While I'm waiting for the second iso image to burn to CD so that I can try out Linux Mint, I thought I'd give an update that hopefully isn't too long or confusing on my experiences with Puppy Linux which I've been playing with a couple days.
Overall, I spent about a day browsing and seeing what's out there these days in terms of Linux. Then I wrote up a list with the ones I was most interested in at the top. Ubuntu and its brothers such as Kubuntu and Xubuntu (known all together as *buntu) still didn't appeal to me, even in their "light" netbook versions. I especially looked in Lubuntu but it's at the bottom of the list and probably will never be tested. I desire a strange mix of intuitive (read: brain-dead and GUI) but a very light (not many programs) and easily molded OS.
Puppy looked very promising. I played with the live CD and really liked the feature of easily saving changes and whatever documents you create while in a live CD session. Yet I still struggled to stick with it for two days, browsing the forums and tutorials trying to understand and get Puppy working as a full install on my computer. Full just means treating it like almost any other Linux OS that you install on your hard drive. I have absolutely no need to keep it at frugal (install within ram) or as a live CD. Now, I realize that should have been a big clue that Puppy wasn't designed with people like me in mind.
There are so many negatives. Let me point out the positives first: 1) I really like how fast abiword (word processor) starts up. I have such a high intolerance for slow word processors. 2) Most of the getting things functioning went smoothly although took longer than I'm used to, even when under Crunchbang. 3) Setting up the printer was less painful than it was in Crunchbang since there was more guidance. Keep in mind I also knew what I was doing since this is the second time I've set up printing with this printer. 4) I've discovered I really like Opera.
I'm not gonna number the negatives, since there's so many and some will be left out. The one that ultimately made me decide Puppy wasn't gonna cut it was when I tried to connect my external hard drive. Which has all my files and everything backed up from eons ago. I ended up having to plug it in the Colin's mac (this was after he went to bed), copying what I needed to my USB thumb drive, and then mounting the thumb drive. This is so not cool. I found another guy who wanted to mount the same type of external hard drive (Maxtor) and he was at a loss too, despite the suggestions. The tips didn't help me at all either.
Each of the different ways to boot Puppy present a slightly different situation. Getting on wifi was pretty reliable. The one difficulty was that Puppy didn't recognize that some places required a redirect page to say "Yes, I'll behave" like at libraries. So I had to keep reconnecting to the library wifi yesterday but eventually it stuck.
The touchpad was causing a headache before I did a full install. I understood that click and scroll are off by default - no problems there, just turn them on. But then things went crazy. I tried to adjust things like the touchpad sensitivity and kept having to reboot the live CD. Eventually I discovered that if you do happen to slide the sensitivity bar all the way to 0, just slide it back to somewhere else and click save would (usually) solve the problem. Just as a precaution, I've left the side scrolling option unchecked because that seemed to start making things screwy. Having the mouse go to the upper right corner every single time you lift your finger off the touchpad is very uncool.
Many packages, or the files that contains programs, are "pets" (awww, how cute) which have been set up specifically to be installed in Puppy. Okay, got that. But then almost any actual package you want to install needs to be found through Puppy's package manager. This is the worst package manager I've used. It forces you to slowly do exactly one thing at a time (it even makes it almost impossible to use other programs while waiting!). And while it catches most dependencies, there are two major ones that it keeps insisting are required. But they don't exist! I don't mean "aren't in any of the five repositories I have and repeatedly updated to be sure" - I mean the internets tell me they don't. I even tried to determine if they were parts of another package and downloaded those, hoping they would fill up the holes (nope). Not to mention the long list that I was specifically told to write down and install later at the end of the full install - most of those can't be found either.
That said, I only tried to install two programs via the package manager. The first was Pidgin, an IM client. If there's any computer program I can't do without, Pidgin is it. The second was just a notifier program which pops up little messages in the corner letting you know things like "hey, download's done!" or "Colin just said something." Apparently the second works just fine. I can't really test it out because Pidgin refuses to load. Why? Because it requires one of those two packages that don't exist.
Verdict: Puppy Linux does well at what it does well at: working with very old computers and rescuing files from Windows computers that are otherwise dead and irretrievable. Even then, DSL would probably be my choice. Much leaner and snappier (true, I haven't used it since the beginnings of my Linux days over 5 years ago, but I swear it saved my life, or at least that academic quarter). Ye be warned, though - as the main OS of a netbook, it really does suck. And I usually root for the underdog.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
News Roundup 4
This "news roundup" idea is proving irregular, but it was a great way to kick me back into blogging and will probably always be a topic I can use.
