Another day of staying inside. Looking out my window, I still don't see any ash (as was quite prevalent in my area in 2003), but the advisories for people to stay inside include my area. So, as extra precaution, I've had to again postpone all the things I need to get done.
Apparently the cell phone towers survived, because I still have cell service. As many people nowdays have no landline phones, just cell phones, keeping cell phones in service was very crucial. Though cell phones are very handy, many residents who had only cell phones were at a loss when it came to the "reverse 911 calls." Authorities can only call landline phones to alert people to evacuate. Most phone lines through DSL or cable aren't able to receive reverse 911 calls, either, depending on the provider. And, naturally, phones that depend on electricity, as all remote phones do, were of no use when power went out in various neighborhoods. (That's why I always have an extra "old-fashioned" corded phone connected as an extension. It doesn't rely on electricity.)
Fires continue to burn northeast and southeast of me and northwest up the coast in the Camp Pendleton area. According to the CBS 8 fire blog, there was a helicopter crash in the east part of San Diego county, northwest of Poway. None of the four inside were injured. It said those inside were surveyors from San Diego's electric company, to inspect the area damages. With as much traffic as there is in the air fighting this fire, it's amazing this has been the only incident.
More communities of people are allowed to go back to their homes, or what remains of them. With hope, soon San Diego will get back to normal--or should I say as much back to normal as possible, considering the circumstances.
The map links given in an earlier post have been changing in boundaries. For the current status, see previous postings.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I-5 Open Both Ways
It was just announced that I-5 was opened in both directions. Until now, only the southbound direction had been opened.
On the "eastern front" the battle goes on. In one hill area more towers are in danger, some being towers for cell phone transmission.
On the "eastern front" the battle goes on. In one hill area more towers are in danger, some being towers for cell phone transmission.
Local News Websites Covering Fires
Here are the local news websites that have coverage of the fires. The best I've found for both TV coverage and local coverage has been Channel 8, the local CBS station. Other local stations are KPBS (San Diego's PBS station), Channel 10 (San Diego's ABC station), Channel 7/39 (San Diego's NBC station), Channel 6 (San Diego's Fox station), Channel 9 (San Diego's independent station), and CW Channel 5 (San Diego's CW station, owned by the local Union-Tribune newspaper). Of course, there are also local Spanish-language stations and the radio stations I haven't listed.
It was just mentioned that MCAS Miramar is opening its gates for evacuating military families with ID cards. Earlier in the fire, this was closed because it was close to the evacuation areas to its north.
It was just mentioned that MCAS Miramar is opening its gates for evacuating military families with ID cards. Earlier in the fire, this was closed because it was close to the evacuation areas to its north.
Military Helicopters Aiding the Fight
One of the local news stations showed these pictures from the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Mirmar, the base that is north of where I live. This picture slide show changes scenes every few seconds, showing how military heliocopters are helping San Diego fight these fires. One of the helicopter features is that water can be scooped up from bodies of water and poured on the fires, as can be seen in these pictures.
Daybreak in SD
Well, it's daybreak. I've been averaging about 4 hours sleep these past couple of nights. I've been watching TV until bedtime, then listen to the radio until I'm about to drop off, then when I wake up in the middle of the night, have been checking the radio for any updates. This time I wasn't able to get back to sleep, so began updating this blog at 5 a.m.
Besides KPBS, I've been listening to another radio station. Someone there said that as much land has been burnt in San Diego County is equivalent to the entire island of Oahu in Hawaii. It was said that 68,000 homes are in danger of being lost. They were saying that more people have been displaced in San Diego County than the number of people displaced during Katrina.
I've noticed most of the newscasters are coughing from the smoke they've breathed in--even if they're inside the studio giving the news. I just heard that I-5 northbound is reopened, but it wasn't confirmed for southbound traffic.
I'm listening now to a briefing by Mayor Jerry Sanders. He has been telling of evacuation areas being lifted, where people can return to their homes (if their homes exist, that is!). One of the areas mentioned is where a friend lives, so maybe I will get a reply to my email. I've written several friends in North County, but hardly any replies, since most have had to evacuate.
