Roads: Icy, Washboard, Plank Roads

Brilliant blue skies with crystal snow crusting everything...what a day! When Tika and I went walking, the snowplow had made "washboards" on the road. Back inside, I found a note I'd made when I was in Salt Lake and here's my entry to you today: Did you know? In 1847 Onandaga County, NY, passed a law to construct plank roads mainly to help farmers get their produce to the railroad lines or the canal, and to help merchants importing goods for sale and for stage lines, transportation and mail. Onandaga County has the honor to claim that they were the first to build plank roads in the U.S. (so said a blurb on their county website). These roads must have been better than mud but terrifically uncomfortable to ride over, being made of sawed logs. Sometimes they were laid curved side up and sometimes the curved side went down, and these were laid across "sleepers." (Think iron rails laid across railroad ties.) These plank roads were toll roads. The fee for a man was 3c; a man and a horse was 6c, an ox was 6c but a sheep was only 1c. A 1-horse wheeled cart was 10c and a loaded cart or wagon was 25cents. Was that a lot for those days?? And we gripe today about a few potholes? Tika likes washboard roads, muddy roads, and I'm sure she'd enjoy running along plank roads.

Genealogy Arrives

What a day! Spokane was enveloped in a blizzard ("snowmaggedon" the weather folk have coined) and I was delighted and privileged to stay home, warm and safe. Taking Tika out, little icy balls would form on her furry legs and she did not like that. But the snow did not stop the U.S. mail from arriving. While back I had Handy Man do a DNA study and today (to shorten the story) the mailman brought me a GEDCOM disc from a goodly match. Yippee and yahoo. Will keep you posted............

Tika & I Were Young Again

Both Tika and I felt young again as we beach walked over our Christmas get-a-way. But I did not chew on rotten beach stuff and get a tummy ache and bad breath. What genealogy did I do? Lots of Family Search Indexing and looking/working on my uploaded file at Ancestry. "Cloud" genealogy is wonderful!

Tika & The Crab(shell)

Tika had awful breath last night after her encounters with Dungeness crab shells and dead sea birds. Rubbed Crest onto her gums to fix the problem and no, she did not like that! Was curious about the name Moclips. According to author William Bright in his 2007 book, Native American Placenames in the U.S., Moclips was a Quinault word for large stream. Within steps from the Gull Wing Inn the Moclips River does pour into the Pacific so that makes sense. My thoughts spiraled to wondering about records of the Quinault peoples?????

Beach Be Us!

Itwas a beautiful Washington-coast day here at Moclips. In between working on FamilySearch Indexing, we took two lovely long beach walks.... Nice Lady swaddled in rain gear and Tika with a long-running leash. We both had a grand time. Wish all of you had been here with us.

Tika takes us to the Pacific beach.

Tomorrow almost about this time, Tika will be running in the
surf of the Pacific Coast beach (looking rather like this dogger). We have packed doggie towels, shampoo and her comb but we intend to allow her a good time. We are headed to Moclips for part of Christmas. Tika asked if Santa will find her there, and I assured her that he would. Think so? Her list for Santa is quite alarmingly long...... she took lessons from Snoopy on "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

Winter Living

This rock-covered birdhouse Tika and I made last year from rocks that Handy Man ran through his rock tumbler. Birds do sometimes use it (wrens have) but mainly it is pretty and it is a snow gauge for us. Looking at it causes me to think upon the sod homes of some of our ancestors. How unbearably cold, wet, drafty their abodes must have been..... no wonder sickness and early death was such a presence. This birdhouse is tightly glued and nailed and the rocks provide insulation. This "people house" had nothing much to keep the people warm. Crazy comparison? Maybe; but snow does that to us. We today may say "we love the snow" (and Tika does) but we are blessed to have a warm, dry home.

Tika and I like doggie jokes.

