Israel has a right to defend itself and to protect their children from the barbarism of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis

 Hezbollah tries to claim the bombs that Israel sends against them are barbaric. Hezbollah has been bombing Israel since the barbaric attack of Hamas on the Israeli people 7th October last. Hezbollah created the war zone to help Hamas (and make life unbearable for the Israelis who lived in the north forcing them to flee their homes) and as always Hezbollah's desire to commit genocide against the Israeli peoples. There is no equivalence between the attacks by Hezbollah and the Houthis and Hamas and the defensive maneuvers of Israel to protect their people. Stop bombing Israel Hezbollah, lay down your arms and get out of Lebanon. Find a place where you can live without attacking people as your main aim in life. You destroy the life of the Lebanese people as well as trying to commit genocide against the Israeli people. The world would love to see a cease fire but it is Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis who do not stop bombing and have not for many years. The Israeli are defending themselves. Their children have a right to go to sleep at night without fear. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis destroy the lives of the people in the countries which they have tried to take over or have taken over. 

My neighbours stained/painted the fence yesterday (at least it is almost done perhaps they ran out of paint/stain). Myself I like to see wood just age on its own but I am not going to be looking at it since I plan to move next summer sometime which I did tell them. Owning a house is really a lot of work and I haven't trained for that for sure. Coming from a large family, not the eldest (the middle of seven children is me) I never really had responsibility or even heard about items that were done on the house other than my mother was a great painter. I did help her at the cottage but she preferred to paint her own walls at home. So my experience is nil and it shows.  The fence was part of that although my eyes were not reading much at the time the contract was signed so I missed the black chain link (I should have checked when they were coming but I didn't - there were so many eyes on that contract - it was a lesson to me). Now I am roofing and did not really expect to have it done before mid October so tomorrow it is meant to happen (learned that last Thursday) and I would like them to shingle the entire roof area where the leak was  which let the water in during that heavy heavy rain storm in August which literally flooded the roof. I think it might be organized but I will call today and make sure since the fence was a problem I need to be pro-active. What I really need is not to have the responsibility of a house. I am not that house conscious a person. Anyway we will see how that goes. I did pick the minor repairs initially as the roof tiles were said to still be good so I hated to fill the landfill with good tiles but I think it is better to reshingle the entire area now that I have thought about the ice up there in the winter and all that. I do need to think about these things for sure for a bit I am 79 after all; not a bright smart young 20 something. Being 79 is both amazing and difficult for sure.

Worked away on organizing yesterday but did go to Church in the morning (youtube) and it was a Church in Roehampton, Sussex. A lovely church inside and the vicar was quite interesting. The theme - generosity Sunday. I feel blessed to have this ability to go to Church every Sunday using YouTube. I do love the Anglican Service with its music, prayers and homilies. It is beautiful. 

Today clean the basement and call about the roof to make sure that is happening as set up on Saturday. A little more organizing today and then back to the Companion Charting Book for the Siderfin Family. My eyes did need a break as they were very tired on Friday. 

I did try to see the mini-moon early this morning when the moon was still up but the trees, as usual, blocked the view. Maybe soon I will see that if the telescope is strong enough.

 

Yesterday was a working day for sure

 I decided yesterday was the day to get the car into the garage before the rest of the leaves and all the stems come down from our tree in the front yard along with the pine needles from the tree in the yard next to us. There wasn't a lot to do to finish emptying the garage. The high pressure water pump (electric) went to the curb because it is not going with me and I never have used it. I can barely remember now what Edward used it for actually. Somebody took it away and I must say that is an excellent way to get rid of items. If they do not go in the day then generally they go to the Salvation Army or the garbage collection because no one wants it. 

The last hose is drained and the outside tap is turned off at the back. I started the cycle of moving around the yard and cutting down the plants. First was the rose bush and that is nicely trimmed back. The basil plant that we put in in May is now huge and I must remember to pick leaves and use them in my chicken stew as it is a nice flavour addition. I will continue that process down the yard and then back up the other side and the back and then the main garden will be trimmed down and weeded heavily. I have possibly as much as two months before a snow fall which is great news. The front yard is more or less ready for snow. 

The other item I figured out was that I can use a fine brush and remove the hardening sand from the stone bricks so will also work away at that most days to clean that up. 

I have also been thinking and searching about on line since I received the call that my roof repair would happen on Tuesday that I should actually upgrade the contract from basic repair of the faulty flashing to redoing that entire section of the roof. I finally resolved to do that and have signed the contract and spoken with the contact person at the company (on email). Initially I did not want to pull up and throw away perfectly good tiles as the roof was just done in 2009 (more refuse in the landfill just isn't needed if you can avoid it) but I feel that redoing the entire section is probably a better step. There was a small leak during that heavy rain that followed the hurricane in the United States that crossed into Ontario and went east. Just a couple of marks on the ceiling of the room over the garage without any repeats and we have had a lot of rain. But the winter snows and all that possible ice accumulation could be a problem and so I decided better to simply replace the entire section and I am pleased that I am able to do that. There was so much going on with the fence that the roof was escaping me until suddenly it was time for that. I am getting old, at 79 managing all of this when I have not done any of it my entire life really as I lived at home until I married and then Edward was most adept at managing everything like that. I always said that Edward did manage the house upkeep except for the cleaning I did that and later paid my daughters to do that when I went back to work outside the home. He was extremely good at all things that he took on actually. Very organized and detailed. Plus he was a people person which I never have been; generally I find dealing with people a lot of work and it is easier in widowhood and retirement just to work away on my books that I enjoy and have the family time that comes my way. 

