Organizing Work...Boring but Necessary

Nothing much exciting to talk about today.

I took a ride out to visit "Joshua" at the cemetery in St. Johns PA yesterday.
Actually, I went to snap some photos of headstones, both photo requests on F.A.G. and just random stones to put up memorials for on F.A.G.
And Joshua snubbed me....humph!  He must have been up late partying the night before.

I found at least 9 headstones for requests(I may have found more but I need to go through and edit my photos first).  I also found some relatives of the requests who didn't have memorials up on F.A.G. yet, which may make the people who requested photos happier still, as they be long lost relations.

A few of the headstones were very worn and all the details aren't readily readable.  I found this video of a guy who uses flour to bring out the etching in old unreadable headstones....

 

If you read the lengthy list of comments on that video you'll see the flour method has pros and cons and it's use is not widely recommended.  I may have to get a blacklight or laser flashlight to keep in the car as those doesn't seem to harm the headstones and can aid in reading the markers.  It doesn't help that my eyes are old and getting weaker too.

Anyway, today I'm editing photos and uploading them to F.A.G.

I also found an interesting real estate property on the road to the cemetery that is for sale.
Check it out HERE.  It needs gutting basically but it's a nice piece of property in a low tax area and it's right across the road from a creek and it's going for pennies.....mostly because it needs a whole house redo.
But we could buy it for cash and work on it at our leisure.  Of course that would mean retiring up here in the snowbelt but then there is always RV living out-of-state for the winter months.
It's a moot point unless I can get an agent to SHOW us the house!....which no one seems to want to do.  You would think with the housing/real estate market depressed as it is, agents would be returning my calls without haste to get me inside this house, huh?
Not so.
I guess the commission on a $40K property just isn't worth their effort.....

I also cleaned out my Yahoo mailbox earlier this week.  1500+ emails gone!
I unsubbed from many email firms there and dumped a bunch of spam and unwanted mails.
Then I set up some new folders and moved about 300 emails worth keeping.
I am left with 10 emails to deal with in the old inbox.
Go me! lol

I don't access my Yahoo mail much anymore.  I don't remember what led me over there to my inbox but I'm glad I went because I found out something interesting.

Yah see, when I got this new computer with Windows 8(STILL hate W8!), the Hubs couldn't sent up my email server into the Windows program so that my incoming mail goes into my inbox.  He had to sent up a folder in the email program for my server addy and all my incoming mail from my server comes into that folder, not my inbox. (We have a "pop" email account and W8 doesn't support that any longer?)  It's too confusing for me to explain better or even to understand.....I just know that it "ain't right".

Over the last couple of months, since being on this new machine, I've sent out emails to folks.  Now there is still a feature on this machine, through Windows 8, that hooks to my yahoo email account.  I just discovered, by going into my yahoo inbox, I have replies to emails I sent out that I never got responses to in my reg. email server account I use...which is where I thought I had sent these emails from.  Somehow, it seems, when I sent emails on this machine to these persons, the computer used my yahoo email account, thus the replied to the yahoo email.

One such person I never got a response from was Tanner....well she DID respond but I never saw the response as it went to my Yahoo inbox.
Evidently, I hit something on my computer and instead of sending some emails out through my regular server it brought up a blank email form through the yahoo account.
So I apologize if I never responded to your response to me, especially to Tanner.
I'll be emailing you later Tanner about what we were corresponding about....I haven't forgotten you! ;-)

It truly sucks being a technology halfwit and have I told y'all how much I detest Windows 8 yet?? 8-))

Speaking of Yahoo, some day I'll have to tell y'all the story about my Siamese twin Asian email sister on Yahoo.
It's a hoot of a story.

Oh!!!
One more thing to say.......
I got my testing kit yesterday in the mail.

 

I'll be brushing the inside of my cheeks today and sending off my dna to be analyzed tomorrow.
I'm so excited to see what comes up as far as matches(if any)and what it says about my ancestry.
Knowing my luck, it will tell me I am descended from Nordic ancestors and Monkeys, none of which is correct......that I know of.......!

Has anyone else out there taken the first step into the Wide World of Genetic Testing for Ancestry?

Sluggy

The "Good" Doctor

In the continuing saga of my ex-primary doctor.......

Well the week of April 29th-May 3rd was a great week for my ex-doctor.
He was such the popular fellow that there was an article in the local newspaper about him and his tale of woe every day that week.
Impressive!

The Times Leader site won't let me pull up the article from April 29th but here are the others from the competing newspaper.....

APRIL 30th
MAY 1st
MAY 2nd
MAY 3rd

Plus I found this tidbits on the Times Leader online site....

The state Board of Osteopathic Medicine reports that:
• Mark Gonsky, of Luzerne County, was ordered to attend a course in prescribing controlled substances in 2012, institute contracts for the management of any chronic pain patients and engage a professional office management company to review his documentation practices and then re-evaluate the documentation practices six months later because he failed to maintain complete records for his patient.

Things have been kind of low key in the news media for him lately.  THIS is the latest article I could find on him this morning.

I do feel some compassion for the man but I am still very very angry.....

Sluggy

I'm A Cheap Dinner Date

Here's what I did with the leftover Fajita filling I had.
I took a page out of Alex M.'s playbook.
I whipped up a pie crust dough and made quasi Tex/Mex Empanadas.
The weather was rainy and cool enough to consider running the oven today.

Circle of dough, put filling on half, sprinkle some cheddar cheeses on top, fold over and seal/crimp with a fork.
Then I placed on a spray oil coated foiled cookie sheet and sprayed more oil on top of each.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

The burnt stuff is filling that leaked out and stayed on the foil.  the fajita filling was juicy enough that it didn't need a sauce put inside these.

Each was really too big for one meal, so I cut mine in half and the other piece will be lunch or dinner tomorrow.

some leftover corn and a big dollop of sour cream finished off my plate.

Hubs preferred his with hot sauce and a can of chili.....

