"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! April 29th - May 1st, 2022 [closed]

+30 votes
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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.

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Enjoy yourselves and spread the love!

WikiTree profile: Pip Sheppard
closed with the note: Until next weekend, flourish in all you do!
in The Tree House by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Pip Sheppard

Welcome back to the Weekend Chat, my fellow WikiChatterboxes! And greetings from Cathey’s Creek where we had one light rain one day and the rest have been cool but not cold.

On the Home Front: Aside even from the Connect-a-thon, it has been a busy two weeks. On the main, I’m on call for all the church renovation stuff. Lots of time online, lots of time answering emails from the construction manager and subcontractors, etc. And for the last two weeks, one thing is dependent on another and has to be done in order, hence several trips to the site.

I’m still on Doug Moo’s tome on the Epistle to the Romans. One hundred fifty or so pages in and I’m still in the first chapter of that letter. I saw an online deal for a pack of books by one of my favorite theologians, the late F. F. Bruce. Seven books, none of which I had, so now I have about 12 of his. I’m hoping for a summer of reading, but we’ll see. I think I just love having books.

On the Genealogy Front: Had a step-cousin contact me a couple of weeks about asking about her mom, my aunt my marriage. I thought Biddix was an unusual name until I started climbing the mountains in Mitchell and McDowell counties here in North Carolina. This family was HUGE!! I never knew there could be so many Biddixes in the world. I created some 675 profiles in this family for the Connect-a-thon.

Turns out that Aunt Opal was descended from this family three different ways. Two of them were one set of grandparents, both Biddixes. I tracked down two the three lines to one couple Francis and Mary McKinney Biddix. As I worked down the collateral lines (and I am not finished yet), I found repeated marriages between Biddixes and McKinneys.

This is how DNA gets so screwed up in the mountains of North Carolina. Remember my complaints about all those Galloway, Owen, and McCall families intermarrying here in Transylvania County? Same with the Biddixes, Lowerys, McKinneys, Grindstaffs, etc. in the family I was working on.

In any case, Francis Biddix was a soldier serving in Company A of the 58th North Carolina Infantry, the one that got mauled at Chickamauga on 20 September 1863. Well, Francis got mauled, too: a compound fracture of the right arm and a wound to the hand on the same side. That got him out of the war.

Francis’ wife, Mary McKinney had a father who married four times and reputedly had some 40+ children, 33 of which are listed on his profile, 11 on Family Search. This is on her father’s FindAGrave memorial: Charles Mckinney… was a farmer; live in Blew Ridge; had 4 womin married 1; lived in McKinney Gap; all went to fields to make grane, all went to crib for corn; all went smke house of mete; he cided 75or 80 hogs a year; and womin never had no words having so many womin. If it ware these time, that wuld be hare pulled; Thare war 42 children belongin to him; They all went to prechin together, nothing said; he made brandy all his lif; never had no fores; got along fin with everybodi nod him.

If you need help with the translation, just ask.

One of the links back to Francis ran through one Polly Dim Biddix. Talk about research frustration. Turns out that her name was Mary Lowdim Biddix who married a Will Biddix. I finally, FINALLY got Mary’s line straightened out, but Will is an enigma. The only record I have of him is on one of his four children’s death certificates (he was not listed on the other three’s).

Here’s hoping all of you are well and safe.

Enjoy the Chat!

Pip, as always it was an honor and a privilege to serve with you in the Connect a Thon. You are pretty much the Mickie to my Rocky. The Miyagi to my Daniel Larusso. Great job streaming with ya and look! You're twitter famous now! Don't let it go to your head! https://twitter.com/Cferra1227/status/1517970288734097410

More on that below. =)

So, Transylvania is giving ya trouble, huh. You know I got a friend who lives in a castle who might help with that. He's kinda tall. Only comes out at night. But, man is he a snappy dresser.....

Great working with ya! Have a great chat!
And with you too, Chris. It was a blast! Enjoyed every minutes of those live chats, even the ones I didn't help to co-host.

I just want that dude's cape. Cooler than Batman's.
Hello Pip! Thanks much for wrangling the chat! So...Charles Mckinney made 'brandy all his lif' and had 4 womin.' Are you and Charles related? That's quite a history!

