In the autumn of 1972, I started my twelve years of employment with the University's main campus here in town. Remember, "Do not bend, spindle or mutilate" or words to that effect? That computer took up the entire building's basement! I dealt with student requests, typing them up and passing them on to the programmers. Now there is a similar one called a supercomputer, one of just ten in the world and it is up on the ridge with many of the other science buildings.

After that, everywhere I worked had some type of computer system but I never bought one for personal use until I paid just over $2000.00  in 2000. My first time as a solo traveler on the internet, I remember being so excited! I could go anywhere and not restricted to a prescribed system!

Because of working so long using computers, I am familiar with texting, email and using older simpler types of computer programming. My last two positions, Inventory management at Sears and tour guide and wholesaler at the bowl company, I carried handheld computer devices that looked similar to an iPhone. Or a tablet that corresponded to the former device and to other managers. We must have looked odd to customers coming from the stairs onto the floor and holding the tablet up and panning it this way and that.

I have a welcome to retirement luncheon to attend this afternoon and nothing but staying home after that as its still dreary, 38 to 48 and plus 43 now. Larry, that is our Fall's reality this year and snow will probably come before too long, much earlier than its normal Halloween debut.

MaryAnn, we have a similar health system here but using an Insurance system's primary doctors is not allowed in this state. Insurance tries to get around that by suggesting better deals if you use their preferred doctors.

This was taken by someone, published in the newspaper not too long ago, showing the area just a couple of blocks from me. Click on the link to view.

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Patricia, except for the bridge over the water, the scene looks much like where we stopped in Anchorage where people were fishing for salmon. 

We are at 90 degrees now and a cold front is to come in tonight lowering our temperature to the 70s by tomorrow.  That is quite a drop for this time of year.  I will welcome the drop because 90+ degrees is too much for late September.

I went out on the deck with the cat, then came inside for something and forgot about Kendrick.  He doesn't speak loud enough for me to hear him and he probably was outside for over an hour.  He found some shade and is none the worse for wear.  I remembered him, so brought him in and he's very happy now.

When I was making my bed, Kendrick pawed the blanket so I lifted the top and he laid down to let me put the top over him.  That's a favorite place for him to sleep.

Joan, if you happen to look at Grand Haven now, there are some people on the beach and others in the water.  A boat was coming in and a helicopter flew overhead.  The boat and helicopter would be gone by the time you'd look.

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, those pedestrian bridges were a new thing in the early to mid-nineties. Now there are several of them. Our downtown central river, the Chena, has a series of almost uniform loops. If you look from on high, by the Open Heart River Park, you will see two bridges built for traffic, three for pedestrians and bracketing those on either end are the two railroad bridges.

And that doesn't count the outlying bridges, two pedestrians, four small creek bridges, one other railroad bridge and three larger traffic bridges. The seven various downtown bridges span an area only 14 blocks wide! Way too much or too close in my opinion.


My home in commercial photos;

https://www.google.com/search?q=fairbanks+ak+photos&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS753US753&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip0q_59MPWAhXIkZQKHUaBA8EQ7AkIQg&biw=1366&bih=637

Mary Ann - When I look at Grand Haven now, the trees completely block the beach.  I can see people in the water, and the pier, but only a tiny spot of beach shows between the trees.  I wonder if the guy who set up the webcam, realizes how big/tall those trees have grown?  It would be great if he could move the cam to a different spot where it might get the entire beach . . . but there are probably a limited amount of places where the cam can be mounted. 

Our AC stopped working yesterday.   AJ worked on it all evening, and decided it was the blower.  This morning he went somewhere to get a part and installed it, but it still didn't work. As much as he hated to do it, he called the HVAC place where we bought the unit twenty years ago.  The repairman came out, and said the computerized circuit board was no longer working, so he ordered a new one.  It drives AJ crazy that all appliances, cars and such are now computerized, so he can no longer repair everything like he used to.  He loves the challenge of figuring out what's wrong with something, and then fixing it, no matter how long it takes. A true mechanical engineer! LOL!

Mary Ann, did not see any benches but a few figures were playing at the edge of the water.