Of course he dumped all the chili on it before realizing he couldn't eat the whole thing in one sitting.
Well, he could of eaten the whole thing in one sitting but he thought that wouldn't be wise....lol

The costs of this leftover meal?
.33¢ for the box of Jif pie crust mix and $1.00 for the can of chili(both bought ahead on sale) and pennies(let's say 5¢) for my dollop of sour cream.
$1.38 plus we have enough left for another meal.

I spent $61.95 at the grocery store yesterday and it really wasn't a lot of food.  $19.49 of that was for #2 Son's requested foods that I won't be eating, so $42.46 for fruit, juice, meat, lettuce, tomato sauce, onion rolls.  $92.74 worth of food all totaled.
I still need to get more fruit, salad greens, milk and half & half tomorrow and I am done spending this week.
If the weather cooperates tomorrow, I'll bake off 2 quiches(1 for the freezer)and make spaghetti sauce and the bulk of cooking for week will be complete.

Sluggy

 

The Past Weekend and Coming Attractions....Boring of Course!

I was all productive last weekend.....well, productive for me! 8-)

Hubs was in the midst of getting the pool ready for the season and had some patching to do on the liner.  The bear of the job though was repairing the rusted holes in the steel skin, the outer metal part of the pool.  Fixing these areas required him to remove the top supports/the edges on the pool and peel back the plastic liner to get behind the skin.
Everything was good until it came time to attach the liner back into the channeled rigid rimmy parts(technical term)so the liner didn't fall off the metal enclosure which is your pool.
So Sluggy, the mechanical, logical genius to the rescue to reconstruct how he had taken the whole shebang apart and put it back together again.....much like all the King's horse and men attempted to do with Humpty Dumpty after his plummet off a wall.
But unlike Humpty's friends, I was successful. ;-)
Oh and Hubs helped too......lol

We got the garden bed planted and I got the salad green gutters done earlier in the week.  I just hope the gutters are more successful this year, since all I grew last year was a crop of bumpkiss!  I also planted some old seeds I had here in the oak barrels in the backyard.  I didn't buy any new seeds this year and just used up what I had leftover from the previous years.  I won't be surprised if nothing actually comes up. lol

We got the front bed mulched.....ignore that square brick sitting in front.  It was there as a boundary marker for the mulch.  We still need to put some kind of a border up.

I got my little garden bed "doo-dads" put in as well.  Little snail items(I AM Slugmama after all....hello!  lol)
The snail stepping stone didn't come off very well in the shot....

 

This week, since #2 Son is finished with school until August and has time to help out around here, we'll be working on the back/side flower bed.
It needs serious work!!!  We don't call that area the jungle for nothing. ;-)

On a sad note, we discovered my little lemon magnolia tree died.  This was the tree Hubs bought me for Mother's Day 3 years ago(?).   Last year it took a turn for the worse after we experienced some rather wacky weather patterns and this past winter must have been too rough for it and it gave up the tree ghost.  We went to prune it back to try to save it this weekend and the trunk nearly snapped right off at the base.  It's that little stump in the upper center of the yard.....

This gives credence to the legend that I can't keep anything alive.....
R.I.P. little tree.
I'll have #2 Son dig up the stump this week and we can level and sow some grass seed there.

I also did a slew of baking/cooking this past weekend.....I made a coffee cake, a dozen muffins, a pan of brownies and a big bowl of macaroni salad.  If I was running the oven, why not get a lot of things cooked, right?
Sorry, I forgot to take pictures and most of it is gone thanks to #2 Son.
I did some of this in prep for a visit from Udy with a "J".  She was suppose to drop by on her way to family(either on the way or coming back from)sometime during the weekend.  I also had some adult beverages chilled waiting for her arrival, but alas, she never arrived.
Sluggy makes a sad face......

I guess warning her about the nasty dirty house was just too much for her delicate constitution.
Either that or she thought I'd hand her a broom and some cleaning products and put her to work.... ;-)

So I did some work in the garage in my free time this past weekend too.  Hubs inflated an air mattress we had out there(a leaving from the Daughter)to see if it would stay inflated.  It did so it's gotten a big dose of Lysol and will be deflated and stored in it's case and we can pick out the expensive air mattress with the built in electric inflator that we paid good money for put never held air enough to get a body through the night without pitching them on the floor at 3 am.
One more thing I can say goodbye too in this house....yay me!

Then I cleaned out the old freezer to get it ready for being picked up by the recycling company which is coming next week.  That will be another big item out of the garage and my life......go me again!!

This week I need to get all these boxes of cans/bottles/etc. of food I can't eat out of the living room to freecycle.  I was keeping them around to see if Judy wanted some of it when she came but I just have to get it gone now.
It's blocking my mental energy, ya know?

I am off in a little while for another dr. appointment.  This one is with my new primary doctor, my FIRST appointment with him.  He has officially been my primary for over 2 Months now and I have yet to see him, though I've had appts. with just about every other dr. in the area during this time. 8-P

So what's up with you in the next few days?
Did you do anything exciting over the weekend??


Sluggy

 

You Know You Are Getting Old....

.....When more and more the hit Musicals on Broadway are shows that you remember being brand new on the stage when you were young.

Sunday night's Tony Winner for Revival of a Musical is one such example for me.

PIPPIN

It debuted on Broadway in October of 1972 and ran until June of 1977, meaning it ran the entirety of my teenage years and closed the month I graduated high school.
I bought the album sometime in 1973 when I was 14 years old.

Though I was never in a production of it, I bought the original cast album(remember those....albums?)the day it hit the record store shelves and I about wore it out singing along and memorizing numbers to use as audition pieces.

On Sunday, Pippin also received 3 individual awards for acting to Patina Miller(the Leading Player role) and Andrea Martin(Grandma Bertha)and the Direction of a Musical statuette went to Diane Paulus.
Bravo ladies.....

I so wish I had seen the Great  Irene Ryan in the Berthe role(Irene Ryan =Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies).
Here's a clip of one of Granny's replacements in the video production done in 1981.   A Classic comedienne of the 1940's, Martha Raye took her turn at the role.
She's ok but I picture Granny as better.
It's kind of long this clip so I don't blame you if you don't watch it all.....




