Ft. Knox, Maine

July 28-29

So, here's the story; I went to Ft. Knox knowing I was going to post photos of the event on this blog and talk about it. However, I did not plan on taking so many good photos nor experiencing so many fun events! I loved this event! It was wonderful, definitely worth the (8 hour round)trip! The park had real restrooms!!!! It was not just port-a- um...chamberpot, they had real restrooms! I nearly cried. Nah, it wasn't that dramatic, but it was really nice to go and wash your hands for real and not just with hand sanitizer. But the event was fun and there were quite a few spectators on both days. Also, the 20th Maine, they're a good bunch of people.

Anyway, it looks like I'm going to have to post Ft. Knox three times because of the sheer number of photos


"Here, Dave, shake my hand." That arm actually belongs to our surgeon's collection of Civil War props. I was kind of surprised that they sold fake limbs, but then, why should it?

Here's a good shot of Peg and Chris watching the rest of the company get ready to take the fort! I know what you're thinking...

On Saturday, the Federals went to march in the Bucksport parade. Well, they left a few soldiers behind because they either 1. didn't want to walk all that way, and/or 2. so that there were some Union troops left at the camp. Anyway, the Union surgeon, "Chelly" I believe his nickname was, came over to our encampment (kind of hard to miss since we were just outside the only entrance to the fort). He said to Mike "How 'bout 11:00 you guys come over and take the Fort and tie me and --- up. Just to see what the rest of them do?" Well, they expected the Union to come back around that time. So a little after 11:00 Mike got everyone lined up and we went for a "stroll".

Here's the checkpoint, he asked where we were going and Mike told him that the Union surgeon invited us in. I don't think he believed us, but he was smiling as he let us pass.

Here is the 15th storming the fort and taking the two prisoners.

We tied up the two prisoners in the surgeon's quarters. It was funny because Lindsey tied up the gentleman in the white shirt, a lot. She kept wrapping the rope around him until finally Mike said "Having fun there Lindsey? I think that's enough."

Well, after the prisoners were left (foolishly) unguarded one got away, but we kept the surgeon. Miss Vicky came to see that we (the 15th) were treating the prisoner(s) decently. Dave had been left to guard them after we lost the one prisoner.

So, eventually we gave the fort back to the Union because the rest of the 20th Maine were MIA at that parade, lunch was served, and "Chelly" had a surgeon's lecture to do. Of course, just as we sat down to eat, the 20th comes around the corner and we all just started laughing. I heard somewhere that the gentleman who escaped had gone to warn them or something. Well, after they heard that we had taken the fort they posted a guard at the gate for the rest of the weekend. He stopped anyone who looked suspicious.

The face of the 15th? We get our photos taken by a lot of newspapers at these events, this was the first television station that interviewed anyone. It's too bad it happened on Saturday and there was no way we would have been able to see it.

Groton, Mass.

July 14-15, 2007

Wow! This has probably been one of the best events I have been to this season! What made it so great was that the Groton Historical Society (or Hysterical Society, as Chris likes to call it) was so involved in the event and really pulled things together! They even linked the town to the Civil War through historic buildings, discussions and cemetary tours of soldier's graves (all Union, obviously).

This was Lindsay's first re-enactment where she actually participated, as a soldier no less!

I don't personally know these boys, but they were watching the Confederates line up for the Saturday battle. Future soldiers?

Well, not only did the Union have seven cannons (at least six were full size, too!), but on Saturday they had the high ground. Here are some of the 15th's and the 1st Maryland soldiers running across the field away from enemy fire.

This was our (the Confederates) cannon...yes, I know, not that impressive to look at, but dang! That thing can make some noise! I like how the "bodies" of the artillery crew that manned it are strewn about.

Later that evening we noticed the Confederate Cavalry saddling up and I thought, "oh, they're going out to ride, scope the hills, or practice." Well, in reality, they were headed over to Unity to raid the town. When they started shooting and yelling, Mike looked up and said "Oh, it looks like Unity is being sacked again."

