Last Thursday I got a call from Mom. She was being sent to Strong Memorial Hospital to meet with a Dr Friday at 3pm. Seems her living functions have been going nowhere but up for some time.
I left here at 7am Friday to drive up and meet my brother in Syracuse where I would take her the rest of the way.
To make a long story short. The Dr. suspected she had drug induced autoimmune hepetitis. Her liver functions had been going up since her last knee replacement. He was going to put her on a steroid which is the only treatment and do a liver biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. I checked with the nurse and her liver functions were 1500-1700. Normal range is under 45.
I thought she might be admitted so I brought enough clothes for d extra days and figured I would get a hotel room if I needed to be up there. In any case I had to come back Sunday as I had my own Dr. appt on Monday...which scheduled me for more titanium implants on the 27th of the month.
Mom had her biopsy and was released yesterday. I left here at 7am and made it up to the hospital by 11 or so. We had to wait a little for the paperwork to be done and then it was off to Syracuse where my brother would take her the rest of the way to Watertown. I made it home about 6pm after picking up dinner.....just about 520 miles for the day.
It looks like she will be fine. She had been taken off most of her meds and even before the steriods her liver functions had already started to come down...to about 1000.
As for myself, surgery is scheduled for the 27 of February at Williamsport and I should be discharged the next day. The Dr will remove one disc on my neck and replace it with a titanium piece and then fuse C-5 C-6/7. I think that is how it will go.
Maybe now I can set off those airport alarms.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
If You Eat Meat You Won't Want To Watch This
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Degenerative Disc Disease
This image is mine taken the first week of January. Looks like I have put off having this surgery long enough.
I started having symptoms again in December. I would have episodes where I would have allot of intense numbness in my left arm. A couple of years ago I had somewhat similar symptoms on my right. The symptoms this time come and go whether I am sitting or standing. Putting it off any longer could mean that I lose motor function in the arm. My physical therapist says that I have more weakness in my right arm when compared to the left so although I have not had any problems with the right in the past 1.5 years or so, damage was still being done.
I have two more days of therapy and then I see my Neurosurgeon again on 2/16 and will tell him to go ahead and schedule the surgery.
What he said he will do is most likely go in from the back of the neck and fuse three vertebrae (I think C4-6) with a plate. That should alleviate some of the compression that you can see from the photo, but may take months to get results.
On another note. I had my one year follow up for my left knee replacement....all is looking great there.
I am starting to think I should have signed up for some kind of surgical rewards program.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Upward Basketball Luke 11:12
Yup, I did say Luke 11:12.
Jesus said to them, When you pray, say: "Father, we paray that your name will always be kept holy. We pray that your kingdom will come."
Zachary started the local Upward Basketball program last Wednesday. Zack has done two seasons of baseball and soccer and this is something new for him. I have to say I like the organization of it and the church is where they have the practice and the games is aboslutely cavernous.
A few weeks ago they had the evaluation for the program where they graded each of the players on four different basketball functions. All the scores are uploaded into a program and each team is given a couple players in each developement level. At game time each player will have a colored wristband and plays against a player on the opposing team with the same colored wristband or skill level.
They are given a little card with a verse on it for them to memorize prior to the next week. If they memorize it for the next practice or game the following week they get an iron on star to go on their basketball jersey.
We havve one more practice on Wednesday and then his first game is Saturday. They also have blow up tunnels to come out of for the games and there are lights and strobes....should be pretty interesting site to see when he has his games.
Jesus said to them, When you pray, say: "Father, we paray that your name will always be kept holy. We pray that your kingdom will come."
Zachary started the local Upward Basketball program last Wednesday. Zack has done two seasons of baseball and soccer and this is something new for him. I have to say I like the organization of it and the church is where they have the practice and the games is aboslutely cavernous.
