- I finished sorting through the bags today. Oh, I still have to score all the samples, but that's less messy, and I can do it in my office if I want - so I have the music over my computer to at least listen to. And I need to do the pH tests (I think I'll do that tomorrow; it's fairly simple to do) and set up to do the carbon content tests.
The challenge there is I only have 9 of the crucibles in my current lab space. If I had 12, I could do an entire site's samples all at once and that would be easier. If I can sneak into my "real" lab (if the construction guys aren't there), I think I have at least 3 more, and then I could do it the easy way.
I'm going to go in tomorrow. I have to think about finishing up the stuff for Sunday (I have a prayer to prepare - though I might leave that until Saturday, given how fast and horribly the world can change*, and a benediction to find) and I have to start on the sermon for the week following. I have some ideas, I just have to sit down and write.
(*last week of course we were all hit by the flooding in Texas; today I was blindsided by some horrible news about (allegedly, but it was CBS news so maybe trustworthy) the folks in detention in Florida are being treated and I am just heartbroken at the world)
* And yes, I wondered: what happens when your heart finally breaks irreparably? Mine's been broken so many times these past six years (starting with July 27, 2019, but then continuing on including the pandemic, and all the hundred horrible news stories that happened, and also to a lesser extent, all the mess and stress of last semester teaching "in exile" while my building was worked on).
I need to find something really good. Something to compensate a little for everything. But I don't know what.
* Someone mentioned on Bluesky about Memorial Day and about how very few people any more do the tradition of going out and decorating veterans' graves (and family graves - that was done in my family). It used to be called Decoration Day some places; I know some of my Michigan relatives, the older ones, called it that. And they did go to the cemetery and clean the graves and the headstones and sometimes either plant flowers or put decorations down. And yeah, that's a tradition being lost because of how the world has changed. I don't live anywhere remotely near any of the places my ancestors are buried. (I've seen my maternal grandparents' graves, but I think that's it.)
And I got to thinking about the Civil War veteran in my family I know the most about - my great-great-grandfather Linus. (I guess he was actually Dexter Linus, but everyone called him Linus). Born in Massachusetts, moved to Wisconsin after marriage, signed up for the Wisconsin Regiment in February 1865, stayed in until he was discharged in November of that year, when I presume the Regiment was dissolved, the war being over.
There are records of all the men in it . He was in Company K.
And I found his obituary - from 1912 - online. I guess my grandmother could have known him, if where she lived and where he lived were close enough, or if the families got together. She was born in 1897, best I remember.
I have a photo of him somewhere, probably the oldest photo of any relative I had. (I think there were people in my mom's side of the family who were really into photography; I have lots of photos ranging from like 1880 to the early 1940s)
* I found out there is a small historical museum (that also apparently has fossils on display) in Sherman and I might take my "day off" this week on Thursday and go see it (they are only open Wednesday through Saturday, I suspect Saturday will be the busy day, and anyway, tomorrow night I have Board Meeting so I better stay in town.).
I do wish there were more things like that nearby. Dallas and Fort Worth have museums, but I am not comfortable driving there (heavy traffic and aggressive drivers). I need to hunt around and see if I can find anything else within maybe an hour's drive of me for a few more days this summer.
Town really does feel small right now. It feels a lot smaller to me than it did before the pandemic and it has taken me a while to feel comfortable being out and about again - after not going to Sherman for essentially a year, it was hard to feel comfortable driving "that far" (and over a bridge over a river; I don't like high bridges) again.
I dunno. It does, oddly, bring a little comfort to learn a few facts about an ancestor in this mad world.
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