"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! May 10th-12th, 2019 [closed]

+17 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: What a blast! See you next weekend!
in The Tree House by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Pip Sheppard

Welcome, WikiChatterers, to the Weekend Chat! And greetings from beautiful Cathey’s Creek in the Land of the Waterfalls (and White Squirrels!).

Posting early as I have errands to run and probably won’t be back before lunch!

Few people remember that today is Confederate Memorial Day in many Southern states, including my own. It is also the 156th anniversary of the death of Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.

This week was also another important anniversary in American history, the 155th anniversary of the beginning of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign at the Wilderness in Virginia which would ultimately end at Appomattox with a Union victory over the Army of Northern Virginia. While this is just a history lesson for most folks, I have a vested interest in remembering as the Wilderness was the first battle in which my great-grandfather, Jacob Sidney Underwood, participated. He enlisted at age 18 to join two brothers, some brothers-in-law, and a host of cousins, in Company C, 10th North Carolina Artillery Regiment, a part of William Thomas Poague’s battalion, about which company you can read here.

On the home front: Excellent weather here has provided us with beautiful days in which to nearly finish the recovery of our back yard. In the front yard, our six Red Hot Poker plants produced 55 magnificent blooming stalks. I have a bit more mobility with my left arm, but there is still some pain, so I have to be careful what I do. I am very pleased with all of our efforts over the past two weeks. The results are looking great!

On the genealogy front: Mostly, this has been a run-of-the-mill WikiWeek. I did run across the family of Adam Clark Fisher in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. While not directly related to me, many of his descendants married into various branches of my family. One daughter married a second cousin of mine on my grandfather’s side. Another married my grandfather’s brother. Another married my grandmother’s fist cousin. Yet another married the brother of that same cousin of my grandmother’s. One daughter married a fella who I’m pretty sure is related to me, but I haven’t worked out that line yet. And a granddaughter of Adam married another cousin of my grandmother. Apparently, it was the thing for my family to marry so many of Adam’s descendants!

I hope all of you are well. Many of our members struggle with family and medical issues. Others have faced torrential rains, flooding, and tornadoes. For those of you who have, remember that you are a part of us and our prayers go out for you.

Be blessed and have a great Chat!

I love red hot pokers… and that sounds like an incredible display that you've got there.

I can empathise with the left arm—I've managed to do 'something' to mine, well the shoulder and arm pit to be more precise. I saw the doc and then I spent a week taking muscle relaxants: that didn't work. The doc had another look at me and decided that I might have a lymph node infection, so I've just finished a week of antibiotics: that hasn't worked. I just called the surgery… my doc's gone on holiday for three weeks!  Talk about avoiding a problem—of course it's all because of me. [very big grin]

I hope you get better quicker than I.

Kind regards,
Geoff
We have had lots of rain lately and trees falling over onto the street and all but no real heavy damage. Some lost electricity in Nashville, but we are good to go here where I am at. Glad you got a break Pip and your yard is getting back to normal, maybe even better.

Again, thanks for hosting another weekend chat, I so enjoy your week's summaries!!  Dorothy B.
Thanks for hosting, Pip. Happy to hear you have some improvement in your arm. Bad time a year for that. Hope it improves more.
Thanks, Doug. Some work has just gotta get done, arm or no arm.

The flowers sound great!

I checked out everyone who has replied so far with our relationships, and you're the closest to me, at my 11th cousin. smiley

Closer than most, WC!
I always assumed that we had an apple tree in front of our house. I was wrong we must have 2 apple trees because when the tree blossomed half was white flowers and the other half was pink flowers. Very pretty to look at but my allergies don't like it much.
We airway have loads of pollen around here, but those Red Hot Pokers really do put it out. Stand anywhere near hem and the pollen jumps off the Pokers right onto you.
Thanks Pip for hosting the Mother's Day WikiTree Weeekend chat again.

36 Answers

+16 votes
Good morning Pip, and all fellow WTer's.

Typical Spring weather here in Central Pa. Sun, rain, sun, rain

I have been working on various suggestions on profiles that are related to me, and updating one profile on my watch list each week. I think I got that idea from Ewoyn. This morning I looked at my "Orphaned Family" tab, because I have not done that for several months. I have 35. Wow. I need to check that more often. Members must have been cleaning house.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Rod
by Rodney Long G2G6 Pilot (849k points)
edited by Rodney Long
Hi Rodney! The usual here is rain, rain, rain, sun, repeat. But lately it’s been pretty nice!

My project next week: suggestions list. Good idea: improving my watch list. The work never ends, right, Rodney?
For us in upper East Tennessee this year it seems for the spring time that all it does on the weekends starting on Friday through Monday it rains and then during the week it is sunny.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+17 votes

Today (10th) is my brothers wedding anniversary.

When he, Steve, and his wife, Steff, got married eleven years ago they decided that for their honeymoon they would 'do' the Wainwright Coast to Coast walk: that's a hundred and ninety-two miles walk from St Bees on the west coast of England to Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast. They did it in a week and raised over £3000 in sponsorship money to go to two charities.

This is all the more remarkable because Steve has Multiple Sclerosis and Steff has a deteriorating spinal ailment (the name of which I cannot pronounce even when I see it written down, but I can't remember it anyway).