My contributions to the Connect-A-Thon were 'on and off' given that I had family visiting from Wisconsin this past weekend. Whenever we weren't touring, I was working on the Thon with the Mighty Oaks branches. I missed the final tally on Monday because my family did not leave until Tuesday afternoon. I thought of you, Mike and our WT compadres when we went to San Xavier on Saturday. I wish you could see the mission now! The church is open and scaffolding is gone! Totally gorgeous and very spiritual. the church is 225-years-old (older than me even). Hugs!
Carol, Charles and I are connected but not DNA related. I don't think I have the stamina to tackle his profile. How would any one really know which child belonged to which "wife?" Ugh.
I think there was a story where Bats fought Dracula once. I know there was a version of him in Marvel Comics: https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Vlad_Dracula_(Earth-616)
Hi Pip...I just merged a Baldwin profile that has similar issues, although not to the extend of Charles. My merge had two, possibly three wives, but at least I could find sources for two of the wives and several of their respective children!
Pip, your McKinney story is making my head spin, Charles must have been a very busy person, or maybe only busy with making babies, the 4 women were probably much busier.

Pip
What an amazing family was the McKinneys!  I just need one translation:  "fores".  Could that be "forays", as in fights or quarrels?

How do you ever connect so many new profiles to the tree?  I thought I was doing great with my total of 152 for the Thon.

As always, thanks for hosting the Chat.  Weekends just aren't weekends without you at the helm.

Candyce, there were plenty of sources for the family I was working on. Usually, I add all the sources I can find, but for the thon, I only added those (that I could find) that proved birth, marriage, death, and burial. Most folks got all four.

You were right! Fores is forays, like feuds and such.

Or looking for more women?
Hey Cousin Pip, thanks again for hosting! Had a blast last weekend with the Connect-a-Thon. Charles sounds like quite the character...maybe his various "spouses" were happy to share him...get him out of their hair for a while so they could manage the existing kids?

And I thought *I* found some colorful characters last weekend: - a young woman who had a son out of wedlock; her father claimed him as his wife's son on the wrong side of the blanket (even though the wife was too old and already had 15 kids). The father wanted him so as to qualify for additional land in the Georgia lottery. The daughter married, had 8 or so kids, then divorced the husband. I'm sure there's way more to this story...(p.s. the natural son died of illness while fighting in Mexico)...

- a prosperous merchant found fatally shot on the steps of a house inhabited by a woman not his wife. Of course, being Black, she was arrested, even though it might've been self-defense. (I couldn't find the conclusion, but suspect good ol' Jim Crow may have reared his ugly head.)

- then there was the total mess I made of some collateral cousins, two of whom may have been named Abijah, or William or Willis (or not), and I can't tell which one the daughter belonged to. Had to leave the mess to be untangled at a later date. Yikes...

More later, if I'm still awake. Been a crazy week!
D, I've done that before, messed up a family and gave up, if only temporarily. Sometimes, I wish all my families were easy ones!

You found some totally interesting things about those families you worked on!

47 Answers

+22 votes

On this day:

1892: The Serbian Literally Guild is founded.

1922: The Belgian jazz musician Toots Thielemans is born

1972: In the city of Münster, the first German demonstration of homosexual people is held

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
The OTD for tomorrow will come in the afternoon my time. I'm on my tour back home.
Hi Jelena, I'll go with the LGBTQ demonstration in Germany. The URL that you added shows the Stonewall riots in 1969 at Greenwich Village in New York City. We had a drink when we were there this past March with some Green Bay Packer pals. The bar is right next door to the Kettle of Fish, the best Packer bar in New York. Lots of history with both bars!
For me it shows "LGBT history". The German entry for it also talks about the demonstration in Münster. The English doesn't talk specifically about Münster, but it gives a good overview about LGBT life in Germany.
Jelena, I was fascinated by the number of others who had their works translated into Serbian. A good read, following those links! Thanks, Professor.
+19 votes

Thanx for hosting, Pip, always a pleasure to be here with you

Yes, 32 kiddies listed on the profile to Charlie McKinney by whatever surname spelling ... getting that sourced and neat and tidy looks daunting ... 

