I couldn’t go to sleep because tangled relationships—on Ancestry—were a merry–go–round in my mind. I had exhausted every Ancestry hint so I went to FamilySearch. Even less information is available!! “Showalter” is a well–documented surname. Why are some families so difficult to find? I’ll keep trying… Illusive relatives, and a new format on Ancestry, is so frustrating!! ~~~~~ One–twenty in the morning; time to go back to bed.

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Postscript @ 10:45 AM: The detective in me will not allow me to walk away until the mystery is solved.

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Ancestry made a major change in the way we document the family. I considered myself an expert navigating Ancestry until this morning. I’ve been attempting to unravel a problem relationship along with maneuvering through frustrating changes. ~~ Please Keep it Simple for this Senior.

Yesterday morning, I heard unfamiliar sounds on the other side of my back fence. I opened the curtain on my bedroom window and  observed a dozen men. Not a familiar face in the group. No explanation needed; they were there to build a porch, and ramp, for my ninety-three year old veteran neighbor. “Mr. Gil” has been in the hospital, twice, recently, but  currently is “stuck” at home. I do not know the details. ~~ When work stopped and all was quiet, I took one of my ladders to the back fence and peeked over. “Looking good.”

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I’ve had some health problems recently but they are small compared to the health problems of some of my neighbors. Across my yard, beyond the side fence, a neighbor is recovering from a stroke. Across the street, the wife struggles to care for her husband suffering from Alheimers. Down the street, both husband and wife have been in the hospital and “rehab.” At 5:00 PM an ambulance drove in and I can surmise the wife, home alone, had an emergency. ~~~~ Counting my many blessings.

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This little fellow was on the fence so I kept my distance (and used the telephoto lens) until he jumped down into my neighbor’s yard. Looks like a turkey to me. I wonder where it came from.  ~~ I was in my yard to peek over the fence to see the completed ramp.

‘Twas the day after Halloween and all through the house, I suspected gremlins were frolicking around my computer mouse. ~~ I had a problem beyond my expertise so I consulted a brilliant cousin. We exchanged email messages—and screenprint images—but “old lady Lorraine” never unscrambled the problem. ~~ I went to bed (after ten) but my mind wouldn’t stop attempting to resolve the situation. Wide awake, I returned to the computer and repeated the sequence of steps from earlier in the day. Finally, well aware that the information could not be restored, I deleted the two accounts that had been clashing. ~~ I went back to bed at 1:25 AM and slept until 9:00 AM. Hopefully, the gremlins have been banished.

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The message may be: “Spend much less time ‘climbing the family tree.'”  First: The failure of the battery backup kept me off the computer for several hours. Second: Neglecting the toilet tank leak has cost me hundreds of dollars! Third: Gremlins on my computer. ~~ “Third times a charm”: I see the message.

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POSTSCRIPT: Very shortly after publishing this blog message, I lost TV and WiFi service. Almost as though an exclamation mark was added to the above comments. The service was off for three hours. During that time, I did a few projects in the yard.

Number one: I hate to get up in the morning because I’m so tired from lack of sleep. I grudgingly got up and headed for the “throne room.” OMG, I walked into, and upon, a soaking wet bath mat. “Where did all this water come from?”  This “bad“ old lady confesses to a toilet tank leak but has never had water on the floor.

Number two: Remorsefully, I walked to the Clubhouse (after getting dressed), to share my problem with the group who gather for coffee. They said “good morning” and I growled “bad morning.” Mr. Red was informed of my problem and shortly thereafter he and his grandson were surveying the situation.

Number three: Mr. Red headed for Home Depot while his grandson stripped the faulty parts from the toilet tank. Later the two men installed the new parts. While his grandson was busy, “Mr. Red” displayed the following message on his Smartphone.

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Because my trailer home is terribly cluttered–and dirty–I have not wanted anyone inside my home. I knew I had a toilet tank leak but deliberately refused to tell anyone. This crazy old woman would prefer to pay the high price of water overage!

Creating these images takes an enormous amount of time (but it’s a labor of love).

Here is the text that accompanies this image: This image illustrates the small family tree of immigrant Peter Frantz (1724-1785). It is a “stand-alone” tree with no known connection to the large family tree of (brothers) immigrants Michael Frantz (1687-1748), Christian Frantz (1685-1739), Baltzer Frantz (1690-1747), and Johannes Frantz. (1695- ).

Frequently, I say I aim for 200% accuracy. Today, I observed obvious errors with the Isaac Smith family—in Ancestry Member Family Trees. I spent hours researching and documenting sources. With meticulous care, I prepared the collage (above right) and I was moments from displaying it (in Ancestry) with the identified individuals. I planned to add it to a blog message with a trite remark about spending the day “climbing trees.” After all my documentation, I suddenly recognized my “obvious error.” (Did you spot it?)  A couple of hours later, I added the correct information (above left) to other documents for Isaac Smith. (Click the image to enlarge it for easier viewing.)

Halloween goblin or hand of God? For some unexplained reason, the battery backup system stopped working. Instantaneously, no computer! For about one hour, I tried half-a-dozen ways attempting to restore access to the computer. I toggled all the switches at the main electricity source. During the entire process, the beep, beep, beep of the battery back up. I resolved “the problem” by plugging the computer into a power strip. ~~ “Hand of God”?  Some thing or some one is trying to get Lorraine off the computer because many projects begging for time and attention.

No end in sight.

As I look back on my recent blog messages, it is obvious that I’m likewise addicted to the preparation of collages. Once I got “the hang of it,”  it is relatively simple. It does require a number of “mental gymnastics.”  Honestly, I’m looking for every resource to keep my mind sharp. I’m “losing my edge”  because I find myself pausing to think about the next step. Or, I get lost in the documentation of large families and find myself saying “Where was I?”  I  recently received an unsolicited compliment from my doctor. She said I am in extraordinarily good health “for someone my age.”