As I was watching the raid and the large tent on the right was that of the largest sutler (shop) for the weekend, well all of the sudden, as the horses were slowed down and things seemed to calm I saw these three figures go running out of the tent and take off down the field back to our camp. I'd forgotten that Kate, Charlene and Amelia (Charlene's new friend) had gone down to buy some rock candy. They came back with the news that a man had been "shot" during the raid because as the cavalry raider said "that suit is unacceptable!" I thought that was pretty funny and the girls told the story quite well.

Charlene is just so pretty in this photo. Her father has plenty of reasons to worry!

On Sunday, me, Vicky, Peg, and Kate went on a cemetary tour. When we arrived a Union group, the 13th Massachussetts I believe, were leaving after holding a memorial service for the Civil War soldiers buried there. I was sorry to have missed it, but the ladies giving the tour were excellent and they really knew their history! Two of the three were dressed as Civil War era widows and they described the three (recommended) stages of mourning for the time period.

A year and a day after her husband's death the widow barely went out or socialized and she wore black dresses with a veil and gloves and little to no adornment.

After that time had elapsed, for the following nine months she was allowed to incorporate a little color into her attire (i.e. putting little purple rose buds in the folds of her bonnet, a dark red hat covered with thick black lace, etc) and she was allowed to send out letters to friends informing them she was allowed to have visitors, the stationary was usually had a black border of some kind. As for jewelry if she wore any it was black, usually made of jet, and not fancy.

After those nine months she went through the final stage which was three months long and she only had to wear the black dress and hat, she could accent it with some of her family jewelry, white lace collars, etc., but she still had to keep it subdued.

Back to the battle!
Here's some of the Union artillery. They were supposed to lose on Sunday, but it didn't look like the Confederates won...I don't really know what happened except that the company nearest me took some hits (guys fell down as though dead) and their captain started shouting "Get up! get up!" They kind of looked at him like 'huh? But I'm dead." So not that many fell in the onslaught of our Volkswagon Beetle-sized cannon.

Here was one of the last Confederates standing on the left flank. He made the Union company nearest him charge and take him, they were actually laughing with him after that and I think they and him just watched the rest of the debacle unfold.

So that was the afternoon. As we were folding up though, the skies darkened and despite Mike's attempt to keep the rain away (he was blowing at the clouds as he was tying things up >eye roll<) as we were halfway through packing up the sky opened up and it poured! Lightening, thunder, the whole shebang! Everyone who was there to help ended up soaked through! It was pretty amazing through when the re-enactors around us saw we were still trying to get stuff stowed and they just came over and took stuff down. Before I knew what was going on the fly and wall tent were down and they were folding the canvas. There are some really nice people involved in the re-enacting hobby.

4th of July: Update

This just in! The 15th Alabama wins Best Marching Group at the Winslow, ME Independence Day Parade! There was no compeititon (just the U.S. Army...wait), we just blew them all away. To tell the truth, I didn't even know there were catagories or prizes. Apparently we also get a trophy! I wonder if the 15th has any other tropies...? There's something I'm going to have to ask. And if yes, then what does the Company do with them...? Hmmm.

Well, I will put a photo in this post when I get to see the trophy! Yay for the 15th! "Any fate but submission!"

Evil? Me?

.

Now, is this the face of Evil?
So, Dave finally sees this blog, well, he saw the truck post and said to me "That's it! I'm getting the Jetta!" I asked him if that was the great test of our relationship. When he replied "yes" I told him I'd have to think about it. >grin< Isn't the truck the incentive?


Nah, I torment him, but I'm not in it ONLY for the truck (oh don't get me wrong, it's a very nice truck=a pretty good lure), Dave's a good guy who has nothing but respect for me. And where else am I going to find a guy who opens doors for me on his own accord, still when we've been dating for over a year now? I count myself pretty lucky to find a guy like him. His type are rare, I know because I've looked.

