"Welcome to the Weekend Chat!" All Members Invited! July 3rd-5th, 2020 [closed]

Question

New Members Saying Hello (our favorite!)

Puzzles and Tips 

"Today Is" 

Movies & Music

Where in the World?  Share your photos!

Members Checking in via "All About the Weekend Chat"

Click here if Interested in Hosting the Weekend Chat and earning a Guest Host Sticker? 

CHANGE TO BEST ANSWER PROCESS:  After much discussion we have come to the conclusion that all answers in the Weekend Chat are of equal importance and weight.  So we are going to discontinue the Best Answer portion as it adds points and then takes them away from posters and is causing some hurt feelings.  So in the interest of everyone is equal and valued we will delete any best answers given which will deduct those points because it has been pointed out that to give everyone best answer is also not a viable option. 

Weekend Chat is for everyone. It's a place to catch up on what people are up to and to share what you've been doing.  New members can say hello, introduce themselves, ask questions, and meet each other.  Our seasoned members can share progress or successes from their projects, give tips and advice, or chime in on hot topics.

Post as many answers and comments as you wish. It doesn't hurt anyone to post a lot and enjoy the multitude of topics.

Enjoy yourselves and spread the love!

Comments

Welcome to another Weekend Chat, my fellow WikiChatterers! To all my fellow citizens of the USA, Happy Fourth of July Weekend, and greetings to all from Cathey’s Creek where the sun is shining with occasional pop-up showers. I’m early this a.m. as I have an appointment soon.

On the Home Front: The order of the week has been weeding and mowing. Even my old mower is able to plow through the jungular “back 40.” In a few weeks, we’ll have a tree service get three trees out of the creek and several that are being undercut by the erosion.  On the opposite side of our property it’ll   be the dead or dying trees that need removal,

I also noticed that the shoulder of the road over the culverts where our two streams meet (right at our driveway!) is collapsing. Now, I have to figure out who to call in the county government. This same thing happened a couple of years ago, but apparently the repairs didn’t hold. We were once told that the culverts would have to be replaced, and if so, we would have to take the back way into town for a while.

We got our three antique couches that were reupholstered, and sent off two wingbacks (not antique). We also went to pick up an old washstand that we had repaired and stained, and dropped off an old barrelback chair that has been needing repair for around 20 years. I guess we just got tired of everything looking so crappy, plus the fact that we are going to build a new home soon and don’t want it to look so shabby.

Reading: As usual I’ve picked up another book to read while trying to finish another – The Art of Kiltmaking, by Barbara Tewksbury. No, I am NOT going to start making my own kilts. I don’t have steady enough hands, but I will learn a lot about the way kilts are constructed, sett sizes and how they affect pleating. Very technical, but lots of good background info, too!

On the Genealogy Front: Another slow week, and very nearly all of my contributions have been through greeting new members. I don’t know when things are going to settle down here. Since we’ve had some better weather, I’ve been outside taking care of things that got out of hand during the monsoon season. I have done some intermittent working on the biography of my great-grandmother, Hettie Cathey Lawing Underwood, but still have a long way to go.

I did get a comment this week on a G2G posting I made over a year ago, a fella who is also descended from an ancestor (b. in Spain, immigrated to Puerto Rico) of my son-in-law. I’m going to follow up on that one! He hasn’t been able to take the line further back, but I do want to see what he has found on this family.

If you missed the WikiTree Live Chat (like I did), you can see it here. With Sarah, Eowyn, and Julie hosting, our essential and hard-working Natalie Trott represented the Categorization Project.

Continue to be safe, wherever you are!

Enjoy the Chat!

---

Thanks for hosting Pip!

Making your own kilt LOL...

---

I made the mistake of buying a new couch,  instead of reupholstering the comfy one we loved.    

Enjoy your projects Pip.....  it's time to start throwing things out and giving them away,  before the  "great move"!

---

Yeah, you missed all the fun, Pip. Sigh. You're slipping, buddy!!

---

Thank you for hosting Pip!  Summer is a good time to rest from the computer, and enjoy the yard.  Enjoy your July 4th weekend.

---

Hi, Pip, you always have a lot going on!  No word on the big mower status?  Picturing doing the back 40 with the little mower is a bit humorous!

---

I had my flag mounted by my door all day yesterday. I was the only one of the 87 units in my apartment complex to do so. Sad.

Answer 1

Today is....

NATIONAL CHOCOLATE WAFER DAY

           

If you love chocolate, National Chocolate Wafer Day allows you to indulge in a delicately sweet cookie with a history. Have one for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Also called sugar wafers, these delicate snacks melt in your mouth. Made since the mid-1800s in the United States, makers called the cookies many names; wafer cookies, sugar wafers, sugar biscuits, fairy wafers. While many enjoyed them as snacks, they also became favorite after-dinner treats or served during teas. Lightly flavored and layered with a creamy filling, the thin cookies delight folks of all ages. 

Numerous companies produced them in North America. Regardless of the company, each one considered the production of these cookies an art form. They took pride in everything from their ingredients to the employees and the recipe to the packaging. Over time, companies merged. By the 1930s, the number of production companies dwindled.

Today, they remain one of our favorites. With a waffle surface pattern and thin layers, these cookies make an excellent addition to ice cream. Use them as an ingredient in cakes and cheesecakes. While you’re baking, use them to decorate, too. If you prefer pie, crushed wafers make a delicious chocolate crust. There are so many ways chocolate wafers can be enjoyed. If you’ve never tried them, this holiday is the time to give them a whirl.

No matter where or how you are eating your wafers, these tasty treats are positively worth celebrating!

Comments

A ha!  I had one for snack last night, just after midnight. First I've had in years.

What are the odds?

I suppose 1:365 

---

It's been a while!    It's hard to go wrong with chocolate.

---

Correct, Peggy. Almost impossible!

---

Dorothy, you come up with some of the yummiest treats! I haven't had these in years - may have to try some.

---

We crumble them and mix them with whipped cream for a delicious pudding.

---

Thanks for sharing, Dorothy!