Every year, for their anniversary, they select another 'walk': some years it's been blazing sunshine, others it's actually been snowing (that was a Scottish walk).  This year they are walking the 'short' Offa's Dyke Path from Chepstow to Prestatyn. It follows the Wesh/English border through a hundred and seventy-seven miles of beautiful, but at times extremely challenging, countryside.  They are, again, planning to complete the trail in a single week!

Over the years they have acceded to just one concession—they had to give up using a tent and now arrange guest houses along the route.

I am so impressed with my 'little' brother and I really just wanted to tell someone.

It's my thirteenth anniversary on the 13th… Carole and I are not doing anything like that: we'll probably go for a meal. :D :D :D

by Geoff Riley G2G6 Mach 2 (28.0k points)
Congratulations to Steve and Steph on their anniversary and also for all their walks.  They sound amazing!  Best wishes to them and hopes that they will be able to continue this tradition for many more years to come.
A meal: sounds just like us. But I think I’d rather do the walks and see the countryside where you are.

And... happy anniversary to you and Carole!
Thank you Pip, we do indeed have some glorious countryside around here… one of the nicest things about Britain is that you can go through a wide range of terrain in comparatively small areas.  

We went to Canada (to meet a cousin of Carole that we found through tracing family trees!) a couple of years back and we loved the country… except that we travelled for hundreds of miles and only saw slight changes in terrain—and we only scratched a small chunk of Alberta at that. LOL
Geoff, there's a story about two guys: one from Manitoba, and one from British Columbia, who changed places. After a year, each of them was asked how they liked the scenery in their new place.

The guy from B.C. said, "There's nothing to see, it's all flat!"

The guy from Manitoba said, "I can't see anything, there's all these mountains in the way!"
Fabulous… I know just what they mean. :)
Australia is like that too.  Looking forward to cars that can drive themselves.
Ditto to what every one said here on this chat.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+18 votes

Today is......  

                                 

NATIONAL SHRIMP DAY!!

Observed annually on May 10, it is National Shrimp Day.  Americans eat more shrimp than any other seafood, and this is the day to celebrate this delicious seafood.

The word “prawn” is used loosely to describe any large shrimp, sometimes known as “jumbo shrimp.”  Some countries use the word “prawn” exclusively for all shrimp.

Preparing the shrimp for consumption usually involves the removal of the head, shell, tail and “sand vein”.  There are many ways to cook shrimp.  Standard methods of preparation include baking, boiling, broiling, sauteing, frying and grilling.  Cooking time is delicate for shrimp, and they are at their best when not overcooked.

A healthy food, shrimp is low in calories and high in levels of omega-3, calcium, iodine, and protein.  Shrimp is also known to be considered good for the circulatory system.

 Popular North America Shrimp Dishes:

  • Seafood Gumbo:  A stew or soup that probably originated in southern Louisiana during the 18th century.  Seafood gumbo typically consists of a strongly flavored stock, shrimp and crab meat (sometimes oysters), a thickener, and seasoning vegetables.  Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used:  okra, the Choctaw spice, file powder (dried and ground sassafras leaves), or roux, the French base made of flour and fat.
  • Shrimp Cocktail:  The Golden Gate was the first to serve this .50 cent shrimp cocktail in 1959.  It is now a Las Vegas cliché.  Called the “Original Shrimp Cocktail” on the menu, it is a favorite among tourists as well as the locals.  The original Shrimp Cocktail consists of a regular-sized sundae glass filled with small salad shrimp and topped with a dollop of cocktail sauce.
  • Shrimp DeJonghe:  A specialty of Chicago, it is a casserole of whole, peeled shrimp blanketed in soft, garlic, sherry-laced bread crumbs. It is served as an appetizer or a main course. It originated in the late 19th or early 20th century at the DeJonghe’s Hotel and Restaurant.
  • Shrimp Scampi: This dish has its own day on April 29 and is cooked in butter, garlic, lemon juice and white wine.

Shrimp and other shellfish are among the most common of food allergens.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Celebrate this fantastic food day by making your favorite shrimp dish. Need some ideas?  As Bubba Blue from the movie, Forest Gump would say, “Shrimp cocktail, shrimp scampi, fried shrimp, broiled shrimp, spicy shrimp…”  Share your favorite shrimp dish with us!!

by Dorothy Barry G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
In the UK shrimps tend to be small prawns.

On the seafront at Blackpool you can buy small tubs of prawns, shrimps, winkles and so on to eat with a cocktail stick as you walk along the Promenade or up one of the piers.

Geoff
Insert Forrest Gump references here. =)
I had shrimp with my lunch yesterday.  Tasty!  Wish I lived on the coast to have fresh shrimp, but just have to 'stock up' when I am on vacation!
Shrimp is one of my favorite meals, fixed just about any way you can. We have one seafood camp here in tiny Brevard, but other restaurants make some fabulous recipes. Good one, Dorothy!

You’ve gotten some really bad weather there, probably worse than we have. You just stay safe!
A very hard pass for me on the Shrimp, I am very allergic to all shell fish.
I wonder if I'm the only person on Earth to have not seen Forrest Gump?!

I'm more of a Star Trek type of person. ;)
I'm more of a Star Trek person too. But, I've also seen many, many movies.
in the spirit of genealogy, I did a search for "shrimp" in my narrative family histories and found one allergy. No shrimp fisherman or people nicknamed "Shrimp" though!