Here's the incomparable Ben Vereen as the Leading Player(he was the originator of the role) from that film made of the show in 1981. 
I content that when he was at the top of his game, few interpreted Bob Fosse's dance vision better.
Take a look.   The dance number begins at 3:58....



Now watch this clip from Letterman's show of part of that dance number with the current cast members(it's at the beginning of the clip).  They go on to do another number, but watch the first number of the original Fosse moves.



I know that with Revivals of shows it's a balancing act between recreating the original numbers and the "look" of the show, with a new, fresh interpretation. 
With a revival coming so many years after the original production(40 years!), more people seeing it will have little if any recollection of the original production(unless they are OLD enough to remember the original version). 

For the record, I don't care for this production as much as the original version.
Some of it is more appropriate in a production of "Carnival" than "Pippin".
Yes, it's a slicker more polished version(with modern cirque du soleil type circus acts, instead of a blend of medieval morality plays and commedia dell'arte type moves and characters)of the show.
And you have to agree film technology has certainly come a long way since the early '80's!
Granted the revivals clips aren't filmed on the regular stage the show is presented on, but still....
I guess it's a no brainer to model it on a Cirque show......they sell out and run forever everywhere they play.  They sell tickets and put butts in the seats so why not steal that formula for the Pippin revival.

But it's lost it's dark, seedy and sinister foreboding undertones that the original production had for the sake of keeping audiences....current younger theater goers with shorter attention spans who need flashy and sparkle and can't focus on something for any amount of time without checking their smartphones or something.
The revival has got too much Shinola and not enough shit as it were. ;-)


And here's the opening number from the 1981 film with Ben Vereen.  Near the end of it notice the actress in the mask who says a very sarcastic, "Fantastic".  That's the legend Chita Rivera.





And from the new production,  a clip from Sunday night's Tony Awards show, a montage of numbers from Pippin.





Sluggy

This Week On the Dining Table

I am right on schedule with this post this week....will wonders never cease?!

 

Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Hot Dogs, leftover beans, corn and 'new pickles'
Monday--Fend for Yourself night as Hubs was late from an out-of-town meeting
Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Sumer Squash Casserole
Thursday--Tacos
Friday--Fajitas Redux
Saturday--WTHK---> Who The Heck Knows!

 

We stuck to the list fairly well though not on the days I had planned.  I got Chinese take-out on Thurs. so we didn't do the Tacos, and Hubs wasn't up to a big meal the last 2 days so it was leftover Fajitas for moi only.

I spent $46.02 on $73.93 worth of groceries last week.  Mostly on produce, eggs and crabmeat.


Here's this week's meal plan--
Sunday--Grilled Pork Chop, Summer Squash Sauté, Macaroni Salad
Monday--Tacos, Corn
Tuesday--Ravioli, Salad, Garlic Bread
Wednesday--Sloppy Joes on Buns, Brussel Sprouts
Thursday--Quiche, Salad
Friday--No Clue
Saturday--No Clue

#2 Son is home for dinner 3 nights this week so I asked him for 2 dinner suggestions.  He said he'd eat Tacos(of course!lol), Ravioli and Quiche and I should make other things the nights he's working.
Thus he avoided giving me 2 dinner suggestions....the boy is a genius I tell ya! ;-)

So I am taking suggestions from my readers for what to serve 2 nights this week.  Something for 2 people, that is low sodium but tasty and hopefully I have most of the ingredients to make already here.
A bonus if one meal uses the Fajitas filling(chicken, peppers, onions and mushrooms)I have leftover.
Good luck! 8-))

On the shopping list so far--

fruit, orange juice, produce, salad greens, turkey breast meat, cheese, half and half and "junk" for Noah(ramen noodles, hash browns, burritos, etc.)

So that's where the food money stands now and what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.
What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

The "A" Triple Play

Well I have known for awhile that on my mother's side of things, I come from a line of French Huguenots who fled France around 1572.

But I never for the life of me thought I'd find a Huguenot connection on my father's side of the things....the Catholic side of things......and in, of all places Ireland!

I have a double dose of French blood it seems.....
Sacré  bleu!

And not only does this line make me a distant cousin of a known(or should that be infamous?)French Revolutionary & Anarchist in recent generations.

 

VIVE LA RÉVOLUTION!

 

 

 

It also seems I come by my dramatic nature honestly, as this same line contains quite a few Irish "Scenery Chewers" aka "Stage Hams" aka Actors.

And to top things off, I appear to have a rather large contingency of relations in......
Australia!

Actors, Anarchists and Aussies......

Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge......May Update

In our family we save money. It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

On to the May report.....

I have posted my May End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up May in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of May with?.......$3,129.06
This was only possible due to the 3 paycheck month in May, as we had a rather large hospital bill co-pay due this month.

Income
We had $3045.02 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check and interest gives us another $84.04.  This brought our gain to $3129.06 for May.

Outgo

As for the expenses this May, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill was within a dollar of being the same as last month.
*  The credit card bill was $900 less.
*  There were no semi annual or quarterly  bills to pay.

*  The electric bill was almost $100 less.
*  The prescriptions were about $67 less than April.

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The dr./hospital bills(co-pays/deductibles) were $1500 more than in April.

*  The cash withdrawals were $280 more(mostly because of graduation).

*  We had a $346 vet bill(their annual visits + meds).
*  The food bill was about $100 more than budgeted food(and $65 more than last month).

The Food Budget costs for May are in another post, which is located HERE.

We overshot the food budget by $100.55 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 5 month behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $11,726.84.  Only $8,273.16 left to save and 7 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $1,181.80 per month for the next 7 months to reach the goal.

Looking ahead for June......

*  Still waiting for the other medical shoe to drop(ie--medical bills from tests and procedures to slowly drip into my mailbox).  I foresee more medical spending on co-pays and deductibles this month.
 

*  Hubs is repairing and opening the pool for the year, which means a sky-high water bill in June.