---

What I love is the Nutty Bar that looks a lot like the picture.  So yummy and alas, has gluten so off limits for me.

Answer 2

Hi all, hope everyone is having a great start of their weekend.

Our little one is sure developing.  I teased my wife that at birth he looked like a wet chicken.  He's really filling out and getting cuter by the day.  He's now about 10 weeks.  He and I had a lot of time together.  He is very attentive and when I look at him and count, at the 4 second mark his visual process completes, he recognizes me and then smiles.  I make farm animal sounds, sing him songs and he coos along in delight and sometimes tries to talk.

Weather is moot.  They are still removing crude-oil dirt from the part and we've had the windows closed and the A/C on all week.  Bill should be astronomical.  Yesterday was 32c (90 degrees).  I'm renovating one of the rentals, plaster, paint, etc.  I wish I had a break to go swimming :-(

Big genealogy week.  A distant Mullins cousin contacted me.  He found some source docs that were sold at auction and he was able to get them translated.  I'm afraid to go there yet as it will open a can of worms.

The cousin I wrote about last week - I talked to him about publishing our findings.  He has agreed and we are evolving a draft.  We're considering submitting to The Journal of Genealogy and Family History.  We were chatting about where we could have a draft in progress and I suggested a free-space page at Wikitere with a private setting.  He agreed and signed up for an account at Wikitree.  I hope to lure him away from Ancestry and bring his tree here.

And just an hour ago the mailman delivered what I assume is my Sons of the Revolution certificate and formal approval.  The mail is on the balcony in the sun (anti-Covid); I'll open it shortly.

Hope you all are safe and happy.

cheers

Comments

Great news on the little one, and also on the SAR certificate you got for him.

Oh, Mullins... that sure could be interesting especially if you are in Virginia/Tennessee/Kentucky...

---

Finally,  past the suspense of having a child in the midst of a pandemic. (You're probably too young to be getting gray hair from this!)  He'll be swimming before you know it.

Enjoy your SARs package!

---

You are a good Daddy, SJ!

As soon as you open that envelope, let us know. (We're nosey like that. )

---

Thanks for the update on the baby - they are so cute at his age. It is fun to watch them become aware of their surroundings! I remember watching mine discover their feet and hands; I could see the curiosity in their eyes wondering what those things were!!

---

Love to hear your details about the baby. Shows how much you love him.

---

I understand babies develop faster when their parents interact with them, so keep enjoying the little fella.  You'll never regret time the spent with your kids.

---

Thanks for sharing, SJ! Love to hear about your baby and how he is growing! Exciting news about your SAR application and working with your cousin on your draft of findings!

---

You did have a good week!  I can imagine how much pleasure you get from your son.  I'm long past the days of a young one (and no sleep), though I still love having a baby to fall asleep on my chest and we both take a nap.  Is he sleeping through the night yet?

---

 I think, SJ Baty, that the most disconcerting time is when you look at your child and realize he or she is in their 20's , 30's , 40's and in my case in their 50's and wonder how that happened because you can remember the diapers you dealt with and the times you bathed the baby or the toddler (and ended up as wet as the toddler), and the enthusiastic way they shared their food by flinging handful across the room (very nearly) if you didn't immediately interfere ... and their nap time was your clean the kitchen time, LOL 

---

Susan, for me it was thinking of one of the happiest time, being the first time I held my granddaughter and realized how much i loved her but did not have to worry about raising her myself.

Now she is 15 and looking to buy a truck so she can drive it when she is 16 and tow her own horse trailer.

---

Thanks all for the kind sentiments.  Sorry Pip, not the SAR paperwork, just my quarterly catalog from the Sons of the Unvion Veterans of the Civil War.

The Mrs. is a super athlete and she's already training the boy.  10 weeks old and she already has him crawling.  I'll send a copy of the vid to you Pip, anyone else wants to see it just send me a PM.

Busy weekend painting, finally back to this chat to read what everyone did over the 4th.

Answer 3

Thanks once again Pip.   It’s always a pleasure to read your  “Introduction”.

 

Weather:   Seems perfect to me here in Catoosa County, GA.    Enough rain and sunshine for plants to thrive.   We’ve moved our daily walks to early morning but so far the afternoon highs haven’t reached the 90’s. 

Genealogy:   Have been trying to solve some mysteries, which have been thwarted by errors in census records.   Came across this.

EJACHASHUN

        Ever wonder why you can't translate or understand some census reports? Perhaps this will help.
        "I am a census taker for the city of buffalo. are city has groan very fast in resent years and now in 1865, it has becum a hard and time consuming job to count all the peephill. Thur are not meny that can do this work, as it is nessarie to have an ejachashun, which a lot of pursons still do not have. Anuther atribeart needed for this job is good speling for meny of the peephill to be counted can hardly speek inglish, let alone spel there names!

 

 

Holiday:   This year our 4^th of July celebration will be from our front porch.    We won’t be buying our own fireworks  (though it’s impressive how many fireworks stands are selling them) because our neighbors put on a show great enough for all.  We plan on cooking in our new fire pit.  (Just another  “Covid Improvement”)

 

Looking forward to reading everyone’s posts!

Comments

Oh Peggy that is just way too funny! You might say it was very ejachasuning.

---

Could someone please enlighten me what "ejahashun" is meant to be? I understood the rest of it, but this "word" is getting the rest of me...

---

Education.

---

Education with an accent

---

Thanks folks. Would be interesting to know where this enumerator originally came from...

---

Jelena, there were a lot of those enumerators here in the US. They were especially bad in the late 1800s and early 1900s where I live.

---

Peggy, that dude told a lie. He wasn't from Buffalo. He was from Transylvania County, North Carolina! I can show you the censuses he did. 

Our 4th? Sitting at home reading and watching TV. All the celebrations have been cancelled here.

---

Oh Peggy, thank you, that's the chuckle of the day. Reminds me of some of the resumes I've seen, as in "my greatest strangth is my attention to detal"

---

Thanks for sharing that, Peggy! You got some chuckles out of me!  

---

Oh my that is funny.  Thanks for the laugh.

