We survived the Ice storm!

A lovely day in Tupelo dawns, the birds are singing, the damn rooster is crowing and temps will be in the 70’s again. We have full days of sorting and packing and getting ready for the moving sale and listing the house and the to-do list goes on and on.

The week of February 15 found us in the middle of a real shit show. Ice pelting down, followed by some snow and then more ice, freezing temps, you get the picture! Luckily we did not lose power, so we stayed safe and warm at home. Literally did not leave the house for a week. No mail delivery for a solid week. No newspaper delivery either. Last Sunday was the first day for newspaper delivery and imagine the surprise of getting the whole weeks worth of papers in one day! LOL–They were printing the paper during the storm, but weren’t delivering it. Crazy huh? We are still missing a lot of our mail according to the informed delivery notices that we have gotten, but hopefully they will get caught up this week.

This is what our front yard looked like, snow on top of ice. We still have a little ice in shady spots but with the temps back up in the 70’s, it should all be gone soon. Now we have torrential rains in the forecast, just what we don’t need.

I guess Mother Nature is just preparing us for what next winter will look like.. Oh my, it has been many years since I have spent a winter in Dakota. Thinking I won’t go outside for many months?! Patti did venture out to take some photos. She is a hardy soul. Good thing one of us is?

We are going to miss some things in Tupelo, the weather, all the shopping, Robert E. Lee, Elvis, but one thing we will not miss is the neighbors dang rooster. Such caterwauling all day and all nite, good grief. Sad to say, he too survived the ice storm. Dang !! I was hoping he would end up in the soup pot or frozen solid. Such is life, you don’t get everything you want, but get enough to make you happy! Stay safe and warm everyone. We will keep you updated as our departure date (still to be determined) looms larger day by day!.

Adios, toodle-oo, adieu, ciao, cherrio, farewell…how many ways to say goodbye or see ya later alligator!

I always thumb through the obituarys in the newspaper and online…..I never fail to be amused by some of the comments/observations that the family makes about their dearly departed. Many times it just makes me wonder just what is the story? I have seen several lately for family matriarchs that have found very creative ways of saying that they were an old bossy momma without actually saying that LOL…today I was stumped by one , after the usual “she loved her grandchildren, etc. was the statement “she loved being outside and building fires”. no mention of any other hobbies or interests….ya gotta wonder what the heck?

Ah…but to the subject at hand, the Yankees in Tupelo have some pretty big news for you’all. We are hauling our butts back to the homeland of North Dakota this spring. We are busy packing and getting ready for a big moving sale. Our plans are all falling into place and we are excited for the move. SO many reasons to head back north and unfortunately not so many to stay in Tupelo. We do love the city and have enjoyed our time here, at least we did before the virus business. We look forward to seeing all our Northern friends and relatives. Pray for an early spring! Maybe you should warn people that we are coming home??? well….maybe not…let it be a surprise LOL

A dark day, a dark mood

January 20, 2021- The day dawns gray and gloomy, so fitting with my mood. I am filled with fear and apprehension Fear of the future, fear of more violence, more hatred, more censorship, loss of our basic rights- the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I have always thought that the world would be a very boring place if we all looked alike, dressed alike, thought alike, indeed were all clones, yes a very boring place indeed. However, having said that, I still believe that, BUT some very basic things we need to have in common, namely common values. I just can not and WILL NOT support a president and party that condones abortion, promotes socialism and communism, encourages open immigration and open borders, a party that will destroy our oil industries and many more in the name of “saving the earth” HA……you know every time they start harping on our oil industry, they are pushing for the USA to buy oil from the middle east. Well, if it is so bad for our planet to dig for oil here, then why is it ok to get it from another country? are they not on the same planet? Or do they want us to go back to horses and buggies? Forget motorized vehicles entirely? Just can’t see the end game here, but see no “good end “of the lunacy.

