¡Buenos días a todos from the Old Pueblo! It is 7:00 am and 71F (21.7C) with an expected high of 99F (36.1) and mostly sunny skies.
The Thon was a bit of a struggle for me in several ways. First, the fatigue, brain fog, and shortness of breath are still hanging on from Covid, so I needed to take naps. Second were some family issues that I needed to take care of. Third were the profiles that I selected for sourcing. Naturally, they were the Buckingham Baldwins from the late 1400s and early 1500s. Naturally, several needed more than a source. Some needed an entire redo because of GEDCOM Junk. Naturally, my OCD kicked in, so I only managed 30 profiles for the entire weekend. The upside is that they are 30 beautifully complete profiles.
I had to send an email to Ales, Pip and David last night because I signed up for the October 2023 Integrators Challenge and every time I added a person, the number was not increasing! I finally realized that there only two in the Challenge…myself, which then read Mighty Oaks and a person from another team. The heading showed the stats for the Thon held over the weekend! I did a post on the Integrator’s Challenge, then an email to Pip and David, then saw a note flyby from Ales that said something about the tracker. I should have checked the Sorcerer’s Challenge as well to see if my numbers were increasing. I’ll do it later today.
Last week was a difficult and costly week. The entire year has been costly. I had to replace two wall-mounted toilets in my guest and master bath in March to the tune of $2500. The renewal for my appliances to be maintained was due this year (of course) to a whopping $2400 (for 3 years). My home and auto insurance combined went from $1900 to $2500 in July. For the past several months, I have noticed that I am collecting more and more cold water in a bucket waiting for the shower to heat and last Monday I had a 3-minute warm shower. I also noticed that my dishes were not as clean as they should be. Plumer was called on Monday, a new wall-mounted electric hot water heater was installed on Wednesday to the tune of $5000. I took my first shower using the new unit on Friday and nothing but cold water! So, the plumber came out Friday afternoon and explained that my new low water use shower heads were pressure sensitive and to get hot water, there needed to be a steady flow with a pressure of at least six to seven. The plumber also mentioned that he checked my old wall-mounted unit, which was manufactured in Canada, and while it was an excellent unit, the company went out of business due to Covid. He said that if I had had the unit flushed on a yearly basis (the contractor who installed it never told me!), I could have gotten another four or so years of use. Since it was never flushed for eleven years, it was deader than a door nail. That news just added to my funk.
My favorite holiday is Samhain (Halloween) – the Celtic New Year. I was told that the Celtic tradition was to dress in costumes to scare off the bad spirits and let in the good spirits. I have decorated my mailbox with a big creepy spider and a raptor skeleton, my front entry with a ghoul and a sign celebrating Fiesta de la Muerte (Day of the Dead) and Day of the Dead skull candle holders. Hopefully, will have better money spirits with the Samhain. Maybe I should get one of those lottery tickets. I am not sure what the amount is, but if it is about $7K, I would recoup my heater money after tax winnings. I sure don’t want to end up in the hoosegow for fraud!
I’ve been emailing Ales, again. He tells me the trackers are working…NOT! I am still listed with some guy from another team, the heading shows thon numbers and my numbers are not increasing at all whatsoever. I think ALL future thons need to be scheduled mid-month and not and the end of one month and the start of another. I think that is what is causing this problem. I am usually upbeat despite hardships, but just cannot perk up. My only fun was to find out that Vincent Price is an 8th cousin! I still have his cookbook, loved him in all those great old Edgar Allen Poe films, as well as Laura, and saw him live in a one man show at the restored historic Pabst Theater in downtown Milwaukee in the late 1970s. In Diversions & Delight, he portrayed Oscar Wilde during his prison experience for homosexuality, and the second act living in France. (https://www.thesoundofvincentprice.com/diversions-and-delights/). I was in nursing school, so my classmate and I got cheap matinee nosebleed seats way high up on the balcony. About 10 minutes before the start, Price walked out on stage in a very Price-like smoking jacket looked and said everyone come down to the first floor and fill up the seats. I like to see faces during my performance. So, Chris and I were about 6 rows center at this performance, and he was GREAT. Plus, when my daughter was about four years old, she told me Vincent Price said “not to be scared” on Sesame Street. What an interesting, rounded, and intelligent cousin!
Pip, as ever, thank you for leading the Weekend Chat. It was great to see you at the meets. And I wish all my WikiTree friends and family great FIRST weekend of October 2023. I will hold intention for all of you for happy, healthy, and productive weekends!
