Being sort of off the grid

 I did spend the last 2.5 weeks more or less off the grid so to speak. I spoke to animals and fish locally only. I did speak to my daughters on the internet or phone every day pretty much. But it was freeing one might say. I have become too much involved in the world around me for an 80 year old. It is time to contemplate the next chapter of my books and then the next chapter and just let the brain soak in all that information and then put it down on paper for anyone who wants to read it. I am glad that I have reached that stage of thought. I am still part of the world but at 80 one should concentrate on the little things and that is what I will do from now on. 

I watched the news finally and as always asking God for prayers for the world. God was very much in my mind through all those days. I was surrounded by God's goodness - the fresh earth, the snow, the forests and it was just lovely. I could feel the love of God all around me; the dogs were constantly at my side wanting my attention at all times. We all slept in the same room together and everyone was at peace and relaxed. A beautiful retreat and I enjoyed it. It reminded me of retreating to the attic as a child where it was just me and my books and my writing. I did write as a child but none of it exists as I destroyed all of it before I married. I came with wedding presents as it turned out along with my clothing as I had never lived away from home before and that was nearly sixty years ago now. Hard to believe how my life has passed these sixty years (I was twenty when we married). 

Yesterday I cleaned the top floor and today it is the main floor and that will be soon enough. Already I have done one load of washing and there are perhaps another couple to go this afternoon. I will clean in the morning. I received two pieces of mail (both of them could have been virtual easily). The rest was flyers and they could all be virtual. I dream of a virtual mailbox for sure. What a wonderful way it would be to receive your mail. You could still buy original paper copies and that is a money maker for the Post Office as they will be hand delivered so to speak and the cost is borne by those who need a paper copy. 

No work done but I am thinking about it and eager to get back to it. The dogs occupied my time enormously; cats are very self sufficient but I can remember that from childhood and also the relentless hunger that dogs have to be with their people. Even the cats slept in the room with me when they were not prowling about the house (the door was open for them or the dogs but the dogs did not leave me). Only the fish were excluded because of their watery environment and they were in another room.

God's peace to all and may the blessings of God fall down upon His people in this fragile time of our world. We have been fragile for a while really since the beginning of COVID. But new strength is coming out of this fragility slowly but surely as we look at a world much injured by our occupation and here and there are bright spots where we have healed the earth. The healing of the earth will be the great news of the 2020s and 2030s I think. It is a slow process but the result wonderful for the children of today so that they too can enjoy this beautiful world as we did as children.  

Very happy pets and home again

 Pets certainly alter your life and I have enjoyed the last 2.5 weeks spent with two dogs, two cats and a tank full of fish. The time flew by and now I am home again and getting caught up on my cleaning. It will be late or early depending on how you look at the week. I will be finished on Sunday having left that day to the basement which is just a couple of hours probably in the early afternoon after Church. 

Little accomplishment on my books but I did spend more time than usual looking at GedMatch and contemplating why I did or did not choose to record some of the matches that I did. First sibling almost completed and this week coming I shall be back on schedule.

 My sudden decision to quit blogging was perhaps premature as I do enjoy the ease of using blogger instead of strictly a word document that I then have to produce a systematic system for storing. Blogger offers all of that and so I think I have returned but my aspect is a little different. 

I have not watched any TV for 2.5 weeks not even for the weather. I have read the occasional news item and I can sense Canada starting to take its place once again in the world as an effective speaker on her own feet. Thank you to Prime Minister Carney and his very capable team but also I note that the Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre has found his world voice and no more whining on a provincial level from him.  This remake of Canada will take all hands on deck. For the Provincial Premiers you are Premiers of the entire province not just the big city that provides you with so many needs that they are going to have to pay more taxes to have instead of draining the provincial funds to keep the people who are in your face all the time complaining quiet. We have a lot of growing to do in Canada. 

Exercises all done, breakfast done and time to start cleaning very shortly. My hatred for daylight savings conversion continues apace as I would like to stay on Standard Time so that it isn't black first thing in the morning. I love the early mornings with the bright sun. 