A few weeks ago they had the evaluation for the program where they graded each of the players on four different basketball functions. All the scores are uploaded into a program and each team is given a couple players in each developement level. At game time each player will have a colored wristband and plays against a player on the opposing team with the same colored wristband or skill level.
They are given a little card with a verse on it for them to memorize prior to the next week. If they memorize it for the next practice or game the following week they get an iron on star to go on their basketball jersey.
We havve one more practice on Wednesday and then his first game is Saturday. They also have blow up tunnels to come out of for the games and there are lights and strobes....should be pretty interesting site to see when he has his games.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Barack Obama's Connection To President Abraham Lincoln
Direct Link To My .pdf File of Barack Obama's Genealogical Connection To President Abraham Lincoln.
When the presidential primaries started and Barack Obama won in Iowa I felt that we had finally grown as a country. I shared my feelings with my wife Shelly and she quickly reminded me we as a country took just as much of a step forward with Hillary.
It is of great importance that Barack Obama came to us at a time in our history when we needed him the most.
Since I have been working on my genealogy for well over one year now I have come across many interesting and noteworthy people that we are connected to. I even put some of it in a small book to give to my immediate family for Christmas. One of those people is Dick Cheney which I discovered some time ago. Another interesting and noteworthy person is President Abraham Lincoln.
I have one line on each side of my family, Fisk(e) from my father and Bigelow from my mother's side that can be traced back to the early Massachusetts settlements. This is where I came up with the name of my family history site Fiske-Bigelow If two families can be traced back to those early settlements then it is not surprising to find that they intermarried.
It was a little interesting when at some point during the presidential campaigns that it was discovered that Barack Obama was a cousin of Dick Cheney. If I have a connection to Dick Cheney and Barack Obama has a connection to Dick Cheney then not only would I have a connection to Barack Obama....
By the way, my son Zachary just loves the idea he's related.
but through my family line somewhere would Barack Obama have a connection to President Abraham Lincoln.
I thought it was fitting that today on CNN there was a spot on the similarities between Barack Obama and President Lincoln...the man for hope, for change, etc so I thought today was as good as any other to get my site up with that information.
The Fiske-Bigelow site is set up where the photos and stories are separate from the main pages and consequently the family links within the photo pages are not accurate and photos/stories are not located in the main pages.
One is updated frequently whereas the other is not.
The file that shows how Barack Obama is connected to Abraham Lincoln can be found within http://www.fiske-bigelow.com/Photos.htm then viewing either page for President Lincoln or Barack Obama.
Or, you can Go There Directly
When the presidential primaries started and Barack Obama won in Iowa I felt that we had finally grown as a country. I shared my feelings with my wife Shelly and she quickly reminded me we as a country took just as much of a step forward with Hillary.
It is of great importance that Barack Obama came to us at a time in our history when we needed him the most.
Since I have been working on my genealogy for well over one year now I have come across many interesting and noteworthy people that we are connected to. I even put some of it in a small book to give to my immediate family for Christmas. One of those people is Dick Cheney which I discovered some time ago. Another interesting and noteworthy person is President Abraham Lincoln.
I have one line on each side of my family, Fisk(e) from my father and Bigelow from my mother's side that can be traced back to the early Massachusetts settlements. This is where I came up with the name of my family history site Fiske-Bigelow If two families can be traced back to those early settlements then it is not surprising to find that they intermarried.
It was a little interesting when at some point during the presidential campaigns that it was discovered that Barack Obama was a cousin of Dick Cheney. If I have a connection to Dick Cheney and Barack Obama has a connection to Dick Cheney then not only would I have a connection to Barack Obama....
By the way, my son Zachary just loves the idea he's related.
but through my family line somewhere would Barack Obama have a connection to President Abraham Lincoln.
I thought it was fitting that today on CNN there was a spot on the similarities between Barack Obama and President Lincoln...the man for hope, for change, etc so I thought today was as good as any other to get my site up with that information.
