Author: Shelly

Crankypantsing, Photography

Spring

Shelly

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Raspberry leaves unfurling

I’ve got two cat sitting jobs this weekend. At one of the houses, the pussy willows are budding. I’m going to try to remember to take my camera tomorrow. Then, when I took the dog out for her afternoon walk, I noticed that the leaves on the black raspberries are starting to unfurl.

An unfortunate byproduct of Spring is that one of my neighbors has been leaving their little Chihuahua outdoors for long periods of time. The dog shrieks non-stop, and it’s about to make my ears bleed. I feel sorry for the dog, and I’d like to kick the owners in the shins.

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Cemeteries, Photography

Buddie

Shelly

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Buddie 1934-1948
Grave Marker, Dunn Cemetery, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Sometimes, the full names, dates, etc. were placed on a central family monument, then simple head or foot stones with initials or just the first names marked the actual graves. I need to go back over to the cemetery and take another look, but I’m pretty sure that there weren’t any family monuments nearby that looked connected to this one. The other side of the stone bears an inscription for Erma Defur, who died in 1902, just after she turned a year old.

So who the heck was Buddie, then? A child? A beloved family dog? Was he a brother of someone in the Defur family?

And who was Erma Defur? There is another monument with her name and dates on it, in the Stewartsville Cemetery. I wonder which grave she’s actually buried in.

Cemeteries, Genealogy, Photography

Sarah and William and Nell and Louis

Shelly

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Graver Marker of Sarah and William Frost
Dunn Cemetery, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

And on the subject of people’s dead relations… I’ve been running into genealogical road blocks because my great grandmother’s surname is not at all common. I’ve found a lot of Basquills, and they are surely all related in some way, but I can’t get farther back than my great-great-great grandfather, Michael.

I’ve had the opposite problem with my great grandfather’s name. Do y’all know how many Louis Thompsons there are and/or were? Lordy! I finally managed to grab at a thread that lead me to a 1910 census record for his family, though.

1910 US Federal Census
Louis Thompson b. 1904
Fulton County, Georgia
William B. Thompson age 34
Estelle Thompson age 34
Douglas Thompson age 11
Russell Thompson age 11
Beulah Thompson age 8
Louis Thompson age 6
Miller Thompson age 4
Estelle Thompson age 2
Warren Thompson 6/12 (6 months)

Each of those names is another thread that might lead to more information and yet more threads. Most importantly, I now have the names of his parents, along with approximate birth years. If those don’t pan out, I can look for information on his siblings, and see if someone else has traced them backwards.

It’s dry stuff, I know, but it totally made my day.

Photography

Skwrrl

Shelly

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Behind Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Harriet says that skwrrlz are evil. She may be right. This little guy sure was charming, though. I’d take a step closer, he’d stop eating and stare at me, then he’d go back to eating and I’d take his picture. Then I’d take another step closer, etc., etc., etc. He let me get just a couple of feet away from him.

I love the way his tail is curled over his back.

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He looks like he’s wearing a fur hat.

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Cemeteries, Crankypantsing, Genealogy, Photography

Fragments

Shelly

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Fragment of Grave Marker
Covenanter Cemetery, Bloomington, Indiana

This was taken last weekend. It’s cheating, but since I didn’t post a photo yesterday and didn’t even touch my camera today, I’m not going to feel guilty about it. Heck, I very nearly didn’t post at all today. Damned DST[1]. It’s past my bedtime already!

Where did this day go, anyway? It seems like I didn’t get a thing done, because I wasted it chasing my tail trying to solve a couple of genealogical puzzles. A fragment here and a fragment there. I did manage to figure out that I could merge two individuals–yay! I also found my great-great aunt Margaret’s husband in the US census records for 1910 and 1920. I guess that’s progress of a sort, right?

And now I have to go figure out what to make for lunch tomorrow. I have a feeling it’s going to involve broccoli and rice and maybe some granny smith apples. But not all together. That would be disgusting.

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1. Every day during DST, when my alarm goes off at the unholy hour of 3:30 am Indiana time, I’m going to be reminded of what a sadistic fucking bastard Mitch Daniels is. Note to Mitch: You are henceforth and forevermore stricken from my Christmas Holiday card list!