Overnight Storms

Monday/today began with the weather alert radio sounding off at about 3:00 am — the western/central area of the state was getting hammered by hard weather. I knew it was expected to pass near Birmingham, but I went back to bed and tried to sleep, to no avail. Dave was still sleeping; I saw no reason to wake him at that point.
I shut down my computer in the office, got a few things moved to Q-hut/kitchen, and crawled back under the covers…tossed turned, and eventually heard thunder nearby.
Did not know for sure what time is was; then the alert radio went off again. The area affected was toward the Mississippi border, closing in on Tuscaloosa County. Still the activity was on the other side of the state. Checked the radar on my ,laptop, went back to the covers,
Next noise heard was the weather sirens going off.
Crawled from under the cover, grab a quilt and pillow, turn the weather radio on, heard that areas near Pell City/Ragland were being warned to seek a safe place. Two areas of tornado activity were being watched.
James Spann was warning folks in these two storm paths to seek safety…I woke Dave.
When he got into the kitchen there were already reports of serious damage near Birmingham.
That storm was heading toward Ragland, and areas east of there — we watched/listened as James Spann tracked the circulation in the storm across HWY 431, along HWY 204.. by then the danger was lessening, when the weather service let the warning(s) expire we felt like we should try to get some much needed sleep.
We had stayed in the kitchen for what seemed liked several hours, until the storm were clear — then crawled back to bed.
[am exhausted, will continue this post after a nap, Dave and I are fine...more later] — CAA.

[Continued]
The rest of that day dragged…I did not get much done, other than checking/answering messages on the computer. I was exhausted.

I did call Mom that evening. She said she was fine, and that the lights had not even flickered during the bad weather. The closest damage to her, she knew of was somewhere around Childersburg. [On the other side of the Coosa River.]

So, for our ‘folks’ we were ALL very lucky and the storms did not hit us. If you wish to know what else has been happening — in general, stay tuned. I will do my best to post here often.
– Cathy Ann Abernathy [weavercat@gmail.com]

http://brothersbandfamily.wordpress.com

 

We Are All Related

After years of genealogy research, and continued quest for ancestors unknown; I have to agree with several fellow researchers — “We are all related”.

That leaves another question — to what degree do we stop counting our “kinship” to others?
10 Generations…20?

Some purist do not research anyone other than DIRECT ancestors — leaving out aunt, uncles, cousins and kin-by-marriage.

For these folks, I admire your dedication!

However, with the tangled inter-related generations of ancestors I have discovered, the DIRECT approach led to many “brick walls” and told me little about the family dynamics or the cultural background of many ancestors.

Yes, I do the majority of my research using the computer and an internet connection — NO I do not guarantee that every bit of data is accurate. Not even traditional research can say that…Let me just say, that I continue to pursue more details about the folks I know are connect to my extended family tree.

Some days I add one fact on a single person; due to work/projects that need to be done. Then, there are times (for instance) when the information begins with leads on a family member in present-day Texas, and then I follow clues backward, through the migration routes — ultimately (hopefully) to the ‘immigrant ancestors’ who first settled in the English colonies of North America.

Recently I have been tracing family lines from a cousin — who is kin to me through the SPRUIELL family. While getting more details about his immediate family, I ventured to look at his pedigree (10-generations), and notice several surnames that seemed very familiar (PATE, Griffith/Griffin, MOSELEY) — and within a short period of more research, I feel certain that he and I have common ancestors on more than one branch of ‘our’ family trees.

This present day cousin surname is CURRINGTON, and he has been a great help with information he has previously posted on forums, and database(s) uploaded to free hosting sites (such as Rootsweb.com). It also appears that others of his ancestors “MAY BE related to my husband through the PATE/PATTY/PAIT/PETTY families who trace their heritage back through the English Colonies in NA, to Scotland, then France — where there were forced to flee due to their ‘radical’ religious beliefs, and a conviction that NO man should have complete power over another.

Such “religious fanatics” were known as Huguenots — and from their struggles came the desire for equality and “LIBERTY for all”.

Some facts that not everyone who does family tree research may have discovered…

“Who do you think you are?”

A few facts to consider –
1) If you can trace back ten generations, you have a possibility of 1024 ancestors.
2) Nearly of all the Presidents of the United States were related to each other (some distant, some closely).
3) Name spelling(s) change from one century to another, and as immigrants come to a new country/culture; but the family connections may still be found if you are creative in your thinking of how the surname was spelled. [IE: Pate, Patty, Pait, Payte, Pety, Petty, Pettit, Patey...etc.]
4) Many families who migrated from the colonies into the Smokey Mountain regions, traveled/relocated with families that had been neighbors in their previous residence; and in time the families would inter-marry; sometimes knowing their kinship, sometimes not. Over generations, the tangle of descendants never ventured far from home — until the advent of the modern travel (trains, wagons, and then cars). This ‘tangled’ heritage is know as “pedigree collapse” — which means two of your ancestors were kin/cousins, and your pedigree will include branches with identical family groups. [Thus for many southern families, the 10 generation pedigree will not have the 1024 DIFFERENT ancestors.]

