Super Week !

And it has been. This is, of course, the week before the Super Bowl and the preparations are in place. It is the last big event scheduled to take our minds off the "other" items in the news. In a couple of weeks, the Winter Olympics will help us forget the everyday happenings.

One interesting event this week has been the super blue blood moon and eclipse. We did see the beginnings and the leftover results but missed the actual event -- we did see pictures plenty though.

We in our town of Healdsburg this week have been about 70 - 80° warmer than Minneapolis. We have seen 80s this week but mostly in the mid-seventies. It is pretty nice and nicer still when we see the breaths of folks visiting the Super Bowl grounds talking about how exciting everything is . . .

Interestingly for me, the game comes exactly five years from the day that I was released from the hospital after spending 21 days there with Guillain-Barre in 2013. Super Bowl 47 was played between the Ravens and the Forty-Niners and I arrived home just in time to see the kickoff and enjoy the guacamole. It was February 4th that year as well, unfortunately, the Niners lost 34-31.

The Niners were not even close to repeating that feat this year -- may be "next" year . . .


The big news for me in the genealogical searching efforts has to do with DNA testing. We have already tested with the big three -- FamilyTree DNA, Ancestry DNA, and 23&Me DNA and this week I sent all those raw numbers to MyHeritage DNA as they will display matches from their data bases.

And we have ordered testing kits from MyHeritage now as well.

In the meantime, MyHeritage has taken the raw numbers from the "big 3" and displayed some of their results to the left.

They break out their estimated percentages for what nationalities are represented in each of our samples.

It is surprising that both Gail and I have a certain percent of Finnish ancestors -- me 11% and Gail about 6%.

I know of NO Finnish ancestors -- but I'll keep looking. The other interesting fact that MyHeritage points out is that Gail and I besides being husband & wife are 3rd - 5th cousins. I just wish that I could genealogically figure out how we are genetically related -- again, I'll keep looking, but if any of you know -- please tell us.

Growing up in the Midwest I can remember seeing (once in a while) a sign here or there that said: "Lincoln Slept Here".

And there are other presidents who apparently have the same kind of signage around the land. I have to wonder in future generations what the signs will say about our current president (45th) or even the 42nd president.

There are a lot of presidents that apparently there does not seem to be any mention of "where" they slept -- or if they did, just saying.

Lastly, I have struggled with what should be on the menu for the game tomorrow. I scoured the back shelves of the freezer and have come to a conclusion -- it is to be ribs . . .

I was going to have chili, but then I came across the above genealogically related "meme" and I changed my mind. But in time that will not bother me -- after all, I spent several years in the "meat" industry and I just can't think about those things.

So, BBQ ribs it will be along with potato skins, corn, black beans and maybe some chips and dip.

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