"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited!! June 28th - 30th, 2019 [closed]

+22 votes
2.4k views

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New Members Saying Hello (our favorite!)

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Members Checking in via "All About the Weekend Chat"

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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: Wonderful to hear from all of you!
in The Tree House by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
closed by Pip Sheppard

When I was a kid    (many moons ago,  OK OK,  many decades ago),  feeding bears had created an incredible problem in Tennessee..... sad to hear it's still happening. sad  

My chuckle for the day.
My Daddy believed there was a Boggy Creek Monster.  One of the houses that was attacked was an old hermit's place and he used to set out food.

laugh Lynette!  Food outside = monster bait.

Well the old Hermit fed it when my dad was a boy and hunting in the bottoms. When the movie came out I saw it 3 times so I could write down the names of the people and Daddy would tell me stories about them.  Bobby Ford, who was attacked, I found out in the 90s that he was related to the Jesters of Little River and Sevier counties. The Lafayette County Jesters didn't know they were related to those in LR or Sevier County.
Your are right about the problems in Tennesse. Pip thanks for hosting WikiTree Summer Weekend Chat. Plus ditto to everyone on this chat especially about the hummbingbirds pestering varmints where you have to fence in a garden to be able to get fresh produce to have and be able to freeze the produce to have during the years. That was a problem for us when we lived in Loudon, Tennessee. We haven't moved up the two humming birds stands that my brother got mother and we fixed them in front of their front windows where the could see the hummingbirds eat from my old hummingbird feeder I had and I had gotten one for them also till the squirrels got on the feeders and turn them up and we had to quit doing that. But I am going to put them up in my yard mothers said I can have them because she doesn't have any place at her house to put them up.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.
Linda, we had to attach “coolie hats” to our shepherd’s crooks to keep the squirrels away from our feeders. When we first put them on the crooks, the squirrels tried for a while, then gave up. Squirrels can tear up a feeder in no time!
My husband recommends "The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster," by Lyle Blackburn.  It has much material on the local area and its past before the popularization.  This can be ordered on Kindle.
Pip could you send me a picture of "coolie hats" that you attatched to your shepherd's crook to me and you are right that they tear up a feeder in no time they in Loudon, Tennessee tore up both of feeders we had on both shepherd's crooks we had down there. It made me made that the did.
Margaret, I used to belong to his website. And he was on facebook too.  I have Daddy's stories. He told me about the hogs getting their hides ripped off.  The hunting dogs that wouldn't go into the woods.  We moved from that region when I was a baby. So these events happened before the attack in the 70s. And I've never seen my Daddy jealous, but when I mentioned the Crabtree boys, "Peter Crabtree was in love with your Mama."

I just don't know which Jester-Ford marriage Bobby comes from. Sillah Jester m. Pack Ford. She was the daughter of Bird Jester who was the son of Levi. Then Ella Jester m Dan Ford. Ella was the daughter of Thomas Jester son of William. Levi and William were brothers to my 2nd ggf Burgess.

33 Answers

+23 votes
This is early - it's not even 10 AM EDT yet!!!  LOL
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
So, Robynne, what are doing out of bed so early? (WikiTreers don’t sleep, right?)

It's always Happy hour...er...Weekend chat time somewhere.

I haven't done much in the way of genealogy, but I did get my sister to add her DNA test details to her profile today.

It should propogate through the system overnight.

The test has not yet arrived at the lab - hopefully it will be there by next week....

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+24 votes
Hello to all in the community.

Pip, I always like your introductions into the weekend chats. Always well worded and attention getting.

Great weather here in Central Pennsylvania. Lots of folks out and about and living the dream.

As we enjoy the days of summer, let's not forget those among us less fortunate and struggling with lifes issues.

I think I will shut the computer down for awhile, put on my hiking boots, and go for a walk. It just seems like one of those days to me.

Wish everyone the best, stay safe and healthy.
by Rodney Long G2G6 Pilot (849k points)
Good for you, Rodney. I need to do the same... get away from the computer.

Behind the scene, we do have several members I know of who are dealing with all kinds of issues. You are right that we should remember them... and others around us.

Rodney and I have similar sounding gardens as we are from pretty much the same area. Here is what I recommend to attract hummingbirds, Major Wheeler honeysuckle. To protect from bugs, fill a spray bottle with water, a squirt of dish soap and some peppermint oil drops and spray the plant.

Great picture!   I should add the Major Wheeler honeysuckle to my planting schedule.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+24 votes

Today is.....

          

NATIONAL PAUL BUNYAN DAY

On June 28, we remember fondly the tales of the big blue ox and a mighty lumberjack.  It is National Paul Bunyan Day!