*  The only non-normal bill from last June was extra cash spending for a short vacation to Ohio, which isn't happening this June.
 

So how was your May financially?
 

Did you put ordinary living expenses on a credit card last month and not pay it off in full when due?
Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in May like a tax refund or bonus at work,
and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debt or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy
 

It's Here, It's Here! & Other Stuff

It may not be the phone book but I'm just as thrilled as Navin R. Johnson!





Before......

After....

The new freezer!!!
It is a bit shorter than the old freezer but inside it's about the same square footage of space.
So purty and so clean! lol

Before.....

 

After......

And just to make my week complete I got this in the mail.....

Finally.
One of the many perks of being an old person in this country.
I've got a tag and now I can park any damned place I want to! lol

Oh the joys of getting old and crippled.....getting old is NOT for sissies......

 Sluggy

May I Introduce to You.....

Someone unknown to me until now, a distant cousin on my Baker family tree, sent me an email last evening through Ancestry.  In it, he provided some information that provides confirmation on my Baker line of ancestors via DNA testing.   This news means I can now introduce you to one of my long, long, long ago ancestors.
She was not a Baker but the Bakers of my Great Grandmother's family links her to my generation.
At least that is how it appears at the moment.  There are still unresolved questions about the blood line.

I proudly introduce to you who appears to be my 10 x Great Grandmother, Sarah Isgar.....

 

 

Daughter of William Isgar and Elizabeth Sainsbury Isgar

Born abt. 1625 in West Lavington, Wiltshire, England
Died 17 Sep 1677 in Groombridge Estate, Speldhurst, Kent, England

Nice looking gal, huh?


And here is her husband Phillip Packer, my 10 x Great Grandfather......

Born 24 Jun 1618 Speldhurst, Kent, England
Died 24 Dec 1686 Groombridge Estate, Speldhurst, Kent, England

And here is their son, Philip Packer, my 9 x Great Grandfather.....

Born abt. 1656 in London, England.
Died 1739 in Burlington county, New Jersey, USA


There's a story behind all of this of course.
A story involving love, bastardy, climbing the social ladder despite the English caste system, intrigue, exile, the fight for Irish rule of Ireland, the reign of Stuart King, Charles II of England, being a  victim of primogeniture, Quakers, Mormons and gunsmiths.
And William Penn kinda figures into it as well.

Some day I'll get around to rambling on about it.

Sluggy

 

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

This post is a quick one, to show you a picture I snapped  coming home from the cemetery the other day.  I pulled into the Wendy's parking lot and this is what was in front of me.....

A trucker pulling a #43 Richard Petty Motorsports car trailer. 
I keep forgetting that we are just down the road from Pocono Raceway and the Pocono 400 is this weekend.
Like the Petty blue" color?
If you look closely it says, "Fueled by Bacon".

My reply is.....Who isn't?  8-)

P.S.
If you are reading this Judy, remember Sunday is race day so watch out for the traffic!

Sluggy

This Week On the Dining Table

I'm late as usual with the meal plan stuff......ugh....

Here's what was planned last week--

 Sunday--Cookout...burgers, dogs, homemade potato salad and baked beans and new pickles(all low sodium except for the nitrite-free bacon in the beans)
Monday--Bob Evans cooked us dinner(used a coupon for a BOGO deal)...I had potato crusted flounder.
Tuesday--Chicken & Dumplings-using leftover roasted chicken-not sure how much of this I can let myself have yet
Wednesday--Catfish fry, leftover baked beans, carrots and potato salad
Thursday--leftover Garlic Chicken w/Broccoli and coconut rice
Friday--Ravioli in Sauce w/leftover meatballs, green salad
Saturday--Whatever is still leftover
The Ravioli didn't happen on Friday or any other day.
Friday I served leftovers as well as on Saturday.

I spent $78.86 at the grocery store last week when I only wanted to spend $40-$50, putting me .35¢ over $500 in food spending for May. 
Those "ICE" drinks put me over, all 38 of them.  But I am set for the summer now with those.  No more beverage spending until Fall, except for the adult beverages.... ;-)

Leftovers at the moment consist of 1 piece of catfish(will use for a fish sandwich).  I had the 1 serving of chicken and dumpling this morning for breakfast.  Chicken & Dumplings aka Southern Penicillin...... 8-)

Here's this week's meal plan--
Sunday--Hot Dogs, leftover beans, corn and 'new pickles'
Monday--Fend for Yourself night as Hubs was late from an out-of-town meeting
Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Sumer Squash Casserole
Thursday--Tacos
Friday--Fajitas Redux
Saturday--WTHK--->Who The Heck Knows!

I've already spent $43 and change at the grocery store.  We went to the restaurant supply store on Sunday as they had a $5 off $50 coupon.  We got lots of produce, some eggs, crabmeat and Doritos for #2 Son plus bought a plastic tray for bringing food out to the patio set to dine al fresco this Summer.  Will make the transporting much easier I think!
It came to $46 after coupon but they overcharged me on the crabmeat so I got a $3 credit on the c/c, making it $43 and change.
I need to pick up more turkey meat and milk still this week.  All the proteins this week are from the freezer(have to empty it some before they bring the new one TODAY!!!--can you tell I am excited?lol), and I'm not stocking up on anything, making this a cheaper shopping week.

So that's where the food money stands now and what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.
What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

Hump Day Helper

I know I could use a little help to get through the rest of Hump Day, how about you?

I think a little cool jazz is just the thing.

Enjoy one of my favorites.....

 

Sluggy

Me & My Shadow

If you remember, I posted about a trip to a cemetery the day before yesterday to take some photos to post on Find A Grave, in which I also believe I saw an "apparition".

Yesterday I went and posted about 60 photos on F.A.G.--either had to post a memorial on the site since the person had none or added my photos to existing memorials of individuals if there was no photo or if my photo some how enhanced the memorial.  Sometimes the photos on the memorials are not very good(fuzzy, too far away to read the inscription or otherwise not very helpful)so if I get a good shot off, I'll hand it over to a memorial someone else created or maintains.

