Back to Ancestry

I got an invite from Ancestry for a new subscription at a substantial savings so, loving the deal, I took on another 6 mo. subscription. I usually do in the fall so I have the winter months to work on the Family Tree. There's "new" information. What an oxymoron - old data being new. Anyway, I enjoy it and someday the grandbabies might enjoy seeing it all.

Dad and Mom on their wedding day - 1956

I have recently begun scanning the old photo's and adding them to the tree so they don't have to just be that blue or pink profile icon. 

My Paternal Grandparents

My Maternal Grandparents

Later my maternal Grandmother remarried so the only "Grampa" I knew was him and not this man. This guy passed away long before I was even born in 1945.

My Dad and his siblings. Dad is the one on the left in the back, Ralph, his older brother on the right.

It's a fun pastime in the long winter months. Imagine how much more difficult it was prior to the internet! 

Sunday Funday

Today we had the kids (and grandkids) out for the afternoon. We made chili and cornbread and Grampa had plans to make airplanes out of foam he's been saving from meat trays. They turned out pretty good and the kids had a blast with them.

They also did some shooting with their Dad. Of course, the first order of business is the safety meeting.

There was all kinds of excitement but they were very safety minded, which made the older set happy.

Patience is a virtue. Waiting for his turn.

Cooper was called back to the house, patience is NOT a virtue of his. He loves being in the thick of it but safety first!

Grampa and the little one had about all the excitement they could take.

We've come a long way, Baby!

We purchased the property we live on almost 12 years ago already (hard to believe!)
It started out with a 1940's farm house that had been somewhat renovated inside.

Let's just say we didn't buy the place for the house. Hubby built me the little barn garden shed out back and I finally got a chance to use the "Mr. Ed" door I bought at an auction a hundred , several years ago.

The place has a beautiful hedge of lilacs in the back yard, and although definitely an added bonus, still not the reason we bought the place.

So, we remodeled that old farmhouse with kind of a pole barn construction around the old place and adding on 2 additions. We also demolished the top story and got rid of that. Those stairs were too much and we figured it was only going to get worse. We added heat in the floor in the new additions.

Finally getting a start on some landscaping in 2011 after tearing down the old outbuildings, building a new shop and remodeling the house. Starting to come together finally in 2011(8 years!). It was a bigger undertaking than we anticipated.

The landscaping is finally filling in that big area in the front of the house.

Having family here to enjoy all the wide open space to explore, ride bikes, golf cart rides, games, etc., THAT is why we bought the place.

Photography is not my forte'

I took some time today to fool around with my camera. I'm usually the auto everything point and shoot type photographer. I discovered quite a few settings on my Nikon that I didn't realize were there so I tried a couple "outside of the box" pictures.

Here's Cooper (my usual model) in a sepia tone. I see I need to work on background some :)

This one was in "selective color" mode. I can see how this would be fun.

I see the greatest photo's people take of fireworks, moons, northern lights, etc., and would like to be able to do that too (at some point). But for now, I put it back in auto mode.