Man about the House - November 2021

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mardler
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Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Man about the House - November 2021

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Hello everyone. Quiet month for us this month. Productivity has been savagely hit by several events. First, I unexpectedly spent two days in hospital! I won’t go into detail but it was nothing too serious. We now know what the problem is but not what has been causing it. I have a battery of more tests to undergo next week. It’s also the start of the holiday season over here. So my wife and I got in the car and drove 1,350 miles from our home in Florida to see #2 son and Mrs H the younger for Thanksgiving in a chilly Massachusetts. On the way we stopped to see #1 son, his wife and our two grandchildren in Virginia. In all, it was a three day trip to get here. We leave tomorrow morning and aim to get back in just two days, stopping only to eat and refuel. Mind you, we do intend to stop at one of our favourite places, a Belgian restaurant in the most unlikely of places: Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Monthly progress
Our database finished the month at 189,691 people, just 700 above where we finished at the end of October. Once again, I have found myself adding and editing records from all the main English-speaking countries and a few beyond, even China!

RootsTech Connect – a million people can’t be wrong!
It’s just amazing to think of the success of RootsTech over recent years. While many conferences have been cancelled, RootsTech, remembering the “Tech” in their name (!), decided to expand from a physical conference to a virtual one and with a good deal of promotion had over a million attendees. For any genealogist who likes free stuff, this is a MUST.

So, 2022’s conference is taking place on March 3, 4 and 5. Registration has just opened. You can sign up and/or watch the initial promotional video at www.rootstech.org. There are 1,500 sessions expected to be on the agenda. So there will be something for everyone.

Full disclosure: FamilySearch has selected me as an “Influencer” for next year’s conference, just as I had previously been an “Ambassador”. I receive no money at all for it, though I do get a small discount on conference “swag”. So there is less in it for me than when we had an in-person conference where I was able to use the Press facilities. I just do it because I want to encourage others to take up our hobby and learn about their own families and background.

Howes in the News
- Alan Howes from New South Wales
A lovely story, this, about long-term volunteering. Alan and his partner have been running a Marine Rescue unit in NSW for over twenty years, although both of them are well past normal retirement age. Read more here: https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/centr ... -and-karl/

- Simon Howes is rowing to save red squirrels
I have a group of friends who are crossing the Atlantic in a yacht right now. It's been a tough few days for them as winds have exceeded 40 knots and seas have been steep. Simon is going to row a boat weighing over a ton SINGLE-HANDED across the same ocean, having never rowed himself until two years ago. And he is doing all of this to raise money to try to save the population of the red squirrels on the Isle of Wight.

A small explanation is in order for the non-Brits reading this. The red squirrel is native to the UK and has been displaced by the more aggressive North American grey squirrel since the latter was introduced a century or so ago. Reds are now only found in the extremities of the UK, usually on islands such as the Isle of Wight, difficult to reach for their grey cousins. As a boy I can still remember seeing some reds in London parks but that is very much a rarity these days.

If you would like to donate to SImon's cause, there is a link toward the bottom of the linked article: https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/1972 ... squirrels/

Thank you for your continued support, folks
Paul
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