Couple of interesting tidbits:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-09-19-quadruple-amputee-channel-swim_N.htm
Very inspiring. When I read the headline I was baffled and wanted to know "How?!" Turns out he has fins. Yay for fellow cyborgs!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5809180/asian_unicorn_dies_in_captivity_after.html?cat=9
It's sad that the one captured died but everything else in the article is awesome. I don't really understand how they can remain so elusive and mysterious. Partly curious to learn about it, partly want to just leave them alone. But it is good to study them so we can know how to preserve their habitat ... right? Not to get all glum, but what about the rest of the animal kingdom we do know about?
Enjoying gazing out the back door, watching the drops made small puddles on the two-slab concrete patio and on the tree. The drops are steady yet not too numerous that you can't notice the random drops hitting each leaf. Kind of makes the tree look twitchy. I notice the tomato plant is tipped yet again, but there's no point in going out there until after the storm passes over. Already it's brightening and the rain is pushing east. I get more excitement and delight out of the combination of sensory clues that a storm is almost overhead - bright flashes, booms that can rattle skeletons, shifting to an ethereal dark-yet-light - than the last bit when everything just sighs and starts going back to normal.
Anyway, I've started at least two blog entries today but they just aren't ready. Basically, I don't like boring people to death while rambling on and on about my love-hate relationship with computers.
Couple of interesting tidbits:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-09-19-quadruple-amputee-channel-swim_N.htm
Very inspiring. When I read the headline I was baffled and wanted to know "How?!" Turns out he has fins. Yay for fellow cyborgs!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5809180/asian_unicorn_dies_in_captivity_after.html?cat=9
It's sad that the one captured died but everything else in the article is awesome. I don't really understand how they can remain so elusive and mysterious. Partly curious to learn about it, partly want to just leave them alone. But it is good to study them so we can know how to preserve their habitat ... right? Not to get all glum, but what about the rest of the animal kingdom we do know about?
Enjoying gazing out the back door, watching the drops made small puddles on the two-slab concrete patio and on the tree. The drops are steady yet not too numerous that you can't notice the random drops hitting each leaf. Kind of makes the tree look twitchy. I notice the tomato plant is tipped yet again, but there's no point in going out there until after the storm passes over. Already it's brightening and the rain is pushing east. I get more excitement and delight out of the combination of sensory clues that a storm is almost overhead - bright flashes, booms that can rattle skeletons, shifting to an ethereal dark-yet-light - than the last bit when everything just sighs and starts going back to normal.
Anyway, I've started at least two blog entries today but they just aren't ready. Basically, I don't like boring people to death while rambling on and on about my love-hate relationship with computers.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Homemade applesauce
Okay, I can finally get around to blogging about the weekend's big adventure (I hope). We made applesauce! Then canned it! Some of you already know that I've done other canning this summer - mulberry jam, more mulberry jam, even more mulberry jam, and salsa. This is the first time Colin canned with me.
Last weekend, we picked two bushels (about 25 pounds) of apples at a nearby orchard, Heinz's Orchard. In fact, the only one I could find within a reasonable distance and in this county. They told us they're the closest one to Chicago. Most of the ones I found listed are in Woodstock, IL, which we've never been to and it's in the next county over. The orchard was fun and we chose to pick fallen apples - they come half the price of the ones still on the trees. There were plenty on the ground and many were quite beautiful. We had no trouble filling up our bags with Jonathans and McIntoshes.
I'm not going to rant about the fact that no one ended up coming either weekend for an apple sauce party. However, Colin and I enjoyed processing most of a peck over both Saturday and Sunday. It wasn't necessarily difficult, just took waiting and watching time. We managed to do other things, include watch "The Lightning Thief" (which isn't all that good but it is fun) and "Pirates of the Caribbean" (yesterday was "Talk like a pirate day," after all) and play with electronic toys (Colin) and read a book (me). I also baked a batch of banana nut muffins, which I like but Colin and Shaheli seem to absolutely love. For Saturday night, I tried my hand at making goulash, which turned out pretty well despite the can of baked beans I've been trying to determine how to use up. I bought two cans early in the summer, some store brand, and we ate one with bratwursts and it was just so yucky. So I'm glad the rest of the goulash helped mask the flavor of the baked beans.
