Catch up time

Well, I'm back - finally. I just about went nuts not having access to my computer for ten days. I got back Thursday night, but have been busy and did not get around to blogging until now.

I have just been reading all the posts I have made since I started, and making some notes on things I wanted to comment on. So here goes.

Back on September 7, I commented on the water situation, both here in California, and other places. I commented that we had not had to experience water rationing, etc. Then, last night on the Sacramento news there was something about water rationing starting in the Sacramento area. Something about domestic watering not being permitted except on Saturdays and Sundays, and then only by address. (Makes me think of what Esther told me about Texas.) They are also limiting the times you can burn a wood stove or fireplace. So far, it is just in the metropolitan Sacramento area. This is to preserve the 'clean air' situation. I don't know what people will do if they depend on wood heat for their homes.

In that same post, I mentioned the new stop light at Queens & Gray Aves. Frankly, I think it is a good thing - of course, I don't drive a car, so I don't get caught at the 'long' stop lights. But I have heard numerous complaints. But, I think, like so many other things, when people get used to it, they will be more willing to accept it. It is a well known fact, people do not like change.

Some other things I mentioned in other posts - Bible study; this is something I have wanted to participate in for a long time, but not in the way this one is conducted. So, two weeks, and I was out of there.

I also mentioed that the property where my Dad had his home was part of a Spanish Land Grant. At one time I had a copy of that grant, and I hope it will show up again. If not, I am sure I can get another copy from the Hall of Records in Colusa County. In the meantime, I was looking for information about it on the web, and I did find some interesting things. Yes, there was a Spanish Land Grant which was part of the outcome of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, after the Mexican/American War which had been declared on May 13, 1846. The Treaty was negotiated between the Mexican officials and Nicholas Trist, representing President Polk, and signed on February 2, 1848 in Guadalupe Hidalgo, the city where the Mexican government had set up after the fall of Mexico City. The treaty called for Mexico to cede 55% of its territory (present-day California, plus,) in exchange for fifteen million dollars for war-related damage to Mexican property. More information can be found by googling "Treaty of Guadalupe"

As I was reading through my posts, I was making notes of what I wanted to expound on, and can you believe it, already I cannot read my own writing, so I can't add to these things. Maybe later.

Imentioned that I have been emailing with HRR's cousin, Michael Goyke. Well, I was looking at the copy of the 1920 census of Whitman County, WA, which is where HRR's mother was raised. Sure enough, there are listed her father, mother, and all seven of the kids. But, at the end of the list, there is another person, a Barbara E., age 22. Someone new has been added. I wrote Michael and got right back telling me that he thought Barbara is the half-sister we always knew as Elizabeth. He thought her name was actually Barbara Elizabeth; makes sense. You just never know what you might learn when you dig a little deeper.

NOW - how was your Halloween? Things are sure a lot different from what they used to be. Even here at the Manor. I believe it was last year, we had a group of little girls (Brownies, Bluebirds, or something) come by and give each of us a little something. I remember they gave me a ghost, made of a small styrofoam ball wrapped in Kleenex, tied at the nect and a face done with felt tip pen. But I can remember Halloweens past that were a lot more exciting. Of course, Dad always had his tales to tell, and I guess some of the "mischief" they did then would earn them jail time today - things like, upset outhouses, putting picket fence gates on top of the house, - just little things like that. Nothing that was really vandalous and couldn't be repaired very easily. I remember once when I was a teenager (remember I lived in the country and didn't get to do things like this very often) a group of my friends went trick-or-treating in town. My grandmother White lived in a house in town at that time, and she had a tree in her front yeard. Well, the girls all sat around under that tree, and one of them went to the door, knocked on the door, and then ran and joined the others under the tree. I don't remember what happened after that. When Kathy & Judy were little, (Edie wasn't born yet) we had a Halloween party for a group of our friends. The mothers took the little ones around the neighborhood trick-or-treating, while the Dads stayed at the house and played cards. I think this was the time, at one house, the man who answered the door invited us all inside and then said, "OK, you do your trick, and I'll give you a treat". I don't remember for sure what we did, sang a song, danced a dance or something. With the streets getting so dangerous for anyone to be out after dark, door to door trick-or-treating is becoming a thing of the past, and community parties are becoming more and more popular.

Well, I had intended to start telling you more about my family background, but I think I have done enough for now. But watch this spot, because I am going to begin serializing some of my family stories, and you won't want to miss a chapter.

Bye for now - Beth