Several pictures this week, and a video, too.
Weather
A big line of thunderstorms passed through the region Friday night. Diana, Youngest Daughter, and I were on our way to our regular Friday night dinner outing when the hail started. This was the biggest stuff I’ve ever experienced: dime- and quarter-sized, for close to twenty minutes. The road looked snow-covered in places.
We checked things out as we could in the dark after we got home.
The pool cover got destroyed, just absolutely shredded.
We had just talked about taking it off this weekend. And in the overall scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal, but I had hoped it would last more than one season.
There’s no obvious damage to the house, but there’s evidence of water damage in the bathroom, so we’ve made an insurance claim and the adjuster is coming out Sunday.
Foxes
Did I mention we’ve seen some red foxes on the property? As they were coming home a couple of weeks ago, Diana and Number Two Son happened to see a family unit playing around in the South 40. Then I saw what I assume was Mom passing through the back yard.
One Sunday not long after, we caught all four of them out in the South 40 again. It was quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen here.
I think I’m going to be in the market for a trail cam or two.
Genealogy
One of the ongoing projects in my genealogy research involves my great-grandfather’s journey from the Northeast to the Hill Country of central Texas. I know-ish that John Charles Mueller was in New Hampshire in 1869 and likely married in Coxsackie, New York in 1872. The next time he appears anywhere is the 1875 birth of his oldest daughter, Philippine Eva, in Travis County, Texas. Neither he nor his wife Louisa Friederike Wilhelmine Schirmer seem to appear in the 1870 US Census, at least according to various searches my dad and I made. New York took its own censuses, but those only occurred on the five-year mark between US censuses. That meant 1865 and 1875, so neither J. C. nor Louisa would have been around for them, at least as far as I can tell.
So why don’t they appear in the 1870 US Census?
Dad speculated, “During my childhood there were at least several occasions when the reason for J. C. Mueller’s coming to this country was given as his desire to avoid military service. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870, other conflicts of the 1860’s, and the possibility of his conscription into military service may have had a direct bearing on his coming to this country.”
Based on Dad’s comment and given that J. C. received his citizenship in 1873, I wonder if he deliberately tried to avoid the census for some fear of being deported back to Germany for military service to the Kaiser.
There’s another possibility, though.
I found a 2022 blog entry about two 1920 census enumerators in Pittsburgh who simply made up census entries out of whole cloth. In the process, a number of people weren’t counted at all. When Henry Silverstein Got Cold: Fraud in the 1920 Census tells a well-researched story about ED 143 and 144 of Homestead, Pennsylvania, and how Henry Silverstein and Anna Malone badly botched their work.
On the other hand, Dad also wondered, “As newly-arrived German immigrants passing through, who would have taken note of them?”
Words Matter
A few months ago, I mentioned that I’d started tilting at another windmill, that of “child pornography” vs “child sexual abuse material” in news media.
Since then, I’ve contacted the AP Stylebook editors twice, as well as six other media outlets.
I don’t seek out the stories, but if one crosses my feed, I contact the source. Sadly, a lot of the stories show up in r/PastorArrested.
Out of eight total contacts, I’ve received 2 responses. That’s honestly more than I expected, about a 25% response rate, and both were favorable. In fact, one Oklahoma news outlet responded within hours, saying, “Thank you for your thoughtful email, and we agree with your assessment. We appreciate you bringing it to our attention, and we will endeavor to remember it moving forward.”
It’s progress.
Elseread
Did you ever have a pen pal? I seem to remember trying it in grade school, but it didn’t work out for one reason or another, and then I didn’t like writing by hand.
Not long after I got into fountain pens, I wrote a few letters to existing friends, but never really kept it up. That happens a lot in my life.
But it turns out that pen pals are still a thing, even a quarter of the way through the 21st Century. The AP did a series of stories about it.
Dear Readers: Yes, pen pal programs still exist in a digital world.
Video: Pen pal programs and letter writing are back in fashion among young people
Video: Handwritten letters in a 40-year-old pen pal relationship still goes on strong
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