It is SPRING . . . Somewhere

But it is getting close. So many parts of the country are being dumped on with snow and many other parts dumped on with rain . . . here, it is just about to turn sunny and warmish, starting next week. And it is rumored that we might not see substantial rain again until the October-November time frame.

A couple of the photos are actually taken this morning by Lisa up Washington way as they get a spring snow dump. The nor'easter folks just want it to stop whether it's called winter snow or spring snow.

It was a very misty early morning today. It looked as though it might be a "nasty" day again, but now it is balmy to some extent and a bright sky.

So, a little puzzle-therapy is in order again. We finished the great Dr. Seuss puzzle last week down to the last piece (that was missing).

The missing piece was replaced by Liberty Puzzles (thank you) and we have opted to work on a favorite puzzle -- seen to the right.

We do have a nice collection of Liberty wooden puzzles and from time to time -- rework them.

Actually, this is the fourth time that we are putting this American Express Train puzzle together -- you'd think that we would find it easier -- but we are having the same challenges as always with this one. At least it does have traditional type border pieces and we are finding them quickly.

It is so nice to have a puzzle to work on when we feel the need for some low-tech accomplishments.
We often have a ball game on in the background and a bowl of snacking items too. And if it is pouring down rain outside -- all the better.

We like to use sports as a diversion from everyday life, so-to-speak.

So we have enjoyed some of the spring-training baseball games lately with the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants did so poorly last year that we are taking a refreshing view of them so far this season.

While setting up the new puzzle and sorting the pieces we had the Giants/KC game on yesterday. One of our possible relatives was pitching for the Giants -- Madison Bumgarner -- he was pitching his final training game and was doing well, when -- he was hit with a line shot into his pitching hand which is now broken. He is out for - they don't know how long . . .

The sad fact is Bumgarner sat out for many games last season due to a broken shoulder and may be part of the reason that the Giants did so poorly last year. This comes just as we were thinking that we were going to have a "good" season . . . such is sports-life.

Behind our house today though there is a little league game going on -- with bunting all around and huddled groups of parents and other spectators trying to stay warm and dry.

Little league will go on for several weeks & we always enjoy catching a glimpse whenever we venture out back. Once-in-awhile we even amble over to watch a bit closer-up -- always fun.

Now, even though football is a ways off -- the Forty-Niners had a pretty bad season last year, but things were looking good with the new quarterback and a heightened good sense about the forthcoming season (starting in August) was forming -- until a trade announcement was made . . .

One of the most disliked players from another team was traded to the Niners -- it remains to be seen if we can enjoy watching the games with that person playing on our team . . . such is sports-life.

And now -- more about DNA . . .

I attended the two webinars above this week -- both on the subject of DNA and put on in connection with MyHeritage DNA on Legacy Webinars.

I am feeling better about getting a grasp on the subject with each webinar and with each book or article that I read about DNA.

As more and more people test with the various companies there will be even more attention given to enhancing the ability to identify matches and how they relate to us genealogically not just by DNA.

Legacy is having a series of webinars just on DNA and there is some more next week. These webinars are no-cost to view live and are very beneficial. If you are a member of Legacy then you can even watch them over again whenever you wish.

I receive a "word-of-the-day" from a website and often find interesting new words (to me anyway).
Last week on one of the days the word received was -- "autotonsorialist". At first, I was going to skip it -- but then peeked at it and was surprised at its definition:

I had no idea that there was a word for something that I have been doing for over ten years -- that is -- cutting my own hair . . .

I have not been to a barber for at least ten years and had just forgotten really about it.


I needed "hair-therapy" this past week and so I got it -- via my own hand. The picture bottom left was taken this morning and my hair looks pretty much the way it has forever . . . or at least I think so.

Growing up, it was a ritual every month or so to go the local barber and enjoy the fifteen or twenty minutes of personal hair attention. I remember going to one shop where there were maybe 7 or 8 barbers and after a while, I always hoped that I got the "right" one to give the "ivy league" cut or whatever was popular at the time for me.

During my "career days" hair therapy was usually done in a salon and the time spent was close to an hour -- the price too was substantially more as well.

All in all, over the years I really enjoyed my visits to the barber -- in my retirement years I have changed my position -- usually when I found myself in need of a haircut -- and I did not care to make an appointment -- most of the time there were no openings at local shops -- and so many of the shops employed people that did not seem to make the experience enjoyable any longer.

So, I am quite happy with spending twenty minutes or so of quality time about once-a-month to complete the job. AND a side-benefit -- I estimate that I have cut "hair-therapy" costs by 4-6 thousand dollars over that time-period . . . money now free to spend on genealogy things.

Lastly

We just finished the book on the left "It's All Relative" and found it to be entertaining as well as somewhat educational in ways. The book had to do with Jacobs organizing a large reunion of as many folks as possible -- and his stance is that -- we are all cousins, so anyone could and should attend.

I think that he is correct in that we are probably all related when we explore far enough back in the trees. It is mind boggling -- but still fun to do the searching.

The other book, we are just starting to read and it covers an aspect that I engage in weekly and certainly do enjoy -- searching in old newspapers for news of folks in our tree.

That is a bit of our week. See you all "in a few" ! 😎