Described as a giant and a lumberjack of unusual skill, Paul Bunyan is one of the most famous North American folklore heroes. In the tales, Paul Bunyan was almost always accompanied by his companion, Babe the Blue Ox.

Was He Real?

First appearing in print in 1906, in a story published by Northern Michigan journalist James MacGillivray, Bunyan’s character originated in folktales circulated among lumberjacks in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. One account states that the tales began during the Papineau Rebellion of 1837. In 1914, William Laughhead reworked the stories for a logging company’s advertising campaign. The campaign breathed new life into the growing legendary character of Paul Bunyan. It was the 1922 edition of Laughead’s tales that inspired many others and soon the character’s plaid shirt and far-fetched characteristics spread across all of the United States and Canada.

Many cities in the north-central section of the United States, claim the title as the official home of Paul Bunyan.  

Statue of Paul Bunyan in Akeley, MN

Statue of Paul Bunyan in Akeley, MN

The Folklore

While folklore surrounding the lumberjack, Paul Bunyan is one character that has an origin story. One Paul Bunyan legend claims it took five storks to carry him as a newborn. As he grew a little older, when he clapped his hands and laughed, windows shook and shattered. The story continues that he sawed off the legs of his parents’ bed in the middle of the night when he was only seven months old. Folklore also credits Bunyan with forming the Grand Canyon as he and Babe the Blue Ox walked through dragging his axe behind him. Another myth suggests Bunyan created the Great Lakes so Bake had a watering hole. 

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL PAUL BUNYAN DAY

Read one or several of the Paul Bunyan tales: 

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan

*https://www.history.com/news/was-paul-bunyan-a-real-person

*https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paul-Bunyan

*https://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/1998/7/5/paul-bunyan-and-the-mosquitobees-an

by Dorothy Barry G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
edited by Dorothy Barry
Love the pics. Dorothy!

Hmmm... with all the other sugar-laden national days out there, somehow I expected this one to be fattening, too. wink

I grew up in northern Minnesota, so I'm familiar with the Paul Bunyan statues in Akeley, Bemidji, and even his "grave" in Kelliher (a cheaper way to be part of it, just make a mound of dirt 20 feet long).

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+22 votes

Hails and horns, Wikipeeps!

How is everyone doing? Well, I'm doing pretty good. My brother and his family are visiting this week and into next week. We're planning various fun activities including going to Patriots Place in Foxboro. Sorry, genealogy peeps. Not those Patriots. Though, you know I still call my Revolution era guys the OG New England Patriots. =)

On the genealogy front a lot of things happened. First, we went to the local library here in town. Naturally, I checked out the genealogy section. By that I mean logging into Ancestry's page there. It was like "I can do all of this from home!" They didn't have a newspaper archive I needed. Will have to go to Haverhill. 

And speaking of Haverhill, I have a new blog post. Check it out here: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2019/06/52-ancestors-week-26-legend.html

All about family legends this week. I wrote it and was listening to the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild theme. Great game. Seriously. Great game. 

I also checked out my cousin's tree and saw that she added a sister for my grandma Ollie. Her name was also Olimpia. She was born seven years before my grandma was. Her profile is here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carrabs-13

What's interesting is that the last time I was at my dad's cousin's house, the cousins all speculated that there was another Carrabs kid. Their grandparents mentioned it once. Now we have proof of it. But, there may be another, my dad says. A boy.

Sigh...A genealogist's work is never done (Even amateur ones). There's always another Skywalker. Carrabs.

And that's the news and I am outta here! Later! Go Pats!!

by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (756k points)
OG? Original Gangsters?

OG= Original generation. Genealogists need to use that term. =)

Edit: Pic from Gillette Stadium: https://twitter.com/Cferra1227/status/1144734112835604481 

U Mad Bro?

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+22 votes
Happy weekend, everyone!

No report on weather or garden since we've been out of town. Having a morning break. Pittsburgh had very nice weather until yesterday afternoon when thunderstorms and rain moved in. The week was quite intense but I learned a lot. What could be a dull course (how to do genealogical documentation) was actually a very interesting one with lots of discussion and enthusiasm from the students. Interesting how much a proper citation can tell you about a source.

We head back home later today weather permitting.
by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (527k points)
edited by Doug McCallum
Doug, I heard there was snow in Colorado again. True?
Haven't heard for sure. I know we didn't at our house. The mountains can get snow any time of the year. Supposedly there is a heat wave in Denver Metro.
It did snow in Alberta a few days ago and that is in Mountain time - same as Colorado!!

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+24 votes

Hey Guys,

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Thanks for hosting once again Pip. 