4th of July

July 4, 2007

Do you know where Winslow, Maine is? It's one of those places where if you drive to the middle of nowhere and take a left, you'd find it. Actually, since joining the 15th Alabama, I've noticed a lot of that in Maine...hmmm. Anyway, it was quite the drive for me and Dave, especially since we couldn't leave until we got out of work. We had Mike (Captain), Steve (1st Sergeant), Chris (Surgeon), Tom (Corporal), Dave and Ben for soldiers while me and Kate represented the civilians.

So let me show you how I spent my 4th of July holiday!
I got to meet another one of our younger members, Kate. She's a real sweetheart and she walked the parade route with me which really put me at ease. I was worried that I was going to be the only one. We actually turned into the company's propaganda scouts. Tom turned to us after our first "tourist-y" encounter (a parade watcher coming over to take a photo with Tom) and told us to hand out cards with the Company's contact information on them. I mostly held the stuff and sent Kate over to pass the cards out, which she did very well.


Here's a great photo of the guys firing their muskets. I actually had to ask the Captain to wave me forward so I could get this shot (no pun intended). When he did I had to trot out in front of them, which was farther than I would have had time for if I didn't have the signal from the Captain.


This photo gives you a better look at Mike and Tom with the flag.


Here are the guys standing next to this blockhouse which is all that is left of Ft. Halifax which was built by the English to ward off enemies during the French and Indian war.

Ft. Halifax: National Park Service

Finally, here's another photo of Kate except at the end of a fairly warm day at the end of the parade, which turned out to be almost two miles long. Thank goodness they had a "VIP" bus service to take us back to our cars.

Well, it wasn't as warm as years past, according to the veterans of the parade, but almost everyone finished their canteens full of water (no, there's no whisky in them...this time >wink<). I don't blame them though, it was warm. What was nice though, was that Mike kind of tried steering us into the shade when ever it looked like we were going to have to stop for a while. We might have mutinied if he hadn't, and Vicky would have been mad at him, too. But it was nice, me and Kate really were not looking forward to having to play nurse to the surgeon, I kept having flashbacks to the Train Robbery a few days previously where Deb was pretending to dig bullets out of soldier's arms. >shudder<

On to the next event! Groton!

Train robbery

June 30, 2007

This event was a lot of fun and it was the first time we actually got to socialize with some Union people. We had Matt, Rick and Steve from the 3rd Maine come down to "protect" a strongbox on the train. Then, a civilian and her daughter from the 3rd Maine came as well, Deb and Ashley! I love Deb, she's nice and Ashley's pretty cute.

Here's an altered photo of Ashley, Deb, Vicky, Meadow and Me. I wanted to take a photo of us Civilians before all the action began because I knew as the day wore on we would get tired and I might have forgotten. You can also kind of see the steam engine behind us.

Here's a photo of Matt (I think) from the 3rd Maine during one of our robberies.

Here's Deb giving first aid to Rick (I think) of the 3rd Maine who has been "shot" by one of the 15th Alabama. She was the impromptu surgeon for the day and pretended to dig out bullets with one of her knitting needles. Rick did a good job pretending that he was in pain from her not-so-gentle ministrations.

Here's Tom breaking into the payroll box. Apparently (as I found out later that evening as we were packing up) the box was full of two-year old beans. Ugh.

I like this photo of Ashley and Meadow a lot.

This was the last battle and Steve (the third gentleman from the 3rd Maine) had to leave before the last robbery. Well, that left two against six...But Rick and Matt went out with a bang. They apparently charged the three privates, Dave, Lindsey and Robbie who apparently were just shocked to see Rick coming at them. From the photo it looks like one landed on the other...ouch. That ground wasn't soft either.

This was funny. The last two robberies of the day were livened up by Vicky flirting with her husband Mike. On the second to last run he was supposed to say something about a cavalry coming down on them to signal the conductor to leave. Well he was busy flirting with Vicky and Tom had to remind him, "Captain, the Cavalry." To which Mike replied, "In a minute!" It was pretty hard to keep from not laughing hysterically until the tourists had left the train. Me and Meadow especially thought it was great. They did such a good job of it too!

