Sunday, September 19, 2010

Bumper Crop of Apples

It's autumn here with cool nights and leaves falling from the trees but autumn isn't all about death and dying as some of my friends think. The apple trees are loaded with beautiful red, green and yellow apples, relatively worm free this year despite the fact we don't spray. The biggest, oldest apple tree bears pie apples, those not-too-juicy yellow apples that cook up in a pie without making it watery. Three younger trees bear eating apples, one jonagold, one winesap, and one whose type I can't recall. The seckel pear tree has an ample crop too despite it's age, close to 100 years. A cider press or root cellar would be useful right now but without those options for saving the bounty we'll eat what we can, make a few pies, and feed some to the horses.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Took Down the Genealogy Stuff

After years of having lots and lots of genealogy information about my family on a website, complete with photographs, I've taken most of it down. It's about privacy and safety. We've all heard the stories about identity theft and stalkers, and God only knows what other ways that "bad guys" can use our personal information. With surnames like Smith and Russell I don't concern myself too much with strict privacy but when you have a last name that is unique, shared by only a dozen or fewer people in the world, you (meaning me) should think twice about putting it out there and telling the world all you know about it. Sheesh! Why didn't I think about that years ago? What was it Woody Allen once said, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you?"
So, this is now my main blog, my sounding board. Genealogy is just one of my interests and I'm not giving it up, just not being so public about it.