The Fiske-Bigelow site is set up where the photos and stories are separate from the main pages and consequently the family links within the photo pages are not accurate and photos/stories are not located in the main pages.
One is updated frequently whereas the other is not.
The file that shows how Barack Obama is connected to Abraham Lincoln can be found within http://www.fiske-bigelow.com/Photos.htm then viewing either page for President Lincoln or Barack Obama.
Or, you can Go There Directly
Monday, January 05, 2009
Back To Normal
This photo was taken from the stairway that goes up to our master bedroom on the 2nd floor.
Christmas vacation is over and school started back up today. it's been a busy couple of weeks for all of us. Tuesday we had Shelly's parents come up from NY and we also had Shelly's sister and her fiance come up from NC and her brother and his family come up from Georgia.
We had an extra 9 people in the house at one point, all together 4 families....wow. It's slowly getting back to normal. I think I did 5 loads of laundry the day after everyone left...lol. It was nice to have mostly everyone from that side of the family together. We plan on heading south for Easter.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Another Friend
This is another friend that comes to visit every so often. On the upper deck off the living room we have a bird feeder that hangs out over the deck. The pole that it is on rotates so you can fill the feeder over the deck and then swing back out so it is over the ground....keeps the bird poop off the deck.
It is a little late to see then for this year but there are bears in the area. We haven't seen any yet but they have been spotted within a mile from us.
Turkeys
Two blogs in one week...wow.
I just ordered the last gift card so it looks like all the shopping is done, finally. I did my part in trying to jump start the economy by dropping some serious coin at all the usual stores...WalMart, Amazon.com, Target, etc.
Not too long ago we had some visitors. Every now and then we would go out onto the upper deck and there would be several deer down behind us. One time we were hearing a racket and I look out the window and there must have been 20-30 turkeys. Ok, I have seen that many turkeys before...one time comming home to this house I took a turn off the highway, made my 2nd turn and had to stop dead in my tracks and wait for all the turkeys, again 20-30, to cross the road.
This time at the house though they were flying. They would fly from tree top to tree top, probably some 50-80 ft off the ground. What a sight.
This one I caught in our driveway.
This photo gives you an idea of how high up these things were flying. It kind of looks a little odd to see something that big flying awkwardly, stumbling through the air.
I just ordered the last gift card so it looks like all the shopping is done, finally. I did my part in trying to jump start the economy by dropping some serious coin at all the usual stores...WalMart, Amazon.com, Target, etc.
Not too long ago we had some visitors. Every now and then we would go out onto the upper deck and there would be several deer down behind us. One time we were hearing a racket and I look out the window and there must have been 20-30 turkeys. Ok, I have seen that many turkeys before...one time comming home to this house I took a turn off the highway, made my 2nd turn and had to stop dead in my tracks and wait for all the turkeys, again 20-30, to cross the road.
This time at the house though they were flying. They would fly from tree top to tree top, probably some 50-80 ft off the ground. What a sight.
This one I caught in our driveway.
This photo gives you an idea of how high up these things were flying. It kind of looks a little odd to see something that big flying awkwardly, stumbling through the air.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Our Little Girl Is One Year Old!
I thought today would be an appropriate day to start blogging after several months of absence. It's not that I didn't have anything to blog about or to comment on it is plainly that blogging wasn't much of a priority. I was shocked to see that I had over 10,000 hits. This time of year they are mostly to do with the Tacky Christmas Lights.
Anyway.... As the title suggests our little girl turns one year old today. If you had suggested two years ago that a little one would be in our lives today I would have shrugged it off as mere fantasy but I can tell you, of course as a biased parent, that she has brought an unmeasurable amount of joy into our lives and I couldn't imagine life without Sammi.
We brought her home and put her in this little box as a surprise for Zachary. Any smaller and we would have been able to bring her home in my shirt pocket.
Here is a recent photo. This is her favorite spot. She can look out through the windows and watch the squirrels getting into the bird feeder. Today she weighs abt 6.5 lbs.