---

Good thing that census taker had such good spelling from his ejachashun!  Almost as good as our cats who have their own written language.  I'm going to teach them the ejachashun word today after their nap.

---

My father,in my early years, explained his opinion of education versus book learning.........

---

Ha, Peggy, I paid the ultimate prize for your presentation, I wrapped it up with a pix of a spelling bee (cartoon) and sent it out to my own correspondents --

I will say google's spell check went totally berserk over this paragraph ... 

---

Susan,

Delighted to have it circulated..... everyone deserves a smile.  Enjoy your 4th of July!

---

Pip, others, it isn't the celebration has been cancelled since we are all aware and celebrating without congregating ...

and by not congregating we deny the Virus its opportunity for the spread of covid 19 ... 

not that it won't be spread anyway as the many congregate anyway and it is proven already ...  

 

Answer 4

Thanks for hosting Pip.

Happy (holiday) weekend everyone. Stay safe. This week went by quickly, but for some reason I kept thinking Wednesday was Sunday. We are quickly reaching the point where the garden dictates what we eat for dinner. I have a zucchini that I am letting grow to softball bat size so that it can be stuffed (yummy).

Great WikiTree collaboration news -- someone added the Twins sticker to a profile I created, so I've now learned how to add this to all the sets of twins I have been finding.

Background story: my Aunt Hester, born in 1920 in Iowa, always told the story that when she had to get a copy of her birth certificate she found out that her legal name was Ethel Ruth, and some other girl born the same day was legally named Hester. After much searching, I did find the other girl -- same doctor on both certificates.

Anyone interested in a brain teaser? I am currently working on the children for Amy Paul Burdette. This is work in progress...the census provides birth order (Harold, Elsie, Amy, Hazel, Winifred, George) and approximate relative ages. There are Iowa birth records (probably from the returns index, no images) for Amy born 15 Oct 1898. There are similar records for Hazel - one for her born 21 Apr 1898 and another 9 Sep 1900. Winifred's gravestone is engraved 13 Oct 1900. Of course the month/year disagree in the 1900 census. All the gory details are in the Research Notes for the mother. It's sort of like if A was born on X then add at least 9 months for B and continue on...

Comments

Hm, I wonder if the other Hester used the name Ethel Ruth.  

As for the census, I don't believe that many people then understood how we are trying to use the information. I believe some of the enumerators guessed at people's ages, and in other cases, if a family was away, may have asked the neighbors.

---

Laurie,

I think the other Hester did use the name Ethel. I seem to remember Aunt Hester saying that she had got in touch with her. Also Aunt Hester always saw the positive -- she liked that she could tell if someone knew her from work since they called her Ethel.

Unfortunately from what I've just seen in my analysis of the family I'm looking at, it appears that the census is more correct and that rather it is the birth records that have the children born less than 9 months apart. Gah.

---

Kay, after my trip to close on the land, it took me days to get back on track. Was it Sunday? Was it Wednesday? Glad my wife can keep up with the days.

Just reading your "teaser" paragraph made my brain hurt. 

---

Okay, K.K, I will bite .. how DOES one stuff a zucinni zuccini ... big green softie veggie like zuccinni ... I like mine sliced into wedges and rolled in egg&flour batter and garlic salted and fried in butter, dusted with crumbs ... definitely an artery clanger but oh, delicious 

BUT what is the prep to stuff it, how do you keep it from collapsing, what is stuffed into it ... 

Answer 5

Hails and horns, Wikipeeps!

On the genealogy front, I posted a blog about a bit of family lore. This might get Pip's attention as it is about a guy who may or may not have played in the White House band after the Civil War: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2020/06/52-ancestors-week-27-solo.html

Who knows if either of them actually played. One guy was actually in the artillery and the other guy stayed up here in Mass.

No idea what Johnny played. Probably wasn't an electric guitar and he definitely didn't open for a 19th Century version of Aerosmith. (Wow. I just got the craziest image of a steampunk rock band in my head....It's probably a thing. Check out Deviantart and you might find it.)

On the non genealogy front (Though, still a bit genealogical) we had the wake and funeral for my dad's cousin, Carol this past week. We went to her house for the mercy meal and talked for a bit. Talked to my second cousins. I told one of them that I was going to miss Carol's eggplant parm. She said to me "Chris, I was the one who made that!" I was like "What?!" She said she had been making it since her grandmother (my great-aunt) died in the '90s.

My mind was a bit blown. 

Still, we looked at pics and promised to have more family gettogethers. Christmas Eve and all that stuff. My dad said that Carol was like the older sibling for all his cousins. She was the oldest of the cousins and was the only girl. I'll miss her. =( 
 

I did manage to take some more pics of pics. Notably pics of my grandma and her mother that Carol had and a couple other pics. 

It's gonna take a while to adjust to everything. I added my cousins to Facebook and we'll hopefully get together, soon.

On the Wikitree front, I decided to use a different strategy when I welcome new members to the Italy project. From this point on, I'll comment on their post and then head over to their profile to comment there. That way they'll know they'll be in the project. Plus it seems more inviting don't you think?

 I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Comments

Chris, your post remind me of the “good old days.” In the 1990s I played the clarinet in a concert band out of Allentown, Pa.The city prided itself on being Band City, USA.There were, maybe still are 4 concert bands in town, all made up of part time musicians. We played many concerts every year, including one at the White House. Not for the President, just for the visitors waiting in line. Then we got to skip the line and go on the tour.

---

Awesome. =) In the '90s, I would hang out with the band nerds during lunch. We had a great time. =D

---

Sorry for your loss Chris. I like your strategy for new members of your Italy Project!

@Nancy - I played the Clarinet too!! Just in school, but it was a lot of fun!

---

Thanks, Azure. =)

I liked the strategy, too. Before, I was just typing them into a spreadsheet. It just seemed redundant since the post did everything the spreadsheet did. Plus, we can keep track of badged members easier. So....Why not just cut that out and just post on peoples' walls?

