Quisley’s Castle is an unusual home in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
From the Quisley’s Castle website:
My great grandmother’s maiden name was Elise Fioravanti (1910-1984). She was part Italian. She came to the Ozarks when she was nine. She loved the outdoors and began to collect rocks as she walked along a creek bed to school. When she was 18, during the depression, she married my great grandfather, Albert Quigley (1905-1972). He was the type of fellow who brought her rock collection with them to the site of his farm and lumber mill. They lived in a lumber shack and had five children. My great grandfather promised her a house with the lumber cut off their own property.
They argued about it for several months. As soon as Albert headed for work at the lumber mill one June morning in 1943, Elise Quigley gathered their children around her and ordered “we’re going to tear down the house.” And demolish the family’s three room house they did. “when Bud came home that night, “Mrs. Quigley related, “he was living in a chicken house, where we’d moved all of our stuff.”
Mrs. Quigley had already designed her dream home. She wanted two things: Plenty of room for the robust family and a “home where I felt I was living in the world instead of in a box. I designed it in my mind, but I couldn’t tell anybody what I wanted, so I sat down with scissors, paste, cardboard and match sticks and made a model.”
The biggest obstacle was that the design which called for 28 huge windows. Mr. Quigley wanted to wait to build the house because glass was unavailable during the war, but now construction began immediately. Built entirely of lumber off their land and with their own labor, only $2000 in cash was spent on supplies and glass, which didn’t become available for three years. The family survived the winters by tacking up material over the holes in layers.
To bring nature indoors, four feet of earth was left bare between the edges of the living space and the walls. Into the soil, which borders the rooms on the inside, Mrs. Quigley planted flowering, tropical plants that grow up to the second story ceiling. The two remaining original plants are over 70 years old now.
Stones that Mrs. Quigley began collecting as a girl assumed an important part of the house. Working tenderly for three years, Mrs. Quigley covered the outside walls with a collection of fossils, crystals, arrowheads and stones selected from the creek beds for their beauty. A perennial garden surrounds the house.
The inside of the house is a collection of family antiques and mementoes that express Mrs. Quigley’s love of nature. Especially spectacular is the “Butterfly Wall” that is beyond imagination.
This was her home and passion for another 50 years as she continued to collect and surround herself with the nature she loved. My great grandparents were very compatible; he took her everywhere she wanted to collect, as she couldn’t drive. He continued to make a living with the farm and lumber mill until he passed away in 1972, at the age of 66. Elise Quigley died at the age of 74 in 1984
The Quigley home, without intention, became a favorite stopping place for people traveling through the Ozarks. Now after seventy years, the Quigley’s great granddaughter still welcomes guests into the family home.
Sew Colorful 
Good Morning All!
it’s about 20* out there and hubby says chance of snow…wonderful…
I always check out the headlines on other sites before i settle in here…and this caught my eye…THIS IS THE AMERICAN SPIRIT!
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/02/25/sou-surprise-president-trump-awards-trump-awards-medal-of-honor-to-venezuela-raid-pilot-eric-slover/
i didn’t read it all yet…but he was shot 4 times in the leg and still brought the men back–he is a helicopter pilot!
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Hope you have a safe trip!
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Hmmmm…no common sense baked into ChatGPT, I see!
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FloridaFredOutWest
February 25, 2026 12:28 am
Guido Fawkes
@GuidoFawkes
WATCH: Chagossian First Minister Misley Mandarin has – from the new settlement on the Chagos archipelago – given Donald Trump formal permission to strike Iran from Diego Garcia.
He says: “We, the people of the Chagos Islands, give our blessing for the United States to use the base at Diego Garcia for strikes against the Iranian regime – in defence of the Iranian people.”
His full statement:
“Today, I stand not in exile, but on our own soil, as the democratically elected head of government of the Chagos Islands.
Let the world hear this clearly.
We are here.
We govern here.
And we decide what happens here.
For too long, decisions about Diego Garcia were made in distant capitals, without our voice, without our consent. That era is over.
Diego Garcia is not just a military base. It is a pillar of stability in the Indian Ocean. It protects trade routes, deters aggression, and helps preserve global security. These are dangerous times and so I must be absolutely clear ….
If the United States decides that action is needed to defend international order, then as the elected Government of these islands, we give our permission for the use of Diego Garcia in defence of peace, secured through strength.
Once again, to be clear …
We, the people of the Chagos Islands, give our blessing for the United States to use the base at Diego Garcia for strikes against the Iranian regime – in defence of the Iranian people.
This is our sovereign decision.
President Trump understands the strategic importance of this island. He understands that peace is preserved through strength, not hesitation.
