www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/29/california.mis...

I found this interesting b/c the jet was flown by a WASP (Women's Air Force Service Pilot).

I found out my cousin left for Iraq the other day.  Supposedly he was going back to Afghanistan this month, so I don't know if this is temporary or they just decided to send his unit to Iraq instead.  Keep him and the 82nd Airborne in your prayers.

Also, another cousin has recently announced his plans to join the Marines after graduation next year.  Hopefully, he won't be going overseas too soon after.

My cousin told me that my uncle has recently started writing a diary of his memories and experiences in the Vietnam War.  She said she read it, even though he didn't want her to.  At first, it seemed to me like an invasion of privacy.  I mean he had just written and I'm sure it brought up a lot of emotions for him and may have made him feel vunerable.  On the other hand, if I had a diary or letters written by my dad, I can't say i wouldn't want to read it.  But, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable knowing he wouldn't want me to read it (if he was still alive).

Speaking of my dad, Sunday is the 4th anniversary of his death.  He would've turned 60 in October.

My cousin, Tanya called last night to tell me that her niece was born yesterday morning.  And that Tanya got to deliver her, herself!  They got to the hospital in the early hours of the morning so my other cousin, Chad's wife, Amanda could be induced.  Unfortunately, they had to wait due to an emergency c-section.  But, apparently, it didn't take too long after labor started.  The baby slid right out, almost landing on the floor.  A nurse was in the room, checking vitals or something, but Tanya was the only one in position to catch the baby as she slid right out.  But, the nurse was close enough to get drenched by the fluid that had come out.  Chad was outside the room calling for help, so he missed the birth.  Pretty exciting day! 

Sarah Lynn Shea Neyland was born at around 10:58 a.m. (Too much going on for anyone to think of recording the exact time).  She was 7 lbs 4 oz 19 3/4 in. long. 

I wonder how 11 mo old big brother, Nathan will like having a little sister.  I can imagine he'll be a bit jealous.  I hear he's a mama's boy (but then, aren't they all, at that age?)  We're making plans for me to go down there for a visit in the next week or so, hopefully.  My aunt and her family from Michigan will be coming down this week to visit for awhile.  They timed it just right.

www.kltv.com/global/video/flash/popuppla...

Thought this video from the KLTV News website might be of interest.

My cousin called me today and told me that our aunt heard from the daughter she gave up for adoption almost 30 yrs ago!  I can only imagine that my aunt is so excited.  My other aunt and cousin are making plans to meet her, since they don't live to far from her.  My aunt (the birth mother) will probably try to come down from Michigan sometime this summer.  We'd already planned to get together to take a trip to Missouri this summer.  I guess we'll see what happens now.  Apparently the woman found her w/ the help of the people behind the tv series The Locater.  I'm so happy for my aunt.  She's been waiting for a long time for this day.

MADISON, Wis. - If you don't know a stone toter from Adam's off ox, or aren't sure what a grinder shop sells, the Dictionary of American Regional English is for you.

The collection of regional words and phrases is beloved by linguists and authors and used as a reference in professions as diverse as acting and police work. And now, after five decades of wide-ranging research that sometimes got word-gatherers run out of suspicious small towns, the job is almost finished.

The dictionary team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is nearing completion of the final volume, covering "S" to "Z." A new federal grant will help the volume get published next year, joining the first four volumes already in print.

"It will be a huge milestone," said editor Joan Houston Hall.

The dictionary chronicles words and phrases used in distinct regions. Maps show where a subway sandwich might be called a hero or grinder, or where a potluck - as in a potluck dinner or supper - might be called a pitch-in (Indiana) or a scramble (northern Illinois).

It's how Americans do talk, not how they should talk.

"It's one of the great American scholarly activities and people will be reading it for a century learning about the roots of the American language," said William Safire, who frequently cites the dictionary in his "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine. "It shows the richness and diversity of our language."

Doctors have used it to communicate with patients and investigators have referred to it in efforts to identify criminals, including the Unabomber. Dialect coaches in Hollywood and on Broadway have used the dictionary's audio recordings of regional speakers to train actors.

Author Tom Wolfe has called the dictionary "my favorite reading."

In awarding the two-year, $295,000 grant that will get the final volume into print, National Science Foundation reviewers called the dictionary "one of the most visible public faces of linguistics," and a "national treasure."

The concept dates to 1889, when the American Dialect Society was formed. But the project did not start in earnest until 1965, when English professor Frederic Cassidy dispatched workers to 1,000 carefully chosen U.S. communities to interview residents and make audio recordings of their speech.

Workers often slept in "word wagons" - vans emblazoned with the UW logo - and even were chased out of a few Southern towns. The field work alone took five years and collected 2.5 million different words and phrases.

Since then, linguists have painstakingly researched the words using print materials to decide which should be included. The dictionary project has about a dozen workers and a $750,000 annual budget.

