Welcome To The Sandy
About Us ... Always 
Under Construction -
Last Updated -
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Sandy was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and I was born and raised in
Mobile, We got married about nine
months later and moved to
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Us at Disney’s Epcot (January 2001)
Where We Live ...
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For
the last forty-one years, we have lived in |
"Beautiful Downtown Mims, Florida"
Where I Used To Work ...
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I started working at KSC 11/21/66 for IBM as an
electronics technician on the Saturn/Apollo moon project. I made the
switch over to computer programming in 1968 and continued working for IBM
throughout the "Moon" program and the first of the Shuttle
Program. After retiring from IBM, and several company changes, I ended up working in the KSC Test & Operations
group with United Space I particularly used to enjoy my drive to and from work through the |
A Picture I Took One Morning At Work!
Our hobbies include ...
Genealogy-
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MARGARET
W. ‘CLAIRE’ MING |
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GENEALOGY RELATED PHOTOGRAPHS.
The
MINGUS Family Line - My Father's Paternal Line.
The
CYR/SEARS Family Line - My Father's Maternal Line.
The YOUNG Family Line - My Father's Paternal Grandmother's Line.
The RYAN Family Line - My Father's Maternal Grandmother's Line.
The WOOLSEY Family Line - My Mother's Paternal Line.
The BENTLEY Family Line - My Mother's Maternal Line.
The ETHERIDGE Family Line - My Mother's Paternal Grandmother's Line.
The DORN Family Line - My Mother's Maternal Grandmother's Line.
I plan to add more Families later and
eventually intend to include a special page dedicated to the Mingus’ of
North Carolina. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or
comments. See my E-mail address at the bottom of this page.
The latest data I received concerning my Native
American ancestry seems to definitively prove that it was only family lore and
not fact. A cousin who is descended from
Martha Jane Compton in my Etheridge line, (who’s mother Rachael was
supposedly a Choctaw Indian) took a special DNA test that shows whether you
have Native American blood, and it came out negative. I have not seen actual
proof, but this was in an email that I received.
Picture of Les and I at the "Boundary Tree Marker" which marked one of the boundaries of our ancestor's property and my Great Grandfather's cemetery which is up on a ridge on the Cherokee Indian Reservation and I never would have found without Les' help.
Birding -
We recently have had a Sandhill Crane and a lone Wild Turkey visiting our back yard on a daily basis. (no I haven't been drinking out behind the shed. It is very pretty, and I think that it might be a young Tom.
Our favorite place to visit is the "Black Point Wildlife Drive" on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We try to get out there as often as possible. Check out some of our humble attempts at Bird Photography. (See many new Pictures!)
My life count is now at 162! That seems paltry to me, but remember we are still relative rookies at this.
Fishing -
(New Pictures)
We don't do as much as we used to, but as we approach retirement, we hope to do a little more. Our favorite spots are the Navy's Trident Turn basin in Cape Canaveral where we fish mainly for Pompano, and at my brother's place on Lake Martin in central Alabama where we fish for Bass and Catfish. The Indian River Lagoon and the St. John’s river are also high on my list.
Tom sold his place on the lake to move closer to his Kids and Grandkids. I can’t say that I blame him for that. He did tell me that we could still use the old camp on the lake that he used to own. Maybe we can continue the tradition.
Had a great time on my last trip to Lake Martin. We got hit with a cold snap and the fishing was slower than usual, but we got a few bass and a year's supply of catfish. I guess I will leave these pictures up for memories until next time.
Early Morning Heading Out Bait the Hook Coming Back In Cleaning the Catch
The Trident turn basin has been open
sporadically this year so far, and the pompano have just began their winter
run. I was lucky enough to limit out the last two times I made it down
there. Here are some photos from my last
trip.
Trident Wharf Lots Of Action Fish On! Double Catch A
Limit for 2
I have a new outboard motor and intend to learn how to fish for "Reds" in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons prior to my retirement! Maybe if I get good at it I can invite Tom down here to fish.
I hope that I will get the opportunity to
do a little more shrimping this Spring. I went
out to the Indian River Lagoon Railroad bridge several times last year and just
didn’t hit it at the right time. I
heard that some people have been doing pretty well.
Golf - (Updated)
I'm just a duffer, but I enjoy it a
lot! I currently play in the Space Coast Industrial Golf League.
This is a traveling league where two-man teams play a different golf course
every couple of weeks during the season, which runs from about March through
September or October. Since retirement, I have begun playing on most
Wednesdays with a group of my friends on several local courses.
In the S.I.G.L., we finished up in third place in our flight last year, which was a one place drop from the year before. I still have a long way to go with my game. This year is about to begin and we have many interesting new courses to play!
Travel/Vacation - (Updated)
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We loved our visit to Germany back in the Winter of 1992. It included a drive down the Rhine through Worms and Heidelberg and down the "Castle" and "Romantic" roads from Frankfort to Munich, with visits to Garmish and the ski resorts of the Fussen area, plus much more!
The next time we go there I hope to include
some genealogy research |
We attempt to combine some of our other interests, especially Birding and Genealogy, with our travels! We are also very partial to taking Cruises and visiting our Grand kids!
In late May, we struck out up the East
Coast on our first post-retirement trip.
We covered all of the eastern seaboard states all the way up to and
including Maine. We also made a short
excursion into Canada. We had a
wonderful time and saw a lot of sights, including Washington DC and New York
City, Plymouth, Cape Cod, & Cape Ann in Massachusetts, Acadia National
Park, Maine. The trip also included
stops at our daughter Laurie’s in
In the Fall, we
are considering a trip to
Due to health issues, our annual crawfish
bash is currently on hold.
Here are some pictures of our last event.
Some Pictures of Our Grandchildren...
Jonathan & Taylor
Skyler
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This is a
lovely portrait of one of my nemeses. It is titled More new pictures have been added!! |
Some of My Favorite Web Pages are...
Cyndi's List - A great Genealogy reference page
The PGA Tour
- These Guys are Good
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center - Lots of good Bird
Stuff
New
Orleans - A fun place
Earth And
Sky - Keep track of the Heavens
Dogpile Search - Uses many search engines
Hurricane Site - If
you're where they hit, you need to watch them
Kennedy
Space Center - Plenty of exciting stuff
Movie
Database - To answer most any question about Movies and Stars
Terra
Server - Neat site - A Bird's Eye View
