Travels in 2008, and 2007

Photos

Some photos are posted within the narratives. Others are on our Picasa site: Picasa Photos

New Blog Address... Maybe

2 Jan 2009

I like having a separate blog for each year. It's just my thing. So I've begun yet another one. I hope it will load up automatically - if not just enter chrisbethnbubba.typepad.com - and just like magic....

Merry Christmas!

26 Dec 2008 - So I'm a day late (and a dollar short... it was a bad year!)

We  had a most wonderful day, full of the warmth of good friends, good food, and lots of laughs. A bunch of us gathered at the Rineharts' home and contributed food that should have provided weeks of sustenance for millions. We came as close as possible to finishing it all! Major "Yum"s were heard. We had turkey and ham and potatoes and gravy and corn and dressing and olives and pickles and cranberries and pies and cookies and ...

I did my once a year food frolic - I volunteered for hors'd oeuvres - it was really fun. I spent last week trying out a few goodies and then all day Wednesday and Thursday morning putting them together - a pineapple fruit tree; smoked salmon on cucumber dishes; apple and pineapple salad on crackers; and the piece d'resistance - the green salad.

The pineapple tree with skewers of fruit; the smoked salmon is front left; more smoked salmon surrounded by the spiraled cucumber on the right.

Fruit plate with cheese and radish trees - there weren't a great many of those, my attention span lagged for a moment! - with a great strawberry and peach dip.

The ladies spent a lot of time making the table beautiful, including napkin/name markers. The green salad was another of my concoctions - knowing the plates would be overflowing, the salad was restricted to one spinach leaf, a green onion and a green bean in a hollowed-out cherry tomato. (You may have missed it in the center of the plate.) I've finally found something more difficult to make than olive penguins! But fun!!!

Emily had her own tree this year and has enjoyed climbing it and ringing its bells. She also likes being the center of attention - we don't need a 2-year-old.


 

Many of us went to the Elks Lodge a few days before the Big day to help set up the Christmas boxes for food to be delivered. Chris and Bruce can be seen below.

A week or so ago, Nancy invited the ladies to join her at a traditional afternoon tea at the church - it ranked right up there with the Empress Hotel version!

 

Last night we talked with all the family - sounds like there was a LOT of snow in Seattle and Boise. We're so sorry to have missed it! Santa found them all at their homes, and they sent wonderful and fun presents our way. 

Santa brought Chris a new hand crafted work table for the garage - built by one of our very crafty neighbors. I had to get everyone in on the act to lure him away for an afternoon of shooting at the range in order to get it delivered and hidden under piles of stuff in the garage. So at midnight (our traditional opening of presents time), we went to the garage, pulled out my car and presented the gift. I forgot to put a ribbon on it.

It was a very work/crafty holiday - I received some fun new accessories for my new air compressor.

I hope your Christmas and New Years are as terrific and fun! (Now I have to worry about the soup to contribute to the New Years Eve soup smorgasbord - does anyone have a good clam chowder recipe???)

Quote for the day:

"My parents didn't want to move to Florida Yuma, but they turned sixty and that's the law."
--Jerry Seinfeld

December in Yuma

18 Dec 2008

     It rained in Yuma! This is twice in the past couple of months. This is a WOW. The farmers are not pleased - Yuma is the source of well over 50% of winter vegetables and lettuces and parsleys and such for the entire country. Rain does not fit into the scheme of planting, harvesting and marketing. Canals are for water, not the sky.

     There's worse weather further north. Gene & Brenda had 3" of snow in Las Vegas before escaping to the Seattle area, which has much more than that! The grandkids wrote me with glee, telling of the nasty weather reports coming in of huge snowfalls on Wednesday. So school was canceled. But no snow arrived. It was a free day! Don't know what they are doing today. Gene said he went out with the grandkids and played in the snow this morning.

     The Tamale Festival last weekend was very good - but of all the tamales we tasted, none was as good as the batch from the neighborhood lady. There were 40 or 50 vendors lining the main street of Somerton - each with variations of tamales. Beef, chicken, pork, sweet, shrimp... you name it. It was wonderful.

 

Tamales in the pot....

     Even better eats for the weekend was the Rack of Lamb fixed for us by Howard and Lynda, who were visiting for a few days. Major good food there! We ate every little morsel, including the potatoes and carrots and sauce and bones and smells...

 

  

     I'm pleased that all our Christmas packages have been sent - well, almost all. And some of our Christmas cards - I would much rather send them via Jacqui Lawson than through the US mail.