Last night I read several articles on how those outside the area are covering San Diego's fire. San Jose's Mercury News gave a good article on what's been going on at Qualcomm Stadium. http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7262836?nclick_check=1.
Also, here's a map courtesy of KPBS and Google. Google allows people to adapt maps and KPBS added to the Google map of the area to show where the fires are, evacuation sites, etc. Map of San Diego County. If you enlarge the map, it doesn't look so much as if all the fires are in one place. I live at the 163/805 crossing, so you can see how I am in relation to all this.
Besides KPBS, I've been listening to another radio station. Someone there said that as much land has been burnt in San Diego County is equivalent to the entire island of Oahu in Hawaii. It was said that 68,000 homes are in danger of being lost. They were saying that more people have been displaced in San Diego County than the number of people displaced during Katrina.
I've noticed most of the newscasters are coughing from the smoke they've breathed in--even if they're inside the studio giving the news. I just heard that I-5 northbound is reopened, but it wasn't confirmed for southbound traffic.
I'm listening now to a briefing by Mayor Jerry Sanders. He has been telling of evacuation areas being lifted, where people can return to their homes (if their homes exist, that is!). One of the areas mentioned is where a friend lives, so maybe I will get a reply to my email. I've written several friends in North County, but hardly any replies, since most have had to evacuate.
Last night I read several articles on how those outside the area are covering San Diego's fire. San Jose's Mercury News gave a good article on what's been going on at Qualcomm Stadium. http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7262836?nclick_check=1.
Also, here's a map courtesy of KPBS and Google. Google allows people to adapt maps and KPBS added to the Google map of the area to show where the fires are, evacuation sites, etc. Map of San Diego County. If you enlarge the map, it doesn't look so much as if all the fires are in one place. I live at the 163/805 crossing, so you can see how I am in relation to all this.
San Diego Fires
As everyone may--or may not--know, I live in San Diego. So although this isn't genealogy-related, I thought I'd give everyone back East a personal heads up on what's been happening aside from what you've been seeing on the news. My brother in the Palm Springs area has been watching the news and called me Tuesday to see if I wanted him to come get me. From what he'd been hearing, every part of San Diego was on fire. Well, much of it is, mostly the rural areas. At present, my area, which isn't rural, hasn't been affected--in fact, I live about 2 miles north of where so many have been evacauted to Qualcomm Station. But as of early this morning, the smoke that my area (Kearny Mesa) has been able to avoid has now started to penetrate the air, despite my windows being closed. Because I'm near the coast, the winds have been calm, compared to the wild Santa Ana winds that have been active in the east part of the county.
During the day I've been watching the local news and at night (and the times I wake up during the night) on radio. When I woke up around 5 a.m. today, I heard that I-5 was closed up at Camp Pendleton and has been packed with cars trying to evacuate the area, besides truckers who would normally be on the road. I just heard that Amtrak train service north from San Diego has also been suspended because of this area because it goes between I-5 and the coast. The fire has even jumped the train tracks. Another road that goes north, I-15, which is east of I-5, has been reopened, so there is some way of getting north. (I-15 is the route I usually take to visit family in the Palm Springs area.)
Monday I had a job interview which was cancelled due to being in an evacuation area. At that time I-15 was closed in certain parts and access to the location was blocked. Job ads have been slimmer in the past days, too, because many businesses are either in danger or have suspended hiring during this chaos. So, in other ways this fire has been taking a toll. I usually can go through a temp agency to keep me going until I can find a full time job. But now, most of the places I would be "booked" as a temp are in locations that are evacuated. In addition, it's advised for people to stay indoors due to the bad air. (Having mild asthma that flares when things such as smoke is in the air, I've been staying inside, even though I'd wanted to volunteer at the Qualcomm evacuation.) As a result, I haven't been able to work any this week and may not be able to come up with my November rent.
The authorities have said for everyone to stay off cell phones and conserve electricity and water as much as possible. So, as mentioned, I've mostly been listening to the TV and radio. However, yesterday the fire on one of the mountains destroyed the towers of several local TV and radio stations. The San Diego PBS station, which is affiliated with my college San Diego State University, was knocked off the air. Although the TV is only available via Cable TV, which I don't have, I can still get updates via radio. Another San Diego radio station is allowing KPBS to use their tower, as KPBS has more news coverage than they do. To hear the local news, you can also listen online: Listen to KPBS Radio.
