Archives

This page is where I am going to place all old updates and old pages. The pages will go from newest to oldest, but it starts out with links to screen captures of old pages (because I find them amusing). Turns out I have screen captures from pages dating back to 2000. If anyone was curious, the page has been up since 1998. It's first home was at www.collegeclub.com, then I tried out a bunch of other hosts, finally settling on www.geocities.com in 1999. I think it was in 2000 that I bought the domain www.themcgrathfamily.com and moved the page to the new server, www.freehostspace.com where it stayed until 2002. Unfortunately that server went under and took our page and domain name with it. After much effort I regained control over the domain name and moved to our current wonderful server, www.doteasy.com So enough of our little trip down memory lane, lets have fun looking at the old pages and see how this page has evolved over the years.

February 2nd, 2006

Weddings!
Just Past and Upcoming!

Saturday, February 25th, 2006

Sheryl Evon McGrath and Matthew Mark Schuld
will be married at 1:00 in the afternoon in Foresthill, California

Our congratulations, love, and best wishes go to Sherry and her husband-to-be on their upcoming wedding day and their future lives together!

Yaay! Ask and you shall receive! The lovely Sherry herself sent these photos in, thank you Sherry!
Click here to see more photos of Sherry and Matt!

October 15th, 2005
Pictures from Jamie and Richard's Wedding!!

A late congratulations goes to Jamie and Richard, and a thank you to Uncle Jack for sending us some lovely pictures!! I was unfortunately unable to go, but Lisa made the journey to Tahoe for what is reported to have been an absolutely beautiful wedding!

Click here for more photos!

5/13/05

       Well, the school year is winding down, state testing has just finished, and that means the students and Jones Reading and Math Clinic (the tutoring clinic where I work) have been coming in with no school work to do, and so commences my unique form of torture. First I give them a rather dull 'Jones' math quiz, then I amuse myself (and often anyone else in the room) with tales from home. Since I figured they might amuse you all, I've decided to post a few of my favorites…

Chicken Toss...
      One of my favorite mountain past times as kid was Chicken Toss. This was not an actual activity in itself, but a trick we played on my 'flat land' cousins. On occasion my little cousin from Fresno would visit, completely enthused to experience any of our exciting and strange mountain folk past times, and so 'Chicken Toss' was born. My friend and I took her and my other cousin out into the chicken coop, and proceeded to demonstrate our 'favorite' past time. First we chased down one of the big fat red hens. After much frenzied running of the chicken, and indignant squawking, we managed to trap it in the corner of the coop. I grabbed the hen and walked to the center of the fenced in area, my friend at the other side. With a low swinging heave, I flung the poor creature into the air as high as I could. Up and up it sailed…only to return in a blur of frantically flapping wings. My friend would try to follow the controlled crash landing, arms out ready to catch the beast. Of course she failed, but we told my cousins that usually she catches it. At this point we step back to watch my cousins rather unsuccessfully try their hand at Chicken Toss. In their determination to master their hill-billy cousins' favorite game, they provided many a hours of hilarious entertainment for us 'crazy mountain folk'! (And hopefully Jessica doesn't read this, I don't think she ever realized this wasn't a real game we played, lol!)

I usually tell this story in accompany to showing the picture of Mike and Dad plucking 'Christmas' the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner ('Thanksgiving' had a nervous disorder, so she wasn't fat enough for the chopping block yet).   Next week I'll post the story of the day the rooster got the better of Dad…until it lost its head that is :)

As for the local Pizza Factory, it appears they have learned their menu, no one gives me the blank look when I order pepperoni and cashew pizza breads. However, they still haven't figured out the trick of putting cheese on top of the cashews so that they don't fall off, but hey, they are getting there! I'll have to go take a picture of it and the crew and put it up on the site, they will probably be amused by that.

Lastly, thanks to DANNY (sometimes known as Randy) at Tollhouse Trash for being so cool, lol!

Take Care All! Thanks for stopping by!

Morgan

7/1/04      Congratulations Michael and Mandy!

