Building a Family Tree

Last week I "broke down" and purchased family tree making software. I figured that all my notes on little and loose sheets of paper needed to be contained in one area. Gee - why don't I use my computer for something like that?


I'm really excited to undertake the task of entering all of this sorted information about my family and ancestors. From ever so many names and dates to photos and fun facts like my 3x-Great-grandfather was born in Ireland and two of my grandfathers lived in Iowa.


Here are my three Ransom great-aunts taken in 1902. I love this photo. They are so adorable.

And for those who follow my Civil War character, Mrs Rosbrugh, or reenact with me on Oak Street, here is my 2x-great-grandmother, Katie Minora Foote Todd, who I've made into my character's Aunt Katie who died shortly after the Oak Street town fire.

I also have the wonderful opportunity of researching 3 lines (my father's and 2 of my mother's) as my mother was adopted (the grandparents I grew up with) but found her birth mother in 1992. I can now trace the blood line back with much information already found by my mother and her sisters.

Yea for computers and ancestors! I don't care about digging up black skeletons 'cause every family has 'em. But those people in my tree went through their life with happiness and struggles like all of us. Their course in life has formed the path down to where I was born. How exciting to connect with the past!

St. Patrick's Day Thoughts

There's something about holidays to get me thinking...and also to remind me that I haven't posted anything in a while. So here goes.

St. Patrick's Day never meant too much to me as a kid. It was a reason to wear green so as not to get pinched. Sometimes I would try to cover up the green in the hope that if someone tried to pinch me, I could show the green and then retaliate by punching them. (Ah, the innocent yet violent games we played as children.) But not being Catholic or Irish (that I knew of), the significance of the day never extended beyond that.

Sometime in college, I found out that I have ties to the Wallace clan. Yes, the same Wallace clan as William Wallace of Braveheart fame. (Break out the bagpipes!) I also found out at this time (from a Scottish classmate) that the Scots celebrate St. Patrick's Day by wearing orange instead of green. So I began wearing an orange shirt and explaining myself to anyone who questioned the absence of green. (No pinching was involved that I remember...I suppose we do grow out of some things.)

Finally, a few years ago on a trip to England and Ireland, my parents found out that my mother's family name, Hurley, is of Irish origin. So I do have a bit o' the Irish in me after all. Now I can wear green, or orange, or both, and still celebrate my heritage authentically. (The only thing I have that's green and orange is an old University of Miami shirt, as those are the school colors. Good thing I've kept it.)

Confessions of a football fan

Years ago, before we were even married, Jennifer and I read a saying: "We interrupt this marriage to bring you the football season." And how true that is for us, especially when my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers are playing. It is hard enough for her to get my attention when any good game is on; when the Steelers are playing, forget it.

It's not that Jennifer doesn't like football; in fact, she rather enjoys it and often asks very specific questions about the game (e.g. What's the difference between offsides and encroachment?). But most of the time she can't watch more than a quarter or so before her attention shifts to something else. So I was quite pleased yesterday when she stayed in the living room for almost all of the AFC Championship. (Granted, she was hand-sewing and doing business on her laptop for much of it, but at least she was in the same room, so she was able to see the big plays and cheer with me.)

Now that my favorite team is in the Super Bowl, I have two more weeks to follow them, wear my Steelers shirts (and I have a few), and cheer them on to victory. My brother who lives in town is every bit the die-hard Pittsburgh fan that I am, so we will probably get together to watch the big game at my place or his. (More likely his, since his TV is bigger than mine!)

Our 2008 Christmas

Jennifer and I drove up Wednesday evening to Sacramento to spend Christmas with my family. We stayed the night at my parents' house then drove to my sister's in Wilton for Christmas morning. (Wilton is a small rural town in southern Sacramento County.)

Altogether, there were 16 for gifts and dinner: my sister & her husband; their two girls and son-in-law; my mom and dad; older brother, his wife and 3 boys; younger brother and his wife; and Jen & me. It was especially good to see my younger brother, because we weren't expecting him to make the trip from Anaheim. But a friend was able to use an airline voucher for him, and the flight had a seat, so my sister-in-law (who was already in town visiting) picked him up Christmas Eve from the airport.

