Bluebonnet Country Genealogy

I spent most of yesterday tweeking the new self-hosted Bluebonnet Country Genealogy. One problem remained that I had to contact my hosting company over, but I got a message back from them this evening, and it was quickly remedied.

When I got home from work this evening, my daughter and granddaughter were close on my heals, and… I finally got my computer back about half an hour ago! My granddaughter got on her computer and my daughter grabbed mine, so I was about 1 laptop short again! Family time at my house, courtesy of DSL!

Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I can get back to research.

Or a new host, at least!

I am in the process of moving this Wordpress.com blog to a Wordpress.org blog at a hosted site, so please bear with me. The blog itself is moved and functioning quite well, but my bluebonnetcountry.com domain name isn’t active just yet, should be 24-48 hrs from last night (soon, I hope!).

I haven’t gotten all of the personalization completed, yet. But I do have a new header. I am also looking at new themes, although at this point MistyLook is still the best!

And about the WordPress.org Famous Five Minute Installation…It only took me 3 1/2 hours and 3 44oz Sonic Dr Peppers to get this beast off the ground! I’m really glad that I don’t smoke…

I just discovered Bluebonnet County Genealogy at Alltop! Hi, everyone!

or

“What I Took Away From the 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games“

In what ways did my participation in these Games benefit my genealogy research?

To begin with, this was a lot of fun and a great way to inject something new into a long, hot Texas summer. In the past, my research has tended to slack off dramatically in the summertime, as it’s just too hot to do anything! Summer is simply my least favorite time of the year, and that attitude affects just about everything I do. But for the past 17 days (and then some!), I have stayed focused on genealogy.

I have also developed some new habits that hopefully will continue, mainly organizing and backing up my data.

A Flickr Pro account has been available to me at no charge through my AT&T Yahoo DSL service, and I didn’t even realize it until the Games began. (Hint: If you have AT&T Yahoo DSL in your area, you might wanna check it out. I signed up online and pay only $10/mo for DSL!) Now Flickr is a major part of my database and provides a safe, off-site location for my valuable data!

Picasa has also become a valuable tool to edit, describe and tag my images.

Procrastination aside, I finally made it to an office supply store for archival-quality storage medium and watertight containers and have begun to use them.

My organization system, both virtual and real-time, didn’t need to be changed (although I did dress it up a bit ), but it is always good to examine alternatives.

In general, the Games has caused my to re-think my entire approach to family history research.

When I first began the hunt, I grabbed every name that I found online and tossed it into my database. But later on, I realized that I have to do it correctly, which means D-O-C-U-M-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N! If a name doesn’t have real sources (census, BMD, cemetery, etc), that name generally won’t be found in my database.

My post-Games approach now focuses on sources and documentation, organizing and backing up, (of course!) but also:

• Participating in the genealogical community
• Sharing what I have

Genealogy is all about family. And family is all about caring and sharing.

I am happy to be a part of this family!

…so it’s back to research!

I’ve returned to my Appling’s of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. This morning I found the Civil War Service Records (Confederate) for 4 of William Appling’s sons at footnote.com. I normally wouldn’t be researching this far laterally from my direct line, but I simply can’t resist anything Civil War! Most of these are the original documents, created from 1861-1865. They are simply fascinating! Maybe someday, I’ll focus my research on my Civil War soldier ancestors…

I also just uploaded all of the Appling documents to my Flickr Photostream, 83 images total. That “Comprehensive Back-up Plan for My Digital Research Files” in action!

Tags: Appling

I’m posting this a day early, so that I don’t forget. Too much other stuff going on right now!
(For event details, see my iCompete! site)

• Event #2, Back Up Your Data!- All 5 tasks completed…PLATINUM MEDAL!
• Event # 3, Organize Your Research!- Tasks B, D, E completed…GOLD MEDAL!

This has been a lot of fun and a lot of work! But I’m gonna try to keep in shape in the off-season…

SO THAT I CAN BE READY FOR THE 2009 GENEA-BLOGGER GROUP GAMES!!!

Back in May, around Memorial Day, I posted about a distant relative who died in WWII. Capt Jerry Roy McDonald’s fighter was downed near Munich, Germany on 28 Feb 1945. He was only 21 years old.

At that time, I wrote to the American Battle Monuments Commission and requested a photograph of his headstone in Lorraine American Cemetery in St Avold (Moselle), France.

That photograph arrived today…and it is simply wonderful! I have tears in my eyes as I type this!

A 16″ X 20″ color lithograph of the cemetery, with the Memorial in the center surrounded with the bleached white headstones of many of its 10,489 heroes is accompanied by a very interesting booklet containing a history of the cemetery, a discussion of the battles that went on in the area and more photographs.

(The lithograph as much better than my photograph, believe me! It is too large for my scanner and photography isn’t one of my talents! )

At the top right corner of the lithograph is affixed a 3″ x 5″ black and white photograph of Capt Jerry R McDonald’s headstone:

Thank you, my dear Jerry, for helping to maintain the freedoms that we enjoy today. You are not forgotten.

Tags: McDonald

For the past few days, I have been working on my Genea-Bloggers Group Games events. I have added descriptions and tags to 43 images that I have saved in the database of my great-great grandfather, Miles Francis Stanley I.

Part of that time was spent trying to figure out the best way to describe/tag/upload using the fewest keystrokes, and therefore as efficiently as possible. My previous method involved opening the image in the default Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, right-clicking on the image, going to Properties then Summary and adding the info. Then I would upload the image to my Flickr Miles Francis Stanley I set in the Stanley Surname collection and again add a description and tags. The image would upload to Flickr just fine, but the metadata wouldn’t go with it. Double-duty!

A couple of months ago, I downloaded Picasa2, but haven’t really done much with it. But when I started seriously examining the program in conjunction with the Games, I discovered a plugin for Picasa that allows you upload the image directly to Flickr, description & tags intact!

Picasa2/Flickr has made the task of organizing/backing up my data simple and painless!

Now I have no excuse!

Tags: Stanley

Actually more like tree-work. I updated my RootsWeb WorldConnect database and my WeRelate page this morning. Also working on a Genea-Blogger Group Games event. Just a quiet Saturday at my house…

…from the weight of all those medals! I have completed Tasks A, B & C of the Backup Your Data! competition in the 2008 Genea-Bloggers Group Games. Does that mean that I have won a bronze, silver and gold medal or just a gold medal?

I’m happy with my accomplishment and my database is happy to know that it is living a healthier lifestyle, too!