March 17, 2013
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This past week was my spring break, and it was just as busy
as if I was in school. Tuesday I
went with a friend to the temple.
It was nice, and I was so glad to be there! Wednesday I subbed for a great 6th grade math
teacher. The kids were so
good! The best part of the day was
that it was an early release day (most Wednesdays in that district, the
students get out about an hour early so the teachers can have staff meetings
and whatever else they do) and the teacher had lat period plan, so I got to
leave early. Thursday I went
hiking with a friend. We went to
one of my favorite places to hike, but it was so hot, it almost wasn’t
enjoyable.
I was hoping that the
wildflowers would be out, but there were only a few. It was nice to get out and get some exercise. (There is a small trickle of water
coming down… look closely for it) After
hiking, I ran a few errands, including going to the commissary. Friday, I subbed again, and it was a
half-day. Yay! When I was done, I went to Nathan’s
track meet and watched him run a mile, then made a couple other stops before
coming home. Yesterday, I planted
a bougainvillea plant (the picture shows what the flowers look like), a peach
tree, and a couple of herbs.
It
was nice to be outside for awhile.
I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to plant some vegetables in the
horse trough garden that I made last year. I want to, but something eats the plants before they can
really start growing. Last
year, I bought a lot of plants before the something stopped eating the
plants. Then, we really didn’t get
that much produce from the plants, so I’m not sure that garden was worth the
money and time. I guess that I
need to decide very soon.
Nathan had a 2-day track meet on Thursday and Friday. It was a big invitational held at the
University of Arizona track stadium.
Thursday, he ran the 800 m; he hasn’t run that since he was a sophomore. He had a personal best. Friday, he ran the 1600 m and 3200m and
he had personal bests in both those races. That’s Nathan jumping, warming up before the 1600m. Nathan now has spring break for the
next 2 weeks. He’ll be busy; he
has a lot to get done in the next 2 weeks, and he still has track practice
everyday.
Jim was able to find new information about his Toombs
ancestors this week. His 3rd great
grandfather, Jesse Toombs was born just 35 miles from where Jim is currently
working in upstate New York. This week Jim went to the Oswego County
Courthouse to see if he could find any vital records for the Toombs
family. He learned that the state of New York didn’t begin recording
births, deaths and marriages until 1883. Since Jesse Toombs was born in
1818 and was married in 1840, records for him would only be found in churches and
not at the courthouse. It seems that the state has since collected those
earlier records from the churches and may be available through a state
archive. Jim plans to pursue that this coming week. However, he was
able to find out the maiden name of Jesse Toombs’ wife Ruth. She was a
member of the Burke family that moved from Vermont to New York in the early
1800’s. Also, Jim found the grave sites for Ruth’s mother and father,
Anson Frary and Irena (Burke) Frary. Like the Toombs’, the Frary family moved
from Massachusetts to upstate New York in the early 1800’s.
Have a great week!
Meriden
