Click on one of the categories below to see news, photos or information on family history. I'm constantly adding more of my family history files to the site. Right now I have my research on the Scott family posted, with a complete genealogy coming soon.
Here are some photos from the last two months. You can see the complete album here.
A children's theater came to town a month or so ago. It was an interesting setup: they ran auditions at the beginning of the week, rehearsed all week and performed on Friday and Saturday. Nadine played one of the Merry Band in a production of Robin Hood (she's the left-most in the back row).
I missed the Easter egg decorating but apparently the kids had fun. We tried Nadine's method of blowing out the eggs first so you don't get that horrible boiled egg smell permeating through the house.
The Easter egg hunt at the park was also a success.
For Spring Break, we went to Seattle to visit Nathan and Monica and some friends we met while living in Kansas.
Monica suggested we visit the Fremont Bridge Troll, a concrete sculpture under a bridge. The troll is gripping a VW Bug in its hand.
Jeremiah and Nathan got along really well. Jeremiah was begging for Nathan to play with him every minute of the day.
Kayla and the kids went up the Space Needle while Madeleine and I strolled around the grounds.
The boys were so happy to play with their friends. Our friends have one boy and four girls, and I think he was glad to have Hyrum come visit.
On the way out of town we stopped by the LDS Temple and had a walk around the grounds.
The boys were glad to be home. A couple of days ago we had the neighbor kids over to play in the sandbox. The weather has finally warmed up and Spring is on its way!
We spent a long weekend in Seattle. On Friday it snowed all day, and (surprisingly for this time of year) the snow stuck to the ground overnight. Saturday we had a morning of decent weather, then heavy rain. The last few days were much better, cool with sunshine.
We stayed with some friends in Lynnwood and I went on several bike rides. We did the obligatory spring break visits: Space Needle, Science Center, Pike Place. We also visited some interesting landmarks, including Gasworks Park and the Fremont Bridge Troll. This was Nadine's first trip to a city since she first landed in New York last August, so it was a big deal. Lots of shopping! I got zero homework done, and felt good about it. The kids had a great time playing with friends and visiting Uncle Nathan and Aunt Monica.
One of my tasks while in the big city was to buy a bicycle for my trip to Denmark this July. I have a conference to attend for my MBA program, and the week before the conference I plan to cycle and camp in one of the world's most bicycle-friendly countries. I have a solid road bike, but wanted to get something more appropriate to touring and the possibility of the occasional unpaved road. The airlines, in an attempt to shore up revenues under rising fuel prices, have jacked up the fees to transport bicycles (Northwest charges $150 each way). I worked out the math and came up with three options: buy a bicycle and transport it, rent a bike in Denmark, or get a folding bicycle that would fit in a suitcase (and thus avoid airline fees).
I went with option #3, which at first blush seems a little strange. I wasn't familiar with folding bikes at all and thought they were something of a gimmick. However, renting and shipping were both unappealing because I am basically throwing that money away, when with a folder I have something to keep at the end of the trip. I did my research and found several options that are appropriate for touring and that would still fit in airline-approved luggage.
There are just a handful of companies that build decent folding bikes for touring, in descending order of quality and price: Moulton, Bike Friday, Birdy, and Dahon. Since this is my first folding bike I had no intention of plunking down $3,000 on a Moulton. I opted for a mass-market Dahon MU P8 which cost about $650 with racks and fenders.
My wife laughed when she first saw a photo of the bike, but after checking them out at a Seattle bike shop she agreed it would work well. Despite the 20" wheels, the bike has a great feel. Best of all, it's a simple and straightforward machine that you can take anywhere. I ordered from a shop in New York and should be able to take it on its first spin sometime next week.
We had my mom, sister and brother up for Easter this year. It was beautiful and sunny the day before, but Easter was cold with a mixture of snow and rain all day. Below is some video footage of the family.
