It's Just Grand . . .

We did not get any rain this week, but we did get some sunshine -- enough that I think some of the plants thought it to be springtime. The roses are already starting to look grand. I hope that they don't pay the price as we are still getting some cold weather.

The colors are exceptionally pink and the shapes are nice. It is hard to believe that we have a chance to view these beautiful flowers at what seems to be such an early time in the year.

While we are getting a lot of sunshine -- not every day, but some days, we are also getting a lot of "moonshine" (not THAT kind) the natural kind.

Dino and I went out in the yard one early evening just in time to see the moon clear the hills off to the East. Dino was I guess a bit "moonstruck" -- enough of this . . .

The two lion fish were as usual, non-plussed over the whole thing . . .

They probably will be getting some tank-mates soon that just may impress them though.


Now Speaking of Grand . . .

What a "Grand" way to start a new year! My brother's granddaughter had twin babies yesterday.

That would make him a Great Grandfather for twice already!

Kim Jean Nielsen Slaughter gave birth to the two a few minutes apart -- Davis Victor Slaughter and his twin sister Riley Hope Slaughter.

Some early -- just in -- snaps of the new ones.


Jon & Kim live in Park City, Utah and have doubled the size of their family. We offer our congratulations and thank them for putting colors on the kids to id them.

This makes me a Great Grand Uncle for the first time as well.

Off to the left you can see the chart showing some of the relationships involved.

I think that this is the first time that I have been able to report a birth after just one day -- thank you social media!

We can only imagine the happy times ahead for this family as they grow and enjoy life.

Hopefully we will get the opportunity to visit them in Utah at some point. I always enjoy going to Utah and Park City especially.

Another view of the family chart is on the right.






I suspect that we will be adding to the chart in the coming months and years.









What Else Happened this Week

Well, I did do some searching for family this week but nothing as earth-shattering as the "twins".

I did attend a great Webinar on FamilyTreeWebinars.com -- it was an excellent presentation on using the iPad and other tablets while working on genealogy.

If you click on the above you will see the upcoming webinars for the month of January -- they pretty much have the year filled out with some very interesting speakers and topics.

All of the webinars are free -- which is not the case on some other sites.

What is on our Nightstand Currently

We just finished one of the best biographical type books that we have read -- "Still Foolin' Em" by Billy Crystal. Everything that Billy Crystal does is top-notch.

The book was really a delight to read and I hope that we can read more from him in the coming years!



Now we have begun to read a biographical book by James Garner.


He has always been an interesting personality AND he may even be related.


His birth name was Bumgarner -- even though it is different than our Bumgardner family there may be a connection.


We have read a few chapters and already have been surprised by some of what we have learned about James.


There are many more chapters to go and hopefully we will see where there may be a connection.


And so, that is a bit of our week -- it is Saturday, and the NFL playoffs are on today and tomorrow.

We might just have burgers or then again we might have BBQ beef sandwiches made from the leftover pot roast this week . . .  see you all in a few!