Must make some tea and soon time to clean; solitaire puzzles are next. And I did renew my Microsoft Solitaire Collection (they are smart to bill you in Canadian dollars and they willingly collect the GST for that to submit to the Government of Canada). If you are going to sell something in Canada then there are taxes to pay. After all we did the right thing when we bought land that extended down into the agreed upon border between the United States and Canada and gave you that land freely. What is spent in Canada gets taxed in Canada but we have no claim on lands that we paid for but gave to a foreign government since it lay in their jurisdiction already agreed upon by land treaties (namely the purchase of Rupert's Land).  

Tuesday already

 The last two weeks have flown by and the dogs and cats have been lovely. Nothing like time spent with animals; very rewarding. 

Nothing done actually but perhaps today might see me nip into Gedmatch and work on the 1st sibling; I am almost finished. 

17 March 2026

1.  Gedmatch and working on the 1st sibling

If I get to that it will be because the dogs have gone to sleep for a rest.  

Sunday in God's World

 Beautiful day outside although minus 7 degrees. Thank you God for this beautiful world that we all live in. This is Sunday and the fourth Sunday in Lent. Prayers for the world; they are needed. 

Still not accomplishing very much but will plan for the following for the day at some point:

 15th March 2026

1. Autosomal DNA chapter for Pencombe

2. Extracting 1st sibling from new matches on Gedmatch 

 

No accomplishment yesterday, today plans for that

 Schedule for Friday, 13 March 2026

1. Continuing Chapter on atDNA for the Pencombe book

2. Extracting new matches from Gedmatch, 1st sibling almost completed

3. Extracting new matches from FT DNA 

Work 11th March 2026

 1. Writing the autosomal Chapter for the Pencombe/Pincombe book

2. Extracting matches from Gedmatch

3. Extracting matches from FT DNA 

Schedule list and perhaps this will do the task that I need done at the moment

1. Autosomal Chapter for Pencombe book

2. Check Gedmatch for new matches

3. Check FT DNA for new matches 

Well the answer presented itself

I still need to mention that my three Newsletters are published every month with each issue being published four times a year and available on FT DNA in their appropriate groups namely - Pincombe/Pinkham, Blake and H11. This does on occasion generate new additions to the studies which is helpful. 

The occasional Kipp Newsletter may happen but really I can not think of one thing to write actually. Five years after the loss of my husband my memory of items is very weak for Kipp since I was looking items up when I was least interested in genealogy and when I came to genealogy in 2003 I did work primarily on my own family although still helped Edward when we went to repositories in the United States in particular. 

However, I have decided to go offline with my diary and thoughts of life around me and memories of the past that have little or no value in the present. 

So I will continue with the blog although perhaps not a daily thing possibly more weekly but time will tell. I will also mention when I publish the Blake and Pencombe/Pincombe books as they will be available in a similar fashion to the Siderfin books (Creative Commons License) online on my website.  I do have thoughts on beyond the two books but they would not be associated with my studies at the Guild of one name Studies unless I decide to register them. 

The question is do I go offline with my blog

 I know some people like my blog on the various families but I am concentrating on just two at a time these days so less interesting. It really was set up to be my diary but seems to have been interesting but I am considering going offline with it. It seems like a logical thing to do as all my time now is devoted to writing these books. 

I started the blog in 2008 after we came home from our week at the Family History Society Library in Utah. A marvelous visit and I learned a great deal there and highly recommend it. I felt it was a way to store all my thoughts from the week and how I organized and utilized all that material in case I ever wondered about it in the future. This is the future and I have a copy of it and I am feeling that it is time at 80 to circle the wagons so to speak. 

Enjoy your genealogies and all the best.  

Sunday once again and watching for the deer

I think the deer could see me in the window and he didn't know me and probably has taken a slightly different path for the  moment. We will see if he returns. It took him a long time looking at the window before he called the female to join him on their trek but they did not go their usual way up around the house choosing to slip through the woods another way. He did stand there and look for a very very long time actually. The one dog and I watched him but I had to put the younger dog into the  mud room as she was barking. 