 
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You're right that the beach area is barely visible. But the channel between the two piers is now visible with boats going back and forth. Click on the photo link for a larger view.

MaryAnn.  I remember our 1st computers . One of the first you use a recorder with it. Then next came with floppies Had A and B. switching around. We though it was so exciting. I then got the Compaq from my SIL. it was free. Brought it back from Houston on the Plane. it was like built into a suitcase and lid became the Keyboard. They gave me a front seat and let it have one so the could play with it. Then the office let me have one for my dept. I remember paying the bill and it was $3900. Could do payroll on it. acct. pay and financial statement etc  but it took time. Thank g-d.Bill gates came along.  Now I got first his W45. Then didn't it go to W97P.  I have a suitcase full of all these systems never opened as my SIL got them free being in the business. Have the Wxps and W7 also but not yet bothered with W10. I need a new computer made. Just don't use as much now as I use the Ipad for lots. Computers just do not fascinate like they use to.

Was still 90 here today but going down. going only 73 tomorrow and nights getting cold again. Thank goodness. I have been tired of the heat.

Joan, I'm glad you were able to see more of Grand Haven than just the water.  You're right about the lack of beach to be shown, but I am sure the camera is in a building and a window must be in the right place to see anything. 

Patricia, the Fairbanks pictures were interesting but I didn't recognize much.  We stayed at the Wedgewood Whatever and if not there, we were on a bus going from here to there.  Our driver was from Fairbanks so he did give us a ride around town.  I remember we went to Fred Meyer and I think that is where there was a Starbucks.  Jim's DIL had given him a coupon for Starbucks so we were able to have a coffee drink there.  We went to a salmon dinner at Alaskaland(?) then walked across the park to a theater where we saw a spoof on early Alaska with some very talented people.  I'd have to get out my disk to relive the trip - it was in 2006. 

Tom is home for the night and the cat is telling me it is time to give him new food and water.  He seems to know when it is 10 pm.

Marilyn, sorry about your a/c but they don't last forever, darn it!!!

Mary Ann

MaryAnn, Wedgewood Manor, but I loved Wedgewood Whatever, that is even better. They are up to twelve buildings now with the apartments across from the three hotel buildings. Wedgewood has a large vintage auto museum with some horse wagons, dogsleds too. I don't know if you and Jim were able to view that? It is on the grounds of the Manor.

Alaskaland was originally built for the centennial in 1967 and is now as you said, Alaskaland. It was originally A67. Pioneer Park is the part of Alaskaland where they brought many of the town's cabins that are on the historical register and is where you found the Palace Saloon. They do have Gold Rush spoofs mainly between Memorial Day to Labor Day. But the saloon is open all year.

There is a Fred Meyers, a Walgreens and a Safeway directly next to each other on the East side of town and on the West side. There is a Walmart Super Center next to them on the East side as well. They tried building another supersized Walmart near the other stores on the West side but that encountered opposition so those plans were shelved. All but Walmart have instore Starbucks. Walmart has a Subway.

We do have a lot of fresher seafood as it is only about 400 miles in three separate directions to be by the gulf and or one of the three oceans.

Hope this jogged your memory...

It is going to be another sunny and hot day here in South Carolina with it getting into the mid-90's again this afternoon.  I expect to have a pretty quiet day.  Pat will go to her craft group this morning and then plans on going out to lunch with a couple of the women from the group.  I am delighted to see her do this as it has been a long time since she has done this and know she always enjoyed it in the past.  I need to go get a loaf of bread and a couple of other things and may eat my lunch out.  This evening will be the Wednesday night dinner where our main item will be beef stroganoff.  Then Scott and Jennifer will likely come out to the house for the evening. 

We really enjoyed our senior adult luncheon yesterday.  There were six ladies there with their therapy dogs and they presented our program by telling us about the program and a bit about their dogs.  One of the ladies had a big Mastiff dog that she said weighed 180 pounds but was a gentle giant.  After the program we had a nice lunch of a big sub sandwich with salad, chips and a chocolate chip cookie.  This is my kind of lunch.

