Data Backup Day, of a Different Sort, or Sometimes Backups Just Are NOT Enough

Before Man and I headed south I wrote this post, but did not post it. The first of each month is Data Backup Day for the GeneaBloggers, so I decided to post this now. It is a slightly different take on backing up your files and data.

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So you think just because you have great backups your files are safe and sound??

Will your old files open?? When was the last time you actually opened them??

Part of heading to warmer climes for the coolish (okkk, COLD) months is backing up programs and data on the computers. Tis a good thing. Forces the issue. We move a lot of files around, delete, rename, organize. All good computer maintenance stuff.

During this exercise (times 3 computers), I discovered some files that were corrupt. They are PDF files of a rather large book I scanned. Rather than take this large and heavy book with us, I scanned it a few years ago. Weight is always an issue when you live and travel in a RV. Stuff weighs a LOT more than you think.

The book is a resource for family researchers in the county we live in. I do look ups for other researchers. I don’t have to have the heavy book with me IF I have computer files, and I can still do the lookups no matter where Tana is parked. But, a huge number of the files are corrupt (each page is a file in this case).

I am not happy about this discovery, as you can imagine. And, I know the fix, sadly, it is to re-scan the pages that have corrupted files. YIKES!!

Why not go to a old back up, and just transfer the old files to the new computer. Simply put, the old backup files will not open either, as it is a program snafu. The latest version of the program does not recognize nor will it open the older version files. I have tried on several computers, it is a no go. How frustrating is that??

Backups are still necessary. Anyone who has suffered a total hard drive failure without sufficient backups will tell you how sick they were at the amount of lost work and photos. The time required to rebuild your data bases and work is unbelievable, and sometimes, you cannot recover the lost photos and files.

But, in this case, having a great backup, or even a number of backups of my files is not going to help. Scanning again, a re-do, is the solution. I hate re-do’s. You have NO idea how much I HATE re-do’s!!

When is the last time you had your PDF files open?? Sometimes backups just are NOT enough. Open your files, periodically, it is another part of your data backup plan.

*BTW, I did manage to get all the bad PDF files for this book re-done before we left the north for southern climes, however, I have discovered a few other short source books that have been scanned that also have bad PDF files. 

**For those that might wonder about copyright, I do NOT sell the PDF files, I do NOT even share them, I use them from my own computer and for any one lookup request I do not exceed "fair use" limits.

2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Fairhope Alabama and Beyond

Good friends John and Donna gave us a ring early this AM, suggesting we get together.  So, we did.

What a day it was, 126 photos worth of a day:  Cotton fields, lunch at Big Daddy's Grill on Ferry Road.  Big Daddy's has a HUGE sand pile for the kids to play in and dogs are welcome, even provided with a bowl of drinking water, thank you.  You know Man had some kind of seafood, yepper. This time it was soft shell crab poboy, see:

After a great lunch, we went to check out a campground nearby, Wales West, which is owned by railroad enthusiasts who have built a 2 foot gauge steam railroad like are found in Wales (yep, near England). 

One of my personal goals in life is to meet "Characters", people who are interesting, a little bold and "out there", who have experiences so different than my own. Well, today, I met few. These people LOVE trains! There are not enough photos to show the Christmas decorations. EVERY THING in the campground is decorated, yes, I mean EVERYTHING! Even the old farm equipment in the back 40 have Christmas lights strung all over them. I cannot imagine what their electric bill must be for the month of December! It is over the top but before long, you can feel your inner child coming out and you are smiling and laughing and enjoying! Yes we rode the train, a coal burning steam engine. Yes, it spurts out embers and ash, you can see the black ash in my hair.

After several hours of visiting Wales West, we climbed back in the truck, patting John and Donna on the back for such a unexpected delightful afternoon. We headed to Fairhope, eventually stopping at their public pier where there is a very nice rose garden. Donna and I had a grand time taking photos, it was late in the day and the lighting was great.