This week I've been working on Civil War records for the  Shoptaw family  (no they're not of American Indian heritage) from Arkansas.   4 brothers enlisted,  they all started out in the CSA  ...... one died in a hospital 3 months after his unit was at Vicksburg.....  Then the 3 living brother joined the Union army.    Changing sides in the fall of 1863 was pretty common in Northwest Arkansas..    More people were killed by Bushwackers  (I.E.  your neighbors with differing political opinions)  than were killed serving in the military.   Everyone was starving.

On that happy note,  I wish you a pleasant weekend.

BTW,   I hadn't pieced together that SJ lived in Spain!   I noticed he was working on a profile in 1st Battalion Arkansas Cavalry  that one of the Shoptaw brothers served in....

SJ,  Eres fluido en español?   (If you answer in Spanish,  I'll have to use the translator!!)

by Peggy McReynolds G2G6 Pilot (470k points)
edited by Peggy McReynolds
Beautiful flowers, Peggy! BTW: I have a few (very few) Confederate relatives who switched sides. Interestingly, they came right back to the same neighborhood, living amongst their Confederate relatives. It must not have been that big a deal.
My ancestors lived in  "Southern" states,  but most of them lived in areas that had pockets of northern sympathizers.    As I mentioned before,  in Johnson County, NW Arkansas.  But also in Bradley County, Tennessee, many residents were Union Sympathizers.   Oddly enough,  I've now moved within 15 miles of Bradley County Tennessee...... have been dying to go see some of my ancestor's graves.

Hey Peggy - what were you doing in mom's yard?! (wink)

Apparently caught getting starts!

Sure hope your Mom has a tractor for mowing!
Two of them actually. That is a small section of their yard. Dad and I usually ride the large one and mom gets on the little riding mower. I took those pictures yesterday. The flowers were kind of wilting from the heat

Peggy where do you live in Tennessee. I used to live in Athens, Tennessee which was close to Bradley county which we traveled through a lot of times and then we move up to Loudon in Loudon County and now I live in Jonesborough in Washington County and my mother lives in Greeneville in Greene County.

Ditto to what everyone said on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

Hey Linda,
I actually live about 10 miles outside of Tennessee,   south of Chattanooga in Ringgold GA........ When I was a kid,  we lived in Knoxville for 2 years.

I'm just beginning to explore my ancestors from Bradley County.
Your picture is very beautiful Peggy, I love tiger lilies!
Thank  you CB!..... it's easy to get carried away planting lilies.
+20 votes
Good Morning from Oak Harbor, Washington!

Weather here is a lot cooler than at home in Texas! Highs in the 60's and low 70's but some beautiful days the past week. We got our boat, Sea Lark launched last Friday and moved aboard on Sunday. Have been visiting grocery stores to stock up and get everything stored away. We will be in the marina here for a few weeks getting a few things fixed. The important thing, our internet, is finally up and running so don't have to use my iPhone hotspot.

On the WikiTree front, I reached a milestone - became a Pilot with 100,000 points. I did not know that had happened until I saw that several people had posted really neat clip art congratulating me. It was fun to have reached that point and I feel grateful everyday that I found WikiTree.

Thanks, Pip, for hosting - love reading what is going on at Cathey's Creek from week to week!

I hope everyone has a great week-end and a safe 4th of July!!
by Virginia Fields G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
I know you’re having a great time and sure do appreciate your updates on getting the Sea Lark seaworthy!

Ditto to everyone on this chat also.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+21 votes
I'm looking forward to Saturday when my son's younger son graduates, and his sister is coming home, one week after her
wedding in Ohio, and they are having a combination graduation and wedding reception party for the immediate families.  Since she is now working full time it may be quite a while before she can get home again.  It is a ten hour drive one way.  She had a small wedding and is applying the money they saved to her college debt.

The cut bamboo is lying in the yard, hoping the sun totally kills it but am taking no chances and will burn it when it is dry.  It's nice to see out the windows now but the small root shoots are now easier to keep under control.  If we keep getting sunny days maybe that will be possible.

Strawberries are just coming into season now.  An Amish family has advertised them but there is no stand in the yard.  I miss the "you pick" availability we used to have but admit now I probably couldn't physically do it.
by Beulah Cramer G2G6 Pilot (565k points)
Beulah,

I certainly understand physical limitations!   It's been 6 months since I've been able to pick things up from the floor..... such a simple task in the past!!    When I've recovered fully,  I'll never take the simple things for granted again.
It's amazing how much I can do while sitting in a folding wooden chair.  Last fall I raked a lot of leaves by moving my chair over three feet at a time and raking three feet in front of me.  The trouble is then getting the energy to wheel a full wheelbarrow of leaves out of the way.  That discard pile gets nearer and nearer every time I do a job this way.  Pip and I both are considering a lawn service very near in our plans.  I have severe back arthritis in my back, caused by damage over 50 years ago when both of my children were born.  The doctor heard my spine snap and thought my daughter had a broken collar bone, (that seems to be a
fairly well know situation to them) but discovered she was
fine after she was delivered and then remembered it was me.
Beulah, I remember those strawberry patches with the U-Pick signs. Never had to stop when I was younger as my grandma had her own patch. Don’t see them very much anymore.
It's amazing how creative we get,  when we're trying to compensate for physical limitations!    I'll admit,  I might have been tempted to just let the leaves blow away!  You'd be a great neighbor to have.
There's plenty of U-Pick strawberries around here. My wife, the kids, and her parents go each year. (When I'm at work.)

