"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! October 16th-18th, 2020 [closed]

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CHANGE TO BEST ANSWER PROCESS:  After much discussion we have come to the conclusion that all answers in the Weekend Chat are of equal importance and weight.  So we are going to discontinue the Best Answer portion as it adds points and then takes them away from posters and is causing some hurt feelings.  So in the interest of everyone is equal and valued we will delete any best answers given which will deduct those points because it has been pointed out that to give everyone best answer is also not a viable option. 

Weekend Chat is for everyone. It's a place to catch up on what people are up to and to share what you've been doing.  New members can say hello, introduce themselves, ask questions, and meet each other.  Our seasoned members can share progress or successes from their projects, give tips and advice, or chime in on hot topics.

Post as many answers and comments as you wish. It doesn't hurt anyone to post a lot and enjoy the multitude of topics.

Enjoy yourselves and spread the love!

Comments

 Nasty mess, Betty, you have my full sympathy and I can relate -- Stanislaus County sits at the bottom of NorCal and on top of the head of SoCal and we got smoke, ashes, grit, more smoke, more ashes, more grit as NorCal burned -- we are downwind from all the fires and rimmed by some of the burn  

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Susan,

Yes it was quite messy. About three days before the wildfire came close to our house we had a big wind storm. All of the tree debris was just laying there in the yard waiting for a stray spark. About 1/4 mile down the road a wood drying plant caught on fire. We just listened to the battery operated radio and watched the cellular phone fire map to see when we would have to leave. No fun.

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Hi Betty,

So sorry to hear about the fires. So glad you didn't lose your home. I have a question. Why are the burnt homes/property toxic?

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Toxic because among other things there is plastic that is burned >

"Long after the flames are put out, there are many dangerous health hazards still lurking. When non-organic materials are burned they release toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC's), which are extremely hazardous to long-term health and can even be lethal if ingested or inhaled or absorbed by the skin."

The geometry of the debris pile can often trap toxic chemicals like formaldehyde for days.

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Thanks Susan, does that mean everywhere a house burns down, they cannot be rebuilt? I keep thinking how sad all the houses burnt down, and on top of it property lost. Always presumed that they bulldozed and rebuilt. Lordy, that would be a huge amount of people losing homes forever.

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Terry,

What Susan said plus some of those houses contained parts made of asbestos. I'm hoping that the county will be able to clean up any toxicity at the property sites. Otherwise the homeless population is going to climb dramatically.

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Once a lot is cleared by permit which is granted to some company which is able to do the clearing safely AND there is a place the debris can be put AND the next inspection determines it is clear of toxins AND the insurance company has paid out whatever it will pay AND the area construction companies are open for business AND the owner of the lot can get further funding needed ....

I have heard, but I don't actually KNOW myself that it can be as long as 3 yrs before a new building is erected because of these hurdles

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Betty I"m glad your house was safe.  We almost had to evacuate for fire in the mountains above us.  My sisters in Washington have complained of the dense smoke - whole house filters needed to keep it clear.  And my San Fran daughter is even thinking of moving because of the frequent heavy smoke to the point they cant even open doors or it billows in.  But far worse to have your own home threatened or lost.

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Susan,

That sounds like a problem on top of a disaster. I'm soooo glad my house didn't get destroyed. There is some funding available for rebuilding from the Federal Emergency Management Association. The main hurdle is all the red tape required to rebuild. Sad situation indeed.

Cindy,

The Riverside Fire (the one closest to us) was only fifteen miles away from our house. We live off of Highway 213. The evacuation zone was on our side of Highway 213. That was quite scary. I feel sorry for any California family that has to see that every year. It is my hope that the woods management rules will change to allow clearing of the fallen debris again. That fuel on the ground only amplifies the danger.

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Betty, so sorry to hear about your ordeal, but I'm glad you took the necessary steps to protect your self.

Answer 1

This week for me was study, study, and more study. I passed the course I talked about last weekend and started another one. This new course they say should take about 30 hours to finish and I hope to do that this weekend. So far I have gotten through about 7 of the 12 units so it can be done. This weekend we were planning on celebrating my fathers birthday but we both caught colds so in the interest of safety we decided not to attend his dinner.

I have done next to nothing on WikiTree because of all the other online classes I am taking but I am hopeful that next week that will change

Comments

Happy birthday to your dad, Dale.

So, what's this course you're taking now about? I need to make some time to do the same.

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Pip, The course is the final one I need for the Emergency Coordinator job so unless you get your Amateur license and plan on doing community service as a Ham Radio operator you are safe.

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Best wishes for success! I'm sure you'll do great!

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Carole, Thank You. I have finished the course so I need to get a letter of reference from  the section manager and then send that along with proof of my Amateur radio license and the FEMA courses that are prerequisites to the headquarters for them to allow me to take the final exam.

Answer 2

Buenos dias a todos! It's 6:50am in Tucson and 62F (16.6C) with an expected high of 97F (36.1C). We're in mid-October and still having daytime hot highs!

