Stonewall Jackson Arrives

Now we have a new labrador retriever, Stonewall Jackson, although the "Stonewall" is silent, so he just gets called "Jackson."  We missed Dixie so much, we couldn't resist getting another lab.  Although he is also yellow, it looks like he will be different from Dixie.  He is still a puppy, but it looks like he will be tall and thin, with a face almost like a greyhound, rather than the traditional broad, stocky lab build that Dixie had.  So far, he is also more affectionate and obedient.  We hope we don't spoil him by being too easy on him.

Dixie Lee's Passing

As time goes by since our labrador retriever, Dixie Lee, passed on, my memory of her becomes hazier, but I particularly remember our last minutes together.  About six in the morning my wife heard her having difficulty breathing downstairs in her kennel.  We went down to check on her.  The kennel door was open and we sat beside her.  She seemed to feel our presence.  She continued to breathe with difficulty for 10 or 15 minutes as we sat with her, and then she just quit breathing.  It seemed like she felt she could go on, once we were there with her.  She was a good dog in life and death.

Memphis Renames Confederate Parks

I was disappointed to see that Memphis has renamed three parks that honored the South in the Civil War. According to the New York Times, the parks were named Confederate Park, Jefferson Davis Park, and Nathan Bedford Forrest Park.  They are now Memphis Park, Mississippi River Park, and Health Sciences Park.

Almost 100 years ago, Martha Mitchell said the old South was "Gone with the Wind."  More and more of it is disappearing.  I guess there are not many "old families" left in Memphis who remember the old South fondly.  Only the Ku Klux Klan came out to mourn the loss of the Confederate names, which is not a very good character reference for them.  So history moves on.  If the victors write the history, then the Yankees have finally gotten their due, or the most recent victors have been in the Civil Rights struggle, and they are now erasing the old Confederate history.

America is changing, which may be good for America, but it's not necessarily good for me.  I worry that along with America's disparaging the old Confederates, it is also disparaging many of our founding fathers -- Jefferson, Washington, Madison -- and even some Yankees who went along with the compromise to allow slavery to continue when the US was created.