The strawberries are late this year though, because the spring was so cool.
Enjoy the strawberries, I'm sure you will find some. We are fortunate to have uPick strawberries here. The woman who owns the farm I go to is active in local history and genealogy (I think she's a Virginia Beach historian), and spoke at our genealogy society a couple of months ago. I only managed to get out once to pick strawberries, but did have some good fresh ones in Florida last February. Yours sure are late -- I used to be able to get the first one from my aunt's garden (near Syracuse) at the end of April.
Normal here is early to mid-June. My wife says she usually picks around Father's Day.
Ours are a couple of weeks late.  There was a great patch in Adams Center.  The owner sold out and everything is now corn.  They had a retail roadside business with all vegetables they grew.   They even got into a maze with spooks as the season progressed.  A special day for small kids was  always appreciated.  The jr. high schoolers lost a part time job opportunity also.  One of the few that they were allowed to work at.  Our own children spent many hours under my supervision, picking for my freezer and they had unlimited snack privileges as long as I hadn't done all of my job.  What big shortcakes they could make.

Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+19 votes
Still alive here in Northeast Ohio. Have not done much genealogy this week but I got a new radio and I am trying to program it. This Digital Mobile Radio is different. This week is week 3 of 5 for the class but since we have no class next week due to the holiday that means we will have 3 more weeks to go after tonight. We decided that since Diane is going back to work we need to hire someone to cut the grass, my knee is still bad so I can't do it anymore.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
I forgot to mention that the granddaughter who just graduated is taking the laptop I fixed last week when she leaves for college this fall but she dropped off her "old" laptop for me to fix. Just what I need another project.
Dale, you’re never out of projects. But, good for you. No sitting around vegetating. Sorry to hear that your knee is still giving you problems. Same with my shoulder. One wrong move and the pain is intense.
Congrats on the new radio. What mode are you going to use?
I am trying to learn DMR, that is what the Ohio section of the ARRL is promoting. I picked up an Alinco DJ MD5 from DX Engineering this week. The manual is worthless  but there has been high praise for the radio online, on youtube, so I am doing a lot of research to figure this one out.
I think I will need a hotspot before I can get everything working correctly  but that is going to have to wait another month for that Diane has not started her job yet.

It's unbelievable what you learn to fix from YouTube.    

In case you haven't seen the latest Wintergaten marble machine.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isosWOzmbe0

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+20 votes

Welcome to the chat everyone. Thanks for hosting Pip, it is so difficult to get a good hummingbird picture.

Our weather is HOT.

On the home front, our grandson has been spending the week, going to Cub Scout Day Camp every day. He will be with us until Sunday. Ketchup is a vegetable, right?

Also on the home front, I'm still trying to be creative with ways to fix zucchini, and we've gotten our first back yard tomatoes. I have finished setting up my new computer, running Linux. It is so much faster than my old computer, especially for viewing images.

On the genealogy front, I have finished profiles for all (deceased) descendants of my ggg grandparents, and gone down a couple of rabbit holes finding profiles with no dates or locations. Also on the genealogy front...

I hate the new FamilySearch interface. It just violates so many principles of user interface design that it boggles my mind. Actions that used to take two clicks, now need at 8 if not more. Not only this, it violates the rule of 7 +- 2 (which is how much you can remember/view in a glance). Aaarrgghhh. At least you can X the mother and father separately on the search, but the field contents are completely erased if you want to reenable those query criteria. Not to mention the cursor jumping all over the screen, losing focus from where you are and taking you to a completely different area. (Too many years as a software developer, much in user interfaces, is showing, I know.)

by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (593k points)

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/zucchini-brownies-recipe 

Have you ever made these? I never tried them myself, husband won't let me ha.

I agree with your husband. However, my wife makes a mean succotash using zucchini, one of my favorite sides.

Ketchup is a vegetable. And bacon is one of the five essential food groups. laugh Well... is it for me!

Sorry Pip, Tomatoes are a fruit so Ketchup is a fruit spread. I agree with you about the bacon.
Bacon fan here as well, I don't watch the Simpsons anymore but I still laugh when Marge tells Homer, "You promised to limit your pork to six servings a week!".