Here's another altered photo, this time of the three newest privates to the Company: Robbie, Dave and Lindsay.

This was a group photo of the 15th Alabama and the 3rd Maine. We also had tourists pose with us, I felt kind of like an attraction at a theme park.

All in all, it was a great day and everyone had a lot of fun. However, I must say, thank goodness it was on a Saturday because we needed Sunday to recover!

Borderland

June 16-17, 2007

"Borderland" is a state park in the Easton, MA area (I believe the park is actually in three towns, Sharon, North Easton and Mansfield, MA). Well, it was a very nice place to have an encampment and the parking was great! You don't think about parking too much until you have to carry things that weigh you down. I don't need to go to the gym to "pump up" I just need to carry Dave's musket around. Well, the parking was great for us, this was our first encampment with Union soldiers sharing the field. They were actually down behind some trees, we were closer to the road and the House that is sort of the icon of the park. When we got there that night to set up it was probably the first time we got there to actually help the group set up >eye roll<

As we were setting up Friday night, someone came over to us and said "In about ten minutes there's going to be a big wind!" We all just kind of looked at each other. Well, it was the Mass. Life flight helicopter creating the wind. We know it was not a re-enactor who was hurt, otherwise we would have heard the gossip at some point of the weekend, so we're thinking the ambulance (with an escort of fire trucks) carted someone in there because it's an open place for the helicopter to land. Well, the big wind came all right! It's a good thing we got the tent stakes down so well, even then we had to hold them, just in case.

So after that, we settled down around the campfire for our traditional evening of laughter and drink. I found out that a group of guys from Connecticut (mostly) calling themselves the 1st Maryland had fallen in with our company because, from what I understood, none of their officers had been able to make it. They were a fun group of guys. I cannot wait to see them again.

Well, here are some photos...
These guys are crazy, they get up at like 5:30 in the morning after a night of carousing and drinking! No wonder they need coffee! I think one of the gentlemen from the 1st Maryland said something about that. It's really Mike and Tom who are the early birds, and a few other people in camp & everyone else just wakes up shortly thereafter.


Here are "our boys" as Miss Vicky likes to call them (she's a delicate Georgia girl >wink<) on the battlefield.
As you can see, the Confederate forces were slightly outnumbered (you cannot see the two or three cannons with support crew or the cavalry in this photo). But those Rebel soldiers died with all the drama they could muster.

When we went over for this battle, this skirmish, me, Vicky and Charlene went over. It was so funny because we were watching them for a minute then all of the sudden Charlene asks Vicky "Is Daddy dead?" The spectators around us (we were dressed in our Civil War garb) had to laugh. It was a great question, especially when Vicky seriously looked over the bodies and made sure Mike wasn't on the ground before saying, "No, he's not dead, sweetie." It was just one of those "Priceless" moments.

Later that evening, the soldiers went off for a tactical battle where the spectators are STRONGLY discouraged from attending because basically everyone ends up running through the woods as though they were actually being pursued. Tom and Mike (from the 1st Maryland, they call him "geezer" and even though I don't want to, I'm going to call him that because we already have a Mike) had apparently broken away from the Confederate forces when all hell broke loose and escaped into the woods, they showed up for dinner at least a half hour after everyone else. But the important thing was, they didn't get caught or surrender!

One scary thing that happened was, we were preparing dinner and all of the sudden we heard hoof beats and a man calling out "whoa, whoa". Everyone in the Confederate camp looked and saw one of the cavalry horses come cantering across the field right back to it's hitching post with it's saddle twisted to the side. The first thing everyone thought was, "I hope the rider's okay!" She was, I guess she just bruised her ego, better an ego than being trampled. Luckily, no one else got hurt in the horses' path of fury. From what I heard from the soldiers who witnessed it, she somehow fell off and the next thing they knew the horse was charging for the camp. Smart animal, the tactical wasn't that close, but he remembered where he felt safe.