A little bit more backing up: Friday I took a little trip to McHenry, a town roughly 10 miles west (therefore 20-25 minutes) of here. The main reason was because the library there had a book I wanted but was checked out from the closest library. The library was strange; all the stacks were in one room. They did a good job with what they had, but the huge modern chandeliers and the lone high window made for some odd atmosphere. While there, I had more plans shaped around letterbox locations and a forest preserve. I only found one letterbox (had directions for three) and surprised myself by hoofing it on a 4-mile loop. I planned on just one leisurely mile or so, but realized if I went fast I could easily do the whole loop and still be back in time to pick up Colin. So I did and it felt awesome.
Anyway, here are pictures of the apple sauce process:
Et voila! The final product: 4 pints!
Last weekend, we picked two bushels (about 25 pounds) of apples at a nearby orchard, Heinz's Orchard. In fact, the only one I could find within a reasonable distance and in this county. They told us they're the closest one to Chicago. Most of the ones I found listed are in Woodstock, IL, which we've never been to and it's in the next county over. The orchard was fun and we chose to pick fallen apples - they come half the price of the ones still on the trees. There were plenty on the ground and many were quite beautiful. We had no trouble filling up our bags with Jonathans and McIntoshes.
I'm not going to rant about the fact that no one ended up coming either weekend for an apple sauce party. However, Colin and I enjoyed processing most of a peck over both Saturday and Sunday. It wasn't necessarily difficult, just took waiting and watching time. We managed to do other things, include watch "The Lightning Thief" (which isn't all that good but it is fun) and "Pirates of the Caribbean" (yesterday was "Talk like a pirate day," after all) and play with electronic toys (Colin) and read a book (me). I also baked a batch of banana nut muffins, which I like but Colin and Shaheli seem to absolutely love. For Saturday night, I tried my hand at making goulash, which turned out pretty well despite the can of baked beans I've been trying to determine how to use up. I bought two cans early in the summer, some store brand, and we ate one with bratwursts and it was just so yucky. So I'm glad the rest of the goulash helped mask the flavor of the baked beans.
A little bit more backing up: Friday I took a little trip to McHenry, a town roughly 10 miles west (therefore 20-25 minutes) of here. The main reason was because the library there had a book I wanted but was checked out from the closest library. The library was strange; all the stacks were in one room. They did a good job with what they had, but the huge modern chandeliers and the lone high window made for some odd atmosphere. While there, I had more plans shaped around letterbox locations and a forest preserve. I only found one letterbox (had directions for three) and surprised myself by hoofing it on a 4-mile loop. I planned on just one leisurely mile or so, but realized if I went fast I could easily do the whole loop and still be back in time to pick up Colin. So I did and it felt awesome.
Anyway, here are pictures of the apple sauce process:
A sink full of apples, Colin cutting one up.
Pre-cooked.
Mushy cooked ones.
Apple mills are tons of fun to play with!
There are two different colors here - we had some we needed to cook some more and that's where the darker sauce on top came from.
Edit: This was post last night (Monday 20 September 2010) but I had to fix the photo links this morning when I noticed they weren't showing up. Also, said quarts instead of pints ... I knew that.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Warning: 100% geeky librarian content
You've probably heard of ISBNs and know what it's used for. You might know what the acronym stands for and that there are ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 numbers. Or maybe even some of ISBN history, such as which came first. That's basically all I knew - up until today, that is. Now I can be some kind of a genie and determine what type of book you have if you just give me the ISBN.
Let's pick an example from the book I have right here:
First, I realized I could tell if it was a newer ISBN-13 if there was 978 in front of it. No need to count the digits. ISBN-10s are the older version, first created in 1970. However, in 2005 they started implementing a longer number because they were running out of ISBN-10s. But, as you might have cleverly noticed, the first 3 digits are currently all the same. "So why don't they just stick them to the beginning of each previous ISBN-10 and call it good?" Well, that's pretty much what happened. (Except for the last digit. Keep reading to find out about that magic last digit.) It seems the big reason for implementing ISBN-13 was so that it wouldn't be a hassle to start using 979. This is a lazy but proactive way to double the amount of numbers.
A little tangent: Have you ever wondered why there seems to be two barcodes right next to each other on the same book? I have. Now I know: the little short one is the currency and the recommended price. I don't need to look it up to see that "51899" means "18.99 USD." Why? Because right underneath is says "USA $18.99." But on books that lack this helpful redundant human-readable tag, this is a sneaky way to see if a bookstore is ripping you off. Personally, I wouldn't have paid 18.99 for this or almost any other book, which is why it's borrowed from the library.
