Appalachian Heart Wood

Let's catch up! Not exactly been busy...but some things I forgot I did. Like a Ghost story.

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 21:18:00 +0000

OK...OK...I know. I don't publish much. My illness has a lot to do with that. I have arthritis in my hands. BAD arthritis. Along with EVERYTHING else wrong with me, i.e. losing my hearing, etc. etc. etc. The arthur hampers everything these days. To the point I get depressed about it. I'm a crafter and it interferes something awful.

I toy with the idea of just creating a Youtube channel. Able to show crafts I know, just once and take breaks in filming. But I am a boomer when it comes to editing video and it still doesn't help my hands. Thought it would be easier talking instead of typing. I've toyed with voice recognition typing and end up having to correct so much...might as well just hurt and type it. Which means I've ended up doing nothing I planned to do.

But I need to figure this out!! I've things to share before I kick the bucket. Things I think will be useful to someone. I'm not getting any younger.

So I thought I would catch up a few things. There are articles on here in draft that are not completed. I want to complete them. Plus some things I've done, I haven't even shared!

I wrote this article 5 years ago for Dave Tabler of Appalachian History. She Haunted that Train All Damn Night! I forgot to even share it here!!

It was for Halloween. He asked me for another ghost story. So I gave him one. He said that was an imaginative story. I told him I didn't have to imagine it, because it was TRUE! Real easy to write up when I was there that day, when Colonel came in from that run, and told the story.

So for those that follow, I am going to try to catch up things and to do something to share things I think some folks would like. Now I'm a poor person. Poor people, have poor ways. Way things are going, some of this knowledge I know, that might be useful knowledge these days.

The Youtube....sigh...well it won't be professional or nothing like that, but I think it would be the best place to share some of this.

Here was a picture I did of a doll I fixed. It was a gourd head doll I made for my G baby, YEARS ago, that she damaged it's head. She stepped on it and it looked like Wednesday Adams doll with no head. I had to replace the head. Gave it new pantaloons because those were missing, and made a cape for it out of an old velvet dress her mother wore as a baby. I did a video short but haven't uploaded anything to Youtube.

AND some other things I want to work on. I got the baby doll fixed but my hands.....I'm going to have to pick and choose carefully. There is an antique beaded purse I want to fix but I can't hold the fine needles anymore. My family can help me with that. I hope. I can show them, just can't do it. We will see. Ya'll be blessed this year.

Inside Appalachia Series of Peter Santenello - I LOVE IT!!

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 09:02:00 +0000

There has been a series about Appalachia this summer that has gone viral. Inside Appalachia by Youtuber Peter Santenello that his wife edits. I love it. I love how they portrayed us and let people here speak. It's SO MUCH better than the Poverty Porn we are used to. I hope I helped it to go viral by sharing it EVERYWHERE I could. I highly recommend this series.

His series on the Border is very good too. I sent that one to politicians and told them get legislation going and fix THIS. Stop blaming Presidents, when it's Congress that's not done the job they are elected to do.

But there are a few things I wanted to mention that he didn't cover, because he didn't run across it to gain an understanding as someone from Appalachia would know. I missed the live streaming last video. I watched it and so I'm commenting mostly to it. But I encourage you to watch all 8 of the series Peter Santenello published on Youtube on Appalachia.

If you read this blog, you will know I'm an Appalachian woman whose family history can be traced to Appalachia since 1745. I'm a historian on Appalachian history. One of many. I only cover what I know from family history and working in the tourism industry for years.

The Economy of Appalachia

There is this misconception that Appalachia was always poor and only ever had the existence of subsistance farming. No, Appalachia was always rural, with smaller farms that were NUMEROUS. Every small farm grew extra agricultural products shipping them to the East and mostly to the South. We were the breadbasket of the lowland south prior to the Civil War. The South grew cotton, we grew food and sent it south.

I've come across many assessments of estates in wills that would include the crops being grown on the land for shipment. Corn, barley, rye, wheat, orchards of apples, nut trees etc. Then farm animals: sheep, (my great great aunt and uncle raised wool to sell) horses, cows, PIGS, (big one was pigs) duck, geese, chickens, turkeys. Alcohol in the form of wine and whiskey would be included in those assessments too. All the products were sold at market day, with promises to deliver it or drivers and drovers would come by and pick it up for transport.

Pigs were a staple for funding. Pigs were marked and allowed to roam and feed in the forest on the mast nuts of the giant chestnut trees that used to grow here. American Chestnut The Chestnut trees were wiped out in a blight in the 1920s.

Drovers were hired to round up livestock from the various farms and move them to market in places like Asheville, NC. There is a pig statute in Asheville marking this history. Asheville is pretty hauty these days but imagine 80,000 pigs a season going through it from the mountains. The Hatfields and McCoys feud began partly over a pig. It was a big cash crop.Article about 80,000 hogs through Asheville

The farms were smaller, not plantation size, but a large family could maintain it and thus no need for slave labor. But they were profitable. My dad was a farm laborer, in 1939 when he joined the Army. He was kind of mad because he took a pay cut to join the Army! He also talked about his dad gathering chestnuts in 100 pound sacks to sell to his great uncle. Who would then sell the chestnuts east of us around Christmas. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? That money bought him a pair of new boots every year.

Plus the timber industry. Timber has been a market for Appalachia from the earliest settlements. But everyone thinks there was never an economy of any note, in Appalachia until the coal boom. That we were so isolated and poor. Well...it's just not true.

We suffer from first, from not knowing our own history and secondly, from color writers. SOMETIMES OF OUR OWN MAKING in book media form that romanced the "isolated" Appalachian. John Fox Jr., one of our own people, Appalachian raised, Harvard educated, did more harm to spread a stereotype to sell books than any one person I know. He embellished alot. See Here

There were others too. Not just novel writers but "historians" like William Connelly. My Jenny Wiley series proved that his written history was embellished writing, selling a story, with some base of fact but that was SO not true, on another level.

Our economic history, in reality, is like any farming community in the U.S. We were just in the mountains, with not many large flat farms but numerous smaller ones.

