Good stuff

Since I've been kind of a Debbie Downer lately, this entry is going to be upbeat, happy, and full of sunshine and cute little fuzzy things.

Okay, I'll just stick with upbeat.

My day started off well when I saw an email from my friend Jim. He has posted another song on his Myspace page, so I hope you'll go give it a listen. It's called "Sunday," and his friend Rob plays bass and his friend Brad does the vocals in this one. I think it's quite good. Jimi, you rock!

Although it's very chilly and windy today, it was also nice and sunny, and I feel like we're well on our way to spring. I saw a robin yesterday, and again today. Sometimes they stick around in the winter, but they didn't this year. I also noticed that I have some mini-crocuses popping up through the leaves, and it was so nice to see some green! (The pictures here are from previous years.) The peeper frogs have started up again, and I love hearing them. I look forward to when we can have the windows open at night, because although the aforementioned Jim and I used to joke about the "screaming frogs" (a weird little thing we always laughed about), I find their sound very soothing and comforting.

I think our neighbor across the road has started watching for me when I go out to get the mail. More often than not, he comes walking out when I do. I don't mind--it's good to chat with a neighbor, and he knows a lot about the area. He asked me if I'd seen the sandhill cranes flying overhead. I said (in a shocked voice), "NO!" He said they make a really distinctive sound, a sort of grating screech. I've heard those calls lately, but thought it was just plain ol' Canada geese. I found the sandhill crane's call online, and yes, I have heard that recently! I knew this general area was a migratory route for the crane, but it's usually a little bit to the west. I'll have to keep my eyes and ears peeled and see if I can catch them passing over again.

With all the rain we've had lately, our two little back ponds are now one big back pond, and then some. It's overflowing into the marshy area, and I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing some herons and ducks back there! Actually, it's kind of bad in nearby cities, with some flooding going on. I hope everyone will be okay and not incur too much damage.

Another nice thing today was a chat with Mom and Dad. I didn't talk with Mom real long, because she's recovering from a cold and her voice has taken a beating, but Dad and I had a good talk. One of the things I wanted to ask Dad about was finding a friend of a friend on Facebook, and the friend of a friend had the same maiden name as mine. Now, whenever I've seen that name, chances are very good that they're some kind of relative, even if only a distant cousin. I have a very large family. I sent a message to this person and she told me the name of her great grandparents. When I talked to Dad, he knew immediately who her great grandparents were. "Oh yeah, Jim was my first cousin." Jim's father was the brother of my Dad's father. So it turns out that this friend of a friend is a cousin, and the ancestor we share is Billy F****, who is my great grandfather and her great great grandfather. Pretty cool, huh?

Also, the last I knew, one of my uncles, before he died, had traced our family back to Germany in the 1500's. Dad said, "Oh no...Bill was able to go back a lot further than that. He was in touch with a relative in Germany who had also done research. One of our ancestors was a pikesman in Charlemagne's army." AWESOME! (Note that I didn't say that my ancestor IS Charlemagne. Isn't it odd how people that do past-life regression always end up being an aristocrat, rather than a member of the working class?)

I don't know how much all this means. I just think it's kind of neat to be able to know our family's ancestry back to the 8th century. We come from the Prussian area of Germany, so we are a war-like people. Ha! Maybe my road rage last week was an atavistic response due to my ancestry.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.