The Bible Reading for today talked about the battles with the Amalekites thought to be descendants of Esau and had a habit of attacking anyone from behind selecting the weakest. One wonders who the descendants of the Amalekites are today. God said to destroy them entirely but He also said if there are people who love God and obey God in a country then that country should survive. Interesting to contemplate in our present situation where you have a country that attacks other countries in devious ways namely Iran and its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. The use of armed terrorist militias by Iran  though is reminiscent of the Amalekites as they attacked the weak like the attack  on the 7 Oct 2023 against the Musical Concert and the Kibbutzims.  

Slow going writing the new chapter on autosomal DNA and the Pencombe family but that is alright I need to feel my way back into my writing as it is a while since I have written in the books for Pencombe and Blake. There is lots to occupy my attention around me but it is clearing my mind for writing once again. Still a lot to do for preparation of the writing to come over the next few months as I have not yet completed my survey of new matches and entering them into my table. 

Dogs looking for a pat and must refill the water dish. The days pass quickly. Off to Church in a couple of hours online as always.  Tea to make and solitaire puzzles to play. 

Rainy Saturday

 The dogs manage a rainy saturday very well; rain or shine they are out and about. They like the rubdown when they come in as well. Still missing their family but coping. Each dog has its own coping strategy. 

Yesterday I started my new chapter for the Pincombe/Pencombe book - the autosomal DNA and its impact on the study. Initially when I tested at Ancestry I matched one of my 4th cousins in the Pincombe family and we chatted back and forth and she offered to test her Dad's y-DNA at FT DNA to kick start a Pincombe yDNA study. What did I anticipate all those years ago now? I had tested my brothers and knew that our yDNA line was ancient to the British Isles - Deer Hunters they were dubbed by Ethnoancestry. I also did Chromo2 and there were fourteen who basically matched this ancient line in the British Isles. An expensive test so not a lot of testers at that time. What does it mean to be ancient to the British Isles? Basically these Western Hunter Gatherers were thought to have arrived via Doggersland perhaps as much as 8,000 to 12,000 years ago. If one looks at the yDNA study for the British Isles on FT DNA than one can see these ancient family lines scattered across southern England but all over in different areas of the British Isles.  The families in the north Hampshire area all date back in the Parish Registers and for Blake they are found in the land records prior to 1538 when the Parish Registers do begin for a number of the parishes and soon after for most of the others in these areas where the yDNA for ancient British Islanders exists. Amazing to see so many still in particular areas. But I did not assume anything whilst waiting for these results and they are Continental and the earliest Pencombe families found by me were in Herefordshire at least back into the early 1300s but I do not find this surname in the England's Immigrants 1330-1550 Database at the National Archives. No details on why not but suffice it to say a known individual from the Low Countries to the east of France and south of the Netherlands did arrive at this time or earlier and take up the surname Pencombe possibly from the Parish of that name. What we do know is that a John Pencombe arrived in North Molton in 1486 with John Lord Zouch. What I do not know is the capacity in which they arrived together. Since John Lord Zouch was attainted by King Henry VII for assisting Richard III one is left to assume unless the records show more that he was either an attendant or a jailer ensuring that John Lord Zouch remained at North Molton until the King gave him permission to leave. So that was fascinating learning so much about the Pincombe yDNA line and we share Robert Pincombe and Elizabeth (Rowcliffe) Pincombe as our mutual 3x great grandparents (the daughter of the tester) and of course he is my 3rd cousin once removed since they are his 2x great grandparents. Since then many other known Pincombe cousins from my line John Pincombe (son of Robert and Elizabeth (Rowcliffe) Pincombe and Elizabeth (Rew) Pincombe tests verify this line. This was a huge family in Middlesex County, Ontario. 

 Interestingly, over time, the Pencombe line did move to the Pincombe spelling but also Pinkham resulting in a rather interesting conundrum with the American Pinkham family (for the most part this family is descendant of the Pinkham family of Old Dover, New Hampshire) but some American cousins use the Pinkham spelling as there were a few lines coming out of North Molton that are American but still proving how they descend back to North Molton. The Pinkham family though in general in the United States settled in the 1600s around Old Dover, New Hampshire and do not carry the same yDNA signature. However, once again their signature shows ancestry back to the Western Hunter Gatherer and it is well known that England did not use surnames prior to the coming of the Normans in 1066. The uptake of surnames happened at various paces in the different areas. The Pinkham surname first appeared earlier than 1486 in Devon and I need to relocate that reference. I wrote it up in the Newsletter I believe so will have a glance at that. 

