Tika & "Lost" People

 

 

Tika loves to sit in the sunshine on our gravel driveway looking........looking for elephants (her barking has kept them away; we've never spotted one) and folks on bicycles going down the road. She and I have that in common; we're always looking.

Recently in our morning newspaper (The Spokesman-Review) was a bit from Medicine Rocks State Park in Montana and was the sad story of how they've found where a lonesome sheep herder named Herbert Dalton in 1904 carved a likeness of his lost love into a sandstone bluff. He was from Ireland and, according to the article, "she wouldn't come West." The carved portrait shows a profile with a "sweeping turn-of-the-century bun and facing her, a bird in flight offering a delicately drawn flower."  So sad. 

Following Tika's example, I did some looking and did find a Herbert Dalton, age 33, single, born April 1867 in Ireland, immigrated in 1872 and was naturalized,  living as a farm laborer/sheep herder in Flatwillow District, Fergus County, Montana on June 21, 1900 (U.S. 1900 census). I did not find him in the 1910 or 1920 census. Nor could I find him in any online Montana death databases.

Is there a Dalton family somewhere looking for a lost Herbert Dalton?? 

Like Tika, I just like to look and enjoy looking for the rest of the story too.

Tika & Ancient Dogs

 

 Tika and I were snuggled in our chair on a rainy day reading the March/April 2012 issue of Archaeology magazine and on page 14 was a bit that I read out loud to her. Living in Washington state,  we're quite aware of our Coastal Native American peoples and their stories. (They inhabited the Pacific Northwest coast and the west coast of Canada for more than 10,000 years.) Their oral history mentions a "Pomeranian-like dog that was bred specifically so its woolly hair could be used in textiles."  Analysis of blanket fragments seems to support the stories....... one sample was collected from a blanket obtained in 1803 by Lewis and Clark. Goat hair was also used but dog hair was more plentiful, explained the article. This picture was included in the article and I snatched it from Google Images. While these are woven textiles are quite beautiful, I think, both Tika and I wondered how scratchy they would be??? "Dog hair is not scratchy!" Tika assured me.

Tika & FamilySearch---Again?

What makes me happy makes Tika happy........ and I've just learned that FamilySearch is now offering short videos on some aspect of learning how to find your ancestors. I don't think those instructional videos will help Tika (remember: all she knows is that she comes from Idaho) but they will help any of us seeking our ancestors. Here is the link to the first 5-Minute-Genealogy-Lesson:

https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/5-minute-genealogy-episode-1-find-a-record-in-five-minutes/234

Here are some dog funnies for you:  "I like driving around with my two dogs, especially on the freeways. I make them wear little hats so I can use the carpool lanes."  (Monica Piper)  "I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional lvoe. For me they are the role model for being alive."  (Gilda Radner)

How do you remove those awful nasty ticks from your dog? Have found a couple on Tika in the last week and we just grab them with a deep pinch and pull them off......... one little yelp but they are out. And on her muzzle no less; yuk.