No-news is good-news

I saw a city truck closing the parking lot at the trailhead to the wilderness area near our house. I drove up to see what the sign said on Sunday.



As the sun is setting tonight through the particulate matter that has been dispersed into the atmosphere.

Climbing Through The Family Tree

Mom needed some details on the Remington heritage, so yesterday I dug out the Remington genealogy information. Yellowed and fading like a diagrammed sentence on steroids was the list of generations of Remingtons in the United States.

I discovered some things that caught my attention. John Remington immigrated to America in 1637, very probably the fifth son of the Reverend Richard Remington, D.D., Parson of Lockington, in Yorkshire and Archdeacon of the East Riding, England. He became a "freeman" after two years. I did not recall what a freeman was, so I read on, and was disturbed to find out the authority of the Puritans after leaving England to avoid the same. [My selective recall of US history amuses me.]

Freeman – "Puritans set up in Massachusetts a 'religion dominated state even more authoritarian and even less tolerant of dissenters than the England from which they had fled. So to be a freeman – or citizen with a right to vote – a man had, first to be a member of a Puritan congregation. All colonists were required to take an oath of submission to the regime they had created and to attend church regularly.”

Benjamin Remington, 6th generation. from whom I am a descendant, lived in Jamestown. I do not know if there was only one Jamestown at the time. However, he was a Captain in the Revolutionary War and had two homes burned by the British.

Next, I discovered that one of the distant relatives had a grandson name was Richard Henry Dana. He wrote the book, "Two Years Before the Mast," and Dana Point is named for him.

I finally narrowed down our distant link to the Western artist, Frederick Remington. John Remington, the first generation in the USA had kids, including another John Remington and Thomas Remington. I am 13th generation through brother John. Frederick Remington is 9th generation through Thomas. Not as direct a link as I originally thought.

The Remington Arms Company (rifles) founder is also in the ancestral lines. Not close enough for inheritance, and with my position on guns -- that is probably a good thing. I would feel compromised.

Glen and I talked about the Davis family coming to the USA about the same time. It is interesting to connect to the past and think of real lives not just dates and events within history.

This is interesting to me as a baseball fan, and as a travel article writer.

At Dinner tonight in St. Louis, MO [corrected]

Yesterday I drove to and from Bodie, the queen of all ghost towns. Located around 8,000 feet in elevation north of Mono Lake, it is not a quick drive from any civilized point of departure. I took a buncha pictures, and experimenting, I shot most of them through my polarized sunglass lense, and they came out really spooky-like!



They're going to let me write an article about it for the newspaper, and post a photo slide-show on the Daily Titan Web site, which is fun.

Google's banners draw fire.

Afternoon at the dog park

Sam and Ash got to go to the dog park in Fullerton the other day. This is them in the back seat of the Camry coming home afterward. Don't the look happy?

Cute Google Art Again

Simple pleasures for simple minds? The Google logo had some additional art again today -- celebrating Sputnik's 50th anniversary. I was 2 years and 3 months old. My dad took a photo of my brother and I holding the newspaper with the Sputnik headline on it. I wonder where that photo is? I also heard over and over about the kick in the pants that event was to American education during my teacher training. Happy anniversary, Sput!

[On another topic -- Go CUBS!! Go RED SOX!! Go INDIANS!!]

Take a sample citizenship test.

Speaking of citizenship, or lack thereof...

Happy Birthday Rob and Google!

Google's 9th Birthday!

I "Googled" today and tonight and noticed some creative art on the logo. I clicked on the logo to get a better look -- it's the "g" in Google made into a pinata with candy falling out. It's Google's 9th birthday. Does that mean Rob and Google share the day? I get a kick out of Google when they do the little creative thing.