More Georgia Vacation

Hi again.
We are home now from our vacation stay at Mom's in Georgia. It was a nice visit, Billy got most of her projects finished - the antenna removed, replaced some shingles that had blown off, tarred some cracks, proved the lawn mower just needed a battery charge, new mailbox, tree trimmed, air filter changed, and tried to fix a drawer that is still too wide. It was a busy few days, but that stuff all keeps him from getting too bored. I don't need so much motivation, but try to help when I can not cause too much trouble.

After we got the projects done we went looking for another roadside attraction.


The Athens Double Barreled Cannon. It was built by the Confederate Army to use during the war. In case you can't blow up the sign to read about the cannon it basically tells the story of how the cannon was designed to fire two cannon balls connected by a chain to "mow down the enemy somewhat as a sythe cuts wheat". The test firing failed because they couldn't fire both cannons at the same time, causing the chain to break and the cannon balls to fly off on an eratic trajectory. Since there was no way to solve the problem they parked it and has since been an object of curiousity sitting by the Athens City Hall... by the way, the cannon is pointed North, just in case.

Another curiosity we found during our drive around Athens was this steeple. We had no idea what it was, but I like taking pitures of curious things so we stopped and did just that. It looked like it might have been interesting at one time, but the base is crumbling and the weather is getting into the bricks. If it was further north it would have been ruined by water freezing in the cracks, but its location seems to have preserved it a bit, and someone has bothered to close it up with plywood to keep people out.

After I got back to Mom's I did a little research and discovered that this steeple does indeed have a bit of history. I found this on a website somewhere...
“The Church,” where R.E.M. lived, recorded and appeared in the 1986 documentary “Athens, Ga.: Inside/Out,” [which] was torn down in 1990 to make way for condominiums. The steeple is all that remains of the old St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. It’s beginning to crumble and owners of the Steeplechase Condominiums have found no takers willing to adopt the landmark, with its liability concerns and thousands of dollars in needed repairs.
So I did find something interesting! Are you wondering about the music of that time? Check out this link to an R.E.M. website and checkout the album "And I feel fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987". There is a lot of information about the band there too.
http://www.remhq.com/albums.php

The last thing I found on our little trip around Athens brings us back to reality.
A pig on the roof of a Pork BBQ hut.
I just had to include it for my redneck loving friends out there in cyber space! I am just sorry I missed the one I saw on the roof of a pickup truck in a countryside junkyard, now I wish we had turned around to get that picture!
Well, vacation is over and we are back home. I have to go to work and write about supply stuff and Billy has a bunch of farm projects to get started on.
Have a nice summer!