Bubba on Shrimp - Forrest Gump (3/9) Movie CLIP (1994) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rT5fYMfEUc 

(for Geoff) wink

Soon as Bubba said, “shrimp burgers,” I was taken back 35 years to a little spot in Johnson Creek called the Shrimp Shack. Best shrimp burgers in the world!
Such a timely post, Dorothy! I just returned from a week in south Louisiana. Ate my fill of boiled shrimp - love, love them!!
I love shrimp fried or even over rice, on skrews. I love the small shrimp then the butterfly shrimps.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
Thank you Dorothy… I can see where the shrimp association comes from in that film! That's really doggéd dedication to a themes :)
+15 votes
The weather is very changeable: a few minutes ago it was pouring down… now the sun is out.  I'm happy sat inside watching it all happen out there.

To offer a little context, I'm in the north west of England, just to the south of the town of Warrington, which itself is almost exactly halfway between Liverpool and Manchester.

I got an interesting 'letter' today: searching for my maternal grand parents has proven to be quite a task and I hit a boulder with mum's grandparents almost as soon as I had started (many years ago). Just before last Christmas I found a possible partnership that seemed to fit (Thomas Howarth and Ann Jane Quinn) so I sent off to the GRO to get a certificate… they couldn't find one. Then a few weeks ago I was chatting to someone (on Ancestry I think) who asked if I'd tried the local registry office?  I haven't been buying certificates for long and didn't realise that just because the GRO didn't have a record, it didn't necessarily follow that was the end to it.

I duly sent off a request to Bolton Registry Office and today: lo and behold! A certificate for their marriage on 4 June 1884… complete with addresses for the couple at the time of the marriage.  And, of course, there's the gold dust: Father's names, John Howarth (deceased) and Murlagh Quinn (deceased).  This is a huge surprise because I thought that Thomas' father was called either 'Nathaliel' or 'William'… John had never been on my radar.

I'm sure that this sort of story is nothing new to most of you, but to me it's fabulous because my mum's side of the family were 'cut off' when the Roman Catholic 'Howarth' married a Methodist 'Hughes'.  As far as I can make out non of my grandfathers family attended the service… even though it had been conducted in the Catholic church.

Are we having fun yet? :D

All the best,
Geoff
by Geoff Riley G2G6 Mach 2 (28.0k points)
Really cool discovery, Geoff! My best hints at where to look for something usually come from someone else. Glad you followed up on hat lead!
Ditto to what Pip said Geoff.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+15 votes

Currently, it's 9˚ C in Fort Erie, heading to a predicted high of 10˚ C, with a predicted low tonight of 2˚ C. It's overcast, with a likelihood of thunderstorms. Clearing overnight, with tomorrow expected to be partly cloudy.

I've been going almost all-in on the Slade Name Study this week. All the deceased non-fictional Slades listed on Wikipedia now have WikiTree profiles, although not all of them have sources other than WikiTree, and ten of them still haven't been connected to the main tree. Now, I'm turning my attention to the Slades listed on ThePeerage.com, and am working through them to see how many of them are already on WikiTree. I also took a look at the Unconnected Slades, and searched for them on SladeGenealogy.net to see if I could find any matches, and possibly find paths to link them to the main tree. I did manage to connect a couple of Slades, and there are a couple of suggested merges pending, which should connect still more once they go through.

I haven't entirely forgotten the Connectors Project, although I haven't been updating it like it needs. Still, I have removed a bunch of connected entries from the "Let others know what locations you are working on" page, and added some new ones. (Not as many as I removed, though. People have been connecting branches faster than I've been adding them, which is a great problem to have.)

I also posted another Quest for Great-Grandparents challenge this week: this one is for Goodie Makers.

by Greg Slade G2G6 Pilot (669k points)
Your work on the Slade Name Study always impresses me, Greg. I started a name study for the Fuller almost a year ago and I feel like we've barely accomplished anything yet, besides starting a free space page, making some categories, and attracting a few members. You seem to be doing a great job.
Thanks for keeping us updated on your Slades, Greg. It always interesting to see what progress you’re making.

Thomas,

That Fuller Name Study page looks pretty impressive to me.

If you wanted to add making sure that all the deceased Fullers on Wikipedia are on WikiTree as a task for your project, Wikipedia's list of Fullers is here.

Greg

Greg, thanks for the compliment.

Wow, that list of Fullers is long! When you add in all the people on the 5 disambiguation pages, you get a total of 128. I'll see how many of them are on WT, I know a few are without having to look it up.

Edited to add: Actually, it's 141. Somehow I missed 13 William Fullers in additional categories on that disambiguation page.
That is a long list. Wikipedia only lists 63 Slades, but 3 of them were not Slades at birth, 3 are fictional characters, and 28 are living, so I only had 29 deceased Slades to work with. Still, I created a spreadsheet to keep track of them all. I can send you a copy if you like.
I've already started one, but I'd love to see yours as an example.
I grabbed a bunch of content off your Fuller Name Study page, and then rewrote the Slade Name Study page to incorporate the new material. Thanks.
You're welcome.

Argh! So close! I was working from an unconnected Slade, trying to connect him up to his fifth great grandfather, who is on WikiTree and connected, but I only got as far as his second great grandfather before the trail went cold. Too bad I don't know any WikiTreers who are familiar with North Carolina...

Where in North Carolina, Greg?

According to his WikiTree profile, William Slade was born in Sladesville, Hyde County in 1674, and died in Currituck, in what was then Albermarle County, in 1712. SladeGenealogy doesn't have birth or death dates, and puts Currituck in Hyde County, which isn't right according to Wikipedia.