So the time with the dogs moving along and we are at day 13 and counting down. The older one still is looking for them and waiting for them to come in the usual door. The young one tends to transfer to me when she stays with me and is just plain happy having a rest for the moment after a busy run around. The cats very happy and the fish are fish. 

More work to do and brewing tea so will do my solitaire puzzles next.  

We are at day 14 and counting down

Dogs still really pleased to be with me but do miss their family very much but it passes quickly. They are busy all day long and still have stamina to run about in the night. Amazing really. 

Yesterday did I accomplish anything? Not really. I discovered that the chromosome browser is back at 23 and me which is handy for the work I am doing. I do like the way they record the matches between siblings with half and full match. I shall make a comparison but I am assuming they did not rework this so still the same as when it was done years ago. I have a few new matches at 23 and Me that are substantial and would be interesting to see although I more or less know how they will be matching me by the matches we share. I did send an invitation to one person who really interests me because he is that area where I have endogamy plus an extra match with another line as he matches a cousin that is Buller. We will see how that goes. 

The dogs, the cats and the fish are all busy little critters needing my attention and I get distracted by them so do not actually think I will do a great deal of work whilst they are with me.  We will have fun and even the news slips away from  me although I note that the  news is saying that the Russians are helping the Iranian to target American ships. Really this Axis of Evil needs to be gone from our world and yet there are millions of people who do not agree with them inside their own countries and God did say that if there are supporters of God within a country then the country should live on but how to handle the satanists really that is the question. Jesus told them to go away as they were evil and He was and is pure goodness. He transcends time and place forever in our lives. 

Work to do and I must  make my tea and do my solitaire puzzles first.  

Day 15 counting down to zero for the dogs

 That is how I explain to them each morning when they wake up and it is me they are looking at and not their usual family; Day 15 and counting down to Day 0  for them. They seem to understand as we have done this a lot of times now and dogs can be quite clever. 

The dogs, cats and I all slept fairly soundly all night and we were all within 20 or 30 feet or 6 to 10 km of each other in case we wondered where each other was. Fascinating really spending time with animals. Then this morning we saw deer which is always an awesome experience. 

Not much done yesterday it was just a busy day overall.  A couple of new interesting emails one from the Hinxman family (The Blake family at Andover and the Hinxman family at Andover (I think) married in 1610 at Andover - Joseph Hinxman married Elenor Blake daughter of Richard Blake and Jone (Blake) Blake (this was a likely 2nd cousin marriage with a grandaughter of Robert Blake (brother of Nicholas)). The Hinxman family I did not find before the 1550s but do have a William Hinxman married to Margery (unknown) and they had eight children one of which was Joseph who married unknown and his son Joseph married Elenor Blake. They had seven children and Joseph Hinxman is the best known to me. He also named his eldest son Joseph and was married to Martha Samborin 23 Aug 1675 at Andover St Mary. They had four children including a Joseph Hinxman baptized 16 Oct 1677 at Andover. The question in my mind was my 4x great grandfather Joseph Blake son of Thomas Blake and Ann Carter married 8 Dec 1728 at Penton Mewsey with Joseph  baptized 21 Oct 1730 at St Mary Andover named after this well known individual and third cousin twice removed. Since this was an Anglican family the tendency to name sons Joseph wasn't as strong by this time as is more commonly found in Roman Catholic families still at this time.  Must write back and will contemplate that over the next couple of days. I have not done much work on the Hinxman family other than looking at Elenor (Blake) Hinxman's children/grandchildren etc. 