Cassidy died in 2000, still looking toward publication of the final volume. His tombstone reads: "On to Z!"

Hall, who has worked at the dictionary since 1975 and been editor since 2000, said the complete series of five volumes published by Harvard University Press will contain about 75,000 entries.

Draft entries for the final volume are still being reviewed. During a recent visit to their offices at UW-Madison's English department, one was tracing the history of the word "stone toter," a type of fish found in parts of the eastern U.S.

After the final volume is published, the next phase of the project will be to put the dictionary online. Hall envisions an online edition that will be updated constantly.

Hall said her all-time favorite word is bobbasheely, used in Gulf Coast states as a noun meaning a good friend or a verb to hang around with a friend. It comes from the language of the Choctaw tribes.

Two people interviewed in Texas and Alabama in the 1960s used the word. Further digging revealed that Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner had once used it in a novel, and it was used in the early 19th century by a colleague of former vice president and duelist Aaron Burr.

The dictionary has occasionally been put to serious use.

Forensic linguist Roger Shuy said he occasionally referred to the dictionary when he studied the Unabomber's writings in the 1990s for clues to the writer's identity. His profile didn't help catch Ted Kaczynski, but it turned out to be pretty accurate: He guessed the Unabomber had a doctorate, grew up near Chicago and was older than some investigators initially believed.

Hall said she has uncovered flaws in a test routinely given to diagnose a brain abnormality in which people have difficulty coming up with words for everyday items. The test's answer key does not allow regionalized answers; for instance, referring to a harmonica as a "mouth harp" is counted as a mistake. She hopes to help the authors rewrite the test to avoid misdiagnosis.

Hall also was sought for help by reporters who didn't understand President Bill Clinton's comment in 1993 that an Air Force official who had criticized him "doesn't know me from Adam's off ox."

Hall said the phrase is used west of the Appalachians in place of the more popular "he doesn't know me from Adam." The "off ox" refers to one of the two oxen once used to plow fields.

___

On the Net:

Dictionary: polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dar...

I recieved a big envelope from my aunt w/ an updated genealogy of the Stowell family (My paternal grandma's paternal line).  It just updates to the present generation.  She also sent copies of pictures of some Stowell ancestors.  I don't think they would show up very well if I scanned them to the computer though.  My gr-grandparents, Ben and Sarah Wagener Stowell, "Grandma Sarah Stowell's grandma Wagener (The Indian Blackfoot)" and Gr-grandpa Ben's grandmother which I would guess to be Hannah Burgess Stowell.  The note abt the Blackfoot Indian kinda confuses me.  If I read it correctly, that would mean my aunt is saying that Nancy Ann Hopple or Briggs Wagoner, wife of Nathan Wagoner, mother of James Strang Wagener is the Blackfoot connection.  I had thought it was Sarah Calvin Wagener's (James' wife) mother Delila Elder Calvin, wife of Elmore Calvin.  I don't have much on either woman.  Both were supposedly born in Ohio between 1800-1829 and both seem to have died sometime before the 1860 census as one husband listed no wife and the other listed a different wife.  On a related note, I finally found Nathan Wagoner and family in the 1850 census in Mackinac Co. MI.  His son, James (my 2nd gr-grandfather) was listed as Jane, but I'm guessing that was an error on the transcriber's part.  It also confirmed that James had a twin brother, Joseph, which gave me another source.  Anyway, looks like I got answers leading to more questions.  The joys of genealogy.  The hobby that never ends.

Just found out that my cousin's wife is pregnant again!  Their son is just 5 months old.  They just got married in November.  Maybe, they'll get a girl this time.  Though, I'm sure they'd be just as happy w/ another boy.  Then, there's always the possibility of twins.  Who knows!  I can't wait!

While, my family was here, waiting to go home after Ike hit, my aunt showed me her birth certificate. She's been looking for info on her birth father ( She's my dad's half-sister). She talked to Grandma's sister and did find out somethings abt him. Here's what she knows, so far.

Orville A Holmes, Jr.
28 yrs old (as of April 29, 1953)
born in Kansas City, KS

worked for Union Pacific as a signalman
died in the late 80's or early 90's of cancer
had a sister
father was an alcoholic, as was he
mother hanged herself
since he is a jr, his father could be Orville Holmes Sr

My aunt's info:
Kathryn Marie Holmes
DOB: April 29, 1953
POB: Marysville, Marshall, KS
Mother: Sarah Violet Stowell

I wanted to see if Orville Sr was listed on the WWI Draft database on Ancestory or in census for 1900-1930. Don't have his wife's or daughter's names. Orville Jr and Grandma divorced when my aunt was 3 or 4, I think she said. She was told that he tried to look for her. But I guess Grandma and her family made it hard for him to. I'm sure alcohol was a factor. Would like to find some more info for my aunt. Thanks!