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Sunday doings

May 30th, 2016 at 03:04 pm

Yesterday was a super warm and muggy day following on the heels of same the day before. However, there was a small breeze in the afternoon and I found it so comfortable in the shade of my new side patio that I brought the book club book out and did something I rarely do during the daytime, with a small bowl of green grapes and the rhododendrons above me in bloom.



I also bought a few more pots for the Stairway to Heaven and filled them with impatiens, which will soon be overflowing for the resident hummingbird population.

I also did some yard work, weeding, and tidying up yesterday and I see that the onions I planted a week or so ago are sending up thin shoots.

I also had fun with my new toy, a Black & Decker blower, very lightweight to carry, that makes cleaning off all the leaves/spent flowers that fall onto the driveway from overhanging shrubs a BREEZE to clean up.

This particular chore would probably take me at least a half hour to sweep up the old-fashioned way; now it's literally a 5-minute job.

On Friday evening I drove over to friend R.'s condo and we hung out and talked with his dog. I tried to help him print out some stuff from Aviation Week which he wants to use for the helicopter museum he's been involved with for years. I had more luck when I tried to do it at home. On the way home from his place around 8 p.m. I came upon a massive snapping turtle lumbering across the road. The females risk life and limb to cross roads at this time of year to lay their eggs. I pulled over to the side of the road to ensure no one hit it, but the other drivers seemed very considerate and willing to wait, so I got back in the car. What I SHOULD have done is snap a photo but forgot I had the camera with me.

I also spent more time on the family tree research and this time discovered 2 sisters of my paternal great grandfather on my grandmother's side.

Also found more addresses I can check out in person, where my maternal great grandfather lived in Garfield, NJ, for instance. Occupations like "wire tester," "caster" and "mill worker" abound, reflecting the industrial revolution of their time.

I also now have the maiden name of my great great grandmother, another Irish name, as well as the name of my great great grandfather. They all appeared to have remained in one county of Northern Ireland until they emigrated to the US, which makes it easy to spot other connections to the tree.

The June meeting of my town's genealogy club, the final meeting of the season, is, with perfect timing, to focus on how to use the "new" ancestry.com. Perfect!! I have fumbled my way around with it but I am sure there will be a thing or two I can learn from this meeting, so I can't wait!

I've continued to implement the recommendations of the T. Rowe Price CFP. It really has been fine-tuning, nothing major. I somewhat diversified my small cap allocation to now be 9% in both small and mid cap stock. I also diversified my largely investment grade bond allocation to include a small, 3% allocation to high yield and 6% to international bonds. I still have 21% of my total bond allocation in investment grade bonds.

My short-term/cash allocation remains at 10% while I got rid of the REIT (a sector fund) and ratcheted up my international stock allocation from 15% to 18%.

4 Responses to “Sunday doings”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    1464619359

    Both of my grandparents on my father's side came to this country from Ireland!

  2. CB in the City Says:
    1464621891

    Family research is always surprising! My parents told me they were both "mutts" -- a blend of nationalities, but it turned out both of them were overwhelmingly English, with a just a few lines of Dutch, German and Irish. Almost all of my bloodlines go back to the very early days of the US, so my parents really didn't have any immigration stories or any sense of their backgrounds.

  3. snafu Says:
    1464622656

    The CFP's here seem to be in a chorus touting India with the next 'Miracle Growth' injection for the decade given the confluence their demographics and educated population. The downside with be currency evaluation.

    Are Trumphites as verdant as the talking heads postulate?

  4. rob62521 Says:
    1464634995

    Learning family history is fascinating. A few years ago when we were going on a bus trip to NY and knew we would go on Ellis Island, I spent a lot of time trying to find the ship my dad's family came on and the Ellis Island site has a lot of stuff for research. I learned that my family didn't go through Ellis Island, but went through Boston Harbor. Not sure why, but that is a mystery I'd like to solve at some point.

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