Genealogy and the family tree and the nuts who fall out

Since I have been a really bad and sporadic blogger you may or may not remember that I have become quite interested in family trees and doing the research.  It is tons of fun and very exciting to find things out.

I joined ancestry.com a few years ago when I was sick with the bronchitis or something that kept me glued to the house and have found a ton of ancestors.  Then I was offered the special deal of $99 from ancestry to do my DNA profile and connect to others who are also registered through them.  So I did that and my husband found it so interesting he did his as well.

My whole life I have always been told that I am mostly German on my mama's side and mostly all Irish on my dad's side.  Not true.  Those people on my mama's side may have lived in Germany but they don't test out as Germans.  And all those Irish people on my dad's side?  Mostly all English, a little German thrown in just for good measure.  Loads of the Irish ancestry comes from my mama's side according to the family tree.

Here's what it looks like:

America< 1%

• Trace Regions

  < 1%

Europe99%

• Great Britain51%
• Ireland17%
• Iberian Peninsula11%
• Italy/Greece7%
• Europe West6%
• Trace Regions

  7%
• Scandinavia4%
• Europe East3%

Show all regions

• 3%

 

Could I be any more European?  Europe West is where Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. are.  See, not much German DNA there.  I have more Iberian and Italy/Greece than German and never once has THAT ever been mentioned!  But it's way more interesting I think.  Also, it's going to make it a lot more fun digging into the family lineage.

Speaking of digging into the family lineage, I was looking up someone today and found their Christening records.  The father's last name is Peters and this was the first time I had seen the mother's maiden name and I about burst out laughing when I saw her name was Pieper. Annie Pieper Peters.  God bless her!

New stuff

I saw a commercial for a new Amazon Prime series called Catastrophe and it looked interesting. So last night when I got into bed I pulled out the Kindle and headphones and watched it.  And let me just interject here to say that I LOVE my headphones.  Love them!

Let me find a picture of them so you can see all the goodness of them.

They are wood.  They make them out of all different kinds of wood.  But think about it, what conducts sound better than wood?

Pianos are made of wood.  Guitars are wood.  Violins are all wood.

See what I mean?  Anyway, these things have wonderful sound.

Back to the show.

These are the stars/writers/creators named Rob and Sharon.  And their characters are named  . . . .

Rob and Sharon.

Within the first few minutes I was laughing so loud I damn near woke up sleeping deaf Mr. Ed.  And before I knew it, that episode was over.  Of course, I clicked on episode 2. And that's how it went for 6 episodes. And that seems to be it.  6 short 24 minute episodes was Season 1.

Anyhoo, as I was watching this in one of the scenes there is a phone call between Rob and his mother. And I kept thinking her voice sounds familiar but her face, not so much.  Who the hell is she?

And during the credits there was her name!  First look at this picture and see if you know who it is.

Did you guess?
Did you guess Princess Leia?  Because I sure as hell did not.

Yep, that's Carrie Fisher.  How do people change so much?

So if I were giving stars, which I am.  This show gets 5 *****.  It is that good.

Get on your Amazon Prime and check it out.

Girl, you just won't beLIEVE what happened!

So, I was out to lunch with some friends as you do sometimes.  And we went to a new place to check it out.  (I am giving it a B for food and a D for service)  We were sitting in the back in a semi-private area with a big table as there were quite a few of us.  What we didn't know was that when they seated us in the back that they were going to forget about us most of the time.  I mean seriously, forget about us. We were parched in between waiting for refills of iced tea.

Anyhoo, we were enjoying our leisurely lunch and then the power went out.  POOF!  No power. We were next to a bunch of windows so we could see but it's still that weird, creepy feeling with a little anxiety of what is going to happen next.  A few minutes later the power came back on and the waitress stuck her head in to see if we were still kicking and said "Did y'all go outside?"

Huh?

"Uh no, we didn't. What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I thought you might have gone outside.  When the power blew it was because the two big tall palm trees out front by the street, they just caught on fire.  Like spontaneously combusted."

What the fuck???? But what I said was "Well, that's certainly odd behavior for a palm tree."

"Oh yeah, the fire department is out there, the power company is out there and everything."

And again, my brain just kept going "What the fuck is she talking about??"

Then I had the presence of mind to ask whether any cars in the parking lot out front were damaged.  She said no, but I didn't trust her judgment.  Hell, she didn't even remember we were there half the time. So, we quickly wrapped up the splitting of the bill and headed out front to see what was what.

Here is what we saw:

Smoking trees that self-combusted

Firetruck blocking traffic from driving directly under combusted trees

Methinks the power lines may have played a role in the combustion?

the tree on the left is still smoking out the middle near the power lines

So the trees weren't actually in the parking lot we were in, they were across the street at the Quizno's (mmm, mmm, mmm, toasty).  But if they had fallen into the street they would have certainly been all the way over into our parking area and probably on top of my car.

