Final cleaning day

 Half of a week cleaning and half of a week working but it seems to flow well. Awake in the night first time for a while actually. Sorting through the idea of moving and when it will be feasible. Highly desirable but the timing still not quite right. I would have one less day of work if I sold and moved into a one floor house and it is tempting to do that sooner rather than later. No ideas on that though as the logical time to move is in four years so we will see how that flows. 

Today is the top floor and then the cleaning is done for another week. Olympics moving along and soon it will be playoffs in a number of items. It is nice to see so many of our young people involved in the Olympics although I have barely watched it this year. Life has been busy amazingly for an 80 year old. 

I also want to finish off the last  fifteen matches and then that task is completed although the work just begins where the great grandparents are concerned. But I still need to look at the databases for the various companies and see if there is any new useful information. That will take the rest of the week probably along with working on the 4300 line Excel file. All backed up and I will create a new file to actually work with the data leaving the original on the file where I created it which includes all of the chromosomes one by one  beside the large chart including the chart that was used to determine the crossover points looking at the Living DNA data but not necessarily relying on it for the final decision - I used 23 and Me, FT DNA, Gedmatch (primarily Ancestry data), and My Heritage along with the Living DNA data. 

Falling asleep once again so will complete my blog in a couple of hours. 

 And so I return and exercises all completed and this hour on arising works very well it appears with a cardio load of 40, 55 minutes in length, 3000 steps and 292 calories. I have had my snack and will soon make my breakfast. 

Cleaning the top floor so I shall soon pick everything up and eat my breakfast and then begin after a short rest. It takes about 45 minutes to vacuum everything and then perhaps the same for dusting and then I need to scrub the bathroom and I will be finished and it is usually about three hours as I tend to underestimate the amount of time that I will spend. 

I will try to complete the remaining matches as it is not that many and than set up my file system for the work to come on this created excel file which is less than 5000 lines. There are a number of sorting routines that I will do and then examine the results with regard to the known people and the matches to all those known people. It should be interesting and the gain will be a breakdown of the great grandparents into their two lines (as everyone has two lines). 

I do not think in Canada that we are anti-American but definitely we are pro-Canadian and struggling to bring our economy into a state where there is no dependency except the usual that one attains by trade. We certainly enjoy being part of the North American Trade Agreement for all these years - I do not really think anyone would disagree with that fact (although in retrospect having our native industries decimated by competition/buying out and closing was a bad decision) but circumstance has made it necessary (we must do our best to make ourselves economically independent). That is the aim so one is seeing pro-Canadian and to a great extent we are all looking towards making Canada tariff proof. 

There are a few people in Canada who have ventured into another country looking for aid to form a country and I probably wouldn't use strong words but definitely mis-advised. Canada bought and paid for Rupert's Land and that is how the huge mass of land came to be part of Canada. We even ceded a number of areas to the United States since they lay on their side of the border but we did pay for that land and it was ceded freely with all the treaty obligations (and it is worth a lot of money now for sure). 

Alberta itself would be worth a huge amount of money and Canada would need to be recompensed.The rights of the First Nations come first that is the deal in the purchase of Rupert's Land. I believe the First Nations in Northern Quebec preferred to be part of Nunavut in such a situation when a referendum was discussed there and I doubt that has changed. That is a huge amount of Quebec. You live with what you came in with and Alberta did not exist until Canada created Alberta. Anyway that is my understanding.  

Why anyone would want to leave this prosperous country is quite beyond me to be honest (the opportunities for youth and they are coming and there will be far more in this near future for all of her people). The cost would be enormous unless you leave only with what you brought to Confederation (this concerns only Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia as they all existed but in many cases their land area was much smaller (that applies to Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba not sure about British Columbia would need to look that up) prior to Confederation (some joining later than 1867). In this case Alberta and Saskatchewan did not exist at all until they were created in 1905 with the Treaty Rights enshrined in their forming. But then I see the ownership of land as immemorial back into time unless you purchase it with all the rights of ownership (and for the most part that is not possible in huge areas of Canada as it belongs to the First Nations who kindly share it with us and are unlikely to sell it outright). 

