Planet Stahl

Man… If we would have had this technology when I was a kid…  I would king of the Internet!  As it is… My kids didn’t think this was nearly as cool as I did!

GPS track from Ang’s ride at Big River State Park.  From October 2009

Ang took Summer this weekend to participate in an AERC (I think that’s it) ride.  Endurance horse riding.  They rode 2 days… Saturday and Sunday.  Both completed 30 miles!  Summer got second place in the Jr. category. 

Ang fell off Marco when he slipped… And she decided that tonight she would go to bed early!  (I dont think you can see where she fell on the GPS track!)

Aiden and I stayed home and did very little.  Aiden’s buddy came over Friday night for a sleepover…  Then they played together all day Saturday.  I thought he was running out of steam… By 6PM Saturday, Aiden was out!  I woke him up and gave him dinner…  He then fell asleep again.  I heard some hoarseness in his voice…  And could tell he was starting to get sick.  BUMMER!  Sunday morning he was hacking!  He seems better now…  But with all the H1N1 fears going on… You really worry about sending them to school.  We will see how he is doing on Monday morning.

Since Aiden was run down…  We laid around and did very little.  Watched Cary Grant in Operation Tokyo, and then proceeded to watch the Packers, Vikings and Bears.  Great day of NFC Central football.  It was a total “guys” day.  I seem to only get those when Aiden is sick… Or not home!

Also…  Summer was pretty wiped out when she got home tonight.  And she is coughing as well!  This could be a long week!

I have been doing some research for a project that I thought Summer could present at school…  Its really just an extension of something I did back when I was a kid. 

Years ago…  We had article that a distant family member had been interviewed for, and their (our) important historical ties to the Revolutionary war.  The story goes that Josiah Fugate (Mom’s maiden name) actually crossed the Delaware River with George Washington for his raid on Trenton NJ on Christmas 1776.

I have been digging all over trying to find something on my own without that article.  But no luck.  Wikipedia says that Washington crossed over with Virginia troops.  That’s good, since Josias and his parents were from Virginia.

I found this page that mentions a Josias Sr. and Jr. 

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dpenix/All/PS11/PS11_134.HTM

This page gives more detail on the Sr.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/c/Vickie-S-Mccracken-Illinois/GENE2-0003.html

Follow the son Randolph to his children.  He has 6 kids.  One is named Josias, and is he called “Captain” with mention of a military record.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/c/Vickie-S-Mccracken-Illinois/GENE2-0006.html

This Josias was born around 1737.  And lived to 1823.  Thats pretty old for back then!!!  Geez!   But certainly old enough to serve, and be called “Captain”.

Josias had a son named William…  He also had a son named “George Washington”.  That would seem to be another hot lead to some kind of relationship with Washington.  But then again…  He was the first president.  And it might have just been something patriotic.  Looking through the 100’s of names on that family tree, I found there was another George Washington Fugate born in 1920 to another side of the family.

In 1821, William Fugate was born, he moved to Fairbury, and died there in 1884.  He had sons named Marion and Daniel.  The son named Danial married a girl from Ireland… Jennie Hanna.  Mom says she has a family picture of Jennie Hanna somewhere… I will have to post that.

My branch of the family stops on this tree with William.  I imagine the writer probably got sick of tracking down ends that were not going her direction…  I am going to have Mom give me the final tidbits on Grandpa Dan’s Dad and Grandfather to get it all locked down.

So, as it stands to Fairbury:  WILLIAM⁸ (JOSEPH “JOSIAH”⁷, RANDOLPH “RANDALL” F.⁶, JOSIAH⁵, RANDOLPH SR.⁴, JOSIAH “JOSIAS”³, PETER² LA FOUCATE, JAMES

In the beginning there was James La Foucate.  James seems be the source for all the Fugates (Well, probably most of them, they seemed to breed like rabbits when they hit the colonies!) in the Eastern US, Midwest and South.  He was born in England in 1630.  His son Peter was born in France in 1650.  Peter emigrated from France to Baltimore and died there in 1699. 

Very cool stuff.

In the meantime… Since I am hitting a dead end…. I am working on contacting the person who did all this work on the family to see if she has any insights on that story.

More info as I dig it up!

Yes… I am lame enough to run another post under the Rocktober heading!

Look ma…  Its snowing!

Aiden in the snow.  From October 2009

Aiden thought it would be fun to climb this snow mountain today before Summer’s soccer game.  Thats really snow in Pekin on October 16th.  One note…. Its from the Zamboni machine.  But it looks pretty convincing.  And it was not melting!

Summer’s team got 3rd place in the tournament.  Aiden has one more game tomorrow. 

Roger Clyne and Peacemakers, from October 2009

Dan, Noelle and I headed over to Champaign on Tuesday night to watch a long time favorite, Roger Clyne and Peacemakers.  It was a great show.  I was unsure of the turnout…  And it was pretty low.  I felt bad for the band.  But at the same time… I really enjoyed being able to be so close and not be so crowded!  (That’s the old person in me coming out!)  The opening band was even great!  The Coal Men.  Dan and I fell in love with the guitar sound.  Killer riff and solos!

Roger belting it out!  From October 2009

Hey, the Pixies are playing in Chicago in a few weeks!  Maybe I should just keep seeing shows???  Ha Ha…  I already know Ang would freak out on me!  She was mad enough that she could not see this one!

Next show…  Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Civic Center.  That’s in a few weeks.  Rocktober may officially be coming to a close!

I think I might just title every post this month with that!  TMBG killed it Saturday night.  More on that in a second.

