Bah, Humbug! A Possum in The Christmas Tree Too You!

:-) Did anyone see the story on NBC early news?

Some Pennsylvania family had it happen to them. The teenaged daughter was doing her homework when the angel on top of the tree came crashing down. She looked up to see a Possum had taken the angel's place. While they were waiting for the game warden the took some video of the little guy/girl? thinking their friends would never believe them.

I don't care what Lester Holt and that whats-her-name-chick with him say....I think Mr/Ms Possum looked adorable as a Tree topping. With all due respect to the O8) of course!

A possum in the house is not good. Not good at all.

:hi:

big and small :hi: backatcha!

love all of them,both great and small:)
:hi: and Merry Christmas from Old Orchard

I bet the Goddess of the Trees (I forget her name) intended to have a creature of the wild come to that family .... perhaps to remind them that Christmas is as much a Pagan as Christian Holiday. They didn't get it, but I did. You've got a Celtic DU name. Do you follow Irish history? I find it fascinating!

Oh and :hi: backatcha!

using that term in only the most general sense,of course. I've spent a lot of time studying it and am particularly interested in the period of 1916-1922. The painful birth of the modern Irish state after centuries of occupation,and the personalities involved,endlessly fascinate.

I can't say I know as much about that but wasn't 1916 the year of the Post Office Rebellion?

It was on Easter Monday,and the General Post Office as well as other locations was occupied by Irish patriots. Their leaders were an interesting group consisting of,among others: the headmaster of a private school(and poet),an internationally reknowned labor leader,the son of a papal count and a playright. They were expecting arms from the Germans but this did not happen. Although they knew they had little chance of success,they decided to proceed,in part in the hope that the people of Dublin would support/join them. Rather the reverse happened and after their inevitable defeat and capture,many Dubliners booed them in the streets for stirring up trouble. The arrogant British soon changed that by having the leaders shot by firing squad after secret tribunals(sound familiar?).That act by the British lit a match under the Irish populace,and was the death knell of their long and unwelcome visit in Ireland. This is a very brief summing up,of course. Here the declaration that Padraig Pearse,headmaster and patriot,read in front of the GPO:

POBLACHT NA H EIREANN
___________________________
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE
IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the last three hundred years they have asserted it to arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.

Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God. Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, in humanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.

Signed on Behalf of the Provisional Government.

Thomas J. Clarke,
Sean Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh,
P. H. Pearse, Eamonn Ceannt,
James Connolly, Joseph Plunkett

These guys were so valiant against all odds. They had to have been a tough lot. But probably poor, malnourished due to the tenancy laws, and lacking in any sort of organized military or uniform weapons for that matter. Plus it was probably a very early form of urban warfare...something neither side was used to, but especially the more agrarian Irish

I'm 3/4 Irish. Mehans, O'Briens and McGuires. I've learned a little about the Mehans. They were farmers form Tipperary who settled in Pennsylvania around 1860. I know next to nothing about the O'Briens except for the fact that "we have the blood of Kings" in our veins. My great grandmother told me that but I was young, she was old (and scary for some reason) so I know little about it. I have found several kings by the name of O'Brien. It'd be cool if it was true but I take it w/a grain of salt.

The McGuires I find most intriguing. According to family lore, one faction of the family betrayed the other. I don't know the time period but from the vehemence of my otherwise sweet and docile grandmother, I would think it fairly recent. But so great the betrayal (if true ) occurred around 17 or 18-something??? Anyway the McGuires owned alot of land in Northern Ireland, along with many beautiful manor houses. It was around that time King George (the IV?) needed more $ and decided to go after the Irish. Beginning in Belfast he demanded loyalty to the crown (which also meant becoming Protestant)or lose your land and possessions. Most did it but numerous members of the McGuire clan swore to each other that'd never do that and amassed small armies meant to be combined with each other.

When the time came for a fight the other McGuire's were there... but on the other side! That faction of the family was not only able to keep their homes and lands but were also rewarded with ALL the McGuire lands. We were kicked out, or so the story goes.

I'm more interested in ancient Irish, Welsh and Scottish history so I haven't really researched much of this other then I did find out that there still are McGuire Manors in Northern Ireland.

LOL! And to think this thread was originally about rodents :-)

Maybe we're cousins..lol. The O'Brien clan is considered to be descended from Brian Boru,the last Ard Ri(High King) of Ireland. During Brian's time(late 10th-early 11th centuries),Ireland was overrun with Norsemen. Dublin itself was actually founded as a Viking town.Brian defeated the Norsemen at the battle of Clontarf in 1014(amazing since he was an elderly man by this time,and in those days kings participated actively in their own wars,which I think we should go back to in the present day!) Although the Irish won that battle and broke the Norse power in Ireland,Brian was killed and without his leadership Ireland descended into anarchy,making it a tempting target for some other nasty neighbors to come calling not too many years down the road....and so it goes..

BTW,when you think about it,it doesn't seem so strange that a thread about rodents would segue into a thread that involves the British;)


Certainly not intended to offend any British people who might be reading this...God forbid we should all be judged by the actions of our governments.

Cheers,

BTW,when you think about it,it doesn't seem so strange that a thread about rodents would segue into a thread that involves the British

Yes it does and oh how I love strange ironies :evilgrin:

But it's been a very interesting journey. Do you really think my (I hate to say this) but my 'creepy' great grandmother was on to something with the O'Briens? I descend as much from them as I do the Mehans and McGuires. And if that's the case I wonder why THAT lore didn't get passed down like the McGuire stuff. Perhaps as the years passed it seemed almost TOO much of a story?

Oh well, I may never know, but I've very much enjoyed talking with you about this stuff. And who knows, we may be more closely related then we might have thought!

Have a Merry Christmas (please excuse my popish ways ;-)) Hey I'm Irish! :shrug:

I'd name it Bitey.

Tucker