The Phend Surname

The "Phend" surname, as you might imagine, is not a common one. The index to the book on the Phend Family that was published in 1991 only includes 331 people with the surname, and that included everyone that I had found since the family came from Switzerland to the United States in 1832. Johannes Phend, the progenitor of our family, had two daughters and two sons, John and Jacob. John didn't have any children. Jacob had seven children, six sons and one daughter; there were 43 grandchildren, 29 grandsons and 14 granddaughters. In the next generation the numbers flipped and girls outnumbered the boys by about 2 to 1.

According to my Grandpa Vic, his grandfather, Jacob, pronounced the Phend surname as "pay-hend" and said that it was spelt pay-hay-a-n-day. He also told me it was originally spelled with a B instead of a P but that the B was pronounced softly like a P and that is how it got changed from B'hend to Phend. However, in Swiss records the surname has been found spelled as B'hend, Bhend, Fend, Fendt and Pend. In the United States, the surname has also been found in records as Fend, Fiend, Fin, Phind, Pheud, Phena, and Phent.

Considering that names were often spelled phonetically, and the fact that many record keepers and census takers wrote so poorly, the variations are not all that surprising. It just sometimes makes it a bit challenging to find the right records.

Johannes Phend was recorded as Jean (or Sean?) B'hend on his 1832 passport.


The signature of Johannes on his passport.


The Land Record from Carroll County, Ohio (Deed Book 11, page 367) showed John Phend and his wife Susan selling their land in 1849 - and his signature!

The family was found in census records the "old fashioned" way - by turning the crank and going through the reels of microfilm image by image, before indexes were widely available, and before the internet. Lucky for me, from other records, I knew where to look and the townships they lived in were relatively small.

1840 Carroll County, Ohio (Brown Township page 192)


1850 Greene County, Indiana (Taylor Township page 409b)

1860 Marshall County, Indiana (German Township page 56)


1870 Kosciusko County, Indiana (Scott Township page 434)

1880 Kosciusko County, Indiana (Scott Township page 33)


In 1900 and 1910, Jacob was livng with his daughter and her husband, Sophia and John Ernest, in Elkhart County, Indiana. (Nappanee, Locke Township page 232 in 1900 and in Concord Township page 56b in 1910)

Three other recent posts highlight some family records from Switzerland, the christening record of Johannes Fendt, and the family's emigration to the United States.

Assateague Island National Seashore

It was as if I had entered a different country. Indeed, I had. Driving south on Route 213 on Sunday morning (October 18th) from Elkton, Maryland, the land became more rural and flat. No more big hills. Traffic was nearly non-existent. A welcome relief from the hustle and bustle driving of the past few days. It was still raining but from the weather reports I was hearing on the radio, I had missed the worst of it. By early afternoon the rain stopped, the clouds were clearing though the sun had yet to make an appearance. There were reports of flooding in the low-lying areas along the eastern shore so I stopped early for the night.

Monday morning brought clear blue skies and sunshine, a glorious morning though cold with temps in the 40s, but at least it wasn't raining! In just a few hours I arrived at the Assateague Island National Seashore south of Ocean City, Maryland. There were areas that were flooded due to all the rain they had received and some of the campsites were affected. I drove around the “loops” in the bayside campgrounds managed by the National Park Service and located the “perfect” spot. It was a relatively large site with a view of the bay and just a small low area, close to the bay, that was filled with water.

That afternoon there were several visitors in the area where I was staying...

Who Needs A Horse?

We see a lot of ummmm..."unusual" things where we are right now. The other day we went to Dollar General and there were not one but two horse trailers in the parking lot, complete with horses. I can't imagine one scenario where I'd be driving a trailer full of horses and absolutely need to take a detour to Dollar General, but what do I know. I've never driven a trailer full of horses after all.



I see what I assume is a local person that drives their motorized wheelchair around. Which isn't that odd by itself but the way this one is decorated in all different types of decorations does make it stand out. One day it had pinwheels that had LCD light in the center. And by pinwheels, I mean maybe 15 to 20. It was like watching a one man parade and gave me a big smile when I passed by.