We just now got our Friday AM delivery of meals, 4 boxes, meaning Sig O will have to pump up his mojo to get the 20 TV dinners into the freezer ... our delivery person will be on personal business next Friday, which is why we got the double load delivery today ... has a wife and 2 or 3 kids and is much involved in parenting (fortunately for the kids) 

Sig O announces that while two of the boxes, holding 5 meals each, were all omelets, the OTHER two boxes held 7 meals each and had regular entrees ... so he had to stuff into the freezer 24 meal trays ... man's got a lot of mojo going for him 

Today Sig O heated up a "seafood gumbo with rice" (also has okra I noted, when we had it last week) and a side of corn (off the cob, hehe) ... recipe is using sticky rice 

Sig O is now disconcerted, since TWO of the boxes (5 meals in each) are ALL omelets. Varied recipe, somewhat, but nevertheless, all of them are omelets ... true, some people don't object to eating an omelet every day, five days in a row ... what is passed off as an omelet does make a decent sandwich with that whole grain bread -- a dab of mayo and slap the "omelet" between two slices and ... 

Hunger is the best sauce, and no doubt this is a truth -- but necessity tops hunger every time and it is necessary to consume food and so it overcomes any reluctance on my part given what the company "cooks" are capable of (or incapable of, hehe) 

Weather is mild, 14+ mph breeze, some bits of clouds but mostly so far a lot of sky, some of it is even blueeeee ... destined we are told (lol) to a high 70's air temp much later today 

At the moment I've racked up 1,670+ contributions and FEEL very very tired of paperchaining (and sourcing) the descendants of Elizabeth (Huffman) Padon - WikiTree Profile (there's 68 so far, and scads yet to go) ... what weirds me out is that all 68 are under my management ... eek but we (royal we, hehe) are still within the realm of 1st through 5th cousin so I will continue to plod along I guess 

DID find a few "oh, dear" ones ... there's one where the prior PM set up an in-law, Henry Jacob Miller-69231 and his two wives, Rachel Davidson and Christiana Landers ... a son of Henry, Joseph L. Miller, married a cousin of mine as his 1st wife, Mary Jane Nowlin-860.  So far, so good, I thought, so I attached Mary Jane to Joseph L.  Joseph was born to Rachel while Henry was married to Christiana. More research on this did not clarify WAS daddy Henry was horsing around with his 1st wife while married to the 2nd wife ... or was daddy Henry a conflation of TWO Henry Miller, one of whom married in 1828 Ms. Rachel and was not living with her in 1850; and the 2nd Henry the one who married Christiana in 1844. 

This is the situation left intact by this PM ... she created Joseph, the son, and Henry the father and the two women Rachel and Christiana and made the connections ... fortunately, the whole package is nought but in-laws and not on my watchlist

Birds out front are chirping madly which makes me wonder about nests and eggs and fledglings but what little I know about the avian population is limited ... IF it chirps and hops (not walks) and flies away on wings, it's a bird, a bird, a bird. If it holds still long enough and I can discern the colors, I do recognized blue jay, red robin, brown sparrow, black crow or maybe a raven, ...  and if it's yellow or rainbow colored, someone's lost their canary or budgie ... and then there's the dove gray, and the seagull scuz ... 

We attempted to remove the kittens from my closet to the garage last week and the mama cat brought one back into my room (from the garage) and was heading out to bring the other two back in ... we gave up and relocated the other two and mama cat was nervy for the rest of the day ... 

Cinco de Mayo is the Red Letter Date, due to have a cage delivered so we can pack mama cat off to be sterilized ... she'll be returned 24 hrs later ... kittens have to be at least 2 pounds in wt before we can send them off to be sterilized ... we have a "talking wt scale" so it will be utilized to find out the wt of the kits ... me weighed without a kit, me with a kit ... 

I really didn't want a household with 7 cats ... three cats was more than enough, but Sig O decided to adopt this sweet lil cat and ... we know how all that worked out ... 

Well, got to eat me seafood gumbo ... 

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (650k points)
edited by Susan Smith

I love your blow-by-blow of the meal delivery adventures, Susan. You have a way with words. (Ever think of writing a book... as if you need another thing in your life!)?

+24 votes
Hi all,

It's been a heartbreaking week here. A 10 year old girl went missing while riding her bike home Sunday night in the town 30 minutes from here. Sadly, she was found deceased the next morning in a wooded area just off the bike path. They found the person who did it (a 14 year old boy) a day or so ago. People have really come together to support the family. A "Paint the Town Purple" movement has been going around the area. Communities are wearing purple and putting up purple ribbons in her memory. Donations have been being collected to help her family.

