Whisper's Diary

I'm glad you have had legal advice, Tom. Your brothers sound horrendous. You are not like them though. Please don't apologise for being angry with them or sharing your feelings with us. It seems to me that you & your sister have been the rocks that your parents depended on & you did right by both of them. Well done for not managing to do yourself an injury mowing. Take good care of yourself, Tom. Life must get better for you.
 
I did something fun yesterday (at least for me). I've been wanting to do it for quite some time now. One of my many interests is genealogy and I've been wanting a subscription to old newspapers. Well, my sister got me at least a month last night and I did some searching on the local newspaper and ran across quite a bit of new information. There were obituaries which we do have, but they are clippings and don't detail what newspaper they came in or what issue and day it was printed. So I have all of that now. It also showed a lot of things about my dad when he was in the navy. My dad never talked about most of it. The one thing my dad talked about was they were involved in some test when he was overseas. They were exposed to radiation and had to take a lot of showers. He lost most of his hair. The newspaper documented that he had been involved in operation "Redwing" in 1956. He was a mechanic and worked on helicopters and who knows what else. I was looking for an old school picture of my grandmother. She said she had gone to school with Bonnie Parker of the Bonnie and Clyde fame. While going through the photos, I ran across certificates of my dad showing that he was in operation Redwing. None of this stuff I knew about. Up until now, I knew he was in the Navy and had traveled all over the world during two world tours. I was born in the Philippines. That's it. No details.

My goal is to document genealogy of course, but also write about the stories we've always heard and how true they are or not.

P.S. My sister is getting a new dog.
 
That's super interesting (and mildly terrifying) and I'm glad you get a whole month to delve into it! Glad your sister is getting a new dog as well: does she know what kind of dog she's looking for yet?
 
That's super interesting (and mildly terrifying) and I'm glad you get a whole month to delve into it! Glad your sister is getting a new dog as well: does she know what kind of dog she's looking for yet?
She is getting an Australian shepherd? I know nothing about dogs lol. Her name is going to Harper.
 

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It's good that you have found something really interesting to delve into. It's a shame your father didn't share more about his past with you. That generation didn't like to talk about themselves much at all. My Dad never mentioned WW2. G's Dad & his step-dad were stokers in the navy during WW2 & G's Dad died at 42. In hindsight he probably had asbestosis.
Australian Shepherds are bundles of energy apparently & were bred to herd livestock. Does your sister know what she is getting herself in for? They are not common here & apparently were bred in California. She's very cute.
 
It's good that you have found something really interesting to delve into. It's a shame your father didn't share more about his past with you. That generation didn't like to talk about themselves much at all. My Dad never mentioned WW2. G's Dad & his step-dad were stokers in the navy during WW2 & G's Dad died at 42. In hindsight he probably had asbestosis.
Australian Shepherds are bundles of energy apparently & were bred to herd livestock. Does your sister know what she is getting herself in for? They are not common here & apparently were bred in California. She's very cute.

Yeah. I really wish. There's a lot I'd like to have known, but oh well.

Does she know what she is getting into? LOL. Probably not, but her other dog was pretty active so we will see.
 
Checking in.....supposed to rain again today with some severe storms. Hopefully not. So not much work outside again today, but I need the break anyway. Allergies are really bad and my head feels awful. I started doing some neck stretching yesterday. It's a 3 minute routine. I always have a lot of neck tension due to stress so I shouldn't have much of an excuse to do the exercises. This is day 3 without caffeine. I have a hard time with caffeine anyway and was basically committing food-a-cide for a while and drinking 10-20mg a day which isn't much for most people, but it still affected me. Sleeping is atrocious still. Trying to get it back on track. Working on genealogy. A program that I wanted to use came out with a new version and a great intro price of $20 instead of the normal $39. So I sold my old Nintendo 3ds handheld for $100 and bought the program. Because of "family", I am basically going to start over and use as many resources online only as possible. I've done quite a bit of research on my own, but still. Doesn't stop anyone from coming in and saying it's all theirs even though it's not. This way it will be all digitized if possible. I want to digitize pictures and documents as quickly as possible in the event the takeover happens. And I started watching some videos of turning information into a compelling story. My sister planted some herbs and stuff inside the house. it's been pretty warm lately. We shouldn't have another freeze at this point. Have to wait and see. Sunday, I can start putting limbs out and get more exercise, but it has been raining a lot so I haven't been able to cut any down at this point so I'm not prepared. My cousin said he could come over and help but it would be in a week or so and that will be after the limb pickup. I can always pile them up for next time.

Anyway, take care and have a great day! (as much as we can right?!?)
 