Anyway.... As the title suggests our little girl turns one year old today. If you had suggested two years ago that a little one would be in our lives today I would have shrugged it off as mere fantasy but I can tell you, of course as a biased parent, that she has brought an unmeasurable amount of joy into our lives and I couldn't imagine life without Sammi.
We brought her home and put her in this little box as a surprise for Zachary. Any smaller and we would have been able to bring her home in my shirt pocket.
Here is a recent photo. This is her favorite spot. She can look out through the windows and watch the squirrels getting into the bird feeder. Today she weighs abt 6.5 lbs.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Our New Home
After two years here in our current home, we're heading south.
Ok, so it's only 11 miles away. We had an excellent opportunity to get into a contemporary 3200 sq ft house, three stall garage home overlooking the valley. Out the back deck you can see between 2-4 miles over the West Branch of the Susquehanna River Valley.
There's 2 and 3/4 baths, 3 bedrooms, den/office huge living room and finished basement.
Ok, so it's only 11 miles away. We had an excellent opportunity to get into a contemporary 3200 sq ft house, three stall garage home overlooking the valley. Out the back deck you can see between 2-4 miles over the West Branch of the Susquehanna River Valley.
There's 2 and 3/4 baths, 3 bedrooms, den/office huge living room and finished basement.
Friday, August 15, 2008
New Web Site
Finally got the genealogy site up and running. Next task is to upload the photos and stories and add more to the front page.
www.fiske-bigelow.com
That's pretty much the reason why I haven't blogged in what seems like forever. I have almost 13000 people in my family tree, 200+ photos and lots of stories.
www.fiske-bigelow.com
That's pretty much the reason why I haven't blogged in what seems like forever. I have almost 13000 people in my family tree, 200+ photos and lots of stories.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Ouch
If you see the little oil price chart thingy on the right then I feel your pain. I have not seen movement like this since the internet boom in the latter half of the 1990's. It was pretty hard not to make money and the movements were strikingly similar.
If the price of oil keeps going like it has been we are gearing up for $150/barrel within the next month.
Gas is never too far behind in this. Although the prices move so fast you tend to forget whether gas has caught up or not. From my observation, and this is just a guess, but it seems to be that the price of gas is going up roughly $.05 per gallon with every $2 increase in the price of oil. The national average of $3.81 today was based on $128 and change....assuming we were caught up.
If my theory is correct then if the price closes above $131 then we should expect $3.86 in the very near term. Of course locally can be very different. We're heading back to northern NY Friday morning and the tank is full but as I told Shelly last week I would be very suprised if gas in Northern NY WASN'T above $4/gal.
Heating oil futures are now running almost $3.90 which means to top off your tank in the basement should be in the nieghborhood of $4.60???
Have you put down that gass guzzeling heavy duty truck or super sized SUV yet? Put a fork in her, she's done.
Green will be the next status symbol.
If the price of oil keeps going like it has been we are gearing up for $150/barrel within the next month.
Gas is never too far behind in this. Although the prices move so fast you tend to forget whether gas has caught up or not. From my observation, and this is just a guess, but it seems to be that the price of gas is going up roughly $.05 per gallon with every $2 increase in the price of oil. The national average of $3.81 today was based on $128 and change....assuming we were caught up.
If my theory is correct then if the price closes above $131 then we should expect $3.86 in the very near term. Of course locally can be very different. We're heading back to northern NY Friday morning and the tank is full but as I told Shelly last week I would be very suprised if gas in Northern NY WASN'T above $4/gal.
Heating oil futures are now running almost $3.90 which means to top off your tank in the basement should be in the nieghborhood of $4.60???
Have you put down that gass guzzeling heavy duty truck or super sized SUV yet? Put a fork in her, she's done.
Green will be the next status symbol.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Another 3am Crisis Call
When the phone rings at 3am as another crisis occures, do you want someone who can't get coffee out of a machine to answer? I think NOT.