Winter has been in Tupelo and we even saw our first snow fall since we have been here. It was all melted and gone by afternoon but we have had some cold temperatures (not ND cold but pretty chilly for us!) We continue to mostly stay at home and our main entertainment has been jigsaw puzzles during the day and tv and yarn work in the evenings. Sometimes uneventful is a good thing. We remain virus free and look forward to Spring and the world opening up again. I’m sure our new government body will have a total cure in place soon and everyone can go back to work so they can pay their tax bills. Lord knows we will have millions more to support with our tax dollars. Heaven help us all. Stay safe and try to think happy thoughts, not an easy “think” these days. God Bless!

December–really???

December 1st and the frost is on the pumpkin….we are smack in the middle of a cold spell and not enjoying it! Heavy frost this morning so we are glad we don’t have to go anywhere.

I know I mentioned before the police report section in our newspaper which is quite usually entertaining reading for us! Lately though, I have noticed so many more domestic disturbances. I am thinking this would be a profitable time to be a divorce lawyer. I think it all relates to everyone spending more time at home during the virus. It will be interesting to see statistics down the road to see if there are more divorces in 2020/21. But still I am entertained by some of the reports. Today for example was a call to a home . On the 2nd trip to the home, the woman was hiding in a suitcase…well you sure got to wonder how big was that suitcase or how small was the woman? Although working at the airport I do know some of those bags are pretty darn big, but still….you would have to be limber and small to actually stow away in one. It also said she was reluctant to come out of the suitcase, crap maybe she couldn’t get out? They really need to provide more details, their reports always leave me with more questions !!

On more pleasant news, we have gotten a couple more projects completed. You may have seen these on Patti’s page on facebook. This one was an old console tv that we removed the tv and added a door made from old barn siding from North Dakota. Finish was done with red paint overlaid with dark wood stain. It now resides happily in the living room where it will hold yarn and yarn projects, keeping them safely away from Miss Zoe.

This one is my favorite….was originally made for resale but I couldn’t part with it. The sides are from a bedframe from a bunk bed that Patti found out for the trash man down the street. The shelf is made from the bed slats cut to fit. All painted gray with gray wood stain on top for a good finish. We did have to buy a piece of wood for the top. Now it is the home for our tv in the living room and misc baskets for remotes and a couple of house gnomes for protection on the shelf. We did remove a couple of the slats in the front to make it easier to get to the shelf, although the sides are open also for access.

Current projects include sock gnomes and wooden snowmen, along with the usual yarn projects, all wintery themed to match the season! I also have started working on some room boxes with miniatures, a hobby that I have long neglected and trying to get back into, will let you’all know how that goes, my fingers are not as supple for detail work anymore.

I did mention that Patti had posted our projects on Facebook, you may or may not have noticed my absence on that platform. I finally called it quits. I must admit I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would, I do miss seeing family photos and wishing everyone a happy birthday etc, so maybe I will come back after a long pause. I have joined MEWE which is a similar site, without the mindless liberal censors . It does have a lot of good groups for crafting, upcycling, etc. Look me up if you ever get over there….so far I have just scrolled though and not posted. Just not spending the time to get too involved. Keep in touch and keep those coats buttoned up!

Ah, the smell of sawdust!

The smell of sawdust conjures up images of our Grandpa who we called Dad. Dad was a carpenter and the smell of sawdust will always bring happy memories of him working with wood.

Today it was 70 and bright and sunny. Perfect day for working on some projects in the garage for us two old ladies! We finally finished the cabinet we have been working on. Here is what we started with, some old boards from the dismantled built-in cabinets that were in our old bathrooms before the reno on those. We also had a glass door that was left over from an old bookcase we rescued last summer. We had torn that apart and made 2 storage shelf units for our new bathrooms. (we still have another glass door left over, use to be determined!)

As you can see, the boards were covered in coats and coats of paint. Patti stripped and sanded these and then we commenced construction. We just kinda planned as we went along without a real pattern or directions, we think it turned out pretty well!

Here it is in the garage when we finished and now in its new home, in the guestroom, next to THE CHAIR! what chair is that ?? This is an old chair from the courthouse in Forman. Patti found this at a garage sale a few years back in Forman and it has now made the trip to Tupelo and restored to all its former glory. Patti remembers sitting in a chair like this when visiting Aunt Amy at the courthouse during her Judgeship. Pretty cool huh! ?

