Of Patriots and Rebels

At dinner tonight The Wife and I were talking a little about the origins of our country. I'm reading a book on Ben Franklin (the person, not the store) and am once again boggled in the brain at the thought of our founding fathers wanting to remain Englishmen. (Well, with the exceptions of the Adams Family and Hancock) Which leads me to The Wife's great comment of the day.

I know that when you read Adams Family, the creepy and kooky version probably leaps to mind instead of the Rebels John and Sam (again, not the beer). And when I say Hancock, he is the signer of the Declaration, not the superhero played by Will Smith, and not the insurance company.

So, in this book about Benjamin, it mentions that he had a pretty good working relationship with Admiral Lord Howe. Howe's brother was the famous general Howe that led British forces against the rebels.

Anyway, after commenting to her about how people associate names of our forefathers with relatively new pop culture, I asked The Wife if she was familiar with the Howes. She said with a chuckle, "Of course... Gilligan's Island."

It occurs to me that people probably don't know that much about our founding fathers, so here's a quick test...

1. When was the Declaration of Independence signed?

2. Name two riders that warned that the "British were coming".

3. What did George Washington do militarily before he led the Continental Army?

4. When did the 'War for Independence' end?

5. True or False. The first Continental Congress wanted to reconcile with England and remain loyal Englishmen under King George.

I took the test, and only got a few, so no worries. All of this reading on Franklin has led me to want to study those times more... another new project.

In other news, we've named the riding mower 'Phebo'. We've also decided the best way to keep up with the Boyo now that his cast is long gone is to put a brick in his backpack.

It almost works.


More Later