It’s been so long since I’ve updated the blog, I’ve forgot how!! Over 2 years. Two big events have been 4/2007 trip to Scotland; and a kitchen additon at Schroon Lake. My Muir ancestors were from Sanday in Orkney………. a bit of travelog is here. [make sure you adjust the time between slides; and increase the max image size…… (to whatever is bearable..

I went nuts taking pictures of expansion in the fall; from Start to Middle of the 3 month construction…

This summer we haven’t done much… besides enjoy the Lake and our new Kitchen…

A recent comment by Tom Keating asked me about the effects of the dam finished in 2007. Well, I don’t know much about it… or even know Joe Koch. A careful read of my original post notes that it was an (interesting) exerpt FROM a Paradox Lake Newsletter… wish I knew more; I can only offer this link to a short 2008 video of the dam. —- murph.us/StarBuckDamn.avi
Tom, I hope the growth you noted is not the Eurasian Millfoil sweeping the lake!!

[When I figure out the proper way to host the short video, I fix it.....]

Boy, the weather sure takes wide swings in the spring. Last weekend, Liz enjoyed a sunny swing with Tim’s children. This morning, up here in Schroon Lake it’s a winter wonderland... at least to me. Luke didn’t seem as sure.. And don’t miss laughing Liz coing it up..

I’ve been working on Muir genealogy lately, see New paragraph on the Genealogy Index. I got so interested in the Orkney Island of Sanday (from whence they came in the 1800s) , that I decided some UK travel was in order… See my schedule.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad. While I may have known then which grandchildren were taken in hand; I sure didn’t know it a year ago when I posted the picture in my gallery. Today I got my answer from my niece…Kathleen Dixon and with date too!

The picture entitled GrdPaWalks was taken in 1986 at Emery Park (a family reunion) and Grandpa is walking Jaimee Reed and Derek Dixon. I only remember it because Stephanie was just born (so it was after Aug 17, maybe Labor Day weekend?)

So,………… we’re cruising up the Northway just outside Albany. I’m reading the Times while Liz drives…. and talks of stopping in Saratoga. We’ve often stopped at Gallagher’s for lunch on the way to the Adirondacks. I finally figured out she was talking about playing the slots as respite.. “Oh, what will you do though..?” I’m deep in the business section (Circuits on Thursday!) as we start to pass Exit 13 out in the passing lane. Having waited for exact right moment, I threw out: “I don’t know why you don’t stop for an hour or so?”; we’re crossing the travel lane, heading for the exit! Wow, such quick reaction.. and no accident either.

We’ve stopped before, but I never realized the Casino was right next to the track. Trotters were exercising. So after Liz went inside, I pulled over to the south end of the track in the parking lot. What a great view of the action. And the clippity/clop of horse was terrific. Luke even listened for 30 seconds before going back to sleep. I tried to remember whether I’d EVER seen Trotters race; perhaps 30 years ago.

Anyway, it was a great noontime stop in the Journey. And my bride of 43 years came back with a $100 win!! You can’t beat that number 13 Exit!

Ruby For Rails by David Black was tough slogging, but I made it through to the end. (Well I must admit skipping 20 pages of regular expressions; they just never stick… at least at my usage rate.) I really like the way Rails makes quick work out of serving a light Data Base application. I was disappointed that the book never got beyond the DB aspects; I thought I had seen examples of form and CGI manipulation. I was going to make a small “Group Info” server application; but I stumbled across Pimki….. which can easily do much of what I was looking for… Not sure what my next step will be. Anyway, the book is well worth the money. The examples helped immensely with the difficult Ruby/Rail combination.

The library supplied me with an entertaining thriller: Ricochet by Sandra Brown. Judicial arrogance, sex, some mystery too; a fun read.

But I really enjoyed Carl Hiaasen’s newest: Nature Girl. My daughter said I’d be LLOL (that’s literally LOL); and I did. Reminds me of the first book I read by Carl: Accidental Tourist which was one of the three funniest books I’ve ever read. I think these are the only books I’ve ever reread. In fact I do believe I’ve thrice read Confederacy of Fools. CF actually has a “cult-like” following; and it was an author singleton. I’m trying to remember the title of the 3rd funny book.. Storyline/setting was a couple attempting to startup a remote Carribean resort.

