Welcome, my fellow WikiChatterboxes, to another Weekend Chat! And greetings from Cathey’s Creek here in the mountains of North Carolina. We have had at least one shower or thunderstorm each day since last weekend. It’s helped to keep things cooler. Temps have been in the high 70sF with a couple of days in the low 80s. Now that we don’t have a creek to worry about since moving here, my wife, who feared even a drizzle at our previous home, is now demanding, “Come on, rain!”
On the Home Front: We have a pair of cardinals, the female of which we call the “vulture cardinal” for her lack of head feathers, and who nearly got taken out by a hawk. I actually thought she was a goner, but she showed up a couple of days later. These two cardinals are sunflower seed hogs, and our titmice do NOT like it. I put seeds out on a stairway banister off of our back deck, and when the cardinals show up, the titmice just sit on the far end waiting for them to get through.
I’m guessing these titmice cannot see us through the deck screen, because as soon as I put the seeds out, here they come! They also let us know when they are hungry and there are no seeds out for them. As soon as I lay out the seeds, they swarm the banister, and carry off the seeds to peck them open on nearby branches. This is what our entertainment has devolved to. Still, they are a joy to watch. We call them “our children.”
The HVAC system in DONE!!! A fella showed up on Monday to complete the installation, and immediately we could tell the difference in the house. Using our new dehumidifier helps, too. I just have to empty it three times a day!
I finished Antony Beevor’s Berlin, his history of the last six months of the Soviet drive to take that city. The account is horrifying (and some things that happened then are being repeated in the Ukraine.) War is such a waste. And acts that occur during war are outside the bounds of decent human behaviour. We pray for an end to “wars and rumors of war.”
Our youngest and her husband are coming up to have an early celebration of her birthday. This is our traveling pair. Planned trips include Argentina, Canada, and Scandinavia. They’ve got the bug for seeing the world! Can’t wait to see them.
On the Genealogy Front: I have spent most of my time recently working on profiles in Transylvania County, North Carolina. I am doing this via the Appalachia Project. Most of the profiles I am “stickering” are mine, but others are managed by other WikiTreers, including my cousin Donnie Blackstone. I clean up and source as I go along, and have also added a few new profiles to the bunch. My CC7 has only gone up a little bit, now at 4459.
When I click on the Connections button on the South-Central Appalachian category, it produces page after page of relationships and connections. Not surprisingly, I am related to every member of the South-Central team, all eleven of them. All told, over 3000 profiles have now been stickered by project members!
What with climate change driving severe droughts and fires around the world, I hope all of you are coping. Remember that IT (COVID) is still out there. Do what you need to to stay safe!
Enjoy the Chat!