After the soldiers had left, we women didn't have a whole lot left to do. It was a good thing that there was a wedding! It was pretty neat, a couple, who are technically sutlers and when they go to the encampments they stay in "Unity" the civilian camp. Unity is like an entity itself, there's the Federal Camp, the Confederate Camp and Unity (otherwise called the town). Well, congratulations to Heather and Dave! They actually researched and made their outfits and Dave's daughter, Samantha was so adorable in her flower girl dress! They had a wonderful idea and I really appreciate the fact that they did it at a re-enactment so they could show off their outfits to the rest of us!

Well, things wound down and we actually left early on Sunday. Apparently that tactical on Saturday night took a toll on just about our entire company. I think half of us were down with injuries (it seemed like it took us an extra hour to pack the company stuff). But once again, we made it through another encampment! I love the experience more and more!

Borderland State Park

Memorial Day

May 28th, 2007

Unfortunately, this being my first parade, I didn't take any photos. It was very nice, though, we actually did two parades.

New Gloucester, Maine started bright and early (not some people's favorite time of the day). It was my first opportunity to wear a hoop skirt. I must say, hoop skirts are not as annoying as one would think. I did have to learn to maneuver it a little, but once I did that I actually like wearing it! Besides, I got to wear my pretty blue dress instead of my, rather plain, camp dress. Well, it was a fun parade (I felt a little strange about being in the parade, theater was never my best class). Then our group fired a salute after the speech at the end of the parade. Thank goodness for parasols! Thank you to Dave's mother for getting me one! I almost didn't bring it, but it was a lifesaver on the walk back to the cars! Also, Dave and Mike looked rather fetching strolling along, each holding a parasol! I really wish I had had a camera then.

Gray, Maine: Now, it was getting hot. It was about noon and the sun was rising in the sky like a flaming ball of death (wait...). As the parade wore on, I experienced the interesting sensation of feeling the heat from the road coming up under the hoop. As we were lining up, we noticed that there were people from the New Gloucester parade lining up, too. We waved. We then wound our way to a town building in the center of Gray where we stood nearest the Civil War memorial and also saluted with gunfire during this ceremony.

After the parade(s) and the ceremony we all went as a group to the stranger's grave in the Gray, Maine cemetary. Apparently, during the Civil War a young local man was killed in action. His family paid the fee to have his body returned to them for a proper burial, but when they opened the casket, it was a Confederate soldier with no name. Well, the mother of the deceased Union soldier decided to give this young man, so far from home, a decent burial in the hopes that someone would do the same for her son, also so far away from home. Eventually, the Union solder's remains were returned to his mother and she properly buried him, however some local ladies erected a headstone for the Confederate's grave intoning the belief that despite the fact that war is begun and fought for principle's, death is sure to follow.

Stranger's Grave on google

Re-enactorland

April 19-20, 2007

Also known as "Camp Pratt." This was another school of instruction that is primarily for the 15th Alabama. It's literally run in the backyard of Mike's Mother's house. This was where we found out Mike's plans to create "Re-enactorland" a theme park portraying the Civil War. Vicky must be so proud.

Here are the guys all lined up for drills. Steve is our 1st Sargent which means he calls out some of the orders. Tom is our Corporal, Dave and Robbie are infantrymen (bodyshields for the officers), and Chris is the surgeon who is there to "patch" the guys up in battle, and he has the equipment to prove it!

Here they are shooting on command. Can you hear how squeaky clean Dave's is (The shame!)?


So what do Civil War re-enactors do after they realize they cannot drill in the rain? They test their math skills on a game of civil war era playing cards. There are no numbers which tells you how much we've come to rely on the roman numerals, and the digital era. It was funny because they had to look at the cards for a minute to figure out what they actually had.

