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Good morning gals,

Doesn't look too windy out but the sky is brownish so I know there is a lot of dust in the air. Will be 105* today. I noticed it has been humid out the past couple days. Not sure why, but I sure sweat when I walk outside, even in the shade! Not supposed to have humidity this time of year!

Yesterday, I had more motivation. I didn't sleep well the night before so am not sure where that came from. I cleaned the filters in the mini-split units, worked on a few little projects. I found a frame to put the old family photo in and cut down the mat with it to show more of the photo. Looks nice! On the back of the photo were the names of each family member and where they were in the photo. I also had a list of family members but the names weren't all the same. So I went on Ancestry.com and ended up going down a rabbit hole on there looking up that whole family to see what I could find. I found a census from 1900 that only listed 7 kids even tho there are 9 in the photo and those names didn't all agree either. Took me a couple of hours to finally get names, birth dates, etc, and figured out that some of the names were English vs Swedish versions, or middle names used, or nicknames. So I finally got all 9 kids figured out and written down on the back of the photo with birth years.

The parents came over from Sweden and met and married in Minnesota. All the kids except for the younger one, were born in MN. He was born in Texas but ended up in MN. I remember meeting his son a couple times. One of the older boys ended up in Missoula, MT and I suspect a few more were there as well. I know there is a connection there since my grandma went to nursing school there and met my grandfather there before they moved to MN.

Anyways, that took up a good part of the day for me but was interesting. Now I can send the framed photo to my cousin and she will have all the right info on them.

Need to get more done today. Always more to do! No doctor appointments for a couple weeks. I probably won't get the first unemployment check until later in June so I still have to be really careful with my money until then. I should be getting close to $600 per month so I will be comfortable with that and be able to get caught up a little. Also finally got approved for the SNAP food assistance so am waiting for the debit card to come in the mail. Every little bit helps for now. I do still have some money in savings but want to keep that for emergencies.

I need to call Verizon today because I am not able to get my voicemails. It says I have some but I can't access them. I tried "refresh" and get an error message. I also completely shut off my phone and restarted it but that didn't work either. I need to get those messages! They could be for haircuts.

Martha, I hope you didn't get hit with any bad storms overnight. So many terrible storms happening almost on a daily basis lately thru the midwest and south!

Have a good day, stay safe and cool, and have fun!

Barbie glad you are getting some financial assistance. That should help for a while anyway. I was pretty motivated this morning. Worked outside in the yard and on the deck, washed the outside of my windows, threw a load of laundry in. Had to tweak my watering system a bit but it is all good now, at least in the backyard. I am adding another leg to my front yard watering system but it got hot outside so decided I would just come in for some lunch. Will go out this evening and plant that dang rhody. It wouldnt be such a problem if we didnt have such terrible clay soil, actually cement soil. I dug a little bit down into it but dang I need a jackhammer. So decided to use one of my round raised beds to put over the hole I dug and just add great soil to fill in the rest. Will still have plenty of room to grow even into the ground soil. I bought a red Martha Washington geranium yesterday so I need to get it planted after while. Bought a few other flowers to keep filling in. They make me happy ha ha

Time now for lunch and a shower.

don't forget RABBITS tomorrow morning says the person who usually forgets.

I tried to deliver the rest of the electric bills this morning but some people weren't home. So I'll try those again either late this afternoon or tomorrow morning before taking any left back to the office. I would have survived the heat better if people hadn't been so chatty, so it took longer LoL. But I did enjoy meeting new folks and talking to all. Since I don't go to many events, etc, this is a good way for me to meet. People kept offering me water and two people tried to convince me to take and use their golf cart. It was hard to convince them that I'm pacing myself and picked doing this to get the exercise. After tomorrow about 4 weeks before I read and deliver bills again.

