Can You Say--Global Warming?

Well, this has been and interesting last 10 days or so. As you may recall, the Go Girls had plans to get together two times in the last couple of weeks. Mother Nature put a serious cramp in our plans and kept us home, both lamenting about the projects that we weren't working on together. Plans to visit out local cemetery and pay respects to loved ones, including Go Girl's husband, those got buried under 12-15 inches of heavy wet snow here in Nebraska. Our storm lasted for several days and it was not fit for man nor beast outside. My "beasts" slept on the sofa for 3 days.

For several days,the You Go Girls emailed each other many times a day, usually complaining of the weather, the cold, the wind, and anything else that came to mind. Our daily routine--what was for supper? Big decisions to make while watching the blizzard outside. Pots of chili and potato soup, helped to sustain us and our families. You Go Girl's daughter was trying to get moved in the midst of it all so naturally the storm settled in good. All this brings to question: what do genealogists find to do when they are snowed in before winter even gets here?

We always manage to find the silver lining when rough times encroach on our plans. I discovered a great site on the UsGenWeb for Tippah Co., Mississippi research. What an awesome collection for those of us with ties to that area. I spent two whole days perusing the site and copying great information. Hot tea, cookies, my puppies, and my ancestors all kept me warm and entertained while I watched it blowing outside. Eventually I would have gotten there, but the snow storm hurried up the research and boy am I glad! Who ever wants to wait for tomorrow if they can find something great today? (My poor Go Hubby was out working in the blizzard to support my genealogy spending habits...) My next task was to find my husband's Great Grandmother who had emmigrated from Sweden in 1888. She has been elusive to say the least for a variety of reasons. Much of our other Swedish family has been located but she remained hidden. More snow and wind, what should I do? Try out some Swedish chat boards on GenealogyWise. Sure enough, I got some immediate clues from my postings and got busy looking for our "Minnie". Finally she was found in Vilske Kleva, Skaraborgs, Sweden. What an great feeling to finally "meet" her. She had made it difficult for some reason, even after The You Go Genealogy Girls had visited her cemetery in Wheatland, Wyoming earlier this year. I had thought she might come to light soon after that, but it was not to be! Had it not been for the blizzard, she may have stayed elusive for some time to come. My third project was getting ready to have my husband submit a DNA test for his Hopkins Surname. That is now in the works, hopefully that will bring us closer to some other relatives AND ancestors.

Girl #1 sat out the storm with her computer and kept busy too. She was answering my questions, doing her research, baby-sitting a cat, and watching for the mail lady to come- with hope that the blizzard did not slow up the delivery of her new "Snow Leopard" update. How could it dare to storm with such an important item awaiting delivery? Trips to the window to look out and finally it arrived. She disappeared into seclusion for a day while she got that and her added RAM installed to her computer. Now she is ZOOMMing....faster than ever. She is also complaining less these days!

Fall has finally come to western Nebraska now. We have had nothing but winter so far and these few better days are welcome. Do we dare to plan a visit with each other soon? Sure would be great to be able to work on some projects together, but I shudder to think of what will come if we even think of planning a trip . Maybe we really need another winter blast, we really do get a lot done when we are house-bound and determined. What better could The Girls find to do than make homemade hot soup and take comfort and solace with their ancestors!!!!!!!!!!

Go girl #2, Cheri