In the 1890s, with the opening of the Pocahontas Coal fields, our economic focus became predominantly coal in middle Appalachia. THAT changed Appalachia. Farms were bought out. Millions of acres of mountain land purchased for holding companies in the chance coal and other minerals, might be harvested and mined underneath the land.

Much of it still being owned today by corporations. In 1981, there was a land survey on who owns Appalachia. Over 43% was outside corporate owned, 8% government owned. Appalachian Land Survey

But even the land NOT owned by corporations, in many areas, would be part of what is called a Broad form deed system. Where companies bought the rights to the minerals in the ground, but not the land above. Mineral rights deeds have been a HUGE bone of contention. Because they own the rights under the property, they can destroy what's on top, that they don't own and many times did. There have been a few bits of legislation passed to protect land owners, but it's energy companies. When you have a state government that caters to energy, they usually win.

So many people were actually displaced in Appalachia by mining companies buying up property and by government creating national forests and dam projects, it has always been an issue. Eisenhower administration built highway systems to include what they called, "growth centers" for Appalachia. Think bigger towns along the interstate like Princeton WV, Charleston, Beckley, etc.

This goes along with the solutions for plumbing, water systems etc. Their thoughts were to bring in manufacturing for those not employed in mining and displaced from farming to be located in growth centers. And with more people concentrated in an area, things like putting millions of dollars into building sewer, water and infrastructure for more people. made better economic sense. It played out exactly that way, not just in Appalachia but the entire US. Until NAFTA sent the manufacturing jobs out of the country. In Appalachia, we have dying coal towns and dwindled growth centers.

But a word of warning to ANYONE thinking to buy land, especially farm land and moving to Appalachia. One needs to understand about mineral rights etc. Make sure there is a search with the deed that includes mineral rights, water rights, rights of way etc. and contact the state house to see if any permits are being applied for mining etc. in that area.

Coal

Coal....there are many employed in coal but obviously not enough to employ all the people needing employed. No one should be fooled, it is still a dangerous job. Black Lung disease is rising again. Many of the coal areas suffer from memories when coal mining hired a LOT more people and coal towns were built by coal mine owners. That world doesn't exist anymore.

It's not that they are mining less coal...it's that technology has developed that you don't need that many people to mine coal. Add to it more independent operators that don't use Union labor.

In one of the videos Peter recorded, was a woman recalling how a man she knew would lay on his back and shovel coal. Well... put it on a conveyor belt. My ex husband did that too. He was 6 ft and worked in 18 inch to 36 inch high coal. A yardstick is 36 inches.

Well now they have this machine that as coal is being dug, these two clawed flippers on either side make sure it goes on the conveyor belt. It just does not take the number of bodies to mine coal as it once did. Also flattening the mountains with strip mining takes less miners to get the job done than underground.

But EVERYTHING in our economy is still focused on coal jobs. An industry that doesn't provide ENOUGH jobs. The "friends of coal" campaign. Sigh...we tolerated coal in my family, but we were never Big Buds.

Most of my folks were railroaders. They worked on the railroad hauling freight and coal. My ex went from mining to working on the railroad as a brakeman. Recently, the railroads got rid of all the cabooses. Half the railroad jobs in the country were wiped out with that one move.

AND Listen UP East Palistine Ohio, it used to be the conductors or brakeman that would ride in the top part of the caboose and spot to see if they saw smoke or any irregularities from the back of the train. The fact the railroads don't want to invest in equipment to monitor that now, to save money, tells you all you need to know.

Transportation, you don't have a car today, you are in trouble in Appalachia. PERIOD. Unless it's a larger town or city, there is no public transportation. Used to be, when the railroads were hauling coal, they also had passenger service. You could ride a rail car to any holler in WV where there was a mine. When Eisenhower built the road system and pushed cars, the railroads discontinued passenger rail to all those little places. It shut down a major part of transportation in Appalachia.

I recall miners also using Greyhound bus service. Greyhound used to travel to every little pit stop in the mountains. They would ride the bus to the mines, stay at a boarding house and then ride the bus home on weekends. Or they car pooled. Today Greyhound only seems to go to the growth center towns.

Plumbing

About 20 years ago, we got a public water system put in my area. We had well water. But not all wells are alike either. If it's not deep enough you may get iron water, which turns everything orange in the washing maching. Or sulfur water that smells like rotten eggs. Ours was fair, but in the summer dried up or got really low.

A big issue is the wells and the water tables are susceptible to contamination and to mining. BIG arguments of folks wells being contaminated by mining miles away and the companies denying responsibility. Building public water systems makes sense but these are rural areas and only so many folks to support it. You may have 300 homes spread out in a 5 or 10 mile area. Running a costly public sewer system is not economically feasible for local governments.

We don't have a public sewer system here. We have an individual private septic system we maintain. The treated public system water is not good for it. I have to keep a box of Rid X poured down it and it has to be pumped about every other year. Much of it is geography too. The make up of the ground. We dug a 30 foot water line, 18"? 24"? deep, whatever was the requirement. The rock we pulled out would have filled a large room completely full. Even had a few boulders we had to dig out. For 30 FEET!

There may have been places Peter visited, he didn't know, were also what I call modern day outhouses. Pump and haul systems. Places where they can't put in a septic system drain field because the land just will not drain or no public sewer system exists.

Many businesses can have a tank in the ground to accept waste. When an alarm goes off in the building you know it's time to call the "honey wagon". A sewer truck that comes and pumps out the tank, and hauls the waste 40, 50, miles, however far the waste water treatment plant is. And most folks visiting never know they just went to the bathroom that is the equivalent of a modern outhouse.

There are developers building houses in new housing developments for newcomers. Those wanting to move to Appalachia. It's a problem because they are sucking up the grant money, state money, for sewer, water and road systems. Part of the gentrification of Appalachia. It raises taxes for sure and prices locals out of the market. You can own your property outright but can't afford the taxes on it because even if your home doesn't have public water and sewer, you will be supporting the homes that do. These are modern issues for the development of Appalachia.

Politics

I hate this subject and that's why I love Peter's series. It does not touch on politics until the last live stream and then just a little bit. But why did WV go from Democrat to Republican? West Virginia, in the democratic primary of 2016, they went whole hog for Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton didn't win the democratic primary in WV.

