Twins in the family - Maude and Maurice Wise

This picture shows my Great-Grandmother Maude Wise Brubaker Yontz and her twin brother Maurice James Wise.

They were born on December 9, 1877 in Whitley County, Indiana. There is no date written on the back so I don't know when the picture was taken but based on several other photographs of Maude, it was probably in the mid-late 1920s. Maurice died on July 25, 1943 in an automobile accident in Elkhart, Indiana. He was 65 years old.

This is a very nice picture but it has an amusing aspect as well, at least to me. Looking at this picture, you wouldn't know that Maude stood just a little over 5 feet tall, perhaps 5'3" at the most, while Maurice was 6'2" tall (according to my mother). You can distinctly see the height difference in the Wise family photograph included in the biography of their parents, William P. Wise and Sophia Dunfee. (Scroll about halfway down the page.)

At the time of his death, Maurice was living at 103 North Nottawa Street in Sturgis, Michigan and was the owner of the Wise Restaurant in Sturgis. His obituary said he was active in civic affairs at Sturgis and had been living there for six years. Again, according to my mother, Maurice had never been married and didn't have any children. I really don't know any more about him, I'll have to ask my mother and her sisters again, but in the past all they have said is that he owned a restaurant and was much taller than his twin sister.

Jonas Joslin :: Warning Out 1814

On September 29, .. I visited the Town Clerk's Office in Charlotte which lies on the east side of Lake Champlain in central Vermont.

According to the book “Vermont Warnings Out” by Alden M. Rollins (Picton Press, Camden, Maine, no date) there was a record of a “Warning Out” for Jonas Joslin in the Charlotte Town Records dated March 1, 1814. Apparently, occasionally, some town records for Warnings Out include additional information, including names of other family members. So I was hoping that the record for Jonas would contain more than just his name, but it was not to be. As a result, although I think it is, I don't know for sure if this is “our” Jonas Joslin or not.

By 1814, warnings out were generally issued by the town selectmen to poor people - those who, for whatever reason, could not take care of themselves or their families. They apparently had a year to prove otherwise. Mr. Rollins states that in Vermont, many were warned but few were expelled.

According to family tradition passed down by descendants of Jonas Joslin Jr., he and his older brother James (my ancestor) left Vermont in 1816 by canoe, via Lake Champlain, and went to Delaware County, Ohio. Charlotte is located on Lake Champlain. Could they have left from Charlotte?

Is the Jonas Joslin mentioned in the warnings out record the same one who purchased land in Delaware County, Ohio in October 1818? It is doubtful that we'll ever know for sure.

Town Records. Volume 2. Charlotte.

56.) Chittenden County. To either Constable of Charlotte in Said County Greeting

You are hereby commanded to Summon Jonas Joslin now residing in Charlotte to depart said town hereof fail not but of this precept and your doings thereon due return make according to law. Given under our hands Charlotte March 1st 1814

Sheldon Wheeler, Nehemiah Lowrey } Selectmen

Chittenden fs. I served this precept on the within Jonas Joslin by putting into his hands a true copy of this Summon. Charlotte March 1st 1814 ~ Ezra Halt Constable

Received March 3d 1814 and recorded from the original.
Attest Zadock Wheeler Town Clerk

Mt. Si

Mt. Si is the big hill, with the rocky top, right behind North Bend. For the most part, it is a hike on a dirt trail in the shade of tall evergreens. There is an inviting feature at the top called the Haystack. It consists of a few hundred feet of easy rock scrambling. It is fun to weave your own route to the top. For some reason it seems steeper on the way down.

The clouds rolled in as we reached the top. Pictured are: Dennis, Sabrina, Dave, Cody, Doug, Bethany, Danielle and Jim.

GREEK Easter Now

Purse or Pocket?

For as long as I can remember, I have loathed those things that are known as purses: small handbags designed to house not books, laptops or groceries, but tiny personal belongings such as a wallet, phone and keys. Traditionally women have carried purses, because their clothing is not designed with pockets to accommodate these miscellaneous items. Even when pockets exist, their design is not actually useful for storing things without distorting the fit of the garment or even interfering with movement. And so historically, women have carried tiny handbags, seldom experiencing the freedom of walking around empty-handed, the peace of mind of not constantly having to look after one's belongings, and the fun of spontaneous mobility (try running down the street with a purse).



In the twentieth century, some women have taken this up as a feminist issue, refusing to carry a purse out of principle and only buying clothing with well-designed pockets. But for the most part, the purse trend persists, with fashion designers making a fortune on this accessory every season.