Catching up on newspaper reading, Tika was sitting in my lap as I enjoyed this Tundra cartoon. (Gee, I hope you have Tundra in your newspaper!). We both laughed and laughed...... and I promised Tika that I would never let her get "square." (Many thanks to Tundra creator Bill Kellogg for permission to use his delightful funny.)

Tika Is Happy I Am Home

Tika was so-so glad to have me home. She sat quietly on my lap for an hour yesterday as I told her all about Thomas MacEntee, Leland Meitzler, my roomate, and all my good "tour family friends" of the Salt Lake Christmas Tour.......... and even the Plaza hotel staff who are wonderful too. I told her about my delving into early Colonial New England Scots-Irish immigration and while she did yawn a bit, she never left my lap. Of course it was cold, and very rainy outside which might have helped a bit. She did ask again about a Dachshund Family Genealogy and I just hugged her and said maybe next year there might would be such a one. (Remember, all she knows about her ancestry is that she comes from Idaho.) It's always good to go and good to come.

Homewardbounding.

If it had been daylight, this is what I would have seen as I flew home into Spokane. Bet you don't know that my area, eastern Washington state, is where many of the Germans from Russia folks settled when they immigrated in the 1920s. We have a town named Odessa after the same in Russia and the area is a major producer of wheat and lentils. Under the snow you see are wheat fields! But it was dark as I flew in last night and all I saw were clusters of light. HOME!I'll share Tika's happy face with you tomorrow. I had constant kisses all the way home!

Salt Lake Weather Guide??

The "wag" is that to know what weather is coming into the Salt Lake valley, you just need to look up at the Walker Center tower. If it's blue, good weather. If it's red, bad weather coming. And if it's blinking red, a storm be brewing. Most all this week in Salt Lake the tower has been red and it blinked for a couple of days. But it really was never that bad, so big deal? What do tall towers know anyway?

Tika called last night; "when are you coming home???" I replied, "soon!"

Flash Drives Are Us

I have not seen (here in the Family History Library) folks using a flash drive that is as cute as this one, but everybody used these little gizmos. Many have them on lanyards around their necks or attached to their name tags. Folks bring in their information to refer to and use the flash drives to save data and images onto rather than printing pages and pages of paper. These wonderful gadgets are the accessory of the day for sure for both men and women. Tika would only want to know if they are safe to chew upon. And are they tasty?

Tika Misses Me

Tika just sent me this picture. She says it's not her but it shows how she feels.... she misses me. Please do not tell her but while I miss her, I am having such a good time and learning so much from Tomas MacEntee and have even solved a couple of way-back-early-New England problems. Today Thomas taught us the million-and-one uses of Google......... would you have guessed? So, Darling Tika, hang on and ask Handy Man to give you a hanky.

Lights Tonight On Temple Square

Tika just called me! And answered a question and taught me something new! Even on a "remote" computer, I can find/save/post an image to our blog. Thank you so much, sweet dogger. How I wish all of you could come walking with me (and 17,873 others) on Temple Square this evening to see the lights. It is a magical fairyland. Tika, if you were here you would only see ankles.

Genealogy Wisdom & Dachshund Wisdom

"There are three faithful friends," said Benjamin Franklin. "An old wife, an old dog and ready money."

"Beware of bargains in parachutes, life preservers, fire extinguishers, brain surgery AND genealogical research!" (don't know where I got this one).

Listened to Thomas MacEntee teach about Genealogy Toolboxes, why you should have one, why you should use one, how to create one, how to keep one and everything else you'd need to know about this topic. I'd bet he has information on this topic on his website http://hidefgen.com . Great idea!

SLC & FHL & New Stuff!

It was sooooo foggy here in Salt Lake City that from my room on the 12th floor I could NOT see the ground........ and no wonder flights were delayed, re-routed and mixed up. But our entire tour group is safely here and that's what matters. Several ladies have doxie dogs and we've been sharing love-stories about our Tikas, Cocos, Bailey, and Millies. All of that inbetween learning how to use the new FamilySearch catalog and planning our week's work. And learning a new way to keep a research calendar online........ and it's only Monday!

