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Saturday, September 24, 2011

It's Fall, It's Crush, It's a Weather Alert . . .

This has been one of the nicest, pleasant weather weeks since we have moved. It is now the second day of fall. On the first day of fall we went out to breakfast and marveled at the beauty of the season. Fall is a beautiful time of the year -- and it is different in the many regions of our country. This is what the first day of fall looked like around here:



We drove through the vineyards and when we were slowed by a vineyard tractor we pulled over for some photo ops. The vines were heavy laden with beautiful purple grapes -- the exact type we were not sure of other than they were probably not chardonnay or fume blanc . . .

These grapes soon will find themselves in the midst of the crush and much later possibly on our table -- or yours for that matter.

Besides seeing the grapes that needed to be picked we saw in our side yard apples that needed to be picked -- which we did and we now have several more bags full of apples for the local food pantry.

But--on the second day of fall I was greeted with the following when I logged on to my email:



While the temperature looked much lower than the previous days I wondered what unlucky part of the country was in for a "severe weather alert" . . . so I clicked on that for details and found to my amazement that it was for us. Us in Sonoma County -- how could that be and what kind of joke was this. The alert did say that Saturday would be "okay" but sometime on Sunday there would be a series of storms bringing a ton of rain. We've battened down the hatches, mostly meaning that we lowered the umbrella and put some things out of the weather, but other than that we are waiting to see how the new house handles large amounts of rain . . .


Friends Week --


It seems this was a week that many friends (and some relatives) came by and allowed us to take some time to reminisce AND to sit under the apple tree:


Just a birds-eye view of some of the visitors, but it was nice, we look forward to more of the same.


The Move-In Process


We spent the better part of three days working in and about the garage. It has been full so many times and we have never even gotten a car close to having room to be housed in there -- UNTIL now:


We are really proud of the fact that we could actually park Gail's car inside the garage and so this is proof. It may not happen again but her car is inside for now -- we even left the garage open for a bit just so our neighbors could see our progress.

The reason we worked on the garage was because we are going to have sheet-rock put up and then cabinets built along the sides for storing things. We are hesitant to show pictures of our family room, dining room and/or our guest bedroom -- for they are now filled to the brim with what used to be in the garage. We know this is only temporary but it is unsettling to walk around what we deem as "Costco closet" things in our living area.

But you can see that we do have room for a second vehicle in the garage -- and we have scouted around for some possible choices. We spotted one just the other day that might fit the bill and become a "hobby" vehicle and a project that we could work on as a family . . .


I am not sure exactly what make and model this is -- if any one knows, fill us in please.  This is a project probably that will have to go on the back burner -- way back -- but it did catch our eye. We are just kidding of course about parking this in our garage -- we have my car that needs to be inside. Besides, when we went back for another look the car was gone . . .

From the Family Tree Site


September is a month filled with birthdays of many of the folks that find their way into our tree. As a matter of fact there are some 168 September birthdays that are listed on my web site special reports pages. It is easy to access the website while reading this blog -- just click on the "related Hiles family" icon on the right and it is a direct link to the site:



Here is the "Reports" page where you can access any of the five listed reports available -- plus from there you can explore tons of photos and documents connected to the folks in the tree. While I go into the site myself everyday -- after the moving process subsides some I'll be able to continue adding branch material that I have been accumulating over time.

From Dick Eastman's Blog


I read Dick Eastman's blog almost everyday and find it very valuable. He stays on top of the genealogy world and over the years I have learned a lot from his blog. One item caught my eye yesterday and I share it now:


(Click on the above to enlarge)
I have always been a fan of Google and when they announced a program that was their answer to Facebook, I wanted to take a look and maybe participate -- but it was only open "by invitation" only and I did not get an invitation and so am really pleased to see that Google+ is now open to anyone to join. So I have joined -- please take a look at it and if you read this blog then why not be a part on one another's circle as Google describes it . . . if you do join Google+ include me in your circle and I'll do the same for you. I also participate in Twitter and Facebook, but Google+ really has my interest.


Well that has been part of my week -- it is Saturday and nearly time for sliders. Have a good week and we'll see you in a few -- if the creek don't rise.

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