For me it's not really a political thing, but I do get frustrated carrying a purse. Over the years I've made an art of finding clothing with proper pockets, or else adding my own pockets to garments. Even for 90°F summer heat, I own skirts and sundresses with cleverly placed pockets for my wallet, keys and phone.



Looking at a friend's vast collection of diminutive handbags one day, I asked why she preferred this method of carrying her things. She replied that this way everything is always in one place, and she need not move it from jacket to jacket as I do. That makes sense - except that she switches from one purse to another on a semi-daily basis, so she still ultimately has to move everything over. But explanations are about subjective perceptions of reality, and this was how she saw it. When I talk of purses being a burden, those who like them probably think it's mostly in my head as well.



I've been thinking about the purse vs pocket issue more since I started cycling. When riding a bike - particularly if that bike is not bolt upright - pocket design presents a special challenge, as contents can spill out more easily than when walking. Clothing that is marketed as cycling-specific, even for commuting, usually features lots of complicated pockets that try to get around this. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Personally, I find the rear pocket design of the cycling jersey to be an extremely efficient way to carry small items on the bike, and I've wondered what elegant method can be devised to translate this into streetwear and maybe even business-casual attire. Begrudgingly I've ridden my bike with a purse in the basket or strapped to the rear rack now and again, but I always wish for pockets.



I am wondering what my female readers prefer. And does it depend on whether you are on or off the bike?

SCII - conditions looking pretty ok

SCII conditons on Friday Dec. 11 - We drove to the parking area, hiked in and shot photos of the conditions. Wow, it never ceases to amaze me how fast the ice comes in here. Just the previous day I went to check conditions and there was ice, but not that much. By now I shouldn't be surprised at the amount of ice here as it is some of the biggest, earliest and most reliable ice in PA. Next weekend I'm sure the lines will be in great condition and we'll be picking our way up old favorites. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that with a little luck and some kindness from the weather I'll get an early season crack at the FFA of The Sick-le my long standing project! I first climbed it via top rope early in the 2006/2007 season after visiting climber Joel Toretti and I scoped it out from afar in late season 2005/2006. The fickle, Sick-le has been eluding me year after year. Then in Feb. after another in and out PA ice season, I was bolting the mixed section and checking the solidity. I was under the gun to get on or wait another year. I had just put a bolt in and kicked the monster to knock down the dangerous daggers near the bottom of the main sicle. A loud creak and the massive free hanging SICK-LE itself came crashing down a mere foot from my face while hanging from the rope. The decision was made for me, it was not to be climbed that season. The fall and explosion was massive and I was glad to NOT get on (crushed). Makes all that little rockfall most rock climbers experience seem trivial by far... Videographer Ray Burnsworth caught most of it on video. While a short video was edited for our personal viewing. Rayman willing, the whole spectacle will be put out for viewing after the FFA. Check out Ray's webpage to see various footage of SWPA climbing and more. http://www.wildfilmproductions.com/cinema.html

Above photo: Laura checking on our local playground of 100'-200'+ lines at SC II. The Sick-le is the last large flow on the right end.

Ida Joslin Dressler Lewis (1863-1937)

Before posting more letters from Ida, I thought perhaps a little background information might be helpful.

Ida Blanch Joslin, the 11th child of Lysander and Lydia Robison Joslin, was born on July 11, 1863 in Whitley County, Indiana. She was three years old when the family moved to Jefferson County, Iowa. In August 1868 they returned to Whitley County then in 1877, Lysander and Lydia moved to Barton County, Kansas taking with them their four youngest children: 17 year old Andrew; Ida, 13; Della, 10; and Elmus, age 8.

Now, a bit of a mystery develops. Among those listed in the household of Lysander in the 1880 federal census for Cheyenne township, Barton County, Kansas was a one year old son, Charles Joslin. It is not likely that Charles is actually a son of Lysander and Lydia as Lydia would have been about 54 years old when Charles was born. It is more likely that Charles was a son of their daughter Ida, who would have been about 15 years old when he was born. Charles lived with Lysander and Lydia. He is listed in the 1885 and 1895 Kansas state census records with them. There is a transcription of "Father's Bible" which lists all of the children and their dates of birth. Charles is not among those listed. We (Joslin researchers) had not had any success in locating Charles until recently.

