I’m trying to get things ready for a trip with my travel trailer.  The weather kept me indoors! (Note the time on each picture. Click on each to enlarge for better detail.)

Actually, Sunday, February 17, 2013. I wanted these to follow the pictures taken Saturday.

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. I must confess that I am partial to “my” Bluebirds. I look forward to Spring and Summer when they make a nest and lay eggs in the Bluebird house. I’m always amused by the antics of the squirrels. One squirrel feeder is obscured behind the water container, in the snow picture.

Note that snow is almost gone five & one-half hours after that earlier picture of Bluebird house and feeders.

I won’t burden you with the negative things that have been happening in my life.  It has been a rough week!!  However, today, I had such a blessing I must share the details with you.  I had visited my chiropractor and, totally unplanned, went to a nearby restaurant for brunch.  (The establishment is called The Flying Biscuit and they serve a delicious “veggie scramble.”)  Because there is “only one of me” I usually sit at the counter.  There was a gentleman sitting nearby and he struck up a conversation with me.  He seemed genuinely interested in “this old lady” and I shared my heartache with him.  At his departure he offered encouragement and best wishes.  THEN, the waitress told me he paid for my meal.  “No, no, he didn’t need to do that!!”  I rushed to the parking lot and found him just before he drove away.  I expressed my gratitude.  ~~  Random acts of kindness!!

Remember the 2007 movie titled Evan Almighty?  I rarely go to movies but went to this one because it had a Noah’s Ark theme.  Morgan Freeman played God and (near the end of the film) traced three letters on the ground: ARK.  It stands for Acts of Random Kindness.

(7:00 P.M.) A very good day!!  I arrived, unplanned, in my Smith family tree.  Years ago, I did in-depth research but hit that proverbial “brick wall.”  I could not get beyond Persons Smith.  In 2010 I visited the Dunkirk, New York area hoping to locate new data.  (Nope!!)  ~~  It was exciting, today, to find the records in Ancestry.  It wasn’t simple, it takes repeated searches and then comparison, and finally save the record so individuals are linked.  Below is a highly abbreviated record.  I have the wives and children, too.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rev. Henry ” Immigrant” Smith (1610 – 1648)

is your 8th great grandfather

Help, I’ve got a tiger by the tail and I can’t let go!!  Since I started research on Ancestry.com, I can’t stop!!  I didn’t go to bed until 1:30 this morning.  While I’m searching for one “Frantz” I find another belonging to my “tree” and I add that record and suddenly I’m immersed on that branch.  I’ve come to the conclusion that a search engine–on Ancestry–must be searching information I’ve entered and later (hours or days) a leaf starts blowing in the breeze and there’s a hint for another source.  I was amazed when Ancestry offered me the birth records for two of my sons!!  ~~  The only reason I’m here and not there: The screen jumped to 400 percent and I couldn’t get it back to 50 percent or 75 percent size. It’s 2 o’clock and I was “on” Ancestry since about 9 (when I got up).  ~~  Gotta go (back).

The comment is often made to express fine wine: “It was a very good year.” For me, it was a very good week!!  1) I’ve found a new chiropractor that genuinely seems concerned about my neck pain.  ($5,000 with the other… and he seemed to make it worse!!)  2) I’ve discovered exciting new information about my ancestry–and collateral lines–while doing research on Ancestry.com.  3) I made great strides learning the features of Weebly as I built my new website Frantz Families — Kith & Kin.  4) Yesterday (after agonizing weeks of uncertainty), my computer geek handed me all the data lost when my old laptop computer died a couple of months ago. Praise God!!  All my pictures are available!!  5) Backups are safely stored in my fireproof box and (soon) I’ll subscribe to an on-line backup service.  6) Today, I purchased, and downloaded The Master Genealogist–a genealogy software program I’ve wanted for years (but procrastinated because family history had dropped to the bottom of my priority list).  7) By 5:10 PM I had downloaded all the family information from Ancestry and uploaded it to The Master Genealogist.

FYI: I’m not a fan of football and/or the Superbowl.  Guess how I’ll entertain myself tomorrow.

There was an annual event titled JAARS Has Got Talent, last night, at JAARS, and this strange creature was observed walking around the auditorium.  A sign said “no sing, no dance, no tricks.” The creature didn’t give any interviews but held up a sign that read “me talk lyon only.”

Should we add it to Lorraine’s backyard menagerie?