Tika, your Nice Lady is so glad you are not here for I would not have time for you!

Thomas MacEntee Be Coming!

Tika says she will pass; "he doesn't speak my language; I'll bet he's a cat person," she told me. But I'm excited! Thomas MacEntee HIMSELF, the arch-blogger and arch-tech guru (my opinion) is coming to teach 8 classes to the Salt Lake Christmas Tour group here in Salt Lake. This makes the SLCT double-triple wonderful. Besides Thomas, the third floor of the Library now has about 100 computer stations.......... what does that tell you about the future of genealogy?? I do miss my Tika but I'm sure glad I'm here.

Family History Library & Friends

Salt Lake City, and the Family History Library, are indeed the "crossroads of the west." First day in the library I meet old friend Gary from Missouri. Then it was Joanie from New Jersey, Pat, Diann and Louise from Oregon, Ginny and Janis from Michigan, Glenn and Karen from California. How fun! Cold, clear blue skies and bare sidewalks after a good night's sleep at the Salt Lake Plaza. Looking forward to a long list of friends coming in between today and Sunday. "Crossroads of the west" indeed!

Tika called last night and asked if there are any dachshund family histories. How to disappoint my little sweetie and tell her no??

Family History Library...... I Be Here

Salt Lake City is a "balmy" 23o with a snowy afternoon promised. No matter to me; "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Except that several friends are flying in this afternoon and I want them to come safely. I'm on the 3rd floor of the Library and I see they've added 32 new computers! Does Family Search think that at least some of the future of genealogy is on the Internet?? Is snow white?

Tika called me last night and said she misses me. She says Handy Man does too. I told Tika that I could NOT happily be HERE without knowing that all was well THERE. Same truth for us all, right?

Ancestors, here I come!

Family History Library & Temple Square Here I Come!

Tika will miss me, but Handy Man will take good care of her. For year #26, I am off on the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour and each year I cannot wait and the experience just gets funner and funner and better and better. Christmas is happening there; Temple Square will be brilliant with millions of lights and this year I think there will be plenty of snow. All the indoor spaces are decorated too, especially with poinsettias everywhere. And the pretty-empty Family History Library is wonderful too. Wish you all could be there with me; I will be blogging but without pictures. And yes, Tika and Handy Man, I will miss you both.......... at least a little.

Snow Digging Doxie

Tika must think there are badgers or some sort of critters in the snow berms (left behind the plowing) for she will dig in clear up to her tail........... she'll back out snorting snow and then dive right back in. It is really fun to watch this show. Soon her chest and front legs are covered with icy-snowy balls which really impedes the digging but no matter, she digs away. So far, no animals have been clawed, chomped or otherwise harmed in this activity, not even Tika. How to liken this to genealogy? Persistence! When you know the answer is there, you just gotta keep digging for it. Thanks, Tika, for the good example.

Turkey in my yard.

Tika says: I have long given up on trying to chase this turkey into some fun action but let me tell you I try my darndest to bark and scare the real turkey-birds who flock into Nice Lady and Handy Man's yard. But they must be deaf; just like Rusty Turkey, the real ones are either deaf or too snooty to care about a barking dachshund. Thinking of turkey, Nice Lady read where turkey and venison were about the only foods the Pilgrims had on that first Thanksgiving that we traditionally enjoy today. Me? I like turkey, venison, FOOD!

William Bradford..... My Ancestor

William Bradford was quite a man and I'm proud to call him ancestor. Coming from a hard childhood, staying true to his Separatist beliefs, escaping England for Holland only to learn that freedom for him and the group was not to be found there and so managing to work a deal to finance a trip across the Atlantic to "the Virginias" and only to arrive onto New England shores in a bleak December in 1620. The group struggled and it wasn't until 1627 that they knew for sure that they would survive. He first married Dorothy May in Holland and had a son, John, who stayed behind when the Mayflower sailed. Dorothy died in the frigid waters of Plymouth Harbor soon after they arrived. In 1623 William married widow Alice Carpenter and they had four children, including my ancestor, William. The elder William soon became the second governor of the colony and served for decades. He died in 1657 and is buried in the cemetery in Plymouth were so many others of the Pilgrims rest. I have visited Plymouth and this cemetery. Great Grandpa Bradford, thank you for all you did for me.