My sister loves to cater for parties, so you know the food was good: roast beef, ham, twice-baked potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and plenty of dessert: banana cream pie, cheesecake, fudge, cookies and snowballs (a recipe from Jennifer's family of cream cheese & chocolate chips rolled in coconut). YUM! It makes me hungry just thinking about it again.

Another fine holiday spent with the family. I hope all of yours were good too.

A Christmas Adventure...sort of

Our family had an unusual experience this Christmas. Some might call it a miracle, others a good coincidence. But whatever your belief system, it's a pretty good story.

My brother-in-law received a large toolbox from my sister as his big gift. It was so big, in fact, that she couldn't bring it home, so he brought my dad, me and my two brothers, and his son-in-law to pick it up from my sister's office and load it into the truck to take home.

On the way back, the six of us noticed a van on the road with smoke pouring out of it. So we pulled over to help. OK, so here's the interesting part: our family in the truck included a Fire Battalion Chief, a firefighter trainee, an ER doctor, an electrical engineer, and enough collective knowledge to put together a whole vehicle from spare parts. What's more, my brother-in-law, the fire captain, carries his dispatch radio with him all the time, so we had fire & police on the way before we had even crossed the street to help the stranded van. (MORAL: If your vehicle breaks down, you could not ask for better qualified help in one vehicle unless a fire engine was driving by.)

Fortunately, the van had only overheated and was not on fire. By the time the first police squad car arrived, the engine had stopped steaming and everything was completely under control. The mother and grown daughter in the van were just fine and so glad that we stopped to help. As we were leaving them and wishing all Merry Christmas, it seemed that just a few seconds difference, and we might not have seen them to help.

Call it what you want to, but we were glad to be there when we were. It didn't have to be Christmas Day for us to lend a hand, but not many other occasions would have put those six guys in one vehicle (especially when that vehicle includes a radio with a direct link to a fire station). Don't worry, I'm not going to write to Hallmark to make a TV movie...it wasn't that dramatic. But for two strangers, at least, we saved Christmas, and that felt pretty special.

My Brother - update

He is much better with having some good shots of insulin and was scheduled to go home yesterday afternoon.

His blood sugar came down to below 200 but then shot up again after he ate a sandwich without taking a insulin pill. He (and my mom) will have a long learning curve ahead of them about how to manage type 1 diabetes.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I'm so glad he finally got help for this long-term health concern.

Cheers Jon! May you live long despite your discovery of this health issue.

My brother

For those of you who read this blog and know that I have a younger brother, Jon, please keep him in your prayers.

His health has been failing since May and we were concerned it was diabetes related (thirsty, massive weight loss, hungry).

Today he went into the urgent care where they tested his blood - his blood sugar was 780. For those who know, this is bad territory and can cause a diabetic coma. Normal is under 100 (around 70/80).

They've admitted him and he will be in the hospital for a couple days to get stabilized. He has all the symptoms of Type 1. He is 28 and has an uncle who was diagnosed type 1 a few years ago (in his 40s- not sure).

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts for him, my mom and myself.

Anniversary Thoughts

Our anniversary is October 19th. Hard to believe it's been 12 years. Halfway to the silver, and a quarter of the way to gold! But we'll settle for a bit of silk, nylon, or linen, since that's what the gifts are supposed to be for the twelfth year. Personally, I can skip anything nylon (not crazy about synthetics), but some nice silk bedsheets would be cool.

After living in San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles, Orange County (Fullerton), and now Bakersfield, we feel like we have never put our roots down. This is our fifth year living in one town, easily the longest in one area, yet we've moved from an apartment to a house, so it still seems like we're nomads.

We know a lot of couples go through this the first few years of marriage, but then once the kids come along, they decide to settle. I think what has helped for us is actually buying a house. Owning property has given us a much better sense of belonging than we imagined it would. No matter where we end up or how many houses we live in, we will always remember this as our first.

No one can say where we will be for our 50th anniversary, but it's nice to spend the 12th together in our own home. There are no travel plans this weekend, but the bug has bitten yet again. Who knows where we will go next?