Genealogy wise: I've started a "Fregin" Name study and will be starting work on that soon.
by Chandra Garrow G2G6 Mach 6 (69.3k points)
How horrible for the family and the community
Chandra, This must be so difficult for you, the incident made our local news, I cannot imagine the emotional stress that the child's family must be feeling.
This horrid murder made the news here as well.  I feel so sorry for both of those families.
It is so sad.  I hope the boy can get enough psychological
help that will allow him to be a productive adult.
Oh, no!! I read about this in the news. What a heartbreak for you community, Chandra!
+22 votes
Good evening from the southwestern point of Germany. This is literally meant, 150 meters from here to the west I am in France, and the next tram station to the south is in Switzerland.

Yeah, I am still in the hotel, the last night here before travelling home tomorrow. We went to the exhibition of Georgia O'Keeffe in Basel, it was a nice retrospective of her work. We then did the first part of sightseeing in Basel, went to the Münster, crossed the river Rhine by ferry and had a nice dinner on the river shore. The next day we also went to Basel, simply to walk a bit through the city and sense the athmosphere. We saw the oldest city gate that is still standing. Today then we went to the German Design museum and saw there an exhibition about plastic. Did you know that in every second there are sold 1 million of plastic bottles? I was shocked when I saw that number in the exhibition.

Genealogy-wise: Hessen got about 190 new profiles onto the Tree from me. The last two or three hours the Germany Genies were adding profiles as if we were crazy. And in the end we won the normalized table. I couldn't be prouder of us.

Stay safe and enjoy your weekend!
by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Hi Jelena, we were in Basel in 2015 and it was a wonderful trip. We drove from Aachen south to Iguisheim on the French/Germany border to visit with an exchange student my sister hosted, then down to Basel. I hope you are having a pleasant time!
We had a nice time there. It's clearly visible that the city wasn't bombed during the wars. I loved the *huge* pedestrian zone where all those tramways have to wait when a pedestrian walks before them.
Oh, Jelena, I am so envious of your. Your trip sounds just wonderful, all the things you got to see.
+25 votes
Hi everyone! I just joined WikiTree and have fallen faaaaar down the rabbit hole! I've added quite a few members (trying to clean up as I go but I'll have to go back and do quite a bit). I was surprised that none of my family up through my great grandparents seemed to be here, so I was able to add a decent sized branch!

I've found a few new cousins I hope to reach out to soon. My biggest surprise so far? My 8th cousin is Meghan Markle!

As to the weather... well, it's the Midwest, which means it might change by the time I finish typing this, LOL. Typical spring. But things are starting to bloom.

Not too much in the way of weekend plans. I'll probably be here a lot, but I also need to get some things into my raised garden bed!

Happy weekend!
by Crystal White G2G6 Mach 1 (10.2k points)
Crystal; What are you going to grow in your raised bed?I

It will be 2-3 weeks before I can plant tomatoes, cucumbers and squash in my raised bed.
I'm doing a few herbs in containers... lemon balm and rosemary for sure, maybe basil. Some lettuce seeds I'm going to put out... probably could've done those already or started them indoors, so we'll see. I'm also going to do a couple of tomato plants... I'm trying roma style tomatoes and hoping to make and freeze some sauces.

It's ambitious compared to what I usually accomplish! I don't really have a green thumb but I'm determined to improve!
Crystal, If you would like any advice or...I am a Master Gardener and ran a garden coaching, teaching business for many years, feel free to contact me through private message.
Oh thank you! That's a very kind offer... I need all the help I can get! ;)

Crystal, you'll find out soon enough just now many of those rabbit holes exist, always lurking around the in-laws' families and such. I try not to fall in, but sometimes the hole is so big I can't help it! laugh

+25 votes

Hello all from the colder than normal Lakewood, Washington! I feel like I have been chilled for months now. I am so ready for Spring!

I participated in the Connect-athon and managed to eke out 161 profiles. Down from the last one but I ran into technical difficulties mid Thon. Should have cleared those temporary files, cookies, and other stuff that can grind a computer to a crawl beforehand.