When it came time to vote, I had to hold my nose to vote for Hillary. It's not that she's not a capable politician. Had nothing to do with the nonsense of Benghazi and the emails. It had to do that she is, what I call, a "corporate" democrat. Some of her votes as a Senator, you could not tell her apart from corporate Republicans. Being Appalachian, we understand corporate control.

I'm like what Robin Williams, the comedian said. Politicians should have to wear patches like NASCAR drivers of who is funding and influencing them. But I'm old enough to know who and what Trump is and was and I wasn't wrong.

They always point out how red McDowell County WV was in 2016. They didn't look that it was the lowest voter turnout in recorded history. People didn't like either one of the candidates that year. So many didn't even VOTE!

In the same election cycle, WV Governor Jim Justice, ran as a Democrat, won as a Democrat and then changed his party affiliation to match Trump. It don't mean anything, it's about power and money.

Manchin and Justice both have coal interests and it's what motivates them. Manchin has since turned from Democrat to Independent. As most of the Republicans I know these days. Alot of left leaning, moderate business owners in Appalachia are Independents.

Many Independents have been created from the GOP since 2010 with the GOP demanding loyalty oaths. I'm a registered Democrat but I used to vote for Republicans for local office. I voted for the person I thought could do the job. Now when I see an R beside their name, I have to wonder whether they will represent all of us that voted them in and their area or just the policies of their out of touch new leaders in their party.

We are still union strong here. The WV teachers union took on the state right after this....and won.

The Confederate Flag.

I wrote a whole blog post on this issue. See Here The Confederate flag popularity before this time, came in with Southern Rock in the 1970s and the national TV show, Dukes of Hazard. BOTH of which I Loved the music and the show.

It was a popular cultural push, that I DID NOT THINK, I DID NOT KNOW, I DID NOT UNDERSTAND, what that flag represents to others and what that symbol truly means. To me, in the late 70s early 80s, I was boot scootin along to tunes in a bar, and knew I had Confederate history in my family, and I thought it was cool to honor them.

It wasn't until I became serious about really researching my family history, and learned that the version of history of the Civil War, I was taught, from grade school on, was a complete BS lie, that I changed my mind. Definitely learning how much it was a rich man's war, and a poor man's fight, and a scolding from my military dad, that changed my mind.

Out of 6 Confederate grandfathers only one joined. The rest were forced by conscription or drafted. The one that joined, was an old man, at 46, traded places for a cousin, who gave him 960 acres to serve. He died for it. Is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, in Richmond VA same place Jefferson Davis is buried.

One Grandfather wouldn't fight. It was his story that set me off to understand my family history. I remember my Great Grandmother Flora May, talking to my Great Grandfather and my Aunt about him. I was ease dropping, I think I was 9? As soon as you came into the room they'd shut up. So I stood outside the kitchen door and just listened.

Granddaddy Stewart was saying he was a "coward", and it was his grandfather. My great grandmother said, "No he wasn't. He was a conscientious objector". Grand daddy Stewart was saying, "Well he caused his family a bunch of grief." I didn't understand that "grief" until much later. The Lost Cause Myth would have looked down on my grandfather and his family history of service in the Civil War. Per that myth, the war was a righteous cause regardless of how much death and destruction. It wasn't.

Grandma Mae told me later, he had a brother fighting for the north and one fighting for the south and he wasn't raising a gun with or against either one. He kept deserting. 3 weeks before Lee's surrender, he was hung as a traitor to the Confederacy, less than 20 miles from home.

Even with this kind of history, doesn't mean my ancestors were not racist. They probably were. Though it gets a bit complicated. During the 1920s there was a "eugenics" movement in Virginia for a misguided notion of racial purity. Led by the State Registar for the State of Virginia, Walter Plecker. Plecker, in his official capacity, ordered County clerks to go through their marriage and birth records and change the race of people he said had "passed" white. It would annual marriages, bring charges and force people to move out of segregated white areas.

It's amazing how many marriage records and birth records from different counties disappeared that recorded that information, at that time. There were county clerks themselves that ignored the order.

Just this uncanny movement of a lot of my kin selling out and leaving Virginia at that time. DNA tests, and family history have us as majority Scottish (Over 50% of those who test) more then any other ethnicity but also there are links to Melungeons, (who are black, white and Native) and Native.

There were Jewish folk in Appalachia too from WAY BACK. I learned of a man named Daniel Joseph, who served with George Rogers Clark during the Revolutionary War. Yes, there were Jewish Communities serving during the Revolutionary War. The Declaration of Independence mentions God, but not Jesus Christ. The Constitution, God is never mentioned and it's on purpose. Religious freedom was that important to our founders.

In the 1920s members of my famil sold out homesteads and moved and they didn't go into the coal mines. They just moved to another state. Now knowing my family history, I think Plecker had something to do with that. And anyone flying that flag spouting the worst, racist BS, better have a DNA test to back it up...because you never know.

The only thing I can tell folks who today who want to fly that flag and want to use it as a symbol of being Southern or heritage? The atrocities committed under that flag cannot be cleaned up and rescued. It's like the hand salute that Hitler took over. The atrocities committed using those symbols are so great, you can't repurpose that salute or that flag to represent some new heritage symbol today. You can't extract it from the history of those that used it to cause a lot of evil harm, death and destruction in the past. It's just not going to happen.

The Confederacy fought to keep the system of slavery, that even the founders who were slave owners knew it was an evil system, but couldn't extract themselves from the money and power it represented during their time. It was states rights over the issue of slavery. The majority who served in that war, didn't own slave and were forced to serve. YEP...Rich man's war, poor man's fight. Actual factual research has blown up the Lost Cause Myth. Try this thesis for a different view Those flags and that salute are both tainted for all time. We have a lot of things and history to be proud of, that symbol, that war, isn't it.

Dialects and Discrimination

The way we speak. One thing that's apparent you are speaking to a Southern Appalachian is when we open our mouths and talk. My Dad was in the military from 1939 to 1970. Two branches of the service and 3 wars. I was born in a military base hospital...delivered by a dentist. Only corpsman on duty that night. So we were the "hillbillies" in the neighborhood. I spoke like my parents spoke. We traveled many, MANY times "UP HOME", which kept us connected to our culture.

