Also, amazed at the volume of water off my roof in a storm. Need to consider a rainbarrell.

Yay Gracie giggles

I think I am a medium sci-fi fan as well. Except my genre is not Crime, but Teen Soap. This is actually one of the many ways that Buffy (and Twin Peaks) are brilliant, because they bring so many threads together. Of course, that is where they fail.

I have spent 12 hours on Ancestry.com. I now know that a) my grandpa's family, which I always was told was German immigrant really has been in American since before the Revolution, b) my great aunt Frances was really names Lula and my great aunt Annabelle was really named Edna, c) both my great and my great-great grandmothers claimed to be widows on the census, but their husbands were "boarders" in another woman's house and d) I appear to be a decendant of Edward III and a whole bunch of Neville's, Mortimer's and Pole's

Ugh, sara. That's a lot of change. I'm not so sure about the pee, though.

I have spent 12 hours on Ancestry.com.

I would love to do that sometime. On my dad's side, the story is we're related to Daniel Boone and someone's done the trace, but I'd sort of like to see it for myself. On my mom's side, I have no idea, really.

And hey, you're descended from royalty!

I've been wanting to get a subscription to Ancestry.com for a while. I just need to get on it and do the research.

"A lot of peeing on legs" was how a family friend described life with her teenage stepdaughter. It seems to apply here.

both my great and my great-great grandmothers claimed to be widows on the census, but their husbands were "boarders" in another woman's house

That happened in my family, also, though it was great-great-grandma listed at a widow and great-great-greandpa listed a as widower in the same town. Ten years before they had both been listed as divorced.

Last class for the summer was tonight, and after we did our teacher evals and the last batch of pathfinder presentations, we were cut loose. Four of us stayed late, some to work on other class projects, and the rest of us to chat. Nancy ended up talking with Pat, who is the school librarian for a private school in the West Loop, and she might end up looking into the school for her not-yet-two-year-old daughter when it comes time, especially since there are a large number of scholarship students there. Pat's friends with the admissions person, and is willing to give Nancy an in!

I also mentioned a certain book being published on Halloween to Pat, since she's the librarian for the preK-3rd grade school, and she was fascinated by it!! Allyson, if you read this and your publisher is sending you on a publicity tour to Chicago, I could get you lots of school and public libraries for events through my school and classmates. Pat was wondering if you'd be in town promoting it.

ETA: The second grade does a whole section on bats, so they'd love Sam, I'm sure!!

It sounds like you have a good handle on what the problems and potential pitfalls are sara. Good luck with dealing with them.

Kathy, that's neat!

-t, I'm good on reading the office politics, all those years on the helpdesk taught me a lot in dealing with difficult people and translating to their language. Plus, I know the incestuality of the field, plus the personalities that inhabit it (though luckily, don't work with the worst.) Now I just need to follow through.

I listen. I watch. It fascinates me. But I hate being a player in it. Or sub to it.

Cash, Amy et al-- It is addictive. Also, once you get far enough back, if the trail isn't dead, it is easier to research. My great grandfather was also named "John Taylor" so there is a lot of them to sort through. I think I might have messed up 2 different people, or someone did on the records.

Unfortuneately, the period that interests me the most (1940's) doesn't have census records on-line until 2012. And women are much harder to trace because of the maiden name things (although there are a lot of shared names in the family).

It is really fascinating, especially since my family was very secretive, and everyone who knows anything, even about my grandparents, has died. I was hoping I could get in touch somehow with my Great Aunt Babe's kids and grandkids, but they don't give out the names of the living.