Gardening Jokes, Or Not.

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Yesterday's gardening 'joke on Carol' story.  As told on social media, yesterday.

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The pansies have been coming in and out of the house depending on the "freeze warnings".  They have been in for like 2 or 3 days this time.

This morning I look at them and find them pretty much covered in aphids, IN MY HOUSE!  I am not a happy gardener.  NOT.  ONE.  BIT.  HAPPY.

Pansies make a speedy and immediate exit to the deck.  A few hours later I go out and give them a good spray with the hose, to wash the aphids off.  I'll just keep having to do that.

SOOOOOO, after I scrub the table surface off with some disinfectant wipes (pansies were ON the table, not on the floor) - - - - 

I am watering a few other plants and moving them around on the table.

So, I pick up a plant (it has long droopy stems/leaves) to move it, I unearth (yes, I went there, live with it) ON MY TABLE - -  

A tree frog!!  Who is well over 1 inch long, so, this is no baby frog, eh??

Did you know that tree frogs chirp?  Or chatter?  Well, they make some song thingy. We have been hearing chirping for a couple of days, quite loud, LOUD.

You know, now we know why that chirping was so loud.  That buggar was NOT on the deck door to the front room, he was IN MY KITCHEN for the last couple of days.

It's been a day.  Man scooped up our froggie friend and put him outside on the pansie.  They belong together.

This is a photo from spring 2021.  That little buggar may very well be the exact same one we tossed out yesterday.  He was sitting on a plant I had outside, brought in for a cold night or two.  I recognize the kitchen table surface.  Or, this is a cousin of the one we found yesterday.  Persistent isn't it??

Ya, joke is on Carol.

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1906, The Quake and the Gehrke/Braun Clan

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Written for my family history, published 1997, "The Gehrkes, Descendants of Karl and Charlotte Gehrke, Emmigrants from Germany 1888."

Because the Gehrke clan was living on the Oakland side of the bay, I researched the quake and the aftermath looking for the experiences of those living in Oakland, vs those living in San Francisco. I included this short summary in my book:

 "On April 18, 1906 at 5:15 A.M. San Francisco and surrounding area experienced what is commonly known as the “Great Earthquake”.  The shock of the quake was felt over an area of about 375,000 square miles, destruction was found over 400 miles south and ran 25 to 30 miles on either side of the fault.   The quake produced 135 after shocks on April 18th and 22 more on the 19th.  What the quakes did not destroy in San Francisco, fire did.  The “Great Fire” burned for four days.  The death toll has been set from hundreds to current theories that maybe as many as 3000 died."

"In 1906 there was no bridge between San Francisco and Oakland/Berkeley.  Travel between the two locations was done by ferry.  Ferries ran frequently, people lived in Oakland and worked in San Francisco."

"The damage in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley was relatively light (if one considers property damage in excess of $2,500,000.00 light) when compared to the tragedy in San Francisco.  Frank Aleomon Leach, former newspaper reporter, at the time of the quake was the superintendent for the United States Mint in San Francisco, and lived in Oakland.  He wrote an article, “Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906", which compiler found on the Internet.  He tells of buildings dancing lively jigs during the quake, moving as much as a foot up and down.  He also tells of the destruction of Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda and his descriptions are the best compiler found."

“Nearly every brick building in town suffered a loss of fire walls, while three of four old buildings were so badly injured that they were subsequently removed......There was not a building in Oakland, Alameda, or Berkeley, that I heard of, that was not shorn of its chimney tops.”

"Fire was a threat to Oakland and Berkeley as it had been to San Francisco, however, only a few alarms for fires went off.  Oakland was lucky, the damage was such that they were able to repair their water mains within hours of the quake."

"The death toll in Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda was very low, one of the worst disasters in Oakland was at the Empire Theater where the walls collapsed and five people were killed.  Many were injured in Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, but not many died."

"Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda became the relief center for over 270,000 people from San Francisco.  Oakland before the quake had a population of less than 100,000.  Committees were organized to meet the refugees at the docks and trains offering hot coffee and something to eat.   The refugees were then taken to places to sleep.  Shelter camps and hospital camps were organized.  It is said that two weeks after the disaster, that every one of the homeless had been cared for."

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Karl and Charlotte (Gehrke) and all of their children, except Hedwig arrived in Alameda in late 1904.  Their daughter, Hedwig, with her husband August (Braun) arrived sometime in 1906, and returned to Hawaii in 1908.  Karl and Charlotte lived on the Oakland side of the San Francisco Bay until they moved to Michigan about 1911.  One can only imagine their experiences and their memories of this historical event.  

In my research of this family and sharing of family stories, traditions, some true and some stretching the truth, never once did any of the descendants mention the 1906 earthquake.  In hindsight, that strikes me as somewhat odd.

