Jug Balloon

I'm a ;

Lori Thornton started this little meme off with her post Which Punctuation Mark Are You?

You Are a Semi-Colon

You are elegant, understated, and subtle in your communication. You're very smart (and you know it), but you don't often showcase your brilliance. Instead, you carefully construct your arguments, ideas, and theories – until they are bulletproof. You see your words as an expression of yourself, and you are careful not to waste them. You friends see you as enlightened, logical, and shrewd. (But what you're saying often goes right over their heads. You excel in: The Arts You get along best with: The Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

HayStack Rock

Urge for Spring

In going through some of my photos I found this shot of some cherry blossoms I took last year. My urge for spring is getting stronger every day.

Cowboy Drink Pitcher

Mother got this little kids milk, or drink pitcher for me when I was about 2, I think. Which would have been in 1953. (Now I'm telling my age) The hat comes off to pour the drink into the pitcher and then the spout is the little gun that the cowboy is holding. It was well used my me and my sisters. Mostly for milk and kool-aide. I have no idea where she might have got it but my bad memory says it was something she ordered through a mail advertisement, but I could be wrong. With my love of all things western it has long been a prized possession. I allowed my son to use it on special occasions as by then it was showing signs of wear. The paint is almost gone from one eye.

It is the guy having the most fun....

that wins every time.These guys are having some! Make sure to dbl click this one and watch it full screen.



INSPIRATION!











Brian's web site again:



http://www.getstrongergolonger.com/journal//5/19/buck-north-face-trilogy.html

Bluewater Creek Canyon

We took a road that we had seen deer, elk, and turkey on many years before. It was rough and got rougher until we found we had come to the end of the road. We decided to step over the barbed wire fence where others had done the same before us. We walked out to the edge of a canyon and looked down, or tried to. We couldn't see the bottom. We could see many miles to the northwest beyond the canyon. The rock ledge was intriguing. There were black streaks down the almost smooth rock at one place. I wondered what could have caused the streaks like that. Had it been water falling over the ledge some time in the past when there wasn't the drought we are having now?

Suddenly we heard an eagle scream. The big bird did it over and over. And then we saw the birds flying against the side of the ledge. Knowing that they are such big birds they looked small up against the side of the huge rock wall. They disappeared but then were back to fly right over our heads. We were so interested in looking at the eagles we almost forgot to try to get some photos and the only one I got was blurred.

It was a wonderful experience to see the eagles. I think they were golden eagles. They just didn't lookright to be juvenile bald eagles that have the dark heads. We agreed thatrock wall would make the perfect place for an eagle nest but as much as we looked we couldn't see any sign of one. But we could only see the wall across from us and not the one right under our feet.







































When we got back I goggled around until I found out that the canyon was the head of Bluewater Creek Canyonthat runs into Bluewater Lake that is just west of Grants according to the Cibola National Forest website. There is a hiking trail along the creek that is about 2 miles long. I would love to be able to take the hike but old age doesn't make for goodhikes.

Early Winter Wonderland along Old Highway 61

Several November storms meant a lot of early snow accumulation inland from Lake Superior near Grand Portage, MN. This photo was taken on November 25, . I was a bit disappointed that these storms left little snow in my yard. I live right on the shores of Lake Superior and early winter storms often mean that rain falls along the shoreline instead of snow. Right now I barely have one inch of snow covering my yard, however one only needs to drive a few miles inland to see the ground covered with almost two feet of snow already!

Newspaper Rock

Along the access road to Canyonlands, thirty miles east of the entrance, Newspaper Rock is a little mystery that will likely never be solved. It is a large slab of rock covered with desert varnish (a blackish manganese-iron deposit that gradually forms on exposed sandstone cliff faces due to the action of rainfall and bacteria) into which have been inscribed numerous petroglyphs. The older images are becoming darker in color as new varnish slowly develops over them. The first carvings were made around 2,000 years ago, although a few are as recent as the early 20th century.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the meanings of the drawings but in fact no one really knows what they mean or why they are in this place. It is in the middle of nowhere. Was this a stopping-off point for native people? Does it have spiritual or religious significance? Is it simply graffiti from a time long past?

There is a reason.......

you see two links to Will's post today. It is worth your time to read it.









http://willgadd.com/ice-breaks-dont-be-in-the-way-of-it-as-it-falls/

Walkin' the Land of my Ancestors

With clear skies and 80 degree temps (in October, no less!) I just couldn't stay indoors today. The Crooked Lake Nature Preserve lies mostly in Whitley County on the Noble-Whitley county line about half a mile west of State Road 9.