We walked out on the pier watching the sun set.

A great blue heron landed on a roof of part of the pier and we again started taking lots of photos.

Isn't it breath taking??

We had a wonderful day, spent with good friends, made extra special because it was not planned, it just happened.  It could not have been any nicer, even if we had micro-planned it.

Thanks John and Donna!

Now I need to go wash my hair!

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Famous Look-Alikes

Randy from Genea-Musings keeps coming up with these wild and fun challenges for Saurday Night. Here is the latest:

Find which celebrities that have the same facial features that you (or someone else you choose) have. Here are the directions:

1) Go to www.MyHeritage.com - you don't have to be a registered member to use this feature. Click on the "Celebrities and Fun" tab.

2) Click on the "Celebrity Collage" tab, and then on the "Create my Collage" button.

3) Upload a photograph with your face (or another person's face) to the site (the face must be at least 100 x 100 pixels) and click on the "Run face recognition" button.

4) Select a collage template, and the faces (up to 8) to go into the collage template. Click on "Next" and "Preview" your template, which should bring up the template for you to review. You could click on "Save" and it would go off to your selected social networking site.

5) Figure out how to show your collage on your blog or social network site (I have my own process defined below).

6) Tell us which celebrities that you (or your selected person) look alike - write your own blog post, make a comment to this post or on Facebook.

7) Think about how you could use something like this as a Christmas gift.

I am skipping number 6 (because you can read them below) and number 7.  Here is a collage I made up of Moi.

One comment:  GEESH!!

Now, how I got an image from MyHeritage.com to my blog.

When at step 4 from Randy's fine directions above, instead of "Save", I used a program called One Note.  (Man is gonna just LOVE that I am talking about One Note as he has to twist my arm to get me to even try it out.  OKKKK, dude!  You were really right about this one!  I adore One Note!)  This is a Microsoft program.

One Note has a slick copy tool, you need to have a keyboard with a Windows key.  You know, you have Print Screen keys, Delete keys, PgUp and Pg Dn.  Many key boards also have a Window key.  I found an example here at Wikipedia.

OKKKK, now that you know what a Windows Key is, you are going to get ready to capture your image.  Hold down the Windows Key and then press the "s" key.  That is it, One Note takes over, captures the image and opens a page/screen inside the One Note program.

Now, with Adobe Photoshop open, here is what I do to get the captured image into Jpg format and ready to load onto my blog.

Right click with your mouse on the image in One Note, say Copy. (Or, click on the image, go to Edit, then Copy.)

Go over to Adobe, click on File, New, and say, OK, this opens a white screen on the work area.  Now, click on Edit, click on Paste and the image is in Adobe.

You can edit the image as you always do in Adobe, and when you are finished editing, go to File, Save As.  Now, pay attention, because it will not save in Jpg format UNLESS you tell it to, so, tell it!  Pick a directory and a file name, and Save.

Now, you can use your image in your blog.

The disclaimer:  This is how it works with the version of Adobe Photoshop that I have, and the version of One Note I have.  We all know how finicky and stubborn computers and programs can be.  Hope it will work for you.

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85th Carnival of Genealogy, Orphans and Orphans

The challenge is explained thus:

The first type of orphan refers to those ancestors or relatives who lost their parents when they were young.

The second type of orphan would be those siblings or cousins of our ancestors who could be called “reverse orphans.” They are the relatives who, for whatever reason – death at a young age, never having married or had children, or having children who did not survive to provide descendants – have no direct descendants of their own, so it falls to us, their collateral relatives, to learn and write their story.

This Carnival is hosted by Greta of Greta's Genealogy Bog.  Thank you Greta!

