Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tika Looks Forward to Spring (as do we all!)

Both Tika and I are looking for spring? Does anybody know where she may be hiding?? For she surely is being slow at showing her sunny face in the Pacific Northwest. I have a wonderfully funny little book published here in Spokane in the 1930s and here are some tips for spring cleaning:

To Brighten Nickel Trimmings on a gas stove, wash with warm water in which two tablespoons of kerosene have been stirred.

To Clean Carpets moisten enough corn meal with gasoline to sprinkle over the carpet. Rub back and forth into the carpet with a broom before sweeping. Sweep thoroughly. Do not have a fire in the room while using gasoline.

Bedbug Exterminator.... take the whites of two eggs and ten cents worth of quicksilver. Beat well together and apply to cracks and crevices with a feather. Warranted to be a perfect exterminator of bugs and eggs.

And this one you really can use:  An Easy Way To Clean Egg Spoons when they have become tarnished from use in boiled eggs. Scour the tarnished parts with a little moist salt. The tarnish will disappear as if by magic.

If you try any of these remedies, please share the results with Tika and me. Meantime, I'd rather just go walking with Tika and watch for the daffodils to rise and shine.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Tikas @ Ancestry.com

 

You noticed I typed Tikas (plural)?? BIG NEWS! According to Ancestry.com and their Surname Distribution page, in 1920 there were three families named TIKA in the U.S......... one each in NY, IL, and WV. Going back to 1880, there was only one TIKA family and they were in New York. Then in 1880 there were no TIKA families.

The surname TIKA originates either in Norway or Austria, according to the New York Passenger Lists (according to Ancestry.com).

And at Ancestry.com there are 358 historical documents and family trees for the name TIKA.

My, my, my. I would never have guessed that my little Tika dogger might be part of such illustrious pedigrees. Maybe she and I will have to check out some of those little wiggly leafs......think so?