This side of the Road: Happy Birthday Catie!

26 years ago I was in Puyallup where I watched my first grandchild being born. I was 45 years old -- and that's younger than my two oldest kids today. How did that happen? I know. Life happens. Sigh... Happy Birthday grand daughter of mine!

Catie outside my house last year

Catie with her mom 19 years ago

It's early Sunday morning and I've set up my tape player on the kitchen table with a big box of tapes I pulled out of the back closet. I really miss my old tape music. Didn't realize exactly how much until I started playing them again. I have a gadget that will let me convert these tapes to CDs but I don't have a good enough tape player to make it work. Plus I can't quite understand the directions to fine tune the song once I get it to my computer hard drive. I'm thinking of buying a second converter I saw online that looks easier but I'm wavering 'cause it may be close to the same thing I have now. Guess I'm going to have to research it a bit more. Really don't want to ignore the whole thing forever 'cause I've got probably 200 tapes with some super good music.

Grandson Hunter came by to cut my grass yesterday. It was slow going for him because the dandelions were so high, you couldn't just plow along quickly. Lawn sure looks better, that's for sure. Sue came by earlier and offered to do some watering for me. I really need to take more time with my watering chores. Discovered some of the leaves on one of my trees were turning brown because I wasn't bothering to water it much. Not sure why. Somehow I just got it into my head that trees were sturdy and didn't need water. Silly me.

Sue also helped me move some pots onto the porch. I had them on the ground but it made weedeating harder.

Hunter couldn't come over until he finished painting his tractor. He was green from head to toe afterwards and had to take a shower.

The Duck Derby occurs not too far from my house today at 2 pm. I won't go over there to watch but will wait patiently for the phone call to come in telling me I've won a prize. A new truck would be nice but I'll settle for any of the cash prizes too.

I contacted this lady on ancestry.com who had Zadock Clark in her family tree and I'm hoping we can compare notes soon so I can find out more information on what connection he had with my g. grandmother, Jane Downs. I also started looking over my various folders on aunts and uncles to see what I could add or edit. I never could find the marriage license on Uncle Lyall and Aunt Elva. I also couldn't find a record anywhere of what Lyall's middle name was. Everything (including the birth record in Hadlock) said L. I finally emailed Elaine Arey and she said Lyall only had an initial, no name. Isn't that odd? Makes me wonder if that's the case with another g. aunt I never could find a middle name for. Only an initial on everything from her census records to her tombstone.

I do plan on making a trip up to the Port Angeles library this week to look over their microfilm on old Leaders they have filed away. I found several references on the Jefferson County Genealogical website of marriage dates and names with Leader pages listed of where they could be found. I'm hoping the listings aren't just marriage license applications but actual stories -- and maybe hope hope-- a picture now and then. Got my fingers crossed.

My subscription to newspapers.com runs out in a week or so but I managed to copy a few articles about people I knew. Some from the 1960's of family in PT and other stories about relatives in Oregon. Wish the website had more to offer but their collection was limited. Most of the time, the pictures didn't reproduce worth a darn. Here's a few I posted on Facebook......(click on to enlarge)

Went to the ENT doctor on Friday even though my earaches had finally ceased after two weeks. Figured if I had to wait two weeks to get in, I might as well ask about what might have caused this pain and what to do if it happens again. Wasted my time but then, I think I knew (from past visits) that I wasn't going to get much. He felt it wasn't allergy related (I think it probably was) but he said I was grinding my teeth most likely (at night). Which could very well be but..how come I had a two-week earache from it? I figure if I''m a night grinder, I would most likely have earaches often. He had other fish to fry so more or less blew me off. And this was after I waited in his office for 45 mintues. Makes me wonder why I rushed to get their on time. And this is yet another reason, why I hate going to the doctor's office!

Saw on the news that Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg while bike riding. That doesn't make me anxious to get back on mine but I still intend to try it sooner or later. Maybe. Could be a fat lady of 71 has no business being on a bike. OR..... a fat lady NEEDS to be on a bike. ha ha ha ha

My only household chore today is to get the vacuuming done. I think I can handle that. I might just wander back to the sewing room too just to see if the creative juices want to flow. Gonna relax in front of the TV and watch golf this afternoon. My June calendar shows the alumni reunion on June 13th and a trip to Renton on June 18th. That's it. An exciting life I have --but I'm contented enough. Good thing I'm a homebody.

Came across these old photos again (from Dave Marriott's collection)