I'm thinking of driving to SD instead of taking the RV. A couple motel nights and maybe try camping the other nights. Haha, yes, I said camping. I have to do some major thinking on this one lol

I'm glad you'll be getting some money soon, Barbie and hope you can figure out why you can't get your voicemails. Karen, you're so busy with all you've got going.

The storm last night mostly fell apart before it got here, thank goodness. There was about 5 minutes of strong wind and then it just rained. This morning I was thinking about going to Lafayette when I got up but it started raining again. It rained all morning and until about 4:00 this afternoon. My backyard is flooded and the ponds are running over. I haven't checked the rain gauge, it's probably running over too.

Barbie, do you have to have a membership to use Ancestry.com? It has been years since I tried to use it. When I first started doing some research you could access a lot of things and then it seemed like Ancestry took over everything and you had to pay.

I decided to make some Shrimp Scampi for lunch. My internet was down so I couldn't look up a recipe. I looked in at few cookbooks but couldn't find a recipe so I just winged it. I just realized I should have put cheese on it. It needed more seasoning too.

Tomorrow there is a Daylily Festival in Abbeville. I'll probably forget about it until it too late to go. There is also the Cattlemen's Jambalaya Dinner tomorrow night but I probably won't go to that.

I need to go check the mail and take Luna out. Miss Priss doesn't like to get her feet wet. This morning she wouldn't use the bathroom until almost noon.

Martha

Karen, I know all too well about that clay! That is what I had to deal with when I lived in Vista. It really is like concrete! I tried to level out an area next to my driveway so I could put down some faux grass. Never got it very level but put the grass mat on there anyways.
Best just to plant on top of it.

Beth, why don't you want to take your RV to South Dakota? I would think that would be much more comfortable for a longer trip. I am leery of motels now because of one time I found bed bugs!

Martha, Ancestry has a free initial version but you need to upgrade to get any decent information. I just signed up for a 2 week trial on the upgrade yesterday and will cancel that in a week or so (in case I think of anything else I want to look up in the meantime). Nothing is free anymore.

I can't find Heinz hamburger dill pickle chips anymore! I love those with my grilled cheese sandwiches, sloppy joes, etc. I just ran out and have been looking in all the stores out here but no one carries them anymore. I will have to try another brand and hope I like what I try. They all taste a little different and I am fussy!

Not much happening here...

Two free places to search for genealogy

Familysearch.org

Wikitree.com. This site is trying to build one big family tree. Not all info is sourced, but it gives ideas of paths to follow.

Barbie, I had a senior moment when I saw your initial posting that said it was Friday. I was pretty sure it was only Thursday, but then looked it up and discovered it really WAS Friday. What happened to Thursday???

Went out today for groceries, two prescriptions, and propane. Had a terrible time finding propane because the place I used to go to near here is out of business and the new Tractor Supply has not yet trained people on pumping propane. Finally went to a Love's gas station and got it there, along with a 12" Subway sandwich. Am eating half and will eat the other half for breakfast. Kids went up to condo in Sandusky, but I decided to stay here for the weekend. Got a few projects I want to do and will just enjoy relaxing. This part of the state park that I am in for the next 12 days has got a new part with full hookups and large spots, so that is where i am. Nice and relaxing with a lot of chipmunks enjoying all the hickory nuts.

Barbie, the other problem with census takers 100+ years ago is that many of them and the people they interviewed had heavy accents, needed hearing aids, or maybe did not even speak English! That meant that they wrote a lot of things down wrong. For example, I knew my father's grandmother had 7 boys and one little girl, the last-born child, but in one of the census records, there was a girl listed as Sarah. Based on ages and photos, I knew that Sarah was really a boy named Cyril!!! Another problem is that to eliminate confusion, some children went by middle names when they were named after their fathers.