Mary Ann, I also remember paying around $2500 for an ATT Computer and Monitor and also getting a printer.  I also remember how slow the dial up service way to get online.  I also have lost track of how many different computers   I have purchased over the years. I am so glad the prices have come down so much.  I remember when I first started working we were not allowed to even buy a little calculator or a file cabinet without going through a process that required Headquarter's approval.  Needless to say I worked for a very conservative Federal agency.  Things really changed over the years.  I had forgotten all about the Zip drive.

Carol, were you a teacher?  You mention writing classwork on your computer.  I have found using the chat feature at various websites that offer it to be much superior to trying to talk to the company on the phone.  For one thing I can copy and save the transcript of the conversation if needed. 

Joan, our nights are getting a lot cooler and our house seems chilly this morning but it will be warming up today. 

Patricia, I do remember dealing with all those floppy disk and what an improvement the 3 1/2 inch disks were with the hard plastic cases on them.  Now even CD's are becoming obsolete with many new computers not even having a drive to read or write them. I think many of us at work used computers are terminals into set systems where we entered data.  Things have come a long way.  I remember taking a class and then programming electronic forms for use by our employees.  Most of what I know or have known about using computers has been self-taught. Those were pretty pictures you shared.  Your town sure has an abundance of bridges.

Marilyne, too bad your husband can no longer fix things as he used to since so much is controlled by computer boards.  I hope you got your AC fixed as you probably still need it for awhile this season. If you have had the system for 20 years you are fortunate it can still be repaired.   

Jeanne, that must have been a task dealing with the Compaq computer on the plane.  I think Compaq may have been the first PC I had in my office and was what I took home, but only one time, as it was so heavy. I searched about Compaq and see it was bought by HP and the last Compaq computers under that brand name were marketed about 4 years ago. 

Larry, we are  chilly here this morning but supposed to warm up to 83 today.  Am up early as today I get my hair cut .   Think I need a new comforter tho, this one is old and the innerds are not spread out anymore.  Will look into that later after I return home.

Have a great day all and Hugs all around,

Patricia, thanks for the refresher course on my trip to Alaska.  We were there in August and, of course, our schedule was set by the travel company.  We did not see any auto museum in Alaska, however, we saw the U of Alaska museum in Fairbanks, and saw several since in other places and years.  One thing that impressed me about Alaska, and I was well aware of your increased daylight, was the size of the vegetables and flowers.  I took a lot of pictures of cabbages, dahlias, snap-dragons and hanging baskets.  They were huge and in such good condition.  If my physical condition allowed it, I would go back to visit Alaska.  One thing I bought was a sweat shirt in North Pole and the front was the Alaska State flag.  We were there in 2006 so I imagine some things have changed.  I like more rugged scenery, no matter which state and that probably is why I am not fond of Florida with so much man-made things.

Larry, I had a couple of desktop computers that Tom put together for me, in days when things were more simple, but one year I decided I wanted a laptop to take to Florida with me because I didn't want to have to compete with Norm on his computer.  With a laptop, we both could compute at the same time.  And I've bought laptops ever since.  For short me, they are easier to use.  I've learned a lot about computing but a lot of it has been following directions. 

Yesterday we were over 90 degrees, but today our high will be in the mid-70s.  At 10 am, it is 66 degrees.  I was happy to see the temperature "thingie" back in operation recently.  I like it to check our own temperature, rarely that of others because so many of us mention it anyway. 

Joan, I doubt there will be any activity at Grand Haven today, partly because it is Wednesday and people are working and kids are in school.  But even though the water is warm (70+), the air is cooler.  I think with the cold front coming in, there will be more action on the lake with whitecaps.  I look often anyway to see what may be going on.

Kendrick is sleeping away on top of my bed; he likes it there.

Mary Ann

Angel, I love that photo taken a few blocks from you.  What a beautiful scene.

Good morning, I'm glad everyone enjoyed the photos! Many of those trees are bare now with the wind we've lately had and Fall is more an interruption or prelude than a season here. The weather here, as usual, has ninety percent chance of rain but dry conditions will continue. And that is a direct quote!     

We always have snow on the mountains and on some of the higher foothills. But it is said to be on some of the northern highways today and inching closer. This is the time in this season where you can follow that eight-hour route south through the foothills to Anchorage and literally traverse back into summer or at least an earlier version of Fall.

