Latest Books

Lidgett Family Book
I finished the Lidgett Family Book in July. Other than Uncle Albert's family, they are not related to me, but I agreed to do it as a favor to Ernie and Donna. It is 147 pages and involved collaborating with members of the Lidgett family located in various places in Canada and the UK. It was fun and it was tiring. I had originally planned to finish it in time for last Christmas, but it seemed like we were always waiting for information from one person or another. Eventually, I had to say "It is finished."

Ing Family in 2013 Book
In 2010 - 2012, this was intended as an update of the Ing Family in 1985 book that I edited many years ago. But I couldn't get people enthused about the idea. After completing the Lidgett book, I decided to use the Ing information I already had, and create a book. It still took time, but not nearly the estimated 150 hours that I spent on the Lidgett book. No one has seen the new Ing book yet. I plan to provide printed copies for Mom, Vi, and Myrtle at Myrtle and Evans' 70th wedding anniversary. Anyone else wanting it can download it for free from my Dropbox account.

More Books
Will I create any more books? If so, they will need to wait. For the next year, my priority needs to be getting our acreage ready for sale. Right now I also have people I need to train to do online support for FamilySearch.org  And soon it will be time to harvest the garden. It is a busy time, but a good time.

I have enjoyed the movie of the Dan Brown novel "Angels and Demons", with its amazing twist at the end. I can sympathize with Robert Langdon when he laments that if he could finish his research he could finally publish his book and sell a few dozen copies!

Getting caught up ...

New House
This has been a very busy time. James and Karin are having a house built in Spruce Grove for us and them. We will rent the basement suite. The house is on a hillside, so that we will have a large window and patio doors. The kitchen is huge. This is by far the nicest design we looked at, and it will be a beautiful home for all of us.

Acreage Life
Judy and I are finding it hard to maintain the acreage. My hips have been bothering me for several months. It is time for us to move, while we still have a choice in the matter. And this will be a lovely home. Possession is projected for August 2014. That will give us a year to sell the acreage. We have loved it here! It has a serenity that I will miss in Spruce Grove, even in a residential area. Judy will miss her gardens. We will deeply miss this house that has been central to our family life for 36 years.

Old Cars
We are starting to clean up our place. I gave away the 1993 Suzuki SwiftGA this week, to someone who needs the parts for some Firefly convertibles he is restoring. I will probably need to phone the crushers to dispose of the 1990 Firefly. That too, marks the end of an era for me. Those little 3-cylinder cars with their 5-speed transmission were a joy to drive. And if they never quite reached the EPA rating of 75 miles per gallon, still achieved a fuel economy that most hybrids can only dream of. I had hoped to make one good car out of the 2 of them, but it was never a top priority, and the money was needed for more important things. I am sure you know what that is like.

New Printer 
My old HP LJ1012 has been dying slowly (smudges, noise, stink, etc). When it ran out of toner this week, its time was up. Walmart had a brother DCP-7065DN on sale for $120. It was time to make a change for the better. I cannot get the new printer to scan from my Vista desktop, although it scans fine from my Windows7 laptop. It is fast, clean, does 2-sided (duplex) printing, and I like it! It also does photocopying, simply and easily. It looks like the cost of toner is quite reasonable (2600 copies for $70). I used it today to print ny Lidgett Family Book in duplex mode. I hope to use this printer for many years to come.