For my orphan, I choose, Patricia Mildred Bell Croskey Lombardini. Pat was born September 22, 1941. Her mother died about 16 days later. Her father did not die, so in this respect, Pat was half an orphan. For the first 9 years of her life, Pat was raised by her mother’s parents, Fred and Lilly (Gerth) Gehrke. When she was 9, her life made a drastic change, as she was “abducted” by her father, and a nasty court case followed. Eventually, Pat stayed with her father, which was a hard experience, even living in his car at one point. By the time she was a teen she was living with the Croskey family. During her high school years, Pat discovered music, a discovery that would become her greatest gift from God and to all who would come to know and love her.

She entered the convent two weeks after graduation. She studied and became a teacher by 1972. Her years in the convent and religious homes were very trying for her and by the 1970's she realized she had to leave the sisterhood and her life took another new course.

On 24 Jul 1978, in a civil ceremony, Pat married John Anthony (Tony) Lombardini, her soul-mate, an ex-priest. They were devoted to each other, but Tony desperately missed being a priest. Eventually they converted to the Antiochian Orthodox Church and in 1983 they were married in that church, a service that Man and I were honored to have attended.  The ceremony was performed by Bishop Malatius Barnaba, Archibishop of Homs and Hama, Syria.

Above:  Tony and Pat at their religious marriage, 1983.

Both Pat and Tony spent the last years of their lives serving their Lord and the Antiochian Orthodox Church, he as a priest, she as a gifted organist and vocalist. She even wrote hymns for funerals. She wrote more than 50 songs based on the Sunday gospels. Man and I have tapes of Pat singing, she had the voice of an angel, sweet, pure and true.

Above, Pat and Tony, serving their Lord, together.

Pat fought cancer, won the first few battles, but, lost the last one on May 16, 1997. Pat was laid to rest at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, Oakland County, Michigan, where in 2001 her beloved Tony joined her.

Pat and Tony left no blood children, no heirs. This makes Pat a reverse orphan, per the description of this challenge. After Tony’s passing, his family returned many of Pat’s photo albums and family heirlooms to Man’s mother. We now have them, scanning many of the photos. Pat was also the subject of my post on October 28, 2009, a photo which I discovered while scanning her photo albums, I love the subtle sense of black humor it represents, the fun that she and Tony enjoyed together.

I am always touched by Pat’s life story, her mother’s death, the formative years with her mother’s family, the custody battle, the dark years after, her difficult teen years, her years of learning and sisterhood, her love affair with Tony and her fight with the cancer demons. Through it all she sang and played and stayed a sweet loving creature.

Therefore, Pat is my “Orphan and Orphans”.

Patricia Mildred Bell Croskey Lombardini

* Antiochian Orthodox Church is also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.

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Living in Tana, Thanksgiving Dinner With our 150 Best Friends

Yesterday the campground cooked up turkey and ham, and the campers/rvers brought side dishes.  Dinner with 150 (give or take) of our best friends.

At our table there were 4 couples, ALL four were from Michigan.

Above:  By the time dinner was served,

these tables were laden with GREAT food!

Good eats, eh??

Just a couple of the many wonderful deserts.

As usual, RVing cooks provide a tasty, okkkk, yummy, okkkkk, out of this world delish meal!

Now, it is time to decorate Tana for Christmas, she even has a small tree!

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Thanksgiving, A New Appreciation Gained by Family Research

Thanksgiving is a great holiday, good food and a day to reflect on our blessings.  Man and I and our family always celebrated, ate ourselves into the "over stuffed" condition and yes, we were thankful for what we had.

THEN, I started family research.  I was working on my Bowen lineage just before Thanksgiving one year when I discovered that my ninth great grandfather, Richard Bowen had a little chat in 1653 with none other than Captain Myles Standish.

Captain Myles Standish is commonly believed to have been quite involved in the first "Thanksgiving" dinner in 1621.  I will let you Google away and read all that the internet has to offer on Standish and the first dinner, most likely in reality, a Harvest Dinner. 

(Image of Myles Standish to the right was found at Wikipedia and is in the pubic domain in the United States.)