The International Courts did decide in favour of the First Nations and I agree with them. I also think that there is a limit to this sort of logic but it is deep into the past as our knowledge of countries did develop later than say 8000 years ago although some countries did exist and have the paperwork to prove it whether it was etched on stone or written on some sort of material. Interesting this logic really but allowing any other logic leads to what we see in Eastern Europe right now and thank you to NATO for standing up to it. During the Ice Age no one was in Russia likely and Ukraina was the name of the Ice Refuge in that part of the country so a much older name for sure. 

However we have entered into this time of war ushered in by Putin and his supporters in Russia who have led the ugly illegal cruel despicable attack on Ukraine and it continues to this day (it amazes me that the people of Russia continue to allow Putin to constantly force their children into a war that is killing so many of them). Where are the Russians who said no to the Tsar (history records he was murdered for that very crime) and refused to continue a war that was killing their people? One wonders; there is no benefit to the Russians in this at all and one prays that there never will be. 

 Work to be done and breakfast is next after the Solitaire Puzzles.  

 

And another Tuesday also a working day

Yesterday the basement cleaning went very well and was accomplished in good time. I even had a 25 minute run before lunch. This is just running around my indoor track so to speak (I have created it with so much furniture gone now). I can see why people did not always have so much furniture in years gone by - the space is wonderful. I did grow up in a house that was post-bankrupt when money was tight but my father had time to read to us which was lovely (that was after my grandfather died I think). I used to read to my grandfather and he loved that. I can not really remember if he read to me perhaps he did but the memory is lost to time. But  he loved it when I read to him. But mostly he liked to talk and tell me all about Upper Clatford (and other places in England that he had been in but mostly he talked about Upper Clatford and not Eastleigh where my father was born). Sometimes he talked about Eastleigh but not a lot. 

I have completed the R's now in the matches and into the S's and there are perhaps 34 matches left to do. I am just guessing because I did not count them and there is just one page of matches to go so about right. It may take the two days though that are ahead of me for cleaning. Today is the main floor and I will not run today. It is more work to do the main floor because I do the vacuuming, the scrubbing and the dusting. It takes about three hours or slightly more in total. But it is finished when it is finished. 

My fingers are itching to get at the file now to sort it to suit myself and see how many great grandparents I can successfully pull out of it. I know that Gray and Knight are fairly clear and if it isn't Gray or Knight then it is Pincombe or Blake but it has to be definitive to make that call. The Buller is sticking out not too badly as well and again the same justification if it isn't Buller then it is Taylor. Rawlings I have quite a few matches and if it isn't Rawlings then it is my Grandmother's father said to be George Cotterill but I remain on the sidelines on that one. I will simply have separated out that individual where it is possible and await a good match to really determine that. It may not be in my lifetime. 

The Olympics is going very well with lots of winners. I like that actually when many countries win a medal. It is a powerful message for the athlete to take home to the people in their country (any medal is a powerful message).  Sixth four percent of the medals have been awarded so still quite a bit to go. Twenty six countries have won at least one medal. A lot of cheering when the athletes come home even if they did not win they competed and that is the most important part I think. I used to sit and watch for the entire time period but life is busy and I do want to get the books written and so I just check in every once in a while when I am doing my ten to fifteen minute walk every hour. The FitBit buzzes me to tell me if I have not yet done my 250 steps for the hour and up I get and do the 250 for that hour and the 250 for the next hour except I notice generally that I have been sitting a long time and so up I get and often I do do the 250 at the beginning of the hour! Exercise is wonderful especially for the young but the old benefit too. As I look around me I think anyone under 55 is still young  really. Then I see 56 to 75/79 as middle age and old is definitely hitting 80. Somehow you feel the difference. Perhaps it is the necessity of redoing the driver's license although it was just the eye test after all that brings the age of 80 home to you. 

