80 Degrees on the 4th of July?

The sprinkle started yesterday afternoon and is predicted to continue most of the day. The day time high here in the Heartland is going to be 80. Strange weather, must be the results of some tropical storm in the gulf. The plants and the Master Gardner love it but the kids will be bummed out that their firecrackers will get wet. Oh well.

This morning at o'dark something I watched a story about Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. The first thing said by the writer was that there were three Brigades in that charge across the field and that only the Virginia Generals got a lot of press about their exploits in that war. He said that perhaps there weren't enough pencils in Arkansas or Louisiana. Simple math would have told General Lee that his frontal assault wouldn't work. The ratio of attackers to defenders needs to be at least 3:1. There were 11,000 attackers and 7,000 defenders not even 2:1. Perhaps with enough artillery they could have overcome the results but the fact that the Yankees could bring a couple of thousand reserves when the few rebels broke through should have stopped that stupid plan. The one thing the South could not afford to do was to try to trade soldiers with the north. General Lee had done a good job maneuvering his forces for most of the war but that one bad decision was the seal on the Civil War. Had the Union Army chased the rebels home, it probably would have been the end but not quite.

It did give Abraham Lincoln (Republican) a chance to write and give the best speech I have ever read. My kind of speech. Short, Bitter-Sweet and right on point. His dedication of the cemetery to the Soldiers who gave their Last Full Measure has to be one of the best. Yes, I did have to go look up what a score was years ago. That was long before you could Google it.

Oh well, better go see to what I can do to salvage the BBQ if it is still raining this afternoon. I do have a bunch of chicken that I can bake with wing sauce and brats are OK boiled. Dang, that steak I had planned was sure sounding good.

MUD