Now after your research and reading more than you probably wanted to know, lets get back to my interest/connection, Richard Bowen.  Source:  "The Mayflower Descendant: A Quarterly Magazine of Pilgrim Genealogy and History, Volume XVII", 1915, Published by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Boston. This work can be found at GoogleBooks.  Here is the first paragraph, transcribed:

"Town of Rehoboth And The Purchasers
p. 112 Prence Govr.
Whereas the towne of Rehoboth the 28th of June 1653 Did Depute and Authorise Stephen Paine Richard Bowin Thomas Cooper and William Sabin as theire Deligates to treat and Conclude with Capt: Myles Standish Capt: Thomas Willett and Josias Winslow Concerning such lands and all other matters as are in Difference betwixt the towne of Rehoboth and the aforsaid Captaine Myles Standish Capt: Thomas Willett Josias Winslow and the rest; that are enterested in the said lands."

(Try this link, for the full octane version.)

There he is my 9th great grandfather, Richard Bowin, errr, Bowen, (remember, spelling don't count).  And he actually knew Myles Standish. 

Gotta say, once I saw this recorded document linking my Richard and Myles, I never could think about Thanksgiving in quite the same way.  Guess you could say I reacted just like a little kid, excited and running around doing a genie happy dance, snickering away, whispering to myself, "How cool is this??"   Amazing how a personal connection to history and our ancestors can enhance your view of historical events and celebrations.  Talk about "living history"!

Richard Bowen, my 9th great grandfather was born about 1590 reportedly in Wales, died in 1674 at Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, and is reportedly buried at the Newman Cemetery, now in Providence Rhode Island.

Happy Thanksgiving to Man, my entire family, and to my RVing, Blogging and Research friends. 

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Birthday Observances, Alfred Leonard Lashbrook, AKA Alfred Leonard Keezer

Alfred was born November 25, 1888 in Nebraska according to his World War I Registration document.  Alfred's birth parents are unknown to this researcher.

Alfred was raised (adopted?) by Richard Alvin Lashbrook and his wife, Lemery Sevar Sharp Lashbrook.  Richard and Lemery raised (adopted) another child, Nevada May Pershall.  Both children were mentioned in Richard's will in 1932. In his father's probate file Albert is identified by three names, Alfred Keezer Lashbrook, Alfred Lashbrook, and Alfred Keezer.

Alfred was rather difficult to trace through internet available data bases.  He was found in the World War I Registration data base at Ancestry.com.  After many searches with both surnames and many spellings used, we did find him on the 1910, 1920 and 1930 census reports in California.  Spellings, our most wonderful friend and foe in family research: 1910 Alfred Keezer; 1920 Alfred L. Kezer; and 1930 indexed as Alfred Keyer, but this researcher saw the surname as Keezer.

A. L. Keezer of the Arrow Head Mine filed an Affidavit of Labor & Improvements on Mining Claims, Shasta County, California in Books 1 - 7, 1891 to 1941 as follows:  Interest, recorded in 1931-32; Affidavit signed June 1, 1932; P7-470 filed June 2, 1932 (All in book 6).

Alfred died on March 4, 1937.

A kind volunteer, Robin Bills located and transcribed the short death notice she found in "The Searchlight Redding", Shasta Co., California, Friday, March 5, 1937.

"Alfred Kezzer, aged 45, passed on Thursday night at the county hospital. He was a resident of Whiskeytown.  Kezzer, an exserviceman, is survived by his widow, Mrs. Thelma Kezzer, and one child. Funeral arrangements, in charge of the Home Undertaking Company, are pending."

Alfred, left, World War I era.

Alfred's photo was kindly shared by Linda J. Harney, a descendant of Nevada May Peshall Lashbrook Merrck.  I have digitally edited this photo by cropping.  The original photo was of both Alfred and Nevada.

