Darwin Day and his rEvolution

On Friday February 12, Merkin, Dr. J, and I went to Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal to see an exhibit about Darwin: Darwin's rEvolution. My favorite parts of the exhibit were a first edition of the Descent of Man and small metal Darwin and Galapagos tortoise figurines. After that, I went to the history museum which had a re-creation of Cincinnati with scale model trains and trolleys. They also had a real trolley car you could get on. Seeing the trolley car made me feel like Pa when he was a kid, like the time when he entered a car, threw a firecracker under a seat, and said, "Mister, there's a firecracker under your seat." And right when he said that, it exploded. I next went to the kid's museum. It had a scavenger hunt where you followed the purple bottles in the wall to find some gold (it wasn't real).

We stopped in Covington on the way to Louisville to eat at Wertheim's Gausthaus, a German restaurant. I ate some real wurst, schnitzel, sauerkraut, and potato pancake. When we got to Louisville, we shared our Darwin day cookies with the Stone family. It was a completely fun Darwin day. I can't wait until next year.

Darwin's (edible) Tree of Life

Darwin's rEvolution

Birds of Paradise and insects . . . variation and adaptation

Jefferson's Ground Sloth . . . common to the Big Bone Lick area

"Hey mister, there's a firecracker under your seat!"

Darwin Day with the Stone-cold-Birkett family

Happy Lincoln and Darwin Day

Here are a couple of videos from past celebrations for the shared birthday of Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) and Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882). We are headed to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal to see the exhibit Darwin's rEvolution. Dudeboy will report back soon about our trip and celebrations.

Who is you favorite scientist?

Finally . . . A Real Snow For Dudeboy

The most dangerous man of the Confederacy

A couple of weeks ago, Dudeboy (and a friend of his), and I visited Bowling Green's Fairview Cemetery to look for the "most dangerous man of the Confederacy."

The gravestone of Thomas Henry Hines.
Thomas Hines was a spy for John Hunt Morgan, and assisted him in one of the most daring escapes during the war. After their capture during the Indiana/Ohio raid, Hines masterminded an escape from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus (now a parking lot for a NHL arena). Hines was inspired by reading Les Misérables. This was but one of several daring escapes by Hines.

The Confederate Monument in Bowling Green's Fairview Cemetery. The monument was "dedicated in 1876 before a crowd of 12,000."

A Visit From an Old Friend on a Snowy Day

We were also visited by a hawk, who seemed keenly interested in the goings on at the bird feeder.

Stones River

This week is the 147th anniversary of the Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Dudeboy and I took The Richard along with us to attend some of the programs commemorating the event.

These are some of the members of the 9th Kentucky re-enactment group. Of course, Dudeboy's Great-Great-Great Grandfather Joel "Top" Simmons fought with the 9th Ky, Co. K. However, he did not participate in the battle at Stones River. He was convalescing in a hospital in Nashville at the time.


Re-enactors portraying a Louisiana Battery (I believe it is the Washington Artillery).


Dudeboy and the carnage in the Slaughter Pen.


Dudeboy and the Richard holding artillery projectiles.


"Give them a whiff of grapeshot."


Fifty-seven guns were fired basically at point blank into the Orphan Brigade from this position. Former Vice-President John C. Breckinridge was moved to wail, "My poor Orphans! My poor Orphans."