Message From the Cave of the Clan Hunter

It has been hot and humid, so this person has not gone outside in 3 days!  When John stopped in last night, I hadn't yet unlocked the door from when I went to bed on Monday night!

I am the Clan Hunter, staying hidden in my air conditioned cave and spent nearly 6 hours today trying to figure out a "clan" who seemed to want to name all their descendants, William.

4 generations of  father's naming their sons, William.  I had that in my own family:  Conradt named his son Peter, who named his son Conrad, who named his son Peter.  You just want to scream!!

Searching for the youngest William and up pops all sorts of stuff about him.  I get all excited and copy it out and then realize, it isn't him, it's his grand father, or father, or even--Great grand father.  The only saving grace is they each had wives with different names.  :-)

Writing it down in the "book" can be a real trial.  When I head the page with, "Your 7th Great Grand Parents were,"  I gotta make sure it is THE 7th great grand parents--not the 8th or the 6th.  Which happened today.  Had the 5th great grand parents stats and photos of their grave markers and all, and then realized, all the info was really the 6th great grand parents.

"ARGGH"!  i said, right out loud, and then inserted a blank page, moved that info down, and back to enter the info for the 5th great grand parents.

While searching and messing around, I DID find a lot of interesting stuff about the 8th Great Grand Father of my clients surname.  He was the 1st immigrant to the new world and helped settle the area and make a new town.  

This is fascinating shit stuff, my friends!
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This morning, 10:30, just as I was immersed in William's and concentrating really hard, lost in history, I heard a knock and someone trying to open my locked front door.

Dar and Daddy.  ARGGH!  Well, Daddy was interesting to talk with--after Dar stopped trying to answer all the questions I asked HIM.  He and I reminisced about WWII, rationing, living, etc.  He may be 95, but Dar wasn't even born yet, so she had no clue, but a few years older than her, I remembered a lot.  I loved that!!!

Daddy has been running Dar ragged.  He insisted that "they" clean out her shed and found 15 cans of old paint.  She is all in a panic on how to get rid of it because her brother told her it was illegal to put it in the garbage for pick-up.

"That's just BS!" exclaimed Daddy.

"It sure is!"  I retorted.  "Put a couple of cans in each of your garbage pails each week and they will take it."

Daddy also insists they go out for breakfast, 8:00am every morning, lunch at 1:00, and then every evening, out for an ice cream sundae.  Every time I look out the window, I see them driving either in or out of the driveway.  HAH!

He has called to make an appointment to have her two decks power-washed and then "Her and I are going to paint them.  They look like crap!"

She thought it was stressful with her son and two grand kids living there, and they kept to themselves so she rarely saw them, Daddy is going to put her over the edge!

"Daddy!  You're going to kill me!"  she said.

"We gotta get this stuff done.  I don't have time to waste!"

Finally!

Saturday afternoon--cleared out 

Sunday, mid morning, Aaron

arrives to rip it up.

Sunday night

Monday morning- 10:00, 

Kevin arrives to put the new down

Putting down the padding

Best pad I could buy, if it feels this

soft, what is it going to feel like

when the carpet is down!

Carpet down and being stretched 

and trimmed.

None of that nasty metal strip

between rooms! 

I love a man that knows 

how to vacuum! 

WOW!  It IS the right color! 

Both cats walked around the whole perimeter

of the living room and then discussed it.

They acted kind of fearful of it.

Got my tree branch back up. 

Finally, after three weeks,

putting it back together. 

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I want to thank all of you--for your support and encouragement.  I was afraid I'd get scolded, "You can't afford to buy food and your getting new paint job and carpeting?"

Well, this didn't come out of my monthly budget.  This came from helping Chris with her knitting and crocheting designs, and from every time one of my kids, or sister gave me $$ for my birthday or Christmas.  From every pop bottle I returned. Some of my neighbors even gave me their pop bottles to return, because they knew I was saving up.

For my genealogy clients--you are looking at what I did with YOUR money. LOL  

All of that, I put away in a jar.  Sometimes I had to dip into that jar for car repairs, but I kept stashing.  

