080817_Staff Training

We received training from Salt Lake on the El Paso Audit for newspaper editing this week.  It is the lead-in to WayPointing, preparing the newspapers for separating them into groups/batching for indexers to pull out articles.  El Paso has very few people to do the work so the ROCs are lending them a hand to get this all moving.  It is preparing the newspapers to be looked at, making sure they are square, readable, centered, they were cut right, no large areas of black showing...just making the newspapers usable for the batchers, mainly.  It takes a while to do them as there are about 1,000 images per film so we can only do a few before we need to turn them back in and someone else needs to finish them or we need to finish them after someone else started working on them.  I did manage to finish one but it took me two days.

Brother Hamp came down to assist as he is the Project Lead.  He introduced the topic and the training. 

 

Sister Stoddard did most of the training.  It lasted about 2 hours then we went back to our workstations and made an attempt at working on the project.  Got all set up and started working on things.  It didn't take too long before we had lots of specific questions and they both answered them easily.  As we worked through issues we realized there still are a lot of things that are not completely ironed out yet.  This is still in kind of a "beta" stage and we're kind of "beta" testers.  But, it's a lot farther along than the other two ROCs that are working with it.  WE had additional training, sort of a 2nd stage of training, the next day for another hour then they turned us loose.  They were so impressed with our progress they left on Wednesday after 2 days saying we didn't need for them to be here anymore.  It's a long drive back to Salt Lake....

 

Basically, the screen looks like this.  The page is listed on the left.  It's the one thin blue line in the middle.  This one has a red line around it because I am clipping or "cropping out" all of the bad stuff on the edges.  The column on the right gives me my options as to what I can do with this image.

  

This is a two page layout, an A and B page, that I had to make into a single page layout because it was skewed crooked and needed to be straightened out then re-split again.  Sometimes the people taking the pictures cut the pictures off to one side and I get to "fix" their picts or correct them in some other manner.  We can't always do that but we try to when we can.  When you do Zoning, you're doing these kinds of newspapers that we are preparing that will eventually be going to indexers.

 

This is Sister Stoddard helping Sister Mart install the El Paso Audit Program on her PC.  She's doing the initial discussion on what to expect and how to get it all set up and running right.  It takes a little while to get it all configured but once it's setup, it's pretty easy to get back in and do the work.  We are to put in 2 hours per day on the project.  They have 110, 000, 000 film pages to audit.  That is a lot to do.  It's going to take years to get done.  I'm betting there will be many more.  More stuff to follow...

072717_Nathan-Tabbi Family Visit

The Camino Seger Family visit to St George occurred this weekend.  Hugs and kisses and some family bonding for a few hours.  Some food, visits to the temple, the Family History Center, and the Visitors' Center were in line.  Of course, a visit to where we spend all of our time was in order.

Of course, we had to go visit the St George Temple Visitor's Center.  That requires an obligatory picture in front of the Christus statue for the family.

 

...and a picture in front of the Visitors' Center sign.  Does "Deer in the headlights" mean anything to you?

 

But the big deal was, the family got to meet with Jon Heder's Grandmother.  Don't know who Jon Heder is?  Napoleon Dynamite!  How could you not know that?  Dang it!  She works with us at the ROC and is a very special lady.  Has been a real asset and helps out a lot as most of those on Church Service Missions do.  She can really play a piano, too!  

 

She brought Nathan a signed picture and he was delighted!  We have a lot of fun with this and her celebrity but she is spiritually minded and works hard to do all she can with the records we work with every day.  BTW, that's not his real hair color, he had to dye it for the movie and he's about 32 now.  I've seen a recent picture of him and he looks older and...wiser.  But still Napolean.  The back story on how he ended up doing the movie is actually pretty fascinating.  You might want to read up on it on his website.  See ya...

071717_Last day in Escanaba

Well, all good things must come to an end...I guess this must too.  Today my goal was to visit one last haunt.  I got directions to my Dad's old cabin and railroad station that his Father worked from for years.  I had already been told it had been abandoned and burned to the ground many years before but just to go there and maybe feel Dad's presence once more was worth the effort.  My Dad passed away in 1980 so he has been gone a long time.  I think of him once in awhile around his birthday, Chirstmas time or other holidays but not a lot anymore.  It's been a long time.  Pictures remind me of him but I haven't heard his voice since Nathan was 7 months old.  Nathan is 37 this year.  Seems like a million years ago....

We headed off to Nahma Junction, which no longer exist...really.  It's just a place in Google Maps. The station is long gone and so is everything else.  However, after I took the pictures of what we saw there, Arlene realized that there was a shed there that looked vaguely familiar.

Note the door on the right...