 The Buller family is huge I am discovering and a lot of that hugeness is actually in a cousin family not my Buller line. One might say that the Welch family is huge (Henry Christopher Buller married Ann Welch and she had a twin sister who like her sister Ann had a very large family (between them twenty four children)). The number of grandchildren was huge and it continued through the generations as I have so many cousins who match me on this Buller line of mine and for them it is a different surname but we all share the Welch (but William Welch and Sarah Cheatle (our most recent common ancestor were my 3x great grandparents and so are not in that level where I am separating out the eight members (namely the great grandparents of whom there are eight). The Taylor line (Edwin Denner Buller married Ellen Taylor) is considerably smaller which is a surprise although it appears to have this huge Irish branch so still working on that but it is likely the Irish portion that is found in all of my siblings including myself. The only confusing part in that is my portion tends to be from the Irish Republic (Eire) and their portion from Northern Ireland. All in how you inherit the DNA and I am the most different from all of them - if there is a place to differ than I do although I also have the usual amount shared although it is on the lower side rather than being strongly related to each other. 

Time moves onward and my tea cup is empty and I need to do my Solitaire Puzzles. Had a great time playing Sudoku last evening with I think four of five games. Sometimes I do that. I love the thought process; it completely occupies the brain as you look from square to square and length to length to find that one item that will unlock all of those numbers and there you with a complete nine square Sudoku neatly arranged and finished. No flashing of light but I still miss doing my sixteen games of Spider every week. I did it from its inception as a new challenge until I stopped. I hope to return to it one day when my eyes have adjusted to sparkling. One never knows. Breakfast and then cleaning follows. Generally I begin around nine o'clock.  

I had a request for Rathbun/Rathburn information the other day from one of Edward's likely cousins in the United States but we did not go to the graveyards in Pennsylvania (that was planned but did not happen as COVID did) and I could not answer her question. It is sad to write that Edward has passed away; that sadness remains as I did really want him to be 90 like he wanted to be. It is not a morbid sadness he would not want that but rather a genuine sense that he had missed out on turning 90.  I wrote and thanked her for her kindness in her note back when I let her know that Edward had passed and I did not have an answer. 

 

Monday and it is cleaning day and it is the basement

 Soon I will start the Robot cleaning the rug. I always check to make sure it sat on the charger properly all week so that it will run its normal 1.3 hours on the rugs. I would never vacuum the rugs for 1.3 hours but the robot does it and the path is random and I do not think it misses even a tiny bit of dust by the time it docks itself. It takes about the same amount of time every week. Then I clean out the trap and it has about the same amount of dust - more in the winter than in the summer. Then wash the floors that do not have rugs, wash the stairs down to the basement and dust all the furniture and the task is done for another week.It used to take me four or five hours to clean the basement as Edward had so much stuff and it is pretty much all donated now as I have little or no use for tools. The books and furniture he accumulated down there is also all donated years ago; he did that himself but still there was a lot there. The house is getting emptier and emptier but it needs to as I will eventually move to a much smaller house and one floor hopefully. 

Yesterday was a very interesting sermon and I was perhaps even more keenly interested following the tragedy in British Columbia (prayers continuing). One does come closer to one's religion when tragedy strikes. 

Here it is Monday and the sun is rising in the east as I look out my workroom window. Very faint in colour which is always a good sign as a brilliant red sunrise is a warning to those on the seas as I learned as a child. I do have a lot of these old stories that are from the British Isles since everyone of my ancestors in the last five hundred years appears to be from the British Isles. 