2.5 years later?  I feel like a real person, not some poor, old woman on welfare!

My house is so neat and clean--at least the living room is.  LOL  Inch by inch.

Now, I'm still stashing for my media center/electric fireplace and hopefully, next summer I can get this nasty room painted and new carpet put down--or at least, painted.

The good Lord willing, and I stay well and keep working--when I "kick", the kids will have a (nicer) place to sell!  

A Big Surprise!!

So, how much did your Medical Medigap Supplemental insurance go up?  Here in Michigan, our Blue Cross insurance has had some sort of contract with the State not to raise prices.  That contract has now run out and mine went from $40.42 a month, up to $142.00 a month!  Dar's. John's and Merle and Pearl's went up also.

Thankfully, if I can prove that I have less than $17,000.00 a year, mine will stay at $40.42.  I will have no problem proving that!  I have $14,500.00 a year.  It seems nowadays, you gotta be well-off, or really poor to be able to live a decent life.  Those in the middle seem to get hit hard.  Remember when the middle class was a comfortable way of life?
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So, Attorney General,  Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton just happened to meet in her private plane for a talk about Grandchildren, and yesterday she says the DOJ will bring no charges against Hillary?  Even though FBI Director Comey told of the many infractions Hillary made with her e-mails?  Then they showed clips of where she denied it all and clips of what Comey said.  It was sickening to see her look straight in the reporters face and lie like that.  How can she be President, and be privy to all sorts of classified information, and keep it secure, if she couldn't do it as Secretary of State?    

I forced myself to sit down and watch a half hour Live Trump rally in Ohio.  I didn't make it for the half hour.  I barely made it for 20 minutes.  He is by far one of the crudest, nauseating, man I have ever seen running for the Presidency!

What a sad state our Country is in to have these two as our choice for the highest office in this land!  The last 8 years have dragged us down near the edge of the pit, I fear the next 4 years will dump us into the bottom of the pit.  AND--we can do nothing about it!
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IT HAPPENED TODAY AT 4:26 pm.  Something I have always wondered if it might happen.

The genealogy I did for Awkward Widow and the one I am working on now for Dawn, I found a common Great Grand Father.  Awkward Widows 11th Great Grand Father and Dawn's 8th Great Grand Father.  Each one descended from a different child of Sea Captain GILES HAMLIN!!!!

The 1st Hamlin immigrant to American, settling down in Middletown, Connecticut!

I am telling you!  This absolutely freaked me out!!  When I saw his name pop up, I knew it sounded familiar and when I searched, there was his cemetery and the fact he had been born in England and all his children's names.  The same photos I had in Awkward Widow's genealogy book.  I just started shaking!!

So, there ya go, Awkward Widow/JB and Dawn, you are like 9th or 10th cousins or something.  LOL

How would it happen in a million years that I would just happen to do a genealogy for each of them--not knowing them, only from this blog?

SPOOKY!!!!!!!!!  

The old "Six Degrees of Separation" !

Wednesday? Already?

Where does the time go?

I ordered my carpeting on Friday--it will be here in 10 days to 2 weeks.

Meanwhile, I have been getting the house back in order--kinda.  I washed, ironed my kitchen curtains and got them back up and knick-knacks back up where they belong--all washed and shiny.  Scrubbed the stove and counter-tops and mopped the floor.

The living room is still in disorder--why put everything back when I will just have to move it out again when the carpet arrives?  Got my long table up, putting together a genealogy to mail out tomorrow.  

I put in a new furnace filter while I was at it and scrubbed the bathroom shower room.

and of course, this room remains the complete mess it always is

UNTIL, I can get the stuff back in the living room 

and tidy up in here--

which badly needs a paint job! 

In between times of cleaning, I rested by starting another genealogy.

Meanwhile--no rain here since June 16th!!!  My lawn is shaded, so it is still green, not that I care if it all burned up!  Less money spent to Don the Lawn Mowing Man.  HAH.

In the evening's I watch a little TV and knit on the baby sweater I am finished up for Friend Chris.