     Mrs. Santa has goodies under construction in the background for Mr. Santa that he doesn't even know about. And I've really been enjoying my wonderful present that arrived early! I wish the weather would improve a little so it's better in the playhouse. My super-de-dooper carving tool does magical things to gourds! We had to purchase an air compressor to power it - and figured out how to house it in the garage with the door shut so the noise doesn't drive anyone mad. Just the air hose has to run to the playhouse. (This is just the first, rough draft, so to speak. It needs more polishing, and burning and sanding and color... BUT, the turbo-carver works!)

     Today has been spent trying out fancy garnish recipes and tricks. I volunteered for the group potluck, and for almost the first time ever, I'm trying them at home before springing a finished product on the unsuspecting public. I've found several Taste of Home recipes I like; I've tweaked a few others. People should be happy. Let's see, there's smoked salmon cucumber canapes; fruit kabobs with peach and strawberry dip; apple, pineapple and pecan cracker topping; a fresh pineapple tree ala Play With Your Food; stuffed cherry tomatoes... Betty Crocker only strikes once or twice a year at my house.

     Less than good news was the birthday of my youngest son this week; my "baby boy", the little brother, the "kid" - okay, so he's 42 years old!

     Even worse news was the death of one of our neighbors. He was younger than Chris. How come at a time like this 42 seems so old, and 62 seems so young? Our group of friends is so supportive and wonderful in times of need - everyone jumped in to help in many ways. I'm proud to be a part of this group of truly nice people.

Feliz navidad.

Oops, we're home...

4 Dec 2008
Yuma

Okay, so we weren't supposed to return till Saturday. But holidays shouldn't be a penal colony, right? And the car was right there. And Yuma was only 4 or 5 hours away. And we had seen the only tourist site in the area. And the internet at the resort only worked when it wanted to (we ended up not having to pay for it, even. I dredged up enough espanol to convince the manager it was not worth the money.)  And we had walked all the gorgeous beaches multiple times. And we had eaten every shrimp we could find in town, at many and various restaurants.

So we looked at each other and said, "Let's go home." There were no dissenting votes.

It was a fun trip!

Variation: It was a fun 4-day trip!

San Felipe must have been a really full-of-life place a few years ago. Now it is like an ancient decaying forgotten holiday spot. The restaurants are empty; the RV parks have mostly shut down; the marina had only 3 or 4 larger boats in it; the sidewalks rolled themselves up after dark. It was almost embarrassing - it obviously used to be so much more. Tourism has been running the economy - restaurants and seafood are the stars - but the economy is dropping radically.

North of town is a "Rich American" enclave, with huge mcmansions and gated communities, but still lots of open building lots. We looked it over and had lunch at the golf club. Don't plan on us investing in property there! There is no shopping - you must drive 2 hours to Mexicali for any major purchases. San Felipe's population is about 10,000 - no Wal-Mart here, for sure. There is one nice grocery store and lots of fish stores, tire stores, mexican restaurants of every size, shape and color, and fishing boats.

Near and about town is typical low income housing and yards. We found just two RV parks within walking distance of downtown, and talked with one Canadian couple that's been here every winter for 5 years now. They love it. They did admit it has some problems - like there are only 3 slots in the RV park where they'll fit. Most spots were constructed with a VW minibus in mind, it appears.

We found a variety of people to visit with and talk about the community, which we always enjoy: the anglo owner of a downtown bar; the 20-ish daughter of one of the town elders - he owns a variety of businesses including restaurants; the Canadian couple that spents several months here each winter; a good-looking young man who went to school in the States and decided this was a better place to buy a home and raise a family; a Las Vegas resident who has lots of friends in the north of town area and wants to move down and join them as a permanent resident...

South of town a few miles are multiple begun-but-not-finished resort communities - it's sad how much money has been poured in with few results.

West of town are gorgeous mountains - into the 9,000 foot range. This is the dry side of the mountains; on the Ensenada side they have agriculture and wineries. Here they have mesquite bushes and shrimp.

So, we had fun. We're glad to be home.

You should look at my picasa.com photos - all have stories attached. Otherwise the blog would get too long. Click on the link at the top, or on any photo in the slideshow to go to the photo site.

Buenas noches, amigos. Buen viaje.

San Felipe, Mexico

1 Dec 2008

San Felipe, Mexico

Well, here we are in a beautiful resort by the sea - the Sea of Cortez. It's warm, it's sunny, it's stocked with miles of white sandy beaches - all of them lacking tourists.