I've been busy as usual working on papers for publication and taking care of family and health issues. Combined, they have been exhausting. The upside is that I got a call from our local elections board and I have agreed to be a Poll Worker on November 3rd. I will be getting the guidelines in the mail and am quite excited about doing this. A nearby neighbor has also been contacts so I think/hope we will be working together.

As to genealogy, I am still working on the Green family and got a bit waylaid with a few of the Sprague family. As a matter of fact, I got so waylaid that I have been up all night seeking decent references, sources and such. I have not been to bed, but  will be soon as I need a few hours sleep before I work on some academic demands.

So, I began with Buenos dias and will now say Buenas noches! I hope all of you have a wonderful, productive, safe and healthy weekend!

Pip, I just saw the note about your daughter and will hold her in my healing intentions!

Comments

Carol, I've gotten so involved, like you, on working on a family that I've sleep deprived myself. It's addicting like that!

Get some sleep! Talk to you later.

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Carol, hooray for you for being a Poll Worker! That's how I got started in Elections almost twenty years ago and it ended up leading to my second career (from which I retired last year.) I've missed being involved in the election process this year but it couldn't be helped. I found it all very fun and rewarding and I hope you will, too.

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A few nights ago, I was awake at 3am, so family tree research for 4 hours, then it was breakfast time.

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Thanks, Nelda. I'm looking forward to it!

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I'm up! Not awake, but up! Thanks for hosting again, Pip!

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HI, Carol.  great you can be a Poll Worker, I have a couple of friends here doing that too, for the Early Voting sites.  My mom used to do that, I think until the time when she came home for her brief lunch and found that the dog ate a large batch of cookies and threw up everywhere.  That was a bad day at our house.  Unfortunately I was the one who left them on my bedroom dresser instead of taking them to school.

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Hi Cindy, I am very happy about the poll work. I got my assignment and will be a clerk. I have to read the guidelines in the next few days. Fortunately, my neighbor was also selected, so we can drive together.

Cookies! I think I'll take a break and have some cookies and milk!

Answer 3

Hails and horns, Wikipeeps!

There are quite a few genealogy stories to go over this week. Let's start at the beginning!

Last Sunday, I was checking my dad's DNA matches and I checked the common ancestors tab. I scrolled down and I saw a guy named Vinny. I had a good laugh. Because this means I technically have a cousin Vinny. I wonder if he's a lawyer....And sounds like Joe Pesci.

I thought that was hilarious. I shared it on Twitter and the genealogy peeps had a good laugh. 

Fast forward to Tuesday and I wrote a blog about how proud I am to be Italian American: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2020/10/52-ancestors-week-42-proud.html And why am I proud of my Italian heritage. It's so weird talking about pride because it's one of the seven deadly sins and when I think of pride I think of the guy that has this gold plated car or something. That dude is out there. Probably in Pip's neck of the woods. ;)

I also discovered a couple articles involving my great-grandparents, Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault and my grandfather, Robert Hamel. In June of 1930, my great-grandparents were on a skiff and it hit a coast guard boat in the Merrimack River. They ended up in the water. I don't know if you know this but even in June the river is cold. But, I can only imagine how gross it was. It took decades for the river to get cleaned from all the mill gunk.

Seriously, by the time I was a kid in the '80s it was STILL gross! 

ANYWAY! I shared the story with my mom and other members of the family. My uncle told me that the skiff the Felkers were on was probably the same one he and his siblings fished for flounder in. My mom and her siblings got bait and fished in the mouth of the river for supper. 

Later that day, I saw an article about my grandfather getting promoted in the service. My mom was mentioned. 

Great genealogical finds out of Newburyport. Hey, Haverhill! You want in on this action? PLEASE?! Put newspapers online!!

Ahem. Sorry. Bit of New Englander in me. 

While searching for Marinaros on Wikitree, I found this guy. Dominick Marinaro. He had no parents or real background other than his military service. They listed his birthplace as Haverhill. So, I looked into it and he was the nephew of this lady, Natalina Marinaro. I need to put the band back together because I have the names of the parents. Just no sources. 

I messaged the guys who created the profile and spruced it up. Info was from the Italians in Haverhill book. Good stuff in there and now we have 50 people from the book on Wikitree. Hundreds more are in there. HUNDREDS! 

On the non genealogy front, it is cold and rainy. We had a nice day the other day and I helped my mom put away the furniture that was outside. Pretty good day to do that.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Comments

While rivers were INCREDIBLY gross when I was young,   there's been incredible progress made in clean water since my husband took this 1969 photo on the KAW River,  near where we went to Kansas University.  Today the KAW is a scenic canoeing river.

Hope your weekend weather improves!

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Yikes. Glad they cleaned up that river. There were a few cars at the bottom of the Merrimack. I used to be tempted to scuba dive there. Problem is that the river is MUDDY!

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Yikes is right! I don't suppose anyone tried to trace the car owners by V. I. N numbers. I shudder thinking about the environmental damage.

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Yeah, it's crazy. They're STILL fishing cars out of the Merrimack, by the way. I appreciate how photoshopped the image of the river is on Wikipedia's article on Haverhill is, though. XD

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I remember the green/purple/pink/yellow and smell from Onondaga Lake before cleanup began. The combination of direct sewage dumping plus industrial waste led it to become one of (if not the most) polluted lakes in the US. A history of the pollution. Although Syracuse University does again use the lake for rowing regatta, there is discussion as to whether the lake is clean enough for swimming.