The girls are out of town this weekend, so I spent the day with my two sons. It turned into a beautiful spring day with huge white clouds and sunshine reflecting on the snowy mountains. We turned a corner of our patio into a sandbox using some landscape blocks left over from our wall project. The truck, which has been buried under a layer of snow for the entire winter, took a while to start (I forgot to unhook the battery last fall). We finally got going this afternoon and drove to a forest road where a huge sand bank is exposed. I shoveled about a square yard of north Idaho sand for our new sandbox while the kids ran around. It was really a great find... clean, natural sand with absolutely nothing intermixed. When we got everything put together the boys spent an hour digging and arguing about who owned which part of the sandbox. All in all, a success!
We're experiencing a record year for snow in north Idaho. Total snowfall has been more than 100 inches, and we've had about 2 feet on the ground for quite a while now. Every parking lot is edged with mountains of plowed snow and walkways are beginning to look more and more like trenches every day. Of course this means we've had excellent sledding and skiing all winter. Our neighbors graciously allow us to tramp up their hill and sled down into our back yard, and it is a perfect sized hill for easily-tired children.
After a couple of months of winter I usually start to cook up some new ideas for the spring. One of these is raising rabbits. Ever since I bought my Mad Bomber rabbit-fur hat, I have been hankering after a herd that I could call my own. Tonight I am picking up two female rabbits, one a grey lop (short-hair) and one a white Angora (long-hair). The grey lop will, if my plans work out, serve as the maitron of a long line of rabbits raised for their pelts. The Angora's offspring will be luckier, since you just shear the wool (I'm hoping to make some felt products).
Occasionally I receive letters or e-mails from people who read my family history research online and are somehow related. A few weeks ago we got a letter from a woman in California who is related to John Scott, my third great grandfather. She shared an online source where one of John Scott's wives writes of their crossing the plains.
The original source is:
Scott, Mary Pugh, ["Life Story of Mary Pugh Scott,"], in Carol Cornwall Madsen, Journey to Zion: Voices from the Mormon Trail [1997], 399-402.
It's interesting to read this and think of the lives these people lived, having been transplanted from green England to the deserts of western North America, all for their religious beliefs. Life must have been especially demanding of Mary, who was among the first openly acknowledged plural wives after polygamy became publicly known in Nauvoo.
Here is Mary's story.
"We went into Winter Quarters, now called Florence. John was called on a special mission to stay one more year and help prepare all for the trip. Finally May 30 1848 John Scott and Family started in Heber C. Kimballs Co. John was Captain over 10 wagons His company included 662 People- 266 wagons—150 loose cattle—25 Mules—737 Oxen—57 horses—299 chickens—96 pigs—52 dogs—17 cats—3 hives of bees—3 doves—1 squirrel
Rules of a camp: Each had a Captain, A captain of the Guard, a chapl[a]in and clerk.
All names were enrolled.
1. Noise and confusion will not be allowed after 8 p.m.
2. Camp will be called by trumpet for Prayer meeting morning and night.
3. Arise at 4:30 a.m. Assembly for prayers 5:30 a.m.
4. Card playing will not be allowed.
5. Dogs must be tied up at night.
6. Profane language will not be tolerated.
7. Each man will help driving the cattle
8. Rate of travel for Oxen 3 miles an hour. (The corral made by wagons will not be broken until all of the cattle have been yoked.)
John’s responsibility for ten wagons made it difficult at times to help his own Families. Elizabeth in one wagon had sons 4 [John William]—6 [Ephraim]—and 11 [Isaac], Daughters 8 [Louisa]—10 [Matilda] and a new baby [Elizabeth] too Mary had a son [Hyrum] 22 months old and Sarah 23 years old had a son [Joseph L.] 11 months old in her arms Yet here we two who have been raised in luxury, are bravely trying to drive a Mule Team across the plains, holding our Babies. We take turns driving. You can just imagine we three women climbing in and out over wagon wheels to cook on the camp fire and wash clothes.
