Midnight comes here often

No. Not the middle of the night, but a little black cat named Midnight. She often comes around our back porch. We named her Midnight. She was a little stray cat, when we decided to take her in. She probably was a house cat at one point, because she knows how to use a litter box, and she eats food out of the bowl we give her. At first, we just left her food and water on our back porch, but since she appears to have no owner, we decided to take her in. Welcome to our family Midnight!

P.S. I'm really Turtle, but I have to use the name karatepaul.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION, KARATE CLASS!

Yesterday, June 7, 2008 marked the 2nd quarterly Paks Karate School Promotion Test. The first Saturday of each quarter ... March, June, September, December ... the school, which teaches the Korean Marshal Art called TANG SOO DO, holds its promotion tests for everyone ranking from white belt to red belt. From lowest rank to highest rank the belts are as thus: white, yellow with white stripe, solid yellow, yellow with green tip, green with white stripe, solid green, green with blue tip ... and so on through all the colors yellow, green, blue, brown, and red. After solid red comes black with white stripe and then solid black belt. And lest you think black is the highest belt ... it isn't. There follows black belts from 1st degree through 9th degree. With the 4th degree black belt comes the title MASTER. With the 9th degree comes the title GRAND MASTER. The promotion test for these ranks are also held quarterly, but on a separate schedule: February, May, August, November.

Fish was the only member of our family to take the promotion test yesterday. He moved up from green belt with blue tip, to the blue belt with white stripe. Included in this blog is a picture of him breaking a board with his foot. He has been taking karate for 4 years now. He started in Paks program specifically for young children 4-6. It is called TINY TIGERS. Their belt system is a bit different from the program for older kids and adults. Fish did a great job yesterday as always, as did all the folks from the Fernandina Beach School ... seen here in the 3rd photo. CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!

THE LARGEST PRIVATE RESIDENCE IN THE U.S.A.

I'd be willing to bet that if I took a survey, asking people to name the largest (formerly) private residence in the U.S.A., as well as it's owner, their responses would range widely across Fortune 500's list of the richest people in the U.S.A. And according to official record keepers, they would not be far off the mark. The largest private residence of record in the U.S.A. is the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, built for the Cornelius Vanderbilt Family in the 19th Century. It has some 250 rooms. Pretty big, most would agree. And pretty impressive ... I have been there (it is now a Historic Site open to the public). But most folks don't live in my neighborhood. I am proud to say that Fernandina Beach Florida is the real owner of that particular record! What? How can that be? Is there really a private residence with more than 250 rooms, and in Fernandina? Yes there is! Really!

It stretches for a mile or so along the perimeter of my neighborhood in fact! Yes! Really! No kidding! Wanna meet some of the family who lives there? I know them personally ...! They are a rather large family, with many brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents, and cousins. They are as a whole a rather shy, unassuming bunch, and meeting up with them can be tricky sometimes. But, just stroll casually along the sidewalk that borders our neighborhood and their home, and you will be sure to meet up with a few, and catch site of quite a few more family members. I think you will agree that their real estate is pretty impressive! Turtle and M'Pris and I have the good fortune to stroll by their property frequently, and we have concluded that their home, not the Biltmore Estate, is the largest private residence in the U.S.A.! Many many many rooms ... uncountable in fact!

So ... consider this your personal invitation ... to come see the REAL record holder ... the largest private residence anywhere in the U.S.A.!

ONLY IN FLORIDA . . .

When out walking the other day, I came to the conclusion that if you keep your eyes open, you can see just about anything in Florida! Like: TREES WITH FACES! And here's a picture to prove it! One of my neighbors set up some faces on a couple of his trees. When I was walking past his house, he called me over to see his trees. You can see shells and sand dollars in the strangest of places. I found a CONCH SHELL TIED TO A TREE! And the SAND DOLLAR PAVING STONES ADD ADORNMENT in the form of a path, to a neighbor's yard! I also saw a truck with a trailer hitch attached. Nothing out of the ordinary with that, right? Except for the fact that the TRAILER HITCH was SHAPED LIKE A DOG'S HEAD! When was the last time you saw a GIANT SEA HORSE ON SOMEONE'S LAWN? Or, a SWORDFISH OVER SOMEONE'S GARAGE? Or a STONE DOG ON A DRIVEWAY? Also in Florida, we have lots of FROGS, including STONE ONES! And then of course, it wouldn't be Florida without ORANGE TREES, would it? And last but certainly not least, it is quite common to see LARGE PALM TREES IN PEOPLE'S YARDS! Visit Florida sometime and see what kind of strange things you will see.
Oh ... and by the way ... this is really TURTLE and not Mother Bunny as the tag below indicates. I was having trouble getting into the blog from my computer.