Thursday, March 8, 2012

2012 March 08


Thursday:  This is not normally a day to babysit.  However, Nathan worked a double shift yesterday as well as working on our truck, Rudolf.  This is his day off and he wanted a chance to sleep-in.  So, we got up at 5:45 and drove to Ankeny.
The good news is … we got to spend extra time with Charlotte and Lorelia (oh yeah, and a little with Nathan).  We didn’t stay as long as we usually do on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ella has been having trouble with keeping her phone charged.  Or more accurately with getting it to charge.  The connector port on the phone is loose and not making a good connection.  So, we headed to Verizon in Des Moines after we left Ankeny
We arrived about a half hour before opening time.  So, we went next door to McDonalds for coffee (and a sausage, egg McMuffin for Ella).  I hadn’t taken my morning pills and needed some coffee to wash them down.  We sat there and drank coffee and I worked on the crossword of the day.  Some days, like today, the puzzle seems very easy.  Other days, I just stare blankly at the questions.
Verizon opened their doors and we went back to get the phone serviced.  They just ordered a replacement phone, which should be here tomorrow.  
While we were there I wanted to look at the new Razor Max phone.  It is supposed to have a much longer battery life.  It is also 4G as opposed to our current 3G Droid Xs.  We were told that we could transport all  our current programs and files directly to the Razor.  They offered us a good deal on a pair of them … so we bought a pair.  They weren’t in stock but should arrive tomorrow or the next day.  Now we wanted to cancel the exchange on Ella’s defective Droid X for the replacement Droid X.  They couldn’t cancel the replacement.  So, tomorrow we should receive the new Droid X but we will not activate it.  We’ll keep it and send in the old one as an exchange.  Once the Razors arrive, we’ll take them to the Verizon store and have them activated.  It’s amazing how such a simple thing as getting a phone serviced could turn into something so convoluted. 
We stopped by the campground office on our way home.  I wanted to sign up for workcamping this summer.  I also wanted to ask about when we were supposed to have the skirting insulation removed from around our RV.  We were told that it will be removed by the first of April.  This will help us determine when we will move the Hitch Hiker off of our seasonal site and when to bring the Excel home and put it on the site.  The dealer wants at least a week’s notice to get all the systems checked and all the prep work done.  They are also going to install a rear ladder.
By now, it was almost time for me to leave for Emeritus to lead the Bible study.  Ella decided to do our laundry while I was away.  We loaded the laundry into the truck and drove to the clubhouse (where the washer / dryers are).  After unloading laundry and wife, I went to Emeritus.
At Emeritus I did a very short Bible reading and devotional and then we sang songs.  Read that as I sang songs and they moved their lips or just listened.  My throat is still a little rough from the cold I’m just getting over.  As usual we sang “Jesus Loves Me” several times.  I don’t know if ANY of them realize that we just sang it a couple of minutes ago.  Their Alzheimer’s and dementia makes it hard for me to know I make a difference in their lives or not.
I returned home just in time to help Ella fold the last of our clothes.  Now while she is putting clothes away, I am updating the blogs.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

2012 March 06 Tuesday



            Up at five forty-five to go to Ankeny to babysit.  We stopped at McDonalds for McMuffins to eat on the way.  We were most of the way to Ankeny before I realized how much better I was feeling.  Still have a dry cough but it is not as persistent.
            Cierra dropped the girls off about 7:20 so there wasn’t much time before taking Charlotte to school.  However, she did start reading a book.  I think it was called “Bad Kitty”.  She really likes reading to me. And I really like having her read with such enthusiasm.
            Lorelia was her usual ball of kinetic energy.  She is a real live reality show, complete with sound track.  She talks all the time and narrates her life.  Luckily, she likes to include me in her play.  Today she also had Ella flying a spaceship with her.  I got to help her ‘pack’ to go to outer space.  We also watched Mickey Mouse Club.  I have tired of Disney Jr and so switched to another kid’s channel and we watched a show about mermaids.  I believe it was called Bubble Eye Guppies or something like that.
            Audrie got there just shortly before noon to take Lorelia to preschool.  That meant we were free to head for home.
            As we pulled into the campground, we went to the office to pay our electric bill for the month.  We owed a few cents over seventeen dollars for the month.
            Now switching gears…
            It was a sunny seventy degrees today and I opened three of the RV’s roof vents.  I also took the plastic off of one of the windows to let the cool air blow through.  Wonderful.
Now switching gears…
            I got a call from Heather and we talked for quite a while about the research we are both doing on Ancestory.com.  She has been researching the Oldstein family tree while I have been working on the Williams.  I emailed her the document that I’d put together.
Now switching gears…
            Nathan, Beth and the girls came out this evening.  Nathan is going to try and find and fix the coolant leak in Rudolf the truck.  While he was looking at the truck, the girls (including Beth and Ella) went to the playground.
            Altogether we had a good day!

