See that Annette has been too busy perhaps, to start a new week, so I'm doing the honours. Rather wet in this part of the world this morning, so doing lots of tidying & Christmas preparing stuff.
Caerann: I hope everything gets resolved positively for you. Take care of yourself. I'm sending good energy!
I have missed too much to comment on all the lovely lot of chatter. Yesterday I attacked the Xmas shopping – 2 g-kids done. Tick. Started on Xmas cards today – alas the ones I bought at the charity card shop have no text inside <sigh> more writing than I planned to do. Then I can’t find the brown paper I bought last year for posting calendars. Why don’t they sell envelopes to fit the calendars? Or am I the only idiot who posts them? Auntie Right now I am listening to Cantus Arcticus. Thank you, thank you. It is brilliant, delightful. I had forgotten about a tiny shop tucked away in an obscure arcade. And there it was, an early Christmas gift to myself!
Annette & OG ask 'why deserters'. A long story. I guess the short answer is "because they are there". My hobby is family history but long ago, having reached as far back as possible without making assumptions, I then drifted into helping others. I especially want to help those who live in the country or interstate or for health reasons cannot easily get to the libraries/archives holding resources. So I extract names & basic info from Police Gazettes, Govt Gazettes and other files that catch my fancy, and post these on a website. If I can help a few people get started and at the same time do something interesting, well . . . Most researchers in Australia desperately need to know which ship their emigrant ancestor arrived on. Then they want to know where they went & what they did. With new farming land opened up, gold rushes & other disrupting influences, many people moved about. The Police Gaz are a good source for missing persons. Men travelled, perhaps looking for work, failing to support wife, family &/or parents. (No social services in 1800s.) Children ran away from home, so did wives. Sailors arriving on ships deserted, some of these were caught, others re-signed on again later. I do come across some fascinating vignettes. Harry R left wife & 4 children destitute in Durban, South Africa. Worked here at Wallaroo (mines), then said he may go to Sydney, and to San Francisco. (I wonder if he had a wife in every port?) Then there were the two lads aged 14 & 12 years who left home in Adelaide. One dressed in a blue serge suit & boots, the other in a knickerbocker suit, both with white straw hats, they caught the train to Quorn (180 miles north), from there they intended to walk to a station in Queensland where one of their fathers was working. They were found 110 miles further on. (From Quorn the QLD border is about 450 miles!) Oh dear, I could go on & on. I enjoy the stories I find.
Could someone please explain how to save all these links to "favourites"? Many thanks.
A wee hedgehoglet sent to me earlier this year.
Evening/Morning all: Back from day-long outing at the Camarillo outlet center. Managed to buy myself a decent pair of Nikes in my size. I'm a 10 -1/2 US, and most shoes come in half sizes only to 10, then jump to 11, so I typically end up with shoes a bit too big. At least I can go to the gym now without tripping over my own feet. Then did a tour of the rest of the stores, bought a few little gifts, plus two Port Meirion cups on clearance and a bunch of household stuff at wonderful Target. Oh yes, and a scratch pad with catnip for Lightning, who missed the whole point and rubbed herself all over the pad. I kept telling her how to use it but she wouldn't listen; OH says I'm expecting too much too soon. The Furminator sounds like a Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
OG: Did not stop for lunch - took banana, almonds, raisins and water and then bought myself a latte at Starbucks before I headed home. Power tools in the rain? Stand well clear! Tutulemma very funny, but let's not speculate on Analemma!! Alan: I'm sure Hamish is toasty in his little house with extra blankets. Congratulations on the lights! What am I missing on the Sun website re IR?? Auntie: Our cat is all-white and gets a really grotty bottom at times that typically requires human intervention just charming. (You probably wouldn't notice it on a dark cat.) Gary: Didn't know that horses liked to play in the snow. My daughter used to have a well and yes, no pump; no water. We're on the city supply here. Lindybird: Our neighbors keep lights in their trees all year, looks very festive. Don't mind hearing traditional Christmas carols, but must confess an aversion to the other! Tiger: Fascinating about the lighter evenings/darker mornings. Here it gets dark around 8:30 in the summer and around 5:30 right about now. AQ: Fascinating stories - must be very engrossing. Liz LFW: What an incredibly sweet little hedgehoglet!! Do you still have it? All young creatures (except for alligators and crocs) have the same look of innocence and vulnerability which makes them so appealing. Re saving links, I don't know which browser you're using, but there's usually some tool (in AOL it's a little red heart; in Internet Explorer it's a gold star) that will save the page you want to Favorites. You have to use that tool while you're actually on the desired page for it to work. I'm sure someone can explain it more clearly! Caerann: Don't stay away too long! Hope things go well.
Sunny and brisk here today (Wednesday); cloudy tomorrow with rain the next few days. Watch out all you US East Coast folks!
Yes Annette this is a subject that comes up every year at this time and somehow the perception remains the same. One of those things like PIN numbers were usage and reality are two different things! Surely we should all be saying PI numbers!?
Here is a rather nice graph which shows the situation. It also shows rather well why the ospreys come north for the extra daylight for fishing. See http://www.astronomer.me.uk/mysky/#daylight
Tiger Signature
I have seen eagle owls used for publicity before but ospreys?? Controversial. See http://www.oscarandolive.com/The_Book/Events.html
I thought that ospreys do not do well in captivity?
Hazel b said: I have seen eagle owls used for publicity before but ospreys?? Controversial. See http://www.oscarandolive.com/The_Book/Events.html I thought that ospreys do not do well in captivity?
Tiger, if you go into the website in depth, you'll find that she talks about 'Olive and Oscar' being with her at all these events, then tells how many children took 'Olive and Oscar' home with them. Obviously she is talking about the book!!! LOL! Tthe book is her observations of a wild osprey family who are neighbours of hers, presented in the form of a children's book. She does mention the presence of a live osprey as a very special guest at one event. When you think about it, there must be rescued osprey who cannot ,or don't want to, fend for themselves in the wild. Hand-raised chicks would fall into this category. For these birds, surely a life where they are well cared for and perform a useful service in educating people about ospreys is better than no life at all?
Smiles, Jan.
AQ has been a lot of help to me in finding more information about my South Australian ancestors, for which I shall be eternally grateful. I've only been working on my family tree since early this year, but it is very addictive, and I am well and truly HOOKED!!! I spend at least some time every day chasing 'dead rellies' around my computer, and I have found more live rellies than I ever dreamed I had!!!
LizLFW What a sweetie! He/she (the latter, I think) has such a cute little face.