No family members died this year. I did not have to take care of any family members.
Guinevere got sick and I had a lot of ups and downs with her. I decided to put her down earlier this month. It was cruel to keep her alive any longer. She was 20+ years old and I’ve had her for 14 of them. I won’t say she was an exceptional cat, but she was my companion for many years. I’ll miss her. North Seattle Vet Clinic and their staff were rock stars. Thank you especially to Natalie who texted me photos of Guinevere when I boarded her there for a few days to aid her recovery. I also want to thank Kim for handholding me on Guinevere’s last day. Kim’s one of the smartest and funniest women I know. There are times when she gets fed up with me, but she was still very kind to me.
I miss a few friends who aren’t as much a part of my life as they used to be.
I spent a lot of time on genealogy. I spent a lot of time cheering on the Sounders.
I took a part time consulting job. Working again hasn’t been the easiest adjustment.
My sister moved back to Seattle, so I get to see her and my nephew more often. Joe announced that Sara is pregnant. My initial response was Holy Shit! I vow to be the bad uncle as much as I possibly can. Dad had surgery for cancer, which has gone mostly well.
I made some resolutions early this year. I failed in all of them. My only resolution at New Year is to enjoy my two month road trip and Caribbean cruise.
I started hosting Pie Night at Voxx Coffee instead of my place. 2011 was the most successful year for Pie Night ever. Spring will be the 10 year anniversary. Everyone should come! I want that one to be hella good! I’ve made many friends through Pie Night.
I’m sure there’s something more that I’ll think is important for this after it’s been posted, but for now, that’s it.
Thing I forgot #1: I participated in the Feminist Science Fiction Book Club through June before that kind of folded. It was a great experience and I wish I could talk books like that more. Also, I did Semi-Social Read Night a couple of times. That was fun too. I want to do more book stuff with friends.
I’ve just had the most exciting genealogy breakthrough!
Here’s the first piece of background: My great great grandmother (one of them) was Mary Parker. She was born in Canada to Irish immigrants (both born about 1803) named Patrick Parker and Mary Murphy Parker in about 1841. The family came to Grant County Wisconsin and lived there at least from 1860 to 1870. She married William Dennis Ryan and died in 1874. That part part is all pretty established. But Patrick Parker and his wife Mary disappeared after that. I know of at least four other descendants of the Parkers who have been trying to find out what happened to them. Most of the children moved to Iowa between 1865 and 1875. We thought they might have dispersed after their parents died. One speculated that perhaps they moved back to Canada and that’s where they died. She even hired a genealogist to dig into cemetery records in the townships in Ontario where they were known to have lived. But no luck. (Some of the Parker grandchildren did emigrate to Canada.)
I’ve for sure found Mary (Murphy) Parker. I think I may have found Patrick Parker.
More background. This is somewhat involved. I describe it all because it shows the serendipitous trails these breakthrough take.
Since I will be doing the cross country road trip next month, I decided to flesh out my family tree some more so I could prioritize things to research when I go through Iowa. I’ve already have nearly complete trees for two of the children, Mary Parker Ryan and Stephen Parker. This spring I started on Patrick Parker’s son Patrick Parker. He married Carrie Ulrich of Eau Claire and they moved to Iowa where they had a number of children. I finished the basic portion of the tree Tuesday morning morning. It’s a big branch of the tree. I got about half of that done in 4 days, which was a lot of work.
I moved on to the next child, Alice Parker. Someone else already figured out she married a John Scallon. They moved to Iowa, then Chicago. Of course, I like to check everyone else’s work. One of the things I usually do is go look on Find a Grave which is attempting to catalog all graves using volunteers. Bingo! Alice Scallon’s grave is there, added and photographed just this August.
I looked at the photographer’s contributor page, and it has a link to a web site in which he has guides to several cemeteries in Franklin County Iowa area. One of them lists a Patrick Parker, died 28 Apr 1874, aged 72 years. Hmmm, I think. That’s an almost exact fit to what I know about my 3rd great grandfather.
Grave marker for Patrick Parker in Saint Mary's Cemetery, Franklin County Iowa
But that’s a common name and there are probably four or five dozen Patrick Parkers that would match. Still, the presence of Alice Scallon in the same cemetery gives it some connection.
Next step is to see if any other site has information on the Patrick Parker buried there. FamilySearch.org does not. Neither does the W.P.A. grave catalog made in the 1930s. (To boost the economy during the depression, the feds paid people to transcribe all the cemeteries in Iowa.) And I checked the weekly Ackley World newspaper for the issues following 28 April 1874. Then I got the bright idea to see if I could find Mary Parker nearby in any of the census records.
Bingo! There’s a Mary Parker living in Osceola Township (Franklin County), Iowa in 1885, aged 83 and a widow. Again, it might not be her though. I added that record to my tree and tagged it speculative. Mary Parker is a common name.
