Well, the title pretty well sums of the last half of this month!
We had 5" of rain on May 17 and 2" on May 19 - I'm not complaining because our plants really liked the rain and we didn't have to put out the sprinkler to water that week.
We went to dinner at the Italian Cousin here in Sebastian on the 18th and had their spaghetti dinner. It's such a large portion that we have learned to eat only half and bring the rest home for another meal.
Today we went down to Vero to see the movie X-Men Apocalypse in 3D - which we really enjoyed.
Afterwards we went to Olive Garden for dinner. We both ordered the unlimited salad and soup with breadsticks. I had the chicken and gnocchi soup and Mike had the pasta e fagioli soup and we both had a second bowl of soup. It's always a good choice and even with the
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Back home from NGS Conference
Mike and I drove home last Monday after spending several days at Fletcher's house. We were there so I could attend the 2016 National Genealogical Society's annual conference. It was especially nice since last Sunday was Mother's Day and we could spend it with Fletcher.
This has been a much slower and less busy week than last week and it's great to get back in our regular routine.
Tuesday I attended the monthly Indian River Genealogical Society's meeting at the library in Vero. Wednesday Mike and I dropped Tinker off at the groomer's for a bath and then we went to Country Ham N Egg for breakfast.
I took Tinker in to the vet's on Thursday for his annual checkup and all of his tests came back great.
This morning I went to Home Depot and WalMart Supercenter shopping for a couple of planters and found them at WalMart. Then I stopped at Sandwich Shack and got lunch for Mike and I. He had his usual Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and I had the Turkey, Avocado, Bacon Wrap.
Tonight I ordered a Y-DNA test from Family Tree DNA for Mike. We've both had our autosomal DNA tests done at Ancestry. I'm hoping that maybe with the Y-DNA test I can break through the brick wall I have on Mike's ancestors.
This has been a much slower and less busy week than last week and it's great to get back in our regular routine.
Tuesday I attended the monthly Indian River Genealogical Society's meeting at the library in Vero. Wednesday Mike and I dropped Tinker off at the groomer's for a bath and then we went to Country Ham N Egg for breakfast.
I took Tinker in to the vet's on Thursday for his annual checkup and all of his tests came back great.
This morning I went to Home Depot and WalMart Supercenter shopping for a couple of planters and found them at WalMart. Then I stopped at Sandwich Shack and got lunch for Mike and I. He had his usual Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and I had the Turkey, Avocado, Bacon Wrap.
Tonight I ordered a Y-DNA test from Family Tree DNA for Mike. We've both had our autosomal DNA tests done at Ancestry. I'm hoping that maybe with the Y-DNA test I can break through the brick wall I have on Mike's ancestors.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Mother's Day at Fletcher's
It felt so good to sleep in this morning! If you can call getting up at 7:00 this morning sleeping in! As much as I enjoyed attending the National Genealogical Society Conference that last 4 days, I'm not sure I could have done a 5th full day of seminars. In those 4 days I attended 19 one hour seminars and 3 thirty minute seminars.
Tinker has really "mellowed out" around cats now. I got a picture of Tinker and Josie taking their after breakfast naps on the sofa this morning.
Josie is 14 years old (as best we can figure) and used to be our cat until we sold our home and moved into the motorhome. Then she went to live with Fletcher along with our other two cats Bailey and Joey (who are now deceased).
Mike and I just spent today relaxing and watching movies with Fletcher. Then Fletcher took us out for dinner to Miller's Ale House in Ft. Lauderdale. We each ordered steaks and salads and Mike and I had the Apple Crisp for dessert.
A final note on the genealogy conference, I didn't get to attend some seminars that I would
Tinker has really "mellowed out" around cats now. I got a picture of Tinker and Josie taking their after breakfast naps on the sofa this morning.
Josie is 14 years old (as best we can figure) and used to be our cat until we sold our home and moved into the motorhome. Then she went to live with Fletcher along with our other two cats Bailey and Joey (who are now deceased).