Well...back to listening for the latest...
During the day I've been watching the local news and at night (and the times I wake up during the night) on radio. When I woke up around 5 a.m. today, I heard that I-5 was closed up at Camp Pendleton and has been packed with cars trying to evacuate the area, besides truckers who would normally be on the road. I just heard that Amtrak train service north from San Diego has also been suspended because of this area because it goes between I-5 and the coast. The fire has even jumped the train tracks. Another road that goes north, I-15, which is east of I-5, has been reopened, so there is some way of getting north. (I-15 is the route I usually take to visit family in the Palm Springs area.)
Monday I had a job interview which was cancelled due to being in an evacuation area. At that time I-15 was closed in certain parts and access to the location was blocked. Job ads have been slimmer in the past days, too, because many businesses are either in danger or have suspended hiring during this chaos. So, in other ways this fire has been taking a toll. I usually can go through a temp agency to keep me going until I can find a full time job. But now, most of the places I would be "booked" as a temp are in locations that are evacuated. In addition, it's advised for people to stay indoors due to the bad air. (Having mild asthma that flares when things such as smoke is in the air, I've been staying inside, even though I'd wanted to volunteer at the Qualcomm evacuation.) As a result, I haven't been able to work any this week and may not be able to come up with my November rent.
The authorities have said for everyone to stay off cell phones and conserve electricity and water as much as possible. So, as mentioned, I've mostly been listening to the TV and radio. However, yesterday the fire on one of the mountains destroyed the towers of several local TV and radio stations. The San Diego PBS station, which is affiliated with my college San Diego State University, was knocked off the air. Although the TV is only available via Cable TV, which I don't have, I can still get updates via radio. Another San Diego radio station is allowing KPBS to use their tower, as KPBS has more news coverage than they do. To hear the local news, you can also listen online: Listen to KPBS Radio.
Well...back to listening for the latest...
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Revamped Complete Loy Website
To commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of The Complete Loy History Website, over the next month or two, you'll be seeing changes in the site layout. I plan to start designing more up-to-date graphics, such as navigation buttons, and having more consistant color schemes.
A lot has changed since I began the site in 1997. I was just learning hand-coded HTML. Today, my B.A. minor and upcoming M.A. major include website design with Dreamweaver, Flash, and other graphics software. The day I signed up for the site, I thought I might get a dozen visitors, if I was that lucky. I never realized how many people worldwide would be researching Loy families and contacting me due to the site! Between 1997 to now I've: battled cancer, returned to college, moved to San Diego (to transfer to the University), and have met oodles of cousins along the way.
My thanks goes out to everyone who has written me over the years with encouragement and compliments regarding the site. I hope everyone enjoys this eventual revised layout.
A lot has changed since I began the site in 1997. I was just learning hand-coded HTML. Today, my B.A. minor and upcoming M.A. major include website design with Dreamweaver, Flash, and other graphics software. The day I signed up for the site, I thought I might get a dozen visitors, if I was that lucky. I never realized how many people worldwide would be researching Loy families and contacting me due to the site! Between 1997 to now I've: battled cancer, returned to college, moved to San Diego (to transfer to the University), and have met oodles of cousins along the way.
My thanks goes out to everyone who has written me over the years with encouragement and compliments regarding the site. I hope everyone enjoys this eventual revised layout.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Get Them Now: Civil War Records May Soon Cost More
If you've been putting off getting a relative's Civil War papers from the National Archives, you'd better do it soon. According to the 7 March 2007 edition of Rootsweb Review, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) plans to increase its costs for copying its holdings. The hardest hit will be Civil War documents, which may soon be over four times its present fee. The increases are still in deliberation, but to insure you don't have to pay more later, don't put off ordering now.
To read more about this in detail, along with its links to the NARA concerning this price hike, go to the 7 March 2007 Rootsweb Review newsletter archived at http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/0307.txt
Considering the high cost of obtaining military papers, land records, etc. from government offices, it's a shame we all can't scan and pool together images of our historical records on a website, making them accessible to other family members. Naturally, the site would have to be on a big server, to hold the big image files. Just an idea. What's your opinion?
