I'll just entertain myself

And did you? Did you like them?

We have a spotty relationship since I told them I was one of the antiwar protestors they saw on TV in the 60s. Didn't help when I disagreed with them when they said Trump was robbed in the last election. But we are still connected via pictures and genealogy posting.

lol Guess that tells me who they are. How far back have you traced your family?

I don't do the tracing. My relatives do. We have my maternal grandfather a long way back in the UK. We also have documentation that he has Native American heritage. My maternal grandmother is a distant cousin to Babe Ruth. I haven't seen enough on my paternal ancestors to go real far back, but some DNA kits bought by my paternal cousin shows him to be European, mostly Irish and Scot.

That's pretty cool. My mother's been doing ancestry research since 1991 and I've taken it over the last number of years. I've found several 3rd cousins in the UK, a few in Canada (Ontario, Alberta) and one in Australia. One of my ancestors died in 1820 at age 60 in The Cheshire Workhouse. He was a cooper.

As near as I can tell all of my close relatives before me and my brothers were southerners, once in this country. I am something of an outlier - the only true socialist in the bunch. I owe it to my mother, who liked black people and told me how ashamed she felt when certain racist incidents occurred in her presence. Not the whole thing but an early starter.

Odd factoid: I just learned that Cookie Monster's real name is Sid.

The fog was thick this morning. Across the lake I could just make out the top outline of the trees. When I got to that side the same trees stood in stark contrast to the fog hiding the lake from view. I only saw two squirrels, but the entire bunch of deer was out. I think the temp was about fifty Fahrenheit. My biggest worry was that I would forget to turn off the headlights.

Facebook is filling up with donation pages this week. Even if I could afford it I wouldn't do all this giving. It's the government's function to spend our tax money on us instead of turning us into a nation of beggars.

My Japanese friend fears a return of Trump, as the racist attacks against Asians spiked during his administration. She owns her home. She raised a son and she buried a husband here. She has considered returning to live in Japan but has been away too long. She doesn't think she would fit in, even though her family would welcome her. She never sought US citizenship. It's tough on her but I think she will get through it.

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:
Of course everybody knows that Sammy Baugh ---- born in Temple, raised in Temple and Sweetwater ----- is one of the greatest professional football players of all time, a two-way player who played both offense (QB) and defense (DB). But did you know that, in 1943, in the midst of one of the most amazing seasons in NFL annals, he had the greatest single-game performance in history: In a 42-20 win over the Detroit Lions on Nov. 14, Slingin' Sammy fired four touchdown passes, INTERCEPTED FOUR PASSES, and got off an 81-yard punt, the longest of the year in the NFL. He also sold programs at halftime and cleaned up the stadium after the game. Okay, I made that last part up. But he was remarkable. Sammy threw 187 touchdown passes during his career and intercepted the other team's QB 31 times. He was responsible for making the forward pass an integral part of football. Sammy died at the age of 94 in 2008.

I didn't know that, I didn't understand it either.

Then again I know the importance of team sports, I religiously follow Southampton, (Saints') progress which hasn't been that good to be honest.

Last time out we lost 4-0

We're playing again tonight, I'm a bit nervy.

That's old style American football. It's seldom a player doubles as both offense and defense, but he did a good job of both.

Plumber discovers money, checks in wall of Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church years after $600K burglary

Houston's megachurch. I won't speculate.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/12/02/money-checks-found-in-wall-of-joel-osteens-lakewood-church-years-after-600k-burglary/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=kprc2

Had to replace corner boards today. Got it done, all but painting. It's awesome. It's even sort of okay.

lol.. yeah, let's not speculate!

The island of Oahu was named after the sound a man made after sitting on a fire.

Amazingly I found a photo of a theater we attended when I was a kid.

I've never been to a toy giveaway that didn't leave me feeling bummed. The first time, I and my brothers waited in a long line, watching the first kids get some really neat stuff. I was aware enough to notice as the gifts became more and more down line the nearer it came to us. We just got crap that we didn't even like. There ought to at least be some way to shield the ones getting **** from witnessing all those great giveaways.

At least.