A couple of other little projects—Patti made a rolling potting table for me. I will be putting this to good use next spring! Notice the plastic tub on the shelf and also one in the next project. These are more garbage picks from neighbors down the street. So far we have 3 sets of headboard/footboards to upcycle and a tv console, so more sawdust to come! The second project here was a quickie….we spotted this old dresser that was again “out for the garbage man” and hauled it home. With the drawers removed, shelves added, it is now a handy dandy tool chest for the garage.

Stay tuned for more projects. We are in full blown planning and construction here!

Construction zone is over!

Our bathroom renovation projects started August 18 and finally came to an ending on October 29. We are so glad that is over! Today I will share pictures of the before and after of bathroom number 2.

Let’s start with the before pictures—old and dated and really ugly wallpaper!

Fast forward to a total gut. The vanity stayed in the same place, shower in place of the bathtub had to be moved down to accomodate a space that could be accessed in case one needed to get at the pipes. This was done by eliminating some space in a closet in hallway. The built in cupboard was also removed and the toilet was moved midway between shower and vanity.

Next new floor, new walls, new vanity, new everything all being installed.

Here’s the final result–so happy this is over. (and happy with the end product.)

Do you think art belongs in a bathroom…aye or nay ??

This is the barn door that we had custom made. The “barn wood” came from the barn in Havana at our childhood home. I think it turned out pretty cool!

Bathroom Renovation–part one

The major problem with our old home in Tupelo has always been the bathrooms, which I am sure were original to the house. Very dated and grimy and disgusting. We started with the worst, which was the tiny en suite in the master bedroom.

The before pics will show you what we were dealing with, the biggest problem, not enough space. So we went into the closet in the next room (a large coat closet behind the front door in living room) and utilized this space for a new shower. Also took out some old built in cabinets and into one of the closets in bedroom to “square” it off. That gave us just enough room to do what we wanted. This took the contractor over a month to accomplish as it involved moving all the plumbing which entailed tearing into the concrete. Not a fun job!

Here are pictures of what the bathroom looked like before! The tiny corner shower was so disgusting we never used it even once. Goodbye tiny bathroom and yellow tile! Here comes a big mess!

Here are the in progress pictures. You can see how glad we are that this is finally done. One of the last things was to drywall in the living room where the closet door was. If you have ever been around dry wall sand, you will understand why we spent all last weekend, vaccuming, mopping and dusting. Of course with Monday morning, here came the crew to get started on the 2nd bathroom, so much for the clean floor! LOL

Finally it is done! Notice also the storage cabinet that fits perfectly under the window. Patti made that! and she also did the old ladder towel hanger/shelf for over the toilet. So much talent! so….here’s the final product! New bathroom…HURRAH!

It’s still a smallish bathroom, but double the size it was before! What do you think? Besides this we haven’t been up to a whole lot, some little projects, like finishing new storage cabinets for each of the bathrooms and corraling accessories like baskets LOL…fun stuff! We have a few more little projects going and Patti will share those on facebook. I continue to draw her little pictures to try to explain my ideas, she continues to puzzle over them, but eventually with a lot of hand gestures and descriptive words, she does get it figured out what I need her to do (she’s in charge of the power tools you know!) I’m not allowed to operate most of them, she does let me use the sander though! Last week I managed to drop a big block of wood that we were trying to move and of course it landed on my foot. So now I guess I’m banned from that too. Is it my fault she inherited all the coordination?

The guest room is now available again! It was a giant storage area as we cleaned out 2 big closets for the renovation. All restowed in their places now. Weather has started to cool off in the evenings. We actually have turned the a/c off and don’t need the furnace yet, so all is good! Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you have been up to!

Censorship–loss of freedom of speech

So today we were greeting by our facebook demigods with a new statement that basically says that effective October something, they will censor whatever/whenever they want…..I thought they were all ready doing that? I also had an issue this morning where it would not let me copy and paste a statement as my post? Unsure if this is a facebook problem or not, however I was able to copy and paste the statement to notepad on my computer, so I’m thinking this is a new tool for facebook to stifle viewpoints. STIFLE EDITH…remember Archie Bunker saying that? LOL. At any rate, I am fast losing any desire to post on facebook, and considering pulling all photos and pages off the site. a daunting task but one that I may have to seriously think about. In the meantime, I am sharing here the post that I wanted to use on facebook, it regards the shooter in Kenosho which of course facebook does not want you to read. This was copied and pasted….no problem on here! If you are a raging liberal you may want to exit now….don’t say you weren’t warned and don’t bother trying to post any liberal content in remarks either—facebook isn’t the only platform that can censor!