Fish all fed, dogs fed, cats fed and I am fed so the day begins and my tinnitus seems somewhat lessened surprisingly.  I have had tinnitus since my high school days when coping with teachers appeared to be my biggest problem. I think teachers assist students a lot but they should really wait for a student to ask for assistance. Myself I had a direction and really did not want anyone confusing that direction. Comments like you really shouldn't do the Business course because you are university material. But I had a reason for doing that and the jobs that I got in  my summers once I was old enough to work at 16 I wanted that type of background and experience and one can see that now typing and bookkeeping are extremely important in one's life. Teachers should stick to their subject matter and do a perfect job of passing that on to their students. Not interfere in a pattern already established by a student; if they do not have one then by all means if they ask help them but do not make haphazard comments that in the long run would not have been beneficial - one cannot know the future. 

Of course school and I were never good friends; I love to learn and for the most part I hated the way we were taught but could I come up with a better system for a class room of 30 to 45 students? I was probably a singleton learner who preferred not to have to work with other students unless they were like me, extremely interested and keen in the subject matter. Other than that I have no idea on the best system but I suspect COVID pointed the way as students who were singleton learners were not as affected by home study; I myself have never had any desire to teach. When I did do substitute teaching on the Bruce Peninsula when my husband taught there for a short period of time; I ran my classes like a sargeant major and they learned what they were supposed to learn that day but any attempts to convince me to actually teach were rebuffed. I was not interested in that sort of work; if you are then do the best you can because the children deserve that. The sargeant major attitude was simply to keep control of the class at all times without any fooling around which one must do if one is a substitute. You are there for a moment in time and must just accomplish what has been assigned for that day or two days or occasionally more; these children do not need a babysitter - they need to learn and quickly; the world is changing rapidly. The Provincial Curriculum is well set up for such needs but could use tweaking where AI is concerned. But the students themselves may provide that fodder of change just from usage.

Must make my tea. Solitaire puzzles to do and on with the day. The dogs and cats are contemplating how long fifteen days is I am sure.  I am probably stricter than their family. 

 

Spending some down time with the dogs

Not out in the yard a lot but quiet time with the dogs is always an enjoyable time for me. Their family enjoys a rest without them and I enjoy some good time with them. Good pets to share just a little dogs. These are very large dogs but very friendly to me. I do enjoy their company. 

Life has been hectic for a bit but slowly calming down. I want to get on with my projects once I have been through all the databases and the next item to do is to write my autosomal DNA chapter for the Pincombe family of North Molton book. I wondered if I might get some stray Pincombe results with the Living DNA Results but not particularly. The Pencombe family in Herefordshire seems to have disappeared when one checks out Free BMD. All the records on Free BMD are from Devon and perhaps just a misread by the transcription. Two are from St Thomas, one from Torrington,one from Devon Central and one from Barnstaple. Interesting that four of the six are from the areas where the Pincombe family of North Molton is known to have lived. On Find My Past there is a record for a Mrs Pencombe 1910-19 in the Herefordshire, Kelly's Directory published in 1913. There is a Baptism record at Wacton, Herefordshire in 1811 for Maria Pencombe daughter of Arthur Pencombe and Ann Kinsey. There are 873 results in total on Find My Past.  I will go through those records over time just to have a look at what has been collected. The information I have on the Pencombe family of Herefordshire is primarily from the 1300s and 1400s. 

I have to admit when a country goes out of its way to support and arm terrorist militias whose sole aim is to destroy another country (in this case Israel and all the countries of the Middle East apparently as they continue bombing them) how does one really regard such a country. The oil that is in Iran belongs to the people of Iran not solely to the leaders but it definitely doesn't come off that way to the rest of the world as the money that is earned from this very wealthy country appears to go towards supporting terrorism and not just around Israel. The world suffers from Iran's terror exports. When the Prime Minister was questioned on the issue of the war in the Middle East I felt all of the questions were totally inappropriate. He stated his case succinctly when first asked - Iran can not have nuclear weapons; they are a terrorist country and they export vast amounts of terrorism. What they should have been asking was how did the pursuit of trade go because that is the primary interest of our Prime Minister and what we want to hear from these far flung press conferences (so long as I am paying for the CBC I want to get the messages that are important to us as Canadians not a lot of valueless gibberish). I am disliking the questions by reporters more and more as they are just obvious seekers of glory if they get an answer that goes viral. They do not care and they should as they are in as much danger of the terror that Iran exports as anyone else and more so likely as they are closer to the line of fire with their faces plastered all over the networks. So more respect for our Prime Minister and let him do the job we elected him to do. 