Farrah is back to sitting in front of me, staring intently at me and speaking. She must believe humans are the slowest creatures around. Yesterday after the luncheon, Alan and Dora came in for a visit. Farrah tried to engage Alan in conversation but he was also clueless as she didn't want to eat.

Dora was amazing in that if you could picture a nicely dressed lady, prim and proper, engaging a cat in nonsense in a questioning manner? Everyone was in stitches as Dora gamely tried to uphold her or Alan's  side of the conversation. Alan said he was sure Farrah was simply repeating what she was trying to get across where Dora was positive the cat simply wanted to be included and I was too busy being entertained.

Larry, we do have a lot of bridges as we have lots and lots of water, five separate rivers; but I still think it shows poor planning or aesthetics on their, the planners, part. We have major industrial areas on the North and South sides of town with large railroad yards and passenger depots on both sides as well. There are major roads splitting the town in half to and from these areas and twice building more bridges has come up for public consideration. Each time, instead of building the bridge to make a closer industrial connection, the bridges were built almost on top of each other. It was publicly stated that it was more feasible but perhaps that should read cheaper?

This town has become like so many others, with the built-up layers outside of the city center with industrial and large car lots to the North and South with chain groceries and malls to the East and West. Whenever I take a taxi home with groceries, it is always the same no matter if I'm coming from the East or West. It is $13.90 give or take five cents.

When tourists stay in central hotels and want to walk around the city center, it is courthouses and offices. Everything is on the outside layers. So many tourists I see on the buses comment on how spread out the town is and how much construction is everywhere. I once told one tourist that if you looked at videos of the town five years ago, those same barricades and flag people were still in the same locations!

MaryAnn, the auto museum is owned by the Wedgewood Manor and is located on their grounds. If you could return for a visit theoretically; you would enjoy staying at a place called River's Walk. It is a series of cottages along a river rather than one large building for a hotel. Lots of flowers and white picket fences border a winding paved path along the river's bank. There is iron grillwork in the fences along the banks and ducks in the waters beyond the fences. No geese actually as they tend to stay in the sanctuary but different species of ducks.

Here's hoping that everyone has a great day ahead! I leave you with Farrah still sitting directly in front of me, still staring intently...

Speaking of early computers - we had an IBM computer, provided by the company for some employees, but had to return it when AJ retired in 1995.  We immediately bought our first Apple computer, and have had them ever since.  I remember well, those very early years of the internet . . . so exciting and so much fun. I felt like a whole new world had opened for me. Chat Rooms were big in those first few years!  It seemed incredible, that we could go into a chat room and start "talking" in real time, with someone on the other side of the country, or the other side of the world.  I was totally engrossed and fascinated by the whole thing. 

Not very many people were online in those early years.  Email hadn't really caught on yet, because very few people had computers. The big tech companies like Amazon and eBay, were just starting up. I remember joining eBay in 1997, and selling and buying lots of stuff.  I was in the antique business at the time, so it was a wonderful source for me.  Back then you became friends with people you met on line, and had email friendships for years. (some I still have.)  I joined Senior Net, shortly after it opened, (1998?) and really liked the message board concept. I think I was tired of chat rooms by then.

I don't know how I got off on such a long-winded comment.  I guess I was just reminiscing about the past.  I do that a lot lately! 

Marilyne, did you ever join a BBS?

joan - I don't recognize those initials, so probably not. Did I miss something? LOL

Marilyne, oh yes indeed.
Call me at 509 222 4204 and we can talk.

It is going to be another mid-90's afternoon with no rain in the forecast. It was just Pat and I at the dinner last night at Church.  Scott plans to come out early this morning and install the pull out shelves, which won't take very long.  Today will be my typical Thursday with picking up my friend as the assisted living facility and going to coffee, then taking him home after about an hour.  Finally I plan on attending the Wisdom group this morning. As far as I know that will be it for today.

Joan, it is always nice to get a new haircut.  Hope you find a nice warm comforter.  They have some now that are very light weight but also very warm with new type stuffing in them. 