To the President of the United States, I say this directly:
You have our partnership.
You have our co-operation.
You have our permission.
We hope this partnership will be mutual.
If our homeland stands as a shield for America and its allies, then America must stand as a shield for our people. We seek formal recognition of our government, binding guarantees of our right of return, and permanent protection of our indigenous lands.
The Chagos Islands will not be a bargaining chip. We will not be spoken for. And we will not be silent. We stand with those who defend stability. We stand with those who defend our common values. We stand with those who stand with us. God Bless the United States of America.”
https://x.com/GuidoFawkes/status/2025963179646288149
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cops release photos of “kids” madmani claims threw snowballs that caused 2 police officers to go the ER for treatment…
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Good morning all! 26 here this morning – Wheezer came and gobbled the tuna I put out late yesterday, then promptly departed. He’s been back overnight to eat most of the dry food. It was cloudy when I got up but it’s clearing now with sunshine.
Just The News: “After a whirlwind year of action abroad and home, President Donald Trump on Tuesday night used the first State of the Union address of his second administration to propose sweeping new ideas – ranging from trucker safety to an historic change to the energy grid in a signal he has no plans to relent on his agenda in the face of the midterm congressional elections.
Here are some of the big ideas the 47th president put on the table during a joint session of Congress:
A federal matching payment for Americans’ 401k retirement accounts
Trump announced he will be creating a new program giving Americans up to $1,000 to match their retirement savings in 401k accounts, promising more details in the near future.
“Your 401ks are way up, yet half of all of working Americans still do not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer,” Trump declared. “To remedy this gross disparity, I’m announcing that next year my administration will give these often forgotten American workers, great people, the people that built our country, access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker.
“We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year, as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market.”
A plan to protect electricity rate payers from the costs of Artificial Intelligence grid expansion
Trump announced a “rate-payer protection pledge” being executed with major tech companies requiring them to provide for their own power needs by building their own power plants and grids. It’s a major revolution in power policy, allowing private companies to do what major governments have handled for decades.
U.S. electricity rates have soared an average of 6.3% in the past year as the AI revolution rages forward with massive data center construction.
Delilah’s Law: A Major Reform for Commercial Truck Driver Licenses
Trump called on Congress to pass a “Delilah’s Law,” barring states from issuing commercial driving licenses to illegal immigrants. In announcing the proposed law, he turned to the audience and Dalilah Coleman, a first-grader who was severely injured in a car accident caused by an illegal alien driving a semi-truck.
“Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs,” Trump said. “That’s why tonight I’m calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Delilah law, barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.”
Tariffs to income tax freedom?
Trump said he will make new legal justifications for his tariffs to preserve them after a recent loss at the Supreme Court and predicted they would one day put the country on a path to reducing federal income taxes.
“I believe the tariffs, paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” Trump said.
A new commander for the war on fraud and a goal for a balanced budget
Trump turned to tech entrepreneur Elon Musk at the beginning of his second term to run the DOGE review to identify waste, fraud and abuse in taxpayer programs. Musk finished his temporary assignment identifying tens of billions of dollars in potential savings before returning to his suite of companies.
On Tuesday night, Trump said the next phase of the “war on fraud” would be led by Vice President JD Vance. He also suggested there were enough savings to be achieved that could put America on a path toward a balanced budget after years of annual budget deficits of $2 trillion or more.
Redirecting federal health subsidies from big insurers under Obamacare to American families instead
Trump proposed anew redirecting the billions of dollars in subsidies given to health insurers under Obamacare to individual health savings accounts, allowing people to choose health care services directly.
“I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and instead give that money directly to the people so they can buy their own health care, which will be better health care at a much lower cost,” Trump said.”
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Just The News: “Democratic Rep. Al Green was escorted out of House chambers Tuesday night during President Trump’ State of the Union address after holding up a sign that read: BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T APES!”
The incident marked the second consecutive time the Texas lawmaker and outspoken Trump critic was removed from a presidential address to Congress.
The sign was an apparent reference to a racist depiction of former President Barack and former first lady Michelle Obama that Trump posted to his Truth Social account earlier this month, then deleted, according to the news outlet Politico.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise swiped at the sign as he entered with the president, and other members of the GOP congressional conference tried to block the sign from cameras, Politico also reported.”
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No, I don’t agree with this. IMO, this cheapens the Purple Heart. SMH – by all means, give them some small financial reward and lesser medal. such as a commendation medal, but NOT the PH, FFS!!!
Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday awarded the Purple Heart to the two members of the National Guard who were attacked while on patrol in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were on patrol in the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s crackdown on crime and illegal immigration in the area. Beckstrom was fatally shot during the February attack, while Wolfe managed to recover from his injuries. Trump prefaced the award by highlighting the sacrifice of Beckstrom and the determination Wolfe’s mother while awaiting his recovery.
“So Andrew, while you’re up now, I’m going to ask a highly respected general, James Seward to present Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and the great family of Sarah Beckstrom with the award created by our late great President, George Washington himself,” he said, during the State of the Union Address. “It’s called the Purple Heart.”
Gen. James Seward presented the award to Wolfe and Beckstrom’s mother during the speech. Both were present at the U.S. Capitol for the event. Trump further highlighted the service records of Beckstrom and Wolfe, praising them for serving the country.”
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Just The News: “The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it has reinstated 56 United States Coast Guard members who were dismissed during the Biden administration for failing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The move comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year that allowed all military service members who were discharged for refusing the vaccine to be reinstated.
The Coast Guard members will now receive back pay effective from the date of their discharge and their service records will be changed to reflect a period of continuous active service between the date of their discharge and their reinstatement.
“56 members of the United States Coast Guard who were kicked out of the service over the COVID-19 vaccine have finally been reinstated with back pay,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “This is a victory for religious, personal, and medical freedom for all Americans both in and out of uniform.
“The last administration’s vaccine mandates were unconstitutional, un-American, and a gross violation of personal freedom,” she continued. “It was no way to treat the men and women who put everything on the line to keep our country safe. President Trump is righting these wrongs and returning those unjustly removed members to service.
“This decision to reinstate these members of the Coast Guard is a major step in the right direction,” she added.”
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“Report: State Medicaid Payments Explode As Fraud Scandals Grow: Open the Books’ investigation found Pennsylvania saw Medicaid payments soar from $5.6 million to $583 million over seven years.”
By: M.D. Kittle, February 25, 2026
EXCERPT: “In June, a Pennsylvania woman appeared in federal court in connection with a $1 million-plus home care fraud scheme. Hemal Patel was charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to violate the federal anti-kickback statute. The 59-year-old Bucks County resident, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office for Pennsylvania’s Eastern District, pocketed payments for referring patients to home care agencies. Patel and others schemed to fraudulently bill Medicaid for ghost home care services.
The scam targeted Pennsylvania’s Community HealthChoices, which uses Medicaid funds to pay for home- and community-based personal assistance services for individuals with disabilities to help keep them out of nursing homes, according to court filings. Patel was one of hundreds of people charged in the Department of Justice’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown, the largest sweep of its kind covering some $14.6 billion in intended Medicaid losses.
Payouts to personal assistance services have ballooned nationally. Between 2018 and 2024, Medicaid cash in the category grew by 144 percent, from $9.6 billion to almost $23.5 billion. But payments have absolutely exploded in Pennsylvania — by more than 10,000 percent over the period, according to an analysis of new data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The massive data dump, reviewed by public spending tracker Open the Books, shows Medicaid-funded payments to Pennsylvania’s personal assistance services shot up from $5.6 million in 2018 to $583 million in 2024.
Source: Open the Books
The massive increases should be of particular interest for CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, the former TV personality who claimed the Keystone State as his home state during his 2022 U.S. Senate run…..”
https://thefederalist.com/2026/02/25/report-state-medicaid-payments-explode-as-fraud-scandals-grow/
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EXCERPT: “President Trump painted an uplifting, “America First” vision for the country during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Filled with with recognitions of American patriotism and savvy political moves, the president pledged that America’s future “will be bigger, better, brighter, bolder, and more glorious than ever before.”
While Trump’s address was certainly as pro-America as it gets, there was something particularly notable about the speech that is unlikely to get a lot of attention. That is, many of the accomplishments that the president rattled off have come as the result of his executive action — and not from the GOP-controlled Congress.
From shutting down the Biden-manufactured invasion at the southern border to ridding the government of racist DEI ideology, the president achieved most of these wins on his own.
That’s both an indictment of feckless Republicans’ failure to codify Trump’s agenda into law and a warning signal to the president that many of the policy items he proposed Tuesday night face strong headwinds in the months to come.
Throughout his speech, Trump called on Congress to pass bills that ban insider trading for members of Congress and “make sure violent and dangerous repeat offenders are put behind bars and, importantly, that they stay there.” He also asked lawmakers to approve a bill (the “Dalilah Law”) “barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens” and the SAVE America Act, which would implement voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements in federal elections.
