Tough Times

Well, this is quite a week for our family. I am so glad that Linda is better after her scary emergency trip to the hospital. Sometimes the stoic approach to life isn't exactly the best idea. I am so glad that Bill, Carl, and Clare acted decisively and got her to the hospital in time. I am sure there will be many days of recovery. Our prayers are with all of you and our offer to help in other ways still valid. I love all of you and will be there in a snap if you need me.

Meanwhile, little Abby ... I am hoping and praying that her stay in the hospital will be a short one and that all will be back to normal soon. I know that imitation is the highest form of praise, but this is taking it a little too far. Grandmother and granddaughter illness is too much for one family to handle at the same time.

Less critical, but irritating none the less, the Bacon-Swenson family is victim to a random vandalism in the neighborhood. A couple of nights ago someone shot car windows with a pellet gun and broke one of the large side windows out of the van and put three holes in the front window of our Camry. The van window was replaced today, but it may be awhile before we can replace the other one. There were 30 other windows shot out that night. What fun!

On a happier note, I am now a consultant in our family history library and am signed on the new family search web site. I will be checking all of our entries and hopefully will get it all straightened out, consolidated, and find additional names for temple work. I have talked with Rhonda and Harry and now am more hopeful about all of the pictures. More on that to follow...

My Yoyo Life

So.... after the pity party yesterday, I am better today. This is such a strange and inconsistent disorder. The more I read about fibromyalgia, the more I am coming to understand the maddening nature of it. Without warning a week becomes one of fatigue and pain. I am just going to have to find a way to ignore the inconvenience.

Meanwhile... I am still working on scanning pictures into the computer. Rhonda says there is a program online that will store your photos giving access to all of them to others who can download and copy the ones they want. This sounds ideal to me. As I get more information I will post it for all to comment on.

I am going to work today at the family history library and will see if I can find more for all of us to do. I am fascinated with the relationship calculator I found. We are all related to the astronaut Buzz Aldrin, also. (it is not as direct a relationship as our relationship to Julius Caesar)

Fibromyalgia Blues

Man! I am so annoyed! I have had two days straight of terrible body cramping and fatigue. I am just glad that I am not always this useless. I am really enjoying reading all of your blogs. I envy Carl's children having so much fun in the pool.

In case any of you are interested, each of you is related to Julius Caesar. You are 1st cousins 60 times removed.

I am going back to bed.

Not much of a blog today.....

Saturday Morning At the Temple

What a great way to start a Saturday! Vicki, Chip, Harvey and I just got back from doing some sealings at the temple. I have had some of these names for quite awhile waiting to get a stack together. Our friend, David Rindlisbacher, was our sealer and it was a very neat time.

Thanks to Carl for doing the work for Samuel Carleton. I'll be sending more his way.

Tomorrow I am going to go to Church with Maggie, Ellen, and Paul. Ellen wants me to come to their house early and braid her hair for her special day in her new dress, so it will be an early day.

I enjoy reading all of the blogs. Thanks to each of you.

Sorting Pictures...WHY ME?????

Now, this is a very frustrating and sad admission. I am an anomaly in a family full of capable women. I am a terrible organizer. I am even terrible at keeping things organized!

So, it is a special kind of hell to have literally boxes and boxes of family history stuff and simply no idea of how to start. Grannie and Auntie managed to box it up. Auntie and I even sat and identified all of the people in the pictures, but there are so many of them...they are so old...if they were kept for the last 100 years, who am I to decide to throw them away...etc, etc, etc.

I am shuffling them from folder to folder, but can't make any decisions. What I need is a plan!

I am a woman with lots of time and no idea how to proceed.

This is a cool picture of Papa (looking down) with some of his friends on an outing before he married. He was working as a lineman for the telegraph company in Atchison, Kansas. It was at about this time that he met our grandmother Eliza Carleton. There are lots more like this. I need suggestions/help.

More Reed Ancestors Found!

It has been an exciting day here for genealogy. I found several more Reed ancestors and have interesting stories to go along with them.

Your several great-grandfather, "Silver Billy" Reed had a brother Isaac who moved to Texas in 1836 and settled in Nacadodges County. Texas was a part of Mexico. Protestant churches and preaching were forbidden, but "Uncle" Isaac ignored the prohibition and continued to preach. He later moved to Panola County.

On 3 May 1937 a marker was set under the tree where Isaac is credited with preaching the first protestant sermon in Texas.

Isaac Reed was killed by an Indian in 1836 in Panola County. When they went to that county the Indians were friendly but the United States Government had them moved to a reservation. They rebelled and they gave a lot of trouble. They would go back and murder people and steal horses. They would slip up to the house in the night and hide. When the man would come out they would shoot him down and murder the family. If a woman went out first they would not shoot her; they knew there was a man in the house with a gun. Then the women got to going first to see if there was an Indian in sight. The women seemed to have been as brave as the men.

The Indians got so bad the people forted up several families together. It seems all the Reed connection except Isaac and John Morris were away from home. Every evening they would go around to each house to see if everything was all right. One evening they went to a house as it was growing dark. They could see some men in the yard. Isaac called to them. He told them if they did not answer he would shoot. He had his gun ready. Just at that time the Indian shot he fell. Morris ran and left him and reported that he was dead. Of course, there was great excitement. Some hours later they heard someone holler. Morris and the women thought it was an Indian trying to get someone out so they could shoot him. There was a negro man there. He said, "It’s Mas Isaac and I’m goin’ to get him." He went and carried Isaac to the house. He had crawled nearly a mile. He died the next day. A day or so later they found a dead Indian in a gully, covered with brush, near where Isaac was shot.

Movie Quiz

OK... We are all moviephiles. This is a fascinating image I ran into while browsing one night. I have set it as my desktop and am having a lot of fun trying to find the references to the top 100 movies. I am not nearly to 100, but have found a bunch. Shall we see what you can find???



I hope all of you are doing ok. I have more fun pictures and will publish them. I am glad to send copies. Let me know.

I found this by googling "movies". The link is so long I can't post it.