* Sources include articles found on the Internet through the site maintained by the Museum of the City of San Francisco.  Research done in Summer 1997.

** Links, URL's, for the most part will not be included henceforth on my posts, (this post is one of the few exceptions) as so many of them change and then I have to come back and try to re-discover and relink.  Frankly folks, I have no desire to spend my limited time here on this side of the sod with those kinds of do overs.  As researchers, or just members of the internet community, sites such as Find A Grave are easy to find, some are free to use and with the information I am sharing with you, hopefully, you can duplicate the research/findings. That said, I have seen memorials at Find A Grave be removed.  If you have questions, I suggest you leave a nice comment for me. OR find the method I have outlined on my blog for contacting me.

***As of today, April 2023, a current site with tons of history, including some incredible photos is A tour of the Great Quake of 1906 by Curbed San Francisco.  

**** From Internet Archives, it is possible this link will disappear due to litigation which puts this source in muddy waters.  I have included the link.  I also downloaded the PDF file of this work for my future reading.  The portion about the 1906 earthquake starts on page 313 of this work.

Recollections of a newspaperman; a record of life and events in California

by Leach, Frank Aleamon, 1846-

Publication date 1917

Topics Frontier and pioneer life, Women, Urbanization, Real estate development, Law and politics, Business

Publisher San Francisco, S. Levinson

Collection americana

Digitizing sponsor Google

Book from the collections of unknown library

Language English

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Spring has sprung - -

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Spring has sprung, let me count the ways. I’ll fall (ooopseie there, unintended play on words)

As I was saying.  I’ll fall short.  Let me see what I can detail/remember. 

The boat ramps are in at the state park. 

The turtles are sunning in the pond on the floating trees that fell during the ice storm. Lots of turtles. Small ones, medium sized ones and one really large one, it was the size of a large dinner plate. Or larger. Did I say, LOTS of turtles?  I counted well over 10 in our pond. (Our pond is little more than a divot in the ground, only a few feet deep at the fullest, and about 130 foot across at the fullest. It dries up by summer or fall, depending on the rain and heat.) Back in the swampy area that abuts our property line I stopped guesstimating at well over 20 turtles.  It is hard for me to get close enough to do a good count, so 20 could very well be an undercount. 

My star magnolias did quite well during the ice storm, just a few branches were snapped off.  My pink star has been such a delightful bright pink, the white, has also been stunning.

The peepers are singing at almost deafening volumes. I discovered the other day we have some wood frogs out there somewhere.  

The winter wheat or hay or whatever the local farmers have planted is growing, average height is 4 inches. 

The same farmers are beginning to plow their fields.  Acres and acres of plowed fields.  I’m unclear if those fields were planted, I’ll try to remember to look at them in a couple of weeks. 



The flyovers by sand hill cranes are loud and delightful, I will never tire of that unique call.

The local nursery outlets, the independent ones, have put out the pansies. And of course the nurseries that sell flowering shrubs are quite colorful right now.  

The bright cheery forsythia are close to peek performance and delight as you happen along and find them planted here and there. Waiving their cheers of "Hello spring". Ditto on the daffodils. Clumps here and there, some identifying the foundations of long gone homes. 

Our neighborhood roads have been graded, even had some fresh gravel spread in the roughest areas. Bye bye holes. At least until the next rain. However, those dust clouds, right now, epic! Rising many feet in the air and spreading out well over 1/8th of a mile.  (Reminds me of rural Iowa. Now they have dust clouds - which remind me of mini tornadoes that can be seen miles away on a clear windless summer day.) Speaking of rain, may it address this dust issue?  

Farm equipment, those huge lumbering hunks, are once again on the highways, slowing down the speedsters. I even saw one in town, rumbling down the main drag. May have been a first for me, don’t recall seeing them in town before.  

The building of several housing subdivisions has picked up speed since the good weather has arrived. 

The fiber companies are everywhere. Digging, installing, pulling fiber. Connecting us. Flags marking other underground wiring are abundant, in celebration of Joe it seems. 

This spring we are seeing continued debris clearing from the 50 year ice storm, weeks of cleaning and still weeks to go.  I even see the occasional power lines that have many trees laying on them. It has been about 7 weeks since the storm, every time the wind blows we find more debris to pick up.  I figure this fun will continue for months.  Getting in our steps, eh?

We may see goslings soon. Seems that April 25 was the earliest I remember seeing them.  

The rabbits or other creature have already devoured my small crocus. In this photo they had just chewed on the leaves, two days later, nothing was left to find, gone, poof, or rather, dinner for some creature.

The wild violets are just beginning to bloom around the yard. Because they are wild, and move where they wish, they surprise me each spring, “here we are Carol”, “here”.  

Just some of the signs of spring around here.