Taken collectively, these are common sense proposals that the majority of voters are likely to get behind. Their passage into law, however, can only happen if Trump uses his political capital to pressure Republican lawmakers into making it happen……”
https://thefederalist.com/2026/02/25/trumps-pro-america-vision-will-only-succeed-if-he-pushes-republicans-to-implement-it/
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“Abigail Spanberger Is Playing Blindfolded Darts With Her Lame SOTU Response”
The Federalist, By: Chris Bray, February 25, 2026
“After two hours of Donald Trump saying that America’s great and he wants to make it greater so that everybody can have a great life and by the way here are some amazing heroes, former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger appeared on television to I don’t know what. You can watch it here, if you want to see an illustration of the metaphor about someone being “lost at sea.” Hit pause right at the 11:34 mark, because I want to say something about that moment before you watch it.
Spanberger said that Trump is corrupt, and that he’s destroying America, and that everything is horrible. If you don’t hate how horrible everything is right now, just wait: America will become more dark and cruel and miserable and rotten. It was a sad trombone sound effect come to life. Here’s something bad, and here’s something else bad, and also, here’s some more bad things. Trump equals darkness, a message she pounded home with roughly the subtlety of Creed doing that halftime show.
“His reckless trade policies.”
“Small businesses have suffered, farmers have suffered.”
“They’re making your life harder. They’re making your life more expensive. They’re even making it more difficult to see a doctor.”
Doom, doom, doom.
Also, as she laid out this catalog of darkness and horror, she smiled a lot. This starts to give you some hints about the substance of the message.
Now, did you hit pause right at 11:34? Go play that part. She tells us that George Washington warned us — this is another dark moment, a thing that’s meant to convey threat — about “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men rising to power.” As she finishes this dark, threatening message, she’s smiling again. Hit pause at 11:40 and stare at that image. I’ve used it to illustrate this post.
Scary message / happy face. As I just said about Gavin Newsom’s new campaign trail, Andrew Dice Clay character, Spanberger is pretending. She’s not righteously angry or scared and speaking about her deeply felt sense of threat. She’s casting around for something to hit an opponent with. Her demeanor doesn’t match her words, because she doesn’t mean any of it.
You could hate Donald Trump and see this point: Democrats are guessing, because they have no idea. They don’t know who they are, they don’t have a positive vision, they don’t have a message. They have doom, they have some more doom, and then they have some more scary doom. And, uh, big smile?”
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“What do foreigners think when they see a person like that who’s an actual member of our government? I have the feeling you wouldn’t want to get stuck down-wind from this broad, if ya catch my drift…”
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Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Vice President JD Vance would lead the administration’s nationwide response to public welfare fraud.
“So tonight, although [it] started four months ago, I am officially announcing the war on fraud to be led by our great Vice President JD Vance,” Trump said.
Trump made the remarks during the State of the Union Address, highlighting recent high-profile revelations of large-scale public fraud linked to the Somali expat community in Minneapolis, Minn.
“But when it comes to the corruption that is plundering, really, it’s plundering America, there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” he said.
“We have all the information, and in actuality, the number is much higher than that,” he added. “And California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe.”
Trump did not elaborate on the scope of Vance’s authority or purview.”
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H/T M
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Fetterman was the only dem, I think, who shook POTUS’ hand as he entered for the SOU.
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Dubious
Cornice, of the dangerous variety
Me This Morning
Chrysler Building from above
The Lamborghini Centenario tractor was created in Italy for the 100th anniversary of the company’s founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, limited to 5 units
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Street Art That Makes You Nervous
Peeking out at Winter
Cardiff Castle, Wales
Extraordinary Entrance
Excellent Composition
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Cobh, Ireland
Have a seat. Sit a spell.
A 4,000-pound elephant seal named Roland getting a snow bath from his handler at the Berlin Zoo in Germany in the 1930s.
Snow Load
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“Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, a 13-year-old Houston boy who captured national attention for his courageous battle with brain and spinal cancer, has died. His family announced his passing on February 23, 2026, after a long and public fight against the disease.
DJ Daniel became widely known for his dream of becoming a law enforcement officer despite his diagnosis in 2018, when doctors gave him just five months to live. He defied the odds for over seven years, during which he was sworn in as an honorary officer by more than 1,350 police departments and agencies across the country.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump recognized DJ during a speech to Congress, making him an honorary U.S. Secret Service agent—a moment that drew widespread emotional response and national praise.
Tributes have poured in from law enforcement, government, and communities nationwide, honoring DJ’s resilience, joy, and impact on the fight for pediatric cancer awareness. Flags have been lowered, and badges draped in black, as the nation mourns the loss of a young symbol of courage.”
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