49 USES FOR A FLUTAPHONE NUMBER 14

#14 -Distress Signal. IF you become lost in the stacks of a major
genealogical library, DO NOT PANIC! Use your flutaphone
to summon help by blowing as hard as you can on through
the mouthpiece. A series of the highest and most shrill notes
will be most efficacious and a friendly librarian will arrive to

escort you safely back to your chair.

BLOGGING BRUNCH6

It seems to be a quiet day in many of the genealogy blogs I read
most often so after watching the Patriots game I started to dl the
the Revolutionary War Pension File for my ancestor Amos
Hastings from Footnotes.com. Last night I downloaded those of
Jesse Barker, the brother of my ancestor Jonathan Barker, which
is much smaller than his other brother Benjamin’s and the
Hastings file as well.


So far I’ve found Pension Files for seven ancestors at Footnotes
and the service records and rolls for some of them. It’s a windfall
of information for me and along with the Jesse Tuttle story they
should provide me with plenty of blogging material.


But I do want to get my files here more organized, so I ordered a
copy of Elizabeth Shown Mill’s book Evidence: Citation &
Analysis for the Family Historian so I can get more of a handle
on all the material I have found lately.


And I still need to come up with another thirty or so genealogical
uses for the fluteaphone!

49 USES FOR A FLUTAPHONE NUMBERS 9-13

Astute readers will note that my first entry in this list was for
numbers 1 to 5 and I’m suddenly at number 9.


That’s because Janice and Apple took pity on a befuddled old
man and contributed 6,7, and 8 in comments.


If anyone else is likewise moved to such kindness, feel free to
send your use for a flutaphone right along!




9. Flower holder- for when you visit the ancestral grave. Stick
sharp pointy mouthpiece into the ground and your flowers into
the other end of the flutaphone.



10. Bookmark-When you have to leave your chair for a moment
to ask the librarian to find you another genealogy book in
the stacks.
NOTE- DO NOT LET THE LIBRARIAN SEE YOU DO
THIS!!



11. Bookfetcher- That particular tome on a shelf you can’t quite
reach? Using the pointy mouthpiece end, gently rock the book
loose and down.


12. Bookcatcher- See above. Quickly reverse the flutaphone to
catch the falling book on the wide-ended mouth. If the
librarian notices, tell her you are practicing balancing the
books.

13. Eartrumpet- For when a librarian starts yelling. Insert
narrow end in ear after REMOVING the pointy mouthpiece.
Remember, catch any books before they hit the floor if you
were performing uses numbers 11 and/or 12 when the
librarian started yelling. Turn wide end towards librarian
and say “Eh?”

For some esoteric reason, my spellchecker wants to change
flutaphone to glutathione.

Some late night message from an ancestor about chemicals, maybe?

49 USES FOR A FLUTAPHONE NUMBERS 1-5

Ok, Janice, I couldn’t come up with 49 genealogy
related uses for a flutaphone.


But there’s one here and more to come among the others.

1. Doorstop- It’s more humane than using dead cats
or dead Wesley Crushers. And it smells better.


2. Windchimes


3. A Habitat trail for Earthworms-All those finger holes.
“The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out…”


4. Tank decoration for guppies- All those finger holes.
“ The fish swim in, the fish swim out…”


5. A defensive weapon-For when that librarian finally snaps
when you ask her to find another dusty volume in the stacks.
Mouthpieces on flutaphones are pointy!!!


To be continued.