I tell you, every single day there is a story out there.  All you have to do is look.  And take a picture or two!!

p.s. Right down from this location is a big intersection.  And when I turned onto this street at that intersection when headed to lunch, what did I spy with my little eye?  I will tell you what I spied. I spied one of my former doula clients out there panhandling.  I was not in a position to get turned around right then to go over there and with the fire and such, after lunch I checked and she was not there.  I will head over that direction again in the next few days and see if she is there again and talk to her.  I wish I could tell you how sad this makes me.  The little frowny emoticon just won't cut it.

I'm back and flitting from topic to topic. Do try to keep up!

Hey, it has been a while.  I was on a pretty impromptu roadtrip with my sister so that was fun.  We sang along with Adele and the Backstreet Boys, because that is how we roll.  Ha!

So, today is 100 years since the Titanic sank and in honor of that the History Channel is showing a fabulous memorial tonight with lots of never before seen due to new technology just now finding it kind of stuff.  For those of us that are obsessed with Titanic and all the horrific sadness, this is a goldmine.  Be sure to set your dvr or tivo to record this bit of history.

Also, in t.v. update news!  Are y'all watching anything right now?  Let me tell you what all is on my dvr.

The Borgias - Showtime channel, fabulous series about the infamous family that ran the Vatican and Rome.  And you have to know anytime you can have Jeremy Irons playing someone evil it is gonna be good.

The Big C - Also on Showtime.  I think this is the 3rd season of this wonderful, thoughtful series starring Laura Linney and Oliver Platt.

Nurse Jackie - Showtime, yet again.  Showtime has some great series.  If you don't get this channel, why the hell not?

Game of Thrones - HBO - o.m.g.!!!  Watch it.

Eastbound and Down - HBO, Kenny Powers with a mullet!

Top Shot - History Channel, Colby Donaldson, cool guns, nice looking men, really cool blowing up of stuff, and Colby Donaldson, enough said.

Modern Family - ABC, Best. Flipping. Show. Ever.

Survivor - CBS.  What is more fun than watching idiots trust the wrong people and disaster ensues?

Amazing Race - CBS.  See above comment about Survivor.

Real Time with Bill Maher - HBO, I can not go more than a week without seeing his New Rules at the end of the show.  Awesome.

Jeopardy! - CBS.  Love Jeopardy!  and I also love yelling "Can it, Trebek!  or Suck it, Trebek! or It's HUN-DRED you morons, NOT HUNNERD!"  They may be able to pass the Jeopardy online quiz but they still can't pronounce hundred.  Idiots.

I can't think of what else my dvr records for me.  Sparky also has his shows recording, like Aqua Teen Hungerforce, Family Guy, Metalocolypse.  When they are on we don't miss It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League.  Those are both on FX.

Oh!  Also we watch (although this will be the final season coming up) Breaking Bad on AMC.

Quick!  Changing subjects.

Someone, I don't know who, recommended the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy to me.  Whoever it was, obviously doesn't know me.  I barely made it through book one.

It is such trite crap I could NOT believe it got greenlighted, or green lit or was given the thumbs up. Holy Moly, is it bad!

Please don't be taken in by the hype or the fact that book one has already been optioned for a movie. I can not even imagine how they will make this be not a boring, repetitive piece of porno trash.

There are not enough descriptive words to tell you how much I hated all the characters.  The female lead was so fucking annoying and stupid I couldn't even believe it.  The male lead?  Warped, controlling, and so strange it defied all logic that she would be soooo attracted to him that all her common sense would go right out the window.

What I'm saying is unless you are looking for s&m bondage porn laced with the worst and most repetitive dialogue, you don't want to bother with this piece of crap.

Did you try the brown rice crusted quiche recipe yet?  Please do.  I am sure you will like it.

What else has been going on around here that I wanted to talk about?

Oh!  I know what I have been trying to remember to tell you about!

Have you seen this ad?

I was watching this and thought to myself, "Self, if they took a whole shirt and made a dickie out of the top part, this is what is left over."

IT'S A DICKIE FOR YOUR ASS!

Where do they come up with this stuff?  And why, oh why, are we gullible enough to buy it?

Trendy Top, indeed.

Have a great day and I will be here to discuss some more ancestry.com findings in the next few days!

It's a match made in Heaven!!

Do y'all remember way back last fall when they came out with the lip smackers that are flavored like the Girl Scout Cookies?  And I loved them?  And they were at Claire's?

That was one of those smack-yourself-in-the-head and say why didn't *I* think of that? kind of moments.