I so appreciate the kind words of support that I received during the last chat regarding my surprising discoveries regarding my paternal grandfather, Albert Wesley Smith. Have done more sleuthing and found

"Cultist Alienates Love; Loses $500

McMinnville, Ore., Jan 10 (1941) - Albert Smith, bearded 52-year-old head of the "God's Household" religious cult had a verdict returned against him Thursday in the alienation of affection suit." Russell Hadley was awarded the money. Albert Smith had caused Hadley's wife to leave him. During the court proceeding it came out that Albert Smith had married three sisters as well as his stepmother. Albert was difficult to question "because of his gift of "tongues" which caused him to answer some questions in unknown and unintelligible languages." Full Article

Does it get any easier to learn how to use the creative apps that have been made for use with Wikitree? I so want to be able to link to Ancestry records but I cannot make the linker app work for me? I know it’s not called that, but I think you know what I mean. If anyone knows of an easy-to-understand guide, please let me in on it!

Thaw me out, May! Nancy

by Nancy Thomas G2G6 Pilot (197k points)

Nancy,

if you are talking about WikiTree Sourcer. Rob has done a great job of documenting the browser extension. Here https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer

It does a great job of citing an ancestry source. It even has an option to search from a record in another collection. I use that for those 1940 census with no citation in family search to find and cite the ancestry record instead.

Thanks, Kay. Yesterday, I buckled down and spent time trying to understand the app and yay! I made it work for me. This old dog can learn something new.
What a fascinating story about your grandfather, Nancy!! Amazing what things we can discover in old newspapers.
+20 votes
Happy weekend, everyone!  The end is near... two weeks to the end of the semester.  Gave my last lecture today, so I just have two exams to write and grade and some mopup work to do.  And several Masters/PhD papers to read.  Plus some committee tasks, some of which will spill over into the summer.  Hmm.  Sounds like a lot now.

Planning to get my covid booster 2 tomorrow in prep for a bit of travel (plus the university is lifting the mask mandate at the end of the semester).  It might knock me out for the rest of the weekend, but it's worth it.

We have a quote to get the leaky bathtub drainpipe replaced, but they're going to have to go through a wall upstairs to do it because the leak is close to the basement ceiling.  Unfortunately that wall is in the kitchen behind the oven, so they have to pull the oven out of its cabinet to get back there.  Seems straightforward, but I'm expecting "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie," homeowner edition.

Genealogy: Still chasing maternal Griffiths in Baltimore County.  Interconnectedness of colonial mid-Atlantic DNA is really annoying.  I've been chasing a potential Griffith-related cluster that turns out to also triangulate with a known paternal match, so I can't tell for sure what side the cluster is actually on.  Can't connect the dots fully on either side yet, so I'm ditching it and going back to something else for now.
by Lisa Hazard G2G6 Pilot (262k points)
Hi Lisa, it turns out that I got my FIRST real Covid booster this past Thursday! Because I am immunocompromised, I got a third full vaccine 6 months ago and Thursday was my half/dose booster! I have to return in 4 months to get my 2nd booster! I felt achy and feverish Thursday evening, took and ibuprofen went to bed and woke up right as rain Friday morning to write my Chat missive. Hope you are doing well!
Congrats, Carol!  A bit achy now but I'm hoping it won't last.  I ran around and did a bunch of shopping and chores today just in case I'm feeling blah tomorrow, so I'm tired from that, too.  But I had a productive day!

Genealogy side trip today:  one of my mom's cousins died earlier this week, and her husband is feeling lost and lonely and isn't in great health.  He says he doesn't have any family left except us, but we think it's possible he's just fallen out of touch with them.  Putting my genealogy skills to use to see if we can find anyone.
How is it that one "minor" little problem turns into a gargantuan task, required of the leveling of a house (seems that way, doesn't it, Lisa?).
+23 votes
Just ended a tornado warning here. It was on the ground about ten minutes just two to three miles from my house. It hit the nearby YMCA and threw cars against the front of the building. Still have 60 mph winds, with rain and hail. I am lucky I have a basement. Yes, I am still doing genealogy on my phone. It keeps my mind off the possibilities.
by Michelle Enke G2G6 Pilot (407k points)
Luckily, there were no major injuries. About 50 to 100 buildings were damaged.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/weather/critical-fire-tornadoes-southwest-plains-friday/index.html
So glad you made it through the storm!
I am so very glad you came through alright, Michelle. I read about those nasty storms on the Weather Channel.
+19 votes

What IS the average April temp any year in the 50 states??