Another thing I do, especially if I am creating a memorial on F.A.G. on which to place the headstone photo on, since I have no clue who the person is/was, I'll go on Ancestry dotcom and research them briefly to see who is family to them and then search out that person on F.A.G. and find the member who is maintaining their memorial and let them know of the family connection so they can link their person to mine.  The more information on the person's memorial, the better able someone looking for their ancestors can locate them if my belief.

Well, sit down, because if you thought I was seeing things before, because it's getting a whole lot WEIRDER!

Two of the pictures I had snapped were of a headstone for "Santee", Joshua and his wife Elizabeth.  A really big, pretty rose colored chunk of granite with both their names on it.  I took a close-up of the inscription and a distance shot that took in the whole "rock" too. 
I went on F.A.G. and found that both Joshua and Elizabeth had memorials already put up by the same member, but neither one of them had a close-up of the wording on the stone, so I put my photo up on both of their memorials.

The other member did not however have their memorials linked, so I wrote to her and mentioned that if she gets some time, it would be nice to have them linked.  Just a suggestions as sometimes, if you are trying to get many people online for the site, you overlook some details like that.

Some people get very offended if you write and suggest things like this so I am always very careful to be none threatening.....though goodness knows, how or why anyone would feel threatened by ME escapes my reasoning! lol

I got a nice reply from the member and she did link this couple in her memorials.  She also let me know that she had put an interesting newspaper article from 1894 up on Joshua's memorial.
Please go read it HERE.

It's said that ghosts or apparitions or spirits whom make they presence known on Earth after their passing are still here because of unresolved issues, or a traumatic death.  Their energy refuses to leave
the physical world because of this.

After I read that newspaper article about Mr. Santee, I went and looked at my photograph of the burial map for the cemetery.  When I thought I "saw" that apparition of a man dressed in pants & a coat  from the 1850's(early Victorian era), I was standing in the vicinity of Joshua's headstone.  Mr. Santee would have been in his prime of adulthood during that time period, which matches the rough age & style of clothing of the figure I "saw".

When that sunk into my brain, I started freaking out all over again!

I told Hubs all this last night when he got home.  He rolled his eyes at me and said I needed a life. ;-)
I figured he'd react like that.....

A couple of things happened that evening, little things, like the sprayer on the kitchen faucet started spraying for no reason when we turned on the faucet(and it's not broken), and my printed was acting up.  We started joking that it was Joshua.....he got in the car and followed me home the other day.

Hey, now that I've made a new "friend" maybe I'll get out more.  It's sad when the long dead have a better social life than you.....

Sluggy





 

Where the Past & Present Intersect

I went out today to get some exercise since the weather is not beastly hot like the past 4 days have been.
And where does Sluggy go to exercise?
A local cemetery to take pictures of headstones for F.A.G. of course! 8-)

Call me crazy but I find it relaxing to wander about a green space on a beautiful day and snap pictures of grave markers of stranger's dear departed relatives and ancestors.
It was also a nice drive down a windy country road into a very tiny town with a huge church and large gorgeous cemetery.  This area was a booming place, filled with lots of people back 100 years or more ago, so there are lots of little and some massive graveyards tucked away all over the place in this part of PA.
I signed up to be a volunteer photographer for F.A.G.  Somebody makes a request for a photo of a headstone for someone listed on the website and every volunteer within 50 or so miles gets an email alert for that request.
You wouldn't believe how many email alerts I get a week!  There are so many graveyards in this area it's crazy!  I think there are more people these days here living below the ground than above. lol

And there are very few people taking volunteer photos so I have a wide open playing field if I can find the cemetery.  Heck, I could do this as a fulltime job there are so many requests for photos.  Too bad the pay is lousy....ok, the pay is VERY lousy, as in, NO pay. ;-)

I'm making this my project-to document with photos and memorials on the website-this entire cemetery.
There are some memorials already listed on F.A.G. for this boneyard, but by no means is it complete.

By posting those headstones/markers on the Find A Grave website, it might help some other amateur genealogist track down a missing piece of their family line.
This is me, giving back for those who have helped me on my journey into my past.

I caught the caretakers out mowing today so I got a chance to ask about how the cemetery was sectioned off/mapped out.  He showed me the very VERY old pages of the graveyards layout with the surnames handwritten.  They have no files in a cabinet, no computerized lists....these papers are the only records for the graves!  They are so old and brittle and almost a medium brown in color from age.  This was no archival paper by any means when they were new.  I wonder what they will do when/if these maps ever wear out or get destroyed.  Hopefully there is another set of them tucked away in a safe somewhere.

These maps are very important information so I am not traipsing all over looking for a particular person's grave to photograph for a request from the F.A.G. website.

And to make my trips back there more productive, I was allowed to photograph the maps.  What a coup!
This will help me tremendously to get all the burial records up on the site that are missing.
Score one for this amateur grave sleuth..... ;-)

I took about 100 photos today so I am off to see which ones came out clear and start cropping and getting them in a folder, ready to load to Find A Grave.

I also had a very unsettling incident in the cemetery today.  I am not one to believe in ghosts and stuff like that but.....
I could have sworn at one point, as I was turning my head as I walked to the next headstone, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a figure dressed in a white suit, standing about 50 ft. away from me.  It was a shadowy figure and other than the cut of the pants appearing to be empire period style(hey! I'm an old costume designer....I know this shit!lol), I couldn't make out any distinguishing features of the clothing or the face.
I quickly turned and did a double-take and there was no one there.  And the hairs on my arms were standing straight up.....eeeesh.....

If it hadn't been a bright beautiful day, I might have freaked out.  But I was surprisingly calm about the whole thing.
So go ahead and tell me it was the hot sun playing tricks on my mind or Sluggy has been drinking or taking "funny" medications today or she's stressed out and just losing what little is left of her mind now.
I know I saw it.....so shaddup! 8-P

Sluggy

 

Coupon Inserts Crap--Rant of The Week

*This post is in no way meant to malign anyone reading who actually buys the stuff discussed below.  Think of it instead as a wake up call about being frivolous with your money.
************************************************

I want to talk about Coupon Inserts this morning.
Specifically those pages of garbage, companies advertise to sell to the public in those inserts.