The full statement released by Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense team. (I would have posted the link to the page, but it’s got too much advetising.)VERNON HILLS, ILLINOIS / August 28, 2020 / Pierce Bainbridge is honored to represent 17-year old Antioch, Illinois resident Kyle Rittenhouse, who has suddenly found himself at the center of a national firestorm and charged with murder after defending himself from a relentless, vicious and potentially deadly mob attack in Kenosha, Wisconsin.On August 25th, 2020, Kenosha spiraled into chaos following the Jacob Blake shooting. The Kenosha Mayor and Wisconsin Governor failed to provide a basic degree of law and order to protect the citizens and community buildings in Kenosha. The city burned as mobs destroyed buildings and property, and looters stole whatever they wanted. Rioters defaced storefronts, the courthouse, and many other public and private locations across the city.After Kyle finished his work that day as a community lifeguard in Kenosha, he wanted to help clean up some of the damage, so he and a friend went to the local public high school to remove graffiti by rioters. Later in the day, they received information about a call for help from a local business owner, whose downtown Kenosha auto dealership was largely destroyed by mob violence. The business owner needed help to protect what he had left of his life’s work, including two nearby mechanic’s shops. Kyle and a friend armed themselves with rifles due to the deadly violence gripping Kenosha and many other American cities, and headed to the business premises. The weapons were in Wisconsin and never crossed state lines.Upon arrival, Kyle and others stood guard at the mechanic’s shop across from the auto dealership to prevent further damage or destruction. Later that night, substantially after the city’s 8:00 p.m. curfew expired without consequence, the police finally started to attempt to disperse a group of rioters. In doing so, they maneuvered a mass of individuals down the street towards the auto shops. Kyle and others on the premises were verbally threatened and taunted multiple times as the rioters passed by, but Kyle never reacted. His intent was not to incite violence, but simply to deter property damage and use his training to provide first aid to injured community members.After the crowd passed the premises and Kyle believed the threat of further destruction had passed, he became increasingly concerned with the injured protestors and bystanders congregating at a nearby gas station with no immediate access to medical assistance or help from law enforcement. Kyle headed in that direction with a first aid kit. He sought out injured persons, rendered aid, and tried to guide people to others who could assist to the extent he could do so amid the chaos. By the final time Kyle returned to 2 the gas station and confirmed there were no more injured individuals who needed assistance, police had advanced their formation and blocked what would have been his path back to the mechanic’s shop. Kyle then complied with the police instructions not to go back there. Kyle returned to the gas station until he learned of a need to help protect the second mechanic’s shop further down the street where property destruction was imminent with no police were nearby.As Kyle proceeded towards the second mechanic’s shop, he was accosted by multiple rioters who recognized that he had been attempting to protect a business the mob wanted to destroy. This outraged the rioters and created a mob now determined to hurt Kyle. They began chasing him down. Kyle attempted to get away, but he could not do so quickly enough. Upon the sound of a gunshot behind him, Kyle turned and was immediately faced with an attacker lunging towards him and reaching for his rifle. He reacted instantaneously and justifiably with his weapon to protect himself, firing and striking the attacker.Kyle stopped to ensure care for the wounded attacker but faced a growing mob gesturing towards him. He realized he needed to flee for his safety