Plymouth Rock..... Was It Real?

Was there really a certain rock onto which the Pilgrims stepped as they landed that cold December day in Plymouth Harbor??? Maybe yes and maybe no.

In the August 1987 issue of The Mayflower Quarterly (publication of the Society of Mayflower Descendants), I authored an article on "The History of Plymouth Rock." I researched and wrote the bit because if it was true, then my ancestor had put his foot upon that very rock!

Well, bottom line, there is no real, hard-core evidence that the rock now enshrined in a columned portico in Plymouth harbor is that "real" rock or not. Surely there is much history about the rock but it was a good 200 years later that folks really got interested in finding and preserving the rock...... if it existed. You do your reading and research and let me know what you think!

I've been lucky enough to have visited Plymouth and visited the rock. It's way too big to pick up so all thoughts of purloining it fled from my mind. But to stand there and close your eyes and imagine......... ah, that is the real magic of the rock.

Mayflower..... A "sweet" ship.

The Mayflower was what was called "a sweet ship." Before carrying the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, she had been a cargo ship transporting wine between England and other European countries; hence, she smelled "sweet." That was surely a plus. But consider these numbers: there were 102 passengers plus a crew of 25-30. The ship was estimated to be about 100' long by 25' wide, or 2500 square feet. When you divide 2500 by 128 (guessing) you get less than 20 square feet per person in which to live and store your belongings. A typical bedroom is 10x12? Or 120 square feet. Would you want to live for 66 days (on a rough north Atlantic crossing) with 10 other people in a space the size of your bedroom or office?????? My hat is off to my ancestor, William Bradford, and all those intrepid others.

The Mayflower had been in service since 1609 (under the constant command of Capt. Christopher Jones) and in 1623, after her most famous voyage, the ship returned to England and was likely dismantled for scrap lumber. Although the story is considered apocryphal, the Mayflower Barn just outside the Quaker village of Jordans in Buckinghamshire is said to be built from these timbers.

This photo is of a replica, the Mayflower II, moored in Plymouth harbor and open for touring.

Tika & Me & Snow

Snow was "belly deep on a dachshund" here today. And it was a high of 9 degrees. Tika and her Nice Lady stayed indoors, by the fire, one of us computer-surfing and the other rawhide-bone-chewing. Good day for genealogy!!!

Mayflower Compact........ Did You Know?

Tika has again given me permission to continue this saga. One important aspect of the Mayflower-Pilgrim story was the crafting of the Mayflower Compact. This was the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony. The Mayflower was originally bound for the mouth of the Hudson River (land granted there by the Crown to the Virginia Company) but for several reasons the ship sailed north to the New England coast. This decision inspired some of the "strangers" (colonists who were not members of the congregation) to say that since the settlement would not be made in the agreed-upon territory they "would use their own liberty; for non had power to command them....." The wiser heads, knowing winter was coming and they must work together to survive, drew up what was in essence a social contract in which the settlers consented to follow common rules and regulations for the sake of survival.

Known as the Mayflower Compact, it was signed on 11 Nov 1620 (OS..... or 21 Nov 1620 NS) by 41 of the ship's 102 passengers in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. With Google you can find and read a transcript of this famous document. And now you know.

Thank you, Tika.

William Bradford....... Portrait

Tika has given me permission to continue the story: This is said to be a portrait of William Bradford. I'm sure he looked something like this..... but white collars? Naaahhhh. Bradford was the second governor of the Plymouth Colony and his memoirs or autobiography, Of Plimouth Plantation, is a wonderful read for any descendant. He coined the term "pilgrims" for his group. As I recall from that book, when the group was considering leaving Holland for America, it was a much-discussed and difficult decision. "But we knew we were pilgrims....." wrote Bradford, and so were destined to cross the ocean. There are dozens of websites and hundreds of books about Bradford, the Mayflower, the colony and all the history. Go have yourself a very good Thanksgiving week read.