We see really big trucks with really big wheels on a regular basis. And by really big truck, I mean bigger than our beast. I wonder how on earth the people get inside of these trucks. Do they have to climb up on the wheels first? Is there some sort of pulley system that gets them inside? I don't know the answers to these questions, but it is beginning to seem normal to me to encounter these things. At this point, none of this really fazes me.



But sometimes I see things that still have me doing a double take. This cool car was the case today. I took my cell phone and grabbed a few shots. Then Austin proceeded to tell me that it was the Cowboy's car. Ok...I'll bite. What does that mean? He tells me the guy who drives it looks and walks like a cowboy. I guess you don't need a horse to be a cowboy if you have a car like this that does the job instead.



Ah, I love life's random things. Makes it so much more interesting than the common normal things that we see so often that we don't even really see them. Pausing to really look is a good thing. In this case it was at least.



Living the life in still so warm Florida!

Cookout with Pickleball and Horseshoe Tournament Players

After the tournament, we went to a cookout. They combined the horseshoe tournament players with the pickleball tournaments players in the cookout. We had lots of fun getting to know the locals better.

What happened to the Camp Muir Webcam?

April 14,

The webcam hasn't worked since a fateful day in late November.

I have it in my office in Longmire. I went up about two months ago with all the tools to fix it, but I was unable to make field repairs, so I dismantled it and brought it down the hill.

I have been able to connect to the on-board server, but the image doesn't come up in the admin tool. I will delegate this repair to one of the climbing rangers over the next few weeks. If we can't repair or make an easy adjustment, then we'll have to order a new one.

How did it get broken? Well, reports have come in from various places, but it appears that the webcam has been consistently been taking a good beating. Not by weather, but by people, well-meaning people, to be more exact. The webcam during storms gets rimed up and it obscures the view. It may stay like this for days. So when avid viewers are actually at Camp Muir and in a position to "fix" the rime on the camera, they either hit or scrape the rime off the camera.

The marks on the camera's protective dome seem to corroborate the circumstantial evidence and the hear-say. It definitely looks like dome has taken some pretty heavy blows with a sharp object.

It will still be a month or more until I can get it working again.

Sorry for the delay.

Church Balloon

Barrowden to Fineshade and back

Led by Mel. With Norma, Joe, Karen, Eddie, Gordon, Barry, Maureen and me. Fine, rather humid and cloudy until lunchtime. A few muddy bits in woodland. Just under 11 miles.



The route is the same as this one , but the starting point was different and we did the walk in the opposite direction.



As the route is pretty familiar I thought it was time for some people-pics.

Eddie, Barry, Maureen, Gordon

Alison, Norma

Karen and Joe

Norma, Mel and Gordon

Cake, by Maureen.

Descrip of walk later.











map and details

Social and Solitary

If you look at most cycling blogs today, the discourse tends to stress the social aspects of riding a bicycle. Cycling is presented as an activity that fosters a sense of community- with an emphasis on interaction with other cyclists, neighborhood initiatives, various workshops and co-ops, group rides, community action programmes, and city or state-wide coalitions.

I find this interesting to observe, because to me the bicycle has always been a symbol of solitude - something that brings complete independence and freedom. When I think of "riding a bicycle," I imagine cycling for miles and miles through changing landscapes, alone with my thoughts and at peace with the world; a meditation of sorts. But I can certainly understand that others imagine group rides, bike workshops, and other social activities - they see the bicycle as a shared interest that makes it easy to connect to others.

Often I am asked why I do not participate in group rides, and the reason is simply that for me socialising and cycling are two distinct activities that are best enjoyed separately. It makes me nervous to chat while trying to navigate traffic, so I fully enjoy neither the discussion nor the ride. I also feel that group rides - even slow ones - are more hazardous than cycling alone, because you have to watch out not only for traffic, but for the wheels of other cyclists; I know probably a half dozen people whose only cycling accidents happened during group rides. I can cycle pretty happily with one person at a time (though it depends on their style), but beyond that it starts to get stressful.

This is not to say that I am "against" the socially-oriented portrayal of cycling. I just don't think that the bicycle = community association is universally applicable. And after all, it is rather fascinating that the bicycle can be a symbol of two diametrically opposite things: the social and the solitary.