           Well, I'm setting a new goal for myself - I'm going to try to update this page at least once a month. We'll see if it works =). So first things first today, I want to extend a big Congratulations! to my brother Michael and his wonderful bride-to-be, Mandy McGuire. They will be married on Saturday, August 7th, 2004 at 1:00 in the afternoon at Holly Spirit Catholic Church in Fresno, California. For those of you who do not know Mandy, she is Sierra High School graduate and is currently a senior (I think! I may have to correct this later =) at Fresno State University. She grew up with her mother, father, and brother just down the road from our home, on lower Burrough Valley Road. Mandy is an athletic, outgoing, outdoorsy girl who complements Mike perfectly. I don't have any pictures of Mike and Mandy yet, but I promise I will post some pictures and news soon! We all wish Mike and Mandy all the best in their future and are looking forward to attending their wedding. We love you guys!
             Now for the less exciting stuff. This last weekend I went up to visit Mom and Dad and spent quite a bit of time ridding computers of unwanted intruders - viruses and spy ware. And so I thought it might be a good time to urge you all to take care of your computer. So here is my advice. First if you don't have a anti-virus program, shame on you! Go get one now! There are a few good free ones out there, two that are highly recommended are Anti Vir and AVG. Anti Vir can be found at www.majorgeeks.com or www.free-av.com/. AVG FREE Edition can be found at www.majorgeeks.com or www.grisoft.com. Once you have you virus program you have to do two things, keep it updated (probably at least once a month) and scan your computer at least once a week (perhaps less frequent if you spend little time online, or do no downloading). You might not think that your computer is in danger of getting a virus, but you'd be surprised easy it is to get one, so its best to be prepared. Also to cut down on your vulnerability make sure you have your windows patches up to date. Go to www.windowsupdate.com to make sure.
              Next you should make sure your computer is clear of spyware. "Spyware" can be benign little tracking cookies that report your browsing activities or nasty programs that shower you with pop-ups or hijack your browser. Either way they are not welcome on my computer and probably not yours either, so I recommend downloading Lavasoft's Ad Aware. It scans your computer for these programs, reports its findings, and gives you the option to rid your system of these nuisances. You can go to Lavasoft site to learn more at www.lavasoft.de or download the program at www.downloads.com.
              Lastly you may want to look into downloading a firewall. This will help protect you from viruses, hackers, and all kinds if nasty internet menaces. ZoneAlarm is a highly recommended firewall, but I have had problems to get it to work on my computer, mainly because I have two networked computers accessing the internet through the same line. But if you don't have your computer hooked up to a second computer, this may be a good choice for you. A great place to check how secure your system is ShieldsUp (www.grc.com). Look through the rest of the site for additional nifty information.
            I hope this help you all have a more enjoyable internet experience. If anyone needs help, you can always e-mail me Morgan[at]TheMcGrathFamily.com. Later on I'll probably add some more to this and post it under "Information Articles." As always, if you have anything to submit, advice to give or instructions that you have written, please e-mail it to me, I'd love to post it!
         And one last thing before I go for the night - a belated congratulations to Khara and Jeremy Turner on the birth of their daughter Cora. I was lucky enough to see her this weekend and she is a beautiful, healthy baby girl! Take Care Everyone!
    Lots of Love!
             Morgan

5/1/04 Update
           Well, I just thought I'd add a few more things. First, another site for you all to visit; www.tollhousetrash.com. This web site comes from our very own Tollhouse Market, the place where the In Crowd hangs out (well I suppose some mountain folk also hang out in Prather and Auberry, but well, they just aren't as cool). Dad is even featured under "Local News/Gossip" as a member of "The Tollhouse Coffee Klatch" (see Tuesday, April 13th). I absolutely love going to this site and seeing all the pictures of familiar scenes, it makes me homesick! I love it when student at work look at my pictures from home and ask "What state is that in?" You can really tell they are from LA. Anyways, everyone should go check out this site, look at the beautiful mountain, and support our local small town business by buying something from their store!
            Secondly, I thought I'd mention all the new pictures I have uploaded. Newly available for all of your view pleasure is Thanksgiving 2003 (mainly picture of Lacey and Nathan though), Zack's 5th and 6th birthdays, and Easter 2002 (2004 is coming as soon as I develop them). I'll probably be uploading like a mad woman all weekend, so I'll post a note when I get more up.
      Have a good weekend all!