*Descendants of both Alfred and Nevada speak of their ancestor's adoption by the Lashbrooks.  I have not located any "formal" adoption papers, YET.  In my research I have found that in this time frame (pre-1900) many children were adopted and raised without benefit of  "formal" papers.

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Community Cemetery, Orange Beach, Alabama

Also known as Bear Point Cemetery.  Quaint, quiet, calming.

Bear Point Cemetery entries at Find a Grave.

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Living in Tana, Yorkie Grooming

Just cause we are living in Tana for the next few months does not mean we don't have every day chores to do, the garbage still needs to go out, gotta do laundry and sweep the carpet now and then  And, yorkies need grooming. 

Here is how we accomplish the yorkie grooming.  Our not so willing, but, lovely model and narrator for the event, is Miss Tilly.

Above: First step, trimming ears (and paws) and total comb out.

Here I am helping Carol remove one of those nasty

sand burrs, right by my mouth.  Carol is good, got it out with no pain.

Uck, the wet part, soak me up and then suds me up,

and then rinse me clean.  A little cream rinse on the side please.

NOW, this is living, all clean, cuddling with Carol while I towel dry.

Yikes, the big doggie dryer is back in Michigan, so Carol uses

the portable dryer.  Ok, I'll fess up, I don't particularly like the dryer, period!

Here I am clean, dry, combed out and a fresh band

to hold my hair out of my eyes.  Glad that is over!

Thank you Tilly, you were such a good girl during your grooming session.

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Travel Surprises - - Papa's Pizza

Every once in a while in our Tana travels, we find a delightful surprise, usually having to do with food, as in Travel surprises - - Alex's.

Yesterday we went out for some shopping, needed a few things, like yogurt, Dannon Vanilla All Naturals in the 32 ounce container, thank you very much!  (Had a little trouble finding same in Gulf Shores, but I have overcome!)

Anyway, we decided to run over to the shopping plaza (Pinnacle Craft's Farms) near here, cannot be much more than a mile away.  Target, that french store, is the big name.  There is also a Books-a-Million, and of course, lots of smaller shops. 

Man and I wandered in and out of several of the stores, window shopping, as they say.  Even though we had lunch before we left Tana, we found ourselves, well, hungry.  We strolled down towards two eatery signs.  Believe one was a coffee shop. They had a number of patrons in there and a sign on the door, CLOSED.  So, we went next door, to Papa's Pizza.  Ordered the Pepperoni Roll, which we shared.  It was excellent! Full of cheese, loaded with pepperoni, and the wrapping/crust was crisp on the outside and not heavy or thick.

We WILL revisit Papa's Pizza.

(October, 2018, non functioning links have been removed.)
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Spelling Don’t Count, Even in Indexing, Save Me Please!

In my quest for Dews and Creekmores, I went back to Ancestry this AM. I was particularly interested in the Creekmore clan in the 1930 census. Looking specifically for Lloyd and Essie Creekmore, I knew they should be in Norfolk Virginia . My searches for Creekmore or even Creekm* were falling flat. No hits. Well, not for Lloyd and Essie. So, in semi-desperation, I searched for Essie, no surname, born Virginia, living in Norfolk County Virginia. Click search! Almost the first hit on my results was for Essie Aukerman. Age was within decent parameters - - in other words, close enough to catch my attention. So, I hovered over the entry and was not so surprised, but happy to find, Loyd, Essie, Loyd (son) and Essie (daughter). Well, my my.

The extraction for the index reads (noting I edited out some information):

1930 United States Federal Census
Name: Loyd H Aukerman
Home in 1930: Norfolk, Norfolk (Independent City), Virginia
Age: 50
Estimated birth year: abt 1880
Birthplace: Virginia
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's name: Essie
Race: White
Household Members: Name Age
Loyd H Aukerman 50
Essie Aukerman 41
Loyd H Aukerman 13
Essie E Aukerman 11
Carrol W Aukerman 6
Walter E Bishop 21
Carncher E Newsome 69

Goodness, this is my Creekmore clan, indexed as Aukerman. Here is image, enhanced with Photoshop, but, NOT altered in content. I see Creekmore. Ok, the handwriting leaves some to be desired, do you hear the understated sarcasm?