In December I decided to check the World War I Draft Registration Cards on ancestry.com and found the record for Charley Sylvester Joslin. Dated September 12, 1918, his permanent home address was given as the National Military Home in Kansas. He was 39 years old, born March 4th 1879. But what was most interesting was the name of his nearest relative: Mrs. S. T. Lewis. The name of Ida's second husband was Sam Lewis. In the 1930 census for the National Military Home, Delaware Township, Leavenworth, Kansas (page 136) is a Charley S. Joslin, male, white, 51, single, born Kansas, parents born Indiana, no occupation, veteran of Sp [Spanish-American War].

Another researcher then found a record of burial for Charley in the Leavenworth National Cemetery, he died April 25, 1934. Next step will be to see if we can get a copy of his death record and/or obituary. I also found a military pension card for a Charley S. Joslin. The card shows he served in Co. "I" 17 Reg't U.S. Inf., Enlisted Sept. 27, 1902, Discharged Sept. 26, 1905. The dates of service don't coincide with the Spanish-American War so I'm not sure if it is worth spending $75 for a copy of his record to satisfy my curiosity to find out if this is "our" Charley.

Okay, now, back to Ida. On July 20, 1882 Ida was married to John G. Dressler at Oden, Barton County, Kansas. John was about 15 years older than Ida. In December 1883 their daughter Elnora was born, followed on February 24, 1885 by the birth of their son, Joseph. The 1900 census shows John Dressler living with his second wife. They had been married 3 years, so we know that John and Ida were divorced before 1897. Joseph was living with his father in Russell County, Kansas and Elnora was with her mother living in a boarding house on McGee Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

Ida has not been located in the 1910 census yet. But we know from the draft registration card of Charles Joslin that she was married to Sam Lewis prior to September 1918. In 1920, Sam and Ida were living on East 9th Street Kansas City, Missouri and in 1930 they were living on Wabash Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

We haven't discovered when Elnora Dressler died. She has a marker with no dates next to that of her mother and Sam Lewis in Mt. Washington Cemetery, Kansas City.

The only clue we had regarding the whereabouts of Joseph Dressler was in Ida's obituary which stated that a son, Joseph, lived in New Mexico. Once the census indexes became available online it was a relatively simple task to locate him. To make a long story short, in September .., I made contact with a grandson of Joseph Dressler. Joe had married Belva Roe about 1904 in Kansas and had three children (Arthur born 1905, Lola born 1907, and Chester born 1910) before moving to Torrance County, New Mexico sometime between 1910 and 1920. Joe didn't have any contact with his mother until after his father passed away. He did visit her several times and took care of settling her estate.

I sent the information that I had on John and Ida to Joseph's grandson along with some of the information on Lysander and Lydia. I also included some blank family group sheets, hoping he'd fill them out with the missing information, but alas, I never heard from him and having gotten off onto other things, never followed up.

Ida Joslin Dressler Lewis passed away on March 4, 1937 in Kansas City "of pneumonia which followed influenza. Mrs. Lewis and her husband were stricken with illness some weeks ago and were taken to the hospital. Mr. Lewis passed away four weeks ago. Mrs. Lewis died of shock when told of her husband's death last Friday by a friend who visited her at the hospital." She was 73 years old.

The letters from Ida being posted were written to her sister, Malissa Joslin Brubaker Bower, who passed away at the age of 88 on September 30, 1937 - just six months after Ida's death. The other two sisters mentioned in the letters were Roxie Parkison, who died March 5, 1941 aged 87 in Ottawa County, Oklahoma and Della Quillen who died February 7, 1943 in Darlington County, South Carolina, age 76.



Ida Blanch Joslin Dressler Lewis and her husband Sam Lewis



Caption on back of the photo:
back yard under the Peach Trees the building is out in the ally
an old Garage of neighbor it spoiles the Picture he is an old ___

Upside down text was written by Malissa:
Sister Ida Lewis & hubby Sam Lewis Kansas City MO

Bath Week

It has been bath week for the horses.




I can't do more than one horse a day. It takes about 2 hours from start to finish and by then I am totally exhosted even with hubby's help. We did Stormy the black pony the first day. Then Traveler the other pony. Yesterday it was the old gelding, Sunny, and today it was Nita, my quarter horse mare. Sometime during the week I also bathed my border collie, Tuffee who was in need of a bath the worse. She has a habit of rolling in horse poop when she knows I am not looking ever once in a while. Of course she and our other dog, Ziva were on hand to make sure we got the horses done right. Tuffee did her best to 'herd' the horses while I worked with them. Of course all the horses like their bath especially the horse cookies that are handed out while they get their baths.