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Hopefully, that lake is clean enough. The Merrimack IS cleaner these days. Just wouldn't swim or drink from it.

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Update: Just checked the mail and I got my Wikitree Source a thon captain sweatshirt. Thanks, Eowyn!

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Chris, if you ever write that book on you family, it's going to be a tome, all those stories you've collected over time.

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I’m thinking Toliken size tomes. One simply doesn’t walk to Lawrence.....or Mordor. There’s honestly little difference. :)

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Hahahaha!!!

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Peggy, that photo of the Kaw was eye-opening! I never would have imagined it could have been that trashed!

Answer 4

Well, I survived Hurricane Delta. The electricity went out at 5:38 p.m. last Friday (Oct 9th) and wasn't restored until 5:34 p.m. this past Monday (Oct 12th). At 5:40 p.m. last Friday, a tree uprooted just missing the southeast corner of my brother's house. The wind gusts were very strong and at about 6:23 p.m. a tree behind my house uprooted falling due west. It is around 75 ft. tall. It fell about 15 feet away from the back of my house. At around 7:00 p.m. the winds began to drop off mimicking the wind strength of Hurricane Laura which passed in my area just 6 weeks earlier.

We had a major natural gas leak in our area where there was a heavy presence of the smell of it, but the gas company got it under control before anyone in the area could get hurt from it.

The weather channel did a live broadcast during the storm while standing under an awing in front of our boarded up business. Someone may have seen the broadcast where they couldn't make out what business it was.

At my office, the wind apparently has messed up the A/C units on top of my roof. The blowers no longer blow. I guess the wind gusts must have blown them out (lol). I'm waiting on an A/C repairman to come fix them.

The mosquitoes are very bad right now. It is impossible to get in the yard without being covered in them. The good news is the mosquito abatement truck passed by my house last night, so I hope that helps thin them out.

Went to Wal-mart on Tuesday afternoon to shop for refrigerated items, but they had no refrigerated items but a few gallons of milk and ice cream. They must have thrown everything out because they lost power.

Finally got power restored at my business on Wednesday evening. There was a shortage of transformers, and they had to secure one from Lake Charles for my block.

There are trees and utility poles down all over the city and school is out all this week. I assume they will return to school next week.

Now that things are settling down and getting back to somewhat normal, I can spend some time on genealogy.

Comments

Tommy, I'm so glad those trees missed the dwellings of you and your brother! I'm glad your power at home is restored. Hopefully, all the other issues will be taken care of soon. (I was born and lived on the Gulf Coast for most of my life until we moved up here to north Georgia--I do not miss the pre-storm anxiety, the during-storm terror, or the after-storm clean-up, repair, etc.)

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Glad you are safe, and getting back to more-normal.

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Wow Tommy,

What a miserable week for you.  Glad everyone is safe but sound's like there will be a lot to still do.

I hope you got some of the ice cream at Walmart.

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Tommy, Very glad to know you are safe and doing ok!

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So sorry! We just went through Sally, before Delta hit you.  Two storms in six weeks is just to much, prayers to all of you.

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Good to hear you survived.

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 Astonishing week indeed ... now you need only check for molds and mushrooms .. yuck ... sewage stains and lots of bleach 

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Wow what a lot of work going on to get back to the "new normal".

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Tommy, I am glad you made it through safely. I tell you, this has been a rough hurricane season for you.

Answer 5

Today is....

NATIONAL SHAWARMA DAY

        

National Shawarma Day in the middle of  October celebrates the Middle Eastern rotisserie method of cooking meats such as lamb, chicken, and beef and the dishes it makes. Not only does shawarma bring mouth-watering flavour, but it also can be enjoyed in a variety of ways.

Bursting with a marinade of Mediterranean herbs and spices, shawarma chicken slowly cooks on a vertical rotisserie spit. The tender meat is then thinly sliced, grilled and added to a pita wrap with a variety of toppings. Customize this flavourful dish with fresh vegetables, cheese and a variety of herbs. Special sauces enhance the enjoyment of this delectable dish as well, such as the customer favourite Osmow’s™ garlic sauce. No matter how you like your shawarma, the combinations are endless. 

HOW TO OBSERVE National Shawarma Day:

Experience a flavour-filled shawarma! Order lamb, beef, chicken, or even Beyond Meat® to celebrate. Share the shawarma experience by inviting a friend to join you. Any foodie will want in on the celebration. 

Not in the mood for a wrap? Shawarma also tastes great on a salad, rice or fries. Anything exploding with this much flavour deserves a celebration!

Comments

Insert Avengers eating swarma gif here. =)

I like swarma wraps. We get them from a restaurant nearby all the time. So good!

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I just might have to have one or maybe two for lunch tomorrow since I'm still in India and can get some delivered from the restaurant near the job site.

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Doner Kebab came first!  I miss the Doner Kebabs I used to get in Aus.