Mary Ann, I was always amazed at the huge and perfect dandelions that grew in Alaska.  The ones I had experienced in the lower 49 were always a lot smaller. I have some wonderful memories of the two years we lived in Alaska.  I could easily get along well with just a laptop and have no plans on ever buying another desktop computer.  Pat and I found out years ago that sharing a computer just didn't work very well and so we each have had our own computers for a long time. 

Patricia, it seems your season has changed very quickly but it sounds like all is normal for this time of year up your way. With all the rain you have had I am surprised at the dry conditions continuing.  It sounds like Dora has become very smitten with cats now as well as her husband.  We only have three bridges that go across the Savannah River with two being fairly close to downtown and the other being about 5 miles North of downtown.  That is the one I live fairly close to.

Marilyne, I remember the IBM computers but don't recall ever having had one of them to use.  I do remember the bulletin board type of posting site and the chat rooms.  I never cared for the chat rooms or playing games with others over the Internet.  You are so right about computers opening up the world to us. 

Larry, when I first considered a computer in 1986, I thought about an IBM.  I think I got any information from computing magazines because I didn't have a computer to use to get any knowledge and no one I knew had a computer.  Probably Norm and/or Tom steered me toward the Tandy 1000 which was a good entry-level computer.  I had learned about computing at work because I was inputting information for commercial and industrial company electric bills.  I remember one day I hit a wrong key and lost something on the computer and no one could use that computer until someone from GO sent a disk (5 1/4-inch) to reset it. 

Had a slight delay - Annie stopped at Mc D's and bought her breakfast, also coffee for me and tea for her dad, then brought it here to eat so we had a nice visit.  She also took care of the cat litter (he really is her cat). 

I lost my train of thought and I'm not going to try to retrieve it now.

We are going for lunch at an apple farm today - Tom, Dot, Else (friend of all) and me. 

Mary Ann

Larry, my comforter arrives tomorrow so will see how it is.

My first computer was a PC Jr.  By the time I brought it home from the store it as obsolete.  LOL

Those first years of personal computing were really exciting.  My son had a friend that made computers so that was our first computer.  My daughter told us about AOL and it had just about everything interesting back in those days.  However, I don’t miss the dial up.  It is so nice to have broad band.  Of course, like anything the Internet has its many good points but too often is used in the wrong way.

We got our first Mac in 2009.  Then we got the first iPad that came out and that is the computing I love best.  Last Christmas Larry got me the new big iPad Pro and I love it.  I now read all my books on it and almost all of my computing is done on it.  It is just so convenient.  Both daughters work during the day so I make use of the iMessage.  I can text them then they can reply when they get the opportunity.  Computers make these waning years more interesting.

I wanted a computer so I could enter my genealogy information.  Things became so I never met a computer program I didn't like!  They didn't all like me, but I did master them.  I now seem to have as much genealogy info as I'm going to get without traveling.  And I'm not going to do that.  I do have much genealogy info on the computer via Ancestry and I have gone sideways on families; for instance, the families of my cousins.  I have a lot of pictures and I just don't want to add more information.  Then I put my financial information on a spreadsheet, eventually on Quicken.  So I am finished as to adding new programs.  I'm not organized in real life and I'm not organized on the computer. 

Tom, Dot, Else and I went to Robinette's Apple Farm near here for lunch.  They have mostly sandwiches but the meal comes with an apple and a pickle.  I had a turkey sandwich, Dot had broccoli cheese soup with a ham sandwich, Else had a chicken dinner and Tom had a salad but I don't know what kind.  He may have had a quiche and none of us paid more than $7. 

Mary Ann

Mary Ann - I just recently got my DNA sample information back from Ancestry. So interesting how it shows all of your close matches, (immediate family), then first cousins, second and third cousins, and finally distant cousins.  I have over 1,000 matches altogether, but of course have only looked at about 200 so far.  After the first 100, I no longer recognize any surnames from either my mother or father's family.  Unfortunately many of my matches only show initials or screen names, so I can't identify them.