A micro-tangent to the little tangent: Excited to use my new-found powers, I looked at the back of some other books. One says "90000." Eh? Well, that just means the publisher never chose a price for that book. If they did officially make a new price, they are required to make a new barcode reflecting the change.
Second, I wrongly assumed that the very last digit, which stands all by itself, was to distinguish between different editions. I purposely ignored the last digit until now (again, you might have noticed this). Because I discovered what I think is pretty nifty - that digit is a checksum. I recognized that from playing with linux; it's a separate file you download when installing some programs and it is highly recommended that you compare the very long number to the number in the checksum file. If they match up, great - the install went well. If not - groan and start all over again.
However, the idea with having a checksum in an ISBN is to correct human mistakes and to make sure all the other digits are correct. Wikipedia explains the mathy bit here. Basically you multiply each digit by 1 or 3 alternately, add them up, divide the total by 10 then whatever the remainder is, subtract from 10 and you have the checksum.
9x1 + 7x3 + 8x1 + 0x3 + 0x1 + 6x3 + 1x1 + 4x3 + 7x1 + 9x3 + 0x1 + 1x3 =
9 + 21 + 8 + 0 + 0 + 18 + 1 + 12 + 7 + 27 + 0 + 3 =
106/10=10 with remainder of 6
10-6=4
"ISBN is 97800161479014. 4=4. Yay!"
Now I'm aware of the fact that it can be much more complicated than this - all the different codes within the ISBN can be different lengths, yet it still works out if you omit the dashes. If you care to see why, go ahead and browse the source links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_group-0_ISBN_publisher_codes
http://www.isbn-international.org/faqs/view/5
http://www.barcode-us.com/isbn/isbnSymbols.html
To me, and probably some other fellow lib sci majors and grads, this is quite intriguing if not totally awesome. But I do know that this blog is more of a personal, catch-all blog than purely for librarians, so I will spare the rest of the population who doesn't get excited about ISBNs from expanding an already long post. Plus, it's taken me a fair part of the day (on and off) to get this written up. Watch for the next post on what made me keep wandering away from blogging today ...
Let's pick an example from the book I have right here:
978-0-06-147901-4: This is an ISBN-13 number. Because there are thirteen digits.
978: In the U.S., the first three are pretty much always going to be 978 with a possibility (that will grow in the future) of it being 979. Apparently 978s will "run out" in other countries before the U.S.Another way of looking at barcodes (barcodes without 978 in front): "Every EAN begins with a 2 or 3 digit prefix, which indicates the country of origin. EAN’s for companies registered in France, for example, might begin with the prefix 34; Japan’s prefix is 49. Since the book industry produces so many products, it has been designated as a country unto itself and has been assigned its own EAN prefix. That prefix is 978 and it signifies Bookland, that wonderful, fictitious country from where all books come." link
0: Published in an English-speaking country.
06: Published by the conglomeration known as Harper & Row / Collins / HarperCollins
147901: specific ID for the specific book and its specific edition, which needs a site like isbndb.com or even just a library catalog (preferably WorldCat since few libraries have a good chance of having your edition of your book)This might not seem like a lot of interesting information to some people (like Colin, who says "Just the country and publisher?"), but for someone who's typed up and played with tons of ISBNs (okay, not technically tons, probably just a mere one or two tons) it's an amazing wealth of information that was staring me right in the face and I didn't know about. Sure, I picked up a couple things along the way.
First, I realized I could tell if it was a newer ISBN-13 if there was 978 in front of it. No need to count the digits. ISBN-10s are the older version, first created in 1970. However, in 2005 they started implementing a longer number because they were running out of ISBN-10s. But, as you might have cleverly noticed, the first 3 digits are currently all the same. "So why don't they just stick them to the beginning of each previous ISBN-10 and call it good?" Well, that's pretty much what happened. (Except for the last digit. Keep reading to find out about that magic last digit.) It seems the big reason for implementing ISBN-13 was so that it wouldn't be a hassle to start using 979. This is a lazy but proactive way to double the amount of numbers.
A little tangent: Have you ever wondered why there seems to be two barcodes right next to each other on the same book? I have. Now I know: the little short one is the currency and the recommended price. I don't need to look it up to see that "51899" means "18.99 USD." Why? Because right underneath is says "USA $18.99." But on books that lack this helpful redundant human-readable tag, this is a sneaky way to see if a bookstore is ripping you off. Personally, I wouldn't have paid 18.99 for this or almost any other book, which is why it's borrowed from the library.