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Nos this one was unique! Thanks, Dorothy.

Answer 6

Thanks for hosting once again Pip.

Weather:   Here in Catoosa County, Georgia it's just about perfect.  

Genealogy:   Not much accomplished.   Helped a new member on his family's Civil War soldiers but made no progress on my own family line.   Still haven't caught up on routine things after the Source-A-Thon.  But I won a prize!   It was a hand made table runner,  very skillfully made by Mary M. Thomas.

Home Front:   Still in the middle of numerous  "Covid Projects" around the house.    I'm attaching photos of our kitchen project  (of course,  there are still a few details to finish!)  

First photo is what the kitchen looked like at closing last year  (realtor is in the photo)

There are some things I'd change if we did it over,  but we're mainly pretty content.  (Once we forget how much work it took!)  The goal was to hide kitchen clutter from the living area.

I look forward to reading everyone's post!  

Enjoy your weekend.

Peggy

Comments

Very Nice Job!

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Peggy, the renovations are beautiful!

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Nicely done, Peggy!

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Thanks Sandra, Nelda, Carol!

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Peggy: You did a great job. I agree that it is beautiful.

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Peggy, I love that little eating spot. The wood looks better than the old paneling. Those extra few feet in the kitchen will also make a lot of difference.

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What we've found happening,  Roger leaves his lap top there and watches You Tube, even though there's a huge screen available in the nearby living area..... I go through the mail while Roger's cook. (Mainly to monitor the amount of onions. )  I.E.  What I thought was just a  "hide the kitchen clutter" project has added entirely new functions.

   

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Monitoring Roger’s cooking. You sound just like my wife! 

Answer 7

Still cleaning up yards after Sally blew through.  The house look like old forts with all the trees cut and piled in front of every one. We have damage, but house is livable, was mainly the garage area.  Some lost their whole house to wind and flood. 

Poor lake Charles area of LA, hit twice in a matter of six weeks.  pray for them all.

Husband is doing better, had a staph infection on the knee and had to have it opened and infection removed. Still on intraveinous antibodies for anoter 10 days, but he is now able to get up move around and drive short distances.  Poor man was going stir crazy!

Ya'll have a great week end and if ya need pinecones for Christmas decorations, just ask us down here on AL coast, We have tons to send

Comments

Sandra, hope your repairs go well. My sister (in P'cola) says it has been very difficult to find anyone to do her roof repair any time soon because so many people are needing repairs done.

Hope your husband's knee continues to heal and he will be fully restored to good health and mobility soon.

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TY! There is also a shortage of roofing and building supplies, because of Fires out west, and three hurricans in six weeks time.  May be awhile before we can get repairs done.

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 Been one of those years where it seems it all hits the fan 

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Glad you survived another hit, Sandra. Keep us posted on your husband's recovery.

Answer 8

Weather-wise ... it froze last night, about 30 degrees.  We didn't do anything to protect the plants but most seemed to survive for now.  Did disconnect the hoses and such.  Still need some moisture around here ... lots of the Western US experiencing drought.

A front came through a few days ago with high winds 70-80 mph or so.  Not good for the wild fire here.  You may have seen pictures on the news ... wow ... right over our house was the breaking point between smoke and sky ... pretty neat looking ... smoke to the North and blue sky to the South.  We have several friends that are in evacuation zones ... hotels are filling up.

Got back to my Jewett book ... I'm working on this extended family from Westport, Maine.  Seems like a pretty neat place.  Lots of the guys were sailors.  One was in charge of the brick laying at Fort Popham at
the mouth of the Kennebec River.  Looked at it on Wikipedia ... pretty cool.

Voted on Tuesday ... Colorado has had 'mail in' ballots since 2014.  Every registered voter gets a ballot in the mail, then you can fill it out and mail it in or take it to a drop box or, if you want, you can still just go vote in person on election day.  Got an email yesterday saying that my ballot was accepted.

Comments

You must be on the north edge of the plume? We are under the south edge. Went to Park Meadows today for fresh air and the north and east of Denver looked like a solid wall of brown. We're starting to see smoke from East Troublesome fire as well.

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We're pretty lucky here as the wind blows the smoke down the canyons North to South and then it comes out over Boulder and Denver.  We've only had real smoke in the area here (Loveland) a couple of days.

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What elevation are you, Bob?  Frost already.

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Hi Cindy ... we're at like 4900 feet or so.

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Bob, my wife and I will be voting in person on election day. The only mail-in ballots we have here are absentee, but there is early voting as an option.

Answer 9

Virtual Vacation!  

As part of my ongoing frustration with not being able to travel, especially as I am now supposed to be visiting the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. 

I looked at photographs from my last trip to England in 2017. We went for a family wedding and spent 3 weeks travelling along the south coast. I was able to re-visit some places where I spent holidays as a child. 

I picked photos that include dates. Graffiti in Canterbury Cathedral complete with the names and dates scratched into the walls. 

A sign on the front of the George Inn, Alfriston, East Sussex, the innkeepers licence was first transferred in 1397.  