William Bradford.......... My Ancestor

Tika has given me permission to tell you all about my most famous ancestor, so here goes. I remember so well when I discovered (back in about 1977) that my maternal lineage went straight back to William Bradford of Mayflower and Plymouth Colony fame. Boy did that deeply set the hook of genealogy and escalate my interest in American history. William Bradford was born in 1589 and in this house in Austerfield, England. I won't go into his entire biography; you can Google and learn more than you want to know. With the Separatists he went to Leyden, Holland and there married Dorothy May. They had a son, John, who stayed behind when the Mayflower sailed west. Dorothy endured the voyage but drowned in Plymouth Harbor (some say suicide; I would think depression). In 1623 William married Alice Carpenter; my line descends from their son, William (1624-1703) through his daughter Melatiah. Isn't that just the prettiest name you've ever heard? So begins Thanksgiving week for Tika and me.

Color Bindness...... People & Dogs

According to The Essential Dachshund doxies "cannot distinguish many colors." Does that say they are color blind? My son-in-law is color blind. According to Wikipedia, many more men than women are color blind...... 99.5% vs. .5%. Color blindness is a condition that affects the person's perception of colors. These discrepancies lead to changes in color vision that range from mild difficulty in recognizing shades to total inability of detecting colors. (And you wondered why your man mis-matched his tie and shirt and his socks??) How did the condition of color bindness affect our male ancestors? I suspect they, not knowing any difference, coped quite well. And Tika? "What me worry?" is her answer.

Family History Time: Grandmother's Birthday

Clara Anna JOSEPH was born on 22 November 1894 in Ivy Landing, Monroe County, Illinois. She was born when her mother was 44 (old by that day's standards). She was born in a little "landing" town along the Mississippi River that has long since washed away. Her parents, Henry/Heinrich JOSEPH and Magdalena REGNER, both came from the tiny German village of Alzey but (so the story goes) did not know each other there. Alzey was a wine-growing, agricultural region, and Monroe County seemed very similar to immigrating German. Clara was the youngest of 11 children and I love the stories she told me........... like how she never went to school past third grade. Her father was a shoemaker and she did not like wearing his homemade shoes (the kids teased her) so she quit. And for whatever reason, her parents did not force the issue. At one point, Magdalena and little Clara boarded an overnight steamer for the trip upriver to St.Louis so Magdalena could visit her older married daughters. Accommodations were spartan and the little rooms had no water. Clara, like all little children, wanted a drink of water. So Magdalena bravely went up to the bar in the smokey card room and requested a drink of water for her child. They gave it to her in a heavy glass beer glass.............. which I still have. Why did she not return it or leave it? Who knows? Clara's father died on 22 Feb 1917 of stomach cancer. But Clara married George Louis Gurney on 12 April 1917 just as he was entering Basic Training at the Great Lakes Naval Station. Lucky for me, WW I ended before he was finished. I think this photo is the nearest thing to a wedding photo that I have. Clara died in 1973; thank goodness I got to know her and spend some time with her.

Tika is home!

Nice Lady brought me home yesterday and it was soooo good to be HOME. "What have we learned from this?" I asked her. "NO MORE BONES..... I will follow the vet's recommendation."

But as she held me in her lap I could tell she was musing on all the lost pets she's knows...... and multiply that into all the lost pets her ancestors knew.......... how many have old photos of an ancestor with their pet??? Never was, never is and never will be fun to loose a beloved pet.

Nice Lady Was Veeerrrryyyy Bad

Know what happened when I, Tika, gobbled down an entire cooked ham hock?? Nice Lady, thinking she was being extra nice to me, gave me a big juicy, marow-filled, hambone and I did eat. Eat it all. That evening, I was in the vet clinic and had to stay over night and have x-rays, and enemas to help me pass the pieces that hardened like glue....... all to the tune of $500. Silly, silly Nice Lady. Know we both know better.

