Cholesterol Festival!

Or as we call it here abouts, the annual Butter and Eggs day Parade. My latest 15 minute Utube opus. 
Traditionally followed by loud drunken brawling in the streets, a period we are just now entering.

Tomorrow is the huge antiques street fair.

A criticism makes my day

I'm probably oversensitive to criticism in general. I recently got a comment on a utube video I did which was so out there (the comment) that I just had to laugh and share with all (both) of you.

"The United States is the only country with the archaic dating system of month/day/year. Everywhere else in the world it it day/month/year. So, your dates should read 17/04/12; or, to keep everyone happy, April 17 2012."


(The date was in the title of the video)  I feel any response would just spoil it.

Last big missing piece

     In what may be another sign of the apocalypse, Tim Lincecum getting shelled, Barry Zito pitching shutout ball being another two, the long gone cupola for our 1899 caboose has returned after being "rebuilt" by a master craftsman over the last 4 years. Darn few original pieces left, but he didn't have a lot to work with.

     I propose to name it "Francis Ford"

Here it's sitting on a dolly on a trailer

The whites of someone's eyes

How often do you REALLY see the whites of someone's eyes? Late this morning I got an excellent, all to close, view of someone's eyes when the driver in front of me, slowed slightly, pulled to the shoulder, then abruptly turned left (as part of a U turn) right in front of me. I can now say that I KNOW that my Prius has antilock brakes. I can say they saved this person's life, that, and the fact that at least he didn't stop when he looked out his side window and saw me coming for the first time. I would guess he was about 10 feet away when I passed the spot he had just vacated. The screeching tires would have been a nice effect, but probably would have meant my hitting him, likely quite hard. And side impacts have a high mortality rate.

The bright side I suppose is that some previous bad driving on his part meant I was watching him like a hawk, or a salt marsh harvest mouse looking for a hawk. About a mile previous, he was second in a 3 car line of cars, I was #3. I don't know our speed, it wasn't fast enough to notice or slow enough to notice, when he suddenly pulls out across a double yellow line with an blind intersection approaching, and passed the #1 car. The #1 car made a left at the intersection, and as I came around the corner, #2 didn't seem as far away as I would have expected.

This is an area where I usually set my cruise control at 57, still watching #2. I realize I'm catching up to him which seemed odd. Now his brake lights flash a couple of times, and as I get closer he pulls to the right at a paved driveway that just goes into a field, and while I'm pondering this, he does the abrupt left turn in front of me.

I hope he has smelly shorts

Oral update

Things are moving quickly here at the future house of pain.

I had a consult with the periodontist this am who described in excruciating detail the tortures she intends on inflicting on me, and all the pre op and post op instructions. The first available appt was 2 weeks away, then I made an appt for the final crown, 3 weeks after that.

Just got a call, they have an opening tomorrow early. I'm "happy" to get that, less anticipatory anxiousness and all that. Rescheduled the crown appt, fortunate that they had another opening. The only down side, is I had a cleaning appt a week BEFORE the surgery that will probably have to be postponed.

But in a month I should be mo bettah.

And the sprained wrist I acquired Saturday, which feels a lot better anyway, I surely won't notice after tomorrow.

I was offered a prescription for Vicodin, but I had a bad experience with that before, so we're going to try some version of codeine I think.

Another Genealogical tsunami

I just looked, and it was just short of a year ago that I last got a lead that led to a flood of new ancestors that had to eventually be capped off.

I had spotted a new lead for my 3X grandfather, my paternal great grandmother's paternal grandfather, the Cleary line. (Originally Clary) It goes back to England/Ireland in the 1750's.

Once again it leads back to South and North Carolina via Arkansas. Once again there's a will talking about disposition of slaves. At least the Wilkinson's (my male lineage) were Quakers. sigh

There's a lot going on in the genealogical world these days as the 1940's census comes on line. And Ancestry.com is having a lot of free access to 1940's era info. I signed up for a month before this and found a whole lot of interesting info. Pretty sure I found the year my paternal grandmother died ('63) and where she's buried. Found where she lived and that she worked in a garment factory and may have been widowed (2nd marriage) in the mid 1930's.

I was about to sign up for some research into a missing uncle when my root canal issue reared it's head, so that's put off until that's paid for. The Ancestry.com research system seems to have become much more formal and business like. I paid once before and they just connected me with someone in South Carolina who did a great job. This time as I started down the road it seemed less personal and more commercial. I'll still do it when I can.

Also just today I may have found someone who might be my missing uncle. He was adopted (as was my father) but hasn't shown up in the census with the people who adopted him.

Meanwhile I've been doing a lot of video taping of the reestablished rail freight service in our area. My videos are on utube as "nwppzler". I'm enjoying learning skills in getting shots, editing videos w/audio etc. And there is also an element of "the hunt", many times waiting hours for nothing, other days constant action, having to make quick decisions what to shoot and where.

And the reconstruction of the old railcars goes on. There are videos of that also.

I'm not sure anyone is actually visiting here anymore since I haven't posted in such a long time....