and his survival. Another attacker struck Kyle from behind as he fled down the street. Kyle turned as the mob pressed in on him and he fell to the ground. One attacker kicked Kyle on the ground while he was on the ground. Yet another bashed him over the head with a skateboard. Several rioters tried to disarm Kyle. In fear for his life and concerned the crowd would either continue to shoot at him or even use his own weapon against him, Kyle had no choice but to fire multiple rounds towards his immediate attackers, striking two, including one armed attacker. The rest of the mob began to disperse upon hearing the additional gunshots.Kyle got up and continued down the street in the direction of police with his hands in the air. He attempted to contact multiple police officers, but they were more concerned with the wounded attackers. The police did not take Kyle into custody at that time, but instead they indicated he should keep moving. He fully cooperated, both then and later that night when he turned himself in to the police in his hometown, Antioch, Illinois.Kyle did nothing wrong. He exercised his God-given, Constitutional, common law and statutory law right to self-defense.However, in a reactionary rush to appease the divisive, destructive forces currently roiling this country, prosecutors in Kenosha did not engage in any meaningful analysis of the facts, or any in-depth review of available video footage (some of which shows that a critical state’s witness was not even at the area where the shots were fired); this was not a serious investigation. Rather, after learning Kyle may have had conservative political viewpoints, they immediately saw him as a convenient target who they could use as a scapegoat to distract from the Jacob Blake shooting and the government’s abject failure to ensure basic law and order to citizens. Within 24-36 hours, he was charged with multiple homicide counts.Kyle now has the best legal representation in the country. With help from Nicholas Sandmann attorney L. Lin Wood, Pierce Bainbridge and multiple top-tier criminal defense lawyers in Wisconsin immediately offered representation to Kyle.Today, his legal team was successful in working with the public defender to obtain a several-week continuance of his extradition hearing to September 25th. This at least partially slows down the rush to judgment by a government and media that is determined to assassinate his character and destroy his life.Kyle, his family, the team at Pierce Bainbridge and his other lawyers intend to fight these charges every step of the way, take the case to trial and win an acquittal on the grounds of self-defense before a jury of his peers.The legal fees and other costs of Kyle’s defense will be provided through donations to #FightBack Foundation Inc., a Texas 501(c)(4) foundation created by John Pierce and Lin Wood to protect lawabiding American citizens whose rights are being trampled on by state and local governments that are more concerned with appeasing mobs than protecting those rights.Pierce Bainbridge founder John Pierce praised Kyle’s strength and resilience. “A 17-year old child should not have to take up arms in America to protect life and property. That is the job of state and local governments. However, those governments have failed, and law-abiding citizens have no choice but to protect their own communities as their forefathers did at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Kyle is not a racist or a white supremacist. He is a brave, patriotic, compassionate law-abiding American who loves his country and his community. He did nothing wrong. He defended himself, which is a fundamental right of all Americans given by God and protected by law. He is now in the crosshairs of institutional forces that are much more powerful than him. But he will stand up to them and fight not only for himself, but for all Americans and their beloved Constitution. We will never leave his side until he is victorious in that fight.”Further updates will be provided as the investigation and legal proceedings unfold

