Projects, Photography, Pulled Pork & Stuff

Last Sunday was the perfect day to take the frozen pork shoulder from the freezer and slow cook it most of the day. It is really so easy to do and yet so satisfying were the results. We had a delicious pulled-pork dinner that night but oh-so-looking-forward to the leftovers. That meant Monday evening we would have burritos using the leftover pork along with numerous other ingredients. The leftover pulled pork was first seasoned well with the spices associated with Mexican food and then char-broiled until the pieces were outlined with black edges. All this was combined with refried beans, onions, peppers, olives, lettuce, mushrooms and avocados and rolled into a delicious tortilla which was then "nuked" for a few minutes -- I'm getting hungry again.

Inside the rolled tortilla are all the ingredients just mentioned and the toppings hide the real substance of this delight -- I can just tell you that it was sooo good. And the good thing was we had enough for a second night and even more for a couple of lunches, what a deal.


Current Day Happenings


As we have said previously -- a lot has happened in the month of February in the lives of our relatives from our tree. Next week -- on February 20th marks what would have been my Mother's 100th birthday. There are over 150 birthdays this month including a happy birthday to Nancy next week as well. But some of those born on this very day are:

And as you can see, Gail's folks were married on this day 73 years ago!

Last week was Valentine's Day and just as a point of interest for the folks born around and about the first part of November, they were probably "Valentine's Babies" . . .


Projects -- Again


Well it was raining a week ago Friday so our next project got delayed until Monday of this week. Only on Monday of this week it was raining also -- but the construction crew showed up anyway and began their work even as it rained (though it did clear up later in the morning just as Doppler Radar predicted). It is amazing how something like this changes your everyday routines and plays havoc with them. Many tasks that were done at random times now had to be done before the crew arrived and other routines were adjusted to fit a schedule unfamiliar to us. But so far we are really satisfied with the results:

The top pictures are the before pictures of the hot tub that we wanted removed and the other photos are of the deck that replaces the giant hole and a new stairway and railing work along with lattice work and so at this point we are almost done with this phase of our first 2012 project. There are more to follow . . .


A Sign of the Digital Times


From a favorite blog -- Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter -- I took the following blurb:

It is almost hard to believe. I have always been fascinated with photography and with film and that always meant Kodak . . . but progress is progress and I do love the features of digital "film" and as evidence there is the 20,000 + photos I have on my computer . . .

The 6:30 PM Express to Las Vegas around West Santa Rosa

So training for the GDB this week took an interesting twist -- actually an interesting ride on a Santa Rosa City Bus that our guide dog leader arranged for us. The 10 or so pups (and us) all met at the transportation center in Santa Rosa and boarded a regular City Bus and we all took our places and every pup was well behaved and sat at "attention" while we took a cruise around town a bit with even a chance to off load and re-board the bus. After the ride we did some more exercises in the very chilly parking lot.

The ride was an interesting learning session and neither Gail nor I had actually been on a bus in who-knows-how-long. Dino seemed to enjoy the outing and the chance to be familiar with his classmates -- some of whom are his relatives . . .


Another website to checkout . . .


I love to read and as proof I have several books scattered around the house that are in a partially-read status. I like to have a book available wherever I might be taking a rest,  so-to-speak I used to have a regimen for reading just before going to sleep but since the move I have gotten away from that a bit -- I plan to get back into that routine again soon.

For those of us who have an electronic means to read (i-Pad, Kindle, Nook) the site below may be of benefit and offer a great opportunity. Check it out:   www.gutenberg.org

Candid Canines

As if the GDB were not enough I find myself noodling around the web stopping whenever I find interesting photos -- and the following are interesting to me. The one is of Dino as he looks out through our door at the "visiting cat" that comes everyday always looking for attention and treats -- which she gets. The big dog in the center belongs to Kim (Granddaughter of my brother)  and the dog's name is fitting -- Bubba.

The other four pics are randomly found at various sites but they were interesting and so I have presented them here. This has been a year filled with experiences connected to canines.


Breaking News Bit


Lisa (my daughter) and her fiance both work for Boeing outside of Seattle (Everett),  Washington. They are both in the huge facility that makes the new Dreamliner aircraft the 787 -- and guess who was their very special visitor this week -- none less than the President himself -- that is a special event that should be shared with others from the tree and will long be remembered by Lisa & Bob. I was once in the outside audience of an LBJ appearance in Los Angeles in the 60s, I remember that very well.


Lastly -- More Civil War Relatives


We have mentioned many Civil War participants in this blog in previous posts. But this week I received a picture of a grave marker (from a Cousin, thank you very much) for David Hiles, a 1st Cousin 4x removed of mine:

David's stone also has the GAR marker as well, the organization founded after the war for Union Veterans. You can also see a brief part of the tree showing where David fits into the tree.

Now a piece of news that I gleaned -- also from EOGN -- references the Civil War and the amazing piece of information that I found almost unbelievable -- as of last September there were two people still receiving Civil War pensions for their fathers service in that war that ended almost 150 years ago. Obviously they were both children who were born to very old fathers and they themselves are now very old -- and as Dick Eastman says -- "the pensions probably won't be continuing much longer  . . ."


And so went our week. We end it with a "fish-fry" scheduled for last night but got delayed til tonight!

See you in a few!