 

This is a side view of the shed.  Since I was just taking pictures in the general area of where the depot once stood and the surrounding area, I snapped a couple of picts of this shed.  It's long since lost it's usefulness and will soon be sawdust and go the way of the world...  Behind it would have been the Seger cabin (long gone and replaced by a nice new house with new tenants and a road out to Hwy 13.  The depot would have been directly in front of this shed, to the right. and the railroad, which still exists, by the way, and is still in use, would be less than 75 feet from here.

 

Notice the doors on this storage shed?  Granted the current shed is only a fraction of the size but, hey, it's 60 years later!  If you notice in the 1st picture above, you can barely make out some faint yellow paint on those doors.  I figure it was turned into a kids playhouse or something many years ago and the rest of it was discarded.  The railroad is just to the left of the depot on the left there.  That cinder ash road is still there, by the way, some of it anyway.  Not so much, though.  Look at the length of the shed.  Pretty much the same, isn't it?  Although, the shed certainly hasn't weathered the years very well.

 

This is pretty much what the area looks like today.  All is gone and a few derelict railroad ties are perched on concrete blocks.  Looks like they have been there a while.  The cinders are on the right of the blocks.  The railroad spur is long gone as there is no reason to stop there any more.  There's no depot, no water tank, no Seger cabin built by the family.  All traces of the Seger's ever living there for a couple of decades have been erased.  But, that is progress.  Only a few of the older Seger's even remember what this place ever meant to anyone.  At least there was something there to remind me of Dad but that won't be there the next time I swing by, most likely.  But, I could feel him there, one more time.  I remembered a few of his stories.  Most of which involved him jumping on train cars as they sped by to the horror of his mother, but, Mom's are like that, aren't they?

 

One last look across the railroad crossing and it's time to head back to St. George tomorrow.  This is the road that leads back into Nahma Junction.

 

We made one last stop for items in Escanaba and headed back into our motel room for our last evening before we departed for home.

  

On our last day out we stopped by the lighthouse at the end of Escanaba.  A throwback to the time they needed this on the bay to keep barges from running into the land.  We weren't able to go into it as they weren't open in time for us to get to our flight but it was a nice looking restoration.

 

This gives the history of the Sand Point Lighthouse.

The flight home was, well, adventurous...  We got to Green Bay in plenty of time only to be told it was an hour and 20 minutes late.  That meant we were going to barley make our connecting flight in Chicago to Las Vegas.  I talked to the airline (United, of course) and they booked us on the next flight.  However, the plane got in a little early and we scrambled to make it to the original flight and managed to do a standby, actually getting better seats than what we originally had reserved!  Go figure.  BTW, when the car rental agency tells you they are upgrading you to a full sized Chevy Malibu, don't take it!  Not my favorite car.  So much worse than the Nissan Maixima I was supposed to get.  A whole list of issues with the car and it only had 2,000 miles on it...argh.  At any rate, we got home to the sultry 100+ temps in Las Vegas and managed to get home that evening.  A memorable trip to Upper Michigan, not to be forgotten.  Many relatives, friends, and experiences.

071617

Why the engine?  My Dad was raised near a railroad station where his Dad, Edwin W Seger, was a railway agent for SooLine.  They have long since gone out of business but they were pretty much the major railroad in upper Michigan for many years.  I heard many stories about his time living on/near the railroad.  This was on display as we were on our way up to Perkins to visit Cousin Kathy and Jim J.

JIm and Betty have a really nice spread up in the middle of a forrest area.  

 

This was a low lying area with a lot of swampy land.  He's done it up very nicely and it looks great.

 

More of his property with another small lake.  Very picturesque.  He spends several hours mowing his "lawn" every week.  Of course, they get their fair share of snow during the winter.

 

After a nice dinner with Cousin Kathy, Ed, Jim J and Betty, I managed to get a photo of Jim and Betty.  

 

After dinner, Cousin Kathy, Ed, Arlene and I went out to the old Seger Homestead.  This is the dairy farm that Fred, Nell and family occupied for many years.  About 350 acres here, I posted the pictures my Dad took back in 1959 in an earlier post.   

 

Kathy and me on the front steps. 

Well, we tried to recreate it...sort of.  Same place...58 years later.  Kathy is in about the same place and so am I.  Only a whole bunch more years older.  So is the house.  I'm the one in front on the right.  Kathy is the redhead on the 2nd step.  My mom is in the middle, 2nd step.  My Dad took the picture.

 

We snooped around the house and found the back door open.  The house is abandoned during the summer.  I understand it's used as a deer hunting cabin during the winter and it's rented out.  Talking to Cousin Kathy,  most of the homes that used to have families in them are abandoned or demolished.  The area has been bought by a large conglomerate and is mostly farmed commercially.  This is the living room.  Kathy said the carpet looks the same as when they lived in the house.

