After
we got home, it was time to tackle the weeds in the garden, again.
Rain while we were gone meant more weeds. I did a quick mow job in
the garden and Craig mowed the lawn. The next morning I found the
lawn mower sitting by the shed with the starter cord hanging out all
the way. Oh-oh. I tried taking it apart but had little luck with
that. Craig looked at it and said it was worn out. I went off to do
something else and a few minutes later I heard the mower start. He
had just wrapped the cord around the starter pulley and gave it a
tug. It started and that’s the way we have been using it.
I
really don’t want to buy a new mower as this one has a Honda engine
on it and Craig got it for free. It was sitting on the curb with a
free sign on it. He tinkered with it and got it running and we have
used it for several years.
I
actually am looking at a battery powered mower from Amazon. It comes
with 2 lithium batteries and has 2 mower blades. I actually saw one
advertised on TV today. I hate small gas engine power equipment. I
have always said that my goal in life was to get rid of all my gas
powered equipment. This may be the time to start. To that end, I did
my lawn edging with an old fashioned hand powered edger this week.
More work but less hassle and no sprinkler heads sheared off.
We
did not do all work and no play this week as we visited friends who
are embarking on a new adventure. Well, new to them anyway. They
bought a motor home and will give work camping a try this summer. We
wish them good luck!
I
found myself glued to my computer chair this week. I have so much
family history to enter in my Family Tree Maker software that it will
take me years to complete it. So, I started with Clyda’s family.
Mainly because of the data I had from her sister’s passing and it
seemed like a good place to start while everything was fresh in my
mind.
I
have all the pertinent data entered but there is much data still to
check and all of the family stories to be added. I am sending off
what I have to Clyda’s cousin to do some of the checking as much of
the data came from him originally a few years ago.
Also,
I have been corresponding by email with a friend on local history of
the area in Wisconsin where I grew up. He has access to all the old
newspapers from that area from which to draw on for stories and to
check facts. I am using a local history book created for the
Centennial years of 1874-1974 for that area. My parents had gotten a
copy for me and it has been an invaluable source of local history.
The one flaw in the history is that it may not have had all the
facts thoroughly checked.
I
made the comment that I wish my father was alive as he could have
answered many of my questions as he had lived in that era. It has
been fun to add the few facts that I remember from my father and from
my days living there as a kid. The problem we are having is
identifying places mentioned in the Centennial book as no one is
still alive who can verify the data. To that end I have been looking
at old plat maps which tell me who lived on what piece of land in the
time period we are working on. A puzzle for sure but rewarding never
the less.
Sorry no photos, as I need to move some from my phone that I took on the way home from Washington before I can put them in the blog. I forget to do that when I have time and only think of it when I do the blog.