Well, Camp Pratt was pretty good, it rained, but not as badly as it had in past years (so I'm told). It was a good chance for me and Dave to set up our tent for the first time (after waiting about a month to get it). I will say that good canvas tents (and I learned this in Lincoln, RI) are the best tents you could ever own! They are moderately waterproof (I'm sure they'd have trouble with a monsoon, but what tent wouldn't?), keep most of the bugs out, and they are fairly cool at night. And most importantly, you don't need an engineering degree from MIT in order to put it up! That was awesome!

What's up with the truck?

You're probably wondering that, right? Well, shortly after we started dating, I told Dave that I really liked his truck. In fact, I jokingly said that I was only dating him for his truck. Well, we were on spring break in '06 and he made out this holographic will bequeathing the truck to me upon his demise. For those who don't know, a holographic will is a document, dispersing your estate post-mortem (essentially a will). You have to keep in mind not all states recognize a holographic will unless it is created in a jurisdiction that does recognize them. They also have to be almost entirely written in the hand of the testator (the dead person). There are all sorts of requirements, but Dave did it anyway. Unfortunately, I can't "accidentally" bump him off because he put a clause in there that says I forfeit the bequest if I had anything to do with his death. Can you believe that?!

Anyway, when people ask me why I'm dating him (because he does get a little crazy sometimes), I just tell them "It's for the truck." He's a good guy to put up with me.

Lincoln, RI

April 4th - 5th, 2007

After months of meetings, this was mine and Dave's first event. We were excited, we were pumped, we had to sleep on the ground. Yeah, that didn't go over well with Dave. Come to find out that camping is not exactly his thing. The lack of shower bothered him, it was very cold, and the ground was pretty hard (it was frozen, no joke, it was 30 degrees that night). It didn't bother me much, but we were unprepared to tell the truth. So we ended up driving around who-knows-where Rhode Island (it doesn't seem that big until you're lost at 4am) to find a Wal-Mart to buy an extra blanket and an air mattress. We managed to find one (thanks to a pretty cute, and very nice, Woonsockett police officer) but it did not open until 7am, so we did the unthinkable; we waited for it to open.

Now armed with our "Farb" we headed back to the campground. This event was one of the first in the season and it was actually a school of instruction. There were classes that the men and the women could attend to help them be better re-enactors. It also gave me a glimpse of how to interact with the tourists. It was fun to hear some of the stories about dealing with tourists (can't call them civilians because that's what we call the re-enactors who are not soldiers). Apparently, many tourists just walk around the campsite and kind of look at you like you're a living diorama or not even real. They kind of just walk around or through your camp and stare, but don't say anything. I witnessed it, and it was kinda disturbing.

Now you're probably wondering what a re-enactment is like? Well if you've been to Plimouth Plantation in Massachusetts, that's basically a re-enactment, just a different era and less exciting.

So, the guys practiced drilling, we met the cavalry, and I realized that, there was no Union camp. When I asked about that, Miss Vicky said, "Oh, they're >insert place here< this weekend for their school of instruction." Oh, okay.

Our group was fairly small for this event; me, Dave, Mike, Vicky, Charlene ("The Child"), and Tom (who is REALLY hard to photograph because he moves so much!)

Well, now for some photos:
Here are Mike and Vicky at the camp, despite their look it was actually quite cold.

Here is one of the few photos I have of Tom (who is a corporal in the group). He's an awesome guy who, as I have learned after a few events, is really quick and hard to track with the camera. But I have the rest of the season!

At this event they did a payroll re-enactment which was pretty neat, but at the same time kind of humiliating because Dave (my boyfriend) was docked a dollar (from a private's pay of $11) for excessive cleanliness. >hangs head in shame< However, Mike got docked I think it was $10 from his pay (not sure how much it is for a captain) for excessive drunkeness last season. He tried to defend himself, but I guess it didn't go over well. He also owed Tom money from a card game they played.

