Spring-Like/Fall-Like, DNC/NFL

It is hard to tell the seasons right now. Every day is different with attributes of both seasons appearing and disappearing . . . today so far it is spring-like and I snapped some spring-like pics in the back yard:

These color bursts could be April/May -- Dino is definitely September though . . . he watches ever so intently as I move in the backyard without him. The sun is out nice and bright today, though just a couple of days ago we had a brief downpour in the early morning -- a rarity. We are not complaining though -- we saw pictures of the East Coast States earlier this morning -- tornadoes in New York City area . . .

Earlier in the week we celebrated Labor Day. Realistically the holiday mainly disrupted our garbage pickup day -- meaning most everyone in the neighborhood had all their cans outside for an extra day -- just in case . . . we did though attend a "Labor Day" get together which included a BBQ and a chance to see some family members that we do not often get to see -- even the ones a few blocks away:

The weather in the evening was perfect, the food tasty and the conversation pleasant. On the bottom left is Audrey & Ginger with Dino on the bottom right watching everything, as usual. In the center bottom are two surprised Cousins at the flash of the camera in the evening shade. All in all a very nice evening.

Happy Birthdays are in Order

There are several folks from our tree that have birthdays today. We send a Happy Birthday greeting to Gail's sister -- Laurii -- in probably getting-close-to-winter-like, Stanley, Idaho. We remember how nice it was to spend several days there a few years ago at Redfish Lake Lodge reuniting and all.

 As you can see above today would have been my Father's 105th birthday. September ninth seems to have been a popular birth date for our tree.

A Quick Project (before the Fall . . .)

We are wrapping up and sprucing up before the fall officially arrives. Because of Gail and her efforts we can now again park a car (her's) in the garage. And that's a nice thing . . .

You can see the serious project work taking place as the poolside table gets a new layer of paint. I think painter's dungarees would have been in order for a project of this magnitude . . . but would they be tax deductible, if only we knew a tax person . . . we are not showing the completed table because the decision has been made to void the spray project and resort to sanding and brush paint. So the completion date is a ways off. 

Good Eats on Wednesday/Thursday

Actually we had good things to eat all week, but on Wednesday we roasted a large chicken, boiled some sweet corn and made twice-baked (actually three times) potatoes. There was enough to continue the same menu on Thursday night except we substituted brown sticky rice and several tomato slices.

 I made it look like two chickens but really it was just one. But it was sooo delicious and the corn was a huge hit and the nice thing was that the two ears cost 34 cents at the supermarket . . .

What is our current Read

Well actually we are almost through reading the biography of Steve Jobs. For both of us the book has held our interest all the way through the almost 600 pages that we have read so far -- we will finish it this week as we read about a chapter a night before collapsing from our project work of the day.

But I received another book two days ago and I took the opportunity in the early morning hours to read most of the book and found it to be hugely rewarding:

I have to say that I have had an iPad since they first came out -- and I love it and use it everyday. But in the few hours it took me to read through the above book I have learned a whole bunch more about the capabilities of it. Lisa Louise Cooke is the author, I have read other books by her that were also very helpful -- she is the host too of Genealogy Gems the podcast.

I have to say thanks to Lisa for writing this book! It is great and I'll continue to use the suggestions I found in it.

Six Generations Back

Things and details get murky back that far. But everyday more and more things find their way to being digitized and on the net. I was alerted to some of the information from a cousin and I thank her for that very much. I then also looked at the sources (a chancery document) and am able to hopefully put some documented dates on John Hiles, Sr -- my GGGGGrandfather. And just the other day it looks like there may even be a "Last Will & Testament" that will be available soon.

The above is pretty "busy" but basically I have put together a timeline for the 6 male ancestors coming before me on our tree. I have been able to finally put a date of death in connection to John, that being 11 August 1838. I had previously estimated that date like what I am now doing with his birth date based on what his tombstone reads.

The other facts below the timeline are a listing of some of the world events that occurred during the span of time for all six i.e. 1762 through 1990. I find it interesting to see the events that I am sure flavored the everyday living for them during that span.

In the coming weeks I hope to continue my focus on these folks from our tree some 200 years ago.

The Fall is Coming (already did too)

You can tell it is fall when the NFL is in full bloom -- I am trying to complete this post earlier than usual because we are recording three NFL games today and we want to watch at least one full game (the 49ers) and parts of the other two, but if the other games turn out really good then we will watch more of them as well . . .

The other part that says it is fall is the political convention that was on this week -- the DNC. We watched a lot of the speeches and skipped a few as well and are now waiting to make judgements as the two sides present their "cases".

In addition we have a project that probably will take place this week too -- and it has to do with fall:

  Sadly while it looks like a tree in the fall mode, it just might be. It should not be in this condition at this point -- another portion of this same tree was removed the week before we moved in . . . so this portion will "fall" this week at the hands of "tree people" . . .

And lastly I hinted at a "fall" that already came . . . Gail is mending both hands after a quick tumble the other day -- at a location very near to where I did the same thing several months ago. Mostly it is her needle-pointing that is impacted, but the fall colors on her hands . . .


And so that is a bit of our week, we enjoyed our burgers last night, chops tonight. Have a good week too and see you in a few . . .