My ancient yDNA line carried by my brothers and my ancient mtDNA line carried by our female line tell me that both of these were ancient to the Isles (although both will go extinct in my own personal family line there are many many cousin DNA holders out there all matching us and the lines will go on and on). But in between these two types of DNA  there is a great deal of autosomal DNA shared with cousins passed down to all of us from our mutual most recent common ancestors and with five companies testing I have this overview that I keep in mind coming from all of them that somewhere back in the past I have European (primarily German and French (I do know I have Huguenot who came to the Isles in the late 1400s)), some Scandinavian (likely Viking in my Gray-Routledge line) and some Eastern European probably because my mtDNA wintered at Ukraina during the Last Ice Age or later maybe there are a lot of centuries prior to my known family line of the last five hundred years plus in some lines and I do have a few lost lines although not too lost as they are likely from those small villages and no records before the Parish Registers for some of them.  

I still marvel at how quickly I changed from having no interest in genealogy to a rampant interest (mostly following the introduction of DNA information but also my cousin did need the profile for my Pincombe family and, as it turned out, I was the best person to provide that document now published and available for usage by researchers). 

My husband was both shocked, overwhelmed but grateful to my cousin for pushing me to do this Profile. From that point forward we did even more traveling (as my husband was retired) down into the New England States, New York and even into Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin following the trails of his Kipp family mostly who had gone west in the late 1700s from Northeast Town, New York and also north into Ontario in the early 1800s (his line) and some of his line then went from Ontario back into Michigan further west and he corresponded with many of those cousins. But now I was a more enthusiastic follower of genealogy which he truly loved working at. 

Many trips to NEHGS in Boston and the knowledge just flowed. I myself found a number of books on the Blake family of the United States there. This was where I first encountered Horatio Somerby Gates and his fraudulent work and a memory blazed forward as I sat looking at some of the material. I finally understood what my grandfather and father were talking about where Nicholas Blake was concerned. 

Fascinating really how life comes together from the deep past to the present. My grandfather was talking about Americans looking for information on Nicholas Blake and descendants in Andover, Hampshire, England and that the story about Nicholas was incorrect that they were following. Fascinating really. 

Anyway tea all drank and must do my solitaire puzzles.  

Sunday is always anticipated and this one will be full of prayers

 Prayers continuing for the murdered children and adults in British Columbia but also for the recovery of those still in hospital suffering from gunshot wounds. Time has stood still just a little here whilst we think about the loss of eight beautiful people and the wounded some continuing to fight for their very life in the hospitals. God be with them and I would pray that God will keep the murdered little ones wrapped in His loving arms. Their lives ripped away from them so cruelly. 

Church today online as always and last weeks hymns were quite beautiful actually. I always wonder what hymns will be sung perhaps because I was in the choir as a child and loved singing. I did sing "The Lord is my Shepherd" one time but I do not remember why or exactly when other than it was not winter. I was absolutely petrified but when I got up to sing I was fine and I sang it to God I remember that. I never did it again but it was a gift my grandmother said that I had for God. My youngest daughter was around eight I think when she sang a solo at Edward's United Church; much younger than I was. She was nervous and asked me to sit right up at the front so that she could look at me and not be nervous. Actually she did very well and I think she hardly glanced at me. That was a while ago now but it was something my husband and my daughters did together. Sometimes they would say I should join the choir but I said I am not really United Church I am an Anglican and I just do not really want to do that and they understood even at their young age. I  just enjoyed watching all of them sing - Edward and his daughters. They are so much like him and they greatly adored him as he adored them. 

It was something special for him to have the girls be so like him although he would occasionally say I think they look like you too but the reality is that they look like Edward's family not mine (when one tested her atDNA for him as a surprise one Christmas he was thrilled as he didn't have anyone close to him that tested). My oldest daughter looks so very much like Edward's mother now although it wasn't noticeable when she was younger so much but then I did not know Edward's family until we were married. We came from different places in Ontario (I know virtually nothing about Edward's families other than the research that I helped him to do as I never lived in that area) and so I would not have noticed anything in particular but certainly now when my daughter is coming to the age that my mother in law was when I first met her I can see the strong similarity. A picture of Edward's great grandmother as a child that I saw years and years after we were married (I think perhaps I first saw it after Edward's mother died and he brought a lot of her keepsakes back when we went to the funeral). This picture is of Hannah Catherine Parlee (descendant of French Huguenots who went to Staten Island in the early 1700s) at the age of fourteen it says on a paper copy Edward made from the tintype and she is the exact image of my eldest daughter at the age of fourteen. Amazing really but the logic is there because the X chromosome that was passed to Edward from his mother goes to his daughter unchanged and this was his mother's grandmother. She received an X chromosome from her mother Margaret Evelyn Allen that came from her mother Hannah Catherine Parlee. Edward inherited more than 50% of his X chromosome from his mother as Allen so interesting how the genes flow. 

