Changes are Coming :: Empty Spaces

It's looking a little empty here in the apartment. As stated in Changes are Coming :: The Plan I have been selling off lots of stuff - the washing machine and dryer were the first to go, just before the Georgia trip. It's been over 20 years since I've experienced the "joys" of going to a Laundromat! But it is something that I'll have to adjust to along with life on the road.

Over the past four weeks bookcases have been sold as well as filing cabinets, the dining room table, end tables and other household items. Today the television disappeared as did the living room furniture (sofa, loveseat, chair, ottoman). The only pieces of furniture left are my computer desk, two chairs, and the bed. Those will be the last things to go into storage the end of next week. The place definitely has that empty feeling!

It's sad in a way, to see things you've enjoyed using going off to a new home. But they are just things and I wasn't really attached to most of the furniture since I'd only had it three years - though I really hated to part with the dining room table, it was quite nice.

The van is almost set up the way I want it - thanks to some very good friends (Cindy, Bill & Ben) who spent an entire day (14 hours actually) planning, designing and building the "platform" to even out the floor of the van and to provide access to storage areas and a sleeping area. It's awesome and much better than I had envisioned.

Window coverings need to be added to the van and then I think it will be ready to go! I'm still trying to figure out how to do that but got an idea last night that should work. At least, I'm hoping it will…

After the Georgia trip, the van was serviced and tires aligned. At that time the service manager said two of the tires would have to be replaced but that they should last several more months, till winter at least. I had an uneasy feeling about them and every couple of days would look at them. I noticed that on one of the tires the steel belts were showing through! There was still quite a bit of tread in the middle of the tires but the sides were worn bare. So, yesterday I got two new tires and that uneasy feeling has gone away, along with several hundred dollars.

The van is doing pretty good on mileage. Not what my little Cavalier got, but then the van is a 6-cylinder vehicle. It has been averaging 23-24 mpg around town and driving back and forth from Albion to Columbia City. On the Georgia trip it got 26 mpg on the Interstates and 21 mpg the two days in Brunswick. Not too bad, better than its rating of 17 mpg/city and 24 mpg/highway. So far I'm quite happy with my choice and I'm hoping it will serve me well.

To say that I'm tired right now would be an understatement. I'm exhausted. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. But there is still lots to do. This coming week I'll finish the packing (which is mostly done, whew!), work on window coverings for the van, finish scanning a small box I found with pictures from Dad (mostly unidentified), load software on the new netbook (a lovely, amazing piece of hardware!), figure out how to use the mapping software and GPS, work on ancestor reports and continue making the research list, try to get caught up on blog reading (3 days this week I never even connected to the 'net!) as well as go visit friends and relatives that I want to see before I go. All that, and only 9 days left before departure! Oh my, the end of the month is coming up awfully quick.

Not exactly of the "Ride 'em Cowboy" genre..

There were no "pony" pictures taken of us kids while growing up. We lived in the country so the fellows that went around to the "big city" with their ponies, didn't come our way. Although, there is one of my Uncle Bill taken about 1940 (give or take a couple of years), and I found one of two of my cousins taken about 15 years later that looked like it was the same horse! But then, last week I was scanning the last box of my Dad's pictures and discovered this…

I absolutely fell in love with this picture - it is a photo postcard and because it only filled up 2/3 of the front of the card I've cropped out the borders and enlarged it a bit to show the details. There is so much going on - the colt in front, the chickens scurrying around the horses hoofs, the barefoot girl atop the horse, and the man holding the reins. It's static, yet dynamic, at the same time!

The postcard was sent to Amanda Wiseman, Warsaw Ind RR#1 and postmarked at 6 PM on Jul 23. The city is not legible and the year is missing. The one-cent stamp has "909" stamped in ink, perhaps it is the year 1909? Eileen Hover, the little girl on the horse, was born April 21, 1904.

My Dad wrote at the top of the postcard "Uncle Hank Hover & Allein" and on the next line "Bessie, Edie, & Charlie Hovers father"

The message, written by Lue Hover, says "Dear Sister will Write a few lines to let you know we are all well it is raining to day Smith is up stairs a sleep Will write more soon if you answer the letter I did write"

Hank Hover's full name was William Henry Hover. He was the fifth of six children born to George and Rachel (Van Curen) Hover. George passed away in 1855, just three years after Hank was born. In 1859, Rachel married William Alexander. Their first child was Amanda Alexander who married Samuel Wiseman - they are my great grandparents.

I'm not sure exactly where Hank Hover and his family lived but it couldn't have been too far from the farm of Amanda and Sam Wiseman, perhaps a few miles - they both lived in Tippecanoe Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana. [Update 31 May 2014: William H. Hover (Henry) was found in the 1910 census in Pleasant Valley, Cowley County, Kansas with his wife Frances L. and five-year-old daughter Allien (should be Aileen). From a review of the back of the postcard, I am pretty sure the postmark is Winfield, Kansas. Winfield is the county seat of Cowley County. Henry had a sister, Sarah Hover Summerville who lived in Sumner County, which borders Cowley County on the East. About 1919 or a little earlier, Henry and family returned to Indiana, settling in Milford, where he died on 22 February 1920. ]

Last year I posted a photo of the Hover children, Bessie, Edith and Charlie. They were Hank's children from his first marriage with Elizabeth Biltz. Eileen Hover was Hank's daughter from his second marriage to Lula Crawford, the writer of the postcard.
This post was written for and contributed to the 78th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy :: Ride Em Cowboy: Let's See Your Pony Pictures!