We've eaten (shrimp tacos, campechena (seafood cocktales), grilled shrimp, mexican ciappino, tortilla soup, chicken enchiladas...) We've drunk (cervezas and margaritas, coca-cola and bottled water...) Okay, so we've only been here 2 1/2 days. We'll find more. [No deseo comer mas, estoy satisfecho. Para hoy...] We've shopped - wait till you see the photo of Chris' purchase! The downtown stores are not packed in like Algodones and the vendors aren't near as eager. It's nice to be able to just shop. Tomorrow we sightsee.

San Felipe is a small town on the east side of Baja California - across the large Sea of Cortez from the last RCI exchange place we did in Puerto Pensasco. This rental unit is much nicer!!! It's a one-bedroom with a full kitchen, within a very short stroll to those white sandy beaches and only 3 miles south of downtown. The Sea of Cortez is known for its large delicious shrimp. We'll haul back a load of them for our use and as gifts for our friends. The drive down from Yuma through Mexicali (which is across the border from Calexico) is about four hours.

The center of town has a surplus of stop signs - but only one stop light we've seen so far. The small "alto" signs are way off to the side and not near as visible as we're used to. There have been a few times of heavy brake usage. Y las carreteras estan llena de baches. The waterfront district is also the restaurant and shopping area. The food everywhere has been really good, well, with the exception of the resort restaurant. In Puerto Penasco, the in-house eats were terrific.

I do find it interesting that this small town severely dependent on the (U.S.) tourist trade speaks only mexican, with very few exceptions. The oficina de turismo was not one of the exceptions! We've been totally spoiled by the Algodones/San Luis area and their bilingualism. Here I have to brush up on my pitiful spanish. At least I remembered to bring a print-out of a translation of the road signs this time. And a diccionario. I can muddle through a lot of it. (Silly Americans, thinking everyone in the world speaks their language... Next time we may have to bring Lynda and Howard.) The highlight of San Felipe is that everyone we've met is very friendly. I like that in any place.

I forgot a prescription and Chris forgot some clothing, so we had to "shop" - we did well, considering. We determined 4 out of 5 farmacias in San Felipe do not have an English speaking employee, and that it is much easier to explain what type of underwear we needed than what type of drugs. There's not exactly a Wal-Mart store in town...

The internet connection for this high-class resort is pitiful. So far it appears to work most mornings, but not afternoons, nor evenings, and doesn't reach to our room. But we only brought one computer - we've had to set up individual times to visit the modem - 75 feet down the sidewalk - because we kept elbowing each other out of the way in order to look at our own stuff. We both easily qualify for the Doesn't Play Well With Others designation. And I forgot to bring a camera connection for the old laptop, so photos won't be included till we return.

Just as we were leaving Yuma, we discovered more people - family and friends - on facebook.com. Oh, dear, this could be an addiction. Even Chris signed up for his own account! This is not a social networking person, trust me. The grandkids instantly jumped on his bandwagon and begged to be his friend. It was funny.

Updates

22 Nov 2007
Yuma, yet again

     Wow, I just received an email from an old San Carlos friend, with a brief description of their recent travels - nothing exciting, unless you call a cruise from Rio to Barcelona such. Or, the one after that, the 14-day cruise of the eastern Mediterranean, including Istanbul, Rhodes, Delos, Mykonos, Santorini, Sicily, Montenegro, Croatia and Venice. Okay, so I was overwhelmed. What's really the killer is that all of that was leading up to the mention of a forth-coming voyage from Hong Kong to Athens. Oh, my.

     Okay, so our upcoming week in San Felipe, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez isn't quite the same. But I can drive there from here, in my own little car and not have to mess with one airport nor security device. There are benefits. I've begged for copies of her edited videos. Sig is a world-class videographer and editor. She taught me all I used to know on the subject. We spent some really terrific hours together laboring over old non-user-friendly equipment, making them create beautiful objects.

     Last week's blog from Mike 'n Dawn was about their fantastic journey to Lesotho and Bloemfontain, with a short stop-over again at the animal park for visits with lions and tigers and bears, oh, my. Or was that giraffe and water buffalo and elephants, oh, dear? His photos are coffee-table book quality, and he takes lots of them. It's so fun traveling vicariously with all these classy people. (Does going to the new James Bond flick this week and watching him have adventures in all those foreign countries count also?)

I borrowed one of Mike's photos.