---

Hiya, Chris! Fascinating story about Han Solo... er... I mean John Fisher. I really hope you cam hold your cousins to the promise of reunions or get-togethers. I have tried for the past four years to get my maternal cousins to have a true reunion. Turns out that the only time they've gotten together were at the three funerals (an aunt, an uncle, and my mom). Not quick enough or all three would have been there.

---

Sorry about losing your Carol, she sounds like a special person for your family.  And to Nancy Wilson, I was born in Allentown and lived there the first 2-3 years of my life.  I've always wondered where that house was.  Saw a picture one time and that was it.  After my sister moved my Mom, all the family picture books disappeared so no luck there.

---

@ Pip: Don't worry. They live like two towns over and he's good about keeping promises. I'm sure things'll be fine. =D Good eye catching the Star Wars reference. I was tempted to add "A Genealogy Story" to the title. But, I couldn't get it to look right. So, I just simplified it.

I hope you can get a reunion going. Try for Christmas eve. Usually works for my family. Then again the promise of calamari is always enticing. =D

Hope you can get together with your cousins. My maternal first cousins are spread all over. Well...all I have are maternal first cousins. My dad's an only child. Would that just be cousins, then?

@Cindy: Thanks! Carol was great. She loved to cook. One of the strangest things she has ever made was molasses cookies like biscotti that were spicy. I didn't know that was a thing in Italy. Apparently, it is. It's good!

My dad always viewed Carol and the rest of his cousins as siblings. Just how it was. Hopefully, we all get together soon.

Hope you can find those pics!

---

Chris, sorry for your loss. I hope you get the gettogethers done and those happen not only when you bury someone again.

A bit off topic: I found the Encyclopedia of the Italian Academy for Science, Letters and Arts It has tons of biographies about people in different areas. And not only about Italians. This seems to be a great resource for the Italy project. 

---

Thanks, Jelena. I'll check it out!

---

From 1986-1990. I played the trombone. I'm 1990 I switched to guitar. I don't normally admit to my elementary and junior high school band nerd years. I still hung out with them.

---

Band nerds were awesome to hang out with. Half of them were on the track team anyway. =)

Update: New pic uploaded for my great-grandfather Hamel: https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Hamel-731

Answer 6

Wet and windy Wales today!

Trying out a new web extension program which can copy and paste into my genealogy software program. 

I can autotype into fields when the template has been set up so a great tool for ensuring I have the same citation format for my sources.

I mentioned it on 29th June Mondays with Myrt so you can watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5afGv5ZJpgg 

Catching up with the Livecast from 1 July then off to Facebook for Find My Past Friday.

Discovered a marriage for my 3xgt grandmother so more family to add in the Connect a Thon.

Comments

Save up those connect-a-thon lists!  I have a big one myself.  In the last connect-a-thon I was able to link some in-laws and those links led me to information about my ancestors.  

But I still haven't developed those profiles... 

---

Thanks for that link, Hilary. I remember that app being mentioned before (I think SJ uses something similar).

How I would love to see Wales, Windy and wet or not.

Answer 7

Our newspaper just had an article about a Civil War map of Antietam as a cemetery, probably made by Simon Elliott in 1864.  It depicts the placement of about 5,800 graves  spread over about 12 square miles.  There are about 45 individuals identified and some mass graves near the battle grounds where different groups were engaged.  Apparently after this map was made most of the bodies were moved into regular cemeteries.  The New York Public Library has had it since shortly after it was printed and just released a digitized copy.  Historians are very interested because it seems to show, by placements of the grave sites, where different army divisions fought and received casualties that
were buried where the dead bodies dropped.  I wonder if any of our wikitreers will find useful information from the released copy.

Comments

Very interesting analysis.

I saw a similar analysis of Little Big Horn.  They went back with metal detectors and collected all the bullets and shell casings and marked exactly where each was found.  Then using modern police forensics they were able to segregate the shell casings and the bullets into single groups, each group having been fired by a single gun.  

By comparing the locations of the shell casings of a single gun they were able to show the movements of that gun (and the soldier who fired it) on the battlefield that day.  And by looking at the bullets they were able to see at which targets each rifle was shooting at.

---

Interesting.  I would have had a hard time finding the casings in the dirt and grass so much later.  Elliott also made a map
of Gettysburg similar to this one.

---

Hi Beulah! I saw that article, too. It made me think that this is why we need to preserve Civil War battlefields. There were many buried on the spot and never returned home for burial.

Answer 8

On this day: 

1608: Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec City

1883: The writer Franz Kafka is born

1935: The founder of the namesake car factory André Citroën dies

Comments

I;m a car guy from Canada. Jack

---

You always find the good ones, Jelena. I enjoyed my reading.

---

I even had a Citroën. Was a good car.

Answer 9

Greetings from Everett, Washington!

This has been a busy Wikitree week.  I got two unconnected profiles connected.  I chose randomly from the list two that I thought I could help with. One resulted in a pending merge (LNAB needs correction).

The most recent big news is that I created another African-American barber on the western U. S. frontier https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Chrisman-713 Lewis Edward Chrisman and his daughter, https://www.wikitree/com/wiki/Chrisman-716 Gertrude Chrisman. Gertrude fearlessly broke the color barrier (with her sister) at the University of Idaho and in the Los Angeles Public Schools.  I had been gathering information on her family for some time, since I encountered her in my research for Madame Luella Boyer, the pioneer African-American businesswoman of Everett. Madame Boyer and her husband likely played matchmaker for Gertrude's first marriage. I have a picture but it's not up yet as I depend on my husband to enhance pictures.

I am also extending the Chrisman family in all directions.  I found a blues-playing alto saxophonist, William Augustus Gaither, and his Swedish wife, which has led me into Swedish profiles for the first time.  

Our family sleep schedule is all messed up.  If it weren't for the dogs needing to go outside early in the morning, who knows, I might sleep till 9:30 on weekdays and Saturdays. This morning I cleaned out the filter in the coffee maker and then dumped all the coffee directly into it, minus the filter.  The coffee was halfway brewed before I realized there was no filter in it.  It made for rich coffee, but now I have to clean out all the grounds.