Found this Spring Temperature Averages for Each USA State - Current Results 

Results collected from 1971 to 2000 

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (650k points)
My wife only cares if it's too cold, which is about six months out of the year here. Me? I can take just about any weather, except the worst.
+21 votes
It’s been a while since I last posted here.  Tax season is finally over!  It was a weird season but it is over now.  So I am back to my cemetery study and closing in on 1000 profiles completed and connected to our one world tree.  It has just about 14 months to get to this point. So I guess I have at least two more years before I will finish this cemetery. But progress is progress.
by Gurney Thompson G2G6 Pilot (442k points)
I keep thinking the last time we heard from you was just after you were chasing down info for census returns in the deep forests of somewhere ... the image of you trekking through the forests made a deep impression on me ...
That was a couple years ago.  But it was fun, searching for occupied housing on national forest land. I found houses that appeared to be lived in but never found anyone home. But I did get a lot of good stories about different people I met and I certainly heard a lot about their opinions on the census.
Finally, you can get back to what you enjoy doing, Gurney. Keep that work going on the cemetery. If I recall, it was a rather large one!
+19 votes
It's been about 3 weeks, I believe, since I posted here.

My wife and I went to San Francisco, 2 weeks ago, for a short weekend trip. Loved seeing the Pacific ocean. It's always very calming and relaxing to both of us.

Work and home has always been keeping us busy. Lots in the works for the upcoming months on the home front.

I work on so many different things in WikiTree that by the time that the weekend rolls around I can't seem to remember what I've done during the week that might be newsworthy. It always feels like a collection of random stuff.

But over the last couple of weeks I was able to do some interesting research with my "DNA Relatives" on 23andMe. There seems to be so many people on there that don't list their family tree. But a lot can be inferred from a list of surnames. Surprisingly, I was able to build a family tree for a couple of connections, with a paper trail, and pinpoint how we're related. In another cases, I could connect another group of people to each other, but not how they are related to me. I think that a NPE has somehow been involved, but I can't prove it yet, and the other people involved haven't wanted to discuss it. This is why I've worked on trying to build out a paper trail to see where it leads.

Meanwhile, I continue to work on all my One Name Studies. I would add another one if I could (Hottel / Huddle), but I doubt the project would allow me another one. (Which is a separate discussion.)
by Eric Weddington G2G6 Pilot (511k points)
Nice to hear from you --

Reminded me that the last I was in San Fran the streets were still torn apart and had been for over 25 years

The ocean (IMO) is much more lovely up toward Sausalito and even more north of there (but that's still IMO)
Eric, I'm laughing because all my memories of a week are rather randomly collected for the Chat.

My complaint about 23&me is exactly yours. I could get by without a tree, but please, please at least list surnames and locations!
+19 votes

GENEALOGY - Noticed that the Question Of The Week is Question of the Week: What do you think it is that keeps you hooked into this hobby/obsession? - WikiTree G2G  What do you think it is, that keeps you hooked into this hobby / obsession? Validation of Family History? Unraveling Family threads? Tracing inheritance or land ownership? Medical conditions? Preserving family culture? Reconnect with Family? Family legacy? Share your reasons!

Obsession, yes, will - with some reservations - agree with that description.  I like puzzles. I like solving puzzles. I like jigsaw puzzles and word puzzles and math puzzles. In tracing, tracking, and rooting around (pun) and putting together the pieces, I find an immense satisfaction 

Check out my watchlist total and it's up at the moment to 2,040+  and that is MOSTLY due to chasing around on the Padon / Huffman line

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (650k points)

I hate to say this... But that "Question of the Week" post you mentioned (found here: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/281097/question-week-what-think-that-keeps-hooked-hobby-obsession)

was posted on Aug 7, 2016. It's just that someone posted a recent answer to it, which then makes it to the top of the list, then other people see it, thinking it's a new post, then they add more answers, etc.

However, it's still an interesting question to pose. 

blush Oh, my bad, Eric. I didn't even think about looking at the date on it. I know I do get responses from stuff I posted in 2018, 2019, even 2020 ... 