Today is Sunday and I look forward to Church online as usual.  The theme "A Service for Generosity" and it is at Holy Trinity, Roehampton, Surrey in England. We did spend a little time in Surrey but generally in the Bermondsey area of Surrey. This is a beautiful part of England with lovely flowers I remember my grandmother saying when she visited in the spring of 1939. How to be generous is always of interest to me as I have donations that I make in memory of Edward one at the time of our anniversary to the Branch Library of Ontario Ancestors/BIFHSGO here in Ottawa and then at Christmas to The Ottawa Hospital, Montfort Hospital, Orleans United Church, and Shepherds of Good Hope. The two hospitals had taken care of Edward during illnesses, he helped to build Orleans United Church, sang in the Choir and was Church Treasurer until he decided to move on to Dominion Chalmers when our children were grown, and we had between us given donations to Shepherds of Good Hope and the Ottawa Mission for a number of years (initially I had been donating to them when I started back to work here in Ottawa) but he wanted to do one of them so I suggested Shepherd of Good Hope for him and I continued with the Ottawa Mission). I am contemplating another donation in his memory and I am thinking about possibilities. He had a number of favourite charities including the World Wildlife Fund which is my thought but there are others also; I will decide by Christmas. Not huge amounts of course I am retired and not wealthy! I was amazed when I first started into genealogy back in 2003 looking at the Briefs in English Church records. Briefs are lists of donations and back in the 1600s the peoples of England were sending money all over the world to various disasters and also where people needed help not because of wars but fires, famines and floods which are weather disasters of course. It was amazing really to find that. I was used to the churches of my youth collecting money for peoples around the world but discovering that this went back centuries and centuries was an eye opener. 

Breakfast completed and on to the day. 

The Bible Reading for today was very interesting given the threats rolling out of the mouth of Putin

 Revelation 12 tells the story of the huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and a crown on each of its seven heads and the casting of this wicked dragon down to Earth from Heaven but the dragon wants to destroy. Yesterday more threats from Putin who seems to think he is a reincarnation of Peter the Great but Peter the Great loved Western Europe and wanted to emulate it and dreamed of a Russia that was advanced and modern not living in the despotic age  as serfs sending their sons to war; Russia has lost many wars in the past and the women of Russia have paid an enormous price with the deaths of so many sons. Putin threatens NATO once again with nuclear weapons for defending Ukraine's rights to exist. How ignorant? Does he not realize that starting a nuclear war will destroy the planet? Perhaps China will tell him. In a nuclear war then all of Russia will be lost along with the rest of the world. The Bible tells us that God only loves and protects those who obey him and follow the teaching of Jesus to protect, care and nurture his people not to bomb them and commit genocide against them just because they want to be Ukrainian not Russian. The Ice Refuge during the Last Glacial Maximum of thousands of years ago has been called Ukraina in our time and perhaps much longer. Which did come first one wonders but the logic is there for it to have been Ukraine not Russia; are Russians descendants of Ukrainians. Interesting thoughts. 

I also think that Lukashenko of Belarus saying that any attack on his country will mean World War III is borderline crazy. Why would anyone attack them; they are more likely to create a false attack on themselves? It is his support of Russia committing genocide in Ukraine that is the problem. Remember that nuclear waste doesn't obey borders and if Russia blows nuclear plants in Ukraine you all will suffer terribly. We would just like to build a mile high wall and keep them (the Russians and their adherents, the Iranians with their supplicants Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis) all away from people until they have grown up and can become adults in this world. At the moment they are ignorant people (their  minds aged about two years of age) greedy as all get out without a care for this world unless they can have all of it.

Yesterday two bags of leaves out for recycling. I did well for a 79 year old and likely there are twenty or thirty bags of leaves yet to come! Not a lot of work outside and today I complete the emptying of the garage and start putting the car inside. I am tired of brushing leaves off of the car for sure. 

Also I completed the John Line and into the Robert Line all the way up to my ancestral line back to Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew. I still have three more children of Elizabeth to follow down and then her twin sister Charlotte's family. The last member of the family is Thomas and all of his descendants. I had a few thoughts on how to relate the two books and will use footnoting to refer back to the updated Siderfin book. The book is actually at 105 pages now so will be perhaps 150 pages which did surprise me. I could create an index if I simply add all the names on the pages with the indexing, turn it to white and then shrink it to the smallest font and run the index. I will think about that as my daughter thinks an index is a very important part. Myself I think the page numbers are adequate but I come from a different generation for sure!

Today not so much computer time as my eyes were tired yesterday. Lots of exercise done yesterday though and will concentrate on that today and perhaps working on the photo albums. I am struggling with that one as my husband was very proud of his fifty photo albums of our life together and I am going to reduce that to perhaps twenty. I will just retain the printed pictures that include members of the family. They are all electronic and could be viewed anytime on the computer but perhaps I should consider recreating the photo albums as *.pdf. I wonder if there are enough days for me to do all of this work. Fortunately I am a workaholic and what else do I want to do? There is actually nothing (other than my own book writing) that I want to be doing so that works. Yes slowly moving towards these modern ideas of displaying material that started just as small projects but does now seem to be growing to rather big projects.

Since my gardens got somewhat decimated during the fence construction I am thinking I will mostly just let what comes up in the spring do so and keep it hoed so that it is tidy looking for the sale of the house. I am definitely not a gardener and will be happy to move on to grass preferably in the yards where ever I end up. Edward did so love all of his flowers and they were lovely and there are many pictures of those gardens. I do often wish that he had outlived me so that he could have managed all of this downsizing. I find it somewhat sad for Edward to see it all slowly pass away but for me it makes my life easier for sure. 

Breakfast completed, Latin is next and then we will see what I accomplish today. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful fall day. Just 10 degrees celsius now but heading towards the low 20s. Perfect outside working day for sure. Although I will probably not spend a lot of time out of doors as I have a lot to do inside. The one room concept is very appealing on such days!

Then it turned out that yesterday was a good day to work outside

 Not a lot done but gradually getting the garage empty so that the car can fit in there in the winter. I do not want to have to chip ice off or snow. I hardly go anywhere (my biggest trip is to take the car to get the winter tires on and the other common trip is to the Metro to buy food) by myself driving. I could; I am seeing very well now actually. Amazing really; it continues to surprise me. 