And here we are again!!!

You are just not going to believe what a fabulous new product is out there that I MUST go get right now!

And guess what?

It's also at Claire's!!

(are you getting tired of all the !!! in this post?)  Must learn to end a sentence with a regular old period and not be all excited-exclaimmy.

Ta-Da!!

Look at that!  Peeps nail polish that leaves your nails smelling all Peep-ish!  (sorry for further excited-exclaimmy-ness)  But look!

Sorry, I will blog more later.  I am trotting right down to Claire's to get some of these.  Woot!!

Hilarious Ad

You know how last week I ranted and bitched about a few ads that I hate?

Here's one I think is just too damn funny!

Bahahaha!!

Sort of a rant. Or maybe a complaint. You be the judge.

So I go to Hobby Lobby as one does when one is looking to purchase some fabric.  I have a love/hate relationship with HL.  They carry so many things that I love.  They also carry a TON of cheap made in China crap that we need to quit importing.  I would love to be able to boycott HL, but I am not there yet.  I do put down anything cute I have picked up when I see the ubiquitous Made in China sticker on bottom though.

Anyhoo, I am the fabric department looking for, well, fabric!  I needed some black fabric to use as a table covering for an event we are attending as a sponsoring group.  So we are using black as our table background so that all our pretty bright colored brochures and things "pop" as all the designers say.

I roamed around and scoped out all the different solid black fabrics and picked out the one I wanted and took it to the big table where they cut it for you.  The HL fabric-cutting lady says "How much you need?"

To which I replied "Well, the tables are six feet and I want hang down on each side of 12 to 18 inches.  Let's say, 18 inches on each side.  So that's another 36 inches, plus the six feet.  Cut me a piece of 9 feet, please."

You are never going to believe what she said.

Are you ready?

Here's what she said.

"I can only do yards. How much is that in yards?"

Really?

W T F ???

She works in fabric.  She works in fabric cutting said fabric.  And she DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CONVERT FEET TO YARDS!!!

And it was an easy one, too!  It wasn't like I said give me 8 5/8 feet and then she would have to break out the calculator that was right next to her.

Holy crap.  I can't be an old fart and curmudgeon and blame it on the young whippersnappers and their new-fangled math, because this lady was older than me.  She didn't know.  And worse, she didn't really seem to give two shits.

So, the other day we were out . . . .

and we pulled off the side of the road to talk to this homeless couple that I see regularly.  They are on my route of regulars and I always have snacks, blankets, wet naps, $, fruit, or whatever for passing out to those in need. And I have chatted with them for years now.

Seriously, years.

Several years back it was obvious that she was pregnant and then I only saw him alone for a long time and I was afraid to ask what happened in case it was really bad and they had lost the baby or something.  So, anyhoo, we were talking and they brought up that their daughter is living with his sister and they don't get to see her very often.  And since they opened up that conversation I had to go there.  You know what I mean?

I said "well, at least she is with family and you get to spend time with her.  And that is way better than being in the foster system, isn't it?"  They allowed how they do get to see her some but not very often.  Then I asked, "what is your daughter's name?"

And they looked at each other and said "Well, we had named her Audacity, but his sister is calling her Diana."  Then he looks at me and says "can't imagine where she got THAT NAME."

This is where we all got the WTF???  look on our faces.  Yeah, can't possibly imagine where she came up with Diana, when they had the perfectly fine name of Audacity already.

It's a head scratcher, that's what I am saying.

Mr. Big Ed knocks one out of the park!!

Okay, you know how husbands are NEVER as funny as they think they are?  Mr. Big Ed is exceptional in this regard.  I never think his jokes are funny.  He is an unfunny man, is what he is.

We were out driving the other day and it was cold and rainy and pissy and just generally gross.  And on top of that is was dusk-ish so there was very little visibility.  I pulled up to a stop sign at a T intersection and there in the T in front of us was a huge lot very overgrown and lots of trees and such and in there was a deer.  This is not an unusual phenomenon, we have all sorts of great wildlife in our neighborhood.  We were talking about how it must be hard on them in this weather never having a good place to stay warm and dry.  That constant dampness must be a hardship on them.

So I said something like "does he look unhappy?" and Mr. Big Ed says  . . . . .





"He just has that deer in the headlights look".


Ba da pa, buuuum.  (rim shot)

Look what I got

Look what I got sent to me!

My daughter, the fabulous Rachel Pie's partner sent me this picture.  And you know how a picture is worth a thousand words?

Well, check this out:

Bahahahahahahaha!!!!!

Just look at Kim up there with her 1980's phone!

Is that the most hilarious thing you have ever seen?

The next time I go back to where my aunt lives, I am going to the cemetary to take a picture of this headstone that reads "I told you I was sick".