It's good to see you working toward something rather than being stuck in reacting to all the crap life has been throwing at you. Hope the storm isn't too bad!
 
It is good to see you doing things that have you feeling more in control of your situation. I love that plants are being nurtured inside, waiting for some warmth. I'm looking forward to hearing how they fare.
Do the limbs get picked up once a month, Tom?
 
It's good to see you working toward something rather than being stuck in reacting to all the crap life has been throwing at you. Hope the storm isn't too bad!

Thanks. Yeah, I'm trying to keep my mind off of everything. It's hard when it is right up in my face, but still. I need a break! LOL.
 
It is good to see you doing things that have you feeling more in control of your situation. I love that plants are being nurtured inside, waiting for some warmth. I'm looking forward to hearing how they fare.
Do the limbs get picked up once a month, Tom?

They come once a month, the second Monday of the month. I can start putting out limbs the week before. And with my hernia, I do just that. I do some every day. It's not the end of the world though. I've consistently put out limbs since I've lived here, so it's not nearly as bad as it was. And I'm still working on the backyard. There's a couple of spots I want to get done before things start blooming out of control. It's just been raining a lot so that puts a "damper" on things. I went out and weeded a lot the other day and everything was so wet. Still, some got done. Yardwork is bad for my allergies, but great for my mental state. It's really relaxing. I've even been watching yard cleanup videos on youtube lol.
 
Hyper Harper! That's what I am calling the new puppy. She is such a handful. *** Disclaimer *** She wasn't my decision lol. Actually, I really l like her, even though I am allergic to dogs. She is working on getting potty trained. It's like half and half. I took her outside for like 30 minutes, came back in, and she peed in the floor. Oh my...LOL

I'm trying not to worry about everything. It isn't easy. MY sister brought home a little bug from work. They say they were tested at work and it isn't covid, but it lasts about a week. I feel overly ugh. I should feel better maybe next Tuesday or Wednesday. The grass and everything is growing out of control. I'm trying to stay up with it all. That's how spring is. I ran out of line for the first time in 4 years so sis has got to get some more. Once, she does it will last a while.

On the genealogy front, my sister has an old flatbed printer. I hooked it up and have been scanning pictures and documents, as many as I can find in case a certain person comes and destroys everything. At least, we'll have a digital backup. I've probably done about 700+ pictures and documents. It takes a bit. It is a process for sure. They aren't the best quality (300 dpi), but I feel like I am limited on time to get everything done. I also found a couple of interesting things that I did not know or proof of what I did know. My dad had paperwork for all of his military stuff as well as death certificates and birth certificates on everyone. I found a piece of paper where my mom wrote the county for inquiry about divorce filings. They got a divorce in 1973, when I was eight, but this paperwork was for 1969. I knew they had problems all along. I never saw this paper before though. On the back of a random photo of my dad, there was a rubber stamp of a radio and TV repair business that my grandfather had. I never knew that. My mom got her GED back in the day. I now have a copy the certificate that she received. Also, speaking of mom, while my dad and her were divorced, she married this other guy. He lived with us for 2 weeks. He told my mom it was either us or him. My mom chose him and we went to live with my grandmother. Anyway, his name was H. A. We always wondered what that meant. My mom used to say that it meant nothing. She said to her it meant Horses A@@. LOL. Well, anyway, last night I found their marriage and divorce papers. It had H. A. on it. I found his birth certificate online and it said H. A. and his father's name was H. A. So I guess it really doesn't mean anything at least official. He may still be alive. He would be about 83. Nevertheless, I always kind of like him, even though he wasn't thrilled with having kids. Still, some interesting finds.
 
Making a partner choose between you and their kids is... something. Actually choosing them over your kids is something else though!
 
I hope you & your sister get over this bug quickly, Tom. I hope Hyper Harper settles down soon too. Dogs are so good for us. I hope she makes you smile 🐶💗
 
I hope you & your sister get over this bug quickly, Tom. I hope Hyper Harper settles down soon too. Dogs are so good for us. I hope she makes you smile 🐶💗

Thanks. Not over it yet. I mowed yesterday which made it way worse. I went to bed before dark lol. Today, I felt a little better when I got up, but mowed again today. It doesn't help much but has to be done. Hyper Harper does make me smile. I really like her even though I am allergic to dogs. She doesn't do anything she is told LOL. Just don't tell anyone. Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm getting soft in my old age.
 
Our dog makes me smile every day.
She doesn't do anything she is told LOL. Just don't tell anyone. Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm getting soft in my old age.
Haha. I won't tell :D
 
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