Yard Garnish -- Coasts -- World Serious

It happens every year -- the winding down of the summer and transitioning into the fall and winter modes. This year it seems to be a go/no go change for example, we have the a/c on today. Yesterday we should have had the a/c on and didn't realize it until too late in the day. Today we wanted to be able to enjoy our activities and not be influenced by the warm conditions. This week we have started outside to be more ready for the coming weather -- we have put down the umbrella, rolled up the sunshades, put away all the cushions that were on the wicker and things like that . . .
This morning it seemed like a lot of different items were more visible in the yard:

Yard Garnish . . .

Some of the things above are hidden in plain sight for a large part of the year and they will be again. But now they are out there. I remember last year Dino being startled when he caught a glimpse of the owl overseeing the garden box -- of course he was only a few weeks old then -- he is now 13 months old and pretty casual with everything.

The Coasts

While we here in Northern California are experiencing absolutely beautiful weather we know that that is not the case for others in the country -- we have cousins and siblings and children in geographical locations that are in jeopardy from one type of activity or another. We are hoping that each one of our relatives are safe and sound and that the forecasts of possible harsh conditions does not come about:

The East Coast seems at this point to be the most vulnerable to extreme conditions and that will become apparent -- the experts are saying -- in the next few days. My Sister in Florida is saying that Sandy should just be a "beach" thing -- I don't know how it will be for our cousin Bruce in New Jersey. 

The tsunami it appears may be most dangerous to Hawaii at this point. The earthquake that created the danger was huge -- 7.7 and just the mention of earthquake gives pause to us everywhere.

Dino's Week --

In the meantime things go on as normal with regard to GDB and their program. This week it was the annual Halloween meeting. The puppies are exposed to some of the things that "go on" for the celebration of the holiday. 

Above are some of the "doings" for the training class. Gail went all out and made the very attractive and tasty Halloween cupcakes seen above. The puppies did not get to enjoy them but the puppy raisers did. The other pics show some of the costumes that were at the meeting including Dino in his policeman's outfit and two black lab pups in San Francisco Giant's colors and emblems -- suitable for the occasion.

There were many activities including races and bobbing for bones and things like that. The pups all seemed to enjoy the relaxed affair and "put up with" having to walk around in costume.

Dino can be seen also riding in the front seat of the car, which is part of his training. He sits very patiently is a very small space and waits til we arrive at our destination. Later though he can be seen zoned out in his bed with a favorite chew toy right at the ready . . .

The World Series --

Of course living in the San Francisco Bay Area we are enjoying the series very much. Tonight may just be the final game and we have mixed feelings about that too. 

But -- 100 years ago the Giants were also playing in the World Series as well. Though they were at the time the New York Giants and they were playing the dreaded Boston Red Sox . . .

Times have changed since those days in many ways. But in the series of 1912 there was one similarity and that was that since a lot of folks could not see the game -- they would use their telephone to call various places like the newspapers to find out the scores and results. Today a similar thing occurs because many folks who are not close to a TV check their telephones for results and scores.

In the above too you can see the huge influence that tobacco played in the series and sports in general back in 1912. The series that year went 8 games due to one game ending in a tie because of darkness. The major difference this series is that the Giants are likely to win -- they lost in 1912.

We are enjoying the series and we time delay (about an hour) our viewing. We just have to be careful about who we talk with and what other news casts we happen to see or hear -- so far we have been pretty good with guarding that . . . 

Genealogy this week

I have done a lot of researching this week -- but no major successes to uncover. I did though attend a webinar -- and I really enjoy most of the webinars that I attend. The latest one was from Legacy Family Tree Webinars and the subject presented was "Civil War Ancestors".

We have a large amount of ancestors from our tree that served in the Civil War, both for the Union and for the Confederacy however mostly for the Union. One exception that stands out is my Great Grandfather Samuel Martin. It is reported that he served in the Confederate Navy albeit not willingly or with his beforehand knowledge. 

If you use the search bar at the top of this blog and put in "Martin" you will see the other articles that I have written about Captain Samuel Martin and his adventures.  I hope to be able to find out more about Samuel Martin as time goes on -- one thing that I learned in the webinar was to check the 1910 census for possible proof of service -- sure enough on Samuel Martin's line "CA" is written in the column for civil war service. It should have said "CN" for Confederate Navy though. I have not found the records specifically for Samuel Martin -- just take a look at the number of Samuel Martins serving in the civil war to see why . . .

The above shows the detail of the webinar that I attended -- but there are many more coming yet this year and they are free to attend the live session -- the later recorded versions cost.   For me the value is high because it almost always encourages me to do more research and mostly with more results. I really appreciate the fact that Legacy puts these on almost every week.

On and Off the Nightstand

Every night (almost) we read in bed before drifting off . . . earlier this week we finished one book and have now started our next book. 

Having grown up in the Chicago area I was familiar with many of the details of the activities of the just-finished book. As a matter of fact I also can recall hearing my own folks talk about the person and his activities. And there were many TV shows relating to the period and the characters in the book.

As you can see the book I am referring to is "Al Capone" written by his niece Deirdre Capone. We both found the book fascinating and enjoyed it. 

We mostly read biographies and the second book just came out recently. It is one of the thickest and heaviest books we have had -- Steve Jobs' biography compares.  We are finding the book to be very interesting so far -- we like reading about folks that we have knowledge and experience with. I'll let you know our final assessment as we are just in the beginning. 

Dates from our Tree

There are four pages of anniversaries and dates concerning our tree members for the month of October, so I'll just provide a couple of names:

From the HILES branch a "Happy Birthday" goes out to two of my brothers this week. Also this month another birthday recognition goes to cousin Bruce's father Gale, whose birthday would be today.

And Finally This Week

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my brother Marv, gave me a shoebox full of old and not-so-old photographs. I have been carefully adding them to the trees and website AND have been sharing them with my sister (among others). My sister, Marilee, this week sent me a very real "warning" that we dog owners especially need to heed. I can't express this more urgently:

We've all been to public performances and have seen this type of line over and over again -- a needless occurrence for sure. There apparently is a growing shortage of suitable trees available for our male pets, dogs in particular. In the people world it seems like it is for the other gender though -- there are never enough facilities for women even to the extent that some men find themselves sharing space. Enough said . . . 

So that is a bit of our week -- have a good week and see you in a few . . . 

(It was burgers last night, BLTs tonight while watching the Series)