Monday Genea-pourri

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week.

Nature/History

I took my camera to the Meadow this week and got some interesting shots. The sun was shining nicely on the wooden cows at the fence. The Baccharis (coyote bush) was in full seed dispersal mode which made everything white. The moon was setting behind Mt. Wanda and I managed to get a nice shot. Also a shot of a California Scrub Jay. Wintertime, the recording of the phenology study goes pretty quickly, as many of the plants are in dormant mode.

I also went on the first tour of John Muir’s grave site. A van took us out to the site and we learned a little about each family buried there: The Strentzels, the Muirs, and their children. We learned also about the Sierra Club coming to the site after Muir’s death. The large eucalyptus tree has significant history with the Sierra club gatherings. 

After I got back, I visited the house to see the Christmas decorations and sit a while in the cupola at the top. I love the 360° view from there.

Part of the John Muir National Historic Park

Genealogy

I sent several letters out to county recorder’s and court offices asking for particular records. The court office has had my request for three weeks and I wrote asking how my project was coming along. They have no email option and I had to send a blank check for the payment. I sure would like to know how much it will be so I can record it in the checkbook. It’s hard to keep it balanced if the amount is not known.

Worked on the “problems” list in RootsMagic. I had twenty-one errors. Some of them were easy to fix. I had put in the wrong century for their birth, for example. Others were not so easy to fix, due to not knowing the source of the information. These were lines I had worked on over twenty years ago when I wasn’t as careful as I am now. I got the list down to ten. These will have to be researched some more.

We had a APG Writers SIG board meeting, which we did online. I am secretary and took minutes. We had some planning to do for next year and discussed a new subgroup we’re starting for the SIG.

Viewed the following webinars: “Finding Your Roots in Catholic Records” by Lisa Toth Salinas. She did a great job explaining the laws and types of records created by the Catholic church. I also participated in the DearMyrtle Hangout for MGD. Our discussion was about the locations for offline records and I had two examples of records I found at a historical society in Merced and a genealogy society library in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

I worked on the BCG Certification element, the KDP. I’m just about done with two of the bios and about half way done with the last one. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have just under three months left on my time, or I’ll have to renew. We chatted about that on our Cert Group weekly chats. I’m okay with having to extend, though I’d rather just finish.

Sport

Played Pickleball only once this week due to other activities on Wednesday and Friday, and only one yoga class with Linda. Monday, I managed to get in over 10,000 steps due to pickleball and a walk to the mailbox. My exercise this week wasn’t as productive as previous weeks.

Family

My sisters, Sabrina, Renee, and Danna, celebrated by daughter, Elizabeth’s 29th birthday on Wednesday at the Barndiva Restaurant in Healdsburg. We had a nice ride up but the traffic coming back during commute was horrible. We had a great lunch and a nice visit afterwards while walking about the square in Healdsburg. It was a beautiful day, clear and not too cold.

Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.