A classic example of spelling don’t count, even in indexing. Oh, save me please!

* Special thank you to friend and researcher Amy, who read my other posts on Mary Dews and subsequent research attempts on the Creekmore connection and forwarded me some additional information.  Thanks so very much Amy!

Living in Tana, Cooking Lunch

Some of my followers have never lived in a RV, so for you, here is lunch cooking.  (Yea, I know, cheating with canned sauce.  What can I say, I am not the RVing gourmet cook!  LOL)

The stove top is a bit small, RV cooks become jugglers.

Man preparing some old french bread, will become

yummy garlic toast. (We use a toaster oven.)

Bon Appetit!

*And, we got great leftovers for today's lunch too!

MRUA follow up

After posting my post for last night's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Who is your MRUA, (the search for my Most Recent Unknown Ancestor)  I did indeed hit Ancestry and a LOT of other web sites trying to find out more about Mary, wife of Edward Dews.  I did not find one new thing about Mary.  I searched again for anything new about any of her children.  I did not find anything new, EXCEPT for daughter, Elizabeth, known as Lizzie. 

Elizabeth (Lizzie) married Franklin (Frank) P. Creekmur, or as I found it more frequently spelled, Creekmore.  Late last evening, after several quite frustrating hours of researching with no hits, I found probable burial information for Frank and Lizzie.  I found them both listed as buried at Elmwood & Cedar Grove Cemeteries, E. Princess Anne Road, Norfolk, Virginia, their lot information indicates they are buried close to each other, I think, side by side.  I added memorials for these two at Find A Grave and have requested photos of the graves.  I will see if I can find a kind soul to look for obituaries, since I have full dates of either the death or burial.  I will revisit available dates for death records and see if I can obtain a death record or death certificate.

Thanks to Randy of Genea-Musings for the subject of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun that pushed me to review this family.  Did not find more about Mary, but, I will take this "find" on a family that has been a tough search.

*Memorials for Lizzie and Frank can be found at Find A Grave.

** A really good place to look for burials in Norfolk is at their data base, as of January 2019, located at: https://www.norfolk.gov/index.aspx?NID=2692

Search for this by looking for the City of Norfolk, again, current direct line is: Home > Departments > Cemeteries > Search Burial Records

More than sticky sand burrs

Yes, Man and I have encountered sand burrs before.  Have pulled more than a few out of yorkie coats, ouchie, they hurt the humans as much as the dogs.

The other evening Man and I kept finding sand burrs IN Tana.  Believe me, socks don't put up much of a barrier.  OUCHIE!

Next morning, I found the source, the bottom of my shoes.

Goodness!  And, much to my surprise and disgust, several of these buggars are still there, even after wearing the shoes for an entire day while we did the touristy thingy.

Cripes, looks like I am gonna have to pull em out of the shoe soles. Where are my tweezers??

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Who is Your MRUA?

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge this week come with 3 parts:

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

The answers:

1.) My MRUA, is Mary, wife of Edward Dews. I don’t have to go far to find my MRUA, only to my great great grandmother. This is the extent of my text file on Mary, sad as it is:

“Mary is enumerated on the 1880 US census of Kempville District, Princess Anne County, Virginia as follows: Mary, age 55, widow, keeping house, born Virginia, both parents born Virginia; Ro. Lee, age 16, son, works on farm, born Virginia.

Several searches of death records for Princess Anne County Virginia have been done and no death record has been found.”

I do not find Mary after the 1880 census, she is not living with any of her children on the 1900 census, that said, I have not found all of her children on that census.