Mike and I just spent today relaxing and watching movies with Fletcher. Then Fletcher took us out for dinner to Miller's Ale House in Ft. Lauderdale. We each ordered steaks and salads and Mike and I had the Apple Crisp for dessert.
A final note on the genealogy conference, I didn't get to attend some seminars that I would
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Last Day of 2016 NGS Conference
My first seminar this morning was "Identifying Women: The Ultimate Brick Wall" by Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS. She talked about the early laws governing women and what their legal rights were or weren't and how that affected the types of records they would leave behind and how to find those records.
My 9:30 seminar was "West Florida Pre-1830: the History, the People, and the Records" by Sharon D. Monson. This was a class on the early history of West Florida under different countries and how that affected the types of records that were created. She provided a list of websites that had some of the early West Florida records. I'm especially interested in this because Mike's Fletcher and Manning ancestors lived in West Florida before 1845.
The 11:00 seminar was "The Hidden Gender - Finding Women in Courthouse Records" by Janice Lovelace, Ph.D. As in my seminar at 8:00 this morning, Janice covered the types of legal documents and records that women could be found in. She spoke about what legal rights women had and didn't have. I know it sounds like I basically repeated my first seminar, but each speaker sometimes will cover one type of record in more detail than another speaker will or will have a different way of researching to find records.
I took a break from attending any of the lunch break seminars today. I decided to get some Chicken Fingers with coleslaw and a soda for lunch ($14). After eating I stopped by some of the vendors' booths in the Exhibit Hall to see if I found anything interesting that I might have missed before. Then I realized that I REALLY missed
My 9:30 seminar was "West Florida Pre-1830: the History, the People, and the Records" by Sharon D. Monson. This was a class on the early history of West Florida under different countries and how that affected the types of records that were created. She provided a list of websites that had some of the early West Florida records. I'm especially interested in this because Mike's Fletcher and Manning ancestors lived in West Florida before 1845.
The 11:00 seminar was "The Hidden Gender - Finding Women in Courthouse Records" by Janice Lovelace, Ph.D. As in my seminar at 8:00 this morning, Janice covered the types of legal documents and records that women could be found in. She spoke about what legal rights women had and didn't have. I know it sounds like I basically repeated my first seminar, but each speaker sometimes will cover one type of record in more detail than another speaker will or will have a different way of researching to find records.
I took a break from attending any of the lunch break seminars today. I decided to get some Chicken Fingers with coleslaw and a soda for lunch ($14). After eating I stopped by some of the vendors' booths in the Exhibit Hall to see if I found anything interesting that I might have missed before. Then I realized that I REALLY missed
Friday, May 6, 2016
Third day of the 2016 NGS Conference
Mike and I stopped at a Burger King for breakfast this morning before taking me to the conference center for today's seminars.
My 8:00 seminar was "Reasonably Exhaustive Research, The First Criteria for Genealogical Proof" given my Elizabeth Shown Mills, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA. She explained the difference between "search" and "research" and that the Genealogical Proof Standard had been changed in 2014 to "reasonably exhaustive research" instead of search. She covered the processes that we need to go through in our research. The second part of the seminar was a research project and the steps taken to prove and disprove some of the information from past researchers.
The next seminar was "Focus on Place: Building Locality Profiles for Your Research" by Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS. I have heard Josh talk on this subject before at one of our Valentine Seminars for the Indian River Genealogical Society. He is a lively and entertaining speaker and none of the other seminars in the 9:30 time slot really struck an interest in me. After my last seminar which was really an in depth and complicated subject, this one was a welcome change. I still learned some new pointers from Josh today. Basically his concept of a locality profile is the same as creating a timeline for location - county, state, country. We learned how and where to search and locate information on the locales that we were searching in.