     Nancy and I went to Mesa for a few days and had a wonderful time learning about high-tech in genealogy research. A number of the Big Names in the industry were there and the educational sessions were terrific. I came home enthused and eager to do it right, this time. Maybe.

From 11 Nov Yuma

     We also stopped by to check on the Elder Grandson Trevor - he was living just a few blocks from our hotel. He looked (and hugged) very well. He only has 6 months to go on his Mormon mission, and is trying to get all his little ducks in a row to get back into school. He's re-applying to the military academies - he was accepted at West Point last time, but they washed him out on medical because of asthma. Now perhaps they will have changed their minds? We'll see. All the paperwork is apparently in. It's just the waiting.

From 11 Nov Yuma

     Elder Knowles broke his nose playing indoor soccer a couple of months ago. I was interested to see if the plastic surgeon had put him back together in the same format - apparently so. I recognized him.

     I'm trying to begin a habit of stopping in a couple of days a week at the Senior Community Center to play with the old folks doing their arts and crafts. They put the gourd people back in one corner, but that's okay. All sorts of people are doing all sorts of things at least 3 days a week. Mostly they play well with others, even. No one seems to mind when you drop shavings on the floor. I've not yet signed up for the Senior Belly Dancing class.

     And Chris let me order my Christmas present early - a Turbo Carver is on its way. This is the really high speed carver that cuts as easy as carving butter and does all kinds of fancy detail work. The warning with the okay to order was something about my now being required to carve gourds 18 hours a day... Hmmmm.

     Bad news this week was about another friend, who was just diagnosed with a malignancy - a lump in the breast. But I have an optimistic attitude - they caught it early, it's not a nasty kind (who ever thought we would distinguish between bad and really bad?) and the doctors have every confidence she will have a Cancer Survivor story soon. I knew there must be some kind of problem when her blog entries suddenly quit. I'm so glad it isn't any worse. Joan is finally over the shock and ready to start the battles. All prayers and good wishes for her will be appreciated.

Quote for the day:
The definition of Hope: the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.
I have hope for Joan.

Lot Wright - my brick wall

10 Nov 2008
Yuma, AZ

     I spend many hours per week "playing" with family history and genealogy - which are somewhat different animals. There's MY family history and then there is Genealogy in general - finding and identifying old dead people, and then linking them to someone still alive. It's fun! Not everyone's cup of tea, of course. But amusing in the same way a jigsaw puzzle is.

    I'm involved in a couple of indexing projects, where I am provided digital images of old records and asked to enter the information into a pre-formatted form. Eventually, all million plus marriages listed in the county courthouse records in Indiana will be easily searchable on-line by anyone, anywhere. I do this because I want someone else to do it for me. The LDS Church through its familysearch.org has had a volunteer program going for some time. It includes census, birth, probate, marriages, death records, etc. - from all over the world, all heading for your computer. This is wonderful, trust me! Now ancestry.com is starting a similar project. Both projects are also teaming up with state, local and national data centers, including the National Archives. The capabilities of technology are awesome for someone who started this addiction back when people used typewriters to send off letters.

So, I've decided to occasionally put in a family history story to amuse my loyal viewers. [And to experiment with putting google maps into the narrative. Something I learned from my geeks on tour buddies.]

Once Upon a Time, Long Long Ago...

Today's story is Lot Wright. Lot is elusive. Lot is not attractive (see the only known photo of him - probably taken about 1880 in California.)  The search for Lot's roots has led me into many obscure courthouses and down many dusty shelves in libraries. My cousin Phyllis and I agreed that if and when we get to the same place on the other side, we are going to give him a piece of our mind for not leaving more information on his parents and family!

     Lot was born in Pennsylvania about 1811. He died in 1889 in California. That's it. That's all we know. His parents were probably born in Virginia - at least that's what he told a census taken in 1880 in Calaveras county, California. [Which is now home of the world famous Frog Jumping Contest. And yes, I once entered said contest... my frog lost. But only because he was so distracted by my loving looks beforehand.]

  

Sorry, back to the story...

     Lot moved to Hancock county, Indiana about 1830 and purchased property - I have a photocopy of the deed to his lot in downtown Greenfield, Indiana. In 1833, he married Mary Martin, the daughter of Micajah and Mary Martin, late of Maysville, Kentucky. Lot and Mary had a total of seven children over the next 15 years. They purchased land just north of Greenfield where Lot farmed for a while. He obviously had the Wright genes, however, y'know, the ones that require we move often? After living in Hancock county about five years, they pop up in Preble county, Ohio, where they had a couple of children, then they were back in Hancock county, Indiana by 1848. In 1859, at the age of 50, Mary Martin Wright died. Their youngest son, Addison, was only 11.

