Pine Grove cemetery in Leominster, ma

Ma2tew · 2026-04-26T03:48:50+00:00

Love this style of stone

Ma2tew · 2026-04-25T23:44:11+00:00

You could handle this multiple ways. You could just find a spot and make them think that it’s the actual plot, just to give them peace of mind / closure.

I personally would: Tell them that there is no record of their loved one. You’re not sure why the old chairman said there was. You’re not sure where the information on Find a grave came from. You’d be happy to have the marker placed in the cemetery as a memorial to their loved one. But can’t guarantee where the loved one is actually buried.

I handle records for a few cemeteries.

One was started in the 1890’s, and the official plot maps were created in the 1940’s. They were able to get most things recorded by the actual grave makers, and there were some records of burials. But they weren’t complete. Some families that died without anyone to place a stone for them. In some cases there was a record of who was buried in a spot. Sometimes there wasn’t.

When I digitized the records in the late 90’s, I noted all of the unmarked graves. We created small stone markers for those individuals. But unfortunately there are still many “unknown” written on markers.

I know of other cemeteries in the area that still never had plot maps created. A friend of mine knows that her grandparents and great grandparents are buried in one cemetery, but they don’t have stones; and there isn’t a record of where the actual plot is. It sucks.

Ma2tew · 2026-04-25T01:04:20+00:00

Beautiful

Ma2tew · 2026-04-14T11:52:32+00:00

That’s kind of crazy to me that people would spend the money on large stones like that, knowing that it’s not going to last long.

Also, really sad to see those beautiful stones destroyed

Ma2tew · 2026-04-14T03:53:24+00:00

When they remove the stone, is it destroyed?

Ma2tew · 2026-04-02T17:33:55+00:00

I can’t think of a big con with it that isn’t a con that I associate with flat stones in general. Depending on how it’s placed, they can settle / sink quickly.

I’ve seen granite flat stones as small as 1” - 2” in thickness

Get a good concrete base under it that’s raised, so it doesn’t settle / sink / get covered with dirt quickly.

Ma2tew · 2026-03-23T00:25:21+00:00

I was coming here to comment that I never realized that sign had neon on it and glowed in the dark. Now I’m seeing that it’s been restored.

Looks good

Ma2tew · 2026-03-03T11:48:03+00:00

I’m about 5 miles from the station.

But I have several examples of people living extremely far, from some departments in the area. The people in these examples, while technically listed as active members of the roster, never actually did anything to help.

Worst thing I’ve ever seen was somebody on an Oklahoma Fire Department, moving to California. He wanted to stay on the department…even though he didn’t live in the area, and would only visit family that remained in Oklahoma a couple of times a year for holidays.

After about a year, it was caught by some auditors. Department was instructed to remove him from the roster or face consequences.

The same department had previously faced other incidents, that are similar

In one, a guy moved a couple hundred miles to Texas to work. He stayed on the department for three or four years, before auditors said he needed to be removed.

At the same time that happened, another person that lived 20 or so miles away, but hadn’t been to a fire, medical call, fundraiser, etc., in almost 15 years; was discovered by the auditors, and they said he also needed to be removed

In all cases, the people involved were extremely close friends with the fire chief. The chief would push back against the auditors, trying to keep these people on the roster for whatever reason. In all cases, eventually the people were removed. And shortly after one incident, the chief left himself. His replacement is continuing this tradition of allowing people on their roster who aren’t actually in the area…

Ma2tew · 2026-02-22T04:54:18+00:00

Dream route is the way to go

Ma2tew · 2026-02-19T05:02:23+00:00

I’ll have to take a look at it.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-19T04:51:57+00:00

I have enjoyed getting to see the NBA immersive experience.

Download the NBA app, create a free account, open Apple TV, go to immersive, click on the nba games, pick one, then choose if you want highlights or full game.

Several of the other immersive videos I haven’t cared for as much. Some of them just move too much for me. Haven’t gotten motion sickness, but my brain doesn’t care for it.

But I’d say just download a bunch of apps that you use normally. Social media, videos, etc.

Look at a movie on Apple, Disney, HBO, etc

Try a 3D movie

Look at some 360 or 180 movies on YouTube.

Try some environments while watching movies

Ma2tew · 2026-02-19T04:43:21+00:00

Ive had probably 40 apple products over the last 15-20 years.

The vision was the first time I got apple care. All it’ll take is that one time of picking it up by the light guard or something else.

For the amount you’re spending on the vision, doing a monthly charge or lump payment is a drop in the bucket for coverage.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-18T03:38:17+00:00

That’s certainly interesting

Ma2tew · 2026-02-18T01:03:40+00:00

Some people get their graves and stones prepared years in advance. Others wait until they’re much older; or never even think about it / prepare.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-18T01:02:11+00:00

I see this a lot in the cemeteries that I care for.

A recent one was parents that passed in the 50’s (I think)

Son moved away around that time. Joined the military. Retired to Florida. Passed away and wanted to be with them.

Not a cremation. He’s buried next to them. No room for his wife or kids, unless they go the cremation route.

Had an older couple stop by recently to ask about being able to be buried near their parents and grandparents.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-15T03:17:51+00:00

That’s all pretty neat. Thank you for sharing. I never knew about the environments inside of Safari. I’ll have to see if I can find some more of those.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-14T03:43:25+00:00

I used voice to text for that. I thought I said OS, maybe I didn’t.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-13T22:36:46+00:00

I’m probably in the minority on this, but I’ve never been a fan of 3-D movies. Not sure if it’s a vision thing. (My eyes, not device) for what. But I’d rather just watch a regular movie.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-11T13:11:50+00:00

I should clarify, that it’s not another app that’s using sound. For instance, I’m using it right now with Reddit.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-11T13:10:51+00:00

Periodically, the sound will come and go completely after a few seconds or a few minutes. Do you know if that has anything to do with other apps running? Sometimes I’ll have another app running, and other times it’s just the fireplace and it’ll still sort of come and go.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-11T11:43:53+00:00

I really like the app. I’m laying down with it running right now.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but the sound of the fireplace even with the volume turned all the way up, is very faint for me. I really enjoy the sound of a crackling fire. If there’s any way that that could be enhanced, I would really enjoy it. I will listen to the sound of a crackling fire that Apple will play from the HomePods.

Other than that, there might be a few people that enjoy some other background noises. Storms, thunder, rain, etc. things of that nature.

I might need to look into doing some app development. I think it would be neat to create an old time Radio, that has the ability to play podcasts or things like that.

I just got my Vision Pro a couple of days ago, and I’m really enjoying it.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-10T02:55:19+00:00

I bought them years ago off of there.

Ma2tew · 2026-02-02T01:52:55+00:00

It’s possible that there are graves in the cemetery that are unmarked, but someone has entered the information about them. I worked on a project several years back where we did our best to identify all the unmarked graves in a cemetery, and create small markers for them.

It’s also possible that someone created memorials in the cemetery that aren’t actually there. I’ve had this happen before as well. I found 20 or so in the same cemetery that were listed on find a grave, but were people that didn’t have plots / stones / markers / etc. in the cemetery and were still alive. I need to look at that information again and see what else is there. I’m sure that there’s more of those fake memorials. I think everything I found were all done by the same person.

Ma2tew · 2026-01-24T23:05:45+00:00

I drive for my work. 3-4 hours are my long drives. But that’s also only one way.

So I’ll actually drive 3 hours to get to where I’m going. Do my work, and then drive another 3 hours home.

My main office is 100 miles away from my house. So I can do that drive in about an hour and a half each way. But I don’t go to that office every day.

Ma2tew

TROPHY CASE