So, we were all minding our business working on my Dad and Mom’s property when the fire truck roared up the street. It got closer and closer and soon “Sargent(3) screamed, “Fire truck! Fire truck!” Then Vaughan (3) yelled, “Fire truck. Fire truck”. Then Ramey said “Hey, it’s here!” “It’s right here!” We looked into the parking lot at the neighboring church and there she sat with bells, whistles, and lights a flashing. Out jumped 3 firemen rushing over to us asking if everything was ok.
Yes, everything was ok. We had made sure all precautions were considered and followed through.
We had been burning the old tree limbs, brush and logs getting ready for someone to come scrape the property on Monday.
Ronnie(PawPaw) showed them the dirt path made around the fire and they asked to see a water hose which he had. They asked us to be careful and put out the blaze as quickly as we could, then off they roared.
It was a banner day for the boys to see the fire truck so closely and relate it to a real fire.
The Honorable Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis was in Jacksonville, Florida to congratulate and encourage those who won conservative posts in the August elections. He and Marco Rubio spoke at a rally at the Diamond D Ranch where hundreds came to celebrate the wins of those seeking true freedom.
Press office of the Governor of Fl
Signs posted and held by guests all over the campus named both politicians, DeSantis, and Rubio, Keep Florida Free and one other said, “Don’t Tread on Florida” depicting an opened mouth gator. The poster with an open mouthed gator which said, “Don’t Tread on Florida”, is a take on the coiled rattlesnake flag “Don’t Tread On Me” which dates back to the America Revolution in 1775.
After 3,000 are sold, these will be offered in the tag office
Florida was and has been a beacon of freedom with policies from the Governor’s office especially during the pandemic of 2020. His policy outcomes turned out to be correct as documented by the numbers.
The Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida Rally held at the Diamond D Ranch began with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag from a young cowboy.
Young cowboy in prayer before pledge
He lead the group in the pledge with hand over heart and hat on his chest: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. And the crowd went wild! God bless America. 8-24-22
“What?” Again, shaking my head, there is great amazement that people vote for the government who already basically owns them, to get an even stronger hold on their money by voting yes for a tax. My Father was a wise man. He said, “NEVER” vote for a tax. If the government really needs money they will take it from you anyhow and then you’ve given them more by voting yes on a tax. Never vote for a tax increase. Never.” So, I was one of the 81,602 or so who voted “NO” for the government to raise my taxes.
nraila photo grab
Yes, Teacher’s should be paid better. Being an educator for over thirty-five years, this is something I know first hand. Giving the government another penny though…. NO! Better use of the money they have could make this happen without raising property taxes.
The only thing I can think is that Jacksonville people have a heart for teachers which of course is a good thing but it appears they are going about their care for educators without thinking the DCPS already has an almost $3 billion, with a “b” budget!
According to local news reports, voters in Duval County voted to give the government even more of their money by passing the 1 mil property tax increase. This would be in an effort to help Duval County Public Schools pay better money which could attract better qualified teachers. Duval County Public Schools could better spend the $2.6 billion they voted for in August of 2022 to get and keep better teachers. From now on… always vote NO on a tax increase. (Ask me how I really feel about this.) 8-25-2022
My Mother died at the early age of 49. She was born a twin, October 20, 1924 and died September 5, 1974. I was attending Florida State University at the time and came home for a visit when my Mom couldn’t stay awake. We took her to the St. Luke’s Hospital which was on 8th Street at the time and she never returned home. It was a devastating loss for all of our family.
My Mother was a true Christian. John MacArthur has a comment about a “true Christian” and my Mother exemplified his statement.
“I’m going to give you a description of a Christian.
It means that we trust His wisdom beyond all other wisdom. It means that we believe that everything that He says and everything that is said in the Bible about Him is absolutely true and anything that contradicts any of it is wrong.