We sleep in our Camp wagons or on the Ground along the swampy river bottoms. John helped a lot before leaving going among Non Mormons and asking for clothes, bedding and money for those who had every thing in the world taken from them. He also Converted three people to our Gospel. I am now 27 years old and trying hard to be a good wife. We cook in a camp kettle, it is an iron pot with three legs.
It had a heavy lid and could be set right on the beds of coals and biscuits corn bread or cake could be put in, then a shovel full of coals was put on top to bake them. Some who had no kettles cooked on hot rocks to do thier baking. Some of our meals were just broiled meat and bread. Other times all we had to eat was water gruel (a very thin mush)[.] One Wedding dinner on the plains consisted of fresh bread baked in a skillet, fresh butter and a piece of meat.
Milk and cream could be placed in a churn in the morning and by night you could have a pat of butter by the jolting wagon over rough trails. An English Emmigrant whose sense of smell had left him due to age, was one day hungryly out looking for food, found a strange animal and killed it. (it was furry and black and white) He skinned it and proudly brought it to camp. "a skunk" and to his amazement everyone fled as he approached and for some days he was an outcast.
Our daily exertions made hunger a constant companion. The quantity of food was limited and meals were usually scant. At other times fish was caught in streams and ducks, geese, turkeys and prairie chickens were shot. The men hunted for buffalo elk and deer and these added to our daily diet. Pig weeds, thistles and other greens were gathered at times and cooked to add variety. And some times if several [Buffalo] were shot the Saints woud stop over for a day or two and we cut the meat in strips.
This we dried for future meals. Some places an abundance of wild red and black currants and sometimes gooseberries were gratefully gleaned. Some of the Children while walking wore a bag and picked up buffalo chips and sticks to make fires for the evening meals. As soon as we camped everyone tried to share in the labors. Some carried water and gathered wood for fires. Big high sagebrush was used and in timber country we burned wood. But all was not desolation on the long journey.
We enjoyed the smell of the pretty wild roses. At some places beautiful wild flowers of all hues could be seen and we enjoyed the singing of the birds. Young girls tended weary babies until they could be fed and put to sleep[.] After prayers the camp retired for the night, with camp fires burning and the lights of lanterns in the wagons. The looing [lowing] of the cattle, bleating of the sheep mingled with the neighing of the horses in the corrals of wagons.
The howling of coyotes and wolves on distant hills and prairies mingled with the Half Hour Cry of the Faithful Guards, "All is well" "All is Well." Right.
There was always the dread of crossing dangerous streams and rivers. Yet many plucky women gathered up thier skirts and waded right through them. Some times large herds of Buffaloo crossed our path, so many that at times we had to wait one hour or two while they clumsily lumbered by. And there was always the danger of meeting Indians, some friendly and others hostile and dangerous and they almost always demanded some of our scant food supply. One day we nearly lost our lives.
One day due to a delay, our Family Wagons got separated from the main body of the Saints. Suddenly we were completely surrounded by a big band of wild Indains who enjoyed scalping people just for the fun of it. We sat terrified and motionless with fear praying silently that we would some way be spared a tragic end. Yelling and shouting wildly they rode around us. We shook with fear not daring to move or speak. They came closer and closer. Then they Gathered in a big group.
They held a big "Pow-Wow" minutes seemed like hours as we tried to keep our children quiet. They gestured and yelled louder and we grew more frightened as our fate seemed so hopeless. Again I breathed a prayer, Father I am so young, will I have to die here on the plains with my Family, now we are so near the end of our journey? Will I never see Zion after I have given my all for my religion? Then some of the Indians slid off their ponies and as they came nearer we saw a young white man.
He had been captured by them and forced to live with them—but he had recognized John Scott as a boy he had gone to school with in Canada. He begged and pleaded with the Indians to spare our lives and he finally persuaded them to go away. It was a miracle from God we always thought after, and today we owe all of our lives to that brave young man’s pleadings and to our kind Heavenly Father. Once during the journey the authorities gave John ten gallons of whiskey to pacify the Indians.