Another sign on the front of the Ship Inn, established in 1592, in Rye, East Sussex. This sign seems to be a list of ships involved in some way with altercations with the American colonies, and the fledgling United States dates from 1734 to 1819. 

Comments

What an incredible vacation!  Thanks for sharing the photos.

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Thank you, these pictures are 4 out of 1002 taken on that trip. I am somewhat obsessive about recording my travels with photos.

I found the Canterbury graffiti fascinating. I didn't know at the time that there is a graffiti project at Canterbury. Volunteers are trying to identify the authors of the graffiti, apparently most were done by students at the Canterbury King's school, which was officially founded or re-founded in 1541 after Henry 8th dissolved the monasteries.

The earliest they have identified is from 1639.

The thought of tracking down who was at the school and when and what their initials were makes my family history research seem insignificant

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Canterbury Cathedral certainly deserves your photo record!  I hadn't heard to the graffiti before either.

My mother has her Masters in British Literature and she taught high school literature and English until she was 70 years old. I really hope to travel once more to England with her.   She hasn't been to Canterbury yet.  I bought her an entire set of Dickens' Works 8 years ago and she's read each book twice since then!

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Canterbury is just wonderful, if you do go, of course that depends on 'other issues' the Canterbury River boat tour is well worth it, small boats rowed by the tour guides, we were the only people-so just 2- then I think they took up to 6 people, that has probably changed.

https://www.canterburyrivertours.co.uk/

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Great photos, M. I've been a fan of historical graffati since I discovered it old homes that renovators had a mind to preserve behind glass.

Answer 10

Thanks for hosting, Pip.  A couple weeks ago I decided to put researching my Mars ancestors on my to-do list, as I remembered that there were members of the extended family that still needed profiles and further research.  Coincidentally, the Mars theme for this week was announced a day or two later.  Having looked into the surname previously, I actually offered a Mars surname suggestion for this week.  With the theme eventually narrowed to Mars in science fiction, my pick was no longer suitable to be featured, but there's always a chance it could be featured at a later date.

The research on my Mars ancestry had me checking other online trees for extended family hints, followed by corroboration on the online departmental archives.  While doing this, I happened to find a distant cousin connection to another member of France project.  It was great to find another cousin across the Atlantic, and was also satisfying as it shortened his connection paths to other parts of the global tree.

Comments

What do they say, Greg? Great minds think alike. Congrats, too, on the cousin connection.

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Looking at the trees, it became clear that there were a number of connections between the Mars, de Fay, Lehoux, and Riverin families.  As I browsed among them, I noticed that I had only worked on the two children of my 9th great grandfather, Elie Lehoux, who had ended up in New France.  It turns out that he had a son, François, who stayed behind in France and continues to have descendants there to present.  

Elie's son-in-law, Simon Mars, is the earliest generation of Mars ancestors that I've added to WikiTree.  I've since posted a G2G question relating to Simon and have some interesting leads regarding his ancestors.

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So, that means you have thousands in a collateral line (Francois’ descendants) to enter on WikiTree. 

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It sounds like I'll be occupied during the next few Connect-a-Thons with all those newly identified collaterals.  Either that, or I can delegate the work to my newly found cousin here on WikiTree.

Answer 11

On this day:

1846: For the first time anesthetics are used

1854: The poet Oscar Wilde is born

1995: The Skye Bridge that connects the Isle of Skye with mainland Scotland is opened

Comments

I hate to even think of what it was like before anesthetics!

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The Skye Bridge was a great read. Not as many links I wanted to follow so a quicker read. 

Answer 12

Hi from southern Ontario;

Cold this morning it was 3 degrees C when I got up, now at noon, we have bright blue skies and still only 6 C, I will need some warm clothes when I go out to work on the garden. 

Family history and WikiTree progress, I'm scanning old photos and have added some to the relevant people, many more to go. 

After I adopted 192 profiles unsourced except for a Gedcom 2 weeks ago, my suggestion list has exploded, even more so because I added profile completeness. I have been working on them one at a time, a good thing is that when I am adding sources and biographies, I am also adding all the other missing info. like birth, marriage and death dates and places, and parents' confidence levels. That should take care of most of the other suggestions. I'm waiting for the report to be updated next week to see how many have gone away, changing the status for each individual suggestion is very time consuming. 

We had kids and grandkids here for Thanksgiving last weekend, thankfully the weather forecast was completely wrong and we could spend time outside. My younger grandkids are quite fascinated with Covid press reports, I think primarily because their dad is a communications specialist for Health Canada and is in daily contact with our national Chief Public Health Officer; not because they are old enough to understand all the issues. 

A fourth cousin of my husband's has graciously given me permission to upload a rather special family picture of several generations born in the early to mid 1800's. 

I'm thinking of taking my last course for a Sustainable Urban Agriculture certificate starting in January, of course I still have about 2000 profiles to add and the large suggestion list, and I was thinking of doing the Orphans Trail, and scanning 3 large boxes of photos, plus many other tasks, seems to me something will have to go!

Comments

M, our Thanksgiving will be a sparse one. We'll have to wait until Christmas to see our kids again. Well, we'll see at least one of them. The paramedic and her fireman husband don't have enough years in to get the time off, so it'll be the younger and her husband, the ones that just left here this afternoon.

