that includes many museums and other features that aren't making loads of money for the state.

This might galvanize the city of Trenton a bit, but I doubt it. The town has resisted gentrification somehow, and it is a city with nothing to offer but the seat of government and a handful of small attractions. The barracks has done the best it could, but it has already laid off quite a few employees and cancelled the occupation events. Let's just hope things do not get any worse.

Holidays and the End of the Year.

Hello, haven't said much in a couple of weeks. No real big things to report. X-mas was OK, it was good to see my eldest brother here for the holiday (he's had to miss a few). Overall, it was good.

I'd like to say a few words to the soon to be ending year 2006.

Dear Year 2006,

You suck. I hate you. No, seriously, I hate you. You are quite possibly one of the worst years of my life. You started off horrible and went into the crapper. You were a disaster socially. You were the year where my job started to suck. You were the year where nothing came together. You were the year I watched my cat die. I honestly will say that I have very, very few good memories about you. I've had bad years before, but even those had a few high points that I can remember. You couldn't keep anything aligned and only a handful of 'things are so bad' moments are about all you can offer.

You were a very bad year. If you had some kind of physical manifestation I would kick you hard on December 31st to get you out the door faster. I would even consider knifing you and disposing of the manifestation in order to keep any part of you from being recycled.

Begone, foul 2006. Never darken my door again. And make sure any upcoming years similar to you don't show themselves. You've been warned.

Oh fer crying out loud...

ITS DECEMBER!!



What side of the country am I on again?!

OK, I promise no more after this.

This blog was painfully close to being the SaraBelle death watch when the girl was alive. Now I don't want to turn it into nothing more than a "I miss my Kitty" blog, but I did feel the need to share this card that the staff at the vet sent to me. I really was touched and they really did come to love that girl. When I last went there I swear some of them had been crying. The card was magnificent. I think you can click on it for a bigger picture. Read the one about SaraBelle's boxing skills.

That I expect to see her...

It hit me this evening. But not hard. She really is gone.

I came down the stairs and saw Lyra tumbling towards the food dish (she only has three legs) expectantly (even though it already full). Brother toted out from under the table, ready to take a #2 position in the food chain.

When I see this I automatically expect a third cat to show his/herself after I hit the landing. Its a reaction I didn't realize I had, but I have seen it hundreds of times. The order may be different, the 'third cat' may rotate membership, but there was always the pattern.

This time, no third cat.

She is gone.