The southern area, which I explored today, is the Lawrence Bishop Memorial Addition and is located on the south side of Little Crooked Lake, off of County Road 600N. This southern area borders the land where my 3rd great grandparents, Jacob and Malissa (Stem) Wise lived. And where her parents, Conrad and Indiana (Sisley) Stem lived on a neighboring farm.

Below is a portion of the 1889 Plat Map of Thorncreek Township, Whitley County. It shows that M. A. Scott (Malissa Ann, married Jacob Scott in 1876) owned 106 acres of land in Section 3 on the south side of Crooked Lake. This land had been purchased by Jacob Wise in August 1849. To the east of the Scott property was C. Stem, who owned 32.5 acres. Conrad had purchased 152 acres (most of that southeast quarter) in December 1853. Nowadays, the majority of their lands have been subdivided into 2-5 acre lots, several are still available for purchase. Some of the houses being built are ridiculously large, especially in light of the current economic situation.

The map below is from the Indiana DNR (Department of Natural Resources). The outlined area encompasses the Crooked Lake Nature Preserve. As always, click on the images to see a larger version. The dotted line on the right is State Road 9 and the dotted line along the bottom is County Road 600N.

A mowed path meanders along the south and east sides of the meadow. It enters the woods on the north side, weaving in and out several times before emerging into the meadow once again on the west side. This first view is looking to the northeast (from the west side of the trail).

Skiing? The lines just keep on coming in Chamonix!

Nice!

Have a merry one

OK I'm a scrooge. I'm Scrooge McScrooge. Bah. And oh yeah, humbug.

I'm not sure what came over me, or exactly when. I used to love all things Christmasy. I could happily shop for ornaments in the middle of July. Now I never want to decorate. My husband finally decided that he'd have to put up a tiny tree himself, or we'd have no decorations at all. I didn't get a single Christmas card sent. (I normally do though - I was just busy filling orders this year. Now it's too late.)

Even though I'm scroogy, I'm wishing everyone a merry Christmas. I haven't had time to go out and take pictures lately. So as your gift, I'm sending you to see someone else's.

This great photo of Western Australia mistletoe was taken by John Dolphin, a fellow wildflower nut. (Also see Maximum Depth of Field.)

If you have bizarro-brain like me, the name John Dolphin makes you think of the Buckaroo Banzai movie. (Sorry John!)

All the Lectroids are named John. Some have normal names, like John Parker or John O'Connor. But others are obviously made up, like John YaYa and John Smallberries. My favorite is John Bigboote, who keeps getting called Bigbooty. ("It's BigbooTAY!")

I must have seen this movie at least a dozen times. I love John Lithgow as the fiendish Lord John Whorfin/Dr. Emilio Lizardo. ("Laugh while you can, monkey-boy!") His expressions while giving a speech to the evil but listless Red Lectroids make it among my favorite movie scenes. ("History is made at night. Character is what you are in the dark!") I guess you could call the film a cheesy, over-the-top, low-budget spoof. The special goggles they use to watch a holographic message are clearly made from bubble wrap. But if you like that sort of thing, come on over. Bring the popcorn!

The Phend Surname

The "Phend" surname, as you might imagine, is not a common one. The index to the book on the Phend Family that was published in 1991 only includes 331 people with the surname, and that included everyone that I had found since the family came from Switzerland to the United States in 1832. Johannes Phend, the progenitor of our family, had two daughters and two sons, John and Jacob. John didn't have any children. Jacob had seven children, six sons and one daughter; there were 43 grandchildren, 29 grandsons and 14 granddaughters. In the next generation the numbers flipped and girls outnumbered the boys by about 2 to 1.

According to my Grandpa Vic, his grandfather, Jacob, pronounced the Phend surname as "pay-hend" and said that it was spelt pay-hay-a-n-day. He also told me it was originally spelled with a B instead of a P but that the B was pronounced softly like a P and that is how it got changed from B'hend to Phend. However, in Swiss records the surname has been found spelled as B'hend, Bhend, Fend, Fendt and Pend. In the United States, the surname has also been found in records as Fend, Fiend, Fin, Phind, Pheud, Phena, and Phent.

Considering that names were often spelled phonetically, and the fact that many record keepers and census takers wrote so poorly, the variations are not all that surprising. It just sometimes makes it a bit challenging to find the right records.

Johannes Phend was recorded as Jean (or Sean?) B'hend on his 1832 passport.


The signature of Johannes on his passport.


The Land Record from Carroll County, Ohio (Deed Book 11, page 367) showed John Phend and his wife Susan selling their land in 1849 - and his signature!