A micro-tangent to the little tangent: Excited to use my new-found powers, I looked at the back of some other books. One says "90000." Eh? Well, that just means the publisher never chose a price for that book. If they did officially make a new price, they are required to make a new barcode reflecting the change.
Second, I wrongly assumed that the very last digit, which stands all by itself, was to distinguish between different editions. I purposely ignored the last digit until now (again, you might have noticed this). Because I discovered what I think is pretty nifty - that digit is a checksum. I recognized that from playing with linux; it's a separate file you download when installing some programs and it is highly recommended that you compare the very long number to the number in the checksum file. If they match up, great - the install went well. If not - groan and start all over again.
However, the idea with having a checksum in an ISBN is to correct human mistakes and to make sure all the other digits are correct. Wikipedia explains the mathy bit here. Basically you multiply each digit by 1 or 3 alternately, add them up, divide the total by 10 then whatever the remainder is, subtract from 10 and you have the checksum.
9x1 + 7x3 + 8x1 + 0x3 + 0x1 + 6x3 + 1x1 + 4x3 + 7x1 + 9x3 + 0x1 + 1x3 =
9 + 21 + 8 + 0 + 0 + 18 + 1 + 12 + 7 + 27 + 0 + 3 =
106/10=10 with remainder of 6
10-6=4
"ISBN is 97800161479014. 4=4. Yay!"
Now I'm aware of the fact that it can be much more complicated than this - all the different codes within the ISBN can be different lengths, yet it still works out if you omit the dashes. If you care to see why, go ahead and browse the source links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_group-0_ISBN_publisher_codes
http://www.isbn-international.org/faqs/view/5
http://www.barcode-us.com/isbn/isbnSymbols.html
Brownie points for those who find out what book I'm currently reading!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wavy hair
Every once in awhile, I get bored with my thick straight brown hair. I do love the color, with all the different tints (mostly gold and a hint of red), the really thick almost black strands and the really light almost invisible blonde strands. But overall, it's just plain brown. I've never dyed it, only done highlights once and even then I was pressured into it. I did like the red tint but was glad to get to grow out completely so my mom would stop nagging me about "touching it up" because it looked weird (this was while in high school). Anyway, like I was saying, every once in awhile, I get bored with it. Sometimes that involves a haircut (like when I cut it reeeeally short a couple summers ago - Colin didn't really care for it) but other times it just styling it differently.
Last night while we were watching an episode of Smallville, I made my hair up in two French braids and slept with them in. Since it was an off day for washing my hair (I usually wash it every other day, often shampooing twice and conditioning once - it's a pain in the butt to dry because it's so thick, but I need to do it before putting my aids in), I just made sure it didn't get soaked and even then I blow dried it while still in braids. Then I took the braids out and it was nice and wavy. I don't have any hair spray (I did but I used it so infrequently it went bad before most of the bottle was used) so it'll eventually straighten back out as the day wears on. That is, if I don't get exasperated with having it down and put it up in a pony tail like I almost always wear it. I took some pictures but it's hard to take pictures of your own dark hair to show waves and to not show a scary face.
Kind of a long detailed way of saying "I was bored so I made my hair wavy. Here's a pic."
Sometimes, I find myself staring at wavy and curly hair because it reminds me so much of waves and rivers and trees and wind. I don't know how else to describe it. I just get mesmerized by the beauty of it. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?
Last night while we were watching an episode of Smallville, I made my hair up in two French braids and slept with them in. Since it was an off day for washing my hair (I usually wash it every other day, often shampooing twice and conditioning once - it's a pain in the butt to dry because it's so thick, but I need to do it before putting my aids in), I just made sure it didn't get soaked and even then I blow dried it while still in braids. Then I took the braids out and it was nice and wavy. I don't have any hair spray (I did but I used it so infrequently it went bad before most of the bottle was used) so it'll eventually straighten back out as the day wears on. That is, if I don't get exasperated with having it down and put it up in a pony tail like I almost always wear it. I took some pictures but it's hard to take pictures of your own dark hair to show waves and to not show a scary face.
Kind of a long detailed way of saying "I was bored so I made my hair wavy. Here's a pic."