Worked on John descendants (son of Augustine Siderfin) and will continue that today. Then I will move to Robert (my line) and the descendants in that line and then I am finished. I had to decide about an index and I believe I will refer to the pages in the main book with each of the small charts as the main book is indexed. Indexing this companion book would be difficult because the names are all in boxes and would require me to individually work my way back through all of that charting. So long as I refer to the lines as I did in the main book the charting book is just an assist to look at the lines not the main book which contains all of the information. Anyone not agreeing with me can update my book!

More work on the garage as I took in the rack that I use to store gardening items, washed it up and it will hold all the outdoor shoes through the winter in the basement. All the gardening shoes washed up and the boots. The garage is getting down to bare bones which it needs to be so that I can easily park the car. The winter shovels are in the garage now but still I have some of the summer gardening tools like shovels and rakes which will get used the next couple of weeks and then also be done. I still also have the brown paper refuse bags which will also get used and put back in the shed if any are left. The lawn mower is also still in the garage and once the lawn is dried up from all that rain I will cut it all one more time. Clean up the lawn mower and it goes into the shed. Then the shed is full (comparatively it is not really that full as I can get in there and move around still) and we are ready for winter. I have to cover the air conditioner and drain the last hose to put away for the winter. Shut off the last outside tap and the task is complete. 

The roof is happening next week and pictures to come so that I can actually  see the work; the marvels of modern science. The pictures of the fence were nice to see as well but I can also see it out the window. The roof is more important in that regard. It was tempting to replace the entire roof but such a waste of tiles that are still good since the last re-roofing was only in 2009. There is work to do outside and I will do as much as I can. I cleaned the front window and polished it up. Cleaned the door for the electrical box. Discovered that yes I can remove the hardening sand from the bricks with elbow grease and a brush so will work away at that in October on nice days. The raking I will do a little today I think. I generally wait for all the leaves to come off the tree out front along with the stems but there is quite a bit down and it is recycling/collection day. So perhaps a bag or so. We will see. 

Other than that the day begins. Yesterday was a good exercise day and today will be as well I rather think. Breakfast after solitare games. Then Latin and then some work on the Siderfin book. Once that book is completed then I can return to the Blake and Pincombe books which will likely be mid October so a bit behind but still I am retired and my own boss so not a problem. 

Contemplating where to move next with the charting

 Yesterday was busy. A little work left on the fence was completed. I had a telephone call to mention that the roof repairs would be next Tuesday afternoon. I really prefer to have appointments sent to me in writing. So I did email the company to just verify that appointment as I asked to have pictures taken of the repair work as well since the present roof went on in 2009 (that company now defunct as far as I can tell) and I did not want to add to the landfill perfectly good roof tiles but I would need to explain what had been repaired. Email is a wonderful tool. 

I completed the Pincombe Newsletter and sent it out. I worked on the Blake Newsletter and that is pretty much ready for the 1st of October. I then went on to the Companion Book for the Siderfin Family. I need to decide now how to do the last Generation of Charts. I will not provide the research detail as some of it stretches past my decided year limit which was 1920 plus it is readily available on Find My Past or Ancestry. So just a block of charts for the 11th Generation which includes the 12th Generation. It is just working out how to display this information and there is a lot of it. I really do not want to go much past 100 pages with this book. So more thinking and experimenting to do on this book. 

Invocation of the Emergency Act which I still believe was needed at the time it was used and well done did point out to Canada that that was at least in place if needed.  Now we need to mobilize the defense industry so that that too is ready for conventional warfare. And our mindset needs to return to the days of my childhood when we were a mobilized country marching with our military remembering the war dead of the Second World War and ready for anything. The last thirty years have been a quiet time whilst various areas of the globe did flare up a conflagration did not occur that involved more than a small area and that is still true with one exception the threats by both Russia and Iran against those who oppose them. They are Nazi dictators, brutal unthinking irresponsible Nazi dictators mouthing their demands at the world as they commit genocide against the Ukrainian peoples and attempt to do so against the people of Israel. Iran, in particular, has come up with these interesting scenarios which their "foot hooligans (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis)" commit by hiding amongst civilians who appear willing to die for this cause of Iran to eliminate Israel (and in the long run all non-Muslims). The scenarios consist of Israel fighting back which is their right and civilian deaths occuring because the foot hooligans hide amongst the civilians; Israel was the invaded country. Gaza claims to be a country and they have committed this atrocious crime against the Israeli people for which no one has yet to be arrested by the International Criminal Court for crimes against Israel. A country that is attacked has the right of defending themselves and taking the battle to the enemy. We should not be drawn in by the whining of people who allow these "foot hooligans" to live amongst them with their armaments and bomb Israel. But the children of these attacking countries should be protected if possible and personally I see that as very possible. Just because a country can defend itself does not mean that they should be condemned for trying to bring back their hostages held for nearly a year now in horrible conditions by a sick in the mind set of hooligans who murder hostages about to be rescued by shooting them dead. How disgusting.

Personally I will never forget the sight on the television of the Palestinian people dancing and cheering in the streets of Gaza the day that the Twin Towers in New York City were attacked on 9/11. That does appear to be the sort of people that they are as here in Canada these same type of peoples, presumably Palestinians, cheered Hamas on our streets when they brutally assaulted the Israeli people on the 7th October last. So yes we need to move forward to mobilizing our defense industries because Russia and Iran are incapable of standing down. 

Breakfast next then Latin and returning to the Companion Book for the Siderfin Family. It does not look like a good day to work outside.

