Still January

A January thaw is promised for tomorrow. It's been cold for quite a while, so a little warm up is welcome.

A photo of Herb posing as the Michelin man on a cold January day.


Time for a short update on the curling team. We had to give up a point as handicap for the first time this year. The handicap system is meant to even the score so that the game is more likely to end in a tie. Since we've been on the streak, the league fathers have seen fit to rate us as a slightly stronger team. It made for an interesting game, as planned. We started fast, but our opponents came back to within a point in the final end. We had last rock, but didn't need it, winning 7-5. The streak is extended to four.

Last night was tennis with the hardcore girls. It was a close match and ended at a set each after 90 minutes 4-6, 7-5.

A little George Miller genealogy tidbit. He landed in New York in May, 1828, with his family. Where did he go from there until he surfaces in Steuben County Indiana and later, Bad Ax County, Wisconsin? Many, maybe a majority of Alsatian immigrants, settled in Western New York, especially in Erie County. Many others stayed in the Buffalo area for a short while before moving farther west, to places like Ontario and Ohio. Why was western New York such a popular destination? That is easy to explain. The Erie Canal had opened in 1825. It made western New York easily accessible from the Atlantic coast for the first time. For an immigrant arriving at New York harbor, looking for cheap unoccupied land to settle, Western New York was the easiest place to reach. There must be records of this immigrant family somewhere in upstate New York. A puzzle exists here that should be pursued.