Answer 13

First chat post for me in a while!

The weather is absolutely miserable today (58°F / 14°C and raining) so I am happy to be indoors sitting at the PC. I am happy to finally be getting the cooler weather, but I have too many projects to work on to be dealing with the rain!

On the home front:

COVID has tried to destroy any chances for a 'normal' senior year for my daughter, but we are working to make it the most memorable year for her despite all of the challenges we are facing. Between her schooling (she is the only student in one of her classes since most kids have opted for online learning) and football games being restricted (she is a leader in the Marching Band but they have to take shifts at games to maintain social distancing), it has been an trying year for her so far. The positive is that is she has finally committed to a career path and is working on her EMT certification now, so she can start working as soon as she graduates while pursuing a Masters of Science in Emergency Medical Services.

We are finally getting settled into our new home (reason for my recent absence), so that is definitely a plus. Between the many outdoor projects (taking down trees, fences, electrical, etc.), moving (how much stuff can one family really have anyways??), and then rebuilding after the house construction (fences, electrical, and new plumbing lines from the well) and moving all our 'junk' back in - I realized I am way too old for this - and I am not even out of my 30's yet! 

Unfortunately, my next biggest obstacle will be surgery. I have been suffering with bilateral carpal tunnel for years now and since it is pretty advanced it is making sleeping near impossible. I finally bit the bullet yesterday and have surgery scheduled for my dominant hand a few days before Thanksgiving (so I can take a little extra time off to recuperate during the holiday). After my updated EMG, they decided to perform a trigger thumb release, carpal release, and cubital release all at the same time. Should be fun...

Comments

Your projects seem very ambitious!    

Good luck with your surgery.   With your daughter's career choice,  she'll probably make sure you follow the doctor's instructions for rehab.

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Thanks a lot for including the Celsius value in your post, makes it a lot more readable to the average Black Forest guy;)

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What a flurry of activity!  I'm tired just thinking about all that.  I really sympathize with your daughter.  Mine was in the Visual Unit of the marching band (flags basically) and it was such a positive part of school for her.  The EMT sounds very interesting, I did not know about the Masters program in that subject.  Good luck with the surgery - I can picture you during recovering, pecking out WikiTree info with the index finger of your other hand.

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Steve, I know you are as proud of your daughter as we have been of our EMT children. What an honored field to enter.

I feel for you, all that packing and unpacking. We've been here five years since retirement, and we still have too much junk we felt we couldn't part with. Rethinking that, now!

Answer 14

This week has been pretty busy. I've been working at the store more than usual. I found out I won a gift card from work during National Food Safety Month.

On the genealogy front I haven't done very much with my own genealogy. It's mainly just been my Greeter duties.

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A gift card! How cool is that?! Hope it is for something that really appeals to you.

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It's for the store I work for, so it'll definetly help with groceries.

Answer 15

目前，溫度為12˚C，伊利堡大部分時間是晴天，已經比今天的預計高溫高出一個度。今晚的預測最低氣溫為6°C，明天預計為多雲，可能有陣雨和最高氣溫為13°C。

生活的光明和我的眼睛的愉悅，我周一在康沃爾郡的母雞那裡做感恩節大餐，還有花園裡的土豆泥。 （我們必須在感恩節晚宴上找到某種基於番茄的菜餚。特別是如果明年我們獲得的西紅柿豐收與今年一樣多的話。）

我思考了一段時間但從未實際測量過的事情之一是，與其他國家相比，某些國家在WikiTree上的代表性不足。因此，本週，我終於了解了這些數字，並了解到，來自中國（人口最多的國家）的WikiTree配置文件比來自懷俄明州（美國的人口最多的州）的配置少了十分之一。最低人口）。 （我將數字張貼在“ WikiTree儀表板”線程中。）

所以，我決定對此做些事情。本週，我在中國和尼日利亞分別創建了一個個人檔案。 （我看過印度的幾位前任總統，但印度的命名約定只是不適合英語的名字和姓氏範例，因此可能需要等待。）但我必須繼續嘗試在一個域名中創建至少一個配置文件。每周代表人數不足的國家/地區（最好是我每天都在WikiTree上）。保持平衡的唯一方法是鼓勵代表性不足國家的人們加入WikiTree並開始為其本國家庭添加個人資料，但是首先，我們需要建立這些國家的知名人士的個人資料，以說服那裡的人們也關心那些國家。

Comments

Translated:
 

At present, the temperature is 12˚C, and Fort Erie is sunny for most of the time, which is one degree higher than today's estimated high temperature. Tonight’s predicted minimum temperature is 6°C, and tomorrow is expected to be cloudy with possible showers and maximum temperature of 13°C.

The light of life and the joy of my eyes, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the hen in Cornwall on Monday, and mashed potatoes in the garden. (We have to find some kind of tomato-based dish at the Thanksgiving dinner. Especially if next year we get as many tomato harvests as this year.)