 

My Dad used to live in this house when he was young, close to 100 years ago.  That's hard to believe.  I have no idea how old the house is.  Cousin Kathy lived here also.

 

It has an upstairs with a couple of rooms.

 

Off to the right used to be a barn and the dairy barn for the cows and everything else.

 

This was where the garage was for the snowplow and vehicles.  It gets pretty cold in the UP so there had to be a place to keep things a bit warm.

 

Here's what it used to look like.  That building in the upper picture is not the original.

 

Back side of the farm house.  That's our family's Pontiac with the red stripe. I spent a few hours in the back of that car.  Especially on this trip.   

 

Hasn't changed much in 60 years, has it?

 

The original pad, where the garage once stood, is still there but I need to tell you, it is not in too good of shape, the winters have not been kind to it.  

 

One last look at the many acres that at one time used to be the Seger Family Farm and we took off for the Escanaba River just a short drive to the West.  Interesting thing is, this is so far up North that this is almost 9:30 at night and the sun is still up.  And it's mid-July!

 

A shot down the river in 1959.

 

A shot down the same river nearly 60 years later in almost the same place.  

 

Did have some really nice wildflowers along the riverbanks.  As the sun went down, we made our way back to Escanaba for an evening's rest and preparation for the next day.  I still wanted to go out to the old Nahma Junction where my Dad was raised and lived a good portion his young life.  But, that is another day's adventure.

My dad spent some time in this farmhouse, as best I can figure. He left from here to go to California and find his "fortune".  Here he met my mom, married and had me.  the rest is history, or so the story goes.  There's a lot more to the story but that will suffice for now, won't it?

071517_Reunion Day!

Unlike St George, Utah, it's been very pleasant here and cool.  Just a tad bit humid here, though....about 85% during the day....and rainy now and then.  

 

The Reunion was held at a local park with enough capacity to house the nearly 100 Seger's and their relatives that attended.  Pioneer Trail Park.  We had the pavilion most of the day. 

 

This was the pavilion where the reunion was held. 

 

Welcome to the reunion!  Yeah, Gladstone is just North of Escanaba.

 

Picking up our lei and moving into the pavilion, we started to meet our relatives.

 

Looking at a few pictures on a table as I first walked in, I saw these two distinguished gentlemen.  On the left is Fred Seger, my Dad's brother and on the right is the only picture known to exist of my grandfather, Edwin Westover Seger.  It's the only picture I have of him.  I had none before I came to the reunion so it was worth coming to the reunion just for this!  Well, and a lot of other things.

 

Welcome signage.

 

Probably the oldest Seger relative here today.  Kathy Aper's beau, Ed.  Really a nice guy. 

 

The star that put all of this together, Robin Seger Macomber.  She really did a great job and was so helpful.  We had such a great time.  I, however, spent almost all of my time scanning pictures and taking pictures of pictures.  Some of the pictures I couldn't remove remove from the books they were in because of the way they were put together.  I didn't want to disturb the folders so I had to take pictures using my camera.  It was less than I had hoped for.  But, most of the pictures turned out OK.  Scanning would have been better, though.
.

 

I missed most of the family pictures because I was a little oo busy doing scanning but Arlene managed to get this one.  The gal on the bottom right is Aunt Kathy and Ed, my cousin that we've known for years.  On the left, in white, is Jim J Seger and Betty.  He's my "Michigan Twin" 'cause we both have the same first name.  His middle initial is just "J", it doesn't stand for anything.  Which, apparently, is a Seger thing.  My grandmother's name is LoRena J Seger and, as far as I can tell, her middle name is just "J" also.  The couple on the far left is Dwight "Peanut" Seger and his wife, LuAnn (sp).  I hope I didn't screw that up too much.  Sorry, don't know who the couple in the middle are.

 

Kathy on the right, Karla Brandt on the left and, sorry, missed the other gal's name.  But they were all very nice.

 

...and, of course, there was some humor...

We had pulled pork sandwiches and a host of other Upper Peninsula specialties for lunch.  We were serenaded by some local talent and I got to talk to a few of my relatives.  

 

We also were visited from Kevin and his new wife of a couple of months, the sweet Karla.

 

...and their lovely daughter, Ayleen...  It was nice to see them again.  We last saw them at the wedding several months ago.  

We still have a couple more days in Escanaba and a few more places to see.  The reunion wound down, we said our goodbyes, and the clouds began to gather.  Had one heck of a rainstorm and downpour just a few minutes after it was all over and we were safely back in our motel room.  Haven't seen that kind of rain in a long time!  More to come...