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Good morning.

Ah, housework, I suppose I should do some of that but recently it's been too hot to think about doing much.

I did do some dusting last week, but I notice that the dratted dust is back again. ☹️

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Good evening.

I've just found out another of those things I didn't know I didn't know,

There's a Pencil Museum in Keswick. Who would have thought that there would be a museum dedicated to the humble pencil.

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Good evening.

Received a package in the mail earlier today containing some new pipe tobacco blends to try out. Will probably pack some in my Savinelli later and ponder the mysteries of the universe as my troubles all go up in smoke...... or do it just so I can say something like, "Elementary, my dear Watson." or "Riddles in the dark...... Precious..... Hmm......" in a knock-off English accent..... that might be fun too. 😁

Speaking of housework, I should do that sometime soon as well. Definitely going to have to mow the grass this week, some time. Just hope the humidity dials it back a bit before then. 🥵

Edited by viruxx
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Now the weather has cooled down a bit I thought I'd go into the garden and attack a  few weeds.

But the ground is so hard and dry that I might well have been trying to dig holes in concrete. So I sprayed a bit of weed killer on the weeds and went back indoors. I don't think the weed killer will do much, despite what it claims to do on the bottle I think it's more like weed fertiliser than weed killer !!

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Good evening.

Decided I'd start digging into my father's family history. Began by searching for graves online, and I was able to find a lot of names and dates I didn't previously know about. There's a lot more I want to try finding, however. From what I've been told by my grandfather and my dad, we are mostly of English/Welsh decent, with an odd mix of Canadian and Swedish (I have no idea how that happened or if it's even true, but that's the supposed story). The Canadian and Swedish lineage is what I'm focused on tracing, but I certainly want to know whereabouts we came from in the British Isles, as well as finding out about my ancestors potential involvement in any major events during specific time periods (Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI/II, Vietnam, etc). Dunno if I'll actually find much, but it'll be interesting nonetheless.

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On 8/3/2022 at 3:53 PM, viruxx said:

Good evening.

Decided I'd start digging into my father's family history. Began by searching for graves online, and I was able to find a lot of names and dates I didn't previously know about. There's a lot more I want to try finding, however. From what I've been told by my grandfather and my dad, we are mostly of English/Welsh decent, with an odd mix of Canadian and Swedish (I have no idea how that happened or if it's even true, but that's the supposed story). The Canadian and Swedish lineage is what I'm focused on tracing, but I certainly want to know whereabouts we came from in the British Isles, as well as finding out about my ancestors potential involvement in any major events during specific time periods (Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI/II, Vietnam, etc). Dunno if I'll actually find much, but it'll be interesting nonetheless.

 

Genealogy is a fascinating subject.  My mom used to be the family's genetic historian and according to her our family apparently has ancestors in the "British" Isles as well.  Our family's verbal lore also mentions Scottish ancestry on my dad's side.  My middle name is McLaurin (MacLaren) and there's a crest hanging in the hall with "Creag an Tuirc" (Gaelic for "Boar's Rock") on it that was brought out to California from my paternal grandparents' place when they died.  My mom was able to trace official ancestry records (birth, death, census records, etc.) from S. Carolina where they lived to the Argyll region of Scotland and from there back to the Balquidder area in/near the highlands.  Unfortunately I do not speak Gaelic.  :( 

On my mom's side the records are a bit more sketchy.  I know from first-hand discussions with them that my grandmother and great grandmother were from what used to be Czechoslovakia and they came here to the US when my grandmother was still a very young child.  Unfortunately many official records from that area were destroyed in various wars and social upheavals so official confirmation is a bit more problematic there.  Still, when I'm feeling mischevious I like to say that I'm both Bohemian and Highlander in ancestry, just to see what kind of reaction I get.   :D

 

Edited by efaardvark
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58 minutes ago, efaardvark said:

 

Genealogy is a fascinating subject.  My mom used to be the family's genetic historian and according to her our family apparently has ancestors in the "British" Isles as well.  Our family's verbal lore also mentions Scottish ancestry on my dad's side.  My middle name is McLaurin (MacLaren) and there's a crest hanging in the hall with "Creag an Tuirc" (Gaelic for "Boar's Rock") on it that was brought out to California from my paternal grandparents' place when they died.  My mom was able to trace official ancestry records (birth, death, census records, etc.) from S. Carolina where they lived to the Argyll region of Scotland and from there back to the Balquidder area in/near the highlands.  Unfortunately I do not speak Gaelic.  :( 

