On 10/7/2017 9:48 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/7/2017 7:52 AM, Frank wrote:

I finally gave in and retired completely after seeing how bad some
companies were and are still. Stopped writing safety manuals and just
said the hell with it. I'm much happier and much healthier since I
hung up my hard hat. Still have problems from long ago strokes and
heart attacks but still kicking along at age 78. Just got my DNA test
back last night and it is not what my parents claimed. I'm not a half
breed Native American, only less than 1% Native, my folks claimed
more. Of course there was no DNA tests when they were young and just
knew what their parents told them. Dang!

Interesting.Â* I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was
unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian
part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14%
European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that
migrated to Europe.

One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the
DAR.Â* She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents
take the test to see where it came from.Â* My daughter in law thinks
this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just
means an ancestor was adventuresome.Â* Our new granddaughter is 1%
African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her
as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard.

In the south of the USA there are probably a tint of African blood in a
lot of people. Could be even from when our family was still in the home
land, overseas. I see nothing to worry about in my bloodline, just
waiting for wife's DNA to come in. Her folks were mostly German and
English so it should be interesting too. My folks and hers have been
gone a good while. I have one half sister still living but in late
eighties and lives in a nursing home now. We haven't spoken in 20 years
or more and there won't be any before we are both gone. I'm hoping to go
to sleep one night and not wake up. I've had enough surgeries, etc. and
am still kicking, well, can't kick, can only walk on flat surfaces, but
I can still get around with my cane so I'm happy. I have about a dozen
canes, mostly bought when we were exploring Asia and Europe. Couldn't
carry a gun so carried a heavy cane. My favorite cane rides in my car
and has several nicks in the heavy lacquer that hides the iron wood. G


I was surprised that neither wife or I had any african trace. Her and a
son had done theirs before me. Her parents were of Greek extraction
born in Turkey. She had told me that I was responisble for the 7%
European Jew in our son and I figured that her family lines were closer
to that area but she was right. I sent my results to my brother and
told him he did not need to get his.

I still have all my facilities but they just do not work as well. I
walked 2 miles this morning but was walking 4 last year. Kness started
bothering me doing it every day. Mentioned that I am giving up hunting
as all I have access to is public land and not being handicapped cannot
hunt the closest stands. Last year I had to walk a mile and a quarter
to reach the assigned stand in muzzle loader season. Also getting up at
3 am to get on the road by 4 and get there by 5 to claim stand drawn in
lottery is no fun. I was almost late getting the stand because of road
construction.

Went to my shooting club yesterday after over 4 months and was surprised
how poor shooting was until I started practicing. Things really get out
of tune without practice. I do have early stage AMD which affects
target accquisition.

Most important to maintain is mental facilities. My father spent 5
years in a nursing home with multi infarct dementia after a stroke. He
died at 88. One of my classmates, the best athlete, just died of
dementia. He excelled in all sports but won a football scholarship to
Maryland and was drafted by the pros. He only spent a year there as at
6 feet tall and only 200 pounds was too small. Could have been head
trauma but I've seen it in a lot of non-athletic friends.

Wife met our new family doctor yesterday and was given dementia test.
She said this morning, "I don't think I needed that test, what do you
think?" Then said, "Don't answer that."