Back in the tumultous days of 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland

 A decision was made in 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland by France and England and the Commonwealth (mustn't forget ourselves) that that was it. That was the red line and so the peaceful loving peoples of the world said no; no to the desire to take over Poland. But we were too late; not ready enough; not strong enough. That isn't the case now; we are strong enough just not stupid like the Nazis Putin and his adherents. Peace was hard come by in 1945 so we formed the United Nations. Czechoslovakia had been sacrificed and I can understand why the current Czech President might think that a solution lies in suggesting to Ukraine that they come to the peace table and accept the loss of some of their territory. I do not think that any of us are in a position to tell Ukraine what to do. It must be their own decision what happens if peace talks take place where Russia sits at the table. I do not think that Russia will ever sit at the table for peace talks unless they believe that they will receive Ukrainian land at least not at this moment in time. There needs to be a lot more Russian troops sacrificed by Russia as they continue to try and take more Ukrainian land and the Russian people to finally say no; their sons are not going to be sacrificed in a stupid war that Russia started purely for greed and the constant Nazis Putin and his adherents desire to commit genocide against the Ukrainian people. Putin is destroying Russia; destroying any good will that Russia gained by their part in concluding World War II. 

My support for Israel continues but like most sensible people we Canadians do not want to see children killed in all of this. Get the children out; bring them to Canada to save them (all we need is their DNA and children up to ten years of age do not need any other documentation as far as I can tell and they are most welcome just as we brought the children of the British Isles here during World War II). There are millions of Muslims in North America who could care for these children until the adults in the invading country/groups learn how to live in this world. Invading another country is simply wrong particularly in the ignorant savage way that Russia invaded Ukraine and especially when Hamas invaded Israel; bombing another country is wrong and there is a price to pay for those who do it. That was why the United Nations was created; to punish the invaders and that still is Russia in Ukraine and Iran through its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis against Israel (deny Russia its spot in the United Nations Security Council until they get out of Ukraine). That is what the United Nations is about and any support for invaders should not occur as it gives them the idea that they do have support and there is none for Russia and none for Iran through their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Sympathy yes for those civilians who die or are injured but they let these people exist in their midst; let them bomb Israel and they need to do something about it because the backlash is killing them/injuring them but particularly the children are dying and they do not have to; send them to North America to save them. They can always go back home when the adults have learned to not support terror. Kick Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis out of the countries that they currently inhabit. They are useless people whose only aim is to destroy all the peoples who are not Muslim and the Muslims themselves have to fit into their Muslim ideology of suppression of women and girls. This world has progressed to the point it is now at because men and women worked together through the ages for the good of the world not for greed which is what we see with the Russians and the Iranians through their proxies. 

Completed the Kipp Newsletter yesterday and it was sent out to the members of the group. Today the Pincombe Newsletter and then begin work on the Blake Newsletter. Fingers itching to get on with the Companion Book of Charting for the Siderfin Family and then finally back to the Blake and Pincombe books. Swelling down nicely in my sprained finger as typing keeps it limber. Still a little stiff in the morning but I also have arthritis in all my joints so not particularly surprising!

The basement cleaning today but that is a quick job now a days - about two hours in total. 

Solitaire games, then breakfast and setting up the Robot to vacuum the rug. Then Latin while the Robot works.

The rains have come

 September has been a fairly dry month and now the rains have come and it looks like quite a bit by the end of the week. The ground is very dry and can benefit from all that rain for sure. 

Actually I did not do any work on the Siderfin book yesterday. I had other items I wanted to look at and the concentration was there. 

Today the main floor will be cleaned and then tomorrow the basement will conclude my effort for the week. But today I shall work away on my projects. 

How to display the charting that remains was in my thoughts yesterday. I am well into the 1800s with the charting and the book itself listed people born up to nearly 1920. The amount of information is small in the charts but I have been including my notes in my genealogy reporting program. I could for this last set of charts simply have the charts that can then be compared with the book already published. That does sound like a good system. I can make sure everything is there up to the mid 1800s which is now  at the moment and then simply refer to the rest of the charts as the 12th generation. I will contemplate that. 

I will start today with the newsletters and complete them. They are both partially written and just need their completion. I also need to work on the Blake Newsletter due on the 1st of October. 

Breakfast first and then Latin and then cleaning. The day moves onward. I am looking forward to what is called our second moon for a short period of time. It will be interesting as an asteroid will approach Earth close enough to be trapped by our gravity. Probably not enough to get out the big telescope but I will use the binoculars. As a child we saw through binoculars mostly; it wasn't until we bought our first large telescope (Edward and I) that I was really close up to a telescope on a regular basis. We bought that not long after we married when I was working. Even in those days telescopes were not cheap! That one went to RASC in case some new member might find it useful since we have the newer one for our use and definitely can not use two at once.

The last full week in September

Where did this month go? It seemed to be spent trying to get things done and the Charting book has come along for the Siderfin family but not a lot else got done. I did get the cleaning done every week as well so a few successes but October must be better. I need to get things more organized and out the door. But on the whole the summer was very successful with a number of prime things completed on our list. 

A return to fall weather starts today perhaps with a light rain. That means no outside work and I have not really been into the back yard since the fence was completed. It does look good but no hands on here by me. I will clean up the mess in the garden beds on nice days and hopefully plant some bulbs for the spring but other than that there is just the lawn to cut and put the lawn mower away for the winter. One more hose to drain and put away and the tap to turn off and will do that likely this week coming. I can always turn it on again if I need to do that. 

My day out was such fun and it is a while since I had a day out. Mostly I am here working away on the books and must catch up on the newsletters this week. Two are owed Kipp and Pincombe and the third one is due on the 1st of October - Blake. Getting used to my new glasses and they are working out really well with the car as I can read the speedometer now with my new bifocals. I do not need the glasses for just everyday walking about, the correction is considerably smaller in the strong eye and more for the weaker eye. I think that August was a time of getting used to the glasses and I am glad that I did put that time into it. 