As I later found out, they passed forms around the camp to find out who was there, how much each was getting and what he was going to be docked for. So it was really Mike and Tom who had Dave docked for excessive cleanliness. I guess it was also Tom who put in excessive drunkeness for Mike. Tom was the only one who didn't get docked for anything. What did they use for money, you ask? Someone took some confederate bills and photocopied the crap out of them to make a suitable payroll box. They even staged (or maybe they didn't do it intentionally) a payroll robbery by two privates. Also, I learned that the enlisted men got paid first (probably so they wouldn't see how much the officers got).

Well, a few hours after the payroll, we packed it up and left. I can tell you now, there were a lot of sore bodies for the next couple of days.
But it was a lot of fun.

Showers?

Our first meeting with the 15th Alabama was memorable just for that. We met one of them in Augusta, Maine and this kid rode with us while we followed his step-father. Dave looked back and asked, "So what do y'all do for showers?" To which the kid replied, "Showers?" I nearly ran off the road I was laughing so hard. He continued, "Well, if we're lucky we'll camp near a lake or a stream..." Dave looked at me and just said "Oh." If only we had known then what we know now.

Dave is not a New England person, he grew up swimming in the Gulf of Mexico or warmer waters, he's not used to the frigid Atlantic, I took him to Salisbury, MA last summer and he nearly collapsed of hypothermia (so he says). So him swimming in any body of water in New England is only going to be out of desperation or coercion, and let's just say, he's not that desperate for a shower.

So we met the group. We were not the only new ones, thankfully. There were two new recruits from the Farmington area. It was funny because the meeting was held at the Captain and President's house (Captain Mike Pratt & President Vicky Pratt, both elected positions) and apparently Dave had been communicating with the Captain who was not so good at communicating with his wife because she greeted us at the door and said "These are the people from the Massachusetts area?! I wish I would have known, I would have had better snacks!" all the while giving her husband a look of disapproval.

Well, after a mild, in company melodrama to which Dave, myself, Lyndsey and Alison were not privy to the specifics at the time, we got along quite famously. The rest of the meeting, after taking care of the political stuff, was spent trying to give the newcomers an idea of what happens at re-enactments. It was fun and they commented that it was probably one of the longest meetings they had had in a while. Dave and I ended up staying an extra hour or so after the meeting just to talk to Mike and Miss Vicky. It was great fun and we really liked them, and well, we're still with them.

How it all began...

So, I met this guy. He seemed harmless enough. We met at school, we started talking and the real ice breaker came when I saw the license plate on his truck and said "Oh, so you're the moron from Louisiana! Why the hell did you come up to New England?!" I thought I was going to have to perform CPR (scary prospect). Well, to make a long story short, we flirted in near zero temperatures for a while then went on a date. Over a year later and I'm still dating him, so there must be something good there, oh yeah, the truck.

Well, last October (2006) he asks me if I would be interested in Civil War re-enacting. I said, "Sure!" It makes sense, I already dress up for Anime conventions so it's right up my ally. I then asked him the ever so important question - "Which side are we going to be on?" Without even missing a beat he looked at me and said "I love you, but not enough to put on a blue uniform." I just shrugged and replied, "Okay, the Southern women had better dresses." Now, you may be wondering, what self-respecting Northern born woman would agree to that? Love? Stupidity? Racism? No, it was for the history (and the fashion), besides the Union troops need someone to shoot at when everyone gets together at the re-enactments. Oh, and it was for the truck, too.

Going off the whole, "what self-respecting northerner..." idea, I thought to myself, where are we going to find a Confederate group in New England? Well, the one we found and like happened to be in the Farmington, Maine area (figures)...about three hours from our residence...I was not going to be happy if we didn't like these people. A six hour round trip in a car that gets less than ideal gas milage and is WAAAY over it's alloted miles, they had BETTER be worth it! And they are. We met, and fell in love, with the 15th Alabama Company G. We enjoy these people more than some people we have known for much longer, and they are worth the six hour round trip. Thank goodness I have such wonderful people in my life.

I guess it all worked out in the end, and I still get the truck.