Welding and Brazing: a Visual

When I wrote about fillet brazing (a lugless form of brazing) earlier, some wanted to know what was the difference between that process and welding. The quick and simplified answer is like this: welding involves heating up and joining two pieces of metal to one another directly; brazing involves using another material (one with a lower melting point) to join them, sort of like a hot glue. Last week I photographed an unpainted frame made for Josh of Bike Safe Boston that shows the two methods alongside.






Here is a shot of the underside of the frame, by the bottom bracket area. On the right is a welded kickstand plate, and next to it on the left are two little braze-ons that are (I think) cable guides. Notice the pools of golden liquid (melted brass) that surround the braze-ons, but not the welded plate. Instead, the welded plate and the chainstays it is attached to are a sort of rainbow colour, from the weld pool that is formed when joining the two pieces.






Similarly, here you can see that the seat cluster joint is welded (weld pool rainbow), but the little rack attachment point on the chainstay is brazed on (brassy border).






My description is simplistic and leaves a great deal out, but it's an easy visual for a layperson to identify brazing vs welding on a "raw" or unpainted frame. I love the colourful look the juxtaposition of both techniques creates on this one - built by Ted Wojcik and designed by DBC City Bikes. More pictures here.

"Queensland - The Steep State" The Crux Magazine story

Featuring the Phil Box photo that went to number one in the U.S. for 3 months on rockclimbing.com

Click on the story to enlarge and read.





The Rock! mag story







Poster that appeared in Crux 4



Photo: Neil Montieth





"Call of Duty" 28 Coolum Cave The very long and very steep "Call of Duty" is an extension of the original Gareth Llewellyn line "Weapon of Choice".





Photo: Antoine Mousette

Eagle in a tree

I just get home from work
and what do I see...
An Eagle in a tree
and he's lookin' at me!

More Apple Blossoms

The Curious Case of the Commercial Umbilical Strengths?

Better said, "Who knows what they will actually hold?"



I guess I am not surprised when I look at the inability of Petzl to have aconsistentumbilical attachment point incorporated into all their technicaltools. Whilein comparison,BDbuilds and then load tests theirs to 1500# or better. Of course neither theirumbilical or anyone leashes will take 1500#. Grivel?They want you totie into a plastic part on some of their tools! The rest of the tool business? It isno better or worse.



Just a small case study of the extremes in the ice climbing equipment world.



Why we as a climbing communityput up with this kind of nonsense is truly stupefyinghowever.



From Left to right:

BD Sprinner leash, old style Grivel Spring leash and a Metolius FS Mini Wiregate









BD flat steel mini biner is good for 1500# or more but 2Kn (450#) rated by the UIAA tag on 13mm (1/2"?) tube webbing. (1/2" nylon tube was rated @ 1800# in the old Chouinard catalog)



Th nylon webbing is likely to always be the weak link on any umbilical.



2kn is the UIAA requirement for leashes. What the hell are they thinking when they write that kind of requirement when it gets applied to umbilicals?



Black Diamond sez:



"Just tested this to 800lbs (single leg of the Spinner leash). No damage to the 4mm cord or our steel clip (production quality with more tumbling to the part); the bungee webbing breaks first. Then pull tested our steel biner clipped to 5mm cord, this went to 1600lbs before the cord broke."



More? This after my earlier comments about umbilicals "being fashionable" and not being designed specifically for the use.



"The steel clip on the spinner leash is anything but fashionable. If I made it out of aluminum it would be a lot lighter and weaker (hence more fashionable), and if I made the gate opening smaller and the gate shorter, it would be a lot stiffer for a given diameter of wire. The strength of that clip is somewhere north of 3000lbs (I don't know how strong it really is because everything I have tested it with broke first) ."



Of course no accounting for the fact that the BD Spinner leashes have the nasty and well know habit of popping off at any given moment.



Grivel flat aluminum biner is stamped "3Kn" (675#) on 16mm (9/16"?) tube webbing (9/16" tube was rated @ 2800# in the old Chouinard catalog)



I've no clue what the Grivel is actually good tostrength wise. But the same binerwas soldas a key chain holder. I have blown the sheath on 4mm cord connecting a single side strand of the Grivel. Biner and webbing seem unharmed. So better than the 3Kn that is stamped in the Grivel biner I suspect. Grivel went to a mini locking boner early on. They might be on to something since Grivel was the first company to offer a commercial umbilical.



Metolius FS Mini Wiregatebiner is engraved is 22Kn (4950#) and a good bit heavier and bigger physically in every way as well.