SladeGenealogy then lists Ebenezer Slade, and gives a birthdate of 1715, which is problematic right there. But then further down in Ebenezer's bio, it seems to say that Ebenezer's father was Henry Slade Jr. (William's brother), who died in 1718, so that may clear up that issue, but clearly, things need straightening up there. Also, according to Henry Jr.'s bio, Henry Slade (Sr.) left an estate of 380 acres on Indian Creek in Virginia to William, so I don't see why William would be hanging out in Currituck instead of working his estate. Clearly, more data is needed.

Anyway, Ebenezer was supposedly born in Hyde County, and died in Martin County in 1788.

Next comes William Slade, born in Tyrell County (now Martin County) in 1743, and died in 1791.

Then comes Jeremiah Slade, born in Martin County in 1775, and died in 1824. According to his FAG entry, his family papers are in the Duke University Library. In any case, Jeremiah was as far back as I could get and still confirm with any other source besides the SladeGenealogy site.

That’s way out east and out of my area. Sorry I can’t help.
All this sounds very interesting.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+15 votes

Greetings and Salutations to all my WikiKin,

On the weather front: Today in beautiful southeast Michigan it is cloudy and gray with an expected high temperature of 55°F (13°C). I looked it up just now, and the average May temperature in Detroit is 70°F (21°C). It's been a bit chilly, but we have three more weeks for May to get it's act together.

On the homefront: Yesterday was my youngest son's third birthday. His party is tomorrow, but we did have some of his favorite foods for dinner last night: hot dogs, french fries, and chocolate cupcakes for dessert. We also had broccoli but I can't claim that is one of his favorite foods. He got a few presents from us yesterday, with a few more coming tomorrow and also the big load from his maternal grandparents.

The theme of the presents and the party this year is Paw Patrol - a cartoon in which talking dogs do search and rescue operations and other similar things. All three of our boys are absolutely obsessed with the show.

Sunday is Mother's Day. I still don't really know what we're doing. My wife was supposed to choose an activity, but she hasn't because the weather isn't supposed to be very nice and everything she wants to do is outdoors. (This is why I'm glad Father's Day is in June. laugh)

On the genealogy front: I haven't done much for my own family this week. I did clear out a couple of suggestions for relatives who aren't on my watch list. Mostly, I focused on sourcing the unsourced and correcting those who have errant ways.

I'm attacking the Unsourced Profiles of Michigan with renewed vigor now that we have started trending back in the right direction after the Clean-a-Thon. I need to remind myself, that often when I tackle someone from the list, I end up dealing with some of their relatives who were not on the list, but should have been. So the progress on the real number of unsourced profiles is much more than on the number of profiles marked as unsourced (because so many are not marked).

I usually don't tackle a lot of errors, but this week I decided I better do some if I want to continue to claim to be a minor member of the Data Doctors team. Probably the Clean-a-Thon made the errors seem a bit less daunting. One of the greatest benefit of the "Thons" is making more WikiTreers more comfortable doing previously unfamiliar tasks. Many hands make light work, as they say, so we need to get as many hands to work as possible.

by Thomas Fuller G2G6 Mach 9 (93.3k points)
edited by Thomas Fuller
Thomas, I have also found it to be true that if I work on a needy profile, others connected to it are nearly or just as needy. This is particularly true if the profile in question is really an in-law of my family. One profile leads to another, and another, and... well, you get the picture! Seems I get more done on these than my own family.

Happy birthday to your son from all of us!
Thomas, I have not yet seen a child on the third birthday who loves to eat vegetables. So there is nothing unusual with your boy loving French Fries and Hot Dogs - and not to forget the chocolate cake.

Happy Birthday to your little one :)
Thomas, I mostly work on the profiles on my watchlist and I can tell you that the profiles I adopted recently have many more that are not marked unsourced but in reality are than the profiles on my suggestion list marked ass unsourced or almost empty biography combined. Because of this I try to work thru my watchlist improving the profiles with the oldest last edit date first and hopefully I will correct some of the errors on the suggestion list at the same time.
Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+14 votes

Hails and horns, Wikipeeps!

Hope everyone had a good week. Late last weekend I got pictures and mentioned them here. You can check 'em out in this thread: 

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/825718/shared-photo-giuseppe-carrabs-and-family

Also....I learned something. Always have your parents check your work. My mom was looking over her DNA matches and checked out the tree. The following conversation happened:

Mom: Chris, your grandmother (her mother) didn't die in Hudson.
Me: What? 

Mom: Don't you remember they (My grandfather and her) were living in Florida?

Me: Well, yeah. But, wasn't their house in Hudson? I mean....I remember going up there.

Mom: That was Bradford.

Me: Okay. I'll change it all over the Internet.

I go on Familysearch and I see an Obit for my grandmother in Holiday, FL. I was like "Where was this ages ago?" I mean....I knew she passed away in 2004. I was at the funeral. I assumed the FL place originally meant the hospital. Whatever. I fixed it and changed it all over the Internet. Re: Ancestry, Familysearch, Myheritage. Wikitree, Geni and FTDNA. 

Let this be a lesson, kids. Those Obit things on FS can be so wrong. At least we had a good laugh.

On the non genealogy front, we are cleaning up the yard and getting ready to plant all of the things. We had one nice day this week. Now it's rainy and gross. Mother's day is coming and I believe my dad and I are gonna take her to Tuscan. Or the Copper Door. (Nice places in town.) 