Summer weather is not cooperating.  We have been talking about barbecuing in our yard this weekend, but it's cloudy and cool and has been for several days.  Neighbors always set off fireworks early.  Yesterday husband and son went to the Tulalip Reservation to buy fireworks. A group of neighbors set off fireworks every 4th in the church yard behind our back yard, led by the young Reverend and his kids.

I got one of my 11 quilt tops all safety pinned and ready for quilting.  I've been watching the Midnight Quilter on YouTube.  When she does free-motion she never slows down.  I wish I could do that. I spend more time these days sewing pieces together than quilting.  Buying batting is a challenge (I know I say that a lot).  When I went to the store Quilting Mayhem in Snohomish to get batting for the baby shower quilt, I was limited to 30 minutes.  Looking neither to right nor to left, I picked out batting and a back and got it all done in the allotted time.

The baby shower was a fantastic success.  I won a prize in a diapering game.  We were blindfolded and timed, and we had to beat another mom in removing (from a doll) a diaper, wiping, powdering, and replacing the diaper.  My daughter won a round of diaper pong (tossing a brown ping-pong ball into a diaper attached to a poster board).  The Mom and her sisters were all there.  The Dad was back in Galveston on Emergency Room duty. The quilt was small enough and the presents too that the Mom could pack it all with her when she goes home.

Y'all have good times this weekend with fried chicken, burgers and potato salad, etc. (all things forbidden to my diet).

Comments

Crazy weather we're having on the north-west coast, isn't it?  We are usually on water restrictions and smoke in the air at this point in the summer, but instead there are mushrooms are busting out all over the forest.  

But we did have sun on Canada Day.  I hope you get to use the BBQ on July 4.

---

More rain !!

---

Been there, done that with the coffee!

---

I also wish I could do free motion quilting.  Most of mine is
geometric designs with stitch in the ditch and Xs across squares.  I've finished three baby quilts and ready to do a
teen spread size.  The guild furnished a king sized filler but
I like a lighter grade of fiber than it is.  We have not had any meetings since March and will not meet again until Sept., if then.  So I probably will end up buying several rolls
for my others.  Our sharing and caring coordinator is going
to have a lot of quilts when we get together again.  I wonder if the organizations we usually support year round
are feeling the shortage.  We had to cancel our every other
year quilt show this summer also.

---

I love hearing your place names.  Tulalip is one of my favorite, and I have a friend who lives there now.  Each of my four sisters has a place on Camano.  I couldn't bring myself to live so close, Tucson seems about the right distance!

---

Margaret! You have been busy. Nice work on those connections.

Coffee without filter: uh... I’ve done that. I hate grounds in my coffee!

The baby shower sounded so much fun. I’d have loved to see y’all in action. I might have even own the diapering contest, just as long as there were no pins!

Dieting here, too, Margaret. I won’t be having those items either, and oh, how I miss them.

Answer 10

A very Happy 4th of July to All!

Here in north central Texas most celebrations will be small or, like us, inside at home. A couple of reasons for this - it is really hot and extremely humid which is not quite normal for this area. I feel like I am living back in south Louisiana where stepping outside the door caused instant wilt! The other reason is our upswing on Covid cases. So, some establishments are closed again - bars in particular. Restaurants are back to 50% occupancy plus take-outs. And, masks are mandatory when entering businesses. Hope it all helps.

On my genealogy front - I have still been adding sources that were so generously provided by another WikiTreer for my husband's Tasset/Astugue line. Going slowly and carefully since my French is severely limited.  Other than that, I am still preparing for the Connect-A-Thon, collecting lists to add and I have found a couple of profiles already here that my adds can connect to and then be connected to the tree.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful week-end! See you next week.

Comments

Happy 4th, Virginia!  Stay safe.  

I'm glad you're exercising your French, but don't hesitate to reach out if you get stuck.

---

Stay safe. Here in New Jersey, we still don’t have indoor dining, and our COVID  peak was in April. We are still in the top 5 in deaths per day. Very scary disease. On a positive note, a lot of things did open yesterday, including playgrounds and outdoor amusement parks. All with masks and social distancing.

---

Thanks for the "Happy 4th"........worked with some friendly Texans on the Watermain Tunnel Project under the Fraser River. Jack

---

Jack, Texans do have a reputation for friendliness!! Glad you found them enjoyable!

---

Thanks, Laurie - do you read French? If so, I will keep you in mind.

---

Oui Madame! N'hésitez pas, if you're stuck.

---

Merci!

---

Ginny, we are under the same restrictions, several of our nicer restaurants have not opened, but there is sidewalk tables downtown. Order outside, eat outside. We’re under an order to wear masks in business, and signs are on the doors, but I saw four people in Bi-Lo today without.

---

Virginia, On Canada Day weekend, 1965, George and I,  went from Vancouver B.C.to Seattle and toured the city, night and day, in our muscle car.......lots of them around at that time.......by Sunday night, being tired, we decided to book off work for the next day and so took a room in a downtown hotel ........only to be awakened, in the morning,  to a commotion on the street below our window.......at first thought, being still sleepy, I thought it mighty friendly of them to celebrate us staying overnight.................

---

Every time I see your posts I miss North Texas!

---

Well SJ, come on down!! There's plenty of room and lots of barbeque and tacos!!

Answer 11

Hi all! Pip, thanks for being our super-host again!

I have been very sick this week, so have not done much on WikiTree. So if I wrote anything else about my week it would be wholly non-genealogical.

Hopefully, next week I will feel better and be more productive as a genealogist/family historian.

Take care, everyone! Have a wonderful weekend!

Comments

Take care Nelda, I hope you recover quickly!

---

Sorry you've been ill, hope you get better soon!

---

Take care Nelda, hope you are feeling better soon!

---

Oh Nelda, I am so sorry you are under the weather. When I get sick, I don’t want to do anything! Get well soon!

---

So sorry to hear you've been sick and hope that you are soon feeling better.

---

Hope you feel better soon. Whenever I hear someone is sick, I think, "I hope it's not COVID.

---

Thanks, everyone! Time and meds will help eventually, I hope.