The harrasement was relentless for the way I and my siblings, parents spoke, and lived. We went to school near the military bases where dad was stationed. I remember a teacher whacking my hands with a ruler for saying the word "Ain't". I would love to show her today, it's now in the Cambridge dictionary. I was whacked for speaking in a venacular that used double negatives. I tried to be very quiet in her class and not talk. She made it her mission that year to hone in on me and correct my speech every single day. One of the most miserable years in school in my memory.

Later I learned to what I called cross talk, or what is called "code switching". I learned to speak to fit in with those around me, as best I could, but the dialect would still slip out. But when I was home I reverted back to our own dialect. Because if I spoke as the outside world, with "proper English" especially if I went home to my grandparents house, they would accuse me of "gettin above yer raisin" or "puttin on airs".

I wrote about a family member, that works for a big international company, taking diction courses to get the "twang" out of his dialect just to be employed. You know, they are saying Johnny Depp living in England has adopted a way of speaking like the locals there. If his mother was Appalachian I can guarantee, she code switched her language and so would he. Many people do, not just Appalachians. Makes for a good practice for a character actor.

On discrimination, we were once evicted from rental housing because my Dad planted 3 tomato plants in the flower garden instead of all marigolds. I remember the home owner saying he would never rent to hillbillies ever again. Now days whole plots around houses in the city have been turned into food gardens. So yes, I have seen and experienced inside and outside the area the discrimination of Appalachians.

But one of the proudest I was to be a hillbilly, was an incident when I was in my first year of school. I'm left handed. My teacher insisted I write with my right hand. I kept screwing up and so she tied my left hand to my desk to make me learn to write with my right hand.

When I got home, one day I had these whelps on my wrist because I dropped my pencil and pulled against the rope, pulling against the desk attached to the floor, trying to reach it. My mother asked me what happened to my wrist? I told her what the teacher was doing. She didn't say anything. She just said, "I'm taking you to school tomorrow."

When we got to school, she took me to the Principles office and asked about me being tied to a desk. The teacher was called in. She told my mother it was her "religious" belief all children should learn to write with their right hand and left handers have a harder time functioning in life. My mother gave her the look.

My mother's face, you knew when she had reached her limit. Her eyes would squint and she'd cock her head slightly to one side where her eyes would cut you like a knife. When we saw that look from my mom...look out. We always said when mom gave that look, it was like the look of gunslingers in the movies. Scary. She very rarely had to give us a butt whooping, she just had to give us that look.

She told her, "You will let my daughter learn to write the way God created her. And if I have to come back down here about this, or you tie her up to her desk anymore, this "hillbilly" will find you and whip your ass. Do you understand me?" The teacher's mouth was open in shock and the principal just set there.

It was shocking to me, because my mother never cussed in public. Very rarely cussed at home. She didn't get to graduate high school, making it to the 11th grade. Instead she quit and went to work to help support the family. But she went to school in Bluefield, WV with John Nash, (the Beautiful Mind John Nash), and was VERY well read. She read ALL THE TIME. She kept us up with our school lessons. None of us, or her college graduated offspring wanted to tackle her at Scrabble. She'd win every time.

But her use of the word, hillbilly, I took that it meant she didn't see it as something to be ashamed of. Though her words that day seems harsh by today's standards, threatening even, it was the way she defended her children AND her grandchildren, mulitple times over the years.

She was tough. My Dad was sent all over the world and she raised 6 children mostly while he was away. People wanted to call us "hillbillies", she took the stance, she'd show them what a hillbilly could do. So I grew up not being ashamed of being a hillbilly or Appalachian regardless of how we were treated. It was just who we were.

My mother repeated, louder, "Do you understand me?" and she said, "Yes, mam". Then she told me, "Denise, go to class." I don't know what else was said after I left but I never had anymore problems out of THAT teacher and I write left handed.

When my dad retired, we moved back home. The skills I learned living away from Appalachia? I've code switched for a job. But when around family and kin always the dialect gets thick. But we are losing it. The more our children have outside influences of TV and media, it's dying out.

So that's my thoughts, to add to the Inside Appalachia series. Do check it out. It's VERY Good. So are their other series. I hope corporates don't get ahold of em. They always ruin everything.

I've been working on trying to figure out Youtube myself. I'm such a boomer. I'm trying to learn how. I bought some equipment, got an editing program but......YEAH...I'm a boomer. I want to put my corn husk craft tutorials on there. I have arthritis that is getting worse in my hands. It's taken me all day to type this and my one hand is in pain. But if I teach it in a video, only have to demonstrate ONE time. I no longer go anywhere to demonstrate. It's just too hard for me. My hands are swollen for a week after I try to.

Plus there are 10 boxes of research history, I could share in stories. Things I researched over the years. It's a lot. But some incredible, unbelieveable real history of Appalachia to share. I'm working on it.

Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard Trial.. How in Hades Did I Get to Watching This?

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 03:41:00 +0000

Every now and then, I will go looking for movies, shows, coming up, to see if I'm interested in anything to look forward to watch. I will Google my favorite actors or pay attention to trailers or stories that come up in news feeds. Such as Julia Roberts in "Gaslit." I can't wait to see that one. I REMEMBER Martha Mitchell. My mother loved her when she came on the TV during the Nixon years.

I'll look up Depp, Keifer Sutherland, or Keanu Reeves, Or even Clint Eastwood, (though I wondered about him talking to a chair) loved Gran Torino years ago and Cry Macho was pretty good. I remember reading that Johnny Depp was doing a movie about W. Eugene Smith a couple of years ago. I had learned about Smith's photography and coverage of Minimata Bay mercury poisoning in Japan, while doing some activism on water contamination in Appalachia. Yes, so I like Depp's movies and I was interested in that movie.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a brief mention of it in a news feed and went looking for where I could see it. I had forgot about it. It was like LOOKING FOR A NEEDLE in a haystack! And it was weird to have to search for a Johnny Depp movie that hard!! It's been finished for a couple years and this trailer is from this month!! This wasn't the trailer I first saw, the trailer I saw was from a year ago. And then the movie just disappeared.

