Science Center, DNA, and Uncle Bill

Thursday, November 7th, Kelly and I went to the Greensboro Science Center. It was a pretty day - sunny with temperatures in the 60s. 

Here are some of the pictures I took.

 Gibbon.

 Gibbons. There were about four of them.

Fossa. We thought it was funny/mean that the fossa enclosure is next to the lemur enclosure. Fossas eat lemurs.

Skywild.

 Lemur. There were several.

 Maned wolves.

 Goats at the petting zoo.

 This alpaca cracked us up looking at us from inside the stable.

 Alpacas.

 Donkeys.

There were also sheep, miniature horses, pigs, and chickens at the petting zoo/farm animal area.

 Meerkat.

Meerkats. Our favorite animals at the Science Center.

Fishing Cat in the aquarium building. 

Penguins.

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Earlier this month, I wrote about Charlie and my mom getting their updated DNA results. I got mine about a week or so later.

My previous results:

80% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe
16% Ireland and Scotland
4% Norway

Updated results:

70% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe
23% Ireland and Scotland
4% Sweden
3% Germanic Europe

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Thursday evening, November 21st, my Uncle Bill passed away at the age of 88. He was the last living sibling (and baby of their family) of my paternal grandpa. I loved my Uncle Bill. He was a good man. Kind, loved his family, God, and his church. I hadn't seen him in a few years. I wish I could've seen him once more. But I suppose we all say that after a loved one has passed. I talked to God and said that I don't know if He gives messages to our loved ones or not lol, but to tell my Uncle Bill that I love him and I'll see him again someday.

I have an audio tape somewhere from when I was a little girl of my Uncle Bill playing the harmonica, my dad playing the guitar, and my paternal grandparents singing hymns/gospel songs. I think maybe you can hear me, my brother, and my mom a little bit in the background. I need to try to find it. Hopefully my tape player won't eat it.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Mountain Trip and the Park

Charlie, Sean, Kelly, Ashley (Sean's girlfriend), and I went to the mountains on Friday, October 18th. We drove up to Fancy Gap, VA, (stopping in Mt. Airy for lunch, as we usually do) and then drove south to Boone on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a pretty day. We ate at Dan'l Boone Inn Restaurant in Boone before coming home.

Here are some of the pictures I took.

I think this is in Virginia.

Ashley, Sean, and Kelly at Stone Mountain overlook. The tree we called the Halloween tree is gone. Kind of made us sad.

View of Stone Mountain at Mahogany Rock overlook.

I took this one as Charlie was driving.

Charlie, Kelly, Sean, and Ashley at Alligator Back overlook.

At Bluff Mountain overlook.

At Bluff Mountain overlook. Taken along the trail.

From top to bottom: Sean, Charlie, Kelly, and Ashley. The Lump overlook.

At Mt. Jefferson overlook.

At Elk Mountain overlook.

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This ended up being shorter than I thought it would be, so I'll include pictures from when Kelly and I went to the park on November 6th.

Hagan-Stone park.

Deer tracks along a creek at Company Mill Preserve.

Creek crossing at Company Mill Preserve.

Interesting mushroom.

Hagan-Stone park.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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Forgotten Family, DNA, Weddings, and Books

Sean is still working for Petco. He only gets to work a couple days a week. I hope he finds something soon that will give him more hours and that he can make a decent career out of.

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Milo had to go to the vet a few weeks ago for a recheck of his liver. His liver values or whatever are still too high, so he's on medication for that.

Pippin is due for his bi-annual exam, but we still owe $600 or $700 for Milo (Care Credit) and Christmas is coming up. :-/ It'll have to wait until after the new year.

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When I was working on the family tree a few weeks ago (I work on it nearly every day), I got a new hint for my great-grandpa Wilbur Melton. (My mom's dad's dad.) Turns out he and Great-grandma Vinnie had a son named Hustler (crazy name) who died when he was 10 months old. (Flu and then pneumonia.) He was their second child. (My grandpa was their third.) I asked my mom if she knew about him and she said she didn't. It makes me sad that he was forgotten (or at least not mentioned) all these years. 

In other Ancestry.com news, a new update is coming out with DNA. (The science is always improving.) My mom's and my husband's have both updated, but mine hasn't yet. I've been checking every day. Hopefully soon. I really want to know what it says now.


My mom's previous results:

78% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe
22% Ireland and Scotland

Her current/updated results:

69% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe
21% Ireland and Scotland
6% Norway
2% France
2% Spain


Charlie's previous results:

83% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe
8% Ireland and Scotland
6% Norway
2% Benin/Togo
1% Germanic Europe

His current/updated results:

86% England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe
7% Ireland and Scotland
2% Germanic Europe
2% Sweden
1% Norway
1% Nigeria
1% Ghana

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I've been to two weddings in the last several weeks. Both couples attend my church. Carson and Jessica were married in September. Nicole and Lawaun were married on November 2nd. So happy for both couples.

Austin married Didi last month, but their wedding was in Massachusetts. Can't believe he got married at 19, but I hope they have a happy, till-death-do-they-part marriage.

That's four weddings of church couples since July. Um, hopefully no funerals any time soon. Ha ha. :-/

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For some reason, my GoodReads widget in the margin was saying that I was currently reading The Book Thief. Uh, no. I read that book 6 years ago. I had to update the widget. Hopefully it won't mess up again.

Since my last entry, I finished reading Days of Panic by Jack Hunt (I gave it 3 stars at GoodReads and will read the series; 3 more books) and started reading A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole. That one was difficult for me to get into, but then it got good around page 70. And then I lost interest and started reading The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth. That one's kind of dragging, though I'm not very far into it. Maybe around page 50? But then The Toll by Neal Shusterman came out this past Tuesday. I've been dying to read this one! It's the third book in the Scythe trilogy. I'm putting the other two on hold while I read this one. I'm so excited! lol

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I've purchased a bunch of new songs since my last entry. Well, they're not new, but they're new to my iPod. :-D "Fight for Us" is new-ish.

There are more songs I want, but haven't gotten around to buying them yet.

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I will write separate entries about our trip to the mountains last month, Kelly and I going to Hagan-Stone Park and Company Mill Reserve a couple days ago, and Kelly and I going to the Greensboro Science Center yesterday.


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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~
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