Eight Random Things Meme

I hate these silly chain letters, but what the heck.

• Players write a post with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• At the end of that post, they “tag” eight bloggers to write similar posts, including the rules.
• The players then leave a comment to tell the “tag-gees” about the meme.

Okay here we go:

 1)  I have a deformed left ear and have been deaf in that ear since birth.  In fact there is no Ear Canal.  So, can some explain Surround sound to me? 

2)  The first bird I ever identified was a Great Blue Heron at the age 18 months.  Don’t believe me?  I have the newspaper article to prove it.

3)  I have lived in New York State my entire life and have been a Red Sox fan, even longer.

4)  My wife’s maiden name Kapusta, which means Cabbage in Slovak.

5)  Part of my family avoided suspicion during World War I by pretending to be Swiss (they were from Barvaria in Germany).

6)  I have written, designed and displayed a full Museum exhibit for the Irish American Heritage Museum.

7)  I read the entire ‘Lord of The Rings’ trilogy in the 6th grade.

8)  I have a degree in Greek and Roman Civilization with a specialty of Classical Archaeology, but I have never been on an Archaeological dig.

Since just about everyone I know tagged me, the only person I have left to tag is Josh at Armchair Everything.

Blog Updates 6/17/07

Happy Father’s Day!

It’s a slow day here at the Irish American Heritage Museum, so I’ve taken the time to take care of some odds and ends with the blog.  The biggest changes are to your right in the links and blog roll sections where I added many new links to blogs and other sites.  If you have a site you would like to see linked here let me know!  Hoaryredpoll AT Hotmail dot com.  Please be sure to check out these sites and comment where you can.  People love to see how people got to their sites and where people are viewing the sites from.  As always I’m open to comments and suggestions as to how to improve the blog.

Be safe, do good deeds and have a great weekend!

Invading Army or Lighting Bugs?

Tonight I saw my first lighting bug of the season and made me remember a story that has been passed down in my family for the last 150 years.

My great-great-great Grandparents on my father side moved from what is now Germany to Columbia County, New York in the mid 19th century.  Since they moved in Spring they of course knew nothing of Lighting Bugs.  The first few months of their existence here in America was spent establishing the farm, then late one June evening, my great-great-great grandmother saw them.  Hundreds of twinkling lights in the nearby forest.  Since there was nothing like these insects in Europe, their imaginations began to run wild.  The only thing they could think of was an invading army, moving silently through the woods.  The twinkling lights?  The distant torches of the army.  As the story goes, they spent the night in the cellar.  The next day they talked to their neighbors and asked them about the ‘army’.  That night they were quite embarrassed, but awed by their new discovery.