Oh and I also conscripted my aunts' help in finding a pic of my great-grandfather, Alfred. There may be a pic of him in my grandfather's belongings. Hope so!! They are gonna search for me. It's good to have help. 

by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (756k points)

Chris, I keep thinking I’ve seen all of the pics, and then someone will hand me one and say, “Would you like to have this?” Woohoo! Always a special moment. I hope you ur aunt comes up with gold! Please share it if she’s finds it.

LOL Sure thing! Along with winning lotto numbers. =D
Ditto to every one on this chat. Even and especially Pip.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+14 votes

Well, the weather has definitely been Colorado weather. Last weekend was great but then by Tuesday it had gone from warm to cold and snow/sleet. That has set my garden work behind a few days. I have two new irrigation leaks to fix. Found one before the weather went bad. Once it dries enough will fix the first and find the other. This weekend is the traditional weekend to start putting plants outside. Will have to carefully watch the longer term forecasts. Today is a major improvement and should warm up nicely.

Genealogically, the week was mostly spent on WT Project work. Some work on Canadian profiles and lots of Categorization work. Also got a bit more planning done for the family reunion next year and the Clan Society annual meeting in September is close to final.

by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (527k points)
Doug, I always hated to have to fix irrigation leaks, waiting for dry weather to see what was still wet, and then all the digging and patching or replacing. Hope the weather turns in your favor for planting.

Holding the clan meeting at a games somewhere. Our Macneils hold theirs at the greatest of them all, Grandfather Mountain at Macrae Meadows. Just a beautiful setting!
Our clan meeting will be held at the games in Estes Park, Colorado.  Not much more "highland" than that.  Estes Park is at 7500 feet (about 2300meters) above sea level. Note that Grandfather Mountain is 5945 feet (about 1800meters). Most years ours is at Grandfather Mountain as well.
Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+11 votes
Yesterday it was hot and we had the AC on, today it is cool and raining and we turned the heat back on. We are slowley working on getting the financing to buy our home but it could be a couple of weeks longer yet. My son in law is recovering from his accident but is still out of work until after his next doctors visit, on the 17th. My father is also doing fine for his age. I am doing better with my leg but that is going to be a very long process. I did miss my oldest granddaughters wedding last weekend because the trip from northeast Ohio to southwest North Carolina was not something I could do with me knee. I have not done anything major on WikiTree this last week but I have worked on some suggestions and added some sources but I have made 175 contributions so far this month so I guess slow and steady is working.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
Dsle, so sorry about the knee and your missed trip to the Blessed Realm. My knee gives once in a while, but not as bad as you have it. I feel for you, brother! You seem to have a lot on you right now. Don’t forget to try and take some time for yourself.
Pip, I fear my knee will get worse before it gets better, if it ever does. The results from the ER visit show that old age is causing my joints to wear out. I could probably make the trip south in the near future but about a week and a half ago a 9 hour ride in the car would have resulted in me needing major assistance once I arrived just to get out of the car.
Dale I know what you mean because of parents their health and my mother has ended up having both of her knees replaced which was good but as she getting older she last year fell a lot because of the stress she and I had with my dad and she couldn't get up by herself and she couldn't stand for her family to try to get her up because she has arthritis diease which she in a lot pain and she has to take pain medicine for but she needs both of her shoulders replaced because of calcium built up but she can't and the doctors understand because of my dad. So she so independent that when we were in Loudon, TN we had EMT live in our neighborhood that when my dad feel he had to come and get him up and told us where he lived and that we can call him any time even if it was 2:00 in the morning and he will help get them up if necessary but she waited for about 3 hours before she would. She so independent and aggravating to deal with some times. So I can sympathys with you. I agree with Pip. We are trying to get mom to take care of herself while taking care of my dad. She will not she stubborn as a mule or even worse.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+15 votes

Hello WikiUns!

Thanks for hosting, Pip!

I got my work computer back.  Turns out my hard drive did fail, possibly as a result of overheating when the fan died.  Or vice versa.  All my data is backed up, so I lost at most an hour of work.  I am spending the day reinstalling software and getting back up to speed.  So far the day is everything I expected it to be.

Much as Doug described, we are about midway through a solid week of cold wet weather, including frost earlier this week and a little snow this morning.

Wiki-wise I enjoyed a good week of speed research on G2G.  A few peeks, but no deep dives, into rabbit holes.

And, I busted this sneaky little illegitimate fellow yesterday:

Raccoon by Oriol Esteve; tutorial by Jo Nakashima.

Cheers,

Herb

by Living Tardy G2G6 Pilot (762k points)
Sisko, when the Jem'Hadar attacked.
John McClane narrowly escaping death.
Archer, his butt kicked.
The Zulu withdrawing from Rorke's Drift.
Oooo, rhat last one was a real zinger, Herbert!

Zinger?  Not at all!

But I wonder how many folks had to look it up first. I knew it right off the rip! Now, that would make a great WikiTree page (if there isn’t one already!).
LOL The Pop-Culture Reference Decoder Page.  Think it would fit on a ring?
Free-space pop culture pages? I could do that. It'd take a while. Or one could simply just watch a whole bunch of tv shows and movies.
Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+12 votes
Hello everyone and happy weekend - Thanks Pip for hosting, you always do such a great job.

I missed you people last weekend, one thing led to another and next thing I knew it was Monday again.