To read more about this in detail, along with its links to the NARA concerning this price hike, go to the 7 March 2007 Rootsweb Review newsletter archived at http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/review/2007/0307.txt
Considering the high cost of obtaining military papers, land records, etc. from government offices, it's a shame we all can't scan and pool together images of our historical records on a website, making them accessible to other family members. Naturally, the site would have to be on a big server, to hold the big image files. Just an idea. What's your opinion?
Library Thing
In a recent Rootsweb newsletter, mention was made regarding the LibraryThing.com website. This site allows people to catalogue up to 200 of their books for free--over 200 books require a fee. The use for the ordinary user is so people can share their taste in books. As we well know, genealogists aren't ordinary (LOL) so this beta site gives us another use. We can see what books other researchers have, and share lookups.
I encourage everyone to get a LibraryThing account and list genealogy books you own so we can share what we have. The registration is so simple, all you have to do is make up a username and password--no email address, name, address, etc. is asked. After you have your list, come back and post your list URL in the "reply" section for this entry.
To view the books I've catalogued so far, go to this address: http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=loyhistory
I encourage everyone to get a LibraryThing account and list genealogy books you own so we can share what we have. The registration is so simple, all you have to do is make up a username and password--no email address, name, address, etc. is asked. After you have your list, come back and post your list URL in the "reply" section for this entry.
To view the books I've catalogued so far, go to this address: http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=loyhistory
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
People and Books
As a teen, my favorite haunt was the public library. My family often moved, so my local libraries ranged from a fairly large-size building--a place to get lost among myriads of towering shelves of books--to a small-town, tiny, two-room building with a scanty collection reminiscent of a thrift store offering. Being a year or so before I started into genealogy, my interests were more in fiction and non-fiction than reference sections. Despite the adage "you can't judge a book by its cover," I would be introduced to many of my favorite books by wandering through the bookshelf aisles, finding an interesting title--or cover illustration--and seeing if the book's plot outline interested me enough to read the whole story. Philosophical in those days, I contemplated all the fascinating, unread stories hidden behind each spine cover in the endless sea of shelved books. People were much like books, I mused, with a yet (to me) unread story behind each cover, the unfathomed life stories of strangers in a crowd. I put these thoughts in my teen journal: "Each person is a story that began long, long ago."
As years passed and I began tracing my family--not just ancestors, but distant cousins, too--I found my old saying truer. I've been chronicling countless descendants of one common ancestor. Some people were popular in their community and have much written about them in local histories, giving me their life story. For other people, I only have a name and, if I'm lucky, vital dates for them. But people are more than just names. When I look at these "bare" names, I'm curious to hear the rest of the story.
Most of these "forgotten cousins" are descendants of female Loys. After all, many early genealogists seemed to care only for the carried-on surname. Thus, only male generations were recorded in detail, with nothing but a name and maybe birth year for the daughters. But what about the daughters? What happened to the young girl after the last census where she appeared? Did she die young, live a life of singleness, or marry? Did she have children? Did she stay in the locality or move elsewhere? Or what about the son who "disappeared" from family records just because he went West or was the "black sheep"? What happened to these after they were "last seen" in census?? Where are their descendants today? Who are they? (Maybe, unbeknownst, your best friend or neighbor--or the co-worker you can't stand!) Do these people today carry on family traits we both inherited from a common ancestor from long ago? Or family stories? Are they trying to research our common line, but unable to find the woman's maiden name--info I have--while I'm trying to locate her married surname??
Each individual's story connects with the story of each generation back. And forward as well, depending on the researcher's viewpoint. In my quest to locate "forgotten cousins," I search for the continuing story. And when "a lead" helps me locate them and their descendants in later census and current to the 1930, it increases chances of finding living descendants or their close kin. And then, at last, maybe I can hear the rest of the story.
As years passed and I began tracing my family--not just ancestors, but distant cousins, too--I found my old saying truer. I've been chronicling countless descendants of one common ancestor. Some people were popular in their community and have much written about them in local histories, giving me their life story. For other people, I only have a name and, if I'm lucky, vital dates for them. But people are more than just names. When I look at these "bare" names, I'm curious to hear the rest of the story.
