Good list of eight ways of connecting from Ted Goia. Some of these I was already doing okay with and some still need a lot of work. The two I’ve been working on the most recently are:

• Connection with history and tradition
• Connection with the community via institutions and organizations

This morning I heard a bit from The Wayfinders by Wade Davis, a book about the Polynesian open ocean navigators. Astonishing. Not only the volume of knowledge required to do such navigation, but the types of information used–observations in minute detail gathered over centuries–is amazing.

To all the folks complaining about how popular Halloween is among adults today, I offered this as my considered reply:

This is a good list of ideas for cleaning up your garden at the end of the growing season while also keeping the well-being of your local critters in mind.

Thinking about the research I did yesterday, what will future researchers do, given the demise of local newspapers? Even the silly society pages gave me valuable information. Now such things are on social media sites, behind subscriptions, with terrible search capabilities.

Rachel and I are continuing to research the lives of our ancestors of place. Today we looked into the Schroer family, who were the second family to live here (1939-1971). Dr. William Schroer was a chiropractor who moved to Bedford from Poland, Indiana, in 1927 to open a practice. He and his wife Delzena had one daughter Florine.

Dr. Schroer was a deacon of First Presbyterian here in Bedford. The family seem to have been socialites: very active in various clubs and committees. Dr. Schroer was a Mason and his daughter was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.

We also visited their graves in Poland, Indiana, a little over an hour from here. They seem to have had deep roots in that little community, which was heavily populated with German immigrants.

This is just a sketch for the moment. I plan to write a more complete history of the house after I gather more information. Rachel and I were saying today that we have thought so much about our house and its history and people that it’s beginning to feel like a person in itself.

Young Schroers:

Older Schroers:

Rachel continues to do great work on the floors. The living room is now done; we can start moving furniture back in by Monday. The floor is pine, which is notorious for rough grain and not taking stain evenly. Some people say it’s a mistake to stain pine but I think it looks great. Another thing about pine: it turns orange as it ages. In our case that means our stain—Minwax “early American” which is brown—actually ended up looking more red. Two coats of polyurethane as a finish.

Had breakfast with the distinguished author today.