Today I have the absolute pleasure of being entertained by birds of many kinds, finches, warblers, sparrows, grosbeak, nuthatches, blue jays, cardinals, doves and the list continues.  Besides the bird seed we leave for them, the forest floor around us has cedar debris that the birds  scratch through to find seeds.  We did have a fatality though; a little red breasted nuthatch hit the window a little too hard.  Most times when this happens my husband can usually keep them warm until they recover but it didn't work this time.  It was so sad.

On the genealogy front, I have been helping to find information on the Chasle family also transcribing and translating some FS documents.  Ouff some of those are difficult to read.

On the origami front...... that is all i need to say about that.  Herbert's title of Mr. Origami Man is not being contested.  I did see the turtle from last week and this week's racoon both are fabulous.

That's it for me, have a great weekend all
by Nicole Boorse G2G6 Pilot (884k points)

We did miss you last weekend, Nicole, but I know how time can fly, whether it’s chores or WikiTreeing. Out two bird feeders are near the forest bordering us, so the birds and squirrels have an escape route when a hawk shows up. We saw our first bunting yesterday. Just beautiful!

Nicole, Nicole, it's not a competition and I claim no title!  Post up some paper sculpture!

Birds abound around here.  Last Saturday I saw a roadrunner, running across the road.  At my house I have nuthatches, robins, doves, jays (scrub and Steller's), nuthatches, chickadees, towhees, crows and ravens, a big red-tailed hawk, hummingbirds, and the evil flickers.  But my favorites are the grosbeaks.  We have the black-headed variety.  Not only do they sport an awesome paint job, but man can they sing!

View Full Size Image

Here is my sculpture Herbert - do you remember doing this as a kid?  Pick a colour, pick a number, and under that number is a saying of sorts?  That is what that is.  In a sense it is origami,

Herbert - have you seen the roadrunner since then?  Maybe Wile E Coyote was waiting for him with his device ordered by the ACME company?

Hmmm I wonder if ACME was a pre cursor to Amazon?

Yes!  It is origami!  Lots of models start off with the same few folds.  yes

I remember this!! A popular game on the school bus.
That particular RR was out in the desert near Moriarty.  There is one around my office sometimes, but I haven't seen it for a while.  I think it lives at the school a couple of blocks away.  Wiley & friends do live in my 'hood, though.  When they aren't stealing chickens or picking off stray cats, they give a nice evening concert.  I think Acme moved to China and changed their name to Alibaba.
Acme was Amazon before Amazon was a thing. Their number one customer was some coyote.
Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+12 votes

Happy weekend, everyone!  Mother's Day is Sunday (in the US; I know it's different elsewhere).  The founder, Anna Jarvis, was my third cousin four times removed through my recently-discovered maternal grandfather's line.  (Me and a zillion other people... the Jarvises were prolific and are nearly becoming a swear word as I slog through DNA matches because they swamp out everything else.  "Oh look.  Another friggin' Jarvis.")

Finals week is upon us!  I have to finish writing one exam then give both exams next week.  Then the grading... remember those essay exams that took me forever in April?  Another round of that, but with a hard deadline of May 20.  At least I know I'll get them done quickly (and can grade with my right hand this time!).

This week has been filled with extra meetings, thesis defenses, parties... not much time for genealogy, unfortunately.  I did manage to add a bit of info to profiles related to my great grandfather and his mother to try to resolve the "adopted or not?" mystery surrounding him.  Thanks to a very helpful WikiTreer, I now have his birth record, including the address where he was born, and by slogging through a city directory I found who else was living in that house at the time.  It's an unfamiliar name, so now the real fun begins!

by Lisa Hazard G2G6 Pilot (263k points)

Remember, Lisa, objective test are much easier to grade with only a few one paragraph essay questions. laugh

If/when you solve that g-grandfather mystery, be sure to let us hear about it. Enquiring minds want to know!

Oh, I make it easy for myself... they get a huge list of essay questions in advance, covering all of the material.  Then at the start of the exam I use a 20-sided die to pick a random subset of the questions for them to answer.  So they have to prepare everything, but there's less writing and less grading.  Takes a lot of the stress out of it for them, and makes makeup exams a breeze (just a different random subset of questions).  So they do a good job (no excuse- they have the questions in advance!) and the grading is therefore pretty easy.  I just hate doing it.

The other class is all multiple choice and I grade those Scantron forms in about 5 minutes.  Can't get away with that at the graduate level, though.

Really understand your Jarvis comment. I did Mary Winans, a second cousin 2x removed this week. She had 15 children, and one of her daughters apparently divorced and then married her brother-in-law.

Lisa, On Mothers Day I will be giving exams for Amateur Radio Licenses. The exams are all multiple choice so that helps but I will have to spend a couple of hours away from family. I think Diane understands, it also helps that one of our granddaughters is coming over that day.
Ahh, finals. Soon the chaos will be over and you can relax on a beach somewhere and Wikitree by the side of a pool.

That's how I am picturing your summer. =) Take it easy, Lisa!
Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+13 votes
Hello Wikipeeps,

I have 2 interesting items of news.

One is that my uncle has officially reached his 100th birthday!!

Since he and his children are all still living, I have not yet added him or his children (and grandchildren and great grandchildren)  to Wikitree. But I do have the details of his family tree already to go.

I received some photos of the birthdays celebrations last weekend, and he is looking frail so I dont know that he will last much longer. On the other hand, he has also had to deal with a bout of Shingles recently and I'm sure that took a lot out of him too.

