Tag, I'm It!

photo courtesy of Len E., another Shipley researcher

I was tagged by the always interesting Homestead!

The Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

And so I give you this tidbit of inanity...

They're dead too... is my heartwarming sentence!

I normally don't like to tag people, but here goes:

Cheesecakey
Eclectic
SoozieQ
Squirl
Sylvana

If you've already played I apologize, I haven't read postings in the past day or so. I will be catching up on my reading throughout the day, I promise!

Update! I see that SoozieQ and Squirl were already tagged! Does this stuff move around quickly or what?

A Lesson On Charitable Giving

"Who Me?"

About six years after this picture was taken, I happened to stop by my house during a lunch break.

My daughter and her best friend were heating up a huge can of chili, not unusual as we seemed to feed all the neighborhood children.

I noticed this was not a brand, nor size I'd ever purchased.

Best friend, always the quick thinker, claimed they brought it over from her house. Although I believed this, something in their behavior seemed questionable.

After coming home later that day, as I was watering, I spied a red wagon in the side yard. Upon closer inspection I saw it was filled with canned foods of all sorts!

An interrogation ensued, along with a phone call to Best friend's mother, and the truth came out...

The girls had gone door to door earlier in the day, asking for donations for The Poor Children!

It took several phone calls to actually find an organization which would accept canned food donations, and the girls came with me to present this gift.

This was just the beginning of their life of crime.

There's a whole 'nother' story about the time they collected a wagon full of snails (yes, the same wagon) and blackmailed the neighbor.

These hooligans actually pulled this thing up to a neighbor's door, and boldly demanded he pay them $2.00 or they'd set the snails out in his yard!

He paid...

Opinions Wanted!

Photo taken from "The Shipleys of Maryland 2002"

I haven't yet decided on the style in which I wish to produce my Family History book intended as a gift to my children and siblings, but yesterday I began writing.

There is a lot I have to work with, including (in most cases) names, birth and death dates, census data such as occupation, marriage information, and photos. In more recent family history I have some interesting stories and anecdotes.

I began writing with my early Shipley family, and it looked much like this:

"In my two year family search, the earliest of our documented Shipley family is Adam Shipley, born about 1650 in Yorkshire, England.

Adam was transported to America, along with nine other young men, by John Pawson (also of Yorke, England) in 1668. These men were to serve an apprenticeship for a period of time before receiving their fifty acres of land, which Adam earned by 1675."

Although historically correct, this reads much like the oh so boring history books which were required reading in school, where one was going to be tested on names and dates rather than content.

Now I could go off the deep end, and write something like this:

"Young Adam, with icy saltwater sheeting down his face finally espied the new land, the new life for which he'd been searching- America!"

I'm now toying with the idea of using snippets of family lore, told to me by my mother and linking these tales to the information I've found:

"... when my mother told me about an ancestor who sold himself into slavery. She explained he likely couldn't afford the passage to America, and had contracted his services for a period of time becoming an indentured servant.

This man was Adam Shipley of Yorkeshire, England, who arrived in America in 1668..."

Keep in mind, I'm not talking about a published book here, just a family memento.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. You're such a creative group, I'd love to get your feedback.

Update! I'm now looking at Cafepress. The upside is a 100 page book (with a choice of bindings) can be printed for about $10.00 per book. The downside is that there is a whole world of publishing formatting I need to study before I begin. To think I thought writing this would be the difficult part!

Among The Living Dead

Before the storm- 

This photo was taken several evenings ago, as a lightning storm was heading our way.

Due to the marathon ancestry research I performed recently, my old neck injury has come back to haunt me.

Advil and periodic rest keeps the pain down to a dull roar, but the most disconcerting trouble is my altered sleep pattern!

If left to it's own device, my normal pattern consists of three hours of solid sleep, upon which I waken, and remain awake until sunrise. At that time I generally fall asleep another three hours.

This is doable, since I'm retired, but just not right!

During my genealogical research, I found my G-G-G grandmother Margaret Kaufman's family had migrated from Pennsylvania to Maryland around the early 1800s. It appears her family were Ashkenazic Jews, who lived throughout Eastern Europe before settling in America.

Now I'm wondering if my wandering Kaufman family didn't take a little detour, and perhaps live in Transylvania at some point in time.

This might help explain my strange sleep habits.

Sierrabella, Girl Archaeologist!

August 1907 Edition - 

This old edition of National Geographic belonged to my grandfather. This particular issue was likely given to him upon the arrival of his first birthday.

Upon my 9th birthday, he and my grandmother gave me a card in which I was advised my gift was a one year subscription to this magazine. To be quite honest, I wasn't thrilled at that time.

Shortly thereafter, I received a mailing from National Geographic's Headquarters welcoming me to their family! Most important was the wording, something to the effect that I was a Member of the Society, with all the rights and privileges associated!

I was an Archaeologist! What a wonderful gift this had become!

