Plomosa and Overwhelmed with DNA

 

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

 
The rain finally moved away from the area.  Our solar kicked back in on Sunday and actually charged our batteries again.  In other words even the sun was shining.  It’s predicted to be out and sending its rays our way for the near future.

   

Big Tent crowd is gone!

Most of our little group also moved from the fee area at LaPosa.  It’s not that we’re cheap …. but we are.  Actually, it really isn’t even the $40 as much as getting a little change in scenery.  We stayed up until the day we needed to renew and then moved in the rain and puddles and mess. 

There are seven of us now sitting here.  It’s peaceful and seems just a tad cleaner than LaPosa.  We like it here.  Alas, though that time is catching up with us and we will soon be moving back to the Phoenix area for another week or so before we start edging a little towards the Northwest or is it Southwest?  You know how we rarely know where we're going until it's time to go.  However, every once in a while we have a commitment or two and that's why we're going to Phoenix.

Remember at Christmas time I received a DNA testing kit?  There are several companies that offer DNA tests for genealogical and/or health results.  The companies all have their differences, indicate they have the largest DNA base for sharing and have different fees.  Some of the differences are minor and others are major.  My results were finally available and it’s been difficult to break away even for a campfire at times.   I have been glued to my 991 from one website and 883 from another.  These are just early matches and I'm reading all I can about chromosomes, hablogroups, genome, mtDNA, markers, SNPs, STRs and such.  I don't know about you but much of that is new jargon to me.  I’m like a sponge though and trying to absorb every bit of information I can.  There’s so much to read about genetics and so much to learn in order to be able to use the information. Science was never my bag but boy I find it interesting now when it applies to my ancestry.  A few of my matches have helped by leading me to other databases and DNA sites.  Right now though I’m a bit overwhelmed.

 

Some of the DNA websites allow you to upload your raw DNA data to their databases and others won’t.  Some are more  detailed, use different testing techniques and need to be converted. Some collect DNA via saliva and others by a cheek swap.  In addition to your ancestry composition you can also learn what genes you carry with tendencies for certain diseases, traits and such.  Genealogical research has been my big hobby  for over 35 years so this is just the next step.  To me it’s absolutely fascinating.  I just need time to get into it more.

I did break away from all my reading and studying yesterday for a couple little outings including a jaunt on the JAG (aka RZR).  We also went back to the Big Tent to see if there were any specials.  I can report that there weren’t any big ones.  We made a couple small purchases.  One was a speaker to plug into our little AC/DC TV we use while boondocking and the other was a stove top grill.  The speaker was $10 less than a week ago so we did get a deal on that.  The grill … well, we paid $2 more than Freddy and Delcie did the day before.  I guess you win some and lose some.

The other night we took our dinner over and sat out with Freddy, Delcie, Toni and Doug.  It wasn’t a potluck.  It was just taking the time to sit together with our own food.  Jeff and Tina brought us some wood for our campfire but the wind was a little breezy so we figured that a campfire will have to wait.

New place …. new view

‘Tis life on the road