The second item of news is that I received a smart match for an Cornish ancestor of mine on My Heritage this week. So I have discovered a whole new lot of descendants that I never knew about - just as they never knew about my family - and we all descend from the same couple (Adams-27253) & (Cheley-1) who were married in Cornwall (England) back in 1763.

I am still working on getting their sources so I can connect their branch of the tree to my branch. Sources are somewhat scarce.

But I am excited to be working on new discoveries to add to the tree.

So that is my genealogical news for this week.

Ciao

Robynne

PS it rained here in Toronto pretty much all week as well
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Excellent discovery, Robynne! What Parish in Cornwall?
Wow!  Happy birthday to your uncle!
Pip - Thomas Adams and Mary Cheley were married in St Winnows parish, but their descendents later moved around all over Northern Cornwall before eventually heading to NZ and the USA.

Thanks Lisa.
That’s “a fer piece” from my ancestors near Penzance.
Wow! Happy birthday to him! =D

Keep up the good work!

...What's a "a fer piece"?
Chris, I think Pip is trying that say that Penzance is a fair distance from St Winnow - which it is!!
That's a WOW for your uncle Robynne.  A century old, Happy Birthday to him.  Just imagine the changes he has seen in his life time.
Bingo, Robynne!
For anyone who is interested, My Uncle got a write up in the local newspaper. So here is the link!!

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/construction-industry-stalwart-turns-100
Working for a company that long exhibits a love for what one does. That is a rarity. Kudos to your uncle!
That is a fabulous write-up Robynne.  Thank you for sharing it.
Robynne ditto to what everyone said.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+13 votes

Happy weekend everyone. Thanks for hosting Pip.

The lump on our Golden Retriever Molly’s knee was cancer, but grade 1 with a small chance of recurrence or spreading. She is just about done wearing the Elizabethan collar, which I think we hate more than she does.

image

Genealogy wise... I know better...I know better.... I didn’t bookmark what looked like a very credible site (either historical or genealogy society) that documented that early records for Columbia, Connecticut are lost. So then I figure out that the Rood family did live in Columbia (or Lebanon Crank) and probably Hebron.  Of course those 3 towns are near where 3 different counties meet, although borders have changed over time. At least I have the timeframe narrowed to 1778-1817.

by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (593k points)
Oh, Kay! I can’t tell you the number of times I forgot to bookmark a great site and have to go hunting all over again!
The 3 towns and 3 counties reminds me of what the director of the Army mapping research lab (a friend,former colleague) said in the late 1970s...all battles are fought at the corners of adjacent maps.

Positive vibes for Molly, Kay!  My friends next door, great dog people, call that device the Cone of Shame.  laugh

Kay ditto to what Herbert said.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+12 votes

Watching the rose bushes in the day's gusty breeze (bushes which aim to be rose trees and never mind what the sticker from the nursery said) ... Apr 20 through May 20 is the best period (IMO) to see our town in "full bloom" in Central Valley of California -- the area "explodes" into blossoms even in drought years ... 

I watched an explosion in G2G over the use of a particular word and it reminded me of those Venn diagrams (circles) where we each overlap some others but that no two circles overlap ALL others ... so that my circle -- my "personal world" which happens amid the world around me is never quite the same as the "personal world" of those I can see/hear OR read ... that one word spoken aloud on the east coast in a particular ethnic area is a mortal sin whereas spoken aloud where I grew up it most certainly was not and no one ran at you. shrieking at you, nor from your presence,  shrieking -- other words, yes, but not that one word ... I learned something new from this 

It ALSO impressed upon me once again that we are not carbon copies of experience nor of perceptions nor of custom nor of youthful conditioning and etc.  It is good to be reminded of this, that whatever the demographics we share in common, there will always be those differences to respect, whether or not we agree with those differences

by Susan Smith G2G6 Pilot (652k points)
Your central California reminds me of a visit to Harrogate England many years ago. This is the town that won the annual flower display so many times that they were not allowed to participate any longer. Our own flower display is spread out more evenly so no great show of blooms at one time. I’d love to see your area in bloom!

Venn diagrams: a perfect analogy! And well said (last paragraph)!
BARRED from Display?? Huh. Been in the USA the one's in charge might have found themselves being charged by a phalanx of lawyers from Harrogate all of them vigorously wielding torts and writs.
Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
There's always AmTrak train, has a station here in town -- I've traveled AmTrak in the mmm yes in the year that the National Gas Crunch struck late 1970's I recall ... very interesting time ... as in "May you live in 'interesting' times" ... and I can testify from experience I'd rather train my way across the USA than camp my way across the USA which I did in the late 1960's -- I am no fan of Raw Nature ... huh ... well, Ancient Days and Fading Memories
+13 votes
Good morning from New Zealand. I’ve been fairly busy working this week, so have only spent one afternoon on WikiTree. Most of my time has been spent comparing my records on the Riley/O’Riley clan with a distant cousin. There is an illegitimate child that many people have on their trees - but the supposed mother would have been 8 and the father wouldn’t have been in the country. The cousin is finally seeing my viewpoint. Secondly, he’s made me consider why my research is on WikiTree. For me, that comes down to sharing and also being brave enough to open my research up to scrutiny. The power of having sources is so important. While the cousin has given me a huge amount of data, I won’t use it and post it unless I can verify it myself.
by Fiona McMichael G2G6 Pilot (208k points)
Still working those Rileys I see, Fiona. Good for you for you perseverance!

