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!

I like blackberries!

Handy Man took me with him to the garden this morning; I love going to the garden! He was going to harvest the last of the blackberry crop and he again let me eat my fill.....oh the yummy joy! I can pick them right off the vine and I always choose the biggest, juiciest ones. Now maybe tonight they will have blackberries and ice cream and I'll get a lick!

Nice Lady was telling me that blackberries grow all across the United States and most likely her ancestors enjoyed blackberry desserts too. I'll bet my dogger ancestors were right there at ground level picking off the biggest ones. She wants me to ask if anybody has an heirloom blackberry recipe to share????

I did not get to go!

Nice Lady had to drive the 300-mile round trip from Spokane to Chelan on Saturday. I was supposed to go, but darn! Handy Man got home from his hunting trip and I just HAD to help him. Nice Lady went to share some time and teaching with the Chelan Valley Genealogical Society. (Need any help in Chelan County, WA? Contact them!) This is a view of the Chelan area along the Columbia River and the view of Lake Chelan looks about the same. I'm promised that I'll get to go next time. I like genealogy too!

Chocolate and Me

Nice Lady often shares licks of her chocolate ice cream with me. Never much, only licks. She tells me that chocolate contains a chemical toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. Whatever that means! Based on the kind of chocolate, and the dog's weight, milk chocolate can cause diarrhea. But for me, a 10-pound dogger, I would have to eat 10 ounces.......... way more than a few licks.

Did you know that any ancestor alive in 1900 might have tasted Hersey's Milk Chocolate? That's when Mr. H. started making bars in his Pennsylvania factory. Hersey's Kisses debuted in 1907. Wonder if Nice Lady's forebears were chocoholics like she is???

Me vs Water

Here is where I live and go walking with Nice Lady most everyday. Yesterday it was rainy and she thought I was too dirty to sit in her lap. So into the bath I was dunked. Now I like water....frolicking at the edge of a lake or river, great fun. But being dunked into a soapy laundry tub, not fun. What's to learn from this? Advice from Nice Lady's grandmother: It does take pains to be beautiful. There is much to learn from our forebears. Hers, anyway.

How do I do it?

One of my fans has asked, "How does she do it? How does Tika type and use the spacebar without opposable thumbs?" Gosh. Never thought about it; I just do it. (I do have some help!) My Nice Lady is a genealogist and she sees family history in everything. For instance she came across the last line from Tennyson's poem Ulysses which reads: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." She explained to me that this means when you see ancestors you make double-triple sure you've got the right one. I understand. Just because she offers me a treat of something red in color I know to sniff first. It might be red pepper and not bacon!

Alas, I have no pedigree.

My Nice Lady and Handy Man both have documented pedigrees. Alas, I have not. What difference does it make? They know from whence they came; I do not. (I think it was Idaho.)

Picture? That was my Staff Lady.

Should have explained. I am an only dog. I live with Staff Lady and Handy Man. When they merit it, I give them kisses. Not that you care?!?!

I am Tika.

Hello. I am Tika. I am a mini-longhair dachshund. I weigh a tad over ten pounds. My birthday was in September of 2008. So I am two-and-a-month years old (in human years that would make me a teenager). I began this blog because I have some things I would like to say, some wisdom I would like to share. Care you to read??