 Later after Church I shall work on the matches and I have just a few Ls left (eight actually) and then on to the Ms and there are nineteen of them. I am progressing and about half way now through this set of 250 matches which has reduced to 239 as I have rejected eleven of them. A few interesting insights from this work yesterday that have permitted me to do a little more separating out of Blake and Knight. The Pincombe and Gray in this chromosome are a bit more stubborn to separate but I think once I start with my sorting that these will slide into place as I look at all the chromosomes since I am not flitting back and forth between the chromosomes. 

A beautiful sunny day and it is minus 17 degrees celsius and we got our first Gold at the Olympics and we are in fourteenth place worldwide (the placement is by the number of gold medals).  Norway is dominating the Winter Olympics and in first place. Italy is in second place and very often the home country does do very well when the Olympics are in their own country. The United States is in third place and they generally do very very well in the Olympics whether it be summer or winter Olympics. There are still lots more to win for sure. I am always rooting for Canada and we are doing great; we have a huge team and so much enthusiasm. 

Tea all drank and time to do my solitaire puzzles.  

 

 

There is so much sadness in BC

 Prayers continuing for all those still recovering from gun shot wounds and prayers for the souls of the lost children and adults. May God hold them close to Him wrapped in His loving arms. I watched our government leaders all at the Memorial yesterday on the television. Such a sad time in our nation. 

I could not settle down to work yesterday so I did an academic study questionnaire that I have been in for about six years as it was ready for me to submit once again (every two years). It is an interesting study and I hope it finds value in the future. I couldn't settle down to it the last couple of days but today I did do that. As I answered some of the questions I found myself thinking about a small town now missing all of those young children where everyone knows everyone else. It is not something that I experienced growing up in a large city but listening to the people talking about the children you realize how tightly knit a small community can be. 

I did work on the matches once again and completed the J's. I am about half way through now and some new information did appear which was helpful. The intent is to (and probably I shouldn't use phase because it isn't truly the same as phasing grandparents) break down the grandparent's parents into their contribution to the five siblings DNA and it is working not too badly overall. There will still be a lot of work to do but I will use AI now that the files are organized in a way that I will return what I want and not miscellaneous information that was on the particular files. It is still there but not in the path of the searches. As you use AI you must give it detailed instructions in order to get back the information that you want. 

Another Saturday and it is a lovely day. This is a weightlifting day again and YOGA along with my early morning exercises and running for thirty minutes. I believe that the Fit Bit and I are now more or less in synch with regard to recording my daily exercises. I am getting a good estimate of the amount of cardio for the day although I generally exceed it but it does take a bit to establish a routine for the Fit Bit with these newer Fit Bits. Each one I acquire is a little more complicated than the last. The first one was just basically a step counter with a few extras so it has come a long way. The benefit to owning a FitBit is actually recording your exercise path day after day. When you are older you do forget some items although memory generally brings them back the FitBit is a record keeper and a good one. 