I'm wondering if you sent in your DNA sample, and got all this info back as well?  I was also fascinated by my "countries of origin", pie chart, etc.  My oldest daughter and granddaughter sent theirs in also, so we're comparing matches, etc.  I'm really enjoying this so much. I haven't actually joined Ancestry, so I don't have access to family trees.  However, I do plan to join as soon as they offer another special. 

Life is finally back to normal here. I've been trying to keep up with all the posts but not in a very talkative mood.

Interesting talk about our early computers. When we were living in Oklahoma and my husband was traveling so much, he finally talked me into trying the internet (approx 1995). Once I found SeniorNet (by accident) I was turned into a computer junkie!  Tried my hand at simple HTML and loved the MSN chat. Nearly every night Mary de Boer (from New Zealand) and I would have long chats.  Imagine how exciting it was to meet her years later at one of the SN Bashes! It took a lot of patience to stay with the internet between the dial-up modem and being kicked off periodically with AOL's cheery "Good-Bye!).

My husband's first PC was a Commodore PET in 1978. I have a snapshot of it that I'll post in Photos.

Yesterday afternoon our group played golf. We almost always play early but couldn't get a morning tee time........Something I won't do again! I felt sick when I got home.  Not all of the courses are open yet. Some of them had a lot of flooding with Irma. We should be cooling down soon. October and November are usually some of our nicest months.

The house washer is coming this afternoon. It really needs it. We had a wet summer and the north side of the house is developing mold. Guess I should go outside and move some plants before he gets here.

MaryAnn, It sounds like you had a nice lunch. There is an Englishwoman here who's mother was a war bride and on one of their many trips home, the daughter married an Englishman from the Scarborough area and he moved here.

The reason I bring this up is that they recently opened a small tea room where you can have tea at six dollars each or sixteen per customer for a whole English tea. Now I have no idea if those prices are good or not as I'm not quite sure of what a full tea actually entails if authentic but the blood pudding her mother favors and attempted to serve one day to her guests is an indication, I'm sticking to the smaller version.

Yes, Dora has succumbed to small sleeping lap buddies and purrs. This was a woman who for many years spoke of mess and poop when talking of indoor pets and said not in her house....oh how the mighty have fallen. She has friends however who simply don't understand. One who recently visited, stared at Duchess as if she'd seen a spider and asked if "it" would try to get on her. Dora assured her the cat wouldn't go near her and missing the irony, her guest was satisfied with that.

Yesterday was eventful. During the luncheon, a woman stepped quickly back, to avoid a waiter, onto my left foot. It really hurt, she was in heels. Later at home, I saw that the nail was split and I had to take the pieces out. It throbbed all night and still a little this morning, like a pulse beat. I hate when you lose a nail like this. Not really anything in the greater theme of things, but it's my owie and I've become complacent in my current manner, lifestyle, retirement? What other terms may I use to avoid laziness or age?

We also passed the marker delineating the Arctic Circle on the way home. A group of tourists was assembled around it, proudly holding up their certificates for crossing the Arctic Circle and smiling for the camera. We briefly discussed how they would recall their visit here as damp, dreary and rainy. As it has mainly been for the last three summers. Pauline stated that by the law of averages, we were due for a hot one next summer. The other four of us were more pessimistic and don't believe so. Anyway, Pauline put the date in her calendar and a free lunch is riding on this next Fall or at least free for four of us.

I started my middle management employment, working with a computer that took up the entire large science building's basement. I ended it with a hand carried one the size and style of an iPhone, in fall 2014, with its own clip-on holster. Now I understand the clip on are considered anachronisms and the in-store manager's computers are tiny!

Marilyn, I too want to have mine tested and have watched many YouTube videos on these reveals including some that turned up some hidden or thought to be hidden family history. I am told I am three-fourths Irish with the other fourth Scots and Welsh. I am also patently different from both of my sisters in size and coloring altho I am a "twin" of my maternal grandmother in looks but have almost every illness or allergy my father has ever had, including a set pattern of birthmarks on my thigh and moles on my back.

I am 5'6" with very pale white coloring, straight hair, and blue eyes. I am light sensitive and bright lights or sunlight can give me migraines. I don't tan, I easily burn, peel and am white underneath.

