The Difference of a Day . . . in Healdsburg

Just yesterday and the several days preceding it was nasty outside with rain, cold, drizzle, wind and just plain gloominess. But not today! This is what a lot of folks will say is "the reason for living here . . ." It is surprising what the change can do in the way we feel and act -- even Dino this morning was more energetic and playful in his early morning routine. There is one person in our household that while glad that the weather is "looking good" hopes that in five days it will look even better. I have to say though that even if the rain returned in her case "it still would be looking better" because she will be able to see it from the house and yard -- the work season for her will be over for a spell . . .

The above is a collage of around our house and yard this morning. Notice the blooming of several of the trees. We are not sure what all the trees are but there is an apple tree and what we think is a dogwood and the tree by the street we are not sure of . . . but we are sure that they look spectacular in-bloom. But what is not seen are any clouds in the sky so far this morning. Nothing but blue-skies . . . Dino is even in two of the above pics, looking out the front door and then just barely in the middle picture on the right. The forecast is -- I believe -- for this type of day for the next several days -- it is about time.

100 Years Ago this Day


It is hard to think of the accident at sea that happened on April 14, 1912. So much has been written of the events that it almost seems unreal. This morning on the news there was a story of a married couple who did not know it when they married, but each of them had relatives (ancestors actually) on board ship.Both ancestors survived the disaster somewhat.

In recent months we have seen other ship disasters not quite as significant as the Titanic though. There still remains a lot to do with respect of the Titanic including trying to piece the ship back together and bring it up. It will be interesting to learn more of the secrets that for over 100 years have been hidden. I do not think we had any relatives or ancestors from our family tree aboard. But we could have . . .

50 Years Ago this Year


It is also unbelievable how time goes so fast! But here is news of a more positive nature -- 50 years ago, my wife, Gail was part of a group that has continued to influence her outlook on life and has been a positive influence. I speak of her membership (and continuing support of) Gamma Phi Beta her sorority in college. She was actually president of her chapter while at the University of Puget Sound so many years ago, yet seemingly like yesterday to hear her remark about "alumni news" and all.

The above is the letter congratulating Gail on her anniversary and the pin she received for being a "golden member". My congratulations go to her as well for staying in touch with her sorority and supporting it.

Birthdays from our Tree


We have eight folks from our tree that were born on this day -- we wish them all the best:

April 14 is so close to another "notorious date" and it probably plays a role in the celebrations . . .


The Day Following April 14 . . .

Well, the day is normally known as "tax day" and this year it falls on a Sunday, so that moves tax day to the next available day which would have been Monday -- but that is a holiday in Washington, D.C. so -- that makes it Tuesday the 17th  . . . nice. I suspect most people though are so ingrained with the 15th that they will have completed their returns already . . . Gail will be able to tell us.

One of the Ways I Spent My Time This Week . . .


I was fortunate to have been able to "clear my plate" so that I could actively work on things that needing working on . . . and for a person interested in genealogy that could only mean one thing this past week -- the release of the 1940 Federal Census data and the need to "index" the 300+ million names.
So in between certain unavoidable activities like laundry and food prep, GDB training and a few others, I have turned my spare moments to volunteering my index fingers punching in the names of folks from 1940 from a variety of states:

The above shows the states that I have worked on and the numbers of names that I have indexed. After getting a slow start (the first two days I couldn't get access and the weekend I took off) I have input 985 names from 16 different states. Of course I hoped that when I worked on a "batch" from states where we have relatives I would find some of ours -- that didn't happen. But I certainly did learn from the different areas -- you get a sense of what the country was like from reading the census data.

One fact that I overlooked when indexing Alaska was the fact that it was not a state in 1940, but still a territory. It should have dawned on me when I saw a different format for the census but it didn't register until later.The same would be true of Hawaii -- still a territory in 1940.

I will try again this week to do more indexing and my goal eventually is to index in all 48 states and 2 territories -- we'll see . . . soon I hope to find some of you (you know who you are) in the census . . .

The White House


This being an election year and all I have received a lot of information regarding a huge variety of things. Some I pay attention to and some I "file" for later consideration. But when I receive an email from the "White House" I look at it:

The above two calculators came announced in email and for fun you could access the site and check them out. The first will tell you approximately where all your tax dollars go -- sort of a receipt for what you have paid for . . . the second one will tell you how you relate in terms of your tax bracket to others -- meaning mostly millionaires . . . if you want to check them out click on the site: The White House  when you get to the page you can click on "go to the website" and find the calculators.

A Couple of Days in Dino's Week


Dino gets a lot of our time and attention and this week was no different. We went to GDB training on Tuesday evening -- at the Santa Rosa Mall. We first walked as a group of about 10-12 puppies in training around the streets surrounding the mall to test traffic awareness and people awareness on the sidewalks. Then we went inside the mall and visited several stores and locations within, we also did some of the basics like -- sit, down, stay etc. Every puppy was well behaved and Dino was too.

At home Dino continues to be really well behaved -- he has never barked even once at home, though dogs living next to us on each side do frequently. He respects our property and only chews his own things.

Here Dino is in a variety of activities -- his favorite is probably power multi-chewing. In the above pic he has two bones to chew in his mouth and loves to do that. The "Easter-Bunny" dogs are other GDB and Dino was not in that group . . . he is looking pretty good for 6 1/2 months old.

Great News from a Cousin


I wondered why I had not heard from a certain cousin in a long tome -- and this may be the reason. She has recently published a book. Not just any book, but a book concerning HILES. I have to say that I have not read the book yet because I just ordered the book yesterday and I believe that it just was published earlier this week. So a huge "congratulations" go to Terese Hiles Olson (a third cousin of mine) for this accomplishment. My copy of the book is not slated to arrive until later this month and then I'll be able to comment on it more.

In the meantime if you are interested in ordering her book (and what Hiles relative wouldn't) then here is the site to go to:   Terese Hiles Olson New Book    Check it out!


Lastly -- The Business Cards You've Been Waiting For . . .


Gail and I don't have "regular" jobs ( well she has a regular seasonal job), so often we are scribbling out our names and contact information for others -- which is so unprofessional . . . so to remedy that we now have "real business-like" cards  . . . let us know if we should send you one  . . .

I'd say pretty professional . . .

With that, it is time to prepare for the "Saturday-night burger fest". Have a good week, see you in a few!