     If you click on the "view larger map" link, you will be able to see the various locations mentioned in this fascinating tale.

View Larger Map

     Mary's parents, Micajah (mi kay' jaw) and Mary Martin, also lived in Hancock county. The Martin family and their connections to Maysville, Kentucky and Somerset county, New Jersey, will be outlined in another posting, someday. Perhaps. Mary's mother died there in Hancock county about 1837; her father died in 1844. Other brothers and sisters lived close by - sister Angeline Martin lived next door and was married to Edmund Brizendine. (She had previously been married to Gilbert Wright, quite likely Lot Wright's brother, but that connection hasn't been proven.) William B. Martin, her only identified brother, lived there. Sisters Amelia, Nancy and Helen all were married in Hancock county during the time from 1834 to 1844 (to Haden Brock, Jehu Lewis and Harrison S. Morgan, respectively).

     In 1860, just a year after his wife's death, Lot sold all his property in Hancock county and headed West.

His sons likewise left the area:

*Micajah Wright moved to Woodson county in southeast Kansas.

*Ethan William "Will" Wright didn't leave - he died as a teenager.

*Daniel Gard "Dan" Wright was apprenticed to be a blacksmith, but moved west with his dad about 1860 - they both voted in territorial elections in the high mountain mining country of Colorado in 1861. Dan says he spent some time in Virginia City, Montana also. (More about him later also - this is great-grandpa Dan.)

*John Simeon "Sim" Wright went to Illinois and then Texas before he ended up in California before 1886.

*The only girl, Mary J. Wright, married and remained in the Greenfield area. She is believed to be the one who died and was buried next to her mother in 1869 in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

*Son Jehu L. Wright is missing - he may have died young, but there was one note in Great-grandpa's writing saying he was in the Civil War. Maybe. Great-grandpa was known for telling tall tales, as were his sons.

*The last and youngest, Addison Wright, lived for a time with his brother in Kansas and then went back to Greenfield to marry a local girl (Mary R. Gant). But they eventually also settled in Kansas.

      In later years the surviving brothers stayed in touch - there are photos and stories of them and their families. I found all these from kissin' cousins in Stockton, California a few years ago.

     Back to Great-Great-Grandpa Lot's story. He arrived at Ione, Amador county, California in time for the 1870 census. He, son Dan (Great-Grandpa Dan) and Dan's wife and 2 children are all there in that census listing; both Lot and Dan give their employment as blacksmith. In 1882, Lot purchased 80 acres under the Homestead Act in Calaveras county, a few miles south of Ione. The closest towns are Burson and Jenny Lind, if you look at the map; it's just 20 miles or so to Angels Camp (back to the frog story). This is also California Gold Country - and they arrived just 15 or 20 years after the big rush. The family began to gather again—about this same time, son "Sim" and family also settled in the county.

[Photo right: Great Grandpa Daniel Gard Wright (1838-1913)

 

     So our family has California roots - Great-Great-Grandpa died and is buried there; Great-Grandpa is buried there; Grandpa Robert Lee Wright was born there. Somewhere in all my mess I have photos of their gravestones. And way down the line, brother Mike was born in Fresno county in the 1940s, a purely unrelated occurrence - our folks just happened to be living temporarily in the Central Valley.

     Most significantly, both my sons were born in the Bay Area. I lived in the state off and on for 8 years in the 60s and 70s and then 15+ years in the 80s and 90s. I loved it; I'm so glad I don't live there anymore...

Stay tuned for more old dead people stories...

 

I don't have to look up my family tree, because I know that I'm the sap.  ~Fred Allen

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. ~George Bernard Shaw

"Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you." -- Mark Twain

One of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons:

Genealogy Reigns

2 Nov 2008
Happy Birthday to Taft on the 31st!

     This winter I'm planning to concentrate on several genealogy projects - we'll see how much I accomplish.
-finish the Miner photo books
-get info from Huron county, Ohio on the Miners and Munsons and Durfees
-help Nancy and Judy extend their trees
-clean up my office - scan all possible and discard as much as I can stand to

     I started out well. Saturday morning Nancy and I arose at 4 AM!!!! and drove 4 hours to Prescott, AZ to attend an all-day seminar on the Legacy program and research in general (and then drive home again...) It was terrific, but almost killed us. I couldn't believe Nancy wanted to go - they arrived the night before from a 4-day forced march from Minnesota. Obviously she's younger than I. I'd never been to Prescott (pronounced pres' kit). It's a cute little town up in the hills northwest of Phoenix - 6000' elevation.