Mary Parker in Osceola Township in 1885 Iowa Census
So the next thing I did was go back to the guide that fellow made and look at Patrick Parker again, in case I missed something. Only this time I accidentally hit next (when searching for Parker) twice, and lo and behold, there was another Parker in the cemetery: Elizabeth Parker Blake. And her birth date matched up with Elizabeth Parker, daughter of Patrick and Mary Murphy. So now there are two daughters of Patrick Parker buried in the cemetery, along with someone who could be my Patrick Parker.
But then I noticed something. Elizabeth Blake’s husband is Richard Smith Blake. And the family that Mary Parker is living with in the 1885 census is that of R.S. and Lizzie Blake.
That has to be my third great grandmother, Mary Parker) in the 1885 census. Got to be. Alive ten years after all the researchers thought her dead, and in a completely different location from where they’ve been looking (as far as I know).
I still don’t have confirmation that buried in the Saint Mary’s Cemetery is my third great grandfather. But it’s looking like a good possibility and worth researching. Hopefully I’ll be able to find something in the state archives when I visit Iowa.
Joseph Peter Weiss is my great grandfather. He died in the 1960s, so I never met him. His wife was Frances Ryan. The Weisses are German, the Ryans Irish. When Anne Falconer sent me photos from Clara Weiss’ album a few months ago, a few of them were of Joseph and Frankie. Without ado, here they are:
Click on each photo to go to the page for each photo on my genealogy site where larger scans can be downloaded.
Joseph Weiss (early 1870s)
Most of the photos that Anne sent me were copies she had made. However, she sent me an original print of the photo above!
Joseph Weiss early 20sJoseph and Frances Weiss (about 1891)Frances Weiss holding a child
I don’t know for certain which child this is. It is likely either my great aunt Marie or my great uncle Joe Jr.
I might as well announce it to make it easier to explain why I won’t be attending your event in January.
After mom died in 2008, I wanted to relax and travel before getting back into the swing of life. But almost immediately afterward Gramps had a heart attack and so I put off any extensive travel so I could drive Gram & Gramps when they needed it, and then their health deteriorated. After that, I was doing some work and being the personal representative on their estate. I also had an increasingly aging and sick cat to care for.
All those will no longer be an issue come January. I am going to take some time and get out of Dodge.
Some time ago, Brittany (not her real name) planned a Caribbean Cruise for the 8th through the 15th of January, 2012. I had already booked my place on the cruise. Instead of flying to the departure point in Miami, I am going to drive.
Google Maps suggested route from my house to the Miami cruise terminal
I have only a loose plan at this point. I will fill in more details of the plan soonish, but most of the plan will remain undetermined until I get to wherever. I don’t know wherever is. I won’t know until I get there.
The loose plan: I think I will leave January 1st after I recover from New Years Eve debauchery. That will give me 7 days to drive to Miami. According to Google Maps, it’s about a 54 hour drive by their preferred route. That’s about 8 hours per day. On my own, I can usually go 10 to 12 hours each day. I might even have time to stop and see a thing or two.
From the 8th through the 15th, I will be reading books on a big fucking boat.
After the cruise, I will drive back to Seattle. On the itinerary are the following: Springfield, Illinois, a couple of places in Iowa, and Brule County, South Dakota. I want to research some family history in those places. I also want to also visit a few book bloggers (who, to my knowledge, do not live in those particular places) and buy them coffee and talk books. Other than that, I am giving myself the freedom to change my route because I see a sign saying This way to the world’s largest ball of twine! or National Mustard Museum, 100 miles ahead in Mount Horeb! Want me to visit along the way? Send me your details and if the whim strikes me, I will.
When will I be in those places? I don’t know. What other places will I go? I don’t know. How long will that return trip take? I don’t know. I will most certainly be back in time for the Sounders home opener in March. There’s a good chance I will be back in time for Losers Dinner on February. But I may skip that.
I will send post cards. If you want post cards, send me your mailing address. Either comment with it here, on Google+, on Facebook, or email it to me if you are squeamish about it being public. If you don’t have my email address, use spamforphil at kingrat.biz. (Note: I don’t check that email address very often, so put POSTCARD in the subject so I can pull the appropriate emails out easily.) I will also likely blog and Google+ a fair amount. Suggestions for things to see and do are welcome on any of the travel related posts.
This is the recipe I used for the Mushroom Pie at Pie Night yesterday. I’ve made it once before, in about 2006 or 2007. In the original mushroom pie recipe on AllRecipes.com, the mushroom mixture is the stuffing for a puff pastry. The exact same stuff made great filling for a traditional pie.
1 tablespoon olive oil
10 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms (I bought pre-sliced)
1 large onion
6 slices fakin’ bacon (or 4 of real bacon if not being fed to vegetarians)
¾ cup heavy cream
about 4 ounces Swiss cheese
about 1 teaspoon fresh dill
2 crusts for double-crust pie
Preheat the oven to 350°
Shred the cheese
Peel and chop the onion
Chop the fakin’ bacon into about half inch pieces
In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat
Add the mushrooms, onion, and bacon
Cook and stir for about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender
Reduce heat to medium
Add the cream and dill
Cook and stir for about 10 minutes
Remove from heat
Stir in the cheese
Pour mushroom mixture into a pie crust
Cover with top pie crust and flute the edge to seal
Here’s the recipe for the Shrimp Pie I made for Pie Night last night. It comes from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2006
. They took a reader submitted recipe and lightened it up. I kinda added some of the fat back. (As always, the recipe below is how I made it, not how it appears in the cookbook.)