Church yesterday was in Reading, Oxfordshire. The service was in BSL and very interesting. I do not believe I have ever been at a meeting/service that was entirely in Sign Language. It was a celebration of St Matthew and a Eucharist which I also have not attended for a very long time. Thank you to the Church of England for making these services available on YouTube. One pronounces Reading like past tense for Read. Interesting actually when I learned that as I was calling it Reading like the present but I do remember now that my father and grandfather said it like the past tense. Spoken English around the world has local pronunciations although overall the English language is fairly uniform I think as we can all understand each other. Britain has given Westminster system of governance and the English language to the world amongst many other great contributions in Science and Medicine - Dr Jenner always comes to mind with vaccination. 

Read the article written on the Danish Prime Minister and I have to agree with her. War can not be defined by the aggressor.  The aggressor just has to be stopped and whatever means work must be utilized. Aggressors are a threat to the entire world and that includes both Russia in Ukraine and Iran through their proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis attacking Israel. We must stay strong which reminds me of myself as a little brownie in the Guiding Movement marching in the Remembrance Day Parades in London, Ontario past the centotaph behind our soldiers. Each generation must pick up the challenge of defending home and turf unfortunately and my generation lived under the cloud of past war for many years (most of our childhood for many of us). So many deaths and that was what hung over my generation in childhood like a cloud; the memory of all those young lives lost and we must make that sacrifice continue to be our bulwark against aggression. World Wars mean that everyone suffers; the recovery is always slow and no one gains anything really. It reaches into every nook and cranny of the world destroying as it works it way back to normalcy. But some people get rich and we need them to help end this war that destroys not fill their pockets. You can still get rich but you must do it in a way that doesn't destroy our world and the young lives in it. But what is rich; everyone wants it and some will do anything to steal it. Personally I think one just needs what one needs to survive and live a pleasant life (I guess some people define pleasant in a different way than me! I am a natural scrooge and penny pincher and non waster in as much as possible) without wars. We still need defense (and lots of it) as we do not know what is out there in the universe but we, as a world, would be better off on the same side! That was why the United Nations was created amongst other reasons - World War II being a prime one.

Today a cleaning day and it will be the top floor. I believe I will switch back to three days a week and that way just the mornings will be cleaning and the afternoons will be available for working. At 79 my energy levels are perhaps not quite what they were. A year from now I hope to be in a new place with less stuff and closer to family. 

Soon breakfast and then Latin and then on to cleaning.

Yesterday - a perfect birthday

Yesterday was an all day birthday party and greatly enjoyed by this 79 year old. The dogs greeted me ferociously when I arrived and the cat was equally pleased to see me once she had sniffed and decided that yes I was exactly that person that she knew. Cats are very particular. The boys were equally happy to see me which was a great treat as I have not seen them for several months. Life has been busy. 

A day at the ice rink for part of the time but I was well dressed just had to keep moving about to stay warm. But I enjoyed a couple of hours at the ice rink first. Then guitar music for a while and lots of reading and out to dinner. The entire day was scripted almost except it just all happened randomly.

Today will be a working day in some ways as I shall do some work on the book since I took yesterday off. The fences all completed except for a couple of finishing details which we noted and mentioned. They do look quite nice. I do feel a little bit like I have been corralled in but not in actuality. The lovely morning light is once again blocked but one can live with that. Now just have to restore my gardens, get the downspouts properly placed once again to keep the rain deluge away from the fences and a couple of other minor fixes that are needed. 

The Bible reading today, Sunday, was significant with the first verse of Psalm 54 being particularly meaningful in this time of war: "Cruel strangers have attacked and want me dead. Not one of them cares about you." You refers to God. Hamas is an ugly people attacking weak innocent children, women and old men in particular and for nearly a year have held hostage people of Israel. How cowardly; how base these people were as they crossed into Israel. How disgusting that the bodies of these people still do not rest but are held captive by this weak ignorant Nazi Satanic group which calls themselves Hamas and is funded by Iran. Then the ignorant Nazi Satanic groups Hezbollah and Houthis also funded by Iran continue to attack this same country to try to protect Hamas from the vengeance that is so much the right of the abused country.  People held captive for nearly a year now shot dead at point blank range when rescue was imminent - what cowards Hamas are attacking babies, children, women and old men in Israel and then hiding behind the children, women and men in Gaza when the armed forces of Israel goes after them. Such cowards Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. 

Then there is Russia attacking Ukraine where they outnumber the people nearly 5 to 1; how disgusting of them to do that. The Russians too are Nazis now  and have lost all that glory and honour they won when they helped to win World War II. The Nazis psychopathic Putin and his enablers have destroyed all the good will of the world for the Russian people but the Russian people can win it back; the Italian people knew how to deal with the traitorous Mussolini and I am sure the Russian people who hate someone they once revered can also deal out that same measure of revenge for their lost glory. 

Off to Church soon; time in England is ahead of us and so the Church service already celebrated will be available on YouTube once again. Breakfast and then Latin first.

A beautiful fence

The fence is quite spectacular. I have quite a short length on the one side and I am already used to the sunlight being blocked off since the other one did the same. The chain link was an interesting idea but the wooden fence is quite lovely. Thank you to Fence-All for doing such a great job. Plus my neighbours will continue to have some privacy for their patio. The facing on the wood is very attractive and you scarcely notice that the support pillars are larger. Having the larger pillar lets you string things up which isn't as easy on the flat side but can be done.

 

 

 

So I have done new screen doors, new garage doors, new fences, next repairs to the roof and then painting. The painting will be next spring (the outside of the house). This was the only combined acquisition. It did go fairly smoothly and it does look very nice and will be a good selling point for the house next door for sure. It is more private than the other fence and looks so updated. The men in all of this set of houses put up the last set of fences 45 years ago and it was pretty heavy looking. This one looks light and airy but still better cover for privacy I think than the last one. It will be more difficult for the plants to grow through the fence as that was a problem with the last one. So all in all a great job and my neighbour on the one side collected all the monies from us and is paying it direct for all of us so that saves some work as well for both the buyers and the seller.