Sometimes, I find myself staring at wavy and curly hair because it reminds me so much of waves and rivers and trees and wind. I don't know how else to describe it. I just get mesmerized by the beauty of it. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
My mind is starting to knot up on the genealogical research again, so I need to sort that out. I just might possibly have found the Elmina (Holmes) Brooks's parents but need to find more satisfactory evidence before I call it good.
Yesterday and today I have been in Deerfield. One of Colin's Indian coworkers is leaving this weekend so there are events happening both last night and tonight. Last night was bowling, which I hadn't done since study abroad (at least 5 years). It was quite fun actually. I was worried about my wrist but it turns out my thumb is bruised. During the day I spent time in two different libraries and a coffee.shop. Today, it's hiking and looking for letterboxes in the morning and right now back at one of the previous libraries. I'm thinking of going to a bookstore and getting a hot chocolate there after "coffee break" with Colin - we have to switch our cells to a new plan since my parents are switching to Verizon. Monday was less eventful, but lots of online research, an unsuccessful but fun hike for a letterbox, and grocery shopping.
Nobody came to help make applesauce on Sunday. Kind of disappointing, but we're hoping this weekend people will show up. The point of the party isn't exactly making applesauce. That's just the excuse and a fun diversion. We just want to hang out with people. So we have 25 pounds of apples sitting in the garage and the plan is to get people intrigued by inviting them to pick apples Saturday morning then start making sauce in the afternoon and probably into Sunday. That way people can show up either day - fingers crossed!
A couple things about applesauce making: there's no need to peel and core if you get a special apple musher grinder thingie. We actually got ours as a gift from Colin's mom who found it at a thrift shop. You still have to check and cut out any bad parts.
Memories of my grandma and my mom making sauce aren't all that pleasant. It was fun to spend some time in the orchard, see the mounds of apples, spend time with family, and smell apples all through the house for a while. But I remember spending hours in the orchard, picking *all* the little apples that had hope and were reachable, the hot steamy kitchen, groans over apples not having anything edible on them after all (after peeling and cutting out bad bits to find the whole apple is a bad bit), the accidental contamination of jars, etc.
Fun fact: Did you know that applesauce color comes from the skin of the apple? Crab apples make sauce pink but their insides are very white.
Later: Oops, forgot to post this earlier.
Yesterday and today I have been in Deerfield. One of Colin's Indian coworkers is leaving this weekend so there are events happening both last night and tonight. Last night was bowling, which I hadn't done since study abroad (at least 5 years). It was quite fun actually. I was worried about my wrist but it turns out my thumb is bruised. During the day I spent time in two different libraries and a coffee.shop. Today, it's hiking and looking for letterboxes in the morning and right now back at one of the previous libraries. I'm thinking of going to a bookstore and getting a hot chocolate there after "coffee break" with Colin - we have to switch our cells to a new plan since my parents are switching to Verizon. Monday was less eventful, but lots of online research, an unsuccessful but fun hike for a letterbox, and grocery shopping.
Nobody came to help make applesauce on Sunday. Kind of disappointing, but we're hoping this weekend people will show up. The point of the party isn't exactly making applesauce. That's just the excuse and a fun diversion. We just want to hang out with people. So we have 25 pounds of apples sitting in the garage and the plan is to get people intrigued by inviting them to pick apples Saturday morning then start making sauce in the afternoon and probably into Sunday. That way people can show up either day - fingers crossed!
A couple things about applesauce making: there's no need to peel and core if you get a special apple musher grinder thingie. We actually got ours as a gift from Colin's mom who found it at a thrift shop. You still have to check and cut out any bad parts.
Memories of my grandma and my mom making sauce aren't all that pleasant. It was fun to spend some time in the orchard, see the mounds of apples, spend time with family, and smell apples all through the house for a while. But I remember spending hours in the orchard, picking *all* the little apples that had hope and were reachable, the hot steamy kitchen, groans over apples not having anything edible on them after all (after peeling and cutting out bad bits to find the whole apple is a bad bit), the accidental contamination of jars, etc.
Fun fact: Did you know that applesauce color comes from the skin of the apple? Crab apples make sauce pink but their insides are very white.
