A Time of Change . . .

Leaves are everywhere, darkness shows up way before dinner, and and the thermometer varies from up to down. But -- who doesn't love change -- I think we all know some who currently don't like change . . .

I have to say that out TV viewing habits have changed recently certainly with respect to the NFL events. For probably forty years I have watched whatever local NFL team represented my living area by viewing most of the local games.

This year it so happens that our local team has diminished our enjoyment and it is not only because of their total losing effort -- it has to do with some of the players who have taken away a lot of the fun aspect of watching football. Hopefully those activities will eventually subside and we can get back to having football be the escape from everyday life that it used to be . . .

I have to say that we have enjoyed the last two nights out on the back deck as we let Dino out for his late-night business trip and we have observed the "Super" moon. Supposedly it will be perfectly displayed tomorrow night -- hopefully it won't be cloudy.

And Friday was 11/11 -- Veterans Day -- a day
to say thanks to all who have served and there are many, many from our tree who over the years and war times have served our country.


We have folks from our tree who have served in every war that this country has experienced. And we have folks who spent several years in the service when there happened to be no wars at the time of their service -- a case in point was my father, who served in between WWI and WWII. He tried to re-enlist in WWII but was not able to, due to an injury that he suffered while in the service in the 1930s.

There are tons of stories that are related to war time events and some of those have been put on the website:  www.fold3.com  I hope to add more info relative to our tree folks as time goes on.


Better living through chemicals electronics. And to me that is so true these days.

Above, is a little electronic device that Gail and I put into action this week -- and it has definitely enhanced enjoyment.

We have the parent product of the Dot, the Echo, and have enjoyed that for almost a year. the Echo and the Dot are produced by Amazon and we find them amazing. The Echo we have in the family room and we frequently ask "Alexa" a variety of things that we want to know -- like -- what day it is, or the date or the time and temperature. ETC.

The Dot which is like a slice of the Echo we put on one of our nightstands in the bedroom. Again, "Alexa" responds to our questions and requests. But the main reason we have the Dot is to "read" to us at nighttime.

We belong to Audible, another Amazon product, and that is a service that sells books that they read to you, sometimes with the author's own voice. We have listened to several already that way. Prior to the Dot, I would bring the iPad and we would log in and go to Audible and pick the correct book and listen.

Now with the Dot, we just ask "Alexa" to read from Audible and she will name the book that we last were listening to and have it start to read where we left off. When we are tired we just tell "Alexa" to stop reading and off to sleep we go . . .

We also request music from time to time and "Alexa" plays a variety of music for us -- as an example one of the artists that I enjoy from time to time is Leon Redbone -- not as well known as some, but "Alexa" immediately started playing one of his tunes . . . what a nice feature.

The Inauguration -- 68

Christmas 2016 --    41

Thanksgiving 2016  11 (just a week and 4 days to go)

Election Day 2020  1450 but who would be counting


Speaking of Christmas, we know it is almost Christmas because our neighbor has put up their icicle lighting around their house . . . and  the few stores that we have been in lately have Yule-time displays up (since before Halloween). Whatever happened to waiting until after Thanksgiving . . .



So, we decided to get an early Christmas gift for ourselves and you can see it to the right. A well-built black leather chair.

But he chair is also functional as well -- it massages . . . I don't think that I have ever had a real massage other than the "back rubs" in the hospital 50 years ago that were a nightly treat -- that is not something that happens in hospitals these days . . .

Both Gail and I have enjoyed a "massage" now daily and it has been relaxing to say the least. We plan to install another Echo Dot nearby so that we can request some music or the news or a book from Audible as we relax . . . starting to love technology a lot more even.

I haven't forgotten genealogy as I work on it everyday. It just hasn't made the top news item -- but I'm sure that it will again soon.

I have been working a lot on the Hiles/Giles branch the past several days. Above is a snippet to the post that appeared back in 2011, February 19.

I have uncovered a lot more of the Giles family members and I will have some related stories soon.
I have added the new members to the tree in Ancestry (and Family Tree Maker) that I maintain.

Eventually I'll get to adding them all to the Hiles Website tree at www.danhiles.com

And continuing with the theme of  "A Time of Change" the above illustrates a bit of the change in postal services that I have experienced over the years.

When I was growing up in the 40s and 50s, the mail was carried in pouches slung over the shoulder and it came TWICE a day and it was delivered to your door. I can't imagine today having that quality of service.

Yesterday, the day after a postal holiday, we had just about given up on receiving any mail that day -- which has not happened in recent memory -- when just before 9 pm the mail truck was heard roaring up and down our street.

We (Gail) went out to the mailbox and retrieved the twenty some pieces that arrived that day. We have been waiting for several days for a particular piece of mail and hoped that today would be the day. It was NOT the day -- but we did receive three pieces addressed to other families -- maybe one of those families received our mail . . .

My point is that we deserve better mail service, that is for sure -- I'm not sure if that change is on anyone's agenda.

And lastly, a change of view:

That's a bit of our week, see you all "in a few" !