Crust
1¼ cups all-purpose flou
¼ cup semolina flour
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
¼ cup ice water
½ teaspoon cider vinegar
cooking spray
Preheat oven to 375°
Chill butter, then cut into small pieces
Combine all-purpose flour, semolina flour, sugar, and salt in food processor
Add butter and vegetable shortening
Process until the mixture is a course meal
Combine ice water and vinegar
Add vinegar-water mixture to flour
Mix with a fork until well combined
Coat a deep dish pie plate with cooking spray
Press mixture into pie plate and up the sides
Bake for about 5 minutes
Cool on a wire rack
Filling and Pie
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces uncooked, deveined shrimp
¼ cup cream cheese
½ cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
1 cup evaporated milk
2 ounces Havarti cheese
fresh dill
1/8 teaspoon salt
Chop shrimp into bite sized pieces
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat
Add shrimp and cook until you’re sure it’s cooked
Combine cream cheese and ¼ cup of egg substitute in a mixing bowl
Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended
Add flour and beat one minute minute
Add remaining egg substitute and milk and beat until mixed
I got Guinevere from a shelter in June 1997; they estimated she was 5 to 7 years old. I needed a mouser when I had a built-in-1905 farmhouse in Deary, Idaho. She did great at that, and when I moved to apartment living to chase jobs in Boise, Bremerton, Redmond, and Seattle, she adjusted well to a new life. She liked people, but hated other animals in her old age. Mostly, she just snuggled in beside me when I was working on the laptop or reading a book. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
She’s been sick. Hyperthyroid and when that was treated it revealed her kidneys were in severe decline. She had been getting somewhat better, and I was hoping she was in a state of the illness that was manageable. Not to be though, as she got a lot worse this weekend and it was clear I would be cruel to keep her alive. I made the appointment and took her in today. The vet put her in my lap and I got to hold hold her and pet her as the vet put her to sleep. It took about 30 seconds. She just laid her head down.
Kim babysat me this morning. This is the photo she took of me and Guinevere, waiting for the time to leave.
I don’t know quite what to do with myself (time to post to the Internets!) and I miss her.
For Port of Seattle Commissioner, Gael Tarleton is an incumbent and Richard Pope is a perennial gadfly candidate. I’m kind of torn on this race. Richard Pope is a little bit off, and he’s a one issue candidate. However, his issue is getting rid of the $73 million property tax levy the Port of Seattle gets from property owners. He’s totally right that there’s no reason for the Port to tax us rather than extract its fees from port traffic. Gael Tarleton is an intelligent candidate, and somewhat of a reformer. But most of her reforms are tinkering on the edges.
I’ll probably vote for Gael Tarleton, because I suspect Richard Pope will be an outlier on the commission and won’t be effective.
Sherril Huff has been running the King County Elections department since before it was an elected position, and has been doing a good job. Her opponent, Mark Greene, is running for the position because he holds a grudge over having lost the Republican primary for the 9th district to Paul Lord. In his mind, King County Elections stole (or allowed someone to steal) the election from him, and then destroyed the evidence.
There’s a slim chance he might be right, but I’m going with Occam’s razor here. If Mark Greene was really about elections reform, he’d make sure to oppose computer balloting without a verifiable paper trail. He doesn’t. He’s just a crank.
SJR 8206 – A constitutional amendment on the budget stabilization account maintained by the state treasury.
This amendment would require the legislature to transfer additional moneys to the budget stabilization account in each fiscal biennium in which the state has received extraordinary revenue growth, as defined, with certain limitations.
There are two ways to smooth out revenue fluctuations from year to year. One of them is to borrow from the future, which is what the federal government does. However, the state constitution requires a balanced budget and getting that changed isn’t politically doable. The other way is to put money away, to be drawn down when times are bad. That’s how Washington State currently does it. (Some states don’t do it at all.)
The rainy day fund is currently about $300 million. The revenue shortfall is about $2 billion. In other words, the rainy day fund turned out to not be large enough. Not even close.
This amendment requires that, if the state has growth that is more than 33% above the 10 year growth rate, the amount above that be put into the rainy day fund. In other words, don’t spend as much money when times are really flush and story it away. We currently save 1% of our revenues, and this won’t change that. It only adds additional saving for flush times.
The no argument is that we should spend that money on needed services instead. And while that is an attractive argument, we’d have to cut off those programs a few years later during the next recession. I’d rather us have sustainable programs.
And it’s much preferable to save the money than rebate taxes. That doesn’t prepare us at all for the next recession.