A perfect early fall day

 Lovely outside today and I opened all the windows to let in the fresh air first thing. The house now cooled down to an excellent 21 degrees celsius I am back to work. Today will be a work day and good news on the fence it is going in today and there are no questions for me. I needed it to be like that at 79 I do not want to have a lot of questions unanswered that I need to answer. The installers have been great and I appreciate their diligent and hard labour for sure. Growing up in a trades family hard work is generally the key word in a day's accomplishment. Lots of brain work as well because trades people need to be as proficient in mathematics and science and competent on a computer as anyone else. They do most of their planning on the computer. 

My back yard is a bit of a disaster at the front but will remedy that once the fences are all in. I have plenty of spare black earth in my large garden and can just gradually move that over and plant the spring bulbs before winter comes. Then in the spring I can put in some new plants to make up for the ones that did not survive. Gradually next spring and summer I will restore the garden beds as Edward would like them to be seen before selling the house. The front bed is good; a bit overgrown and will work on that as there are spare plants I can move to the back. The grass well it will never come up to the standard that Edward kept for sure. But I kind of like dandelions in the spring and the blue forget me nots. 

Today is a working day and it will be Augustine's son Robert who is my ancestor. The interesting historical act by Augustine Siderfin witnessing the will of Robert Siderfin of Croydon remains a clue to my mind. Robert looking around would not see that many of his relatives still living. He might have first looked at William's line (the oldest son of his grandfather Robert 3 (William 2, John 1)) but many of the males in that line were deceased and their land holdings had diminished. Looking next to Robert 4 the second eldest son of Robert 3 there was only one male descendant with descendants and that was John 5 whose son Robert had a large family including Augustine who by the time of the writing of the will was a school master with a small property at Old Knowle. Interesting really. Thomas, the father of Robert, was the youngest son of Robert 3 and had been a JP with his sons becoming prominent and wealthy but by the end of his sons (Thomas 5 and Robert 5) lives they were heavily in debt and their lines had daughtered out. So choosing Augustine although he had older brothers was a logical choice and made a statement - you are now the holders of the family name and he passed the torch so to speak is what I read from asking Augustine to be a witness to his will. 

I could not find pertinent records to help me with John being the husband of Thomasine who left her will in 1709 but the innuendos from other records have given me, I think, the proof that all of these lines descended from John Siderfin first noted at Luxborough, Somerset in the early 1500s. Which was part of my intent in publishing the revision to James Sanders book. 

The one errata that has any real significance but I think is obvious that I was missing one generation is on page 91:

Page 91: Para: 4 , Line:  2 - …A baptism can not be located for William 7 Siderfin circa 1660 but he did live at Minehead. His father (James Sanders has John 5 (Robert 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) I postulate Robert 6 (Robert 5, William 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1) simply because this Robert 6 was traditionally at Timberscombe and William is referred to in a deed as the son of Robert 6 (Robert 5, William 4, Robert 3, William 2, John 1). …

The bolded text contains the correction. I waffled about a bit as I tried to establish this lineage in William's line as it was absolutely incorrect in James Sanders' book. I should have caught it but I did not and it appears on the Errata page in the Companion Book. I am still debating how to illustrate that in the online book. Normally once published you do not change a text and I feel like I should stay with that principle. The Companion Book will always be associated with that book and I could add perhaps a line to the first page of the original text linking the two books. Not really changing the book but like putting a sticker on a book to bring two similar books together. 

 Breakfast  completed, yard ready for the installers, Latin next. 

Land Line is an Emergency Phone

Our landline is an emergency phone. I seldom answer it because I do not give the number out or use it for anything. It is always SPAM although occasionally I do pick it up mostly absentmindedly and occasionally a number comes up from the deep past since we have had that number for many many years. Usually though it is someone lying which I inform them as I hang up. Not too many calls but occasionally there will be a raft of them likely the automatic dialers have picked up the number and do not let it go for a bit until the answer rate shows it is wasted time. 

The final look of the fence is apparently unknown to my neighbours which has created a bit of mystery especially as I do not want to have to make any decisions if the others are not available at the moment such a decision needs to be made. I do not have to live with the result but the others do and so it has to be a known quantity and at the moment it apparently is not. We will discover tomorrow perhaps what the plan is. I am such a knit picker personally that I would have insisted on knowing in advance right down to the last placement of the board pretty much. But I was out of commission so to speak and so here we are with decisions perhaps to make although I shall mostly hide in the house out of the sun (bad for my new eyes) and let them make all the decisions.  It is much easier to live with decisions that you have made then to live with decisions made for you for sure. 

Today good progress on the book and Augustine's son John is more or less complete. Tomorrow is Robert and then I need to decide how to display the generations from there on. The families were very often large and I shall be reduced to just parents and children on the pages.

 Good day for exercises - stretching exercises, weightlifting,  running, walking and calisthenics/yoga and all completed just about the right time actually. I barely went outside and really I must try to get out more often but I am basically an inside person unless it is astronomy, bird watching, skiing, swimming and all those types of things. 

Our monthly Praying with PWRDF was an excellent service today.

Interesting how this fence is getting built

The fence posts are in and my yard is the only one showing the effects with both of the flower beds beside the fence mostly stripped of vegetation. The two neighbours are mostly unaffected. But then my yard is easily accessible and my garage empty basically making it pretty easy to use that as the exit for the old fence and the entry for anything that needed to come in. I have been contemplating how to redo those two strips of garden possibly with spring bulbs when the fences are in and then some new plants in the spring.  I have to say though this company is very efficient; I like that (I do not think any of the mixup was their fault just a lack of communication mostly because I wasn't reading anything particularly especially not fine print!). My flower beds will just have to survive and a few new plants in the spring. Since I wasn't involved in the planning I have no idea what this fence will look like to be honest. It all looks very tidy except for the forest of flowers on either side basically untouched in the two neighbours yard. I actually like expanses of grass so works for me and the narrow flower beds should come back in the spring with what is hopefully still buried in the ground (the spring flowers) but I will also add more. Obviously the workers are going to gravitate to my side because it is flat with just the narrow flower beds. 