It means that we desire to know His thoughts above all thoughts as supreme. It means that we long to hear and obey His Word over all other words. It means that we give Him our lives now and forever, we entrust Him not only with our time but with our eternity, believing firmly in a person and a reality that we have never seen, but the testimony of Scripture is sufficient to verify. It means we obey His commandments with joy.
It means we love Him supremely and we love people who love Him and we even love people He loves who don’t love Him. It means we give our lives to proclaim His gospel, the gospel of salvation. To say that Jesus is Lord, which is the Christian confession, is to say that we accept Jesus as our absolute authority and source for all that is true. It means that we desire always to do what pleases Him, though we fail.
It means we fear Him, we worship Him, we obey Him and we proclaim Him above all others. To confess Jesus as Lord means that no area of our lives is unaffected by our relationship to Him. Our relationship to Him defines what we think. It defines our attitudes, it defines our emotions. It defines what we say. It defines how we act in every area of life. Our relationship to Him pervades all our being. To confess Jesus as Lord means that we trust His purpose for our lives and we trust His utter, sovereign control over all aspects of our lives including our failures and our successes, our blessings and our sorrows, our sickness and even our death.
To confess Jesus as Lord means that we count Him as the source of all that is good and all that is right and all that is blessed, and therefore He is to be thanked for everything. To confess Him as Lord means that we believe that He created and controls the entire universe, that He has pre-written all history so that it is directed in its course toward perfect fulfillment of His intended desire when He re-wrote…when he pre-wrote it.
To confess Jesus as Lord, to be a Christian, means to give our souls to Him, our bodies to Him as living sacrifices, our minds to Him, our time to Him, our abilities to Him, our money to Him, our prayers to Him. It means to dedicate our children to Him and to pray that everyone we know may love Him the way we love Him.
To confess Jesus as Lord means to give our lives in service to Him, fellowship in the church, to engage ourselves in ministries of all kinds to the honor of His name and the spread of His gospel.
To confess Jesus as Lord means that we are willing to live for Him no matter what it requires, and if asked to die for Him with an affirmation of His glory on our lips as our life leaves us.
We have never seen Him but we talk to Him every day. We have never heard an audible voice, but He speaks to us through His Word every day. We haven’t seen His face, He is to us invisible and His Kingdom is not material. And even the heaven He promises to which we look we have never visited, nor has anyone else who can tell us about it. Only two apostles had a glimpse and struggled to explain what they saw.
You ask about what it means to be a Christian? That’s what it means.”
—John MacArthur
My Mother lived for Jesus every day. She was a great example of what it means to be a Christian.
Today, August 23, 2022 there was a chance to change or solidify the way you feel about this great country. If you really care about America, you’ll vote in one of the primaries. Polls open at 7:00a.m., closing at 7:00 p.m. If you’re still in line at 7:00 you’ll still have opportunity to vote. So, go vote.
In recent months those in Jacksonville received new voting cards which included your basic information and a precinct location in which you can go cast your ballot. Here are requirements as provided on the My Florida website:
Florida driver’s license
Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
United States passport
Debit or credit card
Military identification
Student identification
Retirement center identification
Neighborhood association identification
Public assistance identification
Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs
License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06
Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.
If your photo ID does not include your signature, you will be asked to provide another ID that has your signature.
If you do not bring proper ID, you can still vote a provisional ballot. As long as you are eligible and voted in the proper precinct, your provisional ballot will count provided the signature on your provisional ballot matches the signature in your registration record. 8-23-22
I voted in the early voting opportunity. I hope you voted too and vote to make and keep America great.
Some people would call a pile of used tires, rubbish, trash, debris, but some in the Nanville area think it’s called funny. The tire piles began with a few tubes place in the driveway on Lane Avenue to apparently keep people off of the property. It wasn’t long until there were four, then five, six, then seven and now over forty tires. That is when it became funny.
Nanville is on the edge of Old Kings Road and Lane Avenue, in the Picketville area on the Westside of Jacksonville. This area has been very rural for years and is just now beginning to show signs of city life with a major home development on the Kings Road right at the end of Lane Avenue.