Nancy, yes, Covid is uppermost in people's minds right now. At my doctor's office it was presumed my fever was Covid (I knew it wasn't but that didn't matter) and I wasn't allowed to stay in the office and had to confer with the doctor by phone from my car. Tests at the hospital (which wasn't nearly as paranoid about Covid) confirmed I have diverticulitis. This is my first attack and it's been rough. The good news is that I wasn't hospitalized. I'm on two antibiotics and a very restricted diet. Not sure what is to come next. Follow-up appointment next week. Hopefully I won't have a fever then and will actually be able to see the doctor in person.

Answer 12

Happy Canada Day for those who are in Canada.

Like most other places, all the Canada celebrations have been cancelled - except 1.

 Someone (ot at least one family) set off some very loud fireworks in the park next to our apartment building from 9 to 10 PM on the evening of 1 July!!

Man, those were LOUD!!!

Nothing genealogy wise this week.

My husband spent 9 days in Hospital from 19th to 28th June so my son and I were more worried about that than anything else. Fortunately his Covid-19 test was negative so we are still free of the virus. My son and I are choosing to stay home, stay isolated - for the rest of the year if necessary.

Hubby is now back at home and doing well, although some dietary changes are now required. Also he has to go and physically meet his doctor next week - to get all the new prescriptions organised and signed for. The doctor usually just stays home and does everything by fax.

Other than that, we are doing OK.

Comments

Super glad he was clear of covid so your family is safe for now.  I hope he can recover fully in the near future.  Stay safe yourselves.  It sounds like you are doing all you can to be safe.

---

Glad you're COVID free. I hope Hubby has a speedy recovery, and that the dietary restrictions turn out to be easy or temporary.

We had a Canada Day "sing alone" in my community.  At 11 am everyone stood in their driveway and sang the anthem. It was organized by our community musical group, and each one of them stood at a strategic point to guide the whole thing - it was fun!  And I have to say, it worked better than any singalong on Zoom.

---

Hi Robynne.....west wishes to your family.   Jack

---

Thoughts and prayers for you and your family. Hope your husband continues to improve.

---

Sorry to hear about the situation with your husband.  Whatever the reason, 9 days in the hospital is worrisome.  I wish you all well.

---

Howdy, Robynne! I’m hearing firecrackers and rockets near our home, and it’s not even the 4th yet. It sounds like he folks around here who like to practice with their guns in their backyards.

Robynne, we (my wife and I) are thinking like you: staying at home as long as it takes, except for when we absolutely have to go out. Hope your husband makes a full recovery. Glad it wasn’t COVID-19.

---

Sorry to hear that your husband has been sick. Great news that it's not COVID, and good to hear that he's home.

We haven't heard as many fireworks this year for which our Golden Retriever, who is definitely not a hunting dog, is grateful.

Answer 13

Hi y'all from the Ozarks. Hope all's well with everyone.

Thanks for hosting Pip. I'll try to behave better this week. Wouldn't want to lose you.

On the Home Front:

Got a bit of well needed rain this week. Made the bees happy which will last another week or so unless we keep getting about an inch every week to ten days.

Was not feeling well this week so I concentrated on easy jobs ...

On the genealogical front:

NAME STUDIES:

1. WEAVER (mother's surname) Name Study: Changed the formatting on my mother's grandfather, George Weaver, a German brickwall which now has a German biography section.

1. Finished changing any "to the right" comments to "at the foot of the page" on the first. Started that project May 27th and must have edited over a thousand Name Studies. Did from DWIGHT to ABBOTT this week. It helped contributions for 3 months.

2. Looking for TRUMP lines not related to the Donald. Using Census records as sources.

3. Updated my CHRIST profiles.

OTHER SURNAMES:

Sovain, Stewart, Hanafee, McFarland and Robinette.

Comments

Pat, anytime you need some rain, just ask and I’ll send a goodly portion over. Yesterday was our first “all day, no rain” day, but we got another shower tonight. 

You’ve got some nice Scottish names there! 

---

Thanks, Pip

---

Sorry that you haven't been feeling well. Despite that it sounds like you've done a lot.

---

Thanks, Kay. My feet swell when I do a lot so I work a little and then get off my feet and take WikiTree breaks. It might sound like a lot but most were simple changes to profiles I recently adopted that haven't been edited in many years and used old formats. Added sources where I could find them.

The only one I spent lots of time on was my WEAVER great grandfather. No records for his parents and he was born in Germany so I was updating the German translation and making sure he had categories for Germany. Not sure if I did them right. Researching the proper categories will be my next step.

---

Update: Enjoying all the posts again this week.

I just finished updating formats on some newly acquired orphans that haven't had an edit since 2014. They used old formats that needed updating. Now onto the next batch: about three dozen for 2015. The good news is that more than half my watchlist has been updated this year.

Answer 14

Good evening from good ol' Europe,

where Germany now has its 6-months-turn to lead the European Union. Corona-wise the numbers of new infections stabilized on a higher level than before the huge outbreak in the slaughter company I talked about last weekend or the one before that. Before the huge outbreak we had in my county (about 300km away from that company) 2 new infections in the last 7 days with 400,000 people in the county, this morning we had 25 in the last 7 days. I don't like that! 

Familywise, we did a lot of decluttering especially in one room, because tomorrow comes the guy from the heating and water provider and reads how much we used in the last 12 months. Well, he needs a way to the heatings...

Other than that, I saw on twitter that the reasons for the judgement of the biggest Nazi-trial in the last years is online. Now I am reading that stuff. Currently I am at page 325 of 3025.

Genealogywise, I contacted a new member of the Germany project because I recognized the surnames of a couple from my tree. In our convo I realized that I have a very weak link on my MH-tree in the area of that couple (first wife of the father of the man). I have not yet really decided what to do with that link.

My project is still up and running, which means I am one day constantly adding people (to my Watchlist) and the next day first deleting other people to be able to add again...

Have a great weekend ahead, although it will be quite different from the usual ones around that time, stay safe, wear masks and stay healthy

Comments

Jelena, we have now become serial mask-wearers. We keep some in the car so when we have to shop, we’ve got them. Tourists have started arriving (in droves) and most are not wearing masks downtown.

