There are many different genealogy software programs, but Family Tree Maker is by far the most widely used. I've been using it forever and I love it. If you get it, and then ever decide that you want to use a different program, or send your info to a relative who uses a different software, all you'd have to do is export your database in GEDCOM (an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication) format. There are very easy steps to follow to do this -- basically it's about three or four mouse clicks! One "word of caution" about Family Tree Maker -- they come out with an "upgraded" version virtually every year. You do NOT need to buy every upgrade. Just pay attention to what they say is "new and improved" in the newer version and only buy the upgrades that you think are worth it. Ancestry.com does offer each new version at a nice discount to folks who already own it and/or folks who subscribe to Ancestry.com. You can create "scrapbooks" within Family Tree Maker -- by adding photos. You can print out family history books that contain stories that you enter into the software. You can print out descendant trees, ancestor trees, pedigrees, etc. You can save them into .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) format so that you can send them to relatives who don't have the software, so they can at least see what you've got. And, you can upload a GEDCOM of your Family Tree Maker database to Ancestry.com, to have the tree online. You can keep it totally private, so no one but you or your invited guests can see it; or you can make it public, so anyone can see it. Even when it's public, no one can see any info on folks who are, or may be, still living. They'd see "Living Smith" instead of "John Smith," etc. When you have your tree online, Ancestry is always searching in the background, to find possible matches - to historical records as well as other folk's online trees. You'd be surprised at how many genealogical sites are now part of Ancestry.com. Genealogy.com used to be a totally separate entity - and they owned Family Tree Maker, too. Now, they're both part of Ancestry.com. RootsWeb is also part of Ancestry.com. And I'm fairly certain that Ancestry.com is now owned by the LDS.

Church of the Latter Day Saints site: (http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/default.asp (FREE) It is said they have the most complete records in the world and even a pop up guide to help. Some cities have genealogy centers in the LDS church that you can use & ones I've been to offered a lot of suggestions/help. If there's one where you live give 'em a call to ask. DH's great GrandDad fathered 18 children & the sons all named sons after their brothers- what a tangled mess that was to solve, but I loved tracking them all. Visit your local library- they are tremendous help & when visiting another state I went to library for info, signed their visitors book & was so surprised to later get letters, e-messages from others who gave info/clues, etc. The librarian there had a book of stories of earliest county residents which I was going to copy to get info on my ancestors when she told me the author lived in that small town. She even called her to see if she had any copies left. Gave me directions to her home where I rushed to buy her last years out of print copy. In the years since the kids 'n grands have so enjoyed reading about the gunfight their GG Grandfather & his brother had with a local scoundrel who later shot & killed the Sheriff. Ask your librarian abour a local genealogy society/group; genealogy buffs LOVE to help others in their quest. Happy Searching! Suzi

It's not hard (usually) to find a volunteer willing to take photos of gravestones at cemeteries surprisingly, though I don't do that myself. That seems to be the most popular volunteer activity. Having done extensive genealogy workups on a couple of Wikipedia subjects whose published backgrounds just didn't sound credible, I decided to volunteer in the areas I would have personally found very useful during that time. The local sources---which I've offered at Random Acts of Kindness---are old phonebooks going back to 1940, city directories from 1880 to 1944, probates, divorces, etc. (on microfilm) from the County Courthouse going back to maybe 1910, and San Francisco Bay Area newspapers going back to the 1880ties for obituaries. Fortunately for these activities, I live in the city of the county seat, so between our public library, the courthouse, the nearby LDS/Mormon Family History Center, and the commercial on-line genealogy sites such as ancestry.com & newspaper archives.com available to me, I can do---& do do---a fair bit of "ancestor sleuthing". Not everyone would be in that position. So if you sign up as a volunteer, consider all the areas of assistance that might geographically be available to you. It can be a more interesting, not to mention challenging, project.

I think you will need to go on asearch for someone to tackle this but removing baseboard is quite simple and trimming the flooring usually simple too with the right saw. I need to see the issue for sure but usually the buckling is too tight an install so the idea to remove the basboard is a good one but also a really minor repair usually and hard to find contractors who want to do it. As for finding replace,ents chances are they are not the same dyelot so I would not bother with that. Why have you been replacing other planks and what was the issue there ? What was the sub floor?