I had known about his messy divorce from Amber Heard. Remember seeing he lost a defamation case in the UK. I don't know about you, but all the stuff coming out about him in the media just didn't seem to fit. But I wasn't concerned...it's Hollywood troubles. Big fan of his movies because I like movies that take me somewhere else than where am for a little bit or that inform me and tell me something of history.

So I was searching for Minimata and went on Twitter. I'm hardly EVER on Twitter. I don't like Twitter really, but it's up to date more than any social media I know. I came across posts for Minimata coming up for streaming on @TheRealLauraB and Movies Myths and Monsters.

On this Twitter page, they were covering the former Depp vs Heard trial in the UK and the upcoming trial in Fairfax, VA. Their posts were eye opening. I sat there and for two hours and just read their posts. All these court documents from the UK. I'm a, Forensic files, NCIS, Law and Order fan too, BTW.

I got on their website of Movies, Myths and Monsters with Laura B and Jax. They were about 15 episodes in of reading these UK transcripts in a podcast, called. "On the Road to Fairfax". So for a week or more I was working around listening to their podcasts...and the more I listened the more I understood WHY I couldn't find Johnny Depp's latest movie. He'd been labled a wife beater and abuser, really without any proof, (the UK trial, Just reading the transcripts proved that trial was a joke) and Depp had been canceled.

It was like, excuse my language, "Holy shit, they canceled Johnny Depp!" That's why I haven't seen or couldn't find the Minimata movie. Now I've a problem with this cancel culture, we are currently in. On social media especially. NO trial, no actual arrests, just "claims" sometimes absolute lies, to cancel a person or a business.

I was happy with the #METOO movement. I thought I understood it. I had a really creepy manager once that used to rub up against me inappropriately, and I couldn't complain because I needed the job and at corporate a complaint definitely wasn't going anywhere. As soon as I got away from him and that job though, I ran into his wife at a grocery store and told her what he was doing. It was a hard conversation..but she was not shocked....but put him on notice at least with his wife.

But what has happened under the guise of MeToo is beyond advocating against discrimination and inappropriate behavior by the powerful. And I was disappointed that Me too wasn't inclusive enough to be both male and female. Me too should not have a gender.

I was remembering a friend that was stone mason with a construction crew. This lady had hired them to build a pool. I remember him talking about she expected men of the crew to "service her" on the side. Now the stereotype of men will have sex with anything standing, unless you are in prison is not true. They quit the job rather than have to have sex with this woman. Cost him 2 weeks of work until the next job began. Me too could of had a lot more support, if it had been more inclusive.

But this trial, between the Depp and Heard fans, it is like the wild west on social media. Attacks of doxing and having channels, websites canceled. Even if you don't like what they are saying, as long as they are not attacking and getting anyone else in reality attacked, opinions should not be silenced. They are INSANE.

It's gone too far and we need NATIONAL even INTERNATIONAL legislation that anyone that perpetuates actual outright exposure to harm and lies to harm someone else on line or in reality, ALL of those who make false accusations should be charge themselves, fined with jail time. Some have had their addresses and real identities exposed with calls made to the local police for a swat visit (Marilyn Manson was swatted in his case) or social services turning them in on false allegations. It's ugly.

So with all that going on, I stick to watching mostly the lawyers and those that rely on actual documents of the trial on Youtube debate this case. But some are more concerned with who wins the case in court and who loses. I like the one's that see as I do..this can have far reaching effects on how we treat DV cases and allegations. Maybe reframing MeToo.

Johnny Depp, whether he wins or loses this case, even with all the ugly of that relationship, will actually win in the court of public opinion. Many more on social media have taken up the cause and have those documents from the UK trial.

I think after this is over, he can drag around "Jack in the Box" and visit as Captain Jack Sparrow to sick children in hospitals and parents will know he isn't the abuser his ex wife painted him out to be. Which his reputation is important to him.

There were several lies she's been caught in already. I'm so glad I don't have to go to court in the UK. That judge took heresay over an actual witness testimony, and would not allow experts.

Because we all understand that relationships can be toxic and messy, their marriage is not a suprise. But it's brought out more than just this case. The abuse regardless of gender. If you don't think that women can be abusers what rock have you been living under? We can be as strong as any man that ever lived. It doesn't matter "size". I've been in a few fights with those larger than I am and won.

I was a biker's ol lady. I remember one man, who at the biker meets, would just hit me on my arm or legs in passing with his knuckle to give me charley horse bruises, for no damn reason. I let it go. I'd had worse, just made a point to stay away from him and avoid him. He was just this crude as all get out biker. Always say nasty crap to all the women. He always caught me when my husband wasn't near.

One day, he grabbed me by my neck and put me in a head lock, pulling my face towards his crotch and said, "Hey baby, you hungry?" I grabbed him by the balls through his pants with a death grip and twisted so hard he let me go and was screaming. He's trying to push me away, and hit me on the head and the more he moved, the harder I squeezed. twisted and held on.

People were starting to step in and my husband by that time had arrived and stopped them. I heard him say, "No...she's got this!" By hearing his voice, I knew my back up arrived.

He was screaming, "Oh shit, oh shit?" I said, "It hurts don't it?" He was hollering, "Let go!, Let go!, GD you got my balls". I said, "Yes, I do, and we are not going to touch or hurt each other again are we?" He was saying, "No mam, No mam, I won't...we won't!" And I let go.

He backed up and the pain was very apparent, he had tears in his eyes. I think he was shocked a woman would do that. He was about 6'4 and I was 5'3. Saw him many times after that. He never bothered me again. So yes, women can defend themselves, do damage, no matter the size.

What this trial really focuses us on is abuse regardless of gender. Regardless if Heard had been pushed or hit, she, from the testimony in the UK, and from the testimony of their marriage counselor, she appears to be the dominant abuser. The majority of her claims can't be proven but Depp's can.

I can't believe the ACLU made her the ambassador for violence against women, without even reading the UK testimony. What were they thinking? I don't know what happened to ACLU. C'ville case was where they lost me.