Hillary Clinton - Gas Tax and the Economy
1. $.185 tax "holiday": In reality this amounts to:
a. 10 gallon fill up $1.85 per fill up or a savings up to x 12 weeks = $22.2
b. same car filled up 2x/week x 12 weeks = $44.4
c. SUV taking 16 gal on fill up once a week would realize a net savings = $35.52
d. same vehicle filling up 2x/week x 12 weeks = $71.04
So for the "average" family the savings would be about $30 over three months. For families that drive more, have bigger cars, SUVs and trucks and therefore fill up more frequently the savings would be significantly more. Truckers would save even more on top of that.
John McCain says with the $$ a family saves at the pump it may be able to allow them a "better meal" for themselves or their children.
yeah "up size that happy meal for me"
The amount saved at the pump upon fill up is insignificant and it does nothing to change driving habits.
2. "Finally get tough with OPEC. OPEC is basically a monopoly of the 13 biggest oil producing nations" "OPEC has refused to increase production"...
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_pro-energy-oil-production
a.#1 Saudi Arabia: 9,475,000 bbl/day
#2 * Russia: 9,400,000 bbl/day
#3 * United States: 7,610,000 bbl/day
#4 Iran: 3,979,000 bbl/day
#5 * China: 3,631,000 bbl/day
#6 * Mexico: 3,420,000 bbl/day
#7 * Norway: 3,220,000 bbl/day
#8 * Canada: 3,135,000 bbl/day
#9 Venezuela: 3,081,000 bbl/day
#10 UAE 2,540,000 bbl/day
#11 Nigeria: 2,451,000 bbl/day
#12 Kuwait: 2,418,000 bbl/day
#13 Iraq: 2,130,000 bbl/day
* Denotes NON OPEC member Countries
Two question here:
a. Is OPEC daily output of crude oil at or near its peak? If they are at or near their peak output capacity then there is nothing they can do?
b. It has been stated for several years now that refining capacity here in the US is very close to capacity. We have as a country built a new refinery in 20-30 years. Even if we were to see more oil flow we do not have enough spare capacity to handle it. The emerging markets of China, Russia and India are using increasingly more and more oil and their economies continue to expand.
3. "Make sure the price of oil is not being determined by speculators and market manipulator's"
Certainly we don't want any laws broken but in light of the flight of investment away from the US Housing market it seems that investment in not only oil but commodities is a rational trend when considering the continued expansion of emerging markets which are mainly Russia, China and India.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Conversations With Zack
Zack went to bed last night at his usual time. Normally it takes him half an hour or so to wind down and actually get to sleep. Last night about the 45 min mark after he went to bed he comes out to the living room. "I don't like the springs in my mattress"..."they're keeping me awake".
Like he knows there are springs in his mattress huh. Then as he was heading back to bed....
"I don't like it", "I need a therm-o-pedic mattress".
Where the hell he came up with that idea I have no clue.
Like he knows there are springs in his mattress huh. Then as he was heading back to bed....
"I don't like it", "I need a therm-o-pedic mattress".
Where the hell he came up with that idea I have no clue.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Alittle Bit Of This And That
I don't blog as much as I used to. So it is time for an update and so here goes my thoughts on a number of thoughts.
2008 Presidential Race I have been a registered republican for my entire adult life. If I had to place myself in any category I would describe myself as a moderate republican, that is to say that I don't follow everything... I am anything but a Lemming. I am all for smaller government, less taxes.
until now
As with many others, the Iraq war has left a bad taste in my mouth. I have seen people I am close to go into Iraq three times and at least at this point there is no indication there will not be a fourth. At the onset I was for the war even if we were to the moral police force of the world....it was the right thing to do. To free a people from the years of bondage Sadaam Hussein had put them in. It was a heroic a noble action even though misunderstood. It could equally be argued that this is just my initial rationalization of the lost cost.
