On Jul 1, 2014, about a day after my son returned from China, I heard that the largest plane around, the Antonov 225, had landed at MSP Airport.  I told Nathan that we had to go drive to the airport (2 nautical miles away from…

Nothing says bikedork like a 'bent, and a convention of aerobellies belongs to an alternative universe.  In 2014 I attended one of these, and this was my report: Recumbent conventions are rare beasts to begin with, but rarer still in the Midwest. This October 10-13…

A scan of this image was the first direct encounter that I had with AI.  I had asked ChatGPT to date the image (it guessed 1887) based on some additional data that I was able to supply. After a bit more information, it declared: With…

Orsamus Hodgkins was born in Reading, VT in 1798 and married Eunice Shattuck in 1818 in Belvidere, VT, a small, rural town in the northern part of the state. Thus began a lineage of three more Orsamuses (Orsami?) ending with my grandfather, who went by…

This section collects family history, old photographs, genealogical research, and stories connected with the people and places in my family tree. Some entries will be straightforward records; others will be attempts to identify photographs, resolve uncertain relationships, or document family stories before they are lost.