This has been an exciting Genealogy week for me… The addverts finally hooked me on taking an Ancestry.com trial run; and the rest is (my) history! The first discovery was how easy it was find (new and old) family census images. The 1930 US census was recently made available; and I saw the entry for the 4 Murphys on Stillwell Ave. in Kenmore. RJM, Catherine, James and Jean. It’s also easy to find their ancestors in 1851 Scotland; just 3 years before RJM’s grandfather, Mungo Muir, left for the U.S.

Another discovery turned from disaster to wonderful new information.. and I found a relative in Ottawa Canada I never knew I had.. The Ibbotsons I’ve had on the net for a couple years was based on finding a William/Sara Ibbotson that fit the birthdates of WHI. I found a fitting pair a few years ago; albeit there was no sister, Martha who never came over. I thought I’d try and find other Ibbotsons who stayed behind. When I looked at the 1891 census on ancestry; disaster: my William was still there!! And I knew he was in either Buffalo or Colorado. So, I began looking harder.

At one point, I limited the search to the Family Trees that had been uploaded. I stumbled on one mentioning WHI and his 1st wife: Louise Girardin. I only knew the name Gerarden which was spelled wrong. The contributor had their marraige and generations going back to France and Switzerland!! Boy, was I excited. One problem was ferreting out the maker. By looking in the forums for someone talking about other Girardin family members, I chased down Bob Covert. His wife is a Girardin. It is likely to be a few weeks before I get the data all integrated; but here’s a snapshot:

Joseph Girardin b1822 France
+Maria Anna Breton b1832 Switzerland
Louise Girardin b1860 in Cheektowaga

Peter Breton b1804
+ Maria Anna Pretre b1805
Maria Anna Breton b1832 Switzerland

Similarly, I found a Tree put up by Elaine Pikard with a Sara and William that fits much better than the prior information I had. And it even had a sister: Martha. After trading a few emails with Elaine, I concluded, this was a definite match. And the story behind the story kinda fits too. Mom had told me that WHI left Sheffield when his father remarried. It turns out that, his mother Harriet, had her first three children (Martha, William & Sarah) out of wedlock!! She married William Flowers when WHI was 10. The married couple had Ada Flowers in 1880. WHI left for Buffalo c1884.

Check the site of my 2nd Cousin Twice removed (Elaine in Ottawa) to learn about the Sheffield of old.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last wrote here… been so busy!! I should have at least written about the great mini-cruise we had in October. The pictures are in the Gallery. Another new album there is “Old Christmas’”. I have a few pics alread up there; and plan on adding more shortly. I’m converting old slides to digital… and it sure takes time. But the old pics are facinateing. I haven’t seen some of these slides in a loooong time. Some pics were put in “old wine” album.
Can’t remember if I’ve mentioned new Fr. Harold page. That was an interesting, satisfying effort.
Trying to get back in the writing habit..

Technorati Profile

Trying to improve the blog looks, tain’t easy.

Testing with green on green.. Trying to enlarge the font here; I think it’s hard to read. Not easy in Worpress.Com. Think I have to try a fresh post and figure out how to “turn off the Visual Rich Editor.. !!

Well I got green on blue………

I changed the Links a little. Hover your mouse over them to see (hopefully helpful) comments. And for all you folks who visited us at Schroon Lake, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the new Adirondack Stuff link. Over to the right, and down… And take a look at his LONG list of Adirondack Links/Sites/Blogs… or whatever they are.

Some stats from my Genealogy data base:
(they were lined up when I left them….will work on them another day )

Statistical Report

STD ID ID
Total People: 1081 POP AVG DEV MIN MAX MIN MAX
Age at first marriage 176 25.7 5.8 11 474 38 566
Age at first child 217 28.5 6.2 14 536 69 35
Age at last child 217 35.0 7.6 16 574 80 416
Age at Death 173 68.4 21.1 0 101 8 1003

ID
Males: 561 POP AVG DEV MIN MAX MIN MAX
Age at first marriage 84 26.6 5.1 13 39 227 1081
Age at first child 109 29.8 6.2 18 53 441 35
Age at last child 109 36.7 8.3 19 57 479 416
Age at Death 95 66.3 22.6 0 101 8 1003

I hope you’ve figured out by now that this is sort of a “test it all” post…

Got a new idea to keep me up… on posting Book entries: I first blog WHAT I’m reading. Then regular entry when I finish it..
Now on America, the Last Best Hope, by William J. Bennett. A nice sized History so far.