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!