Heeee!  I bet her family all feel like morons having to go see that little message everytime they go pay their respects to grandma.

p.s. It's my birthday and I am off to finish putting up Christmas decorations and set up for a lunch time party I am hosting on Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you gotta go, well, you gotta go!

Reading the news this morning online and in between all the important and urgent life-changing articles is one that I HAD to click on.

Was it about the Republicans and the whole passel (passle, pasell? how do you spell passel?) of wieners they are trotting out as possible Presidential candidates?

Nope.

Was it about Big Tobacco and lobbyists?

Nope again.

It wasn't even the one about the Real Housewives of whatever and the husband of one of them committing suicide. (I read that one yesterday)

No, the must-see article was about Gerard Depardieu.

Remember him?  This is a photo of him before he got older, fatter, and not just fatter but rather bloated looking.  Nowadays he looks more like this.

Anyhoo, the article was not about how much larger Mr. Depardieu can continue to get, but this:

Seems that he was on an Air France flight that was delayed.  And we all know how much fun THAT can be.  So they have hundreds of you crammed in to a small space and making you sit there and wait.  And while you wait they ply you with drinks to keep your mind off the fact that you are sitting in a sausage-shaped tin can waiting.  Waiting and breathing recycled air.

After a good amount of waiting and an even larger amount of libations have been served the flight finally takes off and the good Mr. Depardieu needed to go relieve himself.  Which is exactly the position I would find myself in.  And being a 62 year old man who hasn't had to ask permission to go pee for the past, oh say, 61 years, he attempted to get up and go to the toilet.

The air hostess/bar maid/stewardess person told him the plane was still climbing to cruising altitude and he would have to sit back down.  He tried to explain his predicament and was told essentially "tough shit. go sit down for 15 more minutes".

And being the grown-ass allegedly drunk Frenchman he is, he took that news in the manner you might think.


He unzipped, whipped it out and proceeded to piss on the carpet of the main cabin of the plane.


Really?  Can you imagine yourself in such a position?  What would you do?  I mean, really, if you have to go, what are your choices?  My guess is that he and his 62 year old prostate could not physically wait another 15 minutes.

The article does not say whether the authorities were called upon landing, or if he was charged with anything.  If it had been a US airline, you can guaran-damn-tee there would have been hell to pay. Stupid Southwest has kicked people off for wearing short skirts.  Imagine what they would have done if someone had shown their schlong!

While I don't agree with pissing in public and then the rest of the people having to smell it the whole damn flight, there has to be a better solution.  If the airlines are going to shove liquid refreshments  at us to keep us still and happy they have to know it is going to have to come out and be prepared for the consequences.  It takes forever for them to get the carts up and down the aisle to serve the whole plane something and by the time they get to the end of the plane, those in the front are already getting antsy and wanting to get up to relieve themselves.

It's a sticky situation.


Bahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Sorry, I just had to say that!

Lots of Musings and Catching Up Stuff

Oh my, I have so many things to share!  And even pictures this time!  Woo Hoo!  I know, could I use my excitement point more?!!!

First up, Judge Belvin seriously admonished the attorneys (attornies?) about being such slow-ass slackers and recessed court till tomorrow.  It's like a 24 hour time out for lawyers.  Ha!  He is such a sweet man even when he was telling them to get their triflin' asses into gear.  So, I finally had enough time to go get my camera to show you the goings-on.

Without further ado . . .


Y'all know that I play Mah Jongg twice a month, right?  And never and I mean to tell you never does it come up that 2 of the 4 of us are playing the SAME HAND.  Well, hardly ever.  But last time we played, Jen and I played for the same hand with reversed suits.

Here is a picture of her tiles, and then mine.

See?  She was doing dots and then cracks.  I was doing cracks and then dots.  She won.  All I lacked was a 1 crack which she had!

And believe it or don't, we did it AGAIN!  That same night, we picked the exact same hand another time.  I can not even imagine what the odds are that 2 players on the same night will choose the exact same hands twice out of 5 games.  But it must be like a gazillion to 1.  1 crack that is!

Next up is something I captured when I was driving across town to purchase something in a plastic-free container vs the one right around the corner from my house that comes in plastic.

See the first picture?  That is some moron standing on a street corner in front of the grocery store with a bullhorn (bull horn??) yelling.  So I rolled down my window and turned down the radio so I could hear what was so important.  He was yelling about Jesus.  And not in a friendly, Jesus loves you sort of way, but more like Repent and turn to Jesus or burn in hell you damn heathens kind of way.

That's odd, I said to myself.  You don't see this every day.  And certainly not in this location.  You want to know what was on the opposite corner from this wiener?