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+18 votes

Greetings Wikikin!

One the homefront: It is a beautiful day in southeast Michigan. We haven't had much summery weather yet this year, and it is very welcome now that it is here.

Last week, I was absent from Wikichat because I spent Wednesday evening through Friday morning visiting Chicago with my family. On Friday afternoon, we scurried over to South Bend, Indiana just in time for me to attend a wedding rehearsal in the chapel at Saint Mary's College, a women's college that is across the street from the University of Notre Dame.

The groom, arguably my best friend, married a St. Mary's alumna. I was one of his groomsmen. He would've been one of mine, perhaps my best man, except he was spending a year doing mission work in the Amazon at the time. In retaliation, I brought a pack of wild animals to his wedding. My wife, three young sons, and I were delighted to attend his lovely wedding. My middle son was especially thrilled as the groom is his godfather.

This week, has been busy with our two final T-Ball games of the season, and the twins have also been attending VBS at our parish. (Vacation Bible School -  a week-long summer day-camp focused on fun activities that provide religious instruction. I don't know if non-American/Canadian WikiTreers would be familiar - hence the explanation.)

On the wikifront: Obviously I was busy for much of last week. This week I have spent too much time on "the Muskrat French" and have not accomplished as much as I would like. However, my passion project, sourcing {{Unsourced|Michigan}} profiles continues to slowly chug along. There are only 199 such profiles at the moment.

by Thomas Fuller G2G6 Mach 9 (93.3k points)
VBS: I remember the days! Pack of wild animals... now that’s funny. My mother must have thought the same about the three of us.

You really have knocked down that unsourced total for Michigan over the past months. Good for you!
I'm trying not to think much about {{Unsourced}} with a BMD location in Michigan. There are 9845 of those at the moment.
Better than specifically designated New York unsourced which I am concentrating on, (one drop at a time) which numbers over 500,000.  It is gaining faster than my dribs and drabs can carve it away.  And each one usually has one to five connected ones that were never added to the list but I end up sourcing.  A lot of them are from the DeCoursey GEDCOM which started with profiles in the early New Netherland and then New York eras.  No sources will ever show up for many of them.

That seems high. Are you looking at all the errors in addition to all the unsourced?

This New York Unsourced report shows 3700 marked as {{Unsourced|New York}}, with 20,309 profiles with the general {{Unsourced}} tag that have a New York location.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:New_York%2C_Unsourced_Profiles

It's still much more than Michigan, even before I began my obsessive focus - but of course New York has a much larger population now and always has.

FWIW, a lot of the "Michigan pioneers" I'm sourcing were born in the state of New York, so occasionally find one marked {{Unsourced|New York|Michigan}} and take care of it for you. Even more often, I take care of ones that should have been marked that way.

I think I have been misunderstanding the totals.  Am I using
the total of all New York profiles instead of unsourced?  That
makes me feel a lot better about the mountain I thought I was pecking away at.
I know what you mean.  Michigan opened free land and a bunch of my relatives were in the wave of New Yorkers who left.

I think you might be. It says"Condition to prepare list (Location is New York,NY). Profiles: 577072" In other words, there are 577,072 profiles that say New York or NY in one of their location fields.

Whwew!!!  I have to agree that I have misinterpreted the totals.  I just finished sourcing last names that I could find from Familysearch.com with letters M, N, O, P, Q, R, and starting S soon.
If you find a record for someone living in Michigan who was born before 1830 - and their name doesn't sound French - they almost always were born in New York....

Unless the were born before like 1790, then they might have been born in New England, and settled in upstate New York for a few decades until they moved to Michigan with their adult children.
Exactly. Several of my New York went on to Michigan. I just found an unsourced (but not tagged New York) who happens to be buried in the town of 500 where I grew up. So.... it has to be down the rabbit hole I go to work on this family.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

Pack of wild animals??? Just let loose a squirrel.
+21 votes

Greetings, WikiCousins!

Thanks for hosting, Pip!  Watch out for those hummers.  Nasty aggressive little brutes, but gorgeous.

Much crankiness and general frustration for me this week.  Not on WikiTree, but elsewhere, not least with the darn cat below.  I did finish a long delayed project at work.  This thing has a history of being much more difficult than it should be, but the client was happy and grateful to get it done. 

The weather has been beautiful after a late, damp spring.  Most of the grass is still green, and the annual monsoon looks ready to start early.  We had a large crew shooting a movie a few hundred yards from my house last weekend.  Of course, they chose the only really dry weather we've had this year so all the neighborhood was on edge lest the cool kids burn down our forest.  No excitement, though, and all has returned to peaceful rural normal.