Yesterday, I got all my hairs cut.  It has been 5 weeks and my hair grows like a Wild Feed.  About every 4 weeks a trim is needed.

Still waiting for my sister and BIL to travel this way so he can swap out my fridge hinges/handles, level the fridge and install my GFI plug for the long awaited TV media center/electric fireplace.

I just happened to think.  This whole redecorating plan started 2 years ago when I decided to fulfill my life-long dream of having a fireplace in my home--albeit a fake one because---it is as it is.

Then I looked around and knew I had to get this place painted.  That led to the knowledge that I could put only so many scatter rugs down on the carpet to cover up the "worn to the jute" areas without the living room looking very strange, which led to, "My living couch and chair are worn and will look like junk with the new carpeting."

Always happens.  Doesn't it?  

Life is good!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like-----Home

This shows the color of my couch and chair.  It's blue!  Of course, it's blue. :-)

Not much of a difference in color from the old one, but different lines and fabric.

I've been putting my house back together.  I don't want to move everything back into place in the living room because if and when Lowe's calls me with my carpet order, then I'd have to move it all out again.

He even painted my furnace door.                     

I did get the bathroom all done.

My sister found this way back in a corner of the kitchen cupboard, when she was taking things out for the estate sale.  It was my Daddy's and then mine when I was a little kid.  What a new found, old treasure!!  It has to be 100 years old, as my Daddy would be 100 in August.

I am one worn-out person!!  Tomorrow, ironing curtains and putting them back up.

Inch-by-Inch,  I'll get it all done.

Worn Out!!

I am so tired!

I set my alarm for 7:45 this morning because my painter was coming at 9:00 and so was the guy to check out how much  I liked my new fridge.

For some reason, the alarm was set right, but the time on the clock was off by an hour.  

The alarm went off, I staggered out of bed--I mean I really staggered, kind of off balance.  Got the cats fed, grabbed my protein drink and headed in here.  I wondered why I was so tired and groggy.

Turn on my computer and noticed, the clock down in the right corner said, 6:55.  GOOD GRIEF!  No wonder I felt zombie-ized!  I need 9 hours of sleep to function and I had only gotten 6!!

I got dressed anyway and sure enough, eventually 9:00 arrived as did my two expected guys.

Aaron went to work finishing up the cutting-in around the hallway area and the fridge guy and I had a chat.

He was quite a bit taller than me and weighed about 320#, so I pointed out how low the vegetable bins were and asked him to pretend to open one.  Of course, he had to bend farther over than I would have to, but sure enough, when he raised up, he banged his head on the edge of the freezer door!!  

Point made.

Then I told him that the drop-off guys hadn't bothered to level it and, as long as this is a promotion to be more energy efficient and lower my electric bill, I knew it had to be level to function correctly.  So this enormous man got down on the floor and proceeded to screw the leg bolts until it felt level.

Of course, at the time, the fridge was pulled away from the wall so Aaron could paint behind it.

The Big Guy took a picture of it and left.  As I shoved the fridge back into place, it was rocking every time I opened or closed the door.  It is not level.  What a fiasco!!  I could do it myself, but if I got down on the floor, I wouldn't be able to get back up, soooooooooooooooooooooooo--waiting for a visit from my sister and her hubs Chuck and he can level it for me, and swap out the hinges/handles and put in my GFI plug!!!!
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It took Aaron 3 hours today to put two coats of paint on all the walls.  He even painted the inside of the front and back doors!  It is finished!!!  He even started to cut up and take up part of the carpeting.  It was 3:00 by then and I told him to go home and start enjoying his weekend early!

 Both before pix

After pix

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I am almost done with the genealogy I have been working on.  I've had a lot of time to work on it the last two days, while Aaron was out in the other rooms painting.

I am so exhausted tonight, I am going to bed with no alarm set and just sleep until I wake up on my own.

We are expecting our first rain in 15 days.  I sure hope it doesn't miss us this time.

Tomorrow, I start to reassemble my house!