It's like the zombie apocalypse, when something you thought was dead and buried comes shambling around dripping old flakey stuff all over the landscape while trying to consume you 

(Admitted, I have not made a study of the Zombie Apocalypse, but that is my impression of what is so grotty about it) 

However, as you say, no harm done 

(grotty -- unpleasant and of poor quality) (poss. influence of the Scottish Gaelic word "grod" which means "rotten, putrid")

+22 votes

This coming morning, Kathy(accompanied by one of our daughters), will be off for a days drive to Quesnel, B.C. to celebrate her mother, Margaret Wagner's 95th birthday.  Staying behind to mind the farm and animals will be myself and and our son-in-law.......I see that we have our work 'cut out' for us.......firewood for a cozy next winter.                       

by John Thompson G2G6 Pilot (345k points)
Hmm. Got enough room there to run a full herd of Thompsons.
Do you buy a load of logs and do the bull work with a splitter or do you cut your own trees and cut up the limbs as well?
Hard work either way and as my husband said, as he did it,
"It warms you twice".

Susan, this coming Wednesday our granddaughter (Fraser herd) along with her 6 year old (yesterday) daughter and 4 1/2 year old son, will be visiting........running the Thompson and Fraser herds together (the names of 2 great British Columbia rivers) on the farm surely will flood the place with excitement.  smiley

Beulah, our son-in-law's co-worker had surplus Douglas Fir trees on his acreage, which we handled with tractor forks (at both locations) and a tandem trailer, unfortunately the the limbs didn't come as well.....the cut blocks are 'green' and were a little 'stringy' when I split some, the larger logs have been drying and we'll see how they split (2 years ago larger dry fir split well).....we rented a log splitter once, last year, for some tough wood.
Looked again at the horizon - that is an impressive view, esp. with the sky cut in two by clear blue to the one side and clouds piled up on the other side

Susan, Kathy updated her iPhone last year and it does a wonderful job of copying photos and documents......I grabbed the moment, pointed into the sun and captured the clouds lit up.  smiley

It was "dramatic" ... I hunted around online about photos and photography and there's divisions or types .. your's is in the category "dramatic" something that catches and holds the attention of the viewer
John, you always post the most beautiful pictures of your area.

Thankyou Susan.....Kathy is safely back!  And, the logs are now a complete pile of blocks!  laugh

Good to hear from you, Pip!  As you can see we did our best to behave ourselves while you were away!  devil

Y’all did a great job. I wasn’t worried! smiley

PS.......Enjoyed the flowers you sent us all......Spring is here.
+18 votes
Friday was strange, First Diane thought it was Saturday even with many hints sent her way that it was indeed Friday. I enlisted the help of the grandson to put the new flag and pole up. Then I used the old flag pole to mount a ham radio antenna following my Reduce Reuse Recycle motto.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
Okay you are not lucky, so it was not strange, but it does demonstrate how shrewd you are ... all to the good to be such a sharp shopper
Now lucky was the post I made about 3 hours ago.
I need a flag pole, Dale, but I've got to get permission first (from the wife) and check the covenants for this neighborhood.

I use my wife to help me keep track of what day it is.
+19 votes

On this day:

1752: The Peace of Vienna is signed

1822: The Pont de Pierre in Bordeaux is opened

1857: The SMS Novara, the only ship that circumnavigated the World for the Austrian Empire, starts this journey

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Hi Jelena, I'll go with Peace of Vienna. Anything that Gives Peace a Chance is worth supporting.
I went with The SMS Novara, Professor. A very good read! New to me. Thanks!
+16 votes
Looks like Papa Pip jumped ship yesterday after posting the pix of the flowers (gorgeous flowers)
by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (650k points)
Yep, I did. It was basement organization day at our house, and that spilled over into Saturday. The only thing I had to do today was to do my church thing, plus a visit to the renovation site, was to align a gutter. I keep thinking things are done around here (or maybe I'm just wishing they were).
+19 votes
This may sound strange to some but today we went to the local Goodwill store. We bought some outfits for 2 of the great grandchildren and I found an old VGA monitor for $10.11. What would anyone want with an old monitor like that you may ask, well the program I use to program one of my radios can only run on DOS and it does not display properly on my widescreen monitor for some reason. It does display properly on the VGA display so for that cheap price it is worth not having to guess about what the screen is showing. Sometimes the old stuff is better.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
You have some of the most amazing luck when you go shopping
Not luck Susan it is knowing where all the salvage and thrift shops are.