All I can say is what a waste of your good money if you buy that stuff.
Now I'm not talking about necessities sold via those insert ads.
Granted now and again there might be a true need offered for sale there, like an article of clothing(though the style is questionable) or footwear or wiper blades for your car or something similar.
Those things are money well spent if you need it and it's a good deal(for the quality).

What I'm talking about is the tchotchkes, collectibles, and other pointless wastes of money offered to get you separated from your cash.
I know, I know.......some of it is cute and irresistible but seriously......how many dust collectors does one need in their lifetime?

Let's have a look at this week's crop of drek......

First up, we have kitties.....

"An heirloom treasure is yours to claim!"
Oooo!
For the low LOW price of $2.95 get the 1st Captivating Cat figurine.
Then every month they'll send you another one, for which you only pay $15, for the next 23 months.
You also get as a BONUS a flimsy wooden cat holder shadowbox thingy to hold them all.
They are 1.5" tall.
In the end, you will be out approx. $347......$347!
But with an aDOREable set of miniature dust collectors to show for your money.

Then there is this one.....one of my favorites......

Designer Checks.
Ugh.

Nobody cares what your checks look like.....not the electric company, the grocery store cashiers nor the mortgage company.  Heck, you can take any piece of paper and write your own check technically and the bank is suppose to honor it.
Designer checks are a waste of ink and your money.

Seriously, you can't get checks for free or cheap at your bank or credit union?   Then you need to find a better bank......or maybe it's a matter of having more of your money IN the bank to get the free check perks, etc.  If you are wasting your money buying designer checks and cat figurines, maybe that's why you don't have enough money in your account to be a valued customer of your financial institution.
Not hating on anyone, just raising a valid point here. 8-)

I LOVE the part in this ad where they tell you the 1st box is $5.50 and if you buy 2 boxes it's only $11(which is 2 x $5.50, right?).  Then they tell you that you only pay $16.50 for 4 boxes, which means your 4th box is free.  But at $16.50, that comes out to $4.12(& 1/2¢)per box.
Wouldn't that $16.50 be much better spent on a donation to a local food bank or some  real world need?

And here's another one.....

A "Mystical Feline Fairy"
Yah......

What's with all the cat crap?
Where is the equal time for dog crap?? lol

For the low price of $29.99(plus $8.99), you too can be out $38.98 for this 5" tall ceramic cat tchotchke worth about 1.50¢ and produced in China.
OOoo!  But, but it's got a REAL Swarovski crystal on the collar!  And it's limited to 95 firing days and a Hamilton Collection collectible.
Do you know how many of these they can churn out in 95 days?  Billions!

But this is the biggest scam of the week......

The Official U.S. Presidential Coin Set.
Your 1st set is a mere $14.95.  Each subsequent coin set in the series will cost you $29.95(+ $2 shipping & service) and at the end of it all, IF you buy the full set, they send you a FREE display chest.
Ooooo!

Do you know how many presidents there have been?
If they are only making coins for the dead ones, that is 40 coins at the moment.
If you get all 40, you will be out $1,183 for that set.
A set of 3 $1 coins worth $3.... x 40 sets equals $120.
Yes, these are worth face value only.
You are spending just short of 10 TIMES what these are worth.
Does this kind of spending make any sense for anyone, short of a die-hard coin collector??

For a coin that the money spending public didn't want.  The Federal Reserve has BILLIONS of these things sitting in vaults taking up space because when they were produced no one who uses money wanted to use them in circulation.
So the Feds suspended production of this really wasteful idea and are only going to produce the rest of the presidential $1 coins for collectors who pre-order them(so there will be less of them from Grover Cleveland on down).

The PCS Stamps and Coins company(who bring you this fine offer)are betting on you not knowing the lack of rarity of these coins and the fact that you can't or don't care to do the math and see the crazy amount of coin you will be dropping on this item!
In the ad, they try to create a demand for the items harping on the "severe(ly) restricted inventories". LOLZ
Yes!
Act now!!.....before someone stops you on the street and tries to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

So to recap, if we fell for all these coupon insert offers this week, how much poorer would we each be after paying for all these complete sets?

$1,585.48

$1,585.48

And you'd have a handful of ceramic doo-dads, 4 boxes of checks you can get at the bank for free and $40 worth of legal tender cash monies(plus a flimsy wooden shelf and a plastic display chest to put in your next garage sale) in return for draining your savings account of over $1500.

So the next time you reach for your credit card or the phone to buy this kind of stuff, think about what meaningful things you can do for your family or community for this kind of money.
It's a nice vacation.
It's a new couple of appliances in your kitchen.
It's a new wardrobe.
It's a house payment.
It's emergency dental work if you don't have insurance(and even sometimes when you do!)
It's season tickets to some artistic group or cultural activity.
It's enough to dig a new well and install a pump and filtration system for a third world impoverished village.
It's a nice deposit into your kid's 529 college plan.

I am sure you can think of more ways to better use that kind of cash, rather than buying unnecessary
stuff from a coupon insert.

Sluggy




 

MAY 2013 Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending

 

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2013.

I have posted May's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2013 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in May.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(4 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
******************

 

BREAT OUTLET

OOP  $17.24

Value  $42.09

Savings  59.04%

MAINE SOURCE(restaurant supply)

OOP  $75.86

Value  $137.58

Savings   44.86%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $107.74

Qs/Ads  $45.14

Value  $152.88

Savings  29.53%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $299.51

Qs/Ads  $190.82

Value  $490.33

Savings  39%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN May.....$0.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bread Outlet at 59.04%, Maine Source at 44.86% and Weis Market at 39%.  l only shopped at 4 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$500.35

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$322.53

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$822.88

TOTAL Savings of...................................39.20%

This closes out the May food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into May with my usual $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  Overshot the budget by $100.35.  Not a great month so I'll try to do better in June.

