The Neophyte Blogger Presents!

This is my second opening blog posting - I worked and worked on my first new one, several days ago. I thought it was impressive enough, what with a few pictures and reasonably interesting paragraphs, but upon my return, all my fine work had gone where booboos go, and I don't even know why. But, having piddled for more than twenty-five years, self-taught, in this wonderous electronic gadget, I have learned to absorb technical failures of the operator as well as hardware and software, and sometimes of the site I may be visiting at any given time. Even God sends his thunder and lightening to purge my pages of heart-rendered monologues. So, with a genuine smile on my tired face, I say hello.

When I first encountered the term "blog," I did not know what it meant. Many others were already fully involved, but I knew not what to do. They must be very academic individuals, to be so adept at something that just seemed to appear like a mushroom after a rain. I wanted some of that.

Okay, now what should I do? What is the object of this game? What are the rules? I investigated and found LOTS of rules. So many rules, so little time! Do you mean I'm going to have to really study and apply myself to play in this game? Right. So, I worked on it and now I'm in Kindergarten. Will you bear with me? Okay! (Oh, by the way, I learned that "blog" is a derivative of two words - "web log.")

I will enter material in this blogspot in no particular order - just what comes to mind when I am seated at my notebook computer. But, don't be surprised if I do arrive at a logical format in the future.

My Beginnings

My ancestry illustrates the Western Expansion of our nation. I was born at home, in Arkansas, to parents who were steeled by conditions that prevailed following The Bank Failure and The Great Depression. My father was born to a hardworking man and woman; Grandpa was a tenant farmer who also could blacksmith and cut and bale hay for his neighborhood community in the tiny town in which he, my father, my mother, my grandfathers and I were born. My paternal grandmother was born in Tennessee to genteel parents, and she was his second wife; his first wife died when his third child was an infant. My maternal grandmother was born in Georgia to North Carolinians.

My father won the heart of a wealthy man's daughter, but his father-in-law had been dead for a little over eight years when they married. Grandpa's wealth had disappeared quickly in the economic woes of his bank's failure (he was a director) and The Great Depression. It is said that he once owned 30 farms, some with houses and barns, but bank notes and taxes could not be paid in the years following his death in 1930, and his executors had to sell properties, one by one, as obligations came due. The last property to go was the old homeplace which was the home of my grandmother, where my mother and her numerous siblings had been raised. The three remaining unwed children soon wed and Grandma lived at various times with one of her many children. She died at the home of her youngest son in 1949.

I plan to speak in greater depth of my ancestors in blog entries to follow. Like most of us, I like to hear about "the good old days." When I have mastered the fine points of making and editing the layout features, I will add a few pictures and links.