Everyone draws a line some where....

If you haven' read this and the research behind it you should.



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//05/why-weight-of-your-footwear-is.html



I draw a line at cold feet and heavy boots. Admittedly that is going to be a balancing act generally.



While I was in the Alps a friend who was on the way to Chamonix asked me, "should we bring doubles?"



At that point in my own trip I had beenhanded my ass time wise and by the cold on two separate climbs that by guide book and my "sitting at my desk standards" should have been easy...to the point of casual. They weren't and I was cold. Luckily for me I never had cold feet. But then I didn't have to spend the night out either as clearly I would have if I had been required todo so. One climb was in dbl boots, Spantiks in fact. The other was in Scarpa Ultras.









So of course I suggested they bring dbl. boots. And of coursethey didn't. It worked out fine as the weather warmed up in the couple of weeks it took for them to show up in the valley and get on something big.

When they did climb, they climbed fast which helps :)



Snell's had several dozen pairs of the Scarpa Guide in stock but only 3 pair of the Ultras available. No Ultrasin my size or I would have bought a second pair as they aren't available in NA and easily replaced.



I've already reviewed the Ultra. This is a revisit to that topic.



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//09/scarpa-phantom-ultra.html



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//12/phantom-ultra-vs-trango-extreme-gtx.html



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//11/scarpa-phantom-ultra-and-scarpa-phantom.html



Weights are of a one boot in a size 45.





La Sportiva Spantik 3#.05oz / 48.05oz/ 1362g

La Sportiva Baruntse 3#2.5oz / 1503g

La Sportiva Batura 1st gen. 2#7oz / 1106g

La Sportiva Batura 2nd gen 2#11/ 43oz/ 1219gm

La Sportiva Nepal Evo 2#10.5oz / 1205g

La Sportiva Trango Evo Extreme GTX 2#3oz (35oz) / 992g

Scarpa Phantom Ultra new model 2#3.5oz (35.5oz) / 1006g

Scarpa Phantom Guide new model 2#7.5oz / 1120g

Scarpa Phantom 6000 new model 2#10oz/1190g









I've been trying tohigh light the gear I usedand really liked in Chamonix this winter on the blog and will continue to do so as time allows. I took 3 pairs of "big boots" on this trip. The Ultra the lightest of the three. It fits my feet very well and most importantly it dries easily. They dry faster than eithermy new Baturas or my Scarpa Guides.Part of that is the insulation and inner boot body and part of it is the OurDry liner I suspect. Now both the Guide and the Ultra are using OutDry. My early Guides are Goretex. Not sure what is in the Batura. But the Batura is warmer than either Scarpa single boot.









I had intended to climb in only the BD Sabertooth crampons with these boots as they offer the best fit with the addition of Petzl bales. But it bacame obvious pretty quickly that I had chosen the wrong crampon for the hard ice conditions we experienced early on. (more on that choice of horizontal or vertical front points in a later blog) Not a big deal normally but the Ultra (and its stable mate the 6000) are not the easiest boot to fit a crampon to. Here is why. The sole profile on the toe of the Ultra boot. By far the most narrow toes on a technical boot from the Industry to date.

Ultra and a new Batura side by side here.



I find the Petzl crampons or at least crampons with Petzl front bails seen to fit the Ultrathe best. So I started using a pair of Dartwins in the rock hard ice gullies. The fit isn't perfect but it works well enough and you aren't likely to loose a crampon as a buddy of mine did in Spantiks and Sabertooth crampons in the middle of a a tight mixed chimney. Annoying that,at best.



No real point to this blog other than to say how much I like and used the Ultra this winter. November through April it has been my go to boot. It fits me well and climbs good enough. Not the support of a Nepal Evo or Spantik but they are lighter than either by a fair bitand warm enough. More support and warmer than the Trango Extreme. And I consider all of the boots mentioned some of the verybest available for alpine ice climbing.











All the boots I mentioned are obviously excellent boots. No surprise of the boots I climb in andhave pictured above that I would like one pair better than therest. They all climb well so it eventually comes down to fit. The Ultras fit me the best..even better by a fair margin than the Scarpa Guides.