Later: Oops, forgot to post this earlier.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Brooks line
I've decided to write up one of my family line's history as I know it so far and make it "human readable." I hope it's not too dull to read. I've eliminated a lot of things from the following passages, mostly the names of those I'm not directly related to (except for siblings of a direct ancestor). I've found a lot of direct relative's sibling's family members. Why do I care about what happens to non-direct family members? Well, I didn't used to, actually. When I started out writing things on charts when I was 15 years old, I just wanted those I directly descended from and not make things overwhelming. Now, I recognize and have proven the idea that you can find more information about earlier roots by looking at records of people like cousins. For example, their record might list a smaller birthplace area (such as Sandusky, Ohio, rather than just plain Ohio) for a parent. Or I might go "hey! there's other people with the same last name in that cemetery!" and find that the previously unknown parents are buried there. Also, it'd be cool to find distant relatives living today, but I haven't actually managed that beyond who my Grandpa Larsen's niece knows.
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Brooks family, 1833/4-1922
The Brooks branch has been in Michigan a relatively long time. The first record of a Brooks in the state is in the 1860 U.S. Census. Oscar is 27 years old and Elmina (maiden name Holmes) is 24. The census shows the parents and two children, Alonzo and Everett, ages 3 and 1. Parents are listed as born in New York and children in Michigan. Before this, who knows? I just can't get past this 1860 barrier.
Ross, also written as Rob in some places, is born in 1861. Then my great-great grandpa Frank is born in 1863 in Jackson County. In 1869, there is records showing that a baby sister was born but died within the month. This means that the family has moved to Clinton County since 1863. There is no record of Oscar participating in the Civil War.
The second hint of the whole family is in the 1870 U.S. Census. Here, all four children (Alonzo, Eva, Ross, and Frank) living with Oscar and Elmina are listed as born in Michigan. Later that year, Harriet is born. In 1875, Alonzo marries Anna (Warner). Eva marries Loren A. Stone in 1877.
In 1880, only Ross, Frank, and Harriet are living with their parents. In 1885, Eva died. She was 26 years old and married. It's not clear why she died, but her married name was Eva R. Stone. Ross marries Nellie (Hunt) in 1887.
Frank marries my great-great grandma Bertha (Smith) in 1891. My great-grandpa Lee was born in 1899. He has two brothers, Ebbie (born 1892) and Ransom (born 1906 or 1907). When Lee was 9 years old, the family moved to Oakland County, where he remained the rest of his life.
Great-grandpa Lee marries Bessie (Francis) in 1920. Their first child was born not too long after that but died as an infant. In 1922, my grandpa LeRoy was born. Another son is born in 1828 but dies the same year.
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I started listing when and where all these people died but then decided it wasn't all that interesting (and, admittedly, kind of depressing). I've avoided mentioning anyone who is still alive (such as my grandpa's siblings) for the sake of privacy.
If you are one for details, you might have noticed at least one contradiction. Apparently census takers sometimes got the names bungled, or the birth recorders got tired and listed the wrong sex, and so on and so forth. One runs into the "human factor" all the time in genealogy. I use "human factor" as an umbrella term for all those mistakes and other things such as the person lying about their age or where their parents came from.
First, Elmina's name has been spelled Almina, Almira, Alvina, Elmira, and probably other ways. Why am I sure that Elmina is the real one? I'm not; but that's what's on her headstone and is the one that comes up the most. Second, the Everett / Eva confusion. Everett is listed as 1 years old in 1860. Eva is listed as 11 years old in 1870. There doesn't appear to be any record listing both of them as existing at the same time. But I can only find record of Eva past 1870. Weird, huh? Two theories: Elmina didn't really know what sex her 1-year-old was. Or the mix-up is the census taker's fault.
Another less weird one is Rob/Ross, whose actual name is Ross as is shown in marriage and death certificates. However, the sex confusion pops up again a generation later with Ebbie. There are two birth certificates - same date, place, and parents - but they're both listed as girls, with names Effie and Ebbie. However, I know it's a male Ebbie because there are records of him in censuses, marrying twice (to females), and having a possibly adopted daughter. I'm not certain, though, if it was a duplication of the records (I haven't been able to access the actual birth records, just transcripts) or if there were twins born, they were thought to be both girls, and then Effie died young.
This mixing up of genders for birth records or when they're very young interests me. Now, people expect to know immediately whether they say "aww she's so cute!" or "he's going to be a big boy someday!" It's awkward when the baby isn't decked out in pink or blue. But just a century ago? People were a bit more focused on other things, such as making sure the baby got fed which was a bit more of a challenge then for farming folks than for most people today. Most babies spent the first couple years of their lives or so clad in a simple white gown. Makes changing the diapers easier at least. I am not saying that the old days were better; after all, so many infants died and I don't think houses were as well baby-proofed. I'm just thinking maybe we need to think about whether babies need complete, miniaturized sneakers before they can focus on whatever's in front of them - or walk. Okay, strange tangent from genealogy, but that's one of the fun things about doing this kind of research. You never know what you might find!