The 11:00 seminar was given by Richard Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA "Territorial Papers of the Southeast". This was really informative and Rick gave us some terrific printed sources for locating territorial papers and told us which ones were online and where to find them. This was really helpful since a lot of our ancestors' lived in areas that were still territories before they became states.
I've eaten a turkey wrap and a hamburger for lunch this week and really wanted something
My 8:00 seminar was "Reasonably Exhaustive Research, The First Criteria for Genealogical Proof" given my Elizabeth Shown Mills, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA. She explained the difference between "search" and "research" and that the Genealogical Proof Standard had been changed in 2014 to "reasonably exhaustive research" instead of search. She covered the processes that we need to go through in our research. The second part of the seminar was a research project and the steps taken to prove and disprove some of the information from past researchers.
The next seminar was "Focus on Place: Building Locality Profiles for Your Research" by Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS. I have heard Josh talk on this subject before at one of our Valentine Seminars for the Indian River Genealogical Society. He is a lively and entertaining speaker and none of the other seminars in the 9:30 time slot really struck an interest in me. After my last seminar which was really an in depth and complicated subject, this one was a welcome change. I still learned some new pointers from Josh today. Basically his concept of a locality profile is the same as creating a timeline for location - county, state, country. We learned how and where to search and locate information on the locales that we were searching in.
The 11:00 seminar was given by Richard Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA "Territorial Papers of the Southeast". This was really informative and Rick gave us some terrific printed sources for locating territorial papers and told us which ones were online and where to find them. This was really helpful since a lot of our ancestors' lived in areas that were still territories before they became states.
I've eaten a turkey wrap and a hamburger for lunch this week and really wanted something
Thursday, May 5, 2016
My second day at the 2016 NGS Conference
We're up again early this morning and left Fletcher's house about 7:15 to go to the conference center. Mike dropped me off at the front entrance and I had plenty of time to locate the room for my first seminar this morning at 8:00.
The seminar is "Mapping Apps for Genealogists" given by Richard Sayer, CG, CGL, FUGA. He discussed standalone apps for smartphones and web-based apps for computers. A lot of the mapping apps or websites he discussed, I was familiar with but he did have some that I didn't know about and want to explore. He covered platting programs (which I really need to take a look at) and cemetery apps (which I knew about) and some genealogy related mapping websites that look interesting.
My 9:30 seminar was on "Private Land Claims" by Pamela Boyer Sayer, CG, CGL, FUGA. This covered land claims in the public domain which were in the early territories before they were states. She discussed researching in the Bureau of Land Management's website, the National Archives and where to find local records. I've researched the BLM GLO site and have found ancestors' records there and this was a good refresher course for me.
My next seminar was at 11:00 "Justices of the Peace: Miscellany, Mischief, Marriages, and More!" by Diane Florence Gravel, CG. I took this course because a few of our ancestors were Justices of the Peace and I wanted to learn more about their function. Diane covered their responsibilities and the types of records the justices would have produced and where to find those records - I got a LOT of information in this class.
During the lunch break (12:00 to 2:30), I walked around the Exhibit Hall and decided to attend Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems 30 minute seminar "3 Cool Tools for Newspapers" from 12:45 to 1:15. The first "Tool" is
The seminar is "Mapping Apps for Genealogists" given by Richard Sayer, CG, CGL, FUGA. He discussed standalone apps for smartphones and web-based apps for computers. A lot of the mapping apps or websites he discussed, I was familiar with but he did have some that I didn't know about and want to explore. He covered platting programs (which I really need to take a look at) and cemetery apps (which I knew about) and some genealogy related mapping websites that look interesting.
My 9:30 seminar was on "Private Land Claims" by Pamela Boyer Sayer, CG, CGL, FUGA. This covered land claims in the public domain which were in the early territories before they were states. She discussed researching in the Bureau of Land Management's website, the National Archives and where to find local records. I've researched the BLM GLO site and have found ancestors' records there and this was a good refresher course for me.
