Fun Stuff

Not genealogy or family related but something I thought was funny....as seen recently near Interstate 35 and Wrenshall, in Wyoming, Minnesota.

I haven't posted a blog in a couple days because I've been a little busy with my new cell phone and programing it...new cell phones are so much fun!  Plus I lost some major data and pictures from my computer (even though it was backed up 2x) so I've been replacing it.  Fortunately I had the CD's with the original info on it and was able to upload it back on my computer.  I think what I did was saved my info to a file and then worked with the info deleting and adding to some of it and then didn't save it correctly thus backing it up incorrectly.  Makes sense to me...hope it does to you!  I need an external hard drive - my genealogy stuff will not all fit on one flash drive anymore so it gets confusing when I go to back-up.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Hays Coulter Post

Hays Coulter Post - But Who is that Woman?





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Hedvig Lucy Motzko revisited

I goofed up a lot on my post of January 6, 2010 on Hattie Motzko so I thought I would redo it.   Since posting the other post on Hattie I've also received a beautiful wedding photo to post here.  Don't they make a most handsome couple?  I have to say all the Motzko 'girls' were beautiful.


Born in Bermidjii MN, Helvig Lucy (aka Hattie) Motzko (b. 10/14/1885 Bermidjii MN; d. 5/3/1963; buried: Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise ID) was the fourth child of Philipp and Maria Motzko.

Hattie Motzko married Thomas E. Gleason (b. 1/29/1878 NV; d. 11/11/1949 ID) September 4, 1912 at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Nampa ID.

Hattie and Thomas had 5 children - Robert Bernard (Killed in WWII),  George Patrick,  John W. Gleason, Thomas J. Gleason, Mary Ellen Gleason (Normoyle)

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Thankful Thursday - Cell Phones

I spent most of the week checking out cell phone plans.  What a pain in the tush!  Thank God it only comes but every two years!  I've been with the same company since 2003.  I wasn't unhappy with their service but I wasn't thrilled with it.  We'd lose our connection in the house and it could be frustrating (never happened if we weren't at home).  So after doing my research, mostly via internet, I made the decision on which one to change to and just DID it.  The kids are all on the carrier I chose so we'll be able to talk to them and not have to worry about daytime minutes....you know 'friends and family' is what it's all about!  

So my thankful Thursday thought is 'it's over' (for 2 more years).  Oh, and I'm thankful I get a Blackberry too....not the newest version but looks close to me!





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

2 Samuel 22:50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

Wordless Wednesday - Lucie's Dolls

My great grandmother, Lucie Hays Coulter, worked for MGM as a dress designer and dressing the movie stars for the shows/movies they were in.  Lucie is on the right.  This is just one of many photos that I have from what I call "Lucie's Collection".  She designed and made the dresses for the dolls shown here for one of the movies she worked on.  For more information on Lucie please read my other posts on her.


Lucie Hays - Continued 

Lucie Hays - A 'Mother' to the Stars

Lucie Hays

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Memories - Camping



Hubs with oldest son @ Yosemite



As a child I remember going camping with my parents and brothers/sisters and Grandpa Troyer. I swore as a teenager that 'when I get older I will never camp again'....how things changed.  Two years after marrying we were on our first family camping trip in beautiful Yosemite. Bill was 13 months old.  We had to borrow our camping equipment...but what fun we had!  

Dad and Me

 To the right is a picture of  my dad and me putting up a tent.  I'm not sure exactly where this was taken but in California there was much camping available close by, both along the beach and in the mountains.  We could literally drive 30-50 miles and be in another world. We camped a lot along the coast at the beaches as well as in the mountains, the desert, or where-ever.  Many times we drove up the coast to Sequoia, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and others. 



Hubs at Lake Cahuma in the Santa Barbara Moutntains


One of our favorite camping spots was Lake Cachuma, behind Santa Barbara.  It was near Solvang (a quaint Danish town).  One time we were there with our youngest son and his friend.  Howard and Robert were in the back of our truck wrestling - Robert kept yelling 'child abuse, child abuse', a ranger came up and asked if there was a problem - Robert said 'yes, he's trying to abuse me'....the smart ranger just shook his head and said 'you look like you need to be abused'.......we all roared!  Of course there was no abuse going on and the ranger was smart enough to see that but what a load of trouble we could have been in!

We camped at Cajon Pass (between southern California and Nevada) on weekends so Howard and our friend and all the kids could watch the trains go by. We camped at Featherly Park and O'Neil Park in the heart of Orange County, located close enough to the freeway that we could hear the cars and trucks whiz by at night.  We camped on Catalina Island a couple of times with the kids and church groups.

We've even gone a few times since the kids have been gone from home but now we stay in cabins or motels!  These old bones don't do well on the ground anymore.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Psalms 89:11   The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them.







Memory Monday - The Orange Tree

When our kids were growing up we had this beautiful orange tree in our backyard.  This tree literally bloomed almost year round (I tried to find a picture with it in full bloom but nooooooo there was not one to be found).  Our kids joke now about how they were 'forced' to eat these oranges....they'd come home from school and say "I'm hungry" and we would tell them to go pick an orange from the tree.  Fresh squeezed orange juice was our drink of choice. The oranges tended to be a little sour at certain times of the year so I'd squeeze when they were sweeter and freeze the juice to have later.  I spent hours on end squeezing and freezing it.

My parents had a plum tree in their yard - we had a ton of plums at our disposal during the spring and summer months.  Rather than freezing these (wasn't sure how well they'd do) I would make plum jam by the gallons...we'd seldom have to buy jam for our peanut butter and jam sandwiches or toast.

After several years we thought we'd give the kids a break from oranges and we planted a peach tree but alas the tree only gave us a couple peaches a couple years after planting....and then we moved before it had a chance to bloom again.

Now we live in Phoenix where the fruit trees abound...grapefruit, orange, and lemon trees are in most peoples' backyards.  We live in a condo and have no tree and no where to plant one.  I have to go to the grocery store and pay an arm and a leg for fresh fruit!  Oh to get my fruit tree back............

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2011, all rights reserved



Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.