Worked on the Charting Book yesterday and still sorting out how to illustrate the people in the 1800s. These families are very large descending from Augustine Siderfin and Mary (Davies) Siderfin. The other lines basically dwindle out but having Augustine as a witness in one of the other line's wills (that line basically terminates with the testator) is perhaps the most interesting detail in that will. He had to travel from where he taught school in order to be a witness to the will. Does it imply anything? In those days most things that people did had a reason; the people they selected to do things had a reason. At least that is my thought from the work that I had done thus far. 

Another warm day about 28 degrees celsius apparently. I have opened up the windows upstairs to let the cooler air in but will soon close the blinds and curtains once again and let the air conditioning do its task. Actually the air conditioning has not come on but rather just the dehumidifying.  The house has stayed at 23 degrees celsius throughout this heat spell mostly just one day it went up to 24 so I switched back from heating (set at 19 degrees celsius to come on) to cooling. It has to reach 25 degrees celsius for the air conditioning to kick in. Once this warm spell is finished I will go back to setting it at 20 to come on which is generally at 19.5. But that will not likely be until on into October that I set it at 20 until then it will be at 19. I do not mind wearing heavy clothes in the house in the winter and I do do my exercise in the house so do not like it to be too warm. 

Another working day and changing the book to legal sized paper was a good step forward. I had thought to just do a section with legal sized but having the entire book as legal is not a problem. Digital is the greatest thing actually. When I first got into computers in 1965 I was enthralled with them and studied Fortran on the side and then eventually COBOL before I stayed home with our first child. I got back into computers working as a proofreader initially for NRC journals and then private printers before returning to work outside of the home in 1994. Computers are great for sure. They have changed our lives in such a good way but must be used carefully with all the proper protocols for printing and creating as were in place with the printed copy. 

Breakfast completed, solitaire games next and then Latin and back to work.

A good working day.

 I shall move some of the earth from the main garden into the side garden and perhaps plant some new bulbs. I will have to see where I can find some. Edward would of course have known that but I shall try to figure it out without having to go to far away. Possibly I could order some online. He used to do that. I think the actual fence goes in on Friday so will soon be here or it might be Saturday or Monday, not sure. 

I worked on the Companion Book and changed the page length from letter to legal and it is working better for me. Some of these charts are very large. I still have to decide how to break down some of the charts. The Siderfin family grows very fast in the 1800s and is a sizeable family now in the British Isles and around the world. 

All this typing is good for my finger actually. I can type now without noticing it particularly although it does get tired. But not broken which is good; I did debate going to the doctor but it just didn't look like an emergency. I was careful with it though; lots of ice and no strain on it and lots of finger movement so that it didn't freeze up on me. That reminds me I did not yet hear about my bone density test. I must call as he mentioned probably a call around the end of August from them. I think I can manage to go to the Hub for my test. Wow 79 years old amazing really. I am about to go and do my thirty minute run when they are finished working on the yard. I follow that up with a fifteen minute walk. I like to do 45 minutes exercise periods at a time. My heart beat is on average between 140 bpm and 146 bpm which is not too bad as one subtracts 79 from 220 to give an approximate good heart beat for my age at full exercise which would be 141 bpm. I have an excellent recovery rate around 20 seconds back to normal bpm. Having done my DNA with 23 and Me I know that I have inherited a rapid recovery from exercise gene. But I have run for most of my life so not surprising. I also managed to do my weight lifting this morning which now includes rowing on the new rowing machine. It is just a basic machine - no bells and whistles. I have worked up to 150 rows in five minutes and want to get that up to 210 rows in 7 minutes. I could perhaps go beyond that we will see when I get up to 210. I shall start increasing in increments of 15 next week. Jump to 180 and rest there for a bit (perhaps a month) and then move on to 210. The object isn't to build up a lot of muscle but more to keep the muscles that I have strong. 

They are all finished and do a really neat clean up. Very efficient. That was too bad that I didn't keep looking out the window as I would have questioned the black rods much earlier although they were pretty fast doing that so I might have missed it anyway with two of them working away and there were only three rods needed. 

Time for my run. I do love to run and these hot days one does really appreciate the air conditioning as running outside is probably problematic at my age.

Fence is solved and we move forward

You can see it with the fence being down just how lovely that sun would have been all year round coming in during the morning. Too bad but then I am not staying so is perhaps just as well. I might have gotten used to that and perhaps can find it somewhere else.  

The wooden supports go in tomorrow sometime in the morning. That works. I finally get to work again tomorrow morning so can just listen for their arrival and move the car. Actually I could move the car earlier and save my having to do that. Good idea. The young men were very efficient and did a great job. It was too bad I didn't look out before they put the black posts in but I was busy cleaning.

I would like to get back to Charting. The fence certainly occupied a couple of days but remedied although not actually what I wanted probably but it does make a better selling feature for the house. I need to consider painting and will do that but not in a rush; perhaps in the spring sometime I will investigate that with Home Hardware. They have all sorts of specialists lined up. Will I sell next summer (I would like it to be at the end of the summer that I vacate so we will wait on that a little). I will be almost 80 then and this is a big house to keep up plus it would be a great family home with 4 bedrooms. 

It is lovely to see the light streaming in from the east in the morning instead of being blocked by the wooden fence but time moves onward and so must I.

All this cleaning has my finger swollen up a bit as I am straining it somewhat but not enough to re-sprain it. It is good exercise for the finger for sure. One advantage I had was my godmother who was the head nurse in the Cancer section at Victoria Hospital and I learned a great deal from her. I hardly ever went to a doctor as a child or adult really. Just that short period when I was very ill a year before we moved here. The doctor we went to here when we first moved to South Ottawa was excellent although again I was seldom there. He was very encouraging to me as I recovered from my breakdown and constantly reinforced my ideas on how to make the best of my weakened health. I did hate leaving him behind actually when we moved and did consider just making the trip when I needed an appointment but it was just a bit too far away. 