One of the things I thought about for a while but never actually measured is that certain countries are underrepresented on WikiTree compared to other countries. So this week, I finally got to know these numbers and learned that the WikiTree profile from China (the most populous country) is one tenth less than the profile from Wyoming (the most populous state in the United States). Minimum population). (I posted the numbers in the "WikiTree Dashboard" thread.)

So, I decided to do something about it. This week, I created a personal profile in China and Nigeria. (I have seen several former presidents of India, but the Indian naming convention is just an example of first and last names that are not suitable for English, so it may have to wait.) But I must continue to try to create at least one profile in a domain name. Companies that are underrepresented each week (preferably I visit on WikiTree every day). The only way to maintain a balance is to encourage people from underrepresented countries to join WikiTree and start adding personal profiles to their families, but first, we need to establish profiles of celebrities in these countries to persuade people there to also care about those countries.

Gotta love Google Translate.

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Apparently, Google Translate is a lot shakier going from English to Chinese than it is going from English to Dutch. Here's what I actually entered:

Currently, it's 12˚ C and mostly sunny in Fort Erie, which is already a degree higher than the predicted high for today. Tonight's predicted low is 6˚ C, and tomorrow is predicted to be cloudy with a chance of showers and a high of 13˚ C.

The light of my life and the delight of my eyes and I had Cornish game hen for Thanksgiving dinner on Monday, along with mashed potatoes from the garden. (We must find some kind of tomato-based dish to have at Thanksgiving dinner. Especially if we get as much of a bumper crop of tomatoes next year as we did this year.)

One of the things that I have thought about for some time, but never actually measured before, is how some countries are way under-represented on WikiTree compared to others. So this week, I finally crunched the numbers, and learned that there are less than one-tenth as many profiles on WikiTree from China (which is the country with the largest population) than there are from Wyoming (which is the US state with the lowest population). (I posted the numbers in the "WikiTree Dashboard" thread.)

So, I've decided to do something about that. This week, I created one profile each in China and in Nigeria. (I looked at several former presidents of India, but Indian naming conventions just don't fit into the English first name and last name paradigm, so those may have to wait.) But I must keep trying to create at least one profile in an under-represented company per week (preferably every day I'm on WikiTree). The only way to balance things out is to encourage people from under-represented countries to join WikiTree and start adding profiles for their own families, but first, we need to build out enough profiles of notables from those countries to convince people from there that WikiTree cares about those countries, too.

Oh! I did accidentally put "company" instead of "country". Here I thought Google Translate was on drugs. Turns out it was me! 

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Greg, Google Translate IS far better with translations into languages of the European Union, because it learns a lot from language corpuses it gets of the official texts of the EU. Remember, every single law text from them has to be translated into every single official language of the EU. When I started studying, the deacon of the faculty said: "If you know Maltese, you don't have to stay here, you can go directly to Brussels, they look desperately for translators and interpreters."

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Yeah. It does better with English to Italian and Italian to English.

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Dang, Chris, I was waiting for Pip to  respond to the original post!! lol

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I live to undermine Pip. =)

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Actually, I was kind of expecting Pip to be the first person to comment. (And for him to comment in Chinese.)

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 The triple? translation ... well from english to chinese who knows how that went but the chinese to english has some interesting bits in it ... The light of life and the joy of my eyes, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the hen in Cornwall on Monday, and mashed potatoes in the garden. 

One has the most amazing? interesting? visual images from that ... 

Thank you for the laugh of my day 

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And for a smile about the sweet description of your spouse.

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抱歉，這個週末我有來訪者，所以格雷格，我的回复很晚。 但是，我喜歡您關於使WikiTree更加國際化的想法。 對你有好處！

Late, but not too late. 

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我知道我可以指望你，点子！

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 Nothing like knowing nothing can ever be known, not fully; but it takes time for oneself to know nothing is really known by oneself. Know thyself might be easier known if only ... and so we circle round again knowning we know not the unknown. 

Answer 16

Hope everyone is doing well. This week seems to have disappeared quickly. The cold front just reached us quickly turning from sunny and pleasant to cold and rainy. Fall has arrived.

It sounds as if the second wave of COVID-19 has started to hit worldwide. Stay safe everyone. Our veterinary office sent an email to clients about their problem. We are especially concerned for our neighbor who works there; last night he said he had tested negative but that 7 of his coworkers were positive.

Genealogy wise there seem to be lots of diversion and rabbit holes. Have you seen the mapping feature? https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1122806/wikitree-maps I took a quick look and some of my ancestors are showing up in strange places like Virginia, odd since most are PGM. It will take some time down the rabbit hole to see if it is a problem with name placement or (more likely) some profile mixed with people in New England and those in Virginia.

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Great warning about Covid.    I felt a bit reckless about traveling to a family wedding in August and a funeral last week.... even though the events were outdoors and  designed with recommended Covid restrictions.   We're  "huggers" in my family, so restraining from hugs was very difficult!  

However,   we have already cancelled Thanksgiving gatherings.

While I'll be first in line for a vaccine,   it might still need to be a winter of self imposed restrictions for those of us over 60 years old. Perhaps I'll accomplish more of my WikiTree goals!

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Kay, fall is definitely here. This was the weekend for all those tourists who visit us due to the leaf change. Very crowded here.