I worked briefly as a domestic violence counselor at a women's shelter. It was heartbreaking, HARD work. I heard things and saw things that our inhumanity to each other can warp a brain. What AH claims happened, on the days she claims it, there is NO way "amica" cream nor makeup is going to cover that. By claiming it even now in court, in public and if proven false, she's defamining him at trial. That's just nuts. She is not helping REAL abuse victims at all!!

I've seen men who had been abused by women. One night, I was the supervisor staying at the shelter overnight. I got a call from the police about 1 in the morning. We were a regional shelter covering about 4 sometimes 5 counties.

They had a man that had been beat up by his wife. He would not go to the ER, nor file charges. Now days, if an assualt occurs by anyone, many states take up that charge. But it wasn't that way back then. The abused had to file charges and he wouldn't.

The police had removed him from the house and he needed someplace to stay until he could contact a friend or family member to pick him up. I think the police just wanted me to talk to him about the abuse, while he waited. We were set up for women clients. But this cop and I, we'd worked with several cases while I was there.

I had him bring him on in, set up a cot for him in my office. I was told this was the 4th time that the police had been called to this residence. His teenage daughter verified that he was taking beatings from her mother on a regular basis. He was beat all to hell. Old bruises on under forearms with new scratches on top of his arms. His eyes and one ear were swollen, busted lip. Scratches on his face.

I treated him with ice packs, tylenol, antibiotic cream and bandaids. I tried to talk to him about this abuse. That no one should have to live this way. Did he have someone he could stay with? Does his wife have mental issues, that he needs help with? etc. He told me, yes she has problems, she would not go to doctors, had no form of support but him, (damsel in distress), he married for life, he's repsonsible for her and he stays to take care of his kids. Typical male thought, as protector, even though he's being beaten the hell out of, he's convinced himself he let her do this to him, for a good reason, and he could and should take it.

Now we all know this is not an environment for children to be in. And had he been a female client, I could have offered him services for a lawyer, mental health, housing.. etc. None of our grants covered male clients. I didn't even know what to do with the intake paperwork.

This was a man that needed help and I had NOTHING to offer but cold packs and bandaids. His friend came about daybreak and picked him up. He was going to pick up his car and go to work. That's the last I saw of him.

We all know men that are abusive, but we also know of a male family member who has been abused or unfairly treated in their relationships, also by our systems and institutions. They take it because that's what men are "supposed" to do? Custody battles that are insanely unfair, both to women and men because there is no consistancy to how things are set up in our institutions.

I've seen the process get better over the years. In Virginia, the children get a guardian ad litum now. They are short staffed but having someone there for the interests of the children beyond the parents helps. But when they get it wrong, it still takes money for court and to get it before a judge. If you have money you can fight. Johnny Depp has money and the status to fight and he's doing just that. So many of us don't have the means to fight for what's fair or right.

What this trial I hope does is for us to rethink how we approach domestic violence. That ALL genders can be abusers and abused. That if women or anyone is about wanting equal standing, then there has to be equal treatment about domestic violence. We believe what women tell us, but verify. We should believe what everyone tells us but VERIFY what they say. You have to prove it. Those accused should be innocent until proven guilty. Every person, whatever gender, should be evaluated on their own merits.

I hate that Me TOO was highjacked by "allegations" and by those with ambitions. Or as my friend Maribel used to say of social climbers, "They will ride any bleeding heart social issue to get money in their pocket and a feather in their cap and never really be about the work. "

There is another case involving Marilyn Manson that is just as nuts as Johnny Depp's on alligations. I was never a fan of Manson music. He is a counter culture entertainer from way back. I remember some interview he gave, warning parents to pay attention to their kids or he will get to raise them. I loved his messages about hypocrisy in our culture. I don't like hypocritical churches either.

I ended my DV counselor job because my boss, was taking funds that were intended for clients and putting her boyfriend up in an apartment. I could NOT work for someone I couldn't trust who was willing to reallocate funds in nefarious ways. Man or woman. The job was hard enough.

Another thing bothering me about trial, are those banning the watching of Fantastic Beasts movie, because Depp is not in it. Really? I LOVE the Harry Potter stuff. I love Jude Law (he's another one I look up all the time) so, though I would have LOVED, absolutely loved to see Depp as Grindewald, I'm not banning that one. I'm sure there are plenty that will and WB will hear you. But each to his own.

I don't know what is in store for Johnny Depp's future but I know this won't take his talent. I think the studios and distribution houses screwed up in reference to Depp, big time over this, I believe they are starting realize that. Yes, his marriage and divorce were AWFUL, like that's never happened in Hollywood? but his talent and popularity is still there!!

So I'm watching the Depp Vs Heard trial. Now who wins? May all of us if we change the conversation about how Domestic Violence effects all genders. It's not about winning, it's about what is the truth.

This is the website for The real Laura B and Jax Movies, Myths & Monsters

These are youtubers I'm watching. @legalbytesmedia

Colonel Kurtz - though she is more about the Marilyn Manson case.

That Umbrella Guy....cracks me up. He gets excited because he's been targeted. Has been listed in court filings of AH along with others with her lawyers trying to stop their 1st amendment rights. lots of noise. But amusing to watch. And a really cool comic book creator.

Several others but I'm tired. I'll be really tired of this before it's over. But thats how I jumped in watching something I would not normally watch. If you look at LauraB's twitter or that umbrella guy's twitter you will find many more covering this trial beyond Court TV.

His mother and family life was brought up in the trial. I'll have to write something about tough, mean, sometimes mental, Appalachian women. We are breaking the cycles of what we knew. Which is not a bad thing.

Yep....I'm still alive! UPDATE December 2021

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 06:18:00 +0000

I don't post much....sorry about that. And this one is going to be a Debby Downer. I've got to get this off my mind before I go back to posting better things. I don't know how folks keep up with social media and keep up everything that needs to be accomplished in one's life. I'm behind anyway because I just was sad and angry at a commenter. Too sad to post.

I mentioned Covid in my last post and was blasted as being out of touch with "people" in Appalachia? Because I backed a vaccine? Or wearing a mask? I'm IN APPALACHIA, as Appalachian as they get. I'm out of touch with myself? It's the topic of Covid...this is DEADLY serious and every time I'd pull up a page to post say a pie recipe, which I have almost ready to go...I just couldn't let it go...too much death. So I've got to get this out of my system. You can pass this post by. I'll post the pie recipe this week.