.Copied from Tan Valas Thanks brother! 😎😎🇺🇸🦅🐺#FightBack

On another note, our bathroom renovation is moving along, not as fast as we would like, but it’s getting there. We will post all the before and after shots when it’s completed!

Chin up and TRUMP 2020! YEEEEHA!

On this day in time; time to vent.

I’m going to just use my blog as a personal journal of sorts today. If you are not interested in the musings of an old woman’s mind, it might be best to just exit now….or go back and read some old posts that you might have missed!

The elephants in the room…..so everyone is upset about the 5 year old child that was executed by a black man, as they should be—-but also very indignant that Media is not covering the story. Well……lets back up a little here…..black career criminal killed by police in Minneapolis just a few months ago, the Policemen arrested shortly after. Protests, rioting , looting, burning and murders followed ==all covered ad nauseum by the media. AND continue to this day with more and more murders while the mayors and governors etc allow the mayhem, all fueled and goaded on by the media. Statues destroyed, BLM graffitti everywhere, chaos in major cities. Well you know as well as I what has been going on. But in the 2nd scenario an innocent child was murdered by a black man who was promptly arrested…..does not fit the agenda…..BLM doesn’t care….Media doesn’t care……We the People, we care, we grieve with the family…BUT are we going to follow the example set before….are we going to riot, loot, burn,murder etc? well…HELL NO. In both instances, the person “allegedly responsible” was promptly arrested. Responsible citizens do not “take to the streets” to show displeasure over a crime. We expect that the guilty will be prosecuted in a court of law. We don’t see it as an opportunity to get a new television for free. Nothing for the Media to “spin” here is there?
Which reminds me of the Ferguson Fiasco…remember that from 2014? Just last month, 6 years later!, the latest legal team in St. Louis, reopened the case, once again….and once again…came to the conclusion that the shooting was warranted, no charges against the police man for shooting the thug. And this was the conclusion drawn by new black prosecuting attorney Wesley Bell. If he couldn’t find anything to prosecute, what does that tell you? All that BS in Ferguson back in 2014, was just that….more unwarranted outrage over a criminal being shot by police. And still that thug is held up as a hero or martyr, an example of what exactly? It reminds me of that old homily, if nothing else you can serve as a bad example. I will concede that there are bad policemen out there, I myself even ran into a couple, GASP…..what?!?! a white woman having trouble with police? doesn’t fit the agenda either does it? Ask me sometime to tell you about the Breckenridge MO cops. But in the mean time, the “leftist agenda” only cares that black people are targeted by police. I’m just gonna say it….they commit most of the crimes….so there…sorry….truth is ugly.
so lets think about police brutality, murder by cop, alleged racism………well maybe it’s because I am old and jaded, but my gut reaction to all this violence going on ….just start shooting the assholes. A few well placed take downs of ring leaders would go a long way to stopping this BS. Yeah, I know, they can’t….their hands have been tied as more and more restrictions have been placed on the police departments. Are there bad cops? of course, they are human beings and so some are flawed just like every other human being. That certainly doesn’t mean that the whole system should be torn down does it? There is no guarantee that a new policing system would be any better and I see every indication that it would indeed be much worse. If allowing looting, rioting and burning etc. is what the “new order” thinks is acceptable, well heaven help us all. and no one in there right mind would think that sending a social worker instead of police to something like a domestic violence call is a reasonable response. Calls like that are among the most dreaded and dangerous for our police. We will be lucky if we still have good police forces in place when all this insanity dies down. Who wants a job where you put your life in danger every day….to protect people that try to harm you…..that threaten and harass your families and friends……that aren’t paid anywhere near enough to take this abuse and endanger their lives. If anyone thinks we can survive without police, well I hope you/we never have to find out what that would look like.
Mail voting—-oh good grief….you know our father was a rural mail carrier, I have nothing against our hard working people working in the post office. BUT as a system, it definitely has its problems. We all have our horror stories about mail delivery. Is it a viable option for the whole country to vote by mail….not this year, not in your wildest dreams. OR and WA have been doing this for quite some time, they have “supposedly” a viable mail- in system. Good for them but I am sure it did not happen in a few months time and not without some major snafus along the way. I really don’t believe that I could ever feel confident just placing my ballot in a mail box. There are no assurances that your vote is counted in that scenario. I am just not that trusting of a soul….I could just as soon send it by carrier pigeon, if I had one…..actually that might be safer now that I think about it!

Facebook………………Started out as something fun, a nice way to stay in touch or reconnect with old friends, maybe even make some new friends. That was the old Facebook. Now it is turning into a leftist run censored site. Free speech…nope…..discenting opinion…nope.
I have so many facebook friends that are afraid to post what they really feel/think about issues because of backlash from liberal friends and family. Why is it that anyone that is considered Liberal is allowed to post what ever bull crap they want about our POTUS or Republican candidates/platforms etc, BUT if a Conservative does the same, they are subject to censorship? Big issue of suppressing free speech is what is going on. Big time intolerance for any agenda that is not the left/liberal!
Do you know the definition of liberal….I looked it up in my old Funk & Wagnalls…yep I still have one! Here are the 1st three definitions.
adj. 1. Characterized by or inclining toward opinons or policies favoring progress or reform, as in politics or religion.

