Subscribe with Bloglines

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Baby It's Cold Outside!




Blizzards shutting down Colorado two weeks in a row; it's snowed here 3 days in a row, which is unheard off in this Banana Belt part of the state! It's making life difficult for a lot of people, but since I'm retired and not travelling anywhere for the Holidays I've just decided to stay in and enjoy it. We had planned to spend the New Year weekend with our kids in Byers, Colorado, as we do each year, but they are East of Denver on I-70, which has been closed from Denver to the Kansas line for a couple of days, so here we are. Joe took off from his business today and has been watching old John Wayne movies, reading, and trying to figure out if the computer will work faster if he adds some additional RAM.

I'm creature watching, and putting together Vansyoc/Van Syoc/ Van Scoyoc/Van Schaick, et al, family history books for two of Joe's cousins. This entails printing lots of text and photos from the computer, and in the process, I've rearranged mucho family photos into separate family files instead of files arranged by the multitude of dates on which they were originally scanned into the computer. This mess has bugged my efficiency expert self for years. When I get them all properly arranged for ease of access I'll back them up on CDs and distribute copies, for safe keeping, to several family members so in case of a catastrophe we won't lose them. We have a few photos scanned that were originally taken before the Civil War, and the originals are from various sources throughout the country. I just hope as family members pass away someone keeps these treasures safe. It breaks my heart to see old anonymous photos for sale in antique shops. These kinds of tasks are my computer games; actual computer games have no attraction to me, but I love to research and organize.

In the creature watching area, we had a big, fat raccoon eating stale cinnamon raisin bread outside the sunporch sliding door last evening. He left his/her tracks in the snow and posed for his portrait under the car in the carport.

The yard has been full of the little snow birds (finches, sparrows, juncos,doves) at the feeders and on the seed stalks of the garden flowers and herbs. This morning there were several Dark Headed Juncos happily pecking up the bread crumbs left by the raccoon. They left tracks in the snow also.

I read on my Colorado Birders e-mail this morning that most of the Christmas Bird Counts have been postponed due to the impossible driving conditions. Our local bird count is supposed to be next Friday; I normally take part by counting the birds that come to my feeders on count day. My days of hiking the wilds are past since I've gained the constant companionship of Ursula Oxygen, but I sure get a lot of enjoyment from watching them in the yard.

I'll spend New Years Day sewing on Women of the Bible blocks during another of our Virtual Retreats. I'm behind 3 blocks and hope I can get them done Monday.

9 comments:

Deb Geyer said...

Enjoy the snow!

I like hearing how you are storing old photos and so forth. I have some old tin types that I am wondering what I can do with. I have no idea who the people are so I can't add them into family stories... Maybe I could make up some identities and stories! :-)

Debra Dixon said...

With your goal of getting rid of Ursula this year, you'll be back in the woods soon. Maybe you can start gradually. . .

I am so impressed with your old pictures and that you can catalogue and identify everyone!

Vicki said Yes to giving the quilt to Crystal so look for an email from her. Just wonderful!

DebbyMc said...

Fran, I feel the same way about the old photos I see in antique stores...so much so that I have been known to buy ones that reach out to me, just to give them a home or to keep obvious sets together. They always seem so forlorn in their boxes or stacks...family groups, mothers and grandmothers with babies and children, young women with eyes full of innocence and hope...I am the "keeper of the pics" in our family and I feel such responsibility in keeping them in the consciousness of the younger members of the family...I have the daunting task of getting them organized, I may call upon you for ideas and hints...I love your stories, Fran. And, WOW, it looks cold there!! =-) Happy New Year!!

Deb Hardman said...

Sounds like you're having the same weather we are.

Smart to copy your family photos like that. My sister did the same thing years ago for all of us.

Happy New year Fran!

Anonymous said...

My baby brother has all the family pics and he won't share. The funny part is that he knows nobody in them.:)

Hope you are thawing out! I've prayed for you all in Colorado this week.

Anonymous said...

Ooooo, Fran. Stay warm.
My nephew has undertaken to put all our family photos on discs. Each time he loads a group to a disc, he makes a copy for every family member (we're a right small family, but still it's a task, and I so appreciate him doing it.

allie aller said...

I love hearing about those birds!
Another quilting friend, Cindy Thury-Smith is a dedicated bird counter up in Minnesota.
Her husband is as passionate about birds as we are about quilting...!

Stay snug and warm....

Deborah M. said...

Fran, we spent New Year's Eve sorting through old family photos and scanning them so each of us can have one for safekeeping. I am the photo guardian and family storyteller, I have also research the family genealogy way, way back. It's so much fun to place your ancestors in their historical context. And baby, it *does* look cold out there! We got the same stuff but in a more liquid form!
:-)

Julie Van Syoc Sterner said...

Hi Fran! I don't know if you're still active on here, but I came across your blog when I was doing a google image search for "van syoc". The photo of Aaron Van Syoc and Ruth Cope caught my eye - his father was Enoch Van Scyoc (Scoyoc, Syoc, Schaick, you know the drill!) who is a direct ancestor of mine!

If you (or anyone else reading this) have any other photos from the family that you'd be willing to share, I'd sure be interested in seeing them! I can be reached at juline1279 (at symbol) icloud (dot) com.