Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Summer sure is pretty


11 comments:

  1. Vale Deaniacs!

    "But the emotional impact of the two styles, leaving nothing to the imagination and leaving almost everything, remains quite striking. The latter is a great deal more frightening.--Cat"

    That is the lesson of Alfred Hitchcock's movies.

    We applied online for Social Security and the myrmidons in DC or wherever messed up both applications. So we go in on Thursday to straighten things out with a human bean.

    I got my Y-DNA markers test back yesterday, and even though I had anticipated the possibility, the results are a bit much to get used to. As I had suspected, the man my grandmother said was my father's father seems to be a phantom invented years later to deflect questions (no significant overlap of DNA markers and surname distribution(. Likewise her husband is ruled out (NO overlap of DNA markers and country of origin). There IS, however, a strong overlap of DNA markers with the evident place or origin of her sister's husband's family name (Essex and Cambridgeshire). To say that adds something to the story she told about the two twin sisters impersonating one another in bed with their respective husbands is something of an understatement. Oh well. It's no fault of mine or my father's, and the two very foolish young women responsible for the irregularity and the century-old coverup paid the price and are long since deceased. Still.

    TTFN

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    1. Ah, Alan, welcome to the world of colorful family histories. I can tell stories for days about my ancestors. Some real wild cards in the deck. I view them with a sort of affection. I'm sure they were scandalous in their day, but time lets you see the humor in most of them.

      SusanD

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    2. I got my first peek into the *virtue* of previous generations before I was twenty -- worked as a checker for the LDS Genealogical Library. We checked new family submissions against work already done. I was struck that the clear majority of first babies were born three or four months after marriage. . . . Didn't actually do a count, but that was the STRONG impression. . . .

      My father's mother was left as a maid in a hotel at the age of 12 or 13 whilst her mother came to America to look for her father, who'd promised to send for them. She *also* just evaporated into thin air. My grandmother was a very old lady before she admitted that they'd never been married in the first place.

      I always try to remember that if I hadn't married *exactly* the man I did, the kids I adore wouldn't exist. Some *other* kids likely would, but not my two. So bless your grandmother, and pity what she paid.

      The story in my past that haunts me is fairly new. And two hundred and fifty years old. Her father was a fairly important Iroquois Ambassador to the Government of Pennsylvania. Her brother became an important (two counties in WV are named after him) Peace Chief. The English Governor of Virginia wanted to pick a fight with the Indians, but Chief Logan was ignoring them. So the Governor sent a small band of soldiers, disguised as trappers to his summer encampment, while he was gone hunting. They invited everyone to town for a drink at the trading post. Including his wife and sister (my GGGG Grandmother). And proceeded to get everyone drunk. And kill them. And scalp them. The only survivor was my GGG Grandmother, who was three, and was felt to have some ransom possibility -- Her father was Military Governor of Ohio. Her only brother was about ten, and had been sent away to boarding school. It worked: Chief Logan waged a hot and furious war for about six months. So much for our ancestors having been all righteous men, eh?

      We always heard that we had an Indian Grandmother, somewhere. But it was just last fall that one of my nephews discovered her. And wouldn't have without the "fame."

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  2. wOOt!! I tend to get irritated at various internets attempts to track what I'm buying. But today, am VERY grateful, grin. Amazon just sent me an email with flea/tick remedy sales. . . . I've been using Pet Armor, since it's about 1/2 of Frontline's price. It was taken off the market last year due to a copyright infringement, but those with stock were allowed to sell what they had. Someone is down to the last dregs, and is obviously wishing to clear that bookkeeping item out. I just got a *year's* supply for less than $30!! Regularly it would have been $120; and Frontline would have been $240!! So gotta say: bless marketing tracking. . . . And I'm so glad I won't even have to *think* about it till next summer!!

    AND AND. . . . The first part of my new computing system *should* arrive today: the USB dialup modem. Alas, Dell ships via FEDEX, and FEDEX *hates* to actually deliver. . . . Their driver is a lazy piece of chit. And this is the third one I've dealt with. He HATES dirt roads, and finds any excuse to return stuff. Nancy has a friend at the Navy base (where he doesn't mind going) take her stuff and bring it home, and she picks it up there. The Post Office sometimes signs for things. But FEDEX is immediately anxiety causing, lol! I tried on their site to forestall it yesterday, but the chat lady is under the impression that the drivers WANT to deliver, and wasn't exactly getting what I was saying, I think. Nancy volunteered to ask Ralph to collar him today, give him directions, and *assure* him there are NO hills before my house. Will see. . . . If this works, will try it again next week when the computer itself is due. Meanwhile, this guy keeps plugging along -- slow and buggy, but going. . . .

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    1. Excellent about the Front Line substitute!

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  3. I'm terribly frustrated. Whatever I try to do, I run into a wall.

    Can't solve the fundamental problem in "World Enough and Time" of whether the machine is a time machine or a parallel universe machine. Or, rather, which Mark thinks it is. Since it opperates on the quantum level, it probably is intrinsically both. But what is Mark trying to do? Without an answer to that question, there's no point finishing the story.

    Every other story project is stimied because I have no idear what happens next.

    Can't print the song I want to send to a musician acquaintance because nowhere in the documentation can I find how to do it. Rather, I can't find how to print multiple tracks/staves.

    If you look at sheet music for a song, you see three staves. The uppermost staff is the vocal line, the lower two are the right and left hand parts of the accompaniment. In Cakewalk, these two parts of the song, the voice part and the piano part, are stored in separate "tracks." The instructions for printing that I can find are for printing one track. Doing it that way, you'd end up with the voice part in one sheaf of pages and the accompaniment in another sheaf of pages. NOWHERE can I find so much as a mention of printing multiple tracks/staves in the same print job.

    I know it can be done. After great effort, I did once find out how to do it and sent off the results in the mail to Enge's California office. Naturally, I heard nothing more about the song. Because I am unutterably stupid, I did not set down in an MSWord file or the like the instructions for printing. So now, a year and more later, I once more want to print a song, and have no concept how to do it. Can't even find anything on the Cakewalk web site, which is, I think, where I finally found the solution the other time. Googling hasn't helped. So, can't print the song to send to my acquaintance.

    I don't understand. Feel trapped. I can't make progress in any direction!

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    1. Cat, has *nothing* to do with being stupid -- utterably or unutterably. I do it all the time: long learning curve, do it, and forget how I did it. If we *didn't* our minds would be so cluttered we couldn't wiggle.

      As for the writers' block. Happens. Focus on something else, anything else, and they dissolve. The MORE you focus on them, the worse they get! In fact, your subconscious is working on all your stories, and one day will signal you its ready, lol! Meanwhile, it's summer!!

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    2. Thanks, Puddle. ♥

      Currently working on adding harmony to the bridge of "Should I Lie." Since harmony is not my strong suit, it takes concentration. Probably a good thing.

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  4. You all know that Renee posted a New Thread this afternoon, right?

    Come on over, because I've posted responses to ALL the notes on the last thread and this one!!

    :-D

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    1. Nope. Didn't know. I set up the new day's comment thread first thing, and don't check the front page again til the next day. Thanks for the head's up.

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  5. Wow! I'm impressed -- Dell just shipped the computer! Due *Friday*!! Gonna have a *happy* Fourth of July!!

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