Tired. Blurry Eyed. Smiling. Happy. Giddy!

My painter had the day off his regular work, so he showed up at 9:30.  I was even dressed. :-)

It took him 5 hours to paint the trim around the walls and windows.  He is coming back tomorrow and expects to get the job all done!   Tee Hee.

The carpet measuring guy showed up at 10:00.  All he does is measure.  He turns his measurements into Lowe's then they call me to set up the order.  You used to go to the store, order carpet and have it delivered the next day!  Not so now.  Everything is computerized, which 30 years ago they told us would speed things up.  HAH

He and I had a discussion.  I told him I thought this house was made and then a single sheet of vinyl was laid out from front to back, then the walls put in and the carpet laid.  He told me that wasn't the case.  I thought it was true and wanted to rip up the carpet in my bathroom, expecting to find vinyl under it just like the kitchen flooring.

Then he asked me if I needed them to move any furniture--another cost they can put on the carpet installation.  I told him I hoped that big couch would be gone by then, because it has to be taken apart before it can be moved.

He asked how much I wanted for it, I said, "Nothing" and he said he wanted it for his newly married son, who just moved into a new home and all they have in their living room is two small chairs.  "It's exactly like the one my wife and I have in our basement, only ours is brown."

So--bada boom, bada bing--Aaron (my paint guy) and he pulled the back of the seats off and out it went.  YAY!!!

Now--I have a big empty space!!!  You should have seen what was under that couch.  First of all, Maggie the Cat that came running out once they started to move it, but also........a FULL vacuum cleaner canister of gray cat hair, brown cat hair, and even black dog hair left from Fred's dog that died 6 years ago!!!!!!!!!! 

Also a few small cat toys, Fred's old cigarette lighter (that I like to think fell out of his pocket the first time we made love on that couch.  I remember he couldn't find his lighter after that romp) and one Chocolate covered Peanut M&M!

Then Aaron asked me if Lowe's was going to charge me to cut up and remove the carpet, I assured him they were.  So, on my request, he cut out a small strip along the wall and guess what?  Vinyl flooring underneath it.  HAH!

And, he is now going to cut the carpet up, bundle it into three feet long rolls, tie it up and put it out for garbage pick-up!!!!!

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I was busy working on my genealogy while Aaron did trim painting.  Then he broke for lunch and I grabbed my purse and traveled the 3 miles up to Art Van.  My Sales Person, Cassandra, met me at the door.

"How can I help you today?"

"Let's sit over there by your sales desk and talk."

I ordered the $1,000.00 couch and the $699.00 Lazy Boy recliner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh.  My.  Gosh!  I actually did it!  

She figured out the total bill and showed me the bill, I gulped and then she started putting in discounts.  They will pay my Sales Tax.  The couch is discounted--even though it is a special order to get it made with the same fabric as the chair.  The recliner then was discounted.  Then another discount because I am NOT using their credit card (?). Plus, two really nice pillows in a fabric she let me choose!

They will be the same size, and color as my pillow, but in geometric shapes. I'm geeked about that!

  

When she got done?  $500.00 in discounts!  

I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open. Literally.  I could feel tears gathering in the corners of my eyes.

Oh.  My.  Gosh!  I actually did it!

Because of the special order for the fabric, it will take 6-8 weeks to get it.  Do I care?  NO!!!  I rarely sit on my couch, and I will keep my old chair until the new one arrives!!!  Or maybe Pammie would want it because Fred's chair that she took has broken down on one corner!

For the next month or so, I can sit in my ratty, old chair and gaze over at that nice open space and the new carpet!!!

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The DTE man is coming tomorrow to interview me about how I feel about my free refrigerator--that I hate.  

John told me that he never knew anyone that could complain about something new they got free.  I said, "In the first place I didn't want or think I needed a new fridge.  I loved that nice big one I had.  In the second place, free is nice if it is correct.  I was promised the same size fridge as my old one and this is way smaller."

Being a nice Christian man, John did not say, "You'd bitch if you were hung with a new rope," but I'll bet he was thinking it!!!!!!!!!!!