Indexing can be addictive.....

(To see this a little larger just double click - when finished hit the return arrow in the upper left corner of your screen. Note: You'll be able to see my total number on the bottom left of the screen.)

I have been indexing census records - among other records - for a while now and just reached another milestone 18,045!!!! Usually there are 50 lines on each census to transcribe but other countries have different forms. I have only done the United States and Canada Federal Census Records but I did do some French Canadian census records in French. Other forms I have transcribed include marriage, birth, and death records for the United States and Canada; land taxes for England, and State census records.

There is also a point system given of which I have earned 26,559. Here is an explanation of how these points are calculated: "Points provide a way for you to track your personal indexing contribution to FamilySearch. Points correspond to records you have indexed, adjusted for degree of difficulty (since some projects are much more challenging than others). All records receive at least one point, but more difficult indexing projects may give anywhere from two to ten points per record."

One of the main reasons I contribute is so that these records can be more available to those searching out their ancestors. I have been able to find so many of my ancestors through the census records and hope that may more will be found! And soon! Guess patience is not one of my strongest suits....oh well. I'm still working on that one.

An interesting check and balance system is in place with FamilySearch - two different people transcribe the records and if they do not agree a third person, or arbitrator, reads the records and makes a decision on what is correct. I think this is an ingenious (and inspired) way to transcribe more accurately than just one person doing it on their own. I know because some of the records are so hard to read because of fading or damage to the document. (When the US Federal Census records were first started they were only being used to count heads basically and were not always taken care of properly. Now those same records are also used for genealogy research.) Unfortunately the 1890 census records for the United States were destroyed in a fire so they are no longer available but other than that we have records dating from 1790 to the present at 10-year intervals. This year is a census year so take the time to complete the form and return it promptly. This information also helps our cities, counties, and states get funding based on the correct number of inhabitants.

Twas the week before Christmas.....

Larry got a great deal on some used pavers a few weeks ago so we decided to see what we could do with them. Here is the before picture:

Here are the after pictures. We did put sand in between the pavers but haven't taken a picture yet. Love the added space!!

We were pretty pooped after laying the pavers - mainly because we had to hand carry them from the side yard to the back. Our wheelbarrow gave out after the first load - the tire went flat and could not be filled! We have more stones waiting to make a pathway but that project will have to wait until next year!!! Maybe New Year's Day???

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' keep those doggies rollin'........

We had a wonderful time with Dale and Carol last weekend. One of the things we saw was the Western town of Rawhide which is not too far from where we live. When we pulled up there were a lot of cars but no one in the town so we dubbed it a "Ghost Town". As we were walking in we could hear the loudspeaker playing Frankie Layne's rendition of Rawhide - see the words -------->


Interesting that the Conastoga wagon has a "motorcycle parking only" sign in front of it!

We caught Larry and Dale redhanded loitering and sent them directly to the portable jail.

After walking around for 15-20 minutes we were approached by one of the workers who asked if we were part of the private party. Since we were not she told us the town was closed until evening. We grabbed our cowboy hats and left.

Coming home from work I witnessed just a little taste of our Heavenly Father's artistic talent! I was stopped at a red light for the first picture and then hurried out of my car at the library to take the next two pictures. The last one was taken after I came out of the library - just a few minutes made a world of difference, don't you think? If you double click on the photos you can see them a little more clearly. Too bad the photos don't do the color justice!!!

Today was another gorgeous day in our neck of the woods. Good opportunity to take Duchess to Pacana Park and watch the birds and people. We have a little bench we always stop to drink a little water adn rest for a few minutes. Then we were off to the water to sit and watch the beautiful water and enjoy the weather.

Superstition Mountains and Lost Dutchman State Park

Larry, Duchess and I went camping this weekend. We went to the Lost Dutchman State Park to cool off - instead of triple digits here at home (which I thought were behind us until next spring!) The forecast was in the 90's but it felt a lot warmer setting up camp. Sunsets in Arizona are breathtaking and this photo does not adequately capture what we saw. Last night was beautiful. When we set up the tent we attached the rainfly and then realized that with a zillion stars out we probably wouldn't see any rain. So we took the rainfly off and crawled in the tent, snuggled up in our sleeping bags, and looked up at the spectacular view of all those stars. It was so nice and warm we really didn't need our sleeping bags. Dinner was roast, potatoes, carrots and onions cooked in the dutch oven. Dessert was a Snickers bar. While dinner was cooking we decided to take a walk. Right after we started out I realized we didn't have any doggy bags so I gave Larry Duchess and just as I was doing that she jumped off the trail and before we knew it she had attacked a cholla cactus. Let me tell you - you never win when attacking any kind of cactus. I know from personal experience. Duchess had a cactus ball the size of a baseball stuck to the front of her mouth. Larry hustled back to camp and brought our tongs, leather gloves, and a dish rag. Before he left we got the "ball" off her with my flip flops. Then we proceeded to get the barbs off her with the tongs and rag. There were probalby 20 on her and it took about five minutes to get them off. Poor thing. I had to hold her mouth the whole time so she wouldn't put her tongue on them. They were NOT easy to remove. I am hoping we got all of them - she looks good and doesn't show any sign of lasting effects. Needless to say, there are no pictures of this ordeal! After we removed them we continued our walk around the campground, then had dinner and watched the stars. Everytime I woke up I would look up and follow where the Little Dipper had gone.

Rowen was blessed today....

Rowen was blessed today. We had a wonderful day together and are so thankful for our family.