I am descended from Irish farmers, and the records get too vague to trace after a couple of generations, because absolutely EVERYONE in West Cork has my family's name. So much so that people are referred to by their first names. "Oh, you're Denny John Michael's niece."

I'm pretty sure my dad was longing for kilts. The last name is derived from MacGregor, that is certain, but he can't find the definitive JUMP.

Poor Dad.

I lose the "John Taylor" trail pretty quick, but I got lucky with the Brooks family. I was also lucky because someone (as far as I can tell, on behalf of my mother's cousin's children) has done a lot of the work. And that the Rochester Library has every city directory from 1880 - 1930 on line. My grandpa's family owned a house in what is now a somewhat bad part of the city from 1880 - 1950 at least, but it looks like it has since been demolished as it is now a vacant lot.

Timelies all!

My deepest sympathies, Anne.

Plei- are you friends on LJ with mustangsally? Because she has posted her comparison of her cat to Benedict Cumberbatch!

[link]

I'm related to slaves, indentured labourers, and statistically slave owners. Apparently we're also related to some famous Moulton who was married to a female British poet or something, but I think that's just one side of the family making shit up to feel special.

One of the weird things I had to think about when I started doing geneology is that my family probably was an oppressor, if not of slaves, than of Native Americans/Indians. I had sort of absolved myself of that because I had been told that everyone in my family immigrated after 1900, but that was totally not true.

Although sort of weird that I was told that?

Well, take it back far enough, and the whole damn human race is just great-to-the-nth cousins.

No wonder we can't agree on anything.

"Mooom! Gnar is TOUCHING ME!"

"Don't make me put this travois down or I swear I will knock you both back into the Mesozoic."

Well, take it back far enough, and the whole damn human race is just great-to-the-nth cousins.

The differences in our genetic material from individual to individual is statistically insignificant. As far as stats are concerned we're all the same person.

So this was my morning adventure: load 3 cats into 3 carriers. Devi and MK in the soft carriers and Loki in the traditional hard carrier. Loop a soft carrier on each shoulder and pick up Loki's. Open door, exit, carefully set Loki down and lock the door.

Loki starts whirling around trying to get out. Pick up Loki's carrier and nearly am flung off the steps/break my wrist as he throws his weight from one end of the carrier to the other (he managed to scrape the end of his nose during this.)

Load and buckle Loki into the back seat, Devi on the passenger floor and MK buckled into the seat. I have some paranoia.

Spend the next 15 minutes serenaded with Devi's piteous self-centered (meemeeemeeMEEE) cries, punctuated by occasional rOWs from MK and Loki rattling the bars.

At the vet, Loki goes first for vitals and charms the tech. Then he proceeds to explore the entire room the rest of the time, including every cabinet, sink, up the pantleg of the tech....Then MK, who wanders aimlessly after and then poor, desperate Devi. Who spends the whole time trying to get onto my shoulders, which she then camps on from the time the tech is done until the vet comes in. Loki finds the paper towel dispenser and liberates a few sheets for shredding until I awkwardly crab over and relieve him of his toys.

At this point, I'm hunched over and Devi is sprawled across my back, so she goes next and then gets to the safety of her carrier. She's lost almost a lb since last year (now at 9.4lbs) but is still within normal, so it's just a keep an eye on thing and if she loses more, do bloodwork. She doesn't have any clinical signs of the usual suspects for a cat this age (thyroid/kidneys.) We'd only been in the new house a few months last visit, so might be she's just more active.

Loki is still exploring and has managed to turn on the sink and knock a bottle of lube into it. MK gets checked out, his weight is stable (9.11 lbs) and he's still being a miracle cat.

Finally Loki gets the once over. Toenails look fine, she's not worried about it. This "little man" as I often call him, is a whopping 14.1 lbs. It's actually down a little bit from last year, which she calls good, since he's a FATASS, even for a kitten.

He really doesn't want to go back in the carrier, wants to explore. He manages to climb into the cabinet holding the trashbin via the trashbin opening in the cabinet door. Yeah.

Tech helps me carry them all out, serenade resumes, bring them home at which point all want my attention and I'm trying to change into work clothes and get to work.

I need to get another soft carrier for Loki. I didn't put him in one that I have because he tried to shred it last time, but I don't like that he scraped his nose whirling to get out. Maybe one made with kevlar?