I did NO Rite-Aid shopping in last month either.

I'm still trying to figure out what my baseline for food costs is since the dietary change in April.  I suspect it will be more like $500 per month now, but I'm going to keep shooting for $400 for the next few months.

Looking ahead to June---We'll stick to our $400 food budget again this month.  I'm hoping for some better sales on fresh produce since it's almost Summer.

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far--

2013 Total Saved $1,432.51

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $3,350.33

2013 Yearly Total Spent $1,926.82

2013 Yearly Savings Total of 42.50%

 

My total savings percentage for the year has gone down just over 1%.  The month of May was over 30% saved and the yearly total so far is still over 40% so I am good with that.

 

How much did you spend on food in May?
 

Sluggy

The Ice Man Cometh.....Not Soon Enough!

May had been an incredibly expensive month for us here at Chez Sluggy.
Luckily, May was also one of those freak 3 paycheck months.
Good thing, it was!

So how do I start off June financially?
Well, I bought a freezer.

Yup.

Our old workhorse of a freezer has been limping along and this past week things started happening in the old chill chest that indicated that it would be gasping it's last very shortly.
It was defrosted recently and I opened the door to find a LOT of ice built up on the top shelves and on the door and the stuff on the top shelves didn't seem as frozen.
Jacking up the thermostat didn't help the situation either.

So I moved the ice cream and such to lower shelves and after another 24 hours rechecked the temperature and it was definitely heading in the wrong direction.

I went online for 3 HOURS yesterday comparing all the makes, models, brands for all the features important to me, in the size I needed.
My eyes were crossing by the time I came to a decision.

I would have liked to have bought from a local small business but both of them never returned my calls/emails within 6 hours time.
Good job local retailers, Grand Central and Beiter's,  if you are reading this......well done!
You have a willing mark customer and you both blew it....congratulations!
You should be so proud.

A note to every retailer out there who is selling freezers.....
The chances are that your potential customer shopping for a freezer is in a bit of a HURRY, as the likelihood is high that they are REPLACING their current freezer that NO LONGER REALLY KEEPS ANYTHING FROZEN......and when the weather is in the high 80's, this is an unacceptable situation to have for very long.
If you are selling freezers, return your phone calls if you want the business.
That's all I'm saying.......

Oh!....and don't NOT put prices on your website and make me call/email you for a "price quote".
I understand wanting to get me in the door and upsell me a more expensive/larger appliance but in real life, it just drives me into the arms of another retailer.

The frugal me wanted to buy my freezer from Lowe's....as I have a hate/hate relationship with the ir competitor, the Home Despot.
And I have $500 in gift cards to use at Lowe's from my Rite-Aid +Ups binging days last year.
($350 of the gcs are good at either Lowe's or the Despot, $150 are store specific for Lowe's).

For those of you who are thinking, "My, that was mighty brave/foolhardy of you to purchase such an expensive and large appliance, sight unseen on the internet.....aren't you scared?"
Nope.

Most of these freezers are NOT even in the store(the Despot only had 2 in the size/style in the store and Lowe's had 3 I think on the sales floor and 2 were too expensive), so I didn't even need to go in and "kick the tires" on the chill chests in order to decide.

My requirements were thus.....

1.  Be a certain size to fit into the current space for a freezer & approx. same interior size
2.  Be an upright model-we are horizontally surface challenged here
3.  Have a security door lock
4.  Be an Energy Star machine
5.  Have good to excellent reviews
6.  Not cost an arm OR a leg or our firstborn

I got 5 outta 6.  I can live without a door lock if I have to.

2 hours into the research and I realized one thing....Frigidaires are shit.....at least according to the "man on the street" reviews on various sites AND from my own personal knowledge of them.

So I pulled the trigger and here is what the delivery crew from the Despot is delivering to Chez Sluggy this coming Thursday.....

Whirlpool 15.8 cu. ft. Frost Free Upright Freezer in White

Model # EV160NZTQ

Reg. retail at the Despot is $599.00
I got it for $448.20 plus free shipping and haul away.

AND our electric supplier in PA has a $35 rebate if you replace your old freezer with an Energy Star model and THEY will haul it off.
Take it away and give me money?

Yes, please!!

And the deciding factor between this freezer and a nearly identical one at Lowe's?
The Despot would deliver it a full 12 DAYS sooner than Lowe's.

12 Days people......
June 6th vs. June 18th

Do you know what thawing meat smells like in 80 degree weather in 12 days time? lolol

Yeah...I got over my Despot loathing, at least for now, and I've got to organize room and a plan in the garage now for the new machine.
First the old fridge needs to be moved and the old freezer moved over into it's space.
Then the new machine needs to be delivered and put where the fridge was.
Then the goods transferred into it.
Then the old machine gets moved to the front of the garage, awaiting pick-up by the electric co.
Then the new machine needs to be slid over 3 feet and the old fridge needs to be moved back into it's space.

What.
A.
Production.

In the end we are out $413.20 and as a bonus, a little chunk of my sanity.....which is running rather low at the moment.


Sluggy

 

Don't Be A Hater

Thought for the Day.....
What makes us the same is greater than what makes us different.

Enjoy!




Sluggy

Reduced Sodium Honey Garlic Sauce Recipe

Here is the recipe I talked about the other day, since I had some requests to share it.

First, the recipe I "freestyled" off of.....

HONEY GARLIC SAUCE

1/4 cup soy sauce Yikes!
1/4 cup honey
1 TB rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. ginger
1 TB garlic
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. cornstarch

And here is my Version

LOW SODIUM HONEY GARLIC SAUCE
2 TB reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey + 1TB
3 TB rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger(powdered is ok)
3 TB garlic(minced)
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp cornstarch(or more according to thickness of sauce)

You combine all but the cornstarch in a bowl and mix well.
To marinate your meat/protein, put raw meat into Ziploc bag, pour in marinade and refrigerate at least 30 minutes(an hour is better).
After 30 min.,  remove the meat and grill or pan sauté.  Reserve the liquid.