My next seminar was at 11:00 "Justices of the Peace: Miscellany, Mischief, Marriages, and More!" by Diane Florence Gravel, CG. I took this course because a few of our ancestors were Justices of the Peace and I wanted to learn more about their function. Diane covered their responsibilities and the types of records the justices would have produced and where to find those records - I got a LOT of information in this class.
During the lunch break (12:00 to 2:30), I walked around the Exhibit Hall and decided to attend Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems 30 minute seminar "3 Cool Tools for Newspapers" from 12:45 to 1:15. The first "Tool" is
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
My first day at NGS 2016 Conference
I got up at 6:00 this morning to shower and get ready to attend the National Genealogical Society's conference here in Ft. Lauderdale. Mike and I left Fletcher's house about 7:00 and drove down to the Conference Center. Mike dropped me off at the front entrance and he will pick me up there this afternoon.
Our morning started off at 8:00 with everyone attending the opening session titled "Ordinary" People, Extraordinary Lives given by Connie Lester, Ph.D. She talked about the men and women who first settled in Florida and what hardships they endured as pioneers. This ended at 10:30 and then we were all off to locate the room where our next seminar was to be held.
I picked "Bounty Land: State and Federal" as my 11:00 seminar. Debra Mieszala, CG was the speaker and she talked about how to find Federal and state bounty land records. She explained why and when the bounty lands were awarded and which states had state bounty land records. I have done some research on bounty land records and have found some
Our morning started off at 8:00 with everyone attending the opening session titled "Ordinary" People, Extraordinary Lives given by Connie Lester, Ph.D. She talked about the men and women who first settled in Florida and what hardships they endured as pioneers. This ended at 10:30 and then we were all off to locate the room where our next seminar was to be held.
I picked "Bounty Land: State and Federal" as my 11:00 seminar. Debra Mieszala, CG was the speaker and she talked about how to find Federal and state bounty land records. She explained why and when the bounty lands were awarded and which states had state bounty land records. I have done some research on bounty land records and have found some
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Trip down to Ft. Lauderdale to attend NGS Conference
I've spent the last couple of days packing and getting stuff ready for our trip down to Ft. Lauderdale where I'll be attending the National Genealogical Society's 2016 Conference which is sponsored by the Florida State Genealogical Society. I'm excited since this is the first conference of this size that I've attended - make that the first conference of any size that I've attended except for our local ones.
This morning I took Tinker to the groomer's for a bath and packed the car while he was getting a bath. After picking Tinker up at the groomer's we headed west to I-95. Since it was noon, we stopped at McDonald's for a late breakfast before getting on to I-95. We headed south on I-95 to Ft. Pierce where we got on to the Florida Turnpike.
We stopped at the Dunkin Donuts at 2:00 for coffee and a snack at the West Palm Beach Plaza on the Turnpike. We continued on south until we reached exit 62 and headed east on Commercial Blvd. We paid a total of $7.15 on tolls on the turnpike. We drove on down to the Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center so I could pick up
my conference packet.
There is huge sculpture at the conference center depicting three sailfish in different poses "jumping" out of the water and its quite impressive.
After leaving the conference center, we drove over to Fletcher's house and got there about
This morning I took Tinker to the groomer's for a bath and packed the car while he was getting a bath. After picking Tinker up at the groomer's we headed west to I-95. Since it was noon, we stopped at McDonald's for a late breakfast before getting on to I-95. We headed south on I-95 to Ft. Pierce where we got on to the Florida Turnpike.
We stopped at the Dunkin Donuts at 2:00 for coffee and a snack at the West Palm Beach Plaza on the Turnpike. We continued on south until we reached exit 62 and headed east on Commercial Blvd. We paid a total of $7.15 on tolls on the turnpike. We drove on down to the Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center so I could pick up
my conference packet.
There is huge sculpture at the conference center depicting three sailfish in different poses "jumping" out of the water and its quite impressive.
After leaving the conference center, we drove over to Fletcher's house and got there about
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