Just curious. What other hobbies do you have besides gun related. Spare us the "What else is there?"reply. Being a Gemini (Personally I think astrology is a bunch ofTaurus! I turned 80 this late May) I have usually considered myself ajack of all trades, master of none. I don't know a lot about any onething (not a specialist), but a little about most things and if Idon't I know where to go...Google it!
For a couple of years now, I have beenworking on family history/ancestry/family tree/genealogy kinda ofthing. By the way, when your financial services ask for your mother'smaiden name, ask for a different question (ex.: first pet's name) asit is way too easy to find out your mother's maiden name!
Genealogy can be fun and frustratingall at the same time, starting with a name. Why do parents name theirchildren such formal names and then end up calling them by theirnicknames? As for the last name, it gets harder to find outancestors, especially if they name their offspring by the same nameas theirs. George Foreman for example, he has sons, Jr. III, IV, V,with nicknames of Big Wheel, Red and Little Joey. Two of hisdaughters have a middle name of George and one name Georgetta. But Idigress.
Being of Latin, Spanish, Mexican(whatever) ancestors, it gets very difficult. One of my extendedfamily ancestors had the surname (last) name of "de la Cruz". Hadto look it up that way, then "dela Cruz" and finally, "Cruz".It gets even more complicated, but don't let me turn you off to allthis, when I find some legal documents like certificates of birth,baptism, marriage, death, etc. it can be quite rewarding, I usuallyshout out 'EUREKA'! Those documents might have important dates,parents names and locations. When I find out something, I feel like adetective who just found out a clue to my next discovery. That isrewarding to me. I have hit a dead end in my own direct lineage onlybeing able to go back to my great grandmother who was born in AZTerritory. However, a family tree can be huge, with many branches. Mywife started to track her relatives, but she soon passed away afterstarting. So for our son and granddaughter's sake, I began lookingher family up. I got as far back as one of her ancestors arriving inNorth America in 1620, no, not the Mayflower, but the shipafterwards. Those family members later migrated up to Nova Scotia andtheir records were published in a local newspaper. An editorcollected all that info and published a book about that familybranch. I found this obscure book in a Family Center of the Church ofthe LDS. Not a member, just go there to do research on theircomputers which has a free account to Ancestry, My Heritage andseveral other genealogical web sites. Anyway, my wife's family can betraced back to Fowry, England where I glanced at many records there.Some day, I may dive into that family branch, but in the meantime, Ido have other hobbies to pursue: Recently joined a coin/currencyclub. Working in Reno casinos, I was fortunate enough to collect asmall treasure of Morgan Silver Dollars including one minted inCarson City, other silver coins and tokens. In addition, a great manyolder amount of bills like silver certificates, others with red andeven brown seals, an error $1 bill that was double stamped on theback with the front image. From WWII bills stamped with "HAWAII"both front and back which was to prevent the Japanese from floodingthe market with counterfeit currency. Recently ran into a man who wasgiving out $100 bills, as a joke, that looked almost real, but hadBank of China on it. I guess we all collect different things. Howabout 1st editions of magazines? Sports Illustratedpremier issue from the 1950's I bought for 25 cents. I have seenoffers as high as $300, but I am saving for my son and g'daughter. Ithink the thrill is in the collecting for me, rather than rewardingmyself financially. Another hobby of mine, might be reading,collecting trivia. Remember knowledge is power!
So what hobbies do you have? ...andyes, I do have a small collection of a dozen firearms.