2012 March 05







Monday:  the 5th.   Up at 5:15 to be at Wolfe Eye Clinic by 6:00.  We actually had to wait a couple of minutes for them to unlock the door before we could get in.  As it was, we were the second people to check in.  Since this was the second eye, they already had all the information and just needed our co-pay.  They immediately took us back to a preop room.  Ella got a wristband, a gown and a mark over her left eye and some drops in her eye.  Another nurse came in and started an I.V. line and added more drops to her eye.  The anesthesiologist came in and discussed the procedure with Ella.  Since she had just gone through this with the right eye, he knew that she would not have any problems with the medications.  The surgeon came in and talked to her and made another mark over her left eye.  Several more drops were added to her eye.  Eventually she was moved to a wheel chair and given a warm blanket.  Soon she was wheeled away to surgery and I went to the waiting room.  I only waited about twenty minutes before they called me back in … the surgery was over.  By now it was about 8:00. 
We waited in the post-op area for a while.  A nurse came and explained how Ella was to care for her eye over the next couple of weeks and what not to do.  A while later and the surgeon came out and examined the eye and repeated what the nurse had said about caring for her eye.  We left there about 8:45.
            We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  Ella had sweet potato pancakes with eggs, bacon and coffee.  I had pancakes, eggs, smoked sausage and ice tea.  I was not impressed with the pancakes which seemed rather greasy.  The sausage was very good.  Ella said the sweet potato pancakes were “okay”.  Altogether I was disappointed by the food at a restaurant that I really like.
            When I was checking out, I realized that the cashier was one of our neighbors, Linda, from Cutty’s Campground.  Ella was browsing in the store, so Linda went over to chat with her.
            From there we went home.  Ella rested and I took advantage of the good weather to refill the fresh water holding tank on the Hitch Hiker.
            I spent a good share of the day on Ancestory.com filling in information about my family tree.  What I am really trying to find is information about my father’s biological father.  My grandmother, Nancy J. Lamkin, had two children in Evansville, Indiana before marring Robert D. Williams in Oklahoma.
            My mother, shortly before she died in 1994, told me that Dad’s name was actually Ousley.  Over the years I have occasionally tried to find some information about this mysterious grandfather.  My sister, Maryann, has also done some looking but we never have gotten anywhere.  Maryann said that she had heard from a ‘shirttail cousin’ that she had found out that Nancy and this unknown Ousley were cousins.  (yeah, this was in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky
            In my digging though census records I found where my father’s name was listed as Clarence Edgar Ausley Williams.   Ah!  Ausley not Ousley!
            I started looking for Ausley in Evansville and found a single entry in the 1910 census listed this way: 
Douglas Ansley (a.k.a. Ausley)  age 42
Birth Year: 1868
Address:  Evansville Ward 7, Vanderburgh, Indiana
Race:  Mulatto
Gender:  Male
Marital Status:  Married
Spouses Name:  Mary E. Ansley (Ausley)  age 39
Race: Black
Father’s Birthplace: Kentucky
Mother’s Birthplace:  Kentucky
Also in household:  Renter: George P. Williams age 36
Race: White

Curiouser and curiouser!   Unfortunately I have not been able to find any further information about Douglas.  He would have been 36 when my father was born.  Nancy would have been 21.  I may have to take a road trip to Indiana to search through records at the courthouse in Evansville.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Williams Family Tree


ANCESTORS OF THOMAS EDWARD WILLIAMS
                       
                       
Robert D Williams (Stepfather)1877-     [Douglas Ausley (a.k.a. Ansley) possible biological father of Clarence]
            Clarence Edgar Ausley Williams 1906-
                        Nancy J Lamkin 1885-
Thomas Edward Williams 1947-
                                                John Amos Coons 1821-1897
                                    William H Coons 1843-1922
                                                Catherine E Edlin Voorhis 1825-1899
                        Aldo Francis Coons 1867-1955
                                                            George Davis 1785-1848
                                                Charles F Davis
                                                            Elizabeth Able 1784-1860
                                    Lucinda H Davis 1847-1892
                                                                        Gibson Manard Jr 1778-1842
                                                            Levi Mainard 1800-1880
                                                                        Delilah Cate 1781-1876
                                                Delilah Anna Mainard
                                                                                                Joseph French
                                                                                    Lafford French 1753-1834
                                                                                                Hannah Horn
                                                                        William A French 1783-1845
                                                                                                Hester Feamster 1755-1803
                                                            Catherine French 1808-1850                          
                                                                        Hannah Bassna 1783-1819
            Mary Iola Coons 1907-1994
                                    Elem S Jones 1827-1898       
                        Bertha Ellen Jones 1874-1952
                                    Mary A Luke 1835-1930