By the "feel" of it the original Grivel wire gate biner (2.5mm wire) has at least twice the gate opening resistance as the BD (2.4mm wire) and easily 3 times the opening resistance of the Metolius mini biner (2.2mm wire).



Some of thisgoes right along with plastic racking biners (that break or open consistently enough todrop racks)and umbilicals that areonly requiredto take a 450# load by the UIAA requirement. That as we all know, on occasion, are required to catch full size falling bodies. What the hell isthe UIAAthinking?How about a designand strength requirements that incorporates the actual use?



Umbilicals have been in use at least 30 years now in the ice climbing community. This isn't a new idea or use.Umbilicals were pullingthe spikes through water rotted laminated bamboo on Chouinard Zeros back then. May be it is about time the rest of the world catches up with what we actually do require.

Polar Rotation

My friend Roger (http://www.rogernordstromphoto.blogspot.com/) was just here for a weekend visit and we spent some time together photographing the stars on friday and saturday nights. Roger has been interested in learning more techniques for shooting stars, and since I shoot a fair amount of night-time images, he wanted to pick my brain a bit.

We are both armed with Canon 5D Mark II full-frame cameras, which means we have cameras that are capable of producing some stunning night images. While we didn't have the best skies for shooting stars (there were more clouds than I would have liked), we still came away with some fun images.

New Years in Hawaii

Joined the Hanks family on Maui just after Christmas to bring in the new year of from a tropical warm paradise. Our adventures took us all over the island from Haleakala to whale watching, a drive through Hana and hanging out with family...don't worry we visited the beach often to wake board and even snorkel.





sunset the night i arrived

Lori and I-my first stop after arriving..the beach

Ariel...you put on a few pounds!

That's going to be fun to clean up

And she clears it with her 2" vertical...AMAZING!

Shaka!

last 4 pics are of Hana-we survived the winedy road w/o spewing

Whale watching

That's not a whale...that's a dolphin!



Can you believe what we just saw?

A Hawaiian tradition...an offering given to the river





husking my first coconut-harvested from Hana

did you know coconuts are the only fruit that does not have a machine to husk it? once (in Kanab) i went on a date with a man who called himself the "Coconut King" he was working on industrializing the husking of coconuts...that was way more work than i bargained for...where was the 'king' when i needed him most?







tried to climb a coconut tree







I must share with my experience on Haleakala and it's significance for me and my family:



As a young girl, in Sandy Utah living just off of 106th, Grandma and Grandpa Patterson came to visit after they returned home from their mission in Hawaii. I learned that grandpa served his first mission in Hawaii as a young man. How the island people must have been so dear to his heart all these years and then to be called there again and able to take is wife and share his love and experiences for/with the people there as well as create their own together. During their visit to our home Grandpa gathered all us kids around him and said, "Anyone who wants ice cream say Haleakala!" A tradition we all looked forward to with enthusiasm and excitement in the years to come. In unison we yelled at the top of our lungs, "Haleakala!" we were driven to Reams grocery store a few miles east of our house on state street. My favorite ice cream at the time was bubble gum and rainbow sherbet. Without exception no matter our age each time we saw Grandpa he would get that look in his eye, gather us around and we would know..."Haleakala!"



For years i believed this was a word Grandpa made up. I thought i was so cool. When i met Lori Hanks and we became close friends she was showing me pictures of her home in Maui Hawaii. one of the pictures was her and a few cousins by wood sign: Haleakala. i asked her about it. She smiled and told me it is a an inactive volcano on Maui. It means "House of the Sun". I shared my stories of Grandpa, Haleakala and ice cream with her. I told her one day I would to go to the mountain, take a carton of ice cream with me to the top and eat it with my Grandpa (who has passed on).



My desire had become reality, i had made it to Hawaii. Early on the second day after my arrival on the island Lori and i ran to the story and bought a half gallon of Roselani Mint ice cream and spoons. Caravaning with three other cars we made our way up the paved switch back road to the top of Haleakala National Park. We walked a short distance up a pathway to the peak of the volcano. I gathered everyone together including a few tourists who were near by and said "Who wants ice cream say Haleakala!" A chorused "Haleakala" was shouted. Spoonfuls of ice cream were shared with everyone. I know my Grandpa was sharing the smiles, laughs and joy we all felt as we ate ice cream together. One last time grandpa and i were able to join in sweet union of love and care and in memory of our relationship over a carton of ice cream.











Thanks for meeting me there Grandpa, it was great!