     My other family history accomplishment is finding new relatives. As a rule, it's dead ones I locate. This year seems to be live ones. A new kissin' cousin popped into the in-mail box the other day and after doing some notes and photos back & forth, introduced me to his half-sister. Both are children (even at mature ages, we are still children of our parents, aren't we?) of my cousin, who died years ago in a motorcycle accident. So, in the past couple of years, I've located, or been located by, groups in Cardston, Alberta, San Antonio, St. Anthony, Idaho, Sioux Falls, and Tucson. Cool.

     Next week Nancy and Judy and I will go to Mesa for a 2-day seminar. More on how-to, more books and gadgets to buy, more enthusiasm - we hope.

We found the Elks Lodge in Prescott.
 

With a big elk waaaaay up on top.

The night before was Halloween, so I utilized my Dremel to carve a pumpkin. This was fun.

Happy Halloween!

I'm a Porsche 911!

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Okay, so perhaps not... It's a great thought! But... maybe...

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Or, as we say in our household, "Si, Pepe..."

Flowers and sun

19 Oct 2008
Yuma

     The high heat has mellowed into very comfortable warmness - we're seldom above 95 degrees now (I can hear my mother screaming from the grave that 95 would be unbearable!!! But she was a wuss on heat.) Chris loves it, and I've gradually acclimated to where it's not bad at all. We've had just one little rain cloud since we returned to Yuma, at the end of the monsoon season, so almost every day is just... warm and sunny. Think how to make that sound interesting on the nightly news... every night.

     This week I nested - I bought some plants and pots and dressed up the place a little. Robert & Faye came to dinner last Sunday; Chris had to clean all the spider webs off the patio and furniture in their honor, so I had a clean slate to start with.

     You'll notice I tucked in one little patio tomato plant also. I haven't tried growing them in previous years - this is definitely an experiment. I also stuck a beefsteak tomato plant into the flower bed at Deane's house across the road. She hasn't returned to the warm country yet, but we're keeping an eye on her watering system - which totally failed this summer - and trying to rescue one or two of her plants. The cactus may be all that survive.

     After I finished the planting, I started to water them all - oops, the hose had been lying in the sun. The water temperature was about 300 degrees coming out of it. The next honey-do completed was hanging a hose rack on the north side of the house.

     The town is starting to fill up with Snowbirds (sorry, PC people, "Winter Visitors") - the RV sales lots are bringing in lots of big rigs in an attempt to entice new buyers; the RV parks have more rigs in the storage area and more warm bodies wandering around their park models; the traffic at the corner near Fry's grocery store and the freeway is backed up; the flea market opened for business this weekend; the local news had a feature story on the beginnings of the migration season and the boon it is for local businesses...

     Another neighbor stopped over for a visit and a cold drink last evening as we were trying to install a new screen to keep the bird(s) in the house. You'll recall Tex escaped through the last model. Alan is single and has lived across the street for a couple of years, but never socialized with anyone much. Now he tells us he'll be leaving in the spring. He teaches a program at AWC on water treatment plant technology; he'll move to Farmington, NM to head up the same program there. [BTW, people familiar with the location of our house will laugh at this connection - we live 500 feet from one of the most obnoxious water treatment plant lifting stations in the world! For years the smell has often permeated our entire neighborhood. It appears the $25,000 per day fines we've heard rumors of are finally bringing some closure to the problem.]

     I found a new website that has used up hours and hours of my time. NewspaperArchives.com has full page pdf files of gazillions of old newspapers. I found the obituary for Nancy's great-grandfather in it - the site is totally searchable by individual name/word. Which means you not only don't have to go to a library and squint at a microfilm you don't even have to read the whole page when you find something - it highlights your search inquiry. It's a Wow. It would be even better if any of my ancestors ever made the newspapers. Or if they had my neighborhoods of interest in their databank. I did call up the San Mateo Times for October 1929, just to see what our old neighborhood paper had to say about the Wall Street Crash. One day, one huge headline and story. The next day was back to usual.

Quote for the day:

The mockingbird can change its tune 37 times in 7 minutes. Politicians regard this ability with awe.