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Saturday, January 20, 2018

Shelter-In-Place

With all that is going on -- or NOT going on, it seems like the right thing to do. It is hard to imagine that the current state of affairs is once again, part of our everyday life. It is getting to the point where watching ANY news is depressing. What is amazing also is that the ONLY folks receiving federal paychecks will be the members of Congress. Others will still earn their federal pay, but collect it after the shutdown.

The brick wall that we often see in genealogy has shown up at the highest levels of our government. We have to wonder how long this nonsense will continue. 

Working on the family tree over the years means plugging in dates -- lots of dates for vital statistics:


In our tree, we have many many 1918 dates for "date of death". And many of those are for the huge epidemic that appeared worldwide in 1918-1919. I don't always know if the flu was the reason, but when lives are seemingly cut short in those years there is a high chance that they are one of the statistics of that epidemic.

It is really hard to fathom that in over 100 years medicine has not been able to tackle the ravages of the flu -- and from the looks of it this week, it is starting again. And this is another reason that we are "sheltering-in-place" as much as possible.

Now that it is recognized that it only takes just breathing in the air from others to possibly catch the flu, we are trying to limit as many contacts with groups of others as possible. Sometimes contacts are unavoidable and we are suspicious with any sounds of a cold, cough and/or sneezing.

As odd as it seems, we are even considering reducing keeping doctor appointments unless absolutely necessary -- after all, that is where sick people are known to be . . . or have been. 


And if the above were not enough, it is now time to begin that horrible process of TAX preparation.                                                                                                                                                                This year I believe it will be even more unpleasant for those of us in California -- with the new tax changes.                                                                                                                                                               I am actually dreading even beginning the process as it seems to drag on over a several week period.                                                                                                                                                                   What happened to the "postcard" sized return that was supposedly being put into place. Even the tax pros are still unsure of how the new laws will be interpreted. The old adage "death & taxes" . . .

This week involved jumping into the mass of folks from all over the tree and even from other trees as well.                                                                                                                                                             I had numerous contacts with other folks who had questions regarding people from our HILES tree and then a few questions regarding folks in some of the other trees that I have created.
Most of the time I am able to expand some branches after communicating with others -- and this was the case as well. It is amazing the stories that we exchange and learn of while exchanging information. The real families appear as more insight is shared.

I wish that I could somehow capture and document all the bits & pieces that I accumulate over the weeks -- and when I read some accounts that others have written I am awed by how they could manage to do that so well. 

Well, this for sure is not something that would have been on a poster found in the house that I grew up in . . .                                                                                                                                                                                                          This is so against everything we were taught growing up that even now it is tough to think about.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          This quote has been attributed (probably falsely) to many folks, including one of our founding fathers. I'm sure the real origin may never be uncovered, but never-the-less, I find it somewhat fun.                                                                                                                                                                                              With respect to moderation, I think it is credible and find it too bad that due to current medication some of us have to skip being "happy" from that source. Oh, well -- we are a cannabis state now . . .

And again this weekend we have the NFL to look forward to, only this time there are only two games:


The Conference Championships -- both games taking place tomorrow, Sunday.  We were so happy to see the Vikings win that game last week over the Saints -- and it would be interesting to see the Vikings get into the Super Bowl since that is where it takes place this year!

That is a bit of our week, see you all "in a few"!


                                        

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