They were on the war path at that time. At last we near the end of the long, long journey, as we enter the Valley of the Mountains and look out over the vast land of Zion. I am dismayed by the very immensity of the view. The boundless Silence and I see miles of sage brush every where. Behind us now are the heart aches and many thousands of silent tears, that fell on the long unknown trail. I remember my dear home in England, of the flowers and trees and beautiful surroundings at that safe place.
And I am home sick for my Dear Mother and Father. But just as I have covered those endless hundreds of miles, so now I will begin work with renewed Faith, begin the task of building a good home in this new wilderness."
We had our first substantial and lasting snow on Tuesday. It's been cold all week so we still have nice powder on the ground, and the weather forecast is for another snow storm this weekend (which should get the ski resort open). Tuesday morning I woke up to 7 inches of snow and both our vehicles without snow tires. After a valiant attempt to keep my car on the road, I decided that driving without snow tires is suicidal, and worked from home. Lesson learned: get the snow tires on before Thanksgiving.
Two nights ago Kayla and I went out for some night skiing in our back yard and the woods behind our house. We both bought new sets of cross country skis at the end of last year's season, so this was the first time she got to try her new pair. The snow was perfect. To top off the night we went sledding down the hill a couple of times. I love winter in north Idaho!
Tomorrow is my last class session before Christmas break. We don't reconvene until the second week in January. I think I'm ready for a holiday. School has been very invigorating and very tiring as well. I'm hoping I can use some of my free time in December to come up with a topic for my thesis.
In the past Thanksgiving has been a time to see family and experience the typical flurry of holiday activity. This year, both sets of parents are out of town and we had a quiet meal at home in Bonners Ferry. It was very nice, especially in contrast to the busy and sometimes stressful events of the last few months.
We started the day off with a community football game at the park. Miraculously, no one was injured, and despite not having played football for about two years, I completed several passes (and was foiled once by an interception). Nadine played her first and probably last American football game, which she characterized as "boring". I had to agree with the assessment. American football is strongest as a game of strategy and fast, short bursts of activity. However, the constant stopping and starting, with most of the game spent standing around, gets a little tiresome. I still stand firmly behind the opinion that soccer is the noblest of sports, but that is mostly based on the fact that I am horrible at other popular athletic activities (read basketball, baseball and football). Soccer is suited to my physical style: lots of running requiring deep endurance, plus constant vigilance and foresight in terms of strategy. I like the fact that soccer is a fluid game in which offensive and defensive moves continue in a steady stream, with little letup in the action. In contrast, football does seem a bit dull.
This morning we took the family on a hike up to Myrtle Creek and the small dam that provides our town's water supply. It was about 18 degrees when we set out, probably the coldest morning we've seen this season. Everyone was bundled up, including Madeleine in her pink snowsuit. The boys and Uncle Matthew broke the ice in every puddle on the way to the dam, and had a good time seeing who would be the first to break the creek ice with a rock. Nadine has been making holiday wreaths and we spent some time collecting materials so she can sell some wreaths at the upcoming craft fair.
This evening we went downtown for the arrival of Santa Claus. He pulled up to the curb in a firetruck and all the kids lined up for a chance to meet the big man. I sang a few songs with our quintet (quartet tonight... one person couldn't make it). I had to take off my gloves to work the pitch pipe and turn pages, and after only four songs my fingers were numb. Luckily we went to the library afterward and warmed up. Our community choir performance is coming up, and Kayla and I have a duet in one of the songs. This is the first year she's been able to join the choir and it's been fun singing with her.
Tomorrow it's back to life as usual... I have homework to finish and lots of projects around the house. The holiday has been good while it lasted.
Here are some photos from this month. Jeremiah had his birthday and we've enjoyed lots of hiking as the weather has cooled and there's less to do in the garden. No snow yet... check back at Thanksgiving!