The first issue received had a major report about the French in Viet Nam (before America became involved as I remember.) Although I had no interest in this particular subject, I studied each and every article... because I was going to need to know this stuff!

I began checking out books from the library on archaeology and anthropology.

By the time I was 10 I was ready, so I approached my parents and told them I would miss them, but National Geographic needed me!

They were very kind, and didn't even laugh when I showed them my most valued treasure which was 'the letter from the Society.'

My parents explained the truth of the matter, and this reality rivaled the Santa Claus conspiracy!

Afterward, I continued my interest in these topics, and developed other interests such as psychology and architecture.

By the time I was 11, I'd read some Freud, decided he had issues of his own, and headed elsewhere in my search for career options.

That's when I decided to become a stewardess!

My Research Is Done (For Now)

Is It Safe To Come Out Yet? 

My subscription to Ancestry.com has finally expired, bringing me back into the world of the living.

I worked 11 hours straight on Saturday, thinking my subscription ended at midnight, but found it was still activated on Sunday! Needless to say, I worked all day Sunday on my search.

I finally ended up with 1,453 entries, and a new average lifespan of 59 years and 7 months...

I intend to go blog visiting today, and then get some sunshine! I need it.

I'm Back- Sort Of...

My G-G Grandmother Ellen Campbell Murray-

Although I wasn't enjoying cleaning house, I was having a great time with my ancestry search these past few days.

My family file statistics now show 1,343 people listed in my family tree!

Sadly, the longevity is now down to an average lifespan of 55 years and 8 months. For the past year it held at 59 years and some-odd months.

I have almost one week left on my Ancestry.com subscription, and intend to make the most of it... after all I'll be 52 this December, so I'd better work fast!

**Update! I'm now have 1,395 people logged onto my family tree, and the average longevity has risen to a whopping 60 years!

Goofiness To Ensue Shortly

My dad, clowning around-

I have a busy week ahead!

We may, or may not be having company come by this upcoming weekend, giving me the incentive to begin my fall housecleaning. At this time, I don't know whether our potential guest is planning to stay here a few days or just drop in for a visit.

This past weekend I had the urge to start weeding seldom used clothing from my closet, restore order to my pantry and straighten up my office.

My subscription to Ancestry.com expires in two weeks, so I'm using the remaining time to revisit and recheck their database for anything I may have missed. I must have spent 8 hours yesterday alone on this task.

I won't be as active as usual here in Blogworld, but intend to peek in at everyone throughout the week. I wouldn't want to miss anything you know!

Ode to Tech 115 at Prospect Motors in Jackson

Gettin' towed

You signed off your work as complete, but alas it wasn't... because you forgot one little task: You forgot to clamp down the radiator hose!

My husband was driving our Toyota Tundra down Scenic Highway 49 right after you worked on it when he saw the engine was overheating.

I assume you live in the area, Tech 115, and are aware our local roads have pull-outs spaced few and far between?

It was a good 4 miles before my husband could pull over.

By the way, I wish to thank both the female Highway Patrol officer and the young man who stopped to offer assistance!

I rode into San Andreas and spent $21.52 on coolant, water, a hose clamp and a screwdriver to tighten the clamp.

We got the truck home safely, and called your service advisor who promised a tow back to the dealership...

The tow truck driver called us 6 times to give status on a possible arrival time, and finally arrived at 8:43pm.

Our truck has only about 13,700 miles, and through your carelessness Tech 115, the engine (and God knows what else) is likely ruined.

We're waiting to hear the prognosis...

And you know what else pisses me off about this whole thing Tech 115? You also signed off on the complimentary car wash and vacuum, which wasn't done either!

*Update: The "Toyota Guy" is off today, so the truck will be looked at on Tuesday... I'm thinking this "Toyota Guy" is Tech 115! Hope you have a nice holiday weekend bub, because the proverbial shit is going to hit the fan on Tuesday.

Stuff Portrait Friday Again!

I put my stuff in my trunk -

The back of the dishes -  

This week's Stuff Portrait Friday is hosted by Renee. The theme is to show: a favorite alcoholic beverage, the trunk of your car and your dishes.

I decided to put all these items into one picture, but couldn't resist adding another photo showing just where I found my screen name!

Although I own three sets of dishes, I chose this set as it most relates to my theme here.

Oh, and just so you know~ I'm not planning on eating and drinking in the trunk of my car!

Goin' Down To Jackson

Heading down our road

We had to head into the town of Jackson today to drop off Mr. SB's Tundra for some safety recall work.

Heading down Highway 49 we passed the area of yesterday's fire, and could understand why the CDF had to call in so much aircraft. The terrain there is quite steep and has very few roads the firefighters could take into the area.

Now we're used to seeing roadkill along the winding roads up here, but today's Roadkill Menu included a young pig!

To top off today's oddities, our nearest restaurant had a menu posted at the entrance to their parking lot, with Roasted Goat Leg as today's Special!

I'm wondering if tomorrow's Special will be roasted baby pig...