Answer 17

Hello all from Germany,

where we try even more to not meet many people outside of our bubble, because Germany started to have an exponential rise of Covid-infections. Now there are some restrictions valid that will hopefully flatten the curve drastically.

Genealogy-wise I saw on twitter a FamilySearch blogpost where they explain how to be able to view even more unindexed microfilms. So I entered my Eckstädt-town as I know there are films. And what happened? On one of the rolls I found my 2xgreatgrandfather in a vaccination list of 1859, just after his birth. Yay! I already had him documented, especially by the vital records my grandfather had collected. But this vaccination list is a not so usual document to find.

On the personal front, everything is going its normal way.

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I hope our neighbours don't get the rise in infections we are experiencing at the moment.

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Currently we have the highest new infection numbers ever, even worse than in spring. The regions decided new measures, but we have to wait some more days to see if the numbers decrease again.

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I keep reading about this, but so far didn't have the time to dip into this blog post. Looks like I really have to!

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What a cool list of vaccination records and to find your ancestor there.  I hope you can stay safe from Covid until you can get your own vaccination (if you want one).  I was pleased to get my flu shot today, at least.

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Jelena, it's those little tidbits found that make our ancestors come to life. I'm glad to see you find one for your 2xg-grandfather.

Answer 18

Happy weekend, everyone!  (Where did the week go?)  Busy with teaching, as usual; I'm looking forward to a fun weekend of course prep and midterm grading.  Hoping to squeeze some genealogy in somewhere, but I'm not even sure what I want to work on next.  Hmm.  I just watched Blaine Bettinger's webinar on deductive chromosome mapping, so maybe it's time to play with that a little.

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I gotta watch the rest of that. But, first I need to message ya on FB. It's less genealogy and more geeky. =)

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It's certainly hard to always keep genealogy on the front burner.   So much to do,  so little time.

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Lisa, my week went like gangbusters, too. Lots to do outside, and then the weekend filled with the kids visiting. We did get a new kitchen sink faucet because my son-in-law is such a handyman.

Answer 19

The weather held most of the week but has turned cool but no sign of precipitation. The extreme draught hasn't helped our fires. Not as big as the California ones but the local one is now the biggest in Colorado history. The smoke plume is pretty thick. This is just north of us and we have friends that are close to being evacuated. Then there is a new fire west of us adding to the smoke. They expect high winds again tonight which is definitely not needed.

The garden is almost done. Need to harvest a few remaining things (carrots, potatoes, leeks) and then finish cleaning things up and plant the garlic.

Genealogically, I'm doing some work on one of my first cousin's mother's lines. It's a nice break from some of the other areas I've been working on. Early New England.

Comments

Yummy.  Haven't had leek and potato soup in a long time.

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We've had smoke from three fires today.The newest one just started near Boulder today.

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I love potatoes grown in the garden!  I'm kind of jealous of you right now except not about the fires and smoke.  I hope no impact on you.

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No impact from the fires yet but friends have been evacuated. The evacuation area comes within two miles of us right now. Hopefully that is as close as it gets. We can see the flames from here though and that is scary.

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Doug, fall came like lightning, warm nights and then all of a sudden, temps in the low 30s. Funny, our irises are still blooming despite the frost.

I saw that there is a continued prediction for drought in your area and much of the west.  We've never planted garlic. It's a fall planting?

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Drought expected for the foreseeable future. The predicted El Niña will keep it dry. The usual Southwest monsoons never materialized this year. Another fire started near Boulder today and another set of friends are on alert for evacuation. We've had dangerous air quality for a few days. While things aren't as bad as California, we've had 11 weeks of smoke so far. Temps stayed in the 30s today but back to the 70s tomorrow.

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Didn't comment about garlic. Fall planting is usually best but can be planted in the Spring.

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I’m kinda surprised at a fire near Boulder. 30 years ago, all I can remember is bare mountains. I must have been on the wrong side of Boulder.

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The front (East) side is pretty bare but once past those, it is forest.

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Went to Google Maps and saw the forests I missed before. Boy oh boy, Boulder sure has expanded since I was last there!

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It certainly has. The ae a lot of people in the forested area until you get to the National Forest (Roosevelt). Along with draught, there are a lot of dead trees from pine beetle kill. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov is a good place to see locations and sizes of fires.

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Good site. Thanks for that. I can see that fire near Boulder creeping down the mountainside.

Answer 20

Millions of years ago the earth went through a warming climate change with increased amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere where alligators basked in the polar regions.  Of course, people weren;t around then.

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...and now alligators are designated as "threatened" (and were once on the "endangered" list.) Hmmmm....

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Ah, well, david, we CAN'T give it back to them  anything that regards me as a munchie be it animal or human bug or monster is not welcome 

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When I traveled to Nova Scotia,   it was odd to see a huge boulder sitting in large flats fields,  pushed there during ancient ice ages.   It really emphasized the dramatic climate changes of the past.

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I really felt that sense of change while visiting the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.  Those huge petrified wood logs were once part of the lush tropical forest, now desert.

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The way things are going, David, people might not be around much longer either.