Search This Blog

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thanksgiving, Hiles--Bouldron--Adams Style

I went back and looked at last year's post relative to this time (and that's a nice thing to be able to do) and what I said then applies to this year as well except that I want to increase what I said about the "buffer".  The buffer that I mentioned had to do with the two days following Thanksgiving and how special that is -- but now I would like to say that the whole Thanksgiving week is like a buffer -- a division between the regular year and the "pre-season Christmas" year . . .

The dinner items pictured here were some of the best dishes I have ever experienced for a Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was perfect including the trimmings.

Even though we were at a friends house for the Thanksgiving celebration, Gail and I cooked a full turkey dinner for us as well so that we could have leftovers and turkey sandwiches for several more feedings -- and boy are we ever having those . . . the bird we cooked had been in our freezer for more than a year -- in fact it had been at our old house which seems strange now. I am guessing that we have at least two more nights for dinner and several more lunches -- what a deal. It is almost the only time of the year that we eat from a whole turkey -- the only thing that was different this year was that the giblets and assorted odd-pieces which for the past twelve years were given to Auggie were not.

This week the weather included rain, fog, cold and a lot of gray days -- except today was bright and sunny which the paper did not call for. We avoided the "Black Friday" retail events and did manage to hit a few retail stores today mostly for small needed items -- we even spotted my brother and Nancy out and about , we hurried home though to avoid the "Occupy Healdsburg" event scheduled for around 2 pm . . .

Part of what makes Thanksgiving so much of a nice Holiday is the opportunity to visit with friends -- and that we got the chance to do at the home of Gay & Jim in Sonoma. We met and dined with friends who we knew in the City and all but two have homes in the North Bay now. It was a most pleasant visit and the food of course was part of the celebration. There were many stories told and retold and promises to meet again in the near future. I of course had the opportunity to snap a few photos and here is a collage from our day:


We spent four or so hours visiting, eating and renewing friendships -- one person even thought that maybe I was still working . . . wow, that was twelve years ago -- hard to believe.

News on the progress of Family Research


Every week I find things or hear of things or receive things about some branch of the family research, and this week was no exception.  I heard from one of my cousins regarding a question that I had posed to him some time ago -- he answered me partly this week in the same message that he expressed " A Happy Thanksgiving" to all -- my Mother's brother who was a favorite Uncle and had served in the military at the end of WWII, but I never have found or seen any evidence of his service other than to read a line in his obituary that he had served.

Well Stewart's son (Jeff) wrote and confirmed that Stew had been in the Navy and had been deployed to Pearl Harbor, South Pacific, San Francisco & San Diego (Jeff says he was there the same time another favorite Uncle, Bern, was in San Diego) I sure hope that I can confirm all of that. Jeff says that his dad was in the Navy Medical Corp and was a "ships pharmacist's mate" . . . these facts are all pieces of the puzzle.

Now, speaking of puzzles -- just this week I found two other puzzling pieces of "evidence" to add to the family tree. For a long time I have been trying to put some dates on the times that my father was in the Army -- I always knew that he had been in the Army for two different periods of time. I was elated when I found a new data base in Ancestry.com that gave his service dates -- I am not sure how the database had the dates since I was told that all of my father's military records had burned (along with millions of others too).

The BIRLS database said my father was in the Army for his first enlistment from 10 Aug 1926 to 20 Sep 1927 -- okay so far. Then for his second enlistment he was in from 12 May 1931 to 16 Jun 1933,  great information I thought -- until I remembered that the 1930 Federal Census ( a year that does not correspond to the BIRLS) shows my father as a soldier at Fort Sheridan near Chicago -- so now I have to figure out -- "What gives?"

To make matters more questionable about the BIRLS database I found a record showing my younger brother's death due to natural causes in the year 2000, with his service dates in the Navy during Viet Nam as 26 Oct 1964 (the day after Jon's 17th birthday) through 28 Nov 1966 -- the major problem with that information is that Jon is STILL ALIVE . . . I have more researching to do:


If you click on the above you'll be able to examine these records -- the two BIRLS records and the excerpt
of the 1930 Federal Census  . . .

Another Highlight of this Week


As you all know by now, Gail and I have been involved with Guide Dogs for the Blind -- what an impressive organization. We started about two months ago and are going through weekly training sessions where the puppies and people like us are trained. Part of the training involves puppy-sitting. We puppy sat for 10 days with Janie and that was fun, this week we are puppy sitting for Julep -- a 7 month old yellow lab -- and the experience has been great. Tomorrow her real puppy-raising family will pick her her up.