The war aside, it is time for change. If you have even remotely followed congressional acts over the last several years the partisanship has gotten worse. It is time to bring the country together, for both sides of the aisle to meet in the middle and work together to get things moving again. Too many politicians are indebted to others than those who elected them.
McCain.... look at the new boss, same as the old boss. He might have a history of being "independent minded" but we don't need a third term of the same old song and dance.
Hillary... Although her reaction to or how she handled the soiling of Monica's blue dress might rightfully be a "personal and private family matter" as Chelsea has stated it would tend to give us some insight on how she would handle a crisis. If that phone ringing at 3am was not a foreign policy crisis, nor a economic crisis but rather a personal family crisis, perhaps in the like of William's stray usage of the family seed. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger and in that we deserve that insight.
Other that that it is my opinion as well and the opinion of many others that Hillary is divisive. I guess it is the aura of the wining at any cost but I don't believe there is any way she can heel the wounds of divisiveness this country has gone through the past 7 or so years. In that essence, it will be be more of the same.
So that leaves me with Barrack. When he won Iowa I said to myself that we finally grew up as a country. It made me feel proud. In that sense I know what Michelle Obama meant when she said it was the first time in her life she was proud of America. It was a mainly white state (91%) voting for an African American to be their president. That was and is undoubtedly awesome....
baby steps
If you have had the chance to listen to recordings of JFK's speeches or MLK's you cannot come away from that without feeling moved and that is what Barrack Obama does for this 43 year old white male. I changed my party affiliation from republican to democrat just so I can vote for Barrack on April 22. I believe there are more people in my demographic out there than people have realized.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oil & Gas
Some say at $4/gal for gasoline people will begin to really take a hard look at how they live their lives and cut back. Whether that holds true or not remains to be seen. I have always believed in prepare and expect the worse and if something less materializes then it will be a pleasant surprise.
Oil and gas has been going up for quite a while now. If I remember correctly last year we had a bit of a respite from high prices during towards the tail end of winter and before the summer driving season. This year the only respite we are seeing is a plateau of gas at $3.29 locally...or $3.319 nationally. When we start to switch over to the summer driving season and those different blends we might see $4/gal in more and more parts of the country.
It's coming, just a question of when.
To even fill up your tank for heating the bill for a fill up has gone from under $400 to almost $700. Can you say ouch.
Here's some food for thought. Look back ten years ago and picture yourself and/or your family and compare the differences between then and now. Now think ten years into the future and the one difference you will see or rather not see is Water. It will not be here in the quantities that we have been accustomed to in the past. If you think food prices are high now wait ten years when the lack in abundance of water causes those food prices to even run higher.
Look around your neighborhood. Do you see downspouts from rain gutters running right into the street and into your town's sewers? 10 years from now you may see those downspouts running into the basement and into a cistern for use in gardens and other outside watering....or with minimal treatment perhaps even some laundry
Now onto my genealogy.
When I got back into genealogy last August I had 100 or so names and my thought was to get enough to publish the work for a Christmas gift to my parents. Well, needless to say that didn't happen. The more names I added, the more I uncovered and the more I have yet to add. Today I have 7,622 names. I have 120 photos and numerous stories. Actually, my "Barker Family Tree" is far outnumbered by some other lines in my family.
MY Family Tree
Barker - Can trace back to 1750 in Suffolk County England
Fisk(e) - Paternal Grandmother's line can be traced through to first settlements in Massachusetts and then 1400's in England
Cranker - Maternal line, Can be traced to 1750's in Montgomery County in NY
Stevens - Mother's Maternal Grandfather's line can be traced to 1793 in VT
Bigelow - Mother's Maternal Grandmother's line can be traced to early settlements in Massachusetts and then 1400's in England.