Sad once again to see children die as they are the victims in all of this around the world where satanistic peoples dangle threats of nuclear bombs at the rest of the world that just wants to get along; raise their families and do their jobs. The ignorance of the Axis of Evil - Russia, Iran and North Korea continues to be so very obvious. Iran and the other two are satanic but at the moment they try to pretend that they are good citizens of the world. God will handle it all at His own pace and time.  We just have to keep on managing the side effects. 

On to the day; I am late today but good time with the dogs did come first. 

And another day of cleaning

Today the top floor and then it will be almost complete. Yesterday went well although I was tired by the end of the day for sure. 

I did complete the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter Volume 11 Issue 2 2026 and it is in for review. Perhaps on the website later today. Very brief this time as I am in the thinking process for the next chapter of the book and I have decided it will be on Autosomal DNA pointing out different lines. 

The end of the week should see me back into the matches once again but the days fly by quickly. 

Tea all drank and Solitaire Puzzles next. 

 

Cleaning Day

Cleaning day and it is the main floor that I will be working on. Nothing unusual just the regular cleaning.. 

Yesterday passed very quickly as I watched the television somewhat with regard to the War against Iran. Support is strong for the United States in this especially in the Middle East but also we in Canada believe they are doing the right thing; the people of Iran in great numbers have risen against the government but it is difficult to face bullets with no ability to counteract that. Time will tell but the death of the Ayatollah and the reaction in Canada does show how we feel about the leadership currently in Iran. The leadership are a bitter satanic people to have destroyed all those lives and the lives they have destroyed in Iran itself trying to stay in power. To shoot down a civilian aircraft headed back to Canada filled with children, women and men was a callous act - so many deaths. It was the act of a despicable satanic leader.  

 Very little real work yesterday as I took the day off contemplating that it is Sunday and the Lenten studies, I am looking at two different ones, have been particularly interesting. But it is just contemplating how to manage the house and the yard that does occupy me somewhat at this moment. I am all set up for the winter but the summer will soon come and I believe I will have this company that clears the snow cut the lawns. That will leave much smaller amounts of land for me to take care of plus I think I will get the tree trimmed this year as well. I can see dead wood up in there and best to get that out. I would rather not chop it down as I look at the fir tree next door that is slowly dying and it is huge and this tree in front of my house might catch it if it comes down if I am lucky as it is strong and healthy. Plus I love trees and they are so good for the environment. Most people have taken the trees down that the city planted over 45 years ago. Some  have replaced them with trees but a lot have not and it doesn't look quite so lovely having all those trees I have to admit. Trees do give character to a street. 

I need to continue looking at Gedmatch to see if there are any matches that I particularly want to collect from there. Then I will move on to FT DNA, My Heritage and Living DNA to see if there is anything new in the last eight months that would assist me. The chapter I am creating in my brain for the Pincombe book is slowly coming into focus so will also work on that but first the Pincombe Newsletter was due yesterday and I completely forgot actually so will likely work on that first of all today in my down time from cleaning. 

Drinking tea and must do my solitaire puzzles.  

 

The people on the Canadian Plane that was shot down on the order of the Ayatollah Khamenei

All those beautiful children, men, women shot down in the Canadian plane so many years ago in Tehran will be remembered once again with love and it is said that the Ayatollah Khamenei has died in the US-Israeli strikes. The young girl murdered for not wearing a hijab will also be remembered. All of those people who never came home again after being arrested by the Iranian Guard will be remembered but the Ayatollah and his proxies both within Iran and Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas creating terror in the Middle East  especially in Israel will not be mourned by the world or many of their own countrymen. Khamenei was satanic; as evil as evil can be. Canada stands with the Iranian people injured by this man as our Prime Minister said although his words dealt more with nuclear weapons for sure as that is the greatest danger that was being presented. Iran using the threat of nuclear weapons by pursuing them to gain an upper hand is just evil in the same way that Russia's use of the threat is also evil; totally satanic. 

