The Office Move Is Over

The old office a couple days before settlement was nearly empty. The day before settlement, we got 10 inches of snow. Fortunately, I had spent the weekend prior to that moving the remaining "big and heavy" items! I was and am also tremendously grateful for the kindness of the one of the old office neighbors that helped clear the snow from the parking lot and walkways on the day of settlement - making the "walk through" go very smoothly. He is a gem and a real gentleman.

The books all moved, weeded out, sorted and arranged on shelves.

The provisioning of the phones and Internet services went smoothly even though there was 5 inches of muddy slushy snow on the ground. Verizon gets an A+ for this.

The servers were in a rack but the rack was too tall to fit on in this room (being 8 feet 4 inches tall. So I placed the servers on a mobile cart. I think this arrangement actually works better since I can push the cart away from the wall to get at the wiring behind the servers.

The new phone lines (voice and fax) went in seamlessly, and the new Internet connection was quickly "configured" for the new IP addresses.

One of the moving days was hampered by a 1/4 inch glaze of "black ice". Oh joy! No injuries to man or cargo occurred though.

After the "sorting through" all the all stuff, I actually ended up with a bunch of empty shelves. No fear, we will fill them soon! I raised the painting about 8 inches - and hung a lot of the other "artwork" so the new office seems more comfortable. The blue lighted gizmos on top are routers and computer backup devices.

UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supplies) getting tested - the last time I tested some of them was 2007. 4 of the 5 still work properly. These things have lead batteries in them and weight 20-30 pounds each and are a pain to move!

There are still some odds and ends to "find a home" for and some sorting, sifting and (hopefully throwing away) to do - mostly my unorganized brother's "stuff."

A Trip to Cuba

Today is a wintry, gloomy day here in the Philadelphia, PA suburbs. It snow flurried briefly this morning - leaving some powdery slippery spots here and there - we've about an inch on the ground (and piles in the parking lots) that is rock solid - it rained briefly and then the temperature plummeted into the teens. I'll be glad to see spring (I almost always am!). I hate the gloom more than the muddy snow mess.

I've not posted anything lately - I've been very busy with moving things from our office of 15 years to my house - I've thrown away tons of dated paper (and paperwork) - and emptied, in order to move them, twenty 4-drawer file cabinets. I've about 3 more cabinets to go. It's sort of like seeing my past life go by ... years of "work efforts" being tossed or shredded - computer-related "stuff" gets obsolete so very quickly - some days I feel obsolete too!

Recently, I logged into Ancestry.com and saw a "shaking leaf" attached to my paternal g-grand-father. Curious, I went to see what it was all about and was surprised to find a record of him and his wife traveling on the SS Northland from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, arriving back in the USA on February 24, 1928.

Harry Davis Mousley was born on July 3, 1883 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and died at the age of 47 on November 9, 1930. He (hopefully) enjoyed his trip to Cuba that he took about two years before he died.

My dad has no direct recollections of his grandparents - or their journeys - as they were both dead before he was born.

The Peninsular and Occidental steamship line was a part of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. It leased the SS Northland from the Eastern Steamship Company for the winter travel/tourist season. The ship on the far right is the Northland.

In a strange coincidence, the same day I found this record in Ancestry, my parents called and informed me they were going to the Florida Keys for three weeks this month, and will be in Key West on February 24!

Maybe my dad will sense the ghost of his paternal grandparents there? I have stood at the cruise ship dock in Key West - and seen the remains of the Florida East Coast Railroad in the Florida Keys - many of the railroad bridges are now fishing piers and/or part of a 132 mile long walking trail, of which I have walked about half. Did my g-grandparents ride the the long-gone train (it died in 1934 when wiped out by a hurricane)? I can only wonder.

New Year 2015

I was unable to determine what became of my Mother's childhood "long walk" friend posted previously. However, she mentioned another childhood friend that was last seen at her wedding 57 years ago. After a couple hours of "pigheaded" sessions with Google, I found the woman's daughter-in-law and an email address! My mom spoke to the daughter-in-law and will talk to her friend soon. I guess batting 50-50 isn't too bad.

The year 2015 will include some big changes for me. The office was put up for sale and the first two months of 2015 will be busy with sorting through years of stuff and moving.

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't afford to keep the building.

Two Little Girls Tired of Bread...

Far Side of Fifty spotted an old newspaper article in my mother's old photo display. The story tells of one of my mother's earliest childhood memories. The article is dated March 3, 1941.

Two Little Girls Tired of Bread After Five-Hour Walk With Loaf

There was no place like home for two little girls in Roxbury [a Boston, Massachusetts suburb] last night.

Walking may be enjoyable and bread may be good to eat, but 5-year-old Evelyn Belyea of 8 Kensington st., and her little pal, Lois Bush [my mother], 3, who lives next door, have learned the sad lesson that there can be too much of two good things.

When her mother sent her for a loaf of bread at 11:30 a.m., yesterday, Evelyn took her fox terrier, "Trixie" and called for Lois. After buying the bread, the youngsters decided that a walk would be "just the thing."

Their little legs carried the kiddies more than two miles, to Forest Hills, before protesting. The the two tired girls started the dreary trek homeward. Long before patrolman Daniel J. Crowe of the Jamaica Plain station sighted them at Egleston sq., about 4:30 p.m., and recognized them as "the missing kids," they had tired of their day-long diet of bread and felt the "prodigal's" proverbial yearning for fatted calf.

I wonder what's become of my mother's friend?