Tee Pees at Mt Pisguh from October 2009

On a non rock related item.  Went out on a brief Spoon River drive today.  I usually get roped into a short trip.  Stopped in Farmington, MT Pisgah and Ellisville.  Wow… Talk about NOTHING going on!  There was about 20 cars at Mt. Pisgah at 1PM today.  Not sure what to attribute that to.  Weather sucked.  It was 45 degrees.  But I have to wonder if people are cutting back on this kind of activity with the economy.  Who knows.  I only know that everywhere we went, this event was a mere shadow of its normal self.

I took a pain pill a few minutes ago…So, if this post drops off into a babbling mess.  You know why! 

After going to Chicago yesterday…  Walking around downtown…  And then standing for close to 4 hours at the concert…  My ankle has been REAL tender all day.  Its all new pain.   I think its still muscles and tendons moving around that have been stiff.  But it is quite annoying.

They Might Be Giants play at the Vic, from October 2009

They Might Be Giants had a great show.  The Vic theater is not that big.  I was surprised they didn’t play a little bigger venue.  But, they had done a kids show earlier in the day…  So, maybe that would not have worked at the Riviera or a larger theater.  It was a great show.  Billed as the Flood show… They dipped in and out of that album with classics and some obscure stuff.  This was one of the few concerts I have been too where EVERYONE knows ALL the songs!  I don’t know who was louder…  The band, or the roar of the crowd singing along all night.  Very cool.  It really made you feel like you were among friends.  I let loose with my bellowing.  I feel sorry for the guy in front of me!

Off to Roger Clyne Tuesday!

It should figure that I spend some time thinking about bands I want to see in concert… And then get smacked upside the head with one I forgot!

Roger Clyne!

Then Don sends me an email telling me that Roger is going to be in Champaign on Tuesday night!  Wow!  I will be at that show… Already got permission to leave work early.   Dan might come along as well. 

While I was thinking over those bands…  I needed to add a few other thoughts.   I would love to see Soul Asylum, Bob Walkenhorst, World Party and Ben Folds. 

I am now mentally satisfied with my list of must-see’s!

I always wanted to title something that! 

Ang and I are headed to Chicago this weekend to see They Might Be Giants at the Vic.  I am really excited about this.  We saw them in Peoria way back when they did the John Henry tour.  That was their first tour as a band.  For any of you people who recall…  They started as a 2 piece band.  Guitar, Accordian and boombox.  Those were the days!  Hoping “Istanbul” still rocks like it did back in the day.

Below… One of the greatest live performances from the Flood album.  (Yeah, I am old enough to remember watching Carson to see this.  I think Jay was guest hosting that night)

At this point…  I am closing in on having seen all my favorite bands in concert.  All that is left are the Presidents of the United States of America.   Maybe the Proclaimers and Hot Club of Cowtown.  I think the Presidents still get around a little.    I always wanted to see Lou Reed.  But after talking to Etter a few years ago…   He said its a bit of a letdown.  Sucks to get old!  I think Lou is like 65 or so.

Summers Belated Birthday

We had Summers birthday party at the house this past weekend.  I know, her birthday is in July.  We have learned that celebrating her birthday in the middle of summer normally means its really freaking hot, and everyone is out of town.  So, this year we opted to have her party when school was in. 

We did some horse rides.  Set up a short hayrack ride to the timber behind the house.  The kids seemed to have a blast.  Which was great… Because the weather was garbage, and I was stressing hard that we were going to end up inside playing the Wii with 15 kids!  Ang and I were at each others throats 2 hours before things started. 

The weather held out….  It drizzled a few times.  It was as lucky break.

At one point when we were doing the hayrack ride….  I started to lose traction with the truck.  Everyone was yelling “Why are we slowing down”.   They didn’t realize that I was seconds away from having to stop the ride with a bottomed out truck.  Of course, that would have given me an excuse to use Katy (see: Super Duper 4X4 Kubota).   It would have been fun for me either way.  Not so much for Mom and kids on the rack.

We had about 20 minutes left at the end of the party.  I asked if the kids wanted another ride, or to eat cupcakes and watch Summer open presents.  Overwhelmingly, it was agreed that we should do another hayrack ride. 

I was smarter on the second trip.  No chance of getting stuck.  I nearly drove in the field when I had to.

Picture from the Hayrack ride | October 2009

Foot Update

Its doing really well!  Those nasty shin splints that were there when I walked are gone.  I still have some random pains and tenderness… But its a ton better than it was!  I am SO glad I got the second opinion about the pain.  After seeing that bent screw come out… I think that thing was a time bomb in my leg.  It could have gotten a lot worse.

Other notable things:

My fantasy football team is sucking 4 weeks in.  I normally do pretty well at this stuff.  But this year I have started off 1 and 3.  Too soon to give up.  But its gonna be a hard climb!

One of my co-workers, Frank, is leaving Illinois for Idaho in a few weeks.  Its inspiring me to think “west”.  I don’t really like the thought of moving.  But, when it comes down to it.  Illinois is SO limited on recreation with the horses.  And I love the thought of doing REAL outdoor stuff with the kids.  Don posted some pictures of a day climb to Mt. Democrat a few weeks ago… I was SO jealous!   I told the kids that our next vacation should be out west, so we can get a view of that part of the country a little closer.  We loved our time in South Dakota last year.  Ang and I went to Glacier National Park  on our honeymoon…   But that is a big part of the country to contemplate!  Ang says shes ready! 

We are struggling with Aiden and his reading/writing homework.  He seems more able with counting and math.  But I can feel his frustration oozing out when he puts that pencil in his hand.   I think he just needs to spend more time doing it.  Well, thats how I feel right now about it.  Having him sit down and practice is one of the most nerve wracking and painful experiences for parents and Aiden alike.  Its gonna be a long 12 years till graduation!

Read Aiden, “Katy and the Big Snow” last night.  If it snows this weekend…  Please dont blame me for jinxing it.