Cat by Seth Friedman

Cheers,

Herb

Edit to add - Almost forgot!  High point this week, I read Lee Child's Past Tense, in which Jack Reacher develops a passing interest in genealogy.  Mr Child has some peculiar ideas about US Census records, but otherwise a great read!

by Living Tardy G2G6 Pilot (762k points)
edited by Living Tardy
Here, kitty, Kitty, KItty, KITty, KITTy, KITTY! (They come when they want to, so unlike dogs.)

Pip inspired me to capture this photo, hummingbird checking me out after visiting hosta flower, don't mind the nasty pond water, a fountain recently broke but the frogs love it. Herb your origami reminds me of a river otter sitting up.

Pip, dog origami were even less cooperative this week!

Great hummer pic, CB!  Gotta be quick to get a shot of them like that.  The cat does look a bit otterly now that you say it.
I was in the house at the kitchen window, I put the screen up and that's what it noticed.
She’s looking right at the camera!

Herbert,

Lee Child is on the top of my living author list........  You're right about his genealogy guidance in  Past Tense but his writing style is better than most.  We always look forward to his new book in September.

CB,

Did you take this pic with a camera or phone???
Hi Peggy I used my phone, then I send to my computer and crop all my photos in Paint Shop Pro to make sure they show up the right way.
I'm impressed you could get such a great shot from your "phone".......  I'll have to break out of my old school camera habits.....

Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

Peggy I got super lucky because I haven't seen them at the hostas since, ha!
Pip, you have to have either food or their favorite toy.  My cats could be down the block outside, and I could take a can of something, beat a spoon on it, and listen to the dogs barking getting closer to the house. They could walk the fence line the whole block.  My black cat's favorite  toy was an empty cigarette pack with the celephane still on. Crinkle it up, wide awake no matter what room she was in,  and throw it. She'd fetch.  Sometimes, she would get one from the floor and drop it on me, initiating playtime.

I’ve seen that! Cigarette packs really do entertain.

+21 votes
While the hummingbirds are in full force in the foothills of California, it is the Woodpeckers hanging on the hummingbird feeders that keep us amused.....
by Robin Lee G2G6 Pilot (852k points)
Now, that’s one I’ve never seen before!

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+20 votes
Hi Pip - and hello everyone that has joined in so far. I hope everyone's weekend is starting out nicely. You reminded me of mom's hummingbird feeder Pip. She tried to switch one of the two feeders she keeps on shepherd's hooks in the back yard. They weren't going for it so they all were using the same one. She gave up and put the old one out. They were smart, they knew the difference!

Other than that keeping busy with family. Once the initial rush was over to sign up for the upcoming Connect-a-Thon I didn't have to do so much for it. I'm very excited to participate though! I've been video chatting with the youngest grandbaby - the one year old. She just cracks me up!!! We also use Marco Polo a lot so I can replay the videos later. The joys of today's technology!
by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)

The joys of tech and, Mindy, the joys of grandparenthood. (Is that a word?)

If not it should be!!
Mindy, a question about the Portugal Sticker: Is there a possibility to see how many profiles are there using the sticker? On a sidenote one could compare the stats about people born in Portugal and people with the sticker.

You can click on the sticker and see the profiles that have it. I’m on my phone or I would put a link here smiley hmmm you can’t. There is no category linked. I’ll have to look at that once I’m home.

Ditto to what everyone said on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+21 votes
Hey, could you slow down the Weekend Chats? They come way too often and I can not keep up!

Remember that move from Rhode Island to Portland, Oregon?  Well, after 2 months we moved across the Columbia River to Vancouver, WA.  This is all temporary because in about a month we will move to Kitsap County, WA and then settle there once we find a house.  Maybe as long as two years or more?   

Now if I could only get to my genealogy resource books all packed up in storage for the past 2 months!
by Michael Stills G2G6 Pilot (523k points)

Michael, you’ll never find those books until you make the final move! laugh In my case, it took several more months after moving before I found them all. 

Wait, Vancouver Washington? There is a Vancouver in USA? Hmmm never heard of that. For me Vancouver was always in British Columbia angel

Jelena,  It was named for the same George Vancouver.  It was British territory (Ft. Vancouver) until the boarder with Canada was settled.

When we settle into Kitsap County, we will not be too far from BC.  We love the San Juan's and Victoria.
Yeah Pip,  I remember boxing them up and feeling like I was sending my only child off to college knowing it would be months before I saw them again and wonder how the world would change.

I have a deep longing to be reconnected but I will only be an hour away from my daughter, so that kind of helps, maybe?

Um..No it does not help. I love my daughter but I miss my books.