Here are some of the highlights of our week with Julep:


Besides enjoying Julep in our home we took her on many "retail" visits. When she puts on the "uniform" she gets right into the role of "guide dog". We have learned so much about dogs and for that matter people as well -- every where we go with one of these puppies the "ice" is broken almost immediately and we talk with people that we never would have been "allowed to" before.

We are sad to see Julep return to her "home" but look forward to getting another puppy soon.

More Good News


It is a commonly accepted fact that we as people have a "six degrees of separation" status. The fun game of six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon has been around for some time -- but it really applies to each of us as we make the connections.

I know from my days of volunteering at the "Crisis Center" that holidays and Sundays often bring huge feelings of loneliness to many. But the good news revealed just this week is that we may be closer to one another than we ever knew -- considering that we have 7 Billion people now on the planet that is an interesting thought.

The web site -- gimundo.com is a fun place to receive "good news" and it does so daily:

Check it out and sign up to receive your batch of good news (like the above) on a daily basis.


Well, so goes another week and this like so many is a special week. Normally I would be saying that in a few minutes we will be enjoying our customary "Slider Saturday Night", but due to circumstances -- mostly a refrigerator filled with turkey and trimmings, we are going to enjoy yet another turkey dinner -- we just can't get enough of it . . .

Have a good week, see you in a few!


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Fall Foliage -- Hiles Foliage -- Guidedog Grads

This week has been another beautiful mix of fall weather here. Earlier this week Gail and took a brief walk around the neighborhood and were struck with a brilliant display of fall colors. The weather was sometimes brisk and crisp enough to snag a few photos:



The sun on this day was just right to catch the reddened leaves intermixed with other shades.  We love the Liquid Ambers but having had several we know that everyone of those leaves will drop and then need attention. We never minded though -- in years gone by those leaves would have been raked into big piles and then burned -- I can still smell that smell . . .

We both were busy this week with a variety of things -- Gail mostly with teaching, while I worked on the other leaves and branches of the Hiles trees, the Bumgardner trees, the Bouldron trees and the Rahman trees. In a variety of places I found things to add to the various branches. I manitain trees on several different websites. This week I added a number of items to my own website, to Geni and to Ancestry. In Geni it is interesting to see the statistics that pop up:

Above is an example of some of those I added this week -- pictures of two of the Martin girls -- daughters of Samuel Martin. Susan Martin and Esther (I) Martin -- both of whom are my Grand Aunts. Unfortunately they both died young, Susan when she was about 10 years old and Esther (I) at about three years old. Esther (I) is named that because after she died the Samuel Martins had another daughter and they named her Esther as well -- and she was Esther (II).

If you click on the above to enlarge it you'll see the info -- but better yet, visit Geni.com for yourself. And the bottom circled item shows my stats -- 1227 Family members on Geni, 100,000 blood relatives and 43,256 ancestors -- check them out . . .

Guide Dogs for the Blind -- Graduation Day


Gail and I spent the day in San Raphael, California. We attended the graduation of several guide dogs. It is at this celebration that the dogs are formally taken from the "raisers" and given to the blind recipients. It was a powerful and emotional ceremony.


Above are some pictures of that ceremony -- every recipient and every raiser gives a short talk about their experience and thanks both to GDB and to the GDB families that make everything happen. The recipients are flown in from around the country and receive their new dogs and then are flown back to their homes -- all of this at no charge to the recipients. There is also a huge amount of training that takes place and the recipients are all housed at the San Raphael facility while trainig.

Prior to the graduation Gail & I took the tour of the very impressive facilities that have been in place since 1942 and since 1947 in San Raphael. It was truly an unbelievable day.


We in all likelihood will return to this facility to receive our first puppy to begin training.  Click on the above to see some of the activities that go on and to see some gorgeous pups. While there today, we did meet our second pup to "puppysit" this next week -- Julep.

Correction 


Last week in honor of Armistice Day, I had shown the WWI draft cards of all four of Gail and my grandfathers. And I said that it was ironic that none of them served in the war -- while they did not serve in the World War I, Gail's grandfather Henry J Rahman did serve in the military.

