Usually I write out a draft and compose from that. Earlier today, I composed this blog in "thin air." After much proof-reading and correcting, with many, many saves, I hit publish. The blog vanished into thin air! I hope this wasn't an omen! Anyway, here we go again.
Early this year, I mentioned printer problems. The final solution, one new Canon to replace the former two printers, is now sitting in a new position next to my desk, and has been set up since about March 24. All the backlog of printing from months 2 and 3 are now printed out and in my Do-Over notebook (except this blog). There are a few auxiliary documents I wish to print out, but they are not of calendar importance. I can print them as I get to them.
As to the rest of the month: I lost lots of time to spring pollen; allergies sent me to bed and nothing got done. I also spent a week on the physical reorganization and electronic cataloging of the nearly 400 hundred books in my cookbook collection. Not a genealogy problem (until I get to my genealogy books) but when you own over 7000 titles, book housekeeping is a major task in the household. And a very time consuming one.
The rest of the time? I think it went well. I continued to follow up on the work I have been doing for the root person on my tree — Carolin (Carolyn) Sue Strickler {me}. As I checked entries and research logs in my primary database and worked to synchronize that data across the three other databases I am examining, I found more logs to develop, more prepare-for-the-heirs steps to be taken. So I developed them and wrote up the processes in the relevant logs.
Later today (or early tomorrow) I will examine the data on Sue; if I find that all the preparation steps have been taken and all the processes have been properly described for my heirs to follow, I will sign off the work on Sue, and continue to the next Dollarhide numbered person in my database(s). In spite of the obstacles, Month Three has been productive.
Hi - I'm curious about how you are cataloging your cookbooks. Could you share?
ReplyDeleteI have a database program which I have set up to resemble a card catalog. The usual entries, like book title, author(s), copyright, and shelf information are part of the catalog.
ReplyDeleteThe less usual is a list of nine types of binding — whether the book is hardbound or paperback; or whether it is an odd size; or whether it is a pamphlet kept in a looseleaf binder.
And a list of ten "topics" which are rather loosely defined. For example, I have a topic I call appliance: slow-cookers and electric grill recipes and directions would be obvious there, but I also list casserole cooking there.
And finally, I include some children's cookbooks which are souvenirs from my childhood and my childrens' childhood and some textbooks which a teaching friend gave to me.
Thank Sue! And thanks for finding me on my dead blog to give me the answer...that was super thoughtful. I'm also retired and worked with databases for my job. I don't know why a system like yours hasn't occurred to me before. Thank you again!
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned the Dollarhide numbering. That's what I started a couple of decades ago and, when I got back into my genealogy, it still seems the best way for filing for the way my brain works. What kind of instructions are you leaving for your heirs about this system? I have a notebook with my Master Sheets and Research Logs (labeled well on the spine) and have put my old instruction book(lets) inside. I hope that will be sufficient. Do you have any added suggestions? I wish both of us good health so we can do what's needed to make it easier on our heirs. God bless them and grant them patience!!!
ReplyDeleteAt this point, the only instruction I have left is an article on the Dollarhide numbering system that I found at the Encyclopedia of Genealogy. This article explains the system very well indeed.
ReplyDeleteI am also using a spreadsheet to build a complete index of my Dollarhide lines. The spreadsheet shows each individual for whom enough work has been done to have become included in the index. There are also other sheets that show a person's line as far back as my research has taken me, with a notation whenever the person is the earliest person as yet found in that line.