My philosophy exactly. Love my girls, love my books! laugh

Nah. If you want to be close to BC, you need to move to Whatcom County, Okanogan County, Ferry County, Stevens County, or Pend Oreille County. Or Clallam County, I guess. Point Roberts would be best of all. wink

Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+18 votes
I am just doing laundry and stuff today. Next week is mah birfday, so I'll be off for the week, doing some celebrating.

I'm not complaining, but it is HOT outside. (It's Africa hot, said Matthew Broderick in a film...can you name it?) I'm holding my own "INdoor Fest" with air conditioning, loud music, snacks, etc. Current snack: Cretor's The Mix popcorn. Who knew cheese and caramel popcorn would taste good together. I mean, it's addicting.

HAPPY 4th to all of my fellow citizens of the USA!
by Natalie Trott G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
Biloxi Blues, 1988. A great film.

Cheese and caramel popcorn? Gotta get some.
Happy Early Birthday fellow Treenut!!!

Huh. Yeah. The record highs for Biloxi (according to Wikipedia) aren't too far from the average temperatures for Massawa. (It's too bad that Wikipedia doesn't show the record temperatures for Massawa, but I remember bumping into a meteorologist who worked at the airport in Asmara, and he told me that Massawa had hit 50˚ C (122˚ F) the day before. (That suddenly made the 39˚ C temperatures that I had endured in Massawa the week before seem a lot less extreme, for some reason.)

Yup, Pip, that's the movie. And the salty tanginess of the cheese popcorn is a perfect foil for the sweet stickiness of the caramel corn.

C. Bake, thanks!

I know Biloxi isn't quite as hot as Africa, but it sure can seem like it with that Gulf coast humidity. I wasn't in Biloxi in the summertime, but I was in Fort Walton Beach/Destin for 9 years. Pretty damned warm in the summer, but not quite as swampy as Biloxi!

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

Same Gulf of Mexico breezes.  I lived in Galveston.  Now, if you want HOT as Africa... I live near Death Valley.  No Humidity until about July and Aug when the Gulf of California sends a stream up. Oh and No Rain either.
+20 votes

Hey, y'all! The daylilies are in glorious bloom this year. A few years ago, my husband and I entertained the idea of becoming professional daylily growers. We acquired some beautiful specimens, but we quickly decided that, at our age, we weren't up to the work required to be professionals. However, we still get to enjoy the splendid display they make each summer. I made photos this week. This was my favorite.

Last weekend we were out of town. My step-children's mother passed away and we went to pay our respects and support the family. Though it was a sad occasion, it was nice to see the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

My retirement party was last week. My co-workers really went out of their way to make it very special. Today was my very last "work day." My term as Chief Registrar officially ends on Sunday.

Here on WikiTree, SJ posted a message to me on my profile that I was in the top 1%. I'm not sure what that entails, but I guess it's a good thing. I haven't been working on anything in particular. I often just work on someone who has a birthday or anniversary on that day. Or I work on someone inspired by a prompt from the "52 Ancestors" project. I never want my research to get to feel like a job.

Y'all take care and have a wonderful weekend!

by Nelda Spires G2G6 Pilot (554k points)
I know how you feel, Nelda, not wanting to feel like it’s a job. However, after 40+ years of crappy research, I have this urgency to get my families on WikiTree. The only problem is that hopelessly out-of-date database doesn’t cover nearly the number of family I’ve found since joining WT. I think, though, that the most enjoyable part of my research is finding even more connections among neighboring families.
Nelda,

Congratulations on your retirement!!   You'll soon wonder how you had the time for a job.

The lilies look great but you're wise to keep them a hobby.

Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+18 votes

Currently, it's 28˚ C in Fort Erie, with scattered clouds. We're expecting scattered thunderstorms tonight, with a low (low!) of 19˚ C. Tomorrow's predicted high is 24˚ C, with more thunderstorms.

The light of my life and the delight of my eyes is a big believer in "found" gardening. We're both fond of wildflowers, like buttercups, clover, those miniature daisies, and a bunch of things we don't even know names for that come up in the lawn. I'm particularly fond of forget-me-nots, but basically, if it's small, pretty, and colourful, we're both into it. (Don't tell the neighbours, but we both actually think dandelions are pretty.)

We're pretty sure that the lady who lived here before us must have had flowers all through the yard, rather than confined to specific garden patches. There are all kinds of things that poke up from the lawn (if I hold off mowing for long enough), and we're pretty sure that lots of them were actually planted as flowers, rather than weeds that just kind of showed up.

One example is something that we're pretty sure is related to roses, given the shape of the leaves and the thorns on the stems. It didn't have much of a chance until I stopped mowing the strip of lawn closest to the front of the house, to give the light of my life and the delight of my eyes a chance to weed out the grass and see what else came up. It has been unmowed for a couple of years now, but this is the first year that it has actually blossomed. Too bad neither one of us actually knows what it is.