For years, going back to the early Picketville family, there were land grants with all of the trimmings of horses, cows, chickens and the like. This was where Picketville got its name, dating back to about 1808 before Jacksonville was even platted. In the 1980’s when Nanville was established, Gator Picket, the neighbor had horses, cows and chickens galore but no tires that I remember.
The city of Jacksonville offers a “Tire and Sign Buyback” program annually. It’s usually held in September. With a valid ID, citizens can bring up to 10 tires and 40 signs. The city workers will give them $2. a tire and .50 cents a sign.
I guess these folks couldn’t wait for the buyback program or they actually wanted to be a part of a funny story? On the other hand, September is coming. I’ll keep you posted if the tires disappear. Either way- it’s funny!
Do you know that you cannot take an air conditioning unit to the scrap yard without a notice signed by you saying from whence it came and who owned it?
Yep! The scrap metal industry has really had a booming business with thieves far and wide who would in the night remove folks AC unit from their homes and take them to the scrap yard for money. Gasp and…God saw it all.
I’m sorry to report. The problem got so bad that the scrap yards were forced to ask for proof of where a unit came from and who it belonged to.
My Father and Mother’s property on the Westside of Jacksonville was so full of scrap metal that one guy took away 6 full loads in a 5 x 12 trailer piled at least 5 feet tall. He and his girl friend were happy folks each time they completed a run to the scrap yard.
In this photo, is a small load of scrap that was on the back of our 10 acres. Someone will be happy though because the bottom of the flat area is solid metal. Metal does not bring much per pound but it adds up.. Oh! And, look at the tire rim! Ha!
Current Prices
Insulated Copper Wire (Cat 5/6)$0.62/lb. …
Aluminum NA. …
Car Batteries$0.22-$0.26/lb. …
Car Batteries$0.22-$0.26/lb. …
Small Foreign Cat$82-$97/each. …
Steel $0.03-$0.05/lb. Stainless Steel $0.23/lb. …
Clean Green Motherboards$1.15/lb. Non-Green Motherboards$0.55/lb. …
The Jacksonville Historical Society is in search of any information about a song that was sung on a PBS program “Your Town and Mine” in the 1960s. According to Cynthia Lynn Conner, 3rd graders at the Chapell School sung the song at school.
FB Screen shot
It is believed to have some connection to Jacksonville University. Elizabeth Barrs Howard noted in Facebook comments that Margaret Vason Forester might know something as the host of the program. Her maiden name at that time was Margaret Bloom. The HS indicates that she donated this score sheet to the Historical Society.
‘Anyone out there know anything of this song about “Wonderful Jacksonville” sheet of music or the program? We would love to shed a little sunshine in the “land of sunshine”.
My cousin, David Paul is a licensed contractor and when asked about building a “Tiny Library” box did not hesitate. He built it with left over items he had in his wood and metal piles. After he was finished, I was able to pick it up while visiting our family reunion in Hampton, South Carolina. It has been on the corner of our Jacksonville Crystal Springs property since about 1997.It was built with fine wood and a metal roof. What a beauty. (Thanks, cousin!).
Since it was placed there using a braced 4 x 4, it has served the community well. When full, the library contains about 50 volumes depending on the size of the books. It has stayed full and has on occasion had a paper box placed under it with additional books. We discourage that due to rain and weather concerns.
The digital world has hit us all full force and now-a-days many readers have reading devices and apps on their phones and computers to read books. The hand held books seem to becoming a thing of the past. This makes me so sad.
My Father and Mother were lovers of books. They built a brick room off of the back of the house dedicated to just books. We call it our library even today. It probably has 2,500 volumes in that small home.
The “Little Library outside was completely empty when I rode past yesterday. For sure, those using it are not following the rule: “Take One. Leave One”. I’m still grappling on what to do with this situation. I’d like to put a sign on the glass that reads: “ Karen took five books. She did not leave any in return. Do not be like Karen”. ” Take One. Give One.”Your thoughts? 8-19-22