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Brooks family, 1833/4-1922
The Brooks branch has been in Michigan a relatively long time. The first record of a Brooks in the state is in the 1860 U.S. Census. Oscar is 27 years old and Elmina (maiden name Holmes) is 24. The census shows the parents and two children, Alonzo and Everett, ages 3 and 1. Parents are listed as born in New York and children in Michigan. Before this, who knows? I just can't get past this 1860 barrier.
Ross, also written as Rob in some places, is born in 1861. Then my great-great grandpa Frank is born in 1863 in Jackson County. In 1869, there is records showing that a baby sister was born but died within the month. This means that the family has moved to Clinton County since 1863. There is no record of Oscar participating in the Civil War.
The second hint of the whole family is in the 1870 U.S. Census. Here, all four children (Alonzo, Eva, Ross, and Frank) living with Oscar and Elmina are listed as born in Michigan. Later that year, Harriet is born. In 1875, Alonzo marries Anna (Warner). Eva marries Loren A. Stone in 1877.
In 1880, only Ross, Frank, and Harriet are living with their parents. In 1885, Eva died. She was 26 years old and married. It's not clear why she died, but her married name was Eva R. Stone. Ross marries Nellie (Hunt) in 1887.
Frank marries my great-great grandma Bertha (Smith) in 1891. My great-grandpa Lee was born in 1899. He has two brothers, Ebbie (born 1892) and Ransom (born 1906 or 1907). When Lee was 9 years old, the family moved to Oakland County, where he remained the rest of his life.
Great-grandpa Lee marries Bessie (Francis) in 1920. Their first child was born not too long after that but died as an infant. In 1922, my grandpa LeRoy was born. Another son is born in 1828 but dies the same year.
-----
I started listing when and where all these people died but then decided it wasn't all that interesting (and, admittedly, kind of depressing). I've avoided mentioning anyone who is still alive (such as my grandpa's siblings) for the sake of privacy.
If you are one for details, you might have noticed at least one contradiction. Apparently census takers sometimes got the names bungled, or the birth recorders got tired and listed the wrong sex, and so on and so forth. One runs into the "human factor" all the time in genealogy. I use "human factor" as an umbrella term for all those mistakes and other things such as the person lying about their age or where their parents came from.
First, Elmina's name has been spelled Almina, Almira, Alvina, Elmira, and probably other ways. Why am I sure that Elmina is the real one? I'm not; but that's what's on her headstone and is the one that comes up the most. Second, the Everett / Eva confusion. Everett is listed as 1 years old in 1860. Eva is listed as 11 years old in 1870. There doesn't appear to be any record listing both of them as existing at the same time. But I can only find record of Eva past 1870. Weird, huh? Two theories: Elmina didn't really know what sex her 1-year-old was. Or the mix-up is the census taker's fault.
Another less weird one is Rob/Ross, whose actual name is Ross as is shown in marriage and death certificates. However, the sex confusion pops up again a generation later with Ebbie. There are two birth certificates - same date, place, and parents - but they're both listed as girls, with names Effie and Ebbie. However, I know it's a male Ebbie because there are records of him in censuses, marrying twice (to females), and having a possibly adopted daughter. I'm not certain, though, if it was a duplication of the records (I haven't been able to access the actual birth records, just transcripts) or if there were twins born, they were thought to be both girls, and then Effie died young.
This mixing up of genders for birth records or when they're very young interests me. Now, people expect to know immediately whether they say "aww she's so cute!" or "he's going to be a big boy someday!" It's awkward when the baby isn't decked out in pink or blue. But just a century ago? People were a bit more focused on other things, such as making sure the baby got fed which was a bit more of a challenge then for farming folks than for most people today. Most babies spent the first couple years of their lives or so clad in a simple white gown. Makes changing the diapers easier at least. I am not saying that the old days were better; after all, so many infants died and I don't think houses were as well baby-proofed. I'm just thinking maybe we need to think about whether babies need complete, miniaturized sneakers before they can focus on whatever's in front of them - or walk. Okay, strange tangent from genealogy, but that's one of the fun things about doing this kind of research. You never know what you might find!
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