another problem with the census is sometimes they just wrote down who was there which may or may not have been all of their family or may have included neighbor kids in can be interesting
I was going to mention something yesterday thought of it once today now I'm not recalling what it was... it may or may not return...
dd #1 came up from Utah yesterday for the graduation so she came over to visit for a bit this afternoon... was enjoyable so of course everything was delayed plus she thought she was just going to go to town for a short walk around check things out and then come back for a few minutes... she didn't make it ... oh well I was at her house last week must have been pretty warm today as the house has been closed up and it's pretty hot right now... tomorrow it's suppose to be in the high 60's.... not too bad we have had a really cold spring so the warm is going to feel good... I need to put the fushia out that I kept inside for the winter it's looking poorly if I can find a replacement might do so... but I'll see if the sunshine helps it... and I have a couple of pots in front of the sliding door need to move them so that the door can be opened think I will then go out and pull out dead plants so I can get new ones and get them planted... do have so pansy's that I brought back from Utah... so they need to get planted but I want to plant something with them but not sure what I want to use...
another one we haven't heard much from is Carol or even Irmi maybe if they are lurking they will pop in...
Thanks Karen for mentioning RABBITS I think I would have forgotten it if you hadn't even though I thought of it earlier today... It just doesn't seem possible that it's almost June less than an hour away...
hopefully you get your voicemail fixed Barbie is it too full??? but pretty sure that you would have checked that I need to go through and delete some out of mine save the numbers in contacts so I can delete the message...
the walking on the uneven ground yesterday did a number on my knees so been doing as little as possible
I went and looked was going to reply on the Black Bear restaurant going to Q that is interesting Barbie wonder where they are going to put it and if it will be year round...
you all have a great day
sheila

Beth, why don't you want to take your RV to South Dakota? I would think that would be much more comfortable for a longer trip. I am leery of motels now because of one time I found bed bugs!

Barbie, I love travelling with the RV when I'm taking my time and sightseeing as I've done so much. This time I'm not intending to take more than a week or so and taking the RV would cost more for gas than a few nights in motels. At least that's my current thinking. Just looking at all my options. Kind of like the way I'll be storing my RV over the winter and just taking my car to and from Texas. That's definitely happening. And I'm considering staying occasionally at KOA's in their original small camping cabins. Options are good. I even consider tent camping, but I never liked it way back when, so that is a harder sell lol

One of the census sheets only listed 7 kids but I knew there were 9. I found another census that listed all 9 kids. One girl's name on the back of the photo is Hannah, but was listed as Anna. I know "Hannah" is right because I have heard my older cousins talk about her. One boy was listed as Halmer, and on the photo was Elmer. I hadn't thought about the names getting heard/written wrong on the census. Those two were easier to figure out but Marie was actually Wilhelmina, which I figured was her middle name since her middle initial was "W". Maya Stina (actually spelled Maja Stina), was known as just Mary. Now I can see why it is hard to do the genealogy thing. One page I found had lines crossing out some info and others were written very illegibly.

Sheila, I only had 3 messages on my voicemail. I had read them all but it was saying 2 were unread so I thought there were 2 more that weren't showing up. I ended up just doing it the old fashioned way and calling the voicemail number to get the messages. So will have to do that for now until I figure out what is wrong with it.

I imagine the Black Bear Diner will be near the freeway and next to one of the truck stops for the truckers to go to, so they can stay open all year that way. There really aren't many places to stop for gas or food between Blythe and Phoenix along the I-10, other than Q so they should get some good business with the truckers. I am sure the truckers get sick of the fast food places that are in all the truck stops now. I really miss the diners they had years ago with good old-fashioned home cooked meals (large portions!) for a good price.

Got a half hour before I can say "rabbits". Hopefully, I won't fall asleep before then and forget when I wake up in the morning!

Tomorrow, I think I will get to my laundry and frost my hair. It is so dark and flat now! The frosting gives it a lot of body and texture. I got a load of dishes going in the dishwasher now.

Barbie, One of my great grandmothers was Wilhelmina but they sometimes called her “Mina” which is where the census taker may have got Marie. Sometimes it is a real challenge!!