Lost and Found Flowers

On the genealogy front, I'm still working through SladeGenealogy.net, looking for Slades who are listed on both sites, and putting in links to the SladeGenealogy site on those profiles which are on both sites (or at least, the ones that are open), so the profile managers can look and see what's there, compare sources, and make any additions or corrections to either site that are necessary. So far, I'm up to the "H"s.

by Greg Slade G2G6 Pilot (669k points)

If you decided not to mow so often so to see the wildflowers, what would your neighbors say? (I can get away with it, living in such a rural area as I do.)

Those flowers in the photo are beautiful!

I'd guess multiflora rosa......   You can be more certain when you see the fruit.  (But I'm certainly not a expert!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_multiflora

Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

Thank you, Peggy! We were hoping that someone would help us identify that bush. The Wikipedia article certainly looks like what we've got. I'll try to remember to get pictures once the hips come out.
Pip,

The first summer I moved into this house, I didn't have a lawnmower, because I had been living in apartments for most of my adult life. I kept hoping that some neighbourhood kid would come around asking for money to mow the lawn for us (which is one of the things I used to do to earn money when I was a kid), but it never happened. Then one day a bylaw officer came to the door to tell me that there had been a complaint that our lawn wasn't mowed. He said we were in no danger of a fine, because the grass had to be at least 18" high before we would be fined. But he suggested that it might be an idea to mow anyway, just to keep the neighbours happy. So, I went out and bought a lawnmower.

But apparently, we have at least one person in the neighbourhood who doesn't have anything better to do than call up the Town Hall and report criminal non-mowers.

Greg, it is almost always the case that a neighbor is going to be looking out for code violations because their lives are so empty. HOAs are much worse! I’ll never live in one.

18” is pretty generous. laugh

+17 votes
Hi all,

just a short update as it's midnight approaching fast here on the eastern side of the pond.
The weather is HOT, the whole week over 30°C, sometimes reaching out to 39°C. Somewhere in Germany there was the all-time high put even a bit higher this week with 40.3°C. In the South of France there was today a new record high of 44.3°C. The backside of the medal is that in a part of Germany there are measures taken to assure people don't use unnecessary drinking water.
Mum is doing ok in the rehab, she had a masseur on some days of the week who didn't do that well to the shoulder, because he massaged that hard, that mum wasn't able afterwards to put the shoulder as high as she could before. She now rejects to have him anymore. Beside that she got a prolongation of her rehab, so that she will eventually stay there for a whole month.
On a personal note, I survived the marathon I marched with my relative last week. No exaggeration, if I sum up the distances we walked in those five days, the result is about 40km. That might sound few for some of you, for me it isn't that few. On Tuesday, when I was alone, my legs really went on strike. They didn't want to carry me anymore. And yes I did two lazy days to give them the much needed rest.
The translation is progressing, I worked quite a lot today on it.
by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Jelena, I wondered how you were going to survive your visitor with all the walking I knew you were going to make. Glad you took a couple of days off. I get that way after a particularly hard stretch of work, needing a few days off.

I’ve been watching the weather in Europe, wondering if you were staying cool in all the heat.

Ditto to everyone on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

+17 votes

This week has been a mixed bag around here. Some home and family stuff as my niece adopted a newborn and I got to visit for some grand-aunt snuggles.

Some genealogy stuff as a two new Helms researchers have started adding to their branches of the tree. Looks like a good possibility of at least one of them intersecting with my branch. I'm going to try to further those connections during the Connect-a-Thon. 

If you do US World War I research, I shared a new resource in the Saturday Sourcing Sprint tip this week. Pip, the Sheppard from NC in my citation example is real (sometimes I make them up). 

Around WIkiTree, other than the usual wandering about, I've been working with Aleš as he improves the event calendar and looking to increase the ranks of Team Cornbread Catchers. It's only a couple of weeks til the Connect-a-Thon ... are you ready?

by Debi Hoag G2G6 Pilot (393k points)
Debi, I’ve been prepping for the new Thon for about two weeks. I’m keeping a Word doc with links to families I need to create.

BTW: I was chasing families in Paw Creek, one of them leading to Union County. Decided to cross the River for a break, and chased another family to Waxhaw. Union is like a magnet for a few of my distant relatives!
Yep, I'm prepping for it too. I figure I can meet my goal of 150 profiles just adding relationships to profiles in my watchlist LOL

I saw that, congrats on that connection. Who knows; we may yet find that connection that makes us close cousins.

I think I am ready. Ditto to what everyone said on this chat.

Welcome everyone here to the WikiTree Summer Weekend chat.

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