And what has this to do with genealogy? Only that it's difficult to think about anything genealogy when your sweet little dogger is hurting.

Probate packet filing cabinets from olden days.

When Nice Lady got home from Pullman, Washington, and her visit with the Whitman County Genealogical Society bunch, she was all excited and telling me about the wonderful thing she saw. In the WCGS library room, along two walls, they have the old metal filing cabinets from the old courthouse that were donated to them. These metal shelves and drawers once held the folded-and-tied-with-red-string probate packets of the county! And, Nice Lady continued to explain to me, this was how probate packets were stored in many courthouses across America in yesteryears. Nice Lady said she had never seen something like this before and as a genealogist she found it fascinating. I was glad for her.

A Little German shirt??

As I sat next to Nice Lady in our chair last evening, she was browsing through a What On Earth Catalog which surely is filled with interesting stuff. This picture...... this shirt....caught her eye. Think I should get it for her for Christmas????

Heinz 57 and Genealogy

Nice Lady was explaining to me that she is a Heinz 57 person and that I may be a Heinz 57 dog. She says that is a genealogy term, yessirree.

So what does that mean exactly, I asked her. (Yes, I can communicate questions!) According to Wikipedia, Heinz 57 became the slogan of the H.J. Heinz Company of Pittsburg back in 1892. The company even then offered a variety of products and wanting to advertize their great number of choices the numbers "5" and "7" were chosen because they were the Heinz's lucky numbers. In 1892 the company offered 60 products; today they offer over 6000. (My favorite is ketchup.)

But the name "Heinz 57" is also sometimes used to describe a dog which is a mix of multiple breeds and it also is used as slang to refer to people of multiple ethnicity.

Nice Lady is English and German with a teeny long-ago smat of French, Welsh and Scot. Does that qualify as being a Heinz 57 person?

I, Tika, am a dachshund, a doxie, a hound, a weiner and Nice Lady calls me a Punkin. So guess I am a Heinz 57 dogger!

Dogs are important.....the president says so.

"Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as is Wall Street and the railroad." So said President Harry S. Truman. Interesting comparisons. Tika needed her blue-striped sweater today when she took her hour of fresh air on the deck...... the temperature high today was about 40o. Nice Lady's desktop Dell is "dead" and I, Tika, have had to endure her nashing of teeth while the problem is fixed. But she did take good care of me; I think she loves me. "Harry" would approve. (Didn't he have a dog???)

Genealogy, Cheese Curds and Me!

Yum, yum and double yum! Nice Lady went to her genealogy meeting today and heard Rod Tamura chronicle his family's experiences in the Japanese Internment camps in Washington and Idaho during WW II. Very interesting for sure and a very timely lesson against blanket bigotry and racism. (I'm a German dog; I know something about that.)

Debbie, a member of the group, came down from Sandpoint where there is a cheese factory and brought us some Cheese Curds! FOR ME........ and for Nice Lady too I guess. They are just the very bestest...... way better than dry old kibbles. Thank you, Debbie!

Genealogy Saturday coming up.

Tomorrow (Nov 6th) is Nice Lady's regular monthly gathering of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (www.ewgsi.org) The afternoon will have several parts, but Ron Tamura will speak to the group on the Japanese Internment Camp Experience of WW II. Nice Lady just finished a book on this subject: Only What We Could Carry, personal recollections and stories of those in the various camps. Edited by Lawson Fusao Inada and published in 2000 (ISBN 1-890771-30-9) this was a great "read" and we recommend it to everybody. (Certainly I, Tika, can read! How do you think I blog???)