My two sisters are 6' and 6.1. They have graying, reddish afros, brown eyes, and large builds. Both are more dominant types, very social and both owned their own businesses. They take after my Dad's side in size and coloring. They both have long noses where mine is more snub. We generally surprise everyone who learns we are sisters.

Morning Bev!     

Patricia, you make me think of the time someone looked at Norm and me and decided we were sister and brother.  I think the only common thing was our stark white hair and blue eyes.  I am not thin, but I am not as heavy as Norm was.  He was 5'7" (about the same as Dad) and I was about 5'0" at my tallest.  Mother was about 5'4".  I think both of my parents were normal height for their times. 

I think if I were to visit your friend's tea room, I would settle for the tea, too.  I've heard of blood pudding and it doesn't sound appetizing to me.  I guess it is an "English" thing.  My "English" starts a long time ago and I think someone took pills to get rid of it!

That's terrible about your toenail.  I probably would have gone to ER for that.  I'm also very complacent in my retirement and I don't like it to be disrupted.

My nephew Terry started work after college graduation at Rockwell in Southfield MI.  One time when I visited, he took me to their building an showed me their computer which took up an entire room. 

Patricia, don't discount Pauline entirely as we've had at least two unusually hot summers and the heat may make its way to Alaska one of these years.  I remember my Alaska tour as rainy, but the rain did not slow us down; we saw a lot in spite of the rain and I loved the trip - rain or not!

Beverly, I'm happy things are back to normal for you.  You must have had some pickups to take care of.  It's interesting how computers have taken over so much and branched out to take over many jobs etc.  Norm started on Prodigy, then went to AOL.  He was online much before I was.  He let me go online to whatever the seniors version was called.  He would be charged $2.95 (I think) for me to get online, then I could browse the folders that were there.  Eventually, I got online for myself and browsed the various Senior Net versions until here I am. 

Yes, Marilyn, I've had my DNA tested.  I don't remember the percentages, but I am mostly Western Europe and Scandinavian with some Irish.  I was not surprised because my mother's family goes back to the mid 1600s from England, mid 1800s from Ireland and my dad's family the mid 1800s from Scandinavia (mostly Denmark), however, I know there is some German and Scotland in there. 

This is getting too long, but I'll make it longer.  Tom's former wife (Sue) was adopted and had no interest in finding her birth background (her adoptive mother would not have minded).  But her kids were interested because it would be their background too.  I bought Annie a DNA kit, telling her it would name areas, but would not give her names.  She got her results, posted her tree info and immediately got a hit from a woman in AZ who said she was related.  They exchanged some info and that got Sue interested so she sent for a kit.  Sue now lives with a man in northern Michigan and they went to TX on his business so on the way they contacted the AZ woman.  They hit it off and I think the woman is a cousin to Sue.  I also bought a kit for James and he showed up on my contacts.  I really am not interested in contacting anyone beyond my fourth cousins because in many cases, I can identify where they fit in my family.  I've found people on both my mother's and father's families.  I think it's interesting and I'm not going to delve into family illnesses etc.  I have 293 fourth cousins or closer and I don't know how many fifth cousins - plus.

End of book.

Mary Ann

Mary Ann - I enjoyed reading your book!

My DNA highest percentages were, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland .. . other European countries as well, but can't remember them at the moment.  The one that I was most anxious  to see, was Native American, 4%.  I was not surprised, as my great-grandmother was 1/2 American Indian, and was born in California. I do know quite a lot about her.  A very interesting story. 

That's very interesting about Tom's former wife, and wonderful that she contacted the cousin in AZ. Also good that Annie wants to know more, and went ahead and posted her tree info.  Usually young people, like Annie, are too busy with "today", to care about the past.  I bought a kit for my younger daughter, but she hasn't received the results yet.  So far, my older daughter and granddaughter are the only ones who show in my immediate family. 

My husband AJ, also sent for his, and his results are exactly as he was expecting.  Mostly Sweden and other Scandinavian countries from his dad's side, and Czech/Germany from his mother's side.  He is not as interested in delving into his ancestry as I am, but I think that would be true of most men?  He also has lots of first cousins on both sides of his family, that he has known all his life, and he says that that's enough for him.