Ta Da!!!  It's the Beer 'n All!  For those of you not from around here the Beer 'n All is basically a drive-thru beer barn that sells margaritas, or should I quote their menu and say Adult Snow Cones.  Here's my only story of the Beer 'n All; Sparky and I were driving through this intersection years ago when they first opened up the B'n All and whipped in to see what all the hoopla was about.  They have scantily clad skinny little girls working there for tips.  So we pull up and a scantily-clad skinny little girl hands us a menu that basically is what kind of flavors of frozen margaritas I mean Adult Snow Cones they have. So we went with plain regular lime margarita flavor.  Then she asks us this question.

"So how many shots do you want it that?"

We were all Huh?  Wtf?  It seems that in a 16 oz. styrofoam cup (boo! hiss! on the styrofoam) you can get UP TO FOUR EXTRA SHOTS of alkeehaul at the B 'n A!!!   Holy Toledo!  We got the plain ordinary regular one.  They made no money on us and if I remember right, she got a minimal tip.  How do they get away with selling you frozen margaritas to go, you might ask?  Well, here's how they get around that whole pesky Drinking and Driving silliness:  They then take the cup with a lid on it and stick the whole thing in a clear plastic bag and seal it.  They give you the straw separate.  So technically it's still a sealed container and what you do with it after you drive through is none of their concern.  I guess it's the same as if you bought a bottle of liquor and took it to the car.  Whatever with them.  It's a stupid business that requires these girls to degrade themselves for tips.

And now we come to much more interesting news and events!  Tomatoes!  All sorts of bounty from the garden.  And things we made from said bounty.  Check it out.

Firstly we have jars of Chili Sauce, which is basically exciting ketchup.  Gorgeous, aren't they?  That used to be about 24 giant heirloom tomatoes that got turned into 16 cups of peeled, cored and chopped tomatoes.  And then mixed with peppers, onion, garlic, spices, sugar and vinegar and then cooked for hours and hours.

See the close-up of the the red vs. green?  The red was made with mostly Cherokee Purple variety tomatoes and the green was with German Green.  These are NOT green as in unripe, immature but rather in a beautiful tomato that stays green when it is ripe.  It has a lovely tomato flavor.  Isn't it pretty with the red cayenne pepper floating in there like confetti?

This is some of the remaining tomatoes left on our kitchen counter.  See the other German Greens there on the right?  Next to them is another cayenne pepper that is green.  But it is green because it hasn't turned red yet.

See the bowls of small tomatoes?  Same thing here, all heirloom varieties.  The red ones are called Big Cherry and the green (but ripe) ones are called Green Grape.  They are delicious.

In the windowsill are some that Mr. Big Ed picked to ripen inside away from the threat of bugs, birds and wildlife.

And what else do we have in the windowsill?  3 small pots and 1 larger pot all with baby seedlings of different varieties of tobacco.  Sparky has decided to try his hand at growing tobacco.  Tricky thing is tobacco can NOT  be grown next to tomatoes.  Remember Mr. Big Ed's NINETY-FIVE tomato plants? They are all over the place.  So when these guys get big enough to brave the outside world we have to be really careful where they go.  Hopefully they will make it and I can keep you apprised on the tobacco growing.

Personally, I would like to put in a couple of tea bushes.  Wouldn't a tea bush be a lovely thing to have in your yard?  And useful, too!  Then I could finally use up all those damn tea tins I have left over from the Tea Hoarding Challenge.

Speaking of which, if you are in the need of some tea tins, mostly the round Republic of Tea type, please let me know.  I would be happy to off-load some of them to help you out.

I am thrilled to have gotten caught up on this stuff. If you are happy to have been reading it, please thank Judge Belvin.

Back to the trial tomorrow.

Seriously?

You know how I feel about stupid people being allowed to not only NAME their kids ridiculous names, but also RAISE them!  Arg, it just drives me nuts.  These cute little babies are not extensions of your idiot selves, but human beings who are going to grow up and hate your ass for saddling them with horrible names.

So I have two new stories about dumb asses naming babies.  The other day we were at the big graduation and we are following along in the printed program and reading all the names (and secretly guesstimating how much longer we are going to be sitting and not eating since we were all starving!).  And word got passed around in our group to look on page 55.  Left column.

I don't recall the middle or surname, but the first name was a doozy.

Are you ready?




Aquanetta.

Just like that.  Aquanetta.   All one word.  Of course by then she had long since crossed the stage so we didn't get to see Aquanetta and decide whether or not her name fit her.  Heeeee!  My guess is that if I have gone 50 years and never before seen an Aquanetta before, I may never see another one.  So it was my loss.

And now you need to check out this link.  These people should be beaten about their heads and shoulders for doing this to a small child.