It's been a LONG year. Covid has just changed life as we know it. We are a house of illness with myself and my son both with immune compromise illnesses, so we are more isolated than most trying to avoid this awful virus. Not stopped the Doctor's visits. But we are alive and I think we are finally seeing the end of this saga but life has changed. How we live has changed, how we are going to live has changed and they say, one day, there will be another virus to replace this virus to fight.

And I'm mourning friends lost...that's how much a hoax it is. Visiting their graves is NOT A HOAX. It's not brave to not to try to save other's lives by not wearing a mask. It's not freedom at all, when others have to give up their lives for ignorance. Not fighting this pandemic, preserving life with everything we've got is ignorance. We've always fought against major illnesses that kill people in this country. Look how we fought polio. Look at what we do against cancer!!!

But this virus????....That's why I haven't posted for a year. I'm angry at lives lost. People I loved. And they are GONE because of BS spread on social media. Several others have symptoms of long covid...it's effecting their working now...it's bad. I'm watching people be divided over this, attacking school board members and neighbors over a virus. That's the facts I'm looking at.

Over 700,000 dead? SIGH!!! I'm angry about that!!!! I'm not going to deny it. I'm not going to hide my feelings on this. I'm angry about the whole mess because we had a leader call it a hoax and not deal with an actual crisis. This began this snowball of a portion of our population not believing it was real, then we were delayed in defeating this pandemic to do the best for our country. Thank goodness this virus wasn't ebola.

But I'm having a very hard time forgiving the arrogance and ignorance. As if the virus is some kind of "test" and to deny it exists or survive it, somehow makes people tough and not gullible to OUR "gov'ment". Really? It's OUR government, we are them, they are us. So we are waging a war on ourselves over a virus? And dying for it. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen in all my years.

Not that the government is perfect and beyond reproach but you choose a worldwide pandemic to not believe in your own government efforts to keep our people alive? As a result we are STILL losing over a thousand a day to this virus. It's taking anti vaxxers by the thousands.

You would think folks would WAKE UP! There is something to be said for being "woke" if being "woke" means you stop living based on a lie, gain useful knowledge that can save your life or change your perspective to the truth. But everyday......sigh!! Call me "woke" all you want, it's not an insult.

I'm all for alternative medications but really? Magic Dirt from Canada, from next to a landfill at $110 for a baggie full, to smear on your skin and drink? Horse worming medication? All to avoid a vaccine? Reminds me of the snake oil salesmen, selling fake cures, that folks would end up to tar and feather and run out of town. When do we get to the tar and feather part for these charlatans?

Afraid of "nano" chips. You know...if the government wants to mark you or follow you...the cell phone in your hand or the GPS in your car, the debit and credit cards you carry, the internet you are reading this on, is enough. But if they wanted to get you with "nano" chips, they could do it without a vaccine and here's a thought, the majority of us are not that important to want to "chip". It's time to stop the nonsense.

I like the Mattrix movies as well as the next person...but I don't think that's where we are. Keanu Reeves also makes a great Patron Saint of Puppies in John Wick, but it's still just a movie.

I want this pandemic over and those refusing the vaccines and doing what we need to do to fight it, are the reason it keeps going ON and ON and ON. This virus does NOT care about your politics. It's mutating because we are not stopping it because of ignorance. If anything else had killed 700,000 of our citizens we'd be outraged and at war. Instead we are at war with each other of whether it is real or not!! Or arguing over how it started. I DON'T care how it started now, it's HERE! Should be more reason to do what is necessary to defeat it.

So lets do what we need to do, LISTEN to our GOVERNMENT on this ISSUE, they would not steer you badly on this. They need your tax money. If you are dead, or so sick you can't work, you are not useful and you don't pay more taxes. So get the shots, get the booster, wear the masks when asked and let's fight the real enemy...this VIRUS and also fight the absolute lies passed on social media about it. Not each other.

RANT over! Oh and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!! BLESSINGS to ALL!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to All 2020

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 16:27:00 +0000

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to ALL. Whatever you believe or not, here is wishing you the best for 2021. Prayers for our country, our families, our selves and our world, for Peace and Good health. Stay Safe, stay alive....old Covid will END.

Christmas 2020....a balmy 14 degrees here in the Appalachian mountains.

Hillbilly Elegy Movie is out....

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 18:32:00 +0000

I did a review of what I thought of the book here somewhere. I just had a problem with that book. I know it was J.D. Vance's perspective BUT.....it went mainstream and seemed he blamed the troubles of his life on where he and his family were from. There are many stories of rags to riches in Appalachia. Dolly Parton comes to mind, we LOVE that story. Ron Howard did a wonderful job on the movie but it's the story itself that has most of us in a dander.

Here we go again....Appalachia is now known for poverty and drug abuse, when those two issues are nationwide. Can't we get a different story out there to go mainstream?

On another note, Glenn Close did an excellent job...that character reminded me of my own mother right down to the hair and the glasses. Only thing... my mother NEVER wore "jogging" pants and NEVER a T shirt. T shirt were men's clothing and her religious background...you didn't wear men's clothes. It could be a pullover shirt, but they had to be made for women, had to fit and they had to be part of a suit and had to match.... with shoes.

We will live with Hillbilly Elegy for a LONG time....but I hope Mr. Howard gets to work on another story of Appalachia. One of a different story. As a master film maker that would be an honor. Here read this: What is an Appalachian?

Whitney Dollhouse INSTRUCTIONS

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 03:07:00 +0000

This one is an odd POST. I've been making my grand daughters dollhouses. Something I can do that is not that physical and keeps me busy when I hurt.

Well I finished one dollhouse, started another and things got crazy. I LOST the instructions. Thinking the internet has EVERYTHING and it probably does but is hard to find, went looking for instructions to the Whitney Dollhouse by Radmark #51501 and came up with zilch. Come to find out the Whitney's are notorious for NOT having instructions in a sealed BOX.