 Today I work on the K's and perhaps the L' s as not that many Ks. Perhaps I will have a sneak preview at what is new in the databases; we will see. Another beautiful quiet uninterrupted day for me working away. I do love Saturdays; it used to be cleaning day when I went back to work outside the  home. Although I loved proofreading at home the scientific literature it was nice to be out in the real world working - the work at first the Medical School for two years and then into the now Ottawa Hospital for a further ten years and then Health Canada for a year and a half I think were very very interesting. In my younger days I had wanted to go to be a doctor in Africa (being a doctor in Canada did not interest me) but I got married at 20 and my husband was not interested in going to Africa he preferred to stay in Canada and did pass up a job in Washington although he did have his regrets in later years on that one as he became so interested in the histories of his families who were primarily early American colonists from The Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and the British Isles. His earliest were from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam now New York City. It amazed me that my husband did not know his immigration stories; they simply had not been passed down. As he searched and discovered people like Roger Williams his 10th great grandfather and so many others; I was amazed that all of this had been lost during subsequent immigrations north into Canada from New England beginning in 1800 into Ontario and continuing right up into the early 1830s. Land was free and his people mostly came into Niagara where some stayed for a bit and also into Oxford County. All forgotten. When we went to NEHGS for a weekend retreat he worked with Gary Boyd Roberts on  his tree and that was one comment that I heard Gary saying to Edward that many of the descendants of the New Englanders did lose their immigration stories over time. It was a long time I guess as it is now more than 400 years since the Mayflower dipped its anchor into the harbour at Provincetown, Cape Cod where the Pilgrim Monument stands. A site we visited quite a few times. All of his ancestors from England/Scotland (there were not actually that many at the time as most were from Europe) were Dissenters and some of them famous dissenters. It didn't surprise me actually as Edward had strong opinions. He was very Protestant in his views. It wasn't something that we talked about a lot being Catholic in my views but I did promise that I would go to his Church when we had children and we used to go to his Church before children. I generally went to my own as well usually without him as sometimes I would drive over and go to Church with my father at our home church. But the Cathedral was also close by and I would go there although I knew absolutely no one but that has always suited me. I like to go and pray and sing in my Church and I am not an outgoing person (introvert fits me well) but I also didn't mind going to Edward's United Church as I had gone to the United Church with my Grandmother and my Uncle (my mother's brother) and his wife my aunt when I was a child. It wasn't far from their house and we walked there just as we did from my house to our home church. But now I attend my Anglican Church online and at 80 it works very well for me. 

It was beautiful listening to the wonderful words from our Prime Minister at the vigil last evening. They were perfect and as mourner in chief he continues to do a wonderful job in our country. We will struggle and we will move ahead and get everything done but it is very pleasant to have him at the helm at this time in our history. He has a dream for Canada just like the Confederation Fathers and it is of a country that welcomes people (although you must ask to come here and always that has been the case although we did take in thousands of draft dodgers from the United States back fifty years ago now) but our First Nations do have their rights where the land is concerned and we respect that; it is part of our culture and we will defend that right. Listening to Wab Kinew talking about the work forward in Manitoba to bring our economy to absolute success were wonderous. I do very much admire that man; he is a perfect leader for Manitoba in this time of crisis and I suspect at any time really; he has a good head on  his shoulders for sure. His family heritage of thousands of years in this Hemisphere stands him in good stead as a leader in the past, for now and for the future of this country. Tecumseh walked with Brock as the leaders of what was to become Canada and we are now very much in pace with that. The Governor General (of Inuit Heritage) Mary Simon was also at the vigil representing the King of England and the people of Canada and King Charles III expressed his deep sorrow at the loss of all those bright young children and the adults in this sad time in our nation. 

Tea drank and it is 7:00 a.m. and minus six degrees celsius; we are having a warm spell although I think we may still have more cold - the Polar Vortex does it own thing for sure. We have lots of snow though for spring runoff to refresh the dry earth from the drought of last summer. Time for solitaire puzzles and I am now a Champion in the Sudoku puzzles. I still miss doing all my Spider though and will return one of these days. My eyes will eventually get used to the flashing I hope. My eyes continue to amaze me having spent most of my life with basically very little depth of vision and my sight was not really that good as I can now drive without glasses which is truly amazing although I wear sunglasses but still I can actually read the street signs which is stupendous as my children have grown and I do not have them to tell me the names of the streets as we pass them.