Go ahead, click over and read.  It's short and I will wait.

chirp, chirp, chirp.  Just waiting and whistling over here.

Are you back?  Can you believe people are that strange?

Me neither.

Over here at Chez Lisa Pie I name only the pets with interesting names.  I figure they don't really give a shit.  But my human children?  They got what I consider to be beautiful timeless Biblical names.  I didn't want my kids to grow up and hate me, thank you very much.

Hilarity

This is one of my new favorite commercials.

It's from the Super Bowl so it is not a new commercial, just one of my new favorites.  Does that make sense?

Have you been watching Modern Family?  I swear that has to be the funniest most side-splitting show ever made.  There is so much funny stuff happening you can watch them over again and find things you missed the first time when you were busy slapping your knees!

And I know you all must have seen this one already, since I posted it to my fb page last week.  But this is just hysterically funny!

Laughter, it's what makes the world go round.  Have a good laugh today and whatever your worries are will not seem quite so overwhelming.  : )

Family Tree and the nuts who inhabit

Remember way back in February when I was sick and wheezing and coughing my fool head off?  Well, since I couldn't lay down due to the coughing fits that would happen I spent a lot of time sitting up.  So I did what one would do and signed up for a year's worth of service on Ancestry.com and started inputting everything I knew about the ancestors.

Here is what I have found out:

1. I now have 841 people on the extended branches of my tree

2. If you were a German, Scot, English or Irish farmer, blacksmith or cooper I am descended from you.

3. 7 generations back in my tree is my 5th great grandmother who is first cousin to Francis Scott Key.

4. One branch of the family has my ancestor arriving in Boston, Mass. in 1630 on a ship called the Planter.  (This is just ten years after the Mayflower)  He was one of the founders of New Haven, Connecticut.  And this family had several documented cases of nutters.  Something you never want to have happen when there are witch trials going on around you.

5. An Irish many-great grandfathers arrived in South Carolina around 1750.  His son married a girl who was a fifth-generation Virginian on her mother's side.  On her father's side they were English and the records go back to 1390.

6. I had ancestors fight in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and on both sides of the Civil War.

7. It is much easier to find the really old stuff rather than the newer stuff. The government had set a law when they started taking the census that the information wouldn't be released for 72 years after the fact. This was the average life span at the time and they didn't feel they would be jeopardizing anyone still living  by waiting that length of time.  What that means is the latest census you can work from is 1930. My mother-in-law, for example, was born in 1934 so I hit a dead end when working on her side of the family.

8. It would be a whole lot easier to get the records matched up to the right person if there weren't 4 or 5 generations of men with the SAME DAMN NAME!  Why do men want to name their sons after themselves?  Change the middle name or something!

9. I have 2 ancestors of the same generation, both from Iowa, but different sides of the family whose mothers both died in childbirth and they were raised by family members.

10. I think this ties in nicely with my weekly obsession with reading the obituaries and finding a little history of the families.

11. I love the old names.  Sarah, Malinda, Mahala, Levi, Solomon, Jeremiah, Joab, Xavier, Duncan, Rachel, Hannah, Jesse (male) and Jessie (female).

12. It is a very common southern thing for women to use their maiden name as the first name for one of their sons.  And I knew this so to find it occurring in my own family tree was not surprising.  But what was surprising was to find a Mr. Thomas Wicker who married a Miss Sally Talley.  And do you know what they named one of their sons?

Talley Wicker.

Yep.  Unless there are fake records up on ancestry.com and someone thought it would be hilarious to play an eternal April Fool's Day joke on me.  There is a Talley Wicker in the branches.  Can you say that three times fast?

I think I will stop there with Talley Wicker because it's an even dozen on the list and really?  what can I say after that?

Just a little hilarity

I have been swamped.  And I mean s w a m p e d!  I had a class I was attending all week and now my car has gone and died on me.  It is off getting a diagnosis and since it ever so kindly decided to pull these shenanigans on Good Friday morning, I won't even have a clue of how long it will take and if it can even be fixed till sometime Monday at the least.  Sucks, right?

I got this as one of those silly ass forwarded email things.  From my mother.  I did NOT have high hopes for this email, but I was wrong.  It was hilarious.  So, enjoy a little humor as you go about your day getting your Easter plans made.

And then relax and have a great Easter!

****************************************

Dear Noah,

We could have sworn you said the ark wasn't leaving till 5.

Sincerely,

Unicorns

Dear Twilight fans,

Please realize that because vampires are dead and have no blood pumping through them, they can never get an erection.

Enjoy fantasizing about that.

Sincerely,

Logic

Dear Icebergs,

Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma's a bitch.

Sincerely,

The Titanic

Dear America,

You produced Miley Cyrus. Bieber is your punishment.

