Maedeup Monday!

What's the Constant Crafter going to do while on a roadtrip?  Maedeup!!! I brought a bunch of bracelets that I had cut the cording for and hadn't taken the time to make. I'm one of those girls that has to keep my hand busy doing something. I had so much fun making these.

                                       Rocketman was blown away by the colors.

You can find them in my Etsy store and in honor of Rocketman's amazing recovery I am have a sale until the end of June. Everything in my store is 20% off with the code ROCKETMAN. If you want a specific color, email me at beckymeverden at gmail. com and let me know. I've got just about every color of the rainbow.

See what I mean.

Nevada Missouri's Bushwhacker Jail

This was one of the only buildings that survived the fire that the Union set in 1983. This building served as a jail from 1860-1960. It was closed due to the many complaints about the condition of the jail. The jail not only housed prisoners but also the sheriff and his family. It was not a large building and even from the outside I could not imagine it being being both a jail and a home.  The curator led me to the side of the building where we entered the jail.  He said that just next to the jail was where the kitchen had been located, separate from the building.

This was the living room.  I was told that all the furniture was donated and used to recreate what each room would have looked like in the 18th century. The furnishings were all antiques.  The photos were of sheriffs. The wooden frame over the fireplace was actually made by an inmate and given to the sheriff as a gift.

The two bedrooms were on the second floor and we had to use a very steep and narrow staircase to get to the second level.

This is a photo of Fred and Sephronia Dawes. He was killed in 1919 and his wife became the first woman sheriff in Missouri.

                     This is the men's jail. The women's section was on the second floor.

                                                         Nasty, nasty conditions.

The sheriff's wife was responsible for feeding the prisoners.  These are what were used to serve the food to the prisoners.

                                            Here were some of her cooking utensils.

                    There was one toilet since removed and one sink to be shared by all prisoners.

This is the doorway into the jail. You would enter the jail from the side of the house. I was surprised how short and narrow the door was.

This is a photo of the women's jail upstairs.  It was much nicer then the men's. The museum was now air conditioned and I couldn't imagine being confined there in the summer heat. It would have been brutal.

I really enjoyed stepping back in time and when Rocketman saw all my pictures he was so jealous that he was not able to visit with me.  There is always next time.

Nevada Missouri and the Bushwhacker Museum

We left last Sunday after the family reunion and drove to St. Louis, MO which was the halfway point to Nevada, MO.  We got to see the Arch from the highway on our way to the motel. We were trying to outrun a bad storm so we didn't stop for pictures. Then the next morning we left for another 4 hour trip which would take us to Nevada, MO. The hotel was about a block from Rocketman's plant so I dropped him off Monday morning and decided to do some exploring.  I found these really cool murals in downtown Nevada.

 The only shopping was a Walmart which was sad because the actual downtown district was so beautiful with cute little storefronts mostly abandoned. I did find a museum which was under the library and decided to visit that. I'm a sucker for history so a museum was right up my alley.

A gentleman greeted me and introduced himself as the curator. He invited me to watch a 12 minute history of Nevada where I learned all about the Bushwhackers.  They played an important role in the Civil War which also led to the town of Nevada being burnt to the ground May 23, 1863 by Union forces.

                     These two pictures are wedding gowns that were donated to the museum.

                                                    This is a view of the museum.

 Dr. Hornback's family donated what looked like their entire household. It was like a step back in time.

There were also several donations by other doctors.

                                  I even found some Indian trade beads. I thought they were so cool!

                                  Lots of uniforms from all the wars were donated.

                       Even some wooden sandals from Japan from a U.S. solder.

This one really got to me. I wondered if that was how Mrs. Marquardt was informed that her husband had been hurt in the war. It seemed really cold to me but it was probably the best they could do at the time. I could not imagine receiving a postcard like this about Rocketman.

This is the artificial arm the Mr. Marquardt wore until from 1945 until his death in 2002.

So many wonderful things and when I finished, the curator asked if I wanted to see the jail which was a block away. Of course, I said yes and he got the keys to the jail and off we went. It was about a block away. More about that tomorrow.

Family Reunion & Ezra's 2nd Birthday

Last weekend Rocketman and I headed out on a road trip.  It started with a trip to Illinois for our annual family reunion.  I had just found out that my folks had never eaten a burger from 5 Guys so I remedied that first thing with dinner at 5 Guys. They loved it!

The reunion was at my sister's farm  home and I was surprised to find she had just gotten some baby chicks.  She's had chickens for years and said they were getting old and she needed to add to the crew. They were so cute.

Our daughter and her family also came down and stayed with my sister.  They love it there. This is Ezra just hanging out.

                          Noah got in some practice by feeding some of my sister's chickens.

                                               We also celebrated Ezra's 2nd birthday.

 

                  Ez got a new trike from my sister and her family. He loved it and so did his folks.

                    We got him a tent which also had a little tunnel opening.  He loved that too.

                                                Ez playing in his new tent with his Daddy.

                                         Mommy also got a ride on Ez's new trike.

This was only the beginning of our trip. Rocketman found out the day before we were leaving that he needed to get to a couple of plants, one in Missouri and one in Iowa. So on Sunday after the reunion we headed to St. Louis which was halfway to our next destination which was Nevada, MO. More on that next time.