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Eunice (Darden) Meader Meader - - An Update

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Yes, the research continued.  See my last post about Eunice.

The Cliff Notes version is - - found her second hubby's Find A Grave memorial (Memorial # 24272057).  A kind Find a Grave volunteer had posted a photo of the monument and an obituary in August of 2022.

I contacted that nice volunteer. Explained my issues.  Asked for assistance, and noted, twice, that I understood if he could not assist.

I sent him the information about that lousy death index.  I ended with,  "I am grasping at straws and you are today's straw???  LOL."

A few hours later I received a response,  "You grasped out at the right straw."  

He looked up that lousy death index over at Ancestry dot com. He looked at it, called the town of Hingham and obtained the death date in full and the cemetery data.  He then created a memorial for Eunice.  It is here: Memorial # 252264089

Thank you to a very nice volunteer.  I updated Eunice's data on my data base.  Still would not mind finding an obituary, eh?

* See my disclaimer page, I pay full admission price to Ancestry dot com.

** Links, URL's, for the most part will not be included henceforth on my posts, as so many of them change and then I have to come back and try to re-discover and relink.  Frankly folks, I have no desire to spend my limited time here on this side of the sod with those kinds of do overs.  As researchers, or just members of the internet community, sites such as Find A Grave are easy to find, some are free to use and with the information I am sharing with you, hopefully, you can duplicate the research/findings. That said, I have seen memorials at Find A Grave be removed.  If you have questions, I suggest you leave a nice comment for me. OR find the method I have outlined on my blog for contacting me.

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Frustration During the Search for Eunice Darden, Daughter of John Robert Darden and his Wife Martha J. White.

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I've been searching for peeps. As I always am.  In review of my data base transfer from Legacy to Reunion I am finding many errors, or things I am fixing to my own personal preferences.  Last night I was "adjusting" John Robert Darden and his family.  Found I had next to nothing on his daughter Eunice.  

Search commenced.  I found birth data, some good census hits.  Some very interesting other records, ships manifests (from Greece I believe).  TWO marriages.  Hubby # 1 dies rather young.  Marriage to # 2 is in Ontario?  That was a surprise for sure.

No death record, no obituary, no social security death records, no Find A Grave, other researchers indicate a 1966 or 1969 death. 

 

Kinda a normal research evening.

The odd thing - - both hubbies have the same last name and I do not see any relationship between the two dudes.  Thanks for that special gift. Both hubbies have Find A Grave memorial, and neither mention you.

At that point, I called it a night.  But, this morning, the snooping continued and after a bit, backing into a data base at Ancestry dot com, I find:

Eunice Meader

in the Massachusetts, U.S., Death Index, 1901-1980

Name Eunice Meader

Death Date 1991

Death Place Darden, Massachusetts, USA

Volume Number 39

Page number 227

Index Volume Number 142/143

Reference Number F63.M363 v.142/143

SOOOOO, the death date is NOT correct, if you look at the image and follow the columns down.  That death year of "1991" is actually her age.  Her age is reported at 91. Which is only about 4 years off by my figures. If you get in the correct column you will find the year of the death is reported/input as 1967.

The death place is not DARDEN.  That is her freaking maiden name.  Again, follow the columns. 

I followed the columns.  Then, I downloaded the image and I edited out the names above and below hers, maybe I just need more coffee to agree with this indexing muss. 

Whatchathink??

I have seen some weirdo indexing in my years.  All researchers have.  This one is top notch messy.

Lastly, I went back to Ancestry dot com and reviewed the description of the data base:

"About Massachusetts, U.S., Death Index, 1901-1980

This database contains an index to Massachusetts death records for the years 1901-1980. Entries will typically include a name, town, birth year, and a certificate number or a volume and page number for the original record.

The index for this database was generated using text recognition software."

This time the text recognition software had issues, eh??

Lessons I am reminded of.  Never give up.  Go back (even years later) and try again.  Look at the image, follow the lines and the columns carefully.  Review the background info on the data base, which frankly, we tend to skip over.  

* See my disclaimer page, I pay full admission price to Ancestry dot com.

** I did do the edit to report issues with the indexing on her entry.  Actually, I made 3 edits, one for the name, one for the place and one for the year of death.

*** From some snooping it seems the cost of a death certificate from Massachusetts is a bit north of $30.00.  As Eunice lives on a very thin branch of my tree I won't be ordering at this time.  I could get for about $20.00 in person.  LOL. Not likely.  Or, I could just view the certificate, also not likely at this time.  So, it becomes a "wish list" item and I move onward in the research.

**** Still no social security death index using the year 1967, also, no obituary or Find A Grave memorial.

***** After I scheduled this for publication I went back to close tabs on the computer browser.  And, discovered that my corrections have already been noted?  I am shocked as I have never seen that before.  Very happy too.

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