That’s enough of a review…

If you have the time, patience and inclination to do family tree research; and you know your family/families are long-time United States natives/citizens — then there is a possibility the you are DISTANTLY related to hundreds of celebrities, within about 10 generations.

If you discover a celebrity is closer kin than this; that is quite a point of interest — I have several that have gradually turned up in my quest since 1996.

US Presidents/Political Figures:

• James Earl “Jimmy” Carter. [5th cousin once removed]
  
• Eleanor Roosevelt [7th cousin once removed]
  
• Franklin Roosevelt [19th cousin 3 times removed]
  
• James Buchanan [still researching kinship connection]
  
• George H. W. Bush [still researching kinship connection]
  

Authors/Artists:

• Rick Bragg. [6th cousin]
  
• Jim Henson. [still researching kinship connection]
  
• Doug Marlette [still researching kinship connection]
  

Actors:

• Brooke Sheilds [still researching kinship connection]
  
• Lloyd Bridges [still researching kinship connection]
  
• Todd Bridges [still researching kinship connection]
  
• Jeff Bridges [still researching kinship connection]
  
• Robert Duvall [still researching kinship connection]
  
• Shelly Duvall [still researching kinship connection]
  

Tis time for food. I will continue fill in the gaps after dinner.

– Cathy Ann Abernathy
Musicians:

Johnny Cash.

Dolly Parton.

Ashley Judd.

Jeff Alan Cook [18th cousin 3 times removed]

Randy Y. Owen [5th cousin twice removed]

Marc-Alan Barnette [10th cousin]

Veterans/Military Leaders:

 

January 1st

Happy New Year!
Overall, today hasn’t been to shabby; it was off to a bit of a rough start…just getting over head cold/had a headache at breakfast, so we did not go out on visits today. Hope that Marie is feeling better, she was under the weather as well.
Dave spent much of the day taking apart the stove we brought home yesterday.
It is a well-used, enamelled, cast iron six-eye wood burning stove. The shelf behind the top has a white glaze enamel coat. It does have the water chamber/tank with it; Dave will have to give it a cleaning, and do some repairs — for now, it has a home here.

The morning was quiet, I ate breakfast, then Dave began working on the stove. A little later, I went back to bed and rested until about lunch time (the sinus medicine helped with get rid of my morning headache, finally).

When I looked at the clock from under the bed covers, I realized the over heat lights were not on; nor was the alarm clock. As I
Walked downstairs, I saw that Dave had the battery lamp in the kitchen on.

It was nearly 1:45, and the only thing I could fix for lunch was ‘cold’ turkey sandwiches.
(The pizza from last night is still in the fridge.)

Dave said the power company had told him the power should be restored by/before 3:00pm.
He went back to the stove/project; and I went upstairs to my laptop.

There were a few things I could do without the internet connection — I cleared some tabs in Firefox (saved them), and did a bit on some genealogy stuff.

The power came back on around 2:45.

With the lights returning, I began clearing the mound of laundry in the bathroom — the dryer had towels in it; so those got folded and put away.

By the time I had the washer loaded, I heard a “bang…rattle, rattle, bump, …bang.”
I grabbed my work boots on the out the back door, and found Dave moving the covered grill. He was wanting to use the front door of the Q-hut, but the grill had to be moved first.

With the grill tucked under the cover in the back yard, Dave continue with the store work; and I went inside and began clearing the clutter of wrapping paper, scotch tape, and other tidbits from the wrapping for Christmas — the sofa was in much better shape when I was done.

Things were quiet, until around 4:30 — feeding time for the cats.
The weather was warm today, so the tomcats (“Red” and “Boris, the Gray”) decided they needed to argue as to who was “top cat” — not something that I allow at feeding time.

I swatted with a long stick to get their attention (but they ignored me)…I saw the milk jug of water I leave for their bowls; grabbed it took the top off, and dowsed them with as much water as I could.

Neither tomcat liked that; they slinked off in opposite directions, and did not bother eating with the other cats.

Before dark fell; Dave and I moved more firewood next the backdoor; the weather is expected to be in the teens for several days — having wood close in such temps is always good.

Tonight, I hooked up my external CPU monitor to my laptop. The first time in many months that I have been able to connect more than two USB devices without the ‘other’ keyboard(s) in the ‘chain of communication’.

It is a delight to have a large screen to surf the Internet.

The set-up as it is tonight:
One external hard-drive, an external keyboard, (no printer yet), a mouse, a UBS thumb-drive, and a extension cable hooked up to another USB port on the monitor.

Next addition will be the printer/scanner combo (have not moved it into the work area, wanted to be sure everything else was working properly before adding the final piece).

If things don’t work out (elbow-room and desk area); then I will have to relocate everything somewhere else…not something I feel quite up to yet.

Well, for the first day of 2012 — it has been an adventure, not too hectic/not too quiet; warm, dry weather; had a good conversation on the phone with Mom, and great dinner of ham, turnip greens and black-eyed peas.

How was your day?

– Cathy Abernathy (http://weavercat.wordpress.com)