  1. Not intolerant or prejudiced; broad-minded. 3. Characterized by generosity or lavishness in giving.
    Seems like the not intolerant and broad-minded bit needs a little more work in my opinion. I see many things on facebook I don’t agree with but I know how to just scroll on by or “snooze” the person if they are particularly crude or unreasonable and I expect the same from others. I see little point in arguing with someone that has no tolerance for any opinion save their own. (and they are ENTITLED to that opinion whether I like it or not!) That is free speech and free thought!
    I do understand why many people do not like our POTUS. He surely can rub people the wrong way. I suspect throughout history, that there have been many Presidents that would have gotten the same backlash, save for the simple fact –THERE WAS NO TELEVISION…..! imagine back in the days of Thomas Jefferson or anyone before FDR, the only “news” would have been something printed in a newspaper, and that was sometimes months after the event. The “Personality” of a president was not an issue, only the content of his policies and actions. I think if some of President Trump’s speeches were delivered in a written format, more people would be receptive to his ideas. Just sayin…… On the flip side of that was the previous POTUS, who could have sold snake oil to snakes. His delivery was polished, his actual intentions obscured by his dazzling of his audience and the color of his skin. Substance and content should be more important than stage presence and skin color, in my humble opinion.
    And my other pet peeve about the political process….why in the sam hell can neither party come up with a candidate that is not of retirement age? with age comes wisdom….well sometimes yes….but also hardening of the arteries and a lot of other issues too. There really should be a new amendment with a cap on age for the president. There is a minimum age and I really think we need a new maximum age too. And this of course, an opinion from one of those Old People…..Well I got some stuff off my chest today without cluttering up facebook yet again…..Bless your heart if you made it all the way through…and Bless your heart even if you didn’t….Peace to all! BTW – Our guest room is currently out of business as we start our bathrooms renovation.. Going to be messy around here for the foreseeable future. We are so excited and will have a big reveal when they are all done! Come and visit later!

The other dreaded virus that sneaks up on you and takes over your life………………..

It’s name is genealogy. It took root in my blood back in 1970. At the time I was a fairly new employee at Northwest Orient in the Twin Cities. The BRAC went on strike and being young and poor, my first instinct was to just go back on home to Havana and wait it out. I guess I must have seemed bored, at any rate my mother suggested that I work on family history. Little did she know that she was planting this seed in my soul that would survive and flourish many years in the future.

This of course was all before the internet. My research consisted of talking to older relatives, visiting every cemetery that I could find in the search for names and dates., and most importantly, writing letters. I still have many of the letters I received over the years and treasure them as so many of the writers have passed away. Many a clue has been gleaned by rereading these letters and sometimes reading between the lines too.

The strike was over before my research really got too far and I headed back to work with my 3 x 5 cards. They got stuck in a drawer and forgotten about for many years.

In the 1990’s I again found the time and interest to start the search again. Found my old 3 x 5’s and dug in. The difference now was the internet. Not that there was that much info online yet, but it was the ease of communicating with others, the mailbox just a click away. I connected with more and more of the family that had the same interests in family history. And yes, still used snail mail to connect with some older relatives that weren’t into the computer age yet. I still get a thrill from seeing a missive in my real mail box. It’s such a joy to get mail that is not bills!

MAC—this is a little moniker that i call some people in my family tree. It started back when I was corresponding with a cousin that was no blood relation. And of yes, there are many in the tree that have no actual link to you other than circumstance. It can be from a variety of reasons, adoption and/or remarriage of a widow with children in tow, an indiscretion, a variety of reasons. But, a real family tree embraces them all and some of my very favorite relatives have turned out not to be relatives after all. MAC- stands for Mutually Accepted Cousin. Back in the 90’s, I became acquainted with an older cousin on my mom’s side. His was the story of a widow with children married to my great uncle. No blood relation, but ended up with the new father’s last name, as so often happened in the old days. We corresponded by years through email and snail mail and were even able to meet in person one summer in North Dakota. I remember one time he even mailed me a road map of Poland, not because we shared Polish roots, but just because he knew of my struggle with that branch of my tree. We shared that fascination with family history and he’ll always be my MAC.

Today my genealogy data base has grown to over 7,000 names of the living and dead. It is an obsession, some may even call an insidious disease, but a fascinating hobby it very much can be. I hope the next generation will push onwards and I know they will, for one reason that stands out, another little moniker called DNA. If I were young today, I know just what I would study. DNA is key to everything, not just genealogy, that is just a little added bonus. But too late and too old to start a new career, that will be up to the next generations.. Peace to all and happy ancestor hunting!