And you are an expert at that, Dale! laugh

+16 votes

COSMOS -- well, I don't think us here in California, or them up there in Canada, will notice the solar eclipse happening 

Set to happen 30 April at 2:45 PM EDT ... but it is visible only down there somewhere around Antarctica 

Currently where I am it is 2:23 PM PDT 30th April, and that would be 5:23 PM EDT 

 I have not so far noticed anything happening - makes sense, since online blurps say no part of it will be visible from the USA and of course not from Canada either 

Huh. So it came and happened and it went and did so without notice of the Northern hemisphere 

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (650k points)

Not only did I miss that, but the expected heavy meteor shower didn't show itself last weekend, at least here. sad Maybe I'm not patient enough.

+19 votes
Hello All!

North Georgia, USA, has had just about perfect weather this past week, in my opinion.

I was apprehensive about my 89-year-old husband with macular degeneration and dementia trying to cut the grassy portions of our hilly acreage this year. I was ready to hire someone to do it, but he insisted he could do it so I gave in and let him. He did much of it on Thursday and did fine. I had to help him remember how to disengage the emergency break, but he didn't need any other help with operating the mower. I sat outside while he was mowing just in case he had a mishap. Then I could barely speak on Friday morning from having breathed pollen and dust for a couple of hours.

I survived my colonoscopy and have decided "never again." The prep, you know. My doctor said I have "moderate" diverticulosis but nothing else going on to explain the pain and other issues. It is a relief to know I will not need surgery.

My husband did well with the first part of his root canal--a slight bit of discomfort the night of, but nothing since. The endodontist will go back in to finish it up in a few weeks.

I think I added 47 profiles to WikiTree for the April Connec-a-Thon. All are pretty much fully sourced and have a completed narrative bio. Most were "in-laws" so I will be setting them free from my Watchlist fairly soon.

Any communities with "May Day" activities?" When I was a child, "May Day Festival" was an annual event in our community. The first grade class wove the ribbons around the May pole and there was a May Day court with King and Queen and various prince and princesses for whom the other classes performed folk dances to entertain. It was all very exciting.

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend and enjoy the beginning of May, however you choose to celebrate its coming!
by Nelda Spires G2G6 Pilot (550k points)
Yes, Nelda.  May Day is celebrated here in our community.  The youngsters wind the Maypole, which has been topped off with bright yellow forsythia blossoms.  The Cake Walk takes place during the winding.  Music starts and stops.  When it stops the 'caller' announces a number and if you happen to be standing on that slab of wood with the same number, you get to take home a cake.  One year my then three-year-old, fiery red, curlicued hair, granddaughter won a cake for her daddy.  I remember it distinctly because the gooey chocolate-raspberry frosted cake melted all over the front seat of my car!

Another part of the celebration is the sunrise Morris dance on the top of nearby Mt. Monadnock.  Later on the Morris Men and the Morris Women will delight us with their dance on the town common.

Yes, we celebrate May Day.
Nelda, after moving to Sechelt, B.C., in grade 4, the Spring of '55 brought May Day and my mother, a teacher, volunteered me, to my horror, to dance, in front of adults, with girls no less, around the Maypole.  All went well and, eventually, in May '70 twin girls arrived, and, when they were 2 years old, at the annual May Day celebrations, I threw a dime into a saucer and won a giant teddy bear.....uh oh.....I, very carefully, landed another dime in the saucer.
Thank you, Candyce and John, for sharing your memories and descriptions of May Day festivals in your communities.
I can relate to the misery of the prep for a colon exam. I pretty much said not again myself - the exam was nothing, I was sedated and not aware
Great news that you will not have to have surgery, Nelda, even if you still have to deal with the discomfort. My older daughter had to have a section of our intestine removed. I have this sinking feeling my GP is going to recommend a colonoscopy for me. My brothers both have had theirs, and we're all over sixty. The GP is waiting on the results of one of those home test kits.
+16 votes

ANCIENT POSTS -- we are on a roll, yes we are, yesterday was a post resurrected from 2016, as noted by Eric W. This one should tickle everyone who is interested in DNA ... (it's from 2019) How does incest affect my dna ancestry search? - WikiTree G2G

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (650k points)

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