Excellent WikiTree philosophy, too, if I may say so.
Yes, I’m still working on them. I’ve just had an email and the cousin is removing the non-existent person from his tree. (The power of sources!) He’s also understood that there are benefits in having family information outside paywalls so it’s readily available and open to all. Maybe we’ll even get a new member??
Would that not be great!?!
Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+17 votes

One of a set of six Red Hot Pokers I need to divide....

by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
Neat. =D
Next year I may get some of those planted. They have to go in a protected area that doesn't get as cold as others. We have to plant around microclimates here.
At last I know where candy corn comes from.  Very cool!
Zactly, Herbert! We grow them for Saint Nick.
Here they grow fast, Doug. These are two year old plants from one of my mom’s. We’ll divide these after the stalks die and replant most of them elsewhere.
Those are beautiful Pip and your garden looks wonderful.  So not too much damage from the floods.  And ... is your wife finished doing that cabinet?  Did you post pictures?  Did I miss that??

Here you go, Nicole... Upside down with old paint, yet to be worked on... That’s one of the handles  that broke off on the bottom shelf. The other we took off.

And the finished job after many, many hours of elbow work, mostly stripping and sanding. I had to rebuild the lower shelves from the original pieces with an added brace on each side.

Beautiful!  yes

Details of the carved top. There’s a glass that fits over it to protect it.

Thanks, Herbert. Of course, most of the credit goes to my wife!

OMGoodness gracious Pip, that is a beautiful table (tea caddy?).  It looks like a Chinese motif/scenery on the table top.  And that was probably red lacker paint that was stripped off.  Your wife has done a fabulous job in caring for the refinishing and you did a magnificent job in the reconstruction.  C'est bon! C'est magnifique!

Yes, it is (now) a beautiful piece. My wife’s mother painted it, and it was tough getting all of that off. She tried three different strippers, but it is fruitwood and absorbs anything that comes within three feet of it, paint, pencils, washing machines... That paint was in there! The liquid strippers worked on some areas, but the detailed areas were the toughest. Some places, only sand paper worked, and we had to be careful to not sand to hard and lose the details.

It is an oriental scene! All hand carved by the carpenter at the American School in Mexico City and presented to my late father-in-law as a labor of love back in the mid-1960s. It really is a beautiful piece. I’ll be sure to tell my wife your complements. She will most certainly appreciate it! Thanks.

(Next project: a small desk (very old) that has the same painting on it. It’ll take a little reconstruction, too... the drawers.

Just pretty and beautiful Pip. Thanks for sharing. Mother's Day as me and my sister was on the way to church for the first time I saw in person at somebody house Red Hot Pokers and this was the first time I have heard of them and seen a picture of them.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+11 votes
Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

My WikiTree week was slow as my husband and I spent the week traveling to and in Louisiana visiting family and friends. A great week of cajun food and catching up on family and friends lives.

Today (Friday) I had MOHS surgery on my leg. The upside is that I must keep it elevated as much as possible for the next week. A lot of genealogy and WikiTree time!! Maybe I will finally finish putting together my DNA confirmations and triangulations.

Have a super weekend everyone!
by Virginia Fields G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Ginny, while I’m sorry for what you having to deal with (surgery and recovery), I’m envious of your opportunity to sit for a week and WikiTree! I’ll get today as it is raining here!
It been raining here all day today and it suppose to tomorrow on Mother's Day and Monday here in upper East Tennessee.

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
Us, too, Linda. We're getting the same front.
+10 votes
Greetings from Everett, Washington!

(puff. puff) Gotta post and run.  Getting late.  But we did have fun today, the adult kids and I, at the new Tolkien biopic at the Alderwood AMC Theatre (rival to the Regal where my daughter works).  I had a HUGE lunch and I ate a lot of red & blue Spiderman popcorn which threw me off my diet.

Finally got back to Wikitree and I had just discovered that a certain maiden name wasn't what I thought it was when I heard the daughter saying, "Where's dinner?  It's past 7 p.m.!!"

Ugh. Mea culpa.  So I will try again tomorrow.

Have started mentoring a new person who is a 4th cousin twice removed and lives down in Eugene.

Son is over his cold and we are all enjoying the 80 degree weather.
by Margaret Summitt G2G6 Pilot (315k points)

I’m jealous, Margaret! You got to see the Tolkien movie. For us to see it, we’d have to drive! Our little theatre only shows one movie at a time for about three weeks. Tolkien is my favorite author. He’s a great storyteller, but he’s not just a storyteller. His stuff is actually pretty deep!

Lately, I’ve had to WikiTree around so many things, but today it’s raining, so woohoo, today is my day. laugh​​​​​​​ 

Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.
+11 votes
Hi everybody!

Here in Germany it is rainy in the last few days. But that's actually good as meteorologists say the ground has still not yet recovered from last year's drought. Secondly it's better it's raining now than next weekend, when we are on our trip to Holland. I didn't do that much neither genealogy wise nor Wikitree wise, I am still transcribing the interview of that Jehova's witness I was talking about last week. I'm progressing, but there are still moments when I say: "Orr, granddad, stop mumbling, talk clearer, I don't understand you!"

Okay, off now to reconstructing our glass shelf...
by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Jelena, hope the weather holds for you. I daughter and her husband were in Holland last year and loved it! They’ll be in Sweden and Norway this November, my traveling kids.
Welcome everyone to the Mother's Day WikiTree Weekend chat.

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