I finally have a new computer! I went from a Pentium 100 with Windows 95 to an AMD K6-2 350 with Windows 98! I have them sitting side by side whilst I transfer files and programs from the "old" computer to the new. Armin is, of course, anxiously standing by to take possession of the old one. Not that he finds it adequate! Even Willy has become too sophisticated for that slow older equipment! Some of the games he likes won't even run on anything slower than 120Mhz. My problem in the meantime is getting all my salient programs transferred. My greeting card printing program is on my old computer, but my printer is hooked to the new computer! So, I can't print any greetings cards right now! My scanning software is installed on the old computer, which is too far away from the scanner. So, I can't scan anything right now! It is all a matter of finding the software to install on the new equipment and, above all, finding the TIME to do it all!

Another month has passed and my publishing deadline has practically caught me with my pants down! Of course, this is also Memorial Day weekend with its parade, as well as being only a couple of weeks away from the officers election at my American Legion post. You can find out more about that by going to my American Legion section and looking at the [CURRENT] link.

Edmond and Virginia Keidel have resumed their globe-trotting ways and have sent me a picture postcard from sunny Spain. Alas, I usually scan those cards and share them with you here, but you already know the status of my scanning abilities!

I was contacted by a Keidel descendant in Oregon and asked to find a link to her family! At first I thought she was probably connected to the F branch, as her mother is buried in Hyndman, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Robert, Fae, and Jean Keidel, with whom we've visited often. Yet, I am told that her mother's presence there was but a coincidence! Another coincidence is that her ancestry contains several Otto Keidels who were bakers, like my ancestors in the A branch! I have decided to designate her branch as V, at least temporarily. She is Ellen Elizabeth (Hopman) Grebisz V1641 and she is known as Betsy. Welcome to our extended family! Work continues on trying to link the V branch to one of the other branches.

The search for a suitable property continues. These are some of finalists!

This one is by far our favorite. It sits on 65 acres near a stream in very rural Mc Donough, NY and has lots of trees and even a pond. It was built in 1980.

This home, on the other hand is quite a bit older and comes with only 43 acres, has 5 bedrooms and is located in Sidney.

This one is also in Sidney, albeit with only 18 acres. It dates from 1974 in a Tudor style which appeals very much to the European in me!

This older home with only 8 acres, also in Sidney, shows that there is indeed AFFORDABLE housing for us in upstate New York, even if we have to downsize! It is now all about getting an approval from the mortgage broker, which can't come too any soon for me! As I am sitting in front of my computer on a Saturday afternoon, trying to finish up this edition, I find my impaired concentration constantly challenged by incessant banging and thumping from the totally inconsiderate tenant upstairs! I am sure that this stressful situation is contributing to my declining health; I am looking forward to the day I'm packed up and ready to move. I have avoided face to face confrontation so far; I don't need the problems, this close to our "release!"

I REALLY don't like NOISE!

Willy and I at the range!

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We wonder how our move upstate New York will go over with Kimmie, our attack parakeet, here protectively covering Armin's back!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Keith and Gladys Keidel in West Virginia, and I suppose to Ha-Yo and me! Although we didn't marry in this month in 1980, we did move in together and have been together ever since! By the same token, had Mary Jane and I not divorced, this month would have seen OUR anniversary!