Most of these "forgotten cousins" are descendants of female Loys. After all, many early genealogists seemed to care only for the carried-on surname. Thus, only male generations were recorded in detail, with nothing but a name and maybe birth year for the daughters. But what about the daughters? What happened to the young girl after the last census where she appeared? Did she die young, live a life of singleness, or marry? Did she have children? Did she stay in the locality or move elsewhere? Or what about the son who "disappeared" from family records just because he went West or was the "black sheep"? What happened to these after they were "last seen" in census?? Where are their descendants today? Who are they? (Maybe, unbeknownst, your best friend or neighbor--or the co-worker you can't stand!) Do these people today carry on family traits we both inherited from a common ancestor from long ago? Or family stories? Are they trying to research our common line, but unable to find the woman's maiden name--info I have--while I'm trying to locate her married surname??
Each individual's story connects with the story of each generation back. And forward as well, depending on the researcher's viewpoint. In my quest to locate "forgotten cousins," I search for the continuing story. And when "a lead" helps me locate them and their descendants in later census and current to the 1930, it increases chances of finding living descendants or their close kin. And then, at last, maybe I can hear the rest of the story.
Monday, February 19, 2007
To Make It More Complete....
Many people have asked why I named my book "The Complete Loy History" when it didn't cover all the Loys to America, just Martin Loy. The answer is that this was only the first part of the title, while the rest of the title identified it as being on Martin Loy's descendants. I'd hoped all the Loy branches could get together and we could make a Loy encyclopedia, "The Complete Loy History, featuring descendants of [Loy immigrant's name]." That never materialized. With the website, it came to being more as I'd intended, but I think this blog will do more to fulfill that by getting all the Loy related websites together.
Does anyone author a gedcom or webpage that has Loy descendant genealogy or pictures on it? Here's the place to post their URLs. Leave a comment to this post with the name of immigrant Loy ancestor, and, if not the same generation, details how the earliest Loy in the gedcom or webpage descends from that ancestor, along with the website address. The subjects don't have to have the Loy surname, just as long as they have a Loy ancestor.
By the way, I currently have a moderator setting for comments, so if your post takes a day to show up, that's normal. I was getting so much spam in the Loy Guestbook that I had to change the settings to where I'd see the post before it posted to the guestbook. To avoid similar problems, I decided to do the same for the blog.
Does anyone author a gedcom or webpage that has Loy descendant genealogy or pictures on it? Here's the place to post their URLs. Leave a comment to this post with the name of immigrant Loy ancestor, and, if not the same generation, details how the earliest Loy in the gedcom or webpage descends from that ancestor, along with the website address. The subjects don't have to have the Loy surname, just as long as they have a Loy ancestor.
By the way, I currently have a moderator setting for comments, so if your post takes a day to show up, that's normal. I was getting so much spam in the Loy Guestbook that I had to change the settings to where I'd see the post before it posted to the guestbook. To avoid similar problems, I decided to do the same for the blog.
Welcome to the new Newsletter format!!
Greetings Loy Cousins and anyone else interested in Loy history!
Being after midnight, I'll make "tonight's" post as short as I can. At long last I've entered the Blogworld!!! Seven years ago a distant cousin suggested I get a Loy blog. (Sorry Angela I've been so slow at taking your advice. ;-) At the time I didn't know how Blogs worked, or what I'd even use one for. However, last week I was greatly influenced by the blog of some other distant Loy cousins and decided my weekend projects would include adding a blog to the Loy site.
Keep watching for more to follow in the coming week...as I learn more how these Blogs work...
Being after midnight, I'll make "tonight's" post as short as I can. At long last I've entered the Blogworld!!! Seven years ago a distant cousin suggested I get a Loy blog. (Sorry Angela I've been so slow at taking your advice. ;-) At the time I didn't know how Blogs worked, or what I'd even use one for. However, last week I was greatly influenced by the blog of some other distant Loy cousins and decided my weekend projects would include adding a blog to the Loy site.
Keep watching for more to follow in the coming week...as I learn more how these Blogs work...
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