Salt Lake Christmas Tour

Nice Lady just told me that she's leaving me the first week in December to go someplace called Salt Lake City and something called the Christmas Tour. LEAVING ME!! (But Handy Man will be here, thank goodness.) Nice Lady explained to me that this year will be the 25th time for the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour and she's gone every year to help and enjoy the rendezvous with friends. (Some of whom are dachshund people!) She says that the Family History Library has more genealogy than any other library in the world. Do you think she'll look for my German Dachshund pedigree???? (This photo is the view of Temple Square, right across from the hotel and the Library; click to www.saltlakechristmastour.com for more information.)

Tika does cemetery research.

Tika and I took a walk through a nearby cemetery, the Fort Wright Military Cemetery. A complete listing of all those buried there can be found on the website of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (www.ewgsi.org). The sign board reads:

"Fort Wright was approved by an act of Congress in 1895 and officially opened in 1899. The original US Army post covered 1,000 acres and was an active military base until 1958. Many of the original buildings still exist and are included in the Fort Wright National Historic District. The cemetery was authorized by the Secretary of War on December 13, 1899. Remains of soldiers, officers and others were moved here from Fort Spokane and Ft. Sherman, near Coeur d'Alene, in 1900. The cemetery is occupied with the graves of veterans, their wives and other family members. All branches of the service are represented here. There are appoximately 650 graves located here. Fairchild Air Force Base USAF is the caretaker of the cemetery."

Tika was saddened to see the stones for "infant of-----" with no further information. Luckily, there are not many of those. But tromping tombstones is tiring!!!

I have a new "sister"!

Here is a photo of Handy Man and Me........... and oh, yes, my new "sister," Dolly. She is a German Shorthaired Pointer and you better believe that I showed her who is the boss of the house in no uncertain growls!! She tried to tell me about her fancy pedigree but I was not impressed. She does not know how to blog, so there.

Eager genealogists in Sandpoint, Idaho.

My Nice Lady was gone ALL DAY yesterday and the chew-bone she left me didn't last me way long enough. But she snuggled me when she got back and told me all about the 50 very eager genealogists who live in the beautiful north Idaho town of Sandpoint. They asked a thousand questions and were so eager to learn and learn more. Bummer, but Nice Lady says I might better plan on another long-lonely-day for she might go back to share more time with that bunch. But she told me that she told them all about my blog and how very talented I am; the only dachshund blogger in the world!! So I guess it was okay with me that she was gone all day.

Question About Legacy?

Nice Lady uses the Legacy Family Tree genealogy program to keep track of all her ancestors. Recently some friends have suggested and recommended a "cloud" storage closet called Dropbox. Nice Lady needs to know if her Legacy FDB files can be posted into/at/onto Dropbox???

As for my news today, it has been raining and raining here but we went for our usual walk anyway. Then Nice Lady held me up and took the hose (with VERY COLD water) to my feet and tummy saying I was "socially unacceptable" whatever that means. Do you think that is considered Tika abuse???

October & "Nice Lady's" Ancestry

Nice lady was explaining to me that only two events happened in her ancestor's lives in October. Her grandfather, Henry Melville Potter, died in October 1952 in Illinois and her great-grandmother, Viola Belle Evans, died in October in 1962 in Michigan......... Kalamazoo to be exact. Then Nice Lady was smiling and singing the "Kalamazoo song" as she was born in that musical sounding town. Know where it is?? As for me, Tika, I think I was born in Idaho. No songs there.

Mom-Daughter Lunch

Today Nice Lady and her Mother went shopping and to lunch. How many of you, at age 67, are lucky enough to have lunch with their almost-90 year old mother??? (I would love to chew a bone with my mother too, if I knew who she was.)

Passwords.