Henry enlisted into the U.S.Army in 1902 in Missouri and was discharged in Washington State in 1905. Below is some of that documentation:


Click to enlarge and you can see the details of Henry's Army record.


Lastly


I was busy busy busy this week in finding and updating with newspaper articles. The one's below I sent away for from the Monroe County (Wisconsin) Local History Room & Museum. It usually takes a couple of weeks to receive the copies and then I start to place them wherever they fit.

You can see four of the ten or so articles that I posted in the various trees and websites. I know how excited I feel when I go to a site and I see things that others have posted that is important for my research, and I hope others are pleased to find these also . . .


And so went our week. It will be sliders soon, later than usual, but we will enjoy them while watching a recorded football game or other event . . . see you back here in a few!


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Hiles/Bumgardner,Bouldron/Rahman WWI

This week has exhibited a variety of weather types for us. Everything from semi-warm to quite chilly with both rain and sunshine. But there was definitely something in the "air" besides the weather changes. It became apparent to me when I was working at my desk one evening and I looked outside in the newly darkened skies (due to the time change) and was amazed at the sight:



Just over the roof of the house across the street was a very full and very bright moon. For some reason when I was still working at a career type job the full moon seemed to always bring about a "difference" in the way people and events happened. The sight of the full moon explained to me why the week was "feeling different" or it might just have been my imagination . . .

It is hard to believe that it is November already. And the fact that we have the interesting combination of the date -- 11-11-11 -- is fascinating. I have always enjoyed seeing unique number combinations and I have been known to glance at the speedometer every-once-in-a-while just to see if another "important" number is about to appear. But the fact that 11-11-11 is Veteran's Day got me to thinking about our two families and some events that occurred that were common to them and to most throughout our country. Veteran's Day or Armistice Day also known as "Remembrance Day" commemorates  the end of the first World War -- the "War to end all Wars"  . . . and now the day is a day to remember all military servicemen from all wars and thank them for their sacrifice and service -- which we do.

But in looking at my family and Gail's family our two sets of Grandfathers (all four) have a unique record that shows up when doing family military history -- the World War I Draft Cards. What is interesting for our four Grandfathers is that none of them served in the active military, but were registered in case they were needed. This registration came in the year that the war ended -- 1918:


If you click on the above you can see more detail that is presented on these cards. One thing that I find neat is the signatures of our Grandfathers. And then the addresses showing where they lived in 1918 and the names of their closest relative -- usually their wife's name. Also there is a brief physical description as well and I am always surprised that someone is a certain height and/or they had a certain color eyes -- things that  I had overlooked.

I have collected many WWI Draft cards for many of the folks in "our" tree and they can be found and seen by visiting the Hiles website -- www.danhiles.com   


About the time period of the birth of the above Grandfathers was also the birth of some other memorable and recognizable icons -- the symbols used to designate Republicans and Democrats. There is a very interesting story about how that came to be -- and I found it in a website (History Buff) just click on this link to read the fascinating story . . .  Republican -- Democrat



I had always had other reasons as to why the symbols were used . . .


Just in time for the coming holiday . . .

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays -- besides the food it is just plain relaxing usually unless it is your responsibility to "fix" dinner. But I have always wanted to make the following for Thanksgiving but for one reason or another have not done it -- and probably won't do it this year since we have been invited out . . .


Now doesn't that look scrumptious -- I am getting hungry just looking at it. I can smell the aroma and anticipate how a large fork-full would taste and the wonderful "after-glow" that comes from a turkey dinner. I think back to the days when we were off to "Grandma's" for Thanksgiving dinner -- usually we ate around 3 pm -- which gave us time for turkey sandwiches later in the evening after some hours spent around my Grandfather's pool table . . .

If you are ready to fix the above here is the link for details:  Turducken  If you fix this please let me know how it turned out.


About this Blog (Healdsburg Heritage Hound)


One of the really handy things about this blog is Google's search feature. You can use it to search the blog itself and the archives AND/OR you can search the Hiles Genealogy Website -- right within the blog.
Another feature is that you can follow the blog easily by signing up via email OR joining via a "reader".
Below is a chart showing both features -- click to make it larger:


Try it out and if any questions, let me know.


