And this Little Redpole Flew All the Way Home

This little guy flew in through our garage and into the breezeway window
I found him on the floor stunned. So I took him outside and set him on the back of my truck and tried to  bring him around. Several of his friends came by to visit and he sat there quite a while before flying off.

His right foot seemed to improve as he came around.
When  I was a kid, a Partridge flew threw our living room window and ended up behind the TV  out cold.
I took it outside and put it under a bushel basket until my brother and sisters got home from school to show them
Well when I lifted  the basket  it took off as only a partridge can, with a thunderous beating of its wings. We all jumped back and I don’t think
the kids saw much more than tail feathers.

Wordless Wednesday; Happy St. Patricks Day

                 IT TURNS OUT THAT THE GREEN BULLDOG IS IRISH !!

Google Map Street View with Interesting Feature

 Below is a street view link for a view of Mt Shuksan over picture lake on the Mt Baker Highway. I'm sure most people have seen this Mt. on calenders but never knew it was in the U.S.A.
This street view has  a feature I haven't seen before. Wait until the picture appears then move your cursor over the upper right hand corner and a user photos option appears. Open the option and several photos are available to view. I've never seen this before but must be an option for famous sites such as this view. The user photos are better than the street view photo so be sure to take a look at the Mt. in all seasons.
Of course I'm partial to the area as I spent many days working in and around the lake, which is located just below the Mt Baker Ski Lodge.

 Google Map Link

Treasure Chest Thursday: A Mate For The Bulldog

The frosted glass bulldog on the right was my father's and in the family probably since around 1915.  We once had a black one that my mom had picked up in the 1950's. I laid claim to the frosted one after my mom's passing as I remembered it since my early childhood.  I've looked for a match in countless shops for years with no luck. Last weekend we spent the afternoon back at the antique emporium where I had found 1953 Rockville city directory. About half way though and a hundred glass cases, there it was ! A perfect match! It wasn't black but a very nice green color with the light on it. It is an exact match right down to the same rough edge on the right ear. And yes the search will go on for the black one. 

2010, ANOTHER DECADE makes EIGHT !!

 As I sat with 2 of my grandsons (ages 10&8), sipping sparkling white grape juice, the announcers said 2010 was the start of a new decade. I thought to myself,"if I just make the next 10 minutes I''ll have lived during 8 of them". I wondered how much change they would see as they enter their 2nd decade. I know as I think back how much change I've experienced since the early 1940's. I don't mean just in technology, but in the stages of our lives.
 So I'm  thinking, one reason for my starting this blog was to relate some of my life, whether the grandkids want to hear it or not. I know some do or will, for example my 8 yr old grand-daughter I'm told spent an hour or so reading my blog a few weeks ago. And just today, my 8 yr old grandson broke in, as I was relating a family joke on our origins, and told with great glee how he told a friend the story.
And so all will not be lost and my my efforts not in vain.
 Speaking of vain, when I blog about these different decades, its about our families history really and not of myself.  I'll have to be careful as to protect the living so perhaps much will be just brief high lites.
 Just think, I started out in the 40's with just a radio and now I'm starting out 2010 with an iPod Touch.

Mike has arrived in the Gulf

My son in law has arrived at the Al Basra Oil Terminal in the Persian Gulf.
He will be responsible  for  the upkeep of the facilities. It's about 15 miles offshore and I don't think it will be that pleasant (it's a 1/2 mi long hunk of steel). His deployment is until Aug 2010.
Tomorrow we will be going to spent Christmas  with our daughter and the grandkids. My other daughter will join us on Christmas day. Hopefully we will be able to connect with Mike via Skype.
Merry Christmas to All

"God Bless and God Speed"

We just returned tonight from a visit with our son-in-law Mike before he leaves for the Persian Gulf next week. He's a Lt.Commander in the Naval Reserve and has been called up for an 8 month tour.We'll be helping my daughter 3 or 4 days a week with our grandkids, but it's going to be hard for all of them. Mike is very "hands on" with the kids, sometimes coaching  3 teams for baseball or basketball. We all will miss "Coach Mike".  We pray for his safe and speedy return.