The family was found in census records the "old fashioned" way - by turning the crank and going through the reels of microfilm image by image, before indexes were widely available, and before the internet. Lucky for me, from other records, I knew where to look and the townships they lived in were relatively small.

1840 Carroll County, Ohio (Brown Township page 192)


1850 Greene County, Indiana (Taylor Township page 409b)

1860 Marshall County, Indiana (German Township page 56)


1870 Kosciusko County, Indiana (Scott Township page 434)

1880 Kosciusko County, Indiana (Scott Township page 33)


In 1900 and 1910, Jacob was livng with his daughter and her husband, Sophia and John Ernest, in Elkhart County, Indiana. (Nappanee, Locke Township page 232 in 1900 and in Concord Township page 56b in 1910)

Three other recent posts highlight some family records from Switzerland, the christening record of Johannes Fendt, and the family's emigration to the United States.

Darth Vader Balloon

Annual totals for registration

If you look at the past 5 years of registration on Mount Rainier, you'll notice that the numbers are declining, from 13,114 in 2000 to 8,927 in 2005. However, when you look at the trend over the past 15 years, 1998-2002 appear more as a spike. Certainly, the sport gained a lot of momentum during the 90's. Here are the numbers.

On a another note, Washington State D.O.T. have their hands full on highway 123 (that's the road between Cayuse Pass/hwy 410 and US 12 and the Packwood area). Access along the east side of the park may be delayed this spring if there is a lot of road damage; stay tuned...

Blossoms

Close up of yucca blossoms

Greetings From... North Carolina

In an attempt to evade the wind and rain, I left the Richmond area the morning of Friday the 13th, heading west and south, stopping for the night in the small town of Stuart, Virginia. It had rained off and on during most of the drive. Sometime during the night, the rain finally stopped.

The next morning I awoke to sunshine and blue skies and drove the few miles west to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The good thing about driving the Parkway this time of year is that there are very few other people doing the same. The bad thing about driving the Parkway this time of year is that all the campgrounds are closed as are the visitor centers and picnic areas.


Near Cumberland Knob, North Carolina
From the Blue Ridge Parkway - November 14, ..

Surreal Sky

I am always on the lookout for interesting clouds to photograph, and this morning I definitely saw some interesting ones. The clouds shown in this photo were very high altitude and held their shape for a very long time. I shot this photo with my Canon 100-400mm lens at 400mm.

Chick progression, week 3

Americauna (Easter Egger)


Rhode Island Red

Here are the little darlings at week 3. I made my husband call them that (little darlings) yesterday as he was picking them up. It calms them down, of course. He was saying it in a tone that was rather too sarcastic for my taste though.

They are going through an awkward stage. Growing into their feathers.

Yesterday it was time for their introduction to the great outdoors. We put chicken wire around some trees and let them run around in the sun.

They weren't interested, at first - I had to literally shake them out of the box. Even then, a few of them clung to the side, desparately trying to scramble back in.

Birds just don't like change.

But once they were outside for a little while, they realized that they might be having fun.

There's still a lot of leaping going on, only now with wing-assist. So it's actually a flying leap.

They enjoy taking flying leaps at each other and play-fighting. I believe they're establishing the pecking order.

Jasmine had to be locked up for a little while because she wasn't behaving.

And even though my husband had told me to watch my head, I didn't. I was concentrating on picking up chicks instead, and wondering why they always seem to think that we're out to kill them.

So now I know what it feels like to be whacked in the back of the head with rebar. (It hurts!)

Terry's Photo Challenge. . .

Terry Thornton has posted a photo of himself in a funny costume and has issued a Photo Challenge to all Genea-Bloggers. My contribution was taken in the spring of 1965, after the final performance of my Junior Class Play - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which was loosely based on the television show of the same name. That's me on the left ;-) portraying Happy Stella Kowalski who was the leader of an all-male band. We had fun. The face of my classmate in the photo has been blocked out, but I'm sure he'd know who it was if he saw the picture.


** Update November 11, ..**
Part of Terry's challenge was to post a costumed photo of yourself as an adult. Now, I realize that a 17 year old High School Junior would not normally be considered an adult. However, I was much older than my years would indicate. I'm much younger now than I was then ;-) there were way too many responsibilities weighing me down back then. If you'd known me then you would also know how "out of character" this was for me. I was extremely shy (still shy but not near as much). I didn't wear makeup (still don't). Participating in the class play was a "defining moment" for me since it was the first time I was recognized for an achievement. It was also the first crack in the wall that I had built around myself.