On my mom's side the records are a bit more sketchy.  I know from first-hand discussions with them that my grandmother and great grandmother were from what used to be Czechoslovakia and they came here to the US when my grandmother was still a very young child.  Unfortunately many official records from that area were destroyed in various wars and social upheavals so official confirmation is a bit more problematic there.  Still, when I'm feeling mischevious I like to say that I'm both Bohemian and Highlander in ancestry, just to see what kind of reaction I get.   :D

 

Indeed, it is. It's very interesting to see records from so far back, even the ones that might not pertain to the relative(s) in question.

That's quite the history you have there. I can only imagine how fascinating it was to discover it. My family also probably has some ties to Scotland, but I'm not yet certain if we're Scottish or Scots-Irish. One of my relatives will tell me one thing when another says something completely different. None of them seem willing to properly research it, so I guess I'll have to take it all with a grain of salt, but it kinda gives me a starting point. And Scottish Gaelic seems like it would be interesting to learn. I took a stab at Irish Gaelic on Duolingo a couple of years back, but I totally bombed it. I struggle enough with German and Japanese. 😅

And I know what you mean about sketchy records. The aforementioned Swedish lineage I'm trying to pinpoint is difficult to find thus far. The relative in question was my great-great-grandmother, and the story is that she was a stow-away on a ship from Sweden. Don't know if the ship came directly from there, or if she traveled to another location and got on board then. If she was a stow-away, I'm guessing I'll have a difficult time finding where she came from unless there's documentation available from Sweden. She did have a daughter named Ola, so maybe? The search continues. Sadly, I don't think I can get away with telling folks that I'm a Canadian Viking. She and my great-great-grandfather lived in Canada for a time, but it seems he was born in Maine. So, guess I'm just a plain, old Viking from Sweden by the looks of it. Eh, might be fun to tell it anyway. 😁

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Always trying to look on the bright side of things, I've found two advantages in the long hot dry spell we're having at the moment.

1. My garden pond which had been silted up for years has dried out so completely that I could shovel the now dry muck out easily.

2. I can leave my car unwashed and claim I'm being a responsible citizen and saving water instead of being accused of just being too lazy to wash it. 🚗 🙂

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Recently moved a lot of my parents old cassettes into my room to keep them in better condition and also have an amazing selection of albums at hand, also got covid this week so hoping it goes by the time I go to France at the start of next week. 

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On 8/10/2022 at 2:22 AM, Animedragon said:

2. I can leave my car unwashed and claim I'm being a responsible citizen and saving water instead of being accused of just being too lazy to wash it. 🚗 🙂

Been there, done that.   :D 

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8 hours ago, Metro said:

Recently moved a lot of my parents old cassettes into my room to keep them in better condition and also have an amazing selection of albums at hand, also got covid this week so hoping it goes by the time I go to France at the start of next week. 

I hope you're clear of the covid in time for your trip to France.

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When I was a teenager, I never thought time could move forward fast enough. An hour felt like an eternity sometimes. Now I'm only days away from turning 36 and sometimes thinking, "Wait a tick, did I just completely skip over my 20s?!" 😱

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3 minutes ago, viruxx said:

When I was a teenager, I never thought time could move forward fast enough. An hour felt like an eternity sometimes.

Tell me about it! When I was at school the six week summer holiday seemed to last forever.

Now six weeks just fly by.

3 minutes ago, viruxx said:

Now I'm only days away from turning 36 and sometimes thinking, "Wait a tick, did I just completely skip over my 20s?!" 😱

And you think you've got worries. I retired 5 years ago and it seems like only yesterday*.  Now I'm just days away from turning 70 😱

 

* Only Yesterday, hmm a good title for a film. 😀

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29 minutes ago, Animedragon said:

* Only Yesterday, hmm a good title for a film. 😀

Not entitled Only Yesterday, but close enough, right? 😁 I still need to give this a watch.

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