The Things Kids Say

My daughter calls it "Modern Genealogy" when she captures things her family is doing. My favorite is her "Heard Around the House" which she captures comments the kids make. Imagine if we could go back in time to hear what we or our parents said when we were 5 and 8 years old. What goes on in this little guy's mind is priceless. A sample follows:

Heard Around The House
We are driving in the car and he says, "I wish I still had my tonsils."
Mom, "Why? You aren't getting sick anymore buddy."
Ben, "Because I want them back. Katie still has hers. Why does she still have hers?"
Katie, "My tonsils weren't to big. Your tonsils were to big so they had to be taken out."
Ben, "I want mine back!"
Katie, "Well, your not in charge. God has the plan for you and you needed your tonsils out."

IT FEELS LIKE SPRING

Well it's 60 degrees today and the "BAT Truck" got a bath. The snow's melting fast. I hope that ground rat in Pennsylvania is wrong about 6 more weeks.
I took a look at the web cam up on Long Lake Naples, Maine. (link on my side bar, the live link is working today). There were some ice fishermen out there and they had their trucks out on the lake. I could never bring my self to bring mine out there. I remember when we first moved out near Crystal Lake and my dad drove our "53" Chevy down to the edge of the lake. He had all intentions of driving out ( there were a lot of other vehicles out there). Well we sat there for a few minutes before he threw the car in reverse and we drove home. I think I got my "good sense" from my "POP".

Why Do I Blog ?

First off -- WOW!! I have followers! With so many great blogs out there, it is nice to think some would take the time to read yours. I started because I enjoyed my daughter's blog so much, I thought what a great way to share with the family our history. As I've said before genealogy is much more than lists of names, it's finding things or stories to reveal something of their life. I follow quite a few blogs using Google Reader and now I've added "The Blogs I Follow" to my blog . I find that they work in conjunction with each other.
I had always thought I should write about my growing up, so my daughters and my grandchildren would know something of me, my mom and dad and their parents too. The experiences that we had were so much different than theirs. Listening to the radio before we got that television in the early 50's.
Having the ice man lug in a big chunk for the ice box in the late 40's. Using the "candle stick" phone of a neighbor until we moved to the country and got on a 4 party line. Our job experiences were a lot different than the kids have today. In high school, jobs were limited to all types of farms in our community, dairy, chicken, turkey and tobacco. Oh, and one crazy job hanging stage curtains in schools all over Ct and Mass. My mom when she was younger along with her sister and parents worked in thread and cloth mills. Those big granite or brick buildings stand empty or converted to condos or hold a variety of small business. I guess what I'm trying to say is our world is constantly changing, what I've experienced is not what my grandchildren will experience nor is it like our ancestors life time. There's a lot of stories hidden in these lines that I need to share, I hope the kids find it interesting.

P.S. One tidbit I picked up on "Facebook Bootcamp for Genea-Blogers"
is to export your blog. I backup mine to my computer and a backup drive.
Maybe I''ll cut and paste some of this stuff into a little booklet, that would be neat. And who knows maybe someday I'll really come out of my shell and join Facebook ;-)

The People In Our Lives

How I wish I had asked more questions of my parents, it would answer a lot of questions today. But of course with out these puzzles Genealogy would not be half the fun. Yesterday my little grandson asked "Why don't you have any little children living in your house ? Don't you like them". I said of course I like them, your mother and your aunt used live with us , but they grew up and started their own families. I later found out he had asked his grandmother if he could live at our house. [I think we let him have to much freedom.] If he only knew how many children have been left in our care in the last 40 years.
As I review all these vital records, that I come across, I am stuck by how many lives have come before us. You wonder what were their trials and successes.
Today our file contains 270 individuals and over 90 marriages. The Larrabee and Barnes can be traced to the early 1600's in our country (12 generations).
The Freitas and Wrenn families only 4 or 5 at this point. This is just a beginning,
who knows what is to come. Lets hope the children continue to ask the questions.