Our office is getting uncluttered, a little at a time. It’s time fo time to start going through all my stacks of papers, weeding out the ones I no longer need and filing those I want to keep. It’s a tiring duty.

---

We have finally found masks that really fit the children. Although I'm still the only one who leaves the house for shopping. But you never know what's coming. It's finally school vacation. 6 weeks no homeschooling.

---

Time for holidays on Balconia, isn't it?

---

Ha Ha, Yes, time for Balconia. Unfortunately we don't have a balcony, just a large garden. And I'm the new pool boy.

---

We are under the lucky ones. "Big estate" (according to the most crowed part in The Netherlands) in the most crowded part of The Netherlands, only 10 km from Amsterdam, 10 km from the main airport (and we love plains hardly fly) living at a lake. We stay at "The Costa de Terrace" this year.

We visited NYC, for the first time celebrating hubs bd,  in November 2019. So happy we did as we will not again for a long time.....

Answer 15

Happy 4th to my fellow Americans. This week has been unremarkable as far as weather in New Jersey. Hot, humid with an occasional thunderstorm.

On the home front, we had two deaths of young people  in my extended family, completely unrelated to each other genealogically. My father’s sister’s great grandson was found dead in his car and my sister’s nephew was killed in Philly. Just brought home how connected we all are. Both indirectly related to the opioid crisis.

On a happier note, our township outdoor pool opened this week for morning lap swimming. I went three times. It is my favorite summertime activity. It is not crowded, and the pool is twice as long as indoor ones. I get a good workout, despite my feet being sore from doing nothing but walking for exercise since March.

Genealogy. I decided to join Ancestry for 6 months to finish transferring my GEDcom to Wikitree. I was a member there in 2012 and have a tree there, so I can compare the entries and update sources on Wikitree. But, I am finding a lot of errors. I like the simplicity of fixing errors on Wikitree.

For the 4th, we are going to a friends for BBQ. I have not seen them since March 14 when they came here for dinner. On Monday, we will take our travel trailer to a state park for 3 days. This is summer in our days of COVID.

Have a good week, I love to read everyone’s updates.

Nancy

Comments

My condolences for your recent losses.

About ancestry: I made lots of errors in the beginning. It was easier to start a new tree on ancestry than to try to fix the old one. I like having the option of looking at sources for both Ancestry and FamilySearch.

---

So sorry for your losses. Thoughts and prayers with you and your family.

---

Losing two young people in your families must be heartbreaking.

---

Nancy, am so very sorry to hear about the deaths in your family. Please accept my sincerest condolences.

My brother had an Ancestry account that was full(!) of errors. I’m glad I didn’t download a full gedcom from there (or from my database (also full of errors). But, your right, correcting errors is much easier on WikiTree, even with very small gedcoms.

Answer 16

Pip - Thanks for being a great host!

Learned something new from a genealogy blog post about confederate families that moved to Brazil after the war. 

On the Peasley Name Study: I had created a to-do list for the project using the link from my Navigation Home Page. Created it from my Watchlist, selecting the orphaned and unsourced Peasley/Peaslee/Peisley profiles. I thought that I had them all added. After completing it, I noticed I'd missed quite a few from my watchlist. So, added about a hundred more and started working through them with another team member. Down to 35 now!

Comments

Azure, I have a whole host of relatives near São Paulo who are descended from a Confederado relative of mine. Pretty quickly, those folks adopted Portuguese names. I haven’t started entering these yet. Like so many thousands I have yet to start on. I just hope I live long enough to get them in!

---

What an interesting article and blog; bookmarked for sure!

Answer 17

Summer is here and so is the heat!  Getting a few rain showers here in the north of the state ... not so in Southern Colorado where they are suffering in drought conditions.  And, of course, wild fires popping up here and there ... mainly lightning strikes.  Oh, and it did snow last week up above 11K feet!

Went up to Casper last weekend to watch grand daughter play soccer ... first match in several months.  It was a 3 on 3 tournament ... short field (35x25 yards) and a little goal ... the kids played pretty well given no practice and won their under 11 division!

Daughter and grand daughter just came down for the 4th of July weekend ... son-in-law has a family wedding he has to attend.  Always nice to have the kids here.  Just finished making fresh pasta with grand daughter ... we're a great team!

Still pluggin' away on the last section of the Jewett book ... scanned ahead to take a look at the end of the tunnel ... about sixty pages to go with 2 or 3 folks and family per page ... I can usually get through 8-10 pages per month ... we'll see.

Comments

Bob, you e been working on That book for ages, it seems. Light at the end of the tunnel?

The drought out here is big news on the Weather Channel. Glad you are getting at least a little rain. And what’s with this snow in June stuff?!? Saw that Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming got some recently. This is so foreign to me, living in the South.

OCD editing for typos!

---

Lol Pip ... you shouldn't be asking about data inputs to a math major ... so, now you get more info.  Think my first Jewett entry from the book was in December 2012,  I'm now about to input my 10,000th profile from that reference.  So, rounding a bit, that's 7.5 years so we have 7.5*12 = 90 months and 90 into 10000 is about  110+ profiles per month.  That doesn't allow for the Canadian history stuff ... lol  The total number to enter from the book is 10,678 so I should be done with this first pass by the end of the year.  Then, I need to go back and check new sources and re-format stuff I did when I was a rookie.  And on we go ...

---

May you have many remains years to complete the go-over!

Answer 18

Hi Pip, I'm Frank, at cousin Jack and Kathy's house...struggling with my registration to WikiTree ... trying to get off Neptune  !!