Guide Dog Training this Week


We had another very interesting training session this week at the Guide Dogs for the Blind session. All the puppies went to the mall . . . The Santa Rosa Mall this time. We had a great time and the puppies were so well behaved. Since we do not have our own puppy (yet) Gail got to borrow "Scooter" for this training:


Here is Scooter and Gail cruising the mall . . . they went throughout the whole place including the food court. The public almost always "breaks out" the smiles as we walk by them and many want to share their puppy stories as we "work" . . .


Things To-Do In Healdsburg


One thing that might be fun to do during a Thanksgiving break would be the following -- as long as the weather permits.  It looks like real fun (I have always wanted to ride one of those things . . .) and there is NO peddling. Check it out here:    Segway of Healdsburg




And so another week has flown by, later we will be enjoying the newly made (now frozen) batch of slider patties. Have a good week, see you in a few!


Saturday, November 5, 2011

Clocks,Canine,Chevrolet,Chaos &Cash Crop

This week has been a mixture of numerous events for us and the weather. Everything from warm sunshine to blustery rain -- but with all that going on, for the first time in many years the TIME CHANGE has surprised me with it's appearance . . .


It seems like we have about this many clocks -- all needing to be changed tonight -- I do have a couple of satellite controlled clocks, but the rest have to be manually changed 1-hour back . . . this doesn't even include the numerous digital clocks associated with various appliances that often display simultaneous displays almost demanding to be set to the identical minute -- not always easy.

It will be nice to have the extra hour -- but if you have animals that rely on a schedule the'll let you know the real time until you can little by little make the adjustment for them.

Speaking of animals, we had to say "good-bye" to Janie, the Guide Dog for the Blind 4 month old puppy we have had for the last 10 days. Her "regular" puppy-raiser is back from her business trip (to Indianapolis) and wanted her back -- the nerve. But in this program we can expect frequent "good-byes". So we look forward to the next puppy to come into our lives. Janie was so well mannered -- she is well on her way to being successful as a guide dog.


It is amazing how one small dog can impact our daily routine. Above are a few candid shots of a really nice dog. If you click to enlarge the collage you can see  Janie's affectionate tongue . . .


But "Hello" to a New-Found Cousin


Just this week I received an email from a young man requesting a log on to the HILES website. After he explored a bit he found people in his HILES branch that he had not known of before. We have communicated back and forth several times. So a welcome goes out to Dustin Hiles who lives in Logan, Ohio. I hope that we can keep trading information so that it is available to all who are researching in our tree.

Dustin is a 4th Cousin, once removed, to me. In the coming weeks I'll be adding more information about his branch and line -- but so far his line is:   Dustin, David Patrick Hiles, Edward Leon Hiles, Lewis Delmar Hiles, Francis Marion Hiles, Edward Hiles and finally to our closest common relative John Hiles Jr.


A Big 100th Happy Birthday!


It hardly seems possible but Chevrolet is celebrating it's 100th birthday. That auto has meant various things to many of us -- I have owned several different models and have drooled over several others of the Chevrolet line over the years.


Click on the above to get a better peek at some of the reasons that "Chevy" has been so popular. Though it is not pictured above, my next door neighbor fires up his cherry 1955 model every couple of days and the reverberating exhaust pipes bring me right back to high school days . . .


Chaos . . .


All week the local and I know the nationwide news has been reporting on the various "Occupy" demonstrations. The largest one closest to us (about an hour or so away) is of course Oakland. When I see the pictures I can hardly believe that this is America . . .



Where will this end -- it seems so much like the 60s again . . .


Cash Crop


Gail and I have made several trips to the "other" house. Just today we did some picking of the huge amount of persimmons that hang heavily from the branches of the one persimmons tree in that yard. Now on our visit to "Whole Foods Store" today -- their persimmons look just like ours AND they are priced at $4.99 per pound -- I weighed two persimmons and they weighed close to a pound, so how many persimmons do we have on that tree . . .

the number times about $2 each . . . the only problem -- we have never been able to "cash-in" on the bonanza. I have no history with persimmons, we never once had them as kids. But I do know of people that really love them -- but how can we get them together . . .


And Lastly . . .


As of this day, Gail and I have been married 97.39 Kardashians.  So what is a "Kardashian" you ask -- well it is a unit of measure -- 72 days. Just a way to put things in perspective with what is happening in the world of show-biz this week:


The above is where I found this (and you can too).What will they think of next, a "Robin Givens" calculator?


And so goes our week -- in a few minutes it will be slider time. See you in a few, have a good week!