Down side of the Scarpas? They aren't very durable to date. Which is why I would have bought a second pair in Chamonix. I like them enough and know they aren't going to last long. The inners are coming apart on both pair of my boots, new Guides and Ultras.And I have had friends collapse the toe boxon the new Phantom Guides. Scarpa NA wanted nothing to do with the obvious warranty issue. Thankfully the UK importer took care of the problem with a complete refund.



Nov.



Dec.

For Jan.it was Spantiks in Canada and during Feb in Chamonix as well. March was a toss up between singles and dbls.If nothing else writing a bog post like this reminds me I have gotten some good climbing in this winter season. Nothing spetacular by any count but it was fun ;-)

The Climbing Season Starts at Mount Rainier

Get ready, get set...the climbing ranger season has begun!

Climbing rangers are now staffing Camp Muir and the information desk at the Jackson Visitor Center (which is now open daily) to issue climbing permits.

Here's the current schedule for the JVC and for climbing information:

JVC Schedule May 3 -- June 6
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Saturdays, when it opens at 6 a.m.

Climbing rangers staff the JVC on weekends in May from 6 a.m to noon Saturday

Note that you can get a climbing permit at the JVC when it is open, even if the climbing rangers aren't there to issue it. Also, while the NPS transitions from winter to spring weather (there is still 5 feet snow in Longmire), be sure to call ahead for weather and road conditions.

To get you pumped about the upcoming good weather, we've posted a few new trip reports, featuring the Fuhrer Finger and Gib Ledges, and one about the ever-popular Muir Snowfield.

Elsewhere you can read about David Brown and Hannah Carrigan's trip up Gib Ledges and ski descent down the Kautz Glacier, as well as a trip report from Kyle Miller and Scott Stuglemyer about their splitboard expedition to Fay Peak - during which they dug out the Mowich Lake ranger station along the way (thanks guys!)
(Photo of Fay Peak ascent by Kyle Miller)

Fuel for the Soul

The first of the iris started coming out of their 'cocoons' late yesterday afternoon and this morning two of them were in full bloom. They are one of my favorite flowers, so delicate and a bit whimsical. Though pretty they have no scent. They are also not the easiest flower to photograph. There are so many aspects to them and the color changes a little depending upon the light.




I cut one Iris and took it inside to get a full view of it. From the petals tip-to-tip the flower is a little over 8" across. Several of the plants are "twins" with two blooms at the top of the stalk. There are 12 plants and most of them have 3 to 4 blooms coming on. Absolutely Gorgeous! flowers to feed the soul...

The Big Sandbox

After nearly two beautiful weeks at Zion National Park, the weather took a turn for the worse the morning I left. I had checked the weather forecast for Bryce Canyon. It didn't look good. High probability of snow the next few days. Looking at the map I saw that the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park was on US 89 a few miles southeast of Zion. (US 89 North is the route to Bryce Canyon.)

I had some extra time since I had left Zion rather early so decided to take an indirect route which took me through the mountains to Hurricane and Apple Valley in Utah as well as Colorado City and Moccasin in Arizona. It snowed. And rained. And snowed some more. The higher elevations had several inches of the white stuff on the ground. Back in Utah, I stopped in Kanab at one of the smallest McDonald's restaurants that I have ever seen! But they had free Wifi. At one point it was almost a white-out with big flakes of snow blown by the swirling wind. But that didn't last very long. By the time I left, about an hour later, it was still cold but it had stopped snowing and the sun was shining!

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is a few miles north of Kanab. I checked into the campground and found a site. Then, after adding another layer of outerwear, went off to play in the sand dunes. Did I mention that it was cold and windy? But the sun was shining. Well, sometimes it was – when it wasn't hidden by clouds. Still, it was a wonderful day.

The two largest dunes, in the distance, are about 100 feet high. And yeah, I climbed to the top of both of them. To me, they didn't seem to have that “coral pink” color although the color did change depending upon the intensity of the sun and shadows from the clouds.



above: The southern big dune as seen from the top of the other one.