In spite of all the complaining being done about this snowstorm, at least we didn’t get as much as predicted. I’d say we ended up with somewhere around four inches on average, but with the wind blowing again, there’s definitely been some drifting going on. We’ll see if the wind goes down after the sun sets.
One of my clients called today to tell me about the results he just received from that online genetic history research company called, “Twenty-three and me”. I had to laugh when he mentioned all the possible matches of European countries his fore-fathers were from. Several of the countries he mentioned had him confused because he’d never heard of any of his old relatives speaking of any connection to them.
The first thing I had to bring him up to speed on, was that from what I’ve heard and read, “Twenty-three and Me” isn’t nearly as accurate as “Ancestry.Com”. I also had to mention that over the most recent two hundred years, the borders of countries have been changed, as well as countries like Slovakia and Norway not even being considered separate countries. Prior to World War I, Slovakia was part of the Austo-Hungarian Empire, and Norway for a very long time was part of the Kingdom of Sweden.
With that said, if your ancestors claim to have been from Norway and you “spit in the bottle” for one of those online ancestry search companies and it comes back that you’re ancestors were of Swedish blood, well then both statements could very well be true.
Another interesting point is when someone insists they’re 100% Irish and the bottle test says Ireland and Great Britain, then likely some of those relatives who claimed to be Irish, had British blood. We have to remember Ireland was a colony of sorts of Great Britain for a very long time.
I believe whenever people pay the price to “spit in the bottle” because they’re looking for answers, more often than not, those answers end up raising all the more questions. It’s not that I’m discouraging anyone to take those tests, but rather for those information seekers to keep and open mind and realize they’re likely not going to all the answers they’re looking for.
What makes me a little sad, are all those many young who’ve not taken the time to listen to family stories being told by their parents and grandparents because of how much more mobile our society has become where more often than not, those children end up moving many hundreds of miles away to cities where they plant their roots and raise their own families which unfortunately excludes them and their children from hearing family histories being told on a regular basis.
In spite of the weather, I took a drive up to Northwood this afternoon to meet with the advertising representative of the Northwood Anchor regarding placing a large ad for Prairie Place on 1st in their weekly newspaper. I was surprised at how much cheaper their color ads are than the Globe-Gazette which gave me all the more reason to go with a much larger ad for next Wednesday’s edition.
I was surprised that their subscription numbers were greater than I’d expected, but after realizing that they’re the only newspaper in Worth County, I understood why they have over 3,500 readers which gave me all the more hope there’ll be prospective buyers inquiring on Prairie Place. They were good enough to give me a copy of tomorrow’s edition which I took back to my office and read. If there’d but one glaring difference between the Northwood Anchor and the Globe-Gazette, is all the more positive reporting they share with their readers. Perhaps our City’s newspaper should take lessons from them.
The trek back to Mason City was all the more scary than when I drove up, and certainly glad I didn’t waste any time in Northwood because that wind was making some areas of the highway a solid sheet of ice along with drifts beginning to form along the roadside.
There were several emails from sellers today asking about activity on their homes, and my response to both was that the lack of action has most likely been due to this weather, but did assure them that once we get closer to Spring, there should be enough serious lookers.
Tonight’s one-liner is: We cannot make good news out of bad practice.