The day moved quickly yesterday and I did little work actually. I am contemplating my next steps as I give my eyes a rest for a bit. They are 80 years old even if the lenses were renewed! I still marvel at being able to actually see without glasses and read so much. When the letters get smaller than I  need my glasses. 

I like to be organized and that is perhaps why my days are so very similar week after week. I get more done if I am totally organized. Although my free time tends to be spent on future organization in order to complete a project which isn't a bad use of the time. 

There was an article on some cuneiform tablets found recently which I was reading first thing this  morning involving King Nebuchadnezzar. There is so much verification of events in the Bible with all of these discoveries of ancient tablets.  I have always found all of these discoveres so intriguing in particular the Dead Sea Scrolls. I moved on without saving but have found a couple of items referring to the same stones:

  Cuneiform cylinder with inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II, describing the rebuilding of Ebabbar, the temple of the sun-god Shamash at Sippar - Babylonian - Neo-Babylonian - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Ancient Cuneiform Cylinders Shed Light on Nebuchadnezzar II’s Work in Babylon - GreekReporter.com

 The second one refers to this earlier article I note. But the first one I have not read so will do that one next. I can remember our priest when I was a child (his surname was Abraham and as a young child I did confuse the Biblical Abraham with the priest on occasion) and his sermons always appeared to be booming from the pulpit and caught the attention of this child with the wandering mind. I listened avidly to every word he said and having learned to read at a young age would try to follow the story as written in the Bible later in the day to learn more about what he had been talking about. Sundays are precious to me as I do love going to Church and soon it will be time for the on-line service. 

Early mornings are generally my time to see what is going on in the world. How is Canada interacting with the world? But mostly at the moment my mind is on Canada becoming tariff proof because we need to have a solid investment with our country for the children of the future - it is really always about the future not about ourselves. When we become too deeply engrossed in our activities; our desires to travel here and there; our desires to do so many things than we do not concentrate on what is really important. The future of Canada is for the children of Canada; they have to live with what we do now in the present.  It was this continual concentration by the adults in the past that brought Canada to its greatest in the first sixty years of the 1900s. But then we slipped into complacency and being a secondary partner along with Mexico also a secondary partner (various industries tried to make extra money by building in these two secondary countries where the cost was lower and then selling them in the United States at a greater profit to them) in what was meant to be a great trade deal. We were weak and did not develop our industries (allowed our industries to be out competed and closed) in a way that would benefit the future but rather always thinking in terms of the greater continent. We need to concentrate totally on Canada and making Canada tariff proof. 

It will take time and hard work and being up to date on where we are at the present. Five contracts to widen Highway 17 from Arnprior to Renfrew was in the news but the road is widened now from Arnprior nearly to Renfrew with four lanes why not to widen the Highway 17 from nearly to Renfrew to Pembroke where the military have successfully widened the road for quite a while now to Petawawa (perhaps give the money to the military and let them get the road built; they are better at it). Perhaps that is what they meant and the news reporting got it wrong; I surely hope so. Then there is the portion of the road from Petawawa to North Bay and when is that getting done and beyond North Bay to Sault Ste Marie and along the shores of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay and finally to the Manitoba border. When is all of that getting built? I trust we do not hear anymore about a tunnel under the 401 in Toronto. Highway 17 has needed widening ever since it was built and we did get the passing lane eventually (I can remember when it was just two lanes as we went north summer after summer to canoe in the northern lakes in the 1960s and early 1970s). This road is so heavily used now and desperately needs to be four lane; shovels in the ground hopefully when the snow melts and the ground unfreezes. The road for the mines also needs to be done and the extension of the railway line if that isn't already done; hard to keep up with it all.

So I do pay my taxes happily every spring on the money that I have earned during the year (do spend it on the Highway 17 being widened) that didn't get taxed at source. I do not receive junk mail trying to steal my refund usually because I do not get one. It does make you wonder how the scammers achieve their information. AI would trap them very quickly. Take back the money they steal from people and put them in jail where they belong. Get a job, work for a living instead of scamming people. 

Time for breakfast.