Sincerely,

Canada

Dear Yahoo,

I've never heard anyone say, "I don't know, let's Yahoo! it..." just saying...

Sincerely,

Google

Dear 2010,

So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black? WTF happened?!

Sincerely,

1985

Dear Windshield Wipers,

Can't touch this.

Sincerely,

That Little Triangle

Dear girls who have been dumped,

There are plenty of fish in the sea... Just kidding! They're all dead.

Sincerely,

BP

Dear Saturn,

I liked it, so I put a ring on it.

Sincerely,

God

Dear jf;ldsfa/kvsmmklnn,

Please lknvfdmv.xvn.

Sincerely, Stevie Wonder

Dear Nickleback,

That's enough.

Sincerely, The World

Dear Scissors,

I feel your pain.....no one wants to run with me either.

Sincerely, Sarah Palin

Dear Osama Bin Laden,

Marco....

Sincerely, United States

Dear World of Warcraft,

Thank you for ensuring my son's virginity.

Sincerely, Parents Everywhere

Dear Batman,

What was your power again?

Sincerely, Superman

Dear Customers,

Yes, we ARE making fun of you in Vietnamese.

Sincerely, Nail Salon Ladies

Dear Global Warming,

You're the best imaginary friend ever!

Sincerely, Al Gore

Dear Ugly People,

You're welcome.

Sincerely, Alcohol

Dear World,

Please stop freaking out about 2012. Our calendars ends there because some Spanish d-bags invaded our country and we got a little busy ok?

Sincerely,

The Mayans

Dear White People,

Don't you just hate immigrants?

Sincerely,

Native Americans

Dear iPhone,

Please stop spellchecking all of my rude words into nice words. You piece of shut.

Sincerely,

Every iPhone User

Dear Giant Spider on the Wall,

Please die. Please die. Please die. Please die. CRAP! Where did you go?

Sincerely,

Terrified

Dear Trash,

At least you get picked up...

Sincerely,

The Girls of Jersey Shore

Dear Man,

It's cute, but can you pick up peanuts with it?

Sincerely,

Elephant

Dear Dr. Phil,

Look man, there's only room for one fake doctor in this world and I was here first.

Sincerely,

Dr. Pepper

Holy Moly, check this out!

First there was the Snuggie,

then the jeggings,

now?


Go Here

Hee!!!!!

Who orders this shit?

You Have to see this!

Ok, if you get the IFC channel you have to be watching this series called Portlandia.

Here is a video that is part of one of the episodes.

This is some of the most hilarious shit e. ver. put on t.v.

Personally I think they could substitute Madison, Boulder or Austin for Portland and the only difference would be the weather.

I swear you will crack right up.  There are some great guest stars in each episode as well. So far they have only done the original six episodes.  I sure hope there is more to come!

Would I steer you wrong?

The Reading of the Obits, yet again

Before I jump right into this past week's obituaries, I have to tell you the funniest story.  I was reading the local news online, since I only take the Sunday paper (for the obits) and there was an article about weird and interesting funerals.  So you know I clicked on THAT one first thing!  Anyhoo, in this article the owner of one of the large funeral homes was quoted several times.  This made me think he must be a big-wig in the local funeral parlor game.  Never in a million years would you ever guess this dude's name.  Never!  I kept going over and over the article because there is no way I thought this was real.

Picture this, me and Mr. Big Ed are bereaved and for some reason (knocking on all kinds of wood) are at the funeral home and having to make arrangements.  We are sad, we are overcome with grief, yet still having to make mundane decisions.  Then the director comes in and introduces himself.   "Hello, so very sorry for your loss.  My name is Dick Tipps and I will be here to serve you".

Yeppers.  Dick. Tipps.  They call me Mr. Tipps!

Did his parents wake up and say to themselves "Selves, we must toughen up this tiny little 6' 7" baby boy. I know!  Let's name him Dick!  Then he can get the crap beaten out of him every single day of his school career!!"  Not to mention he won't have a girlfriend to cramp his focus on his academics.

Mr. Big Ed and I were so bad, we giggled about this for quite some time and could not picture ourselves doing this and keeping straight faces.  I had to call my friend Patty Cakes and tell her all about it too.  I sure hope we aren't going to hell for our interest in obituaries and wanting to correct all the grammar in them.

On to the obits!!

Under the category of bad names, like the afore-mentioned Mr. Tipps:

We find Harold Rocco DeBona.  Was he known as Harry?  Harry DeBona?  His two sons were Rocco and Bruce.  Rocco Jr. was married to Sugar.  Sugar and Rocco DeBona.  You can totally picture this cast on the Sopranos, can't you?