4/30/04
         So, what have I done tonight... I have now posted some more new pictures (well links to new pictures). If you haven't taken a look at the changes with the photo album, I'll fill you in on the details. I've decided it is just too much work for me to host the pictures all on my own site. If I were to host it, I'd have to manage all the links to each pictures (and for example, just my album of Zack's 5th birthday is 110 files, and that's after slimming it down!) so for me to manage that many links and small and large views was just an overwhelming task. So now I'm having the photo album hosted at www.shutterfly.com. The nifty thing about this is that if anyone wants a print of some of these photos, it's easy and cheap to buy the prints on actual photographic paper and have them mailed to your door. (I don't get any kickback from this, so don't feel you need to do this for my benefit) I will put up the links on our photo album section to the individual albums online. If you have any problems feel free to e-mail me.
          Also I have set up the Archive section. No you can go see pages dating back to 2000. It hosts screen shots of our old web pages along with all the older updates.
           Lastly I am putting up a link to a site I am very much in support of - www.sacred-texts.com. This site hosts religious text from nearly all world religions and makes them accessible for free to anyone who is seeking. I think this is a huge step towards religious tolerance, and is something that can be appreciated by all, regardless of their religious background. It also houses all of Shakespeare's work and legends and stories from countries around the world. Including what is more specifically related to this site, and my favorite, the legends and tales of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. If you are as enthused as I am about these things, please buy the CD, it's a whopping $50 but it goes to keeping this wonderful site online, and I know I have absolutely loved mine. The back of my CD reads:
            "You are holding in your hand a complete library of the most important books ever written. The scriptures of every world religion, in English and the original languages. Hundreds of books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric, all in easy-to-use HTML format. Includes many text scanned from rare books no longer in print. Includes the Bible in English, Hebrew, Greek and Latin; the Qur'an in English and Arabic, the Talmud and Kabbalah; Vedas and Upanishads; Homer, Virgil, the Eddas, the complete works of Shakespeare. Topics include the Bible, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, I Ching, Taoism, Confucianism, Jainism, Sikkism, Shamanism, Australian, Polynesian, African and Native American traditions; Ancient Near East, Egypt Rome and Greece, Sagas and Legends, Wicca, Grimoires, Alchemy, Atlantis, Tarot, Atheism, Philosophy, and much more. Includes over 1000 complete books, the equivalent of 250,000 printed pages. Ideal for schools, libraries and students."

          Ok, I'll stop raving now. Just had to get that out of my system =). Anyways I thinks that's it for tonight, take care all!
                     Lots of Love to All!
                                Morgan

2/24/04
Hey all! I changed the layout a bit, I think it makes it easier to navigate, and that way you don't have to have the side bar reload every time you change pages. I'm hoping this with inspire me to work more on the page. Meanwhile I have done some work on my other pages, www.maevinwren.com and particularly my portfolio at www.morganmcgrath.com. Also I bought Dad a domain name for Christmas, he hasn't done too much with it yet, but its at www.sierrahighfootball.com (he's still struggling with the web builder, keep at it Dad!). Also check out our online store at cafepress.com! If you want to see more here, the best way to get more frequent updates is to encourage me! If I know you visit, and want to see more content, better yet, if you write me an update or anything, I promise I will dedicate more time to this page! I want it to be for everyone, 'cus I love you guys and all! Well off I go, everyone have a great week!
Love and Laughter
Morgan =)

11-13-03 Hey look! An Update!

Hello all! I know I haven't been paying much attention to the web page, but after all, it seems no one ever looks at it, so why bother? But Sherry just wrote in with an update, which got me thinking about those who I know visit the site. I know dad does since their homepage is set to www.themcgrathfamily.com (Though I suppose it doesn't count since I don't think he knows how to change the homepage, nothing like a captive audience to add hits =) Then I looked at the guest book and noticed but Uncle Dave and Uncle Don have signed in the last few months. So I shall trudge on…if you do visit the web page, and wish for more content and updates, the best way to get that is to encourage me! And the easiest way to do that is to sign the guestbook, or if you really want me to get going on it, send me a update on you or your family. Well, I best be off so I can upload these updates =)! Lots of love to you all!

Morgan

4/18/02
Well, don't know if any of you noticed, but the page has been down for a bit. Why? Well, www.themcgrathfamily.com was being hosted by www.freehostspace.com from whom I bought the domain. For a few weeks now I've been trying to get into their site to buy another domain for myself, but the site wouldn't pull up at all. I figured it was probably just my computer until I tried it again a week ago and it re-directed me to "www.cheaphostspace.com" Hmmmm...I thought, something fishy is going on. And sure enough, our server had gone bankrupt. So much for "free host space for life!" LOL. So I quickly got to work on transferring us to doteasy.com. Unfortunately it turns out that our domain is actually monitored through a domain registrar, and doteasy.com needed me to go to them, log into a site I've never even been to and change the DSN information. Ick. So after if figured out what that was, I tried to go get into the site. But it turns out they are going through some big lawsuit and couldn't create new log ins, so I had to get a tech support person to give me an overriding password. So anyways, I'm sure you all get the idea. But its all good now, I just have to transfer everything and re assign everyone's address. If there is a specific address you want just e-mail me and I'll set it up. Check back soon everyone, I'll have the Easter pictures up soon!

Lots of Love to All!
Morgan =)