KIDS, STEPKIDS, GRANDKIDS AND GREAT-GRANDKIDS OF THOMAS EDWARD WILLIAMS

Sofia Nicole Williams            2003   Arik Skot Williams 1972
Beket Skot Williams 2008      Jennifer Watson Williams 1979

Lorelei Pfefferkorn                  Amber Beth Williams Pfefferkorn 1976
Emma Pfefferkorn                   Andres Pfefferkorn
Sabrina Lucia Pfefferkorn 2011

Tate X Williams 2007             Adam James Williams 1972
Emery Williams 2008             Leigha Knoll Williams 1980

                                                Heather Renee Williams Oldstein 1981
                                                Adam (Mike) Oldstein 1986

Thomas Edward Williams 1947
Becky Sue Wilson Williams Johnson 1952
Ella Louise Nye Lass Williams 1946

Audrei Roff 1983                    Lennia Aileen Lass Roff Bennett (Stepdaughter) 1966
Troy Roff
Robert Bennett

Charlotte Roff 2004                Nathan Roff 1986                   
Lorelia Roff 2007                   Beth Howland Roff
William Roff (due 2012)
           
                       
                                                           
                                                Brandon Lass 1993                 John Wayne Lass (Stepson) 1970
                                                                                                Dawn Post Lass





SIBLINGS OF THOMAS EDWARD WILLIAMS AND THEIR DECENDENTS

Kenneth Edgar Williams 1930-1994 (Brother)
Maryann Williams Groat Cook 1932- (Sister)
Earline Elizabeth Williams Harrick?  Harrington?  1935-1956 (Sister)

Kenneth Edgar Williams – with first wife Betty Jean ? and second wife Mary Jane ?
            Keith E. Stinson (stepson)
            Kyna M. Williams Thomas (daughter)
            Kara M. Williams DeVilbliss (daughter)
            Karla M. Williams (daughter)
            Krista M. Williams R (daughter)
            Darrick ? (stepson)
            Darcie ? (stepson)

Maryann Cook with first husband ? Groat and second husband Eugene Merrit Cook
            Kathleen Ann Groat Hoffman (daughter)
            Randy Jay Cook (son)
            Glee Ann Cook ?? (daughter)

Earline
            Richard Hatton  (known as Ricky)

SIBLINGS OF CLARENCE EDGAR AUSLEY WILLIAMS

Even M. Williams (stepbrother) ? Evan ?
Ethel A. Williams (stepsister)
Shedie Victor Ausley Williams (full brother) maybe Victor Shedie Ausley Williams as I have found it listed both ways
Walter James Williams (half brother)
Eva M. Vanote (possible stepsister – or she may have been a servant in the household)


SIBLINGS OF MARY IOLA COONS WILLIAMS
George Francis “Sham” Coons 1893-1981 wife, Zelma 2 daughter, 1 son
Jessie Ray “Johnny” Coons 1896-1971 wife, Beulah 1 son, 1 daughter
Earl Edward Coons 1897-1971 died in Europe during World War One
Everett Harvey “Bill” Coons 1901-1986 wife, Beatrice; son, Charles D; daughter, Wanda M.; and unknown son
Cecil May Coons 1909-1987 husband, George White; son, Francis 1934-2011; son, Gilbert 1936-1978
? Ralph H Coons 1903 -


Sunday, March 4, 2012

2012 March 4 Sunday


It’s been too long since I wrote.  And just as long since I felt like writing.  This cold just will NOT go away!
It started on last Tuesday evening and reached its peak on Wednesday.  I woke on Thursday morning (late) and realized my fever had broken!  Yeah!  I’m cured!  Now I can get on with my life!  
NOPE!
I’ve slept more in the last four or five days than I’ve been awake.  And my loving wife has decided to join in all the fun.  Though it doesn’t seem to have hit her quite as hard.  (Or maybe she’s just way tougher than I am.)  She, being smarter than I, went to the doctor.  He told her she was already doing everything that could be done to get over this crud, rest and liquids.
We are both coughing and wheezing like slowly deflating balloons.  Several times, I’ve thought that Kramer the cat was mewling only to realize it was me … or Ella.  It’s entertainin’ (for a short while) to lie abed and hear the bubbling, crackling sounds inside yer breathin’ holes.  With the cacophony of sounds we’re creating you’d expect a lot of congestion.  You’d be wrong!  Other than one pasty looking glob that I coughed out on Thursday, no sign of mucus.  I guess that means the airways are just constricted.
We elected to stay home from church today so as to not pass it around anymore than it already has been.
Tomorrow is when Ella goes in for the second cataract surgery.  She had told then on Friday about the cold.  They indicated that it would not delay the surgery.  I hope it doesn’t delay the recovery.
Well that’s it for now.  I think it’s time for another nap.
Another terrible snow storm (grin).