Then we have Mae Gee who lived to the age of 95. (Yea Mae!!) She was born to Woo Gee and Shee Gee.  And yet her only 2 surviving brothers were named Paul and William.

New and interesting ways to say "died":

Linda Rose got her angel wings and was reunited with our Lord in her new mansion on Friday, Feb. 11.

Our dear sweet mother, Mary Louise, went to her heavenly home on Feb. 3 after a lenghy battle with dementia.

Jack Paul Leon died peacefully of pancreatic cancer at home on Wednesday, in the arms of his loving family.
**I have been with too many people in my family dying of cancer and I find it almost impossible to believe that was truly peaceful.  I sincerely hope that it was.

This next one also gets an award for longest run-on sentence. "Jenny Fleming, who was born in China and came of age in Shanghai during WWII and who married John T. Fleming Jr. in 1949, lost her valiant struggle with the complications of pneumonia and passed away peacefully on Feb. 7.
**I am sorry for poor Jenny Fleming, but seriously?  Who is born, came of age, got married, fights pneumonia and passes peacefully all in one sentence?  Give Jenny some dignity and use a period or two.

This one almost got the award for longest sentence, but they actually used two sentences for this. "Frances Marie "CISCA" Maestes, "Keka"; devoted daughter, inspiring sister, loving partner, loyal and generous friend, age 43, passed away quietly Saturday, Feb 5, at her home, surrounded by her family, into the waiting arms of her Heavenly Father. After a long and valiant battle with cancer; her spirit was just too big and too beautiful for her broken body to contain".
**The pain just leaps off the page in that particular one, doesn't it?  So sad to see these really young people who are truly in the prime of their lives dying of that no good bitch cancer.




Wonderful old names that we don't see anymore:

Eva Edna.  Love it!

Under the category of really interesting info:

"Curtis Wayne Lamb Hayes was born Sept. 13, 1937 in Long Beach, CA. Curt died from cardio/pulmonary failure. He also suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Curt was the only son of George Samuel Lamb and Almeda Marie Hill Lamb. In 1941, George was killed aboard the U.S.S. Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor."  Curt's mom remarried and he went on to live a great life and did loads of fun things.  It was a really nice, and interesting obituary.  A life well lived!

Then we come to Tara Nancy, who was way too young to die at 42.  Here is what they said about Tara. "Tara had an exciting career as a helicopter pilot, private and commercial, for 15 years and was a member of Whirly-Girls, International Women Helicopter Pilots."

"James Lee Oaks, age 70 went to be with the Lord on Feb 8. His death was unexpected. James was born in Coldwater Miss. August 3, 1940. He was from a family of 10 children and he lost his father in a fire when he was only 10 years old. He helped raise his siblings before he joined the Air Force."
**I can only imagine that losing his dad in such a horrible way was a defining moment in his life. Especially if he was only 10 years old.  I was curious as to where Mr. James Lee was in the birth order of those 10 kids.  My first thought was that he was the oldest, but that would mean there were 10 kids in as many years and can you imagine what his poor mama went through?  She would have been completely worn out with 10 kids under 10 and losing her husband.  So let's hope that James Lee was in the bottom of the pack and there were some teen-aged kids to help her out after this ordeal.


And one of the obits had a great little bit of info about the deceased that sounded a lot like me.  I read it to Patty Cakes and she said we should save it to work into my own obit.  "Mary was a life long homemaker, devoted wife and mother and an excellent seamstress, who could also crochet up a storm. She loved to work in the yard, watch the birds, do crossword puzzles and do for others. She also enjoyed many wonderful travels with Morris and friends over the years. But what she loved most was spending time with her family."

Now other than "an excellent seamstress", that sounds a whole lot like me.  And I would be traveling with Mr. Big Ed, not Morris.

Over all, it was some good reading this week.  Sadly, there were too many young people, and the worst of all was a little 15 month old named Madelynn.  The sweetest little picture of her accompanied her obituary.  So sad, just heart-breaking for this to happen.

I wasn't going to tell you this, but I will.  One of the obituaries was of someone I knew.  He was a very close friend of one of my friends.  I went to his funeral yesterday and it was so sad.  I barely knew this man and I cried like a baby when he got his military honors.  When they do the playing taps while also doing the whole folding of the flag and presenting it to the mama, you just can't keep it together.  No one should ever have to receive a flag for their child.  I am crying again just thinking about it.  We get lots of military funerals here since our Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetary is second largest behind Arlington.  And they keep those old veterans busy out there most every day doing the 21 gun salute and playing taps.  The ritual of the service must be hard for them to do day in and day out.  But that ritual is what is so meaningful to the mourners.  It was a beautiful service and I hope it was some comfort to his family.

And now, to completely change gears!!

Queen B!  would you prefer black, green or white tea?