2.) I have not scanned my research files, and sorry, Randy, I am not going 1000 miles home to do so. I know you will forgive me. Even though I did bring a number of genealogy files and cemetery files with me, the Dews file was not one of them. (Bringing files with you while you travel is very hard, and is one of reasons I have a long term project of scanning and committing all documents and photos to digital format, then I can take my files with me.)

3.) Online or offline resources?? Try locating Mary’s children again on the 1900 census. My long term to do list on this family is to make a personal visit to the Princess Anne County Virginia courthouse to view deeds, estates and other records that have not been filmed and therefore are not available at the Library of Virginia or via the Mormon FHC. A review of any city directories might not be a bad idea either, sometimes a revisit to a source will provide results missed the first or second or third time around.

Think I will start with the census searching. Thanks Randy, we can always count on you to get us jumpstarted in our research and get us thinking about it in a fresh light.

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2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Naval Aviation Museum

Yesterday, we started out to visit Orange Beach Alabama, and after some driving around, stopping for one cemetery tucked away on a back road (just cause I saw it and wanted to stop), and stopping for lunch, we ended up in Pensacola Florida.  With no real plan, we decided on a whim, to head to the National Museum of Naval Aviation at the Pensacola Naval Base.

After clearing the security booth and getting some directions, we spent several enjoyable hours wandering around the museum.  We did not take a lot of time to seriously study the many fine fine displays, but, just absorbed and enjoyed.  Took many photos of planes, and a few helicopters.  Sometimes it is just nice to just wander and not work at it too hard. 

Got to see a few Blue Angel airplanes hanging.  OKKK, since Man was a Navy dude, I probably am a bit prejudiced, but, aren't they beautiful??

I kinda liked this photo:

After our pleasant visit at the museum, we drove over to the site of the Pensacola Lighthouse, oldest lighthouse site on the Gulf Coast.  They only have tours on Saturdays and on special Wednesdays so, I took my photo and we headed back to Tana.

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I got to Florida, by Keakyfht

Man and Carol took me to Florida today, Pensacola to be exact.  They went to the National Museum of Naval Aviation.  Carol said she had a grand time looking at all the planes, seeing that her parents flew and rumor is, she did a bit of student pilot stuff too.  I did not get to go into the Museum, but Carol did take my photo outside.  She said one of her sons would be interested in part of this photo, OKKKK, whatever. 

Anyway, there I am hanging out on a HUGE anchor!  Anchors aweigh!

2009-10 Winter Tana Tour, Fort Morgan Alabama

Yesterday Man and I drove out to Fort Morgan, where I took the photos of the Great Blue Heron and the Blue Angels.  We toured the museum and the fort.  Fort Morgan is steeped in history, specifically Civil War History.  Here is a link to a Wikipedia article about Fort Morgan.

I took LOTS of photos, but, of course, how could you not, all that great architecture and interesting photo ops.  I have uploaded 20 of my favorites here, you can do a slide show or look at one photo at a time.  I added some limited captions/comments.

We saw oil rigs!  LOTS of oil rigs.  You know, you read about them in the paper, you hear about them on the news, but, I had NO idea how close they were to land, and how MANY of them there were.  This photo was taken down near Fort Morgan.

We enjoy driving around when we are in a new area, taking it all in, learning, observing, filling up on the atmosphere (as well as the local food!).  Ida paid a visit here, it hit hard in Mobile Bay.  A campground, that is on Mobile Bay, lost it's fishing pier.  The manager of the campground made a remark that they had been through several hurricanes, and tropical storm Ida took out their pier.

We drove along the Gulf side, looking at the houses, the beach, and a few more oil wells. We got a close up look at the sand Ida blew around.  This close up shot shows piles of sand behind the house and the parking areas under the house plowed out.  They plow sand, we are used to seeing snow plowed like this.

I'll leave you today with one more photo, it is not really a "Fence", but, I loved the shadows, the angles. When I saw it, I immediately thought, Reflections From the Fence.

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