It was a rainy, blustery day here today and I did not like it one little bit...... I did not even want to go outside, but Nice Lady insisted. She was working at her computer (like mostly always) and changed all her passwords to new ones using the system that Thomas MacEntee taught her at the recent seminar here in town where he was the presenter. This is such a cool system (she says). You use the first 3 letters of the website (let's say Amazon.com, so it would be Ama... with the first letter a capital and the other two small letters). Then you use your key word, something special and "remember-able" to you (let's say Coke....... again with a large first letter and smaller next ones). Then you end it with some numbers or characters. You use this formula for every single password........... but it's not the same password for it's different for every site. For instance, using this formula and this pretend key word, a password for Amazon.com would be AmaCoke** or AmaCoke34. Get the idea?? This way you never forget a password and you never have the same one and you never have a misplaced list. Nice Lady was telling me all about it and I really did not care........ it was dinner time after all. I have no trouble with my passwords!

Nice Lady has a family increase!

On Friday, October 22, 2010, Nice Lady's grandson, Adam, married Sarah, a wonderful girl. Now Nice Lady maybe has another genealogy line to research. Where was I? Plunked with my favorite dog sitter who let me chase her squirrels!

Legacy Webinar was fantastic, but..............

I did not get my walk yesterday and I pouted all evening. But Nice Lady did not seem to care; she was at her computer attending something called a webinar and listening to a lady named dearMyrtle tell her all about something called blogging. Well! I could have told Nice Lady all about that..... I'm doing a blog, aren't I?? But Nice Lady seemed happy and interested and was taking notes. What do I know? I'm only a Dachshund Blogger.

Crazy town names.

Nice Lady was laughing while at her computer the other day. I think she was looking at some crazy U.S. town names that folks had shared with her: Mold, Washington....... out in the middle of the bone-dry wheat country where mold would never happen! Beach, North Dakota...... wheatfields again and no ocean for thousands of miles. Chicken, Alaska........... Nice Lady has been there and was told by the locals that they wanted to name it Ptarmigan but did not know how to spell that. Her birth state of Michigan has both a town named Hell and one named Paradise. And would you want to be from Idiotville, South Carolina? Or Weed, California or New Mexico? (For to see images of these places, Google them.) Why our own Washington state has Moclips, Puyallup and Tukwilla. Town names are surely tongue-twisting and funny. Were you born in a funny-named place?

Good Day & Bad Day

Nice Lady and Handy Man were both gone ALL DAY yesterday, leaving me ALL ALONE all day. But I was a very good dogger while they were gone and did not need scolding when they returned. (I am over 2 years old and a very big girl after all.) Nice Lady was gone teaching a class on something called FamilySearch Indexing. I know what this is! It's when in the evenings Nice Lady sits at her computer with me at her feet we share a cookie!! Or maybe two cookies. So I'm sure FamilySearch Indexing is something really good. Think so?

Oregon Juncos

Nice Lady tells me that the juncos are back! We see them mostly always and only in the colder months. There are four colorings of juncos and what we have is the Oregon Junco. Aren't they a pretty bird? They really scoot when I chase them! Nice Lady was explaining to me that juncos are found mostly west of the Mississippi River and so her ancestors (New England-Michigan-Illinois) probably had other birds to enjoy but not juncos and surely not Oregon Juncos. What birds do you chase???

Furry burrs.

This is the lane where Nice Lady takes me for a walk (out to the mail or newspaper box) a couple of times a day. Sometimes she lets me run into the weeds and that's so much fun! So much to smell! But when we get back it's not so fun. She insists on COMBING ME. She keeps asking me, "Do you want to sit on our lap on on the rug? Well, combing out the burrs is the key." But I do not like it, sam I am.

Fences. Nice Lady has done some Wikipedia and other searching about the different types of fences her ancestors built and for the different reasons. She says it's a very interesting subject. All I know about fences (and I'm a girl dog remember) is that Nice Lady hooks me to the fence sometimes. And I run into the burry weeds!

Follow me??

Did you know that dachshunds come in a wide variety of coats, colors and patterns? These are my "cousins," Bluebonnet and Sage. In dogger genealogy, as with people, we all have dozens of cousins and they do not always look like us.

Are you enjoying my blog? I, Tika, am asking that if so, you click on the FOLLOWER link and let my Nice Lady know that you do. I want to be friends with all dog loving genealogists!