Well, it is never as funny around here when you're gone.

Awwww, thanks!

I'm currently laundering about 10 TONS of sand out of our clothes and towels, and as soon as I finish my PB&J, I'm taking the car to get washed/vacuumed, because it, too, has 10 tons of sand (also salt, which is hell on the exterior).

Soooooo glad I took today off as part of my vacation request.

Happy Birthday, Seska! You birthday tweets were cracking me up!

I'm a Campbell. As recently as my paternal grandmother.

Birthday Happies Seska!!

my paternal grandmother.

My maternal grandmother!!

We're totally related! I just KNOW it!!

Happy Birtday, Seska!

WooHoo, date, P-C!

I'm so, so sorry, Aims, and I have my steel toes at the ready if you want 'em.

Welcome home, Teppy!

There's a SC writer who posits that in the south, we name things like streets and housing developments for the things we cut down, diverted, or bulldozed to make room: Twin Oaks, River Run, The Willows, etc.

P-C, I'm thrilled you had a good date!

Happiest of birthdays to Seska!

Aimee, what polar bears. I'm so sorry. I will send vibes your way that you will find a way to get this erased.

Welcome back, Teppy!

Kaylee continues to be painfully cute and a total devil puppy, which is par for the course at 4.5 months old. We are working on bite inhibition (sometimes I think I've adopted an alligator) and not barking at/chasing Seamus (the other cats won't put up with it and are fine, but my poor little boo gets scared and runs away), but she's generally a good girl. I can't wait until she gets her final vaccination in two weeks so I can take her to doggy daycare from time to time for socialization and exhaustion. Our local PetSmart has a great program--only $14 if you leave your dog for less than 6 hours--and boy oh boy will I be taking advantage of it once I can.

My most recent Campbell in the line was born in 1813 and married into the Parkers. But unless your Campbells were from Ayrshire, probably not a lot of chance of us all being long-lost cousins. Woe!

If I did a family history, I'd go back only two generations before ending up in Lulea, Sweden on my paternal grandfather's side, back to 1860-1880 before I'd get to Ireland (County Mayo, IIRC) on my mom's side (both of her parents). The only more complicated search would be for my paternal grandmother's family tree, which goes back to French Canada and England, with a sidetrip through Revolutionary War-era New York for Alexander Hamilton, who is supposed to be my 6th great uncle. That's the family rumor I'd like to verify.

I do believe that someone else here is supposed to also have Hamilton as an ancestor, so I do have a relative around!

My Campbells are obfuscated by moving around Canada at the wrong times to where I can't find them in the censuses. I can't ascertain when they came to Canada or what part of Scotland they were from.

My grandmother always said one of the men in the family was in line to be the Duke of Argylle, but turned it down. I've looked into it from the other end, 1st Duke on down to the current and I can't find anywhere where there might have been someone who was missed or refused it, because that line kept having to devolve to various cousins for lack of progeny. One of the Dukes was a Canadian who took up the title, but he was gay and never had kids. The only thing we've got going for us is that Archibald is a family name and about half the Dukes have been an Archibald. Oh, yay.