Do You have Snow Angels too?

In our city of Saskatoon, the people at City Hall refer to the people who go clear out a neighbour's paths of snow after a fresh fall or snowstorm - 'Snow Angels'. This year I have several.

One of them has just come in to warm up.... (Taking a break to visit).

Yes, the time races away when you end up having a long chat with a Snow Angel about mutual interests in creating books and websites.

But I did say have Snow Angels (more than one), didn't I?

Well this morning before the sun was up I heard scraping on my front steps, and stood up to look out between my plants. Hmm... I could not tell if that was my neighbour from the west side or the east side of my house. A few minutes later he looked up, and I saw by the light of my motion-sensitive outdoor light that it was my neighbour with the glasses on the west side.

He did not do a very neat and thorough job, but the fact that he scraped off the worst of the snow on the steps and then cleared the path to the city sidewalk was appreciated. At least I didn't have to worry about the mailman refusing to come to my door because the snow was too deep on the walkway.

Now when this older gentleman showed up, I went to the door and saw that he was carefully sweeping off my steps, and grooming the path to the city sidewalk.

Then he asked about coming out to the back to do my garden walk, so I urged him to come through my house. He brought his own shovel and broom, and has cleared my deck so the sun will probably have it all dried off by the end of the day.

I may go out later to sweep the garden path because if I can remove most of the snow there, the sun will melt the rest of it, even if the temperatures in in the double negative dishes.

When Gene came in he took off his jacket and shoes and sat down to discuss my suggestions for his ebook idea for Grammar quizzes. He wanted to know how to do that keyword research I had suggested. I gave him a quick demo on my computer.

I had printed out his ancestor chart and a genealogy book of nearly 90 pages on his grandfather's side, and when he left I found he had dropped a wad of money on my desk. Whew! This is a generous Snow Angel even!

<*> TIPS & SOLUTIONS: <*>

Looking for a Certain Relative?

This last Snow Angel wondered about how to find an uncle he lost track of. Of course I had a tip ready to share with him, from when I was researching to update Dad's genealogy charts. When I wondered how to find some of his first cousins who were heads of large clans themselves, I had discovered the best way to look for them is this....

Type into Google the word, obituary, then add the full name of the person you are looking for. eg. obituary of Samuel Friesen, Edmonton.

I knew that Sam was born the same year as my Dad, so if he were still living he would very likely be over 100. Since chances were higher that he had passsed away, I tried the obituary search.

I used that same research method many times during those months, and discovered that obituaries do not die on the internet. Once there, they stay for years and years. Not only would I learn their death date, but often the cause, and the names of the surviving relatives, including those who had died before that person. Sometimes interesting memories of that person were included. A goldmine of information!

Of course, if you find no obituary of that person, it may mean that he or she is still alive, or that there may have been a death, but a private funeral and burial. In which case your detective work is not done yet.

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