2008 Presidential Race I have been a registered republican for my entire adult life. If I had to place myself in any category I would describe myself as a moderate republican, that is to say that I don't follow everything... I am anything but a Lemming. I am all for smaller government, less taxes.
until now
As with many others, the Iraq war has left a bad taste in my mouth. I have seen people I am close to go into Iraq three times and at least at this point there is no indication there will not be a fourth. At the onset I was for the war even if we were to the moral police force of the world....it was the right thing to do. To free a people from the years of bondage Sadaam Hussein had put them in. It was a heroic a noble action even though misunderstood. It could equally be argued that this is just my initial rationalization of the lost cost.
The war aside, it is time for change. If you have even remotely followed congressional acts over the last several years the partisanship has gotten worse. It is time to bring the country together, for both sides of the aisle to meet in the middle and work together to get things moving again. Too many politicians are indebted to others than those who elected them.
McCain.... look at the new boss, same as the old boss. He might have a history of being "independent minded" but we don't need a third term of the same old song and dance.
Hillary... Although her reaction to or how she handled the soiling of Monica's blue dress might rightfully be a "personal and private family matter" as Chelsea has stated it would tend to give us some insight on how she would handle a crisis. If that phone ringing at 3am was not a foreign policy crisis, nor a economic crisis but rather a personal family crisis, perhaps in the like of William's stray usage of the family seed. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger and in that we deserve that insight.
Other that that it is my opinion as well and the opinion of many others that Hillary is divisive. I guess it is the aura of the wining at any cost but I don't believe there is any way she can heel the wounds of divisiveness this country has gone through the past 7 or so years. In that essence, it will be be more of the same.
So that leaves me with Barrack. When he won Iowa I said to myself that we finally grew up as a country. It made me feel proud. In that sense I know what Michelle Obama meant when she said it was the first time in her life she was proud of America. It was a mainly white state (91%) voting for an African American to be their president. That was and is undoubtedly awesome....
baby steps
If you have had the chance to listen to recordings of JFK's speeches or MLK's you cannot come away from that without feeling moved and that is what Barrack Obama does for this 43 year old white male. I changed my party affiliation from republican to democrat just so I can vote for Barrack on April 22. I believe there are more people in my demographic out there than people have realized.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oil & Gas
Some say at $4/gal for gasoline people will begin to really take a hard look at how they live their lives and cut back. Whether that holds true or not remains to be seen. I have always believed in prepare and expect the worse and if something less materializes then it will be a pleasant surprise.
Oil and gas has been going up for quite a while now. If I remember correctly last year we had a bit of a respite from high prices during towards the tail end of winter and before the summer driving season. This year the only respite we are seeing is a plateau of gas at $3.29 locally...or $3.319 nationally. When we start to switch over to the summer driving season and those different blends we might see $4/gal in more and more parts of the country.
It's coming, just a question of when.
To even fill up your tank for heating the bill for a fill up has gone from under $400 to almost $700. Can you say ouch.
Here's some food for thought. Look back ten years ago and picture yourself and/or your family and compare the differences between then and now. Now think ten years into the future and the one difference you will see or rather not see is Water. It will not be here in the quantities that we have been accustomed to in the past. If you think food prices are high now wait ten years when the lack in abundance of water causes those food prices to even run higher.
Look around your neighborhood. Do you see downspouts from rain gutters running right into the street and into your town's sewers? 10 years from now you may see those downspouts running into the basement and into a cistern for use in gardens and other outside watering....or with minimal treatment perhaps even some laundry
Now onto my genealogy.
When I got back into genealogy last August I had 100 or so names and my thought was to get enough to publish the work for a Christmas gift to my parents. Well, needless to say that didn't happen. The more names I added, the more I uncovered and the more I have yet to add. Today I have 7,622 names. I have 120 photos and numerous stories. Actually, my "Barker Family Tree" is far outnumbered by some other lines in my family.