Comments

Frank, send me a personal message from my profile page and I’ll see what I can do to help.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sheppard-2686

---

Thanks Pip, Franks gone home.....I'll relay the message tomorrow after Frank, and Dean, rescue the "warranty" tractor lawnmower from Neptune.........the're going to attach a flotation device to the tractor.......Dean really, really likes tractor attachments.......then i'ts all downriver to here.........Jack

Answer 19

Hi, Pip, the weekend chat rolls around again and thank you for keeping us on track as to the day of the week!  First I'll  update on the Bighorn fire.  It's over 118,000 acres now, though I think finally slowing.  Rain has been threatening (just about in monsoon season) so hopefully that will finish it off.  The fire fighters - we had two Type 1 teams and two different type 2 teams - have been fabulous, with as many as 1100 people on it at one time.  Not a single structure was lost, and no lives either, just a few small mostly heat related injuries.  I can still see it burning today, probably over a stretch of about 5 miles in an area I have hiked.

I ended up doing a client project that came up quickly this week, so very little genealogy.  But I did get the Bourque family straightened out for my newly found 3rd cousin and now he knows where is gggrandfather belongs!  I've also spent time on categories this week (as in past months).  The whole thing is confusing to me even though I certainly understand about nesting, parents, subs, etc.  I think bit by bit we are straightening it out.  This has probably been the most difficult thing I've worked on since joining WikiTree.  I have a wonderful partner who actually does the work and thankfully she is about two steps ahead of me, otherwise I would have given up long ago.  Fortunately this is all invisible to project members and maybe one day we can give them a list that makes sense and people will start using the categories more often.

Happy July 4th.  No fireworks here (too dry and big fire still going, can't risk it) but we can celebrate anyway with our own little grilling and dinner on the patio if not too hot.

Comments

Cindy, glad you are still safe. My hat’s off to all of the firefighters (I have a wonderful son-in-law who is one).

And my hat’s off to you too for tackling categorization. I just can’t wrap my mind around it unless I can see all of it on paper. Visual learner.

---

I kind of asked Steve Harris for the big picture so I could see the structure but then decided that if we can just make sense of the Acadians that I didn’t need to know.  Probably don’t really want to know!

---

I noticed you acknowledged that you get great help........I do too.

---

Sounds like promising word on the fire.

How great to find a cousin and to also have someone to work with. Isn't WikiTree collaboration great!

---

I have had a number of fantastic collaborations on WikiTree.  I feel like they are friends that I just haven't met in person.

Answer 20

Happy Weekend all from The Netherlands!!! 

Here some weather news from our tiny country! 

I haven't been active at WT for a while due to work and to Corona. We all had to adjust, right? 

But it looks like summertime is making things on ease, like I will have more time for WT and thought it is time to drop in here tonight. Looking forward to the next X-a-Thon! 

Here is about the weather !

As we had soooo many warm/hot sunny days this spring it is now storming here but not cold.  Dry today but rain will come to us tomorrow. And with the rain the weeds again...  But we needed some after a long period of dryness.

Our garden has been a fiesta at flowering with that wonderful weather.

And as many people had a lot of free time, we live at the lake of our village, it was every day as busy with boating like a busy highway (normally about 10 times during summer but last months every day!). Anyone with a boat went boating. A save way to have fun with distance. Boats were sold as fast as Chocolate Wafers on Chocolate Wafer day. 

I hope all of you and yours too are save and sound as we are here.

I am thrilled, as after a long time of stress and sorrow around/about our mother in law suffering that terrible disease named dementia, we can only be thankful she passed last January, before the Covid-19 period where family/visitors were banned from the nursery homes, we have good news now! 

Our both children will have to defend their Master theses coming week. That means there theses are sufficient and they will pass. After hard working and a lot of stress  they will be rewarded next week, their parents  will be then too. And will be, of course, verrrrrrrrry proud! Calls for celebrating! 

Almost time to start back at the Greeters at least one hour a week I hope! 

And working a little on the Dutch unsourced profiles and getting ready as Team Captain of the Flying Dutchmen to connect at least a thon!  (Psst, if you like to get how nice the members of the Dutch Roots Project are, jump aboard our team!! You do not have to connect Dutch Profiles other profiles will do too! Or if  you like to learn more about finding sources etc. at The Netherlands feel free to join or just ask, we love to help!)

Did you already registrate for the Thon? Please do! It is such fun. I love!! these challenges. Learning more about fellow-WT-ers and their talents, learning more about genealogy and WT itself.  Find the Team that fits and we will make WT again a better place together! 

Next week busy with celebrating! 

Wishing you all a great weekend! 

A. 

Comments

Astrid, I think missed out, genealogically speaking, as I have no Dutch ancestry (that I can tell).

Here’s hoping your children defend their theses well and earn their Master’s. I know you will be the proud parent!

---

Hei Astrid,

nice to see you here. And about the Dutch team during a Thon or a Dutch Roots Challenge, I can only say, they are a very helpful bunch, especially when it is about reading/understanding Dutch in the sources. So if you want to get to know the wealth of Dutch sources freely available online, they are the Go-To-Team.

Getting finished with university and earning a degree is an accomplishment which is getting overlooked more and more. Congrats to your children.

---

Congratulations to your children, and also to you. Great achievement. My cousins were elated when their daughters finished their Masters, but then had several more years of kids in school as they pursued their PhD.

---

Hi Astrid, Have missed seeing you around WikiTree and on the Greeters. Congratulations to your children and you on their getting the Masters Degree.

Hallo Astrid, Ik heb je gemist in WikiTree en op de Greeters. Gefeliciteerd met uw kinderen en u met het behalen van de Masters Degree.

---

@ Pip During the Thon's you do not have to add or work on Dutch profiles. You re welcome too if you work on profiles from other countries. We like to have everyone on our team! It such a nice way to become closer and become (WT-)friends. Getting more informed about eachothers talents.

Thank you for all support (always!).

@ Jelena. You know you re loved by the DRP (Dutch Roots Project) a lot! You re such a sport and great WT-er. Always active and supporting! Thank you to for your good wishes.

@Kay. Nice meeting you! Yeh, they might (and we hope so) got addicted to studying. GF of son finnished her doctors study but will start her specialisation in november. Another 6 years of studying. I treasure their ways. Our daughter did two studies the first three years. Ending one hopefully next week but hoping she will pick up her study law again and finnish that too.

@David.Thank you David for your congratulations.You re always so sweet and a warm person. I missed the Greeters but also the Integrators too.