While meat is cooking, put marinade in small saucepan.  Pour all but 2 TB of marinade into pot.
Take the 2 TB of marinade and add your cornstarch to it, mixing onto no lumps remain.
Heat saucepan of marinade to boiling.  Slowly pour in cornstarch/marinade mixture, whisking or mixing as you add it.
Continue heating marinade mixture until it thickens to a sauce consistency.

Pour over your cooked meat, serve with rice, vegetables and/or other dishes.

Of course, you can monkey around with the proportions of the ingredients.  The sodium in this version is a lot better but still a bit high for me, because, well, reduced sodium soy sauce is an oxymoron.  Soy Sauce should be called Salt Sauce. lol
I cut the soy and added rice wine vinegar.

If you like garlic, add more garlic.....if you like spicy, add more of the red pepper flakes.
Or add more or less honey or vinegar to taste.

Next time I make this I'll sauté eggplant and make Garlic Eggplant.


Sluggy
 

The Banjoes Are Calling Me....

Last week I experienced a flurry of genealogy activity.
The week before while noodling around on the interweb I found a library in Lynchburg, VA that has a wealth of genealogical information.
It's called the Jones Memorial Library.
They specialize in local history and genealogy.
Among their holdings are a large amount of local newspaper obituaries.

So I started poking around and came up with quite a few of my ancestors who had been brick walls for me.
I sent away for 8 obituaries at a cost of $80($10 per)......oh how I wish I knew someone locally who could have copied these documents for me cheaper!
This documenting family can get expensive ya know......

Anyway, they arrived very quickly via 1st class mail last week into my hot little hands.

All of the obits were informative and 1 answered a question my brother and I had talked about when he was here for the graduation, as we reminisced about long dead relatives.

The folks in question here are my maternal grandfather's family(my mother's father's side of the family) and/or folks who married into this family.
They lived in the central part of Virginia.  Yes, my mother's mother's family back during the depression was The Waltons, only a little further south....

My grandfather, Wirt Ross Harper, was the oldest son of Robert William Harper and Jennie Vie Tucker Harper of Campbell County, VA.  Wirt had 5 brothers and 2 sisters(in chronological order they were Ollie, Wirt, Royal, Lillie Vie, Robert, Raymond, Ernest and Tucker).
They were all born between 1907 and 1924.
Unfortunately I don't have a group photograph of all of this family.

The most important information I gained from finding these obit listings online was it narrowed down some folks death dates to within a few days for me, even if I didn't send for the obit itself, which also listed the day of the actual death and not just the day it was published in the newspaper.

One of the brothers I had the least information on was Royal.  He died when I was 4 so I don't remember him at all. His obit pegged his birth year(as it gave his age at his death....he was 49).
It also told me that he had been a veteran(as he died in a veteran's hospital), he had been married(listed his widows name, including maiden name), and where he was buried.
What it didn't mention was also telling too.....no surviving children, meaning he was childless when he passed. 
I went to put his information into my family tree on Ancestry and found a new piece of info. there-the application for a veteran's grave marker filled out by his widow in 1963.  This confirmed the military service too.

Now I have done an exhaustive search on Find A Grave for this family line over the past year, and I have never turned up a memorial/known burial plot for Royal in any of the cemeteries my other Harpers are known to be planted in. 
The obit gave me that he was buried in Smith Cemetery, which I assumed to be near Brookneal, VA, where most of this family group lived.
But a search on F.A.G. came up with no such cemetery.

A few days later I found the Campbell County Historical Societies Website.  They have a Project to find the "Lost Cemeteries" in the county and I found the Smith Family Cemetery listed as one of these MIA burying grounds listed there.
I also went onto F.A.G.(aka Find A Grave) and put up a memorial for Royal there and requested a photo from a local volunteer.  I did explain in a note with the request about the issue with where the cemetery was located.  There are 75 local photo volunteers and I am hoping one of them has a clue where this cemetery is or can ask someone locally they know, where to find it.
Cross your fingers for me!

This week's free time has been spent tracking down whether my mother's side of the family dearly departed are listed on F.A.G. or not, and if so, to request that their memorials be transferred to my care so I can link them all up and post more details or photos of them on the site.  So far I have 14 Baker/Vassar/Tucker/Harper/Foster/ ancestors under my wing now.  
I am having a devil of a time getting my grandparents out from the grasp of one F.A.G. contributor.  He does NOT respond to emails or his public messages or memorial suggestions/edits.  I've been trying to get these grands for months now and I will turn this over to the admin on the site very soon.  I suspect the contributor may be dead or infirmed and no longer active.  Why else would he ignore me?  If it comes down to a pissing contest, they are MY grandparents and not his....my mother was an only child so besides my brother, I am the closest living relative, and F.A.G. gives precedence to the closet relative for ancestors within 4 generations.

I would like to take a trip down to Virginia this summer to do some genealogical research at the Campbell Co. Historical Society/Public Library.  I see that they have TONS of research available on site to comb through.  I am at the stage of the game now that online census reports and such have been exhausted and I need official certificates and wills books and old newspaper microfiche now to continue the search.  Plus I'd love to go visit some graveyards in the area too and pay my respects.

I heard that one of my mother's cousin's wife is the unofficial Baker/Vassar family historian in that area, who has photos and such that I don't have and might have some written down stories.  I'd love to get together with her, as well as the cousin of my mother on her father's side who still lives in the area for additional information on the Harper/Tucker lines.

Maybe I'll take #2 Son on a roadtrip once school is out in just over a week.  He can help with the driving now and be my legs when mine wear out.  Oh, I KNOW the thought of spending time with me, a library and cemeteries will thrill him to no end......but if I keep him full of pizza and crap and let him sleep to 2pm, he might not complain too much.  lol

Anybody out there live in South Central VA((Farmville, Lynchburg, Appomattox areas) and want a house guest sometime next month?? 8-)





Sluggy