Time flies, and all that crap. And yes, I should’ve thought of a more creative title for “Letters, pt. deux.” Get over it.

When we last spoke, I promised to share a bit of what my g-g-grandfather had to say about his cabin, and the traffic that passed by the front of it. The cabin, as you might’ve guessed, is the very one pictured here, taken from the original painting (done from memory) in 1899.

When was the last time you sent or received a hand-written letter from a friend or relative? “Hand-written” rules out the annual word-processed Christmas “here’s my life in pastel colors” letter. “Letter” rules out the thank you note or get well card, although I can see either of those becoming an heirloom down the line.

No, I mean an honest-to-goodness, pass it around the coffee clatch letter from home? I’m ashamed to admit it’s been years. But a recently discovered letter, mailed in 1889, just might inspire me to write a few of my own. To wit…

Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn’t go back to quill pen and ink. Life would be a lot simpler, wouldn’t it? There must be a monk somewhere who’s interested in family history?

I won’t bore you with the details, but I decided to upgrade the Leonard Database this week. The good news is… we’ve gone from 1726 family members… to 2816. There were 669 families yesterday. Today there are 1017. There were 495 different surnames. Now there are 780.

Ok, OK, so that’s not how it goes, but what you see in the picture is what I saw happening outside by back door this morning. It’s pouring rain. And there are DUCKS on my deck. I KNOW! In SEATTLE? We call them 7-11 ducks, because they’re not the least bit bashful about pecking on the back door to get our attention.

So what’s that got to do with family history? It reminded me of some of my Dad’s favorite expressions, grandad’s, too.

Know how to tell when a blogger’s running out of things to discuss? He/she starts rambling about his/her visitor logs.

That’s right, ladies and germs, I can SEE where you’re coming from, how often, and what you’re doing while you’re here. BTW, you might wanna close those blinds behind you….

Most days, the logs are pretty boring, but occasionally, things start showing up that make me scratch my head and go “Whuh?”…