Eve of SuperBowl & RootsTech

There was (and is) a lot of rain this week. Going out to get the mail, paper and/or trash cans required timing. We'd look outside and hope for a break and when we got one we'd complete the task. Sometimes we didn't quite make it and suffered the consequences . . . but no one is complaining here in Northern California.

The weather allowed me more time to work on the trees -- family trees i.e. The week has flown by and with little in the news -- NOT -- okay lots in the news . . .

The above are the subjects of recent work. And throughout the coming weeks I'll be focusing on the top row for writing material and of course including some from the other rows as well.

The focus of today and tomorrow though are on the 51st Super Bowl or "Super Bowl LI" as the news calls it:

It is nice to hear that George H W Bush and Barbara will be attending the game as they had been hoping to do. Which team will they be rooting for or for that matter. which team will we be rooting for . . . we'll root for the team that plays the best, I suspect.

And we'll do it from the low cost seats at our convenience. If we were going to the game, and driving, the financial impact range is printed above. How could an average working family afford to attend a game at those prices . . .

We forgot to buy avocados this week and I suspect that it is too late to do so today -- so we'll have a bowl of buttered popcorn. And we might have a Digiorno if we like -- otherwise burger & fries . . .

We just hope that the game is a good one, and that we don't have to listen to anything politically motivated either from players or half-time entertainers. Let us enjoy the day and the game. And rejoice in the savings from watching at home.

Of course earlier this week we celebrated "Woodchuck Day" or is more commonly known, "Groundhog Day".

Apparently there will be 6 more cords of wood figured at a cord per each of the remaining 6 weeks of winter. That's how much wood a woodchuck should chuck . . .

Since when did we get our predictions from large furry rodents. Maybe they can be used to make other predictions.

But for me, it does not matter if there are 6 more or no more weeks of winter. We just deal with it, granted we don't usually have to shovel anything or freeze our selves here.

This class is going well and is just how I wanted to start the new year -- with a change of pace and outlook.

It has gotten me a bit "out of the box" in that it uses social media (Facebook) more than I was used to. The class members can compare notes and make comments on the other students' writing and that is helpful. I've signed up for the next series of lessons in The Write Stuff II.

This week, in my assignment I again drew on childhood memories for my material.

Growing up, sometimes, if we were lucky, we as a family would go on rides on a Sunday afternoon.

We would usually head west -- not that far west, but to drive the back-roads  (there wasn't really any other kinds) and tour through places like Batavia, Aurora or Elgin and like that.

Our parents would ooh and ahh over houses and farms and cities as we drove around them and in them. My siblings and I would hear all that and still find other ways to amuse ourselves like counting certain things.

Usually after about a couple of hours we would head towards home, and most of the times I remember that we would stop at a "Prince Castle". I think these were only in northern Illinois, but they were the forerunner of places like McDonalds.

We usually got ice cream cones and if we were relatively close to home, we might bring home some hand packed ice cream for later. When we got home, it was usually my father who made a bee-line to the house (he only had one kidney) and we only had one bathroom . . .

Looking forward to this week -- "RootsTech". Wednesday the 8th through Saturday the 11th.I would love to attend, but I am glad that I can see and hear some of the many events via streaming.

Anyone or anything that is Genealogy related will be in attendance. It is held in Salt Lake City, a city that I have been to many times in previous years for work -- mostly. There are always a variety of speakers and classes and sometimes major announcements -- we'll see how this year goes.

And the dreaded Tax Season is in full swing:

 A few years ago, and for ten seasons, I participated in tax season as a "tax pro" as did Gail for 32 seasons.  Now we join the ranks of those who have to just "do" our taxes without the benefit of fresh schooling and knowledge from attending tax classes.

This year though we do get three extra days to file -- that's a break due to the fact that the 15th of April is on Saturday which would move the date to Monday, but that is a holiday in D.C. so taxes are due on Tuesday the 18th . . . let's find more holidays.

So, we have started doing the taxes as it looks like we have received most of our documents and can begin entering the data. Will this be the year of tax-reform, I think we have to be careful what we wish for though.

That is a bit of our week. See you all "in a few" !