MY Family Tree
Barker - Can trace back to 1750 in Suffolk County England
Fisk(e) - Paternal Grandmother's line can be traced through to first settlements in Massachusetts and then 1400's in England
Cranker - Maternal line, Can be traced to 1750's in Montgomery County in NY
Stevens - Mother's Maternal Grandfather's line can be traced to 1793 in VT
Bigelow - Mother's Maternal Grandmother's line can be traced to early settlements in Massachusetts and then 1400's in England.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Busy Busy
Alot of changes sine my last post. I have been busy in my research on my family tree and in the course, helping others as well. I think I started last Aug with maybe 100 or so names going as far back as England in early to middle 1800's. To date I have almost 7,000 names in my datatbase with lost of stories and photos. I have at least 4,000 or more to transcribe into my records. On two main lines from my mother's side I am stuck at late 1700's. Another line from my mothers side I can go back to the first two generation in the Massachusetts colonies and beyond. The same can be said for my father side. A great uncle of my fathers headed west from Prescott Ontario to settle Alberta.
I have made many connections and found distant cousins from Canada, all over the US, England, Australia and New Zealand.
Doing this much research you often dig up many interesting family members and stories to boot. Essentially, if you can trace your family history back 400 years in New England you should be related to someone famous. I have found my family related to several US Presidents, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a handful of civil war generals, a NH gouvernor, and several wall street financiers.
That can pretty much take up alot of my free time, aside from the household duties, etc etc.
Physical Thereapy went very well and I was done a couple of weeks ago. I still go in a few times each week to use their equipment for a nominal fee which is very nice. All they need now is a sauna. I ended up with a rangle of motion of 2 degrees to 120 degrees. Walking in the yard or walking parallel to the slope of the ground doesn't do my knee any good so I try to keep to the sidewalks.
We did have a new addition to our family on February 15.
Her name is Sammi. She was born just before Christmas. She is a toy poodle. She's a little bigger now but not much so. I think at full grown she will get to be about 7-8 lbs. The above photo was taken before she went to the "day spa". The after photo is below.
She has been a very much appreiated member of our family. She was housebroken in lesss than two weeks and it did't take her too long to sleep through the night.
Zack is busy with school as usual. He lost all but one day of his Easter vacation so he will have school until they are done for the year in May. She has been busy as well. She is a quilter and always seems to be working on one project or another. She does beautiful work. We may have an opportunity soon to relocate to Nrth Carolina which will be very nice.....closure to her siblings and out of the snow. It's a longshot but we'll see where it goes.
I have made many connections and found distant cousins from Canada, all over the US, England, Australia and New Zealand.
Doing this much research you often dig up many interesting family members and stories to boot. Essentially, if you can trace your family history back 400 years in New England you should be related to someone famous. I have found my family related to several US Presidents, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a handful of civil war generals, a NH gouvernor, and several wall street financiers.
That can pretty much take up alot of my free time, aside from the household duties, etc etc.
Physical Thereapy went very well and I was done a couple of weeks ago. I still go in a few times each week to use their equipment for a nominal fee which is very nice. All they need now is a sauna. I ended up with a rangle of motion of 2 degrees to 120 degrees. Walking in the yard or walking parallel to the slope of the ground doesn't do my knee any good so I try to keep to the sidewalks.
We did have a new addition to our family on February 15.
Her name is Sammi. She was born just before Christmas. She is a toy poodle. She's a little bigger now but not much so. I think at full grown she will get to be about 7-8 lbs. The above photo was taken before she went to the "day spa". The after photo is below.
She has been a very much appreiated member of our family. She was housebroken in lesss than two weeks and it did't take her too long to sleep through the night.
Zack is busy with school as usual. He lost all but one day of his Easter vacation so he will have school until they are done for the year in May. She has been busy as well. She is a quilter and always seems to be working on one project or another. She does beautiful work. We may have an opportunity soon to relocate to Nrth Carolina which will be very nice.....closure to her siblings and out of the snow. It's a longshot but we'll see where it goes.
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