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13 July 2021

It's a Wild Life Adventure

 Another over-due post, I know. When it's hot like this I don't hardly feel like thinking.

Our lives have been filled with critters lately. Even this morning when we awoke we were delighted to see at least 3 Pileated Woodpeckers working on the cherry tree. Since we usually only see 1 at a time around here, I'm thinking perhaps a baby was being shown the how-to of scouring berries. I think the squirrel that was leaping around in that tree was also making them crazy because they kept flying back and forth so much. I doubt the squirrel was bothered at all.

We also had twin fawns hiding out in the middle of the field of wheat stubble a week or so ago. That was too cool to see two little heads bobbing around. One stood up for a few moments and we saw the spots on it.

The turkeys made a few passes across the back yard as I sat on a dewy chair on my deck at the break of dawn several mornings. What a delight to see a Mama with 5 hand-sized babies trailing being her! I loved watching them take a dust bath one day! The visits lasted until the morning when Toby spied something moving and ran after them. He came back, thankfully, but Mama is taking no chances anymore - we haven't seen them again.

My brother saw a big bear running between his house and the next one down. After getting his phone call we went outside clutching our binoculars to see, but I guess the bear was long-gone by then. Now I keep looking across the wide field on the other side of the road hoping to catch sight of the bear roaming around. One of these days I just might!

Beyond critters, my little garden plot of cabbage and broccoli was attacked by tiny worms and when discovered it was much too late to save anything. The damage happened practically over-night so I don't feel too bad for not catching it sooner. Needless to say, we had to pull everything up and at least were able to get enough cabbage for one meal. So good, too!!

I must say that the container gardening plants are doing much better.

As for my flowers I never did get anything from a garden center this year. I'm practically grooming weeds! Luckily, before my daughter moved from VA to GA she brought me a bag of gladiola bulbs this spring. We planted the largest ones before we got tired and then chucked the tiny ones into a barely surface scrubbed pile of mulch under a pine tree. I didn't figure any of those would amount to anything.

They did just enough to brighten the spot!

Those we really took time to plant did much better although staking would have been good if we'd just thought of it sooner. I think God's paintbrush is stunning on these!


I'm somewhat curious as to how we've ended up with corn growing in a metal fire pit. It would seem that I actually have a new over-large planter available! Hmmm...the wheels are turning!

I've been working on paternal genealogy for a client in PA since June 22. It's gone very well too. I've never had someone with so many foreign ancestors before. I'm considering upgrading to an international account for a month to see if it's any help. Before I do I want to finish everything I possibly can ahead of time so I can really focus my efforts once I'm on the clock.

I also had an inquiry through the church's website from a man in NJ who was looking for ancestors in the church cemetery. Unfortunately some of the church's records were accidentally burned in the 1930s by an over-zealous janitor. There was no record to share with him. His relatives had moved from Franklin to Blackwater between 1880 and 1900 and later moved to Richmond. In 1908 the woman was traveling back to Blackwater by train when she took sick. She died 3 days later in Portsmouth where she'd been removed from the train. I did find a blog by the man's cousin who indicated that perhaps the woman had been buried on a farm. She mentioned Land of Promise Plantation in her blog and I contacted the family who now lives in that area. Perhaps I'll be updated as to how this mystery turns out one of these days!

This was a very interesting case because supposedly the woman was traveling to visit her childhood home in Blackwater, even though censuses show her folks living near Franklin prior to her marriage. So where was this childhood spent? I finally let go of my overwhelming desire to investigate and sent the man a link to a map showing names of families living around the 1930s and earlier.

Last week I spent 3 days using a cane to walk after screwing up my "good" knee. After doing a few morning computer chores and genealogy research I spent the rest of each day propped up in my recliner with a large ice pack on my offending leg. My goal was to at least get to church and back without too much problem. That's about all I did too, because just as I was finishing up after worship I felt my knee starting to give out again. Back to an afternoon of ice and a good book. Thursday I had a chiropractor appointment and she showed me how to stretch out the tight parts and now I'm doing much better, but I'm still being careful!