Category: Family

Meet Victoria! She and her grandmother Betty have arrived and they will be staying with us for a while. Steph’s sisters are also here for a couple of days and it should be great fun!

Mark Twain once said Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. So be your own light. Find your own way. It should be easy with all those candles. :-)

Happy Birthday Betty!

Or play the song from this Link…

Your Birthdate: June 17, 1944. Here is what you need to know:

1944 was a leap year
Sign of the Zodiac: Gemini
Birth Flower: Rose
Symbolization of Flower: Love, gratitude, appreciation
Chinese Year of the Monkey
Birthstone: Pearl

Estimated population growth in the world in your lifetime: More than 4.5 billion people

Academy Award nominees for Best Picture in 1944
The winner was: Going My Way

Other nominees for Best Picture were:

Double Indemnity
Gaslight
Since You Went Away
Wilson

Winner of the Nobel Peace Price in 1944: Comité international de la Croix Rouge (International Committee of the Red Cross)

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 1944: Dwight David Eisenhower

Best Selling NonFiction Book in the U.S. in 1944: I Never Left Home by Bob Hope

Some world leaders at the end of 1944:

United States – President: Franklin D. Roosevelt – Democrat
Britain – Prime Minister: Winston Churchill – Conservative (Coalition Government)
Canada – Prime Minister: Mackenzie King
Australia – Prime Minister: John Curtin – Labor
Mexico – President: Manuel Ávila Camacho

Betty is my most prolific Commenter!

This is my great-grandfather on my mothers side, Mark. The photo here is a follow-up to yesterdays post. He looks like a pretty cool guy and I can see my grandmother in him.

I’m pretty sure this isn’t a mug shot, even though it looks like it. This is a turn of the century photo and as such, impressive!

Being a fourth generation Californian, I’ve always been told the generic story about my great-grandparents living almost to a hundred and that they operated a stage coach. Thanks to my brothers ex-wife Deby, here’s the real story:

Mark Erway was an early resident of Mason Valley. Young Mark had come west by ox team in 1862 with his father and brother, and together they mined in Pine Grove, a thriving mining town south of Yerington. He was married to Mary Dailey in Carson City in 1880 by Father Tourmey of the Catholic Church.

Mary was born Mary Smith, her father being Robert C. Smith, who was robbed and killed near Carson City about one week before Mary was born. Her mother was later married to Cornelius Dailey of Virginia City in 1862 by Father Manogue, and Mary assumed the name of Dailey. Mr Dailey was an architect, and designed the fourth ward school house and the Shannon house in Virginia City. Mary as a girl, attended the Virginia City convent.

In 1886, Mark, when his father died, took over the ranching interests in Mason valley. Later he secured the contract for hauling freight between Wabuska, situated at the north end of Mason Valley, and Bodie, California. Subsequently, he was engaged in freighting by contract over Kingsbury grade between Sacramento and Bodie. These were days of hardship in teaming as there were ten or twelve horses to manage with the hazards of poor roads, and in the winter the added danger of stormy weather. However, he “delivered the goods”.

Later, he was a stage driver for twenty years; first between Bodie and Yerington, and then between Pine Grove and Yerington. When Pine Grove’s mining projects were discontinued he operated his freight line between Yerington and Wabuska. Mark Erway’s genial disposition and accommodating nature won him many friends.

He was a member of the school board for several years, and he always liked music. He and his brother Benjamin often furnished music for he dances in Yerington in the 1880s and 1890’s, Mark playing the piano and Benjamin the violin.

Mark’s wife, Mary, a woman with fine ideals with respect to rearing a family, performed her duties in the home which was erected in Yerington in 1894, at the corner of Bridge and Main streets. The residence is still standing. The children, eight in number, were all born in Yerington.

One of those kids was my grandmother…

It’s great when family and friends come together and in this case, literally. My niece Catherine and my friend Dave are getting married here in August.

The wedding is shaping up as the local social event of the year with many more friends and family arriving from all over the country!

Original photo by Marlene.

I had a terrific Easter brunch at Grand Targhee with Steph, my sister, my niece and her fiancée. The hottub afterwards was fine and hot, the day is rolling along clear and relatively warm and Helen Hunt is naked as we watch the dvd Sessions that sis loaned us. Today’s photos seem like a strange hodgepodge, but what the heck, Happy Easter!

SlideShow (Easter Peeps)

I have a lot of grandkids, scattered all over the country. One of my older grand-daughters, Shelby, likes to keep in contact with as many as she can and here she is with four of them. I appreciate her passion for staying in touch with her siblings.

Too bad grandpa doesn’t do the same…

SlideShow (Grandkids)

Enjoyed another fine Christmas at my sisters little house nestled at the base of the Tetons last night, with family, friends, great food and high-tech.

The Teton Pass between Victor, ID and Jackson, WY is one of the toughest winter drives in America. Riley and Jess were here a few months back and we drove the Pass down to Jackson. This is when I went over the cliff and we visited Mesa Falls.

Here’s a video that never made the blog until now, just a shot from the back seat as we cruised easily over the Pass. Jess was receiving notices of a friends house break-in…

Steph’s grandson is a star football player and excellent marksman (won the turkey-shoot recently against the men) and he’s in the witness protection program.

The boy got himself in a bit of trouble with the girls in kindergarten and steps were taken to protect his identity, including modifying this publicity shot that was used to humiliate his elders in the Turkey Shoot Gazette!

Here’s the original, and his winning shot :-)

A few weeks ago we had my boy Riley and his wife Jessica in town and on Saturday we headed over Teton Pass to visit Jackson, WY. At the top of the hill Riley pulled over for a photo taking session.

Steph and I were in the back seat. I jumped out as soon as we stopped and the wind was blowing so hard it snapped my Tilley Hat right off my head and over the cliff. I rushed towards the edge and saw my hat lying about six feet down. I went over the side and grabbed my hat. It’s got a two year guarantee if lost, but…

Meanwhile, from the back seat it appeared to Steph that I had been blown completely over the cliff :-) I’ve got to hand it to her, she jumped out of the car and was heading to assist, not knowing if it was a sheer drop, or a gradual decline (it was the latter).

We got back in the car and Riley just smiled and drove off. It was very surreal!

Update: I’m thinking this was the spot. Also, if you follow that road off to the right you’ll be on the Old Jackson Highway. I never knew, very cool!

Had a busy day with the kids yesterday. We cruised around Alta showing off my sisters house and rental properties, introduced Jess to the family, stopped by Dave’s new house and drove to Jackson. Some observations: the Kia handled the pass easily and the off season is a good time to visit Jackson, not another person in the antler photo!

Jackson was looking colorful,

Dave discovered a previously unknown dungeon under his house,

and the Alta hills were glowing!

SlideShow (Kia Cruising)