Hopefully my good health continues. Doctors are lovely people of course but not exactly where I like to spend my outings if I can avoid it! It is nice to just to be home and working away on my books.

Interesting how a simple length of 12 feet of common everyday Chain link can be a problem!

So now do I go back to wood and have a very dark backyard at the top (probably not that dark but with all the tree cover it seems dark to me looking out the window I guess it is brighter when you are outside) or do I do the chain link. But actually it isn't my decision to make since it is a shared fence. The black supporting poles  and (this was a surprise as I always thought it was grey chain link mesh until the woman in the office told me it was green (the sales person did take pictures!) )  green mesh might look a little strange one might say. There is 160 feet of chainlink from the back of the wooden fence to the street at the back on both sides of the property (it is difficult to miss that) and great respect for the city is emerging in my mind as they  managed to replace over 100 feet of this same fence at the back with the correct poles and chain link when a driver took it out a couple of years ago!   The price for the chain link was more than half of the cost of the wood fence so that is not a big deal. We will get the new contract tomorrow I assume to look at and then decide. The chain link appeals to me more. The sales person came the day after my cataract surgery so I did not do more than say hello to the person. I was relying on the people involved to read everything since my eyes were out of commission at the time.  So there you go, the difference in cost actually small. It will cost to have the black rods removed I suppose. Everything else had to be done anyway. That is one of the problems of home ownership for old people for sure but in this case it involves a set of people all of whom received copies of the contract. Generally I am such a nitpicker and I am returning to that but definitely surgery does slow one down especially when the eyes are out of commission for a period of time.

Today is the full cleaning day of the two floors and will keep me busy. Yesterday I had my teeth cleaning and descaling. I am trying going every 4.5 months to have my teeth cleaned and then the checkup every nine months instead of the six month cleaning with the checkup mostly by the hygienist at the old dentist. I had three new teeth that needed work when I came to this new dentist so felt I should maybe do a different sort of approach. I can claim the extra cleanings because it is health care after all. The hygienist was mentioning a relative who had strabismus and astigmatism and was legally blind; I was not quite that bad just blind in one eye by motor vehicle standards with no depth of vision. But now I have depth of vision and that other eye is still weak but it works somewhat better I would say. Cataract surgery is definitely a good addition to the medical lists of excellent finds.

No work done yesterday but did do some thinking on the charting book. I need to decide how to display the more modern information in the chart without having too huge a chart. I could do as James Sanders did and have one large chart but he left out a lot of lines and I am trying to bring as many up to census and even up to the early 1900s as I can. 

Latin to do and I am in a tournament apparently. This has been a fun way to learn a language for sure; I highly recommend Duolingo and will soon be picking up my French once again.  

I was reading about the doubling of the national debt. It is the reason that I never voted liberal until I did in 2015. I will not vote liberal again for sure because I do not agree with the effect that the NDP's support for the Liberal party has caused so much random spending. We all have to tighten our belts and pay our own expenses - the government is not a purse for the individual user. The government must spend its money where it is really needed like defense, like climate change. When a new "gift" is given the government must learn how to turn that into something that pays for itself. I did not like the way that PM Harper approached the problem - sacrificing our national history to balance the budget is not the way; trying to hide information on fisheries was not the way; stifling scientists is not the way. Taxes fundamentally are the way to pay for the costs of government - take the GST back up to 7% or even 10%. It will not cripple industry they will groan and accept because their bread and butter is Canada; the Canadian people are the force that purchases and keeps companies in business. We need to pay attention that we are buying Canadian. I have to do that myself as well. I was tempted to go out and measure the diameter of the black poles sticking up in my backyard as they look smaller in diameter than the grey ones that are there. I will not be able to tell where they are made but paying more than half of the cost of a wood fence means that chain link is expensive although I was willing to pay that for a chain link fence - getting things done now a days is not easy.

Fence day

The new fences go in today, hurrah. Already the old fences are gone. These young men are very efficient. On the short side there will be chain link because there is so much tree cover that the light is blocked most of the day in that area and the chain link will help to open that up. On the other lovely wood to replace the old wooden fence. Looking forward to both. The short length of fence really was inefficient. It didn't really block anything as it was just very short. Probably the neighbour on the other side benefited the most from that  wooden fence as they put in a patio off their sliding glass door but still it was very short and scarcely provided a really private area. Our patio was always secluded because the house next door is set back about 4 metres further from the street than we are so we actually had that quiet personal area. We lose just that short length of it but the payback in more sun is worth it. Mind you I am going to move so the real benefit will be to the people who move in. Likely they will put in a big swimming pool and a deck and change the entire look of this yard. But it is a long yard made for children for sure; mine loved it. 

No work yesterday. I went to Church, did some reading and did all my exercises. Made my favourite chicken stew and finished off the salmon as a lovely canape mid afternoon with cranberry juice and buttery crisp pitas. It was delightful. Occasionally I can be a foodie but it needs to be just the right food!

Today the basement is being cleaned. It is almost finished actually. I was up early today with the fence people coming. I want to paint the other side of the stairs today and will get that done. Then I think there is enough paint to paint the stair lift once again all the way down just to give it a really good coat of paint. It looks good already. The bright red is appealing actually. I liked it when Edward chose it years ago. It brightens the stairwell and I definitely did not want carpet on the basement stairs. 

I will miss this house but it is a lot of work and I only get older. Right now I can manage it quite well although I know that I have cleaned it when I have completed the task. Until then I do not think about it; better that way. 

Latin next and then vacuum the furniture in the basement and that is complete.  

Just noticed that the support poles for the chain link are black and when I checked the contract it calls for black mesh. Trying to get that sorted around (I should have read it with a magnifying glass so accept the blame on that). I was not really involved in talking with the people as my neighbour organized the couple of fences. Strange that anyone would put up black chainlink beside grey chainlink. It is difficult being old for sure.