It's like the Allison but the instructions and sheets are bit different. And the PUZZLE of this house was driving me NUTS. Right when I needed it the most. I SWORE to myself if I found my copy I would SHARE them...well I found them...just in time and HERE THEY ARE. The two last photos are the middle of the page where the fold loses some instructions. YOU ARE WELCOME!!! Sorry the instructions photos posted from the last to the first. Copy accordingly. Don't know why they list in reverse order and when I tried to correct it, it left 2 out. So ...just have to deal with it.

What Crazy TIMES WE Are Living, In A Covid-19 Virus World

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 07 May 2020 01:41:00 +0000

Lord have mercy. I have not even WANTED to write at all. If anyone would have told me that the United States would be in the shape it's in right now, 3 years ago, I'd of said..."yer lyin me". Well it's a new world now for awhile.

We will get through it. This Covid-19 virus is a bad one but I don't think it's the one that produces zombies is it? Though some folks out of work may look that way these days. It's the uncertainty, the bills piling up and the wonder what the hell is going to happen next on people faces I see. Kind of a tense fear. Hard not to be fearful but like my mother told me, the blood that runs through you has survived every war, every plague, every calamity on this old earth. The fact we are sitting here today IS the miracle!! Plagues on this old planet have happened before. They are as old as time.

Everyone knows now about the 1918 Influenza pandemic. But there was also polio epidemic that crippled and killed mostly children. If folks stopped in Wytheville, VA during the quarantine they were not allowed to leave.

There was also typhoid fever came through here in 1896. It's how my great grand daddy Burress and his brothers lost the farm. His mother, father and 2 kids passed away, leaving 4 brothers under the age of 12 to fend for themselves. It also is a reminder of what Native Americans went through when Europeans came here with diseases they had NO immunity to and entire villages were wiped out.

One would hope we are wiser now, on how to handle this in the modern day...but the handling of this virus in this country...I think we missed the brain train somewhere and are on the stupid cart. This is NUTS! It should have never gotten this far. Being on lock down to slow the virus progress seems to have worked. Now they are wanting to open back up and that would not be so bad if there was a real working plan to get testing, materials to prevent the spread and put policies in place so we can at least save a few more lives.

I get so aggravated that folks are calling it the "will of God" and they will trust God not to get it. Well maybe it is, but that doesn't mean we don't try to save our lives and others from getting it! If you are going to pass illness and disease off as the will of God, and one is so against modern medicine, then most of us would already be dead. If it's God's will you have high blood pressure or diabetes or cancer, then you should let the "will of God" take over and do away with modern medicine completely, by that idiotic way of thinking. Reminds me of tempting God like our Appalachian snake handlers do. It's a viral deadly disease and we should tackle it for humanity's sake, not to try to prove our faith and do stupid stuff for the sake of money.

But my time is not much different than before. I'm one of those "compromised" people so I'm limited going out anyway. Have been for about 7 years now. But it's not like my weeks are boring.

Last week, started with my neighbor's bull getting out in my yard, eating all my tulips and spring flowers...sigh...and chasing me into my house. I hate bulls...they are SO unpredictable and this one just didn't like being yelled at or shooed. Called animal control or as we say, "I lawed em". But before they arrived, my grand daughter and her father came. He helped me chase it away with some firecrackers to get it back to the road and then took his vehicle and herded it back to where it belonged...it butting his car the entire way. I think it was down here again because I had like 3 tulips left and they are now gone with hoof marks in the dirt. I told animal control I will be calling them next time, but they better hurry, this bull chases me up the ramp to my porch again...the owner will be coming to get their steaks instead of a bull.

I guess I'm going to have to fence my property when I get rich to keep the neighbor's animals out of it. Hate to do that, last survey showed my property line is right in their front yard and they know it is because they were raising cane about it. Gave them permission to mow it. Country living...has it's cons.

Then I got stung by a bee the next day. Came in on my clothes. I took my shoes off at the door and it stung me on the side of my foot right through my sock. I took that sock off and threw it bee and all across the room, knocking the bee off at my feet. I was hopping around, man it hurt!! The bee was still alive and I was trying to find something to stop it from crawling off, while hopping in pain. Some bees die when they sting you once and others can sting multiple times. In my pain, I was just thinking catch it. I had my coffee cup and hopped over the sink poured it out and set it on top of the bee!

It was a carpenter bee! I didn't think they stung!!! I swat at them all the time when I see them but I learned something new. The females DO sting! Love the internet for looking stuff up. One of the WORST stings I've ever had and it swelled my foot up for about a day. I've been stung by just about every kind of bee there is in these parts. Mostly wasps. I hate wasps!! And yellow jackets in the ground. Yep Carpenter bees Sting

It started swelling immediately and itching up to my ankle. I treated it with a compress of tobacco and ice. When the swelling didn't go down to my satisfaction I took some Benydryl. By morning it was gone. Now we have to worry about murder bees from Japan? Saw it on the news and a murder bee is a scary looking BEE!

Oh but wait...there is more! The next day, Appalachian Power came to change out the meter to a newer meter that will tell them when my power is out and has bells and whistles. I was on the phone when he came and didn't hear him knock. I really need some kind of light or something because I can't hear half the time with this Meneires disease. I have a land line and a cell phone. I have to keep the land line because most times the cell doesn't work. There are times to use the cell you have to go outside on the hill and play like it's a Lion King and search for a signal. That's living in a "holler".

But this day I was on the phone to my sister and my daughter calls and says, Appco is out here and I have a problem. Oh Boy, did I have a problem! The meter base was corroded on one side and arching power. They would not be able to change the meter and would have to turn my power off until I could get it fixed!! On a FRIDAY! Talk about panicking. Didn't have much but I had just put two weeks of food in the freezer and NO power, no generator? I was panicking. And NO money either to hire an electrician. AND winter had not let go...we were expecting 3 inches of snow that night.

Calling around and trying to find a meter base was crazy! No one north of us had one! They had been finding bad meter bases all week it seems changing out these meters and everyone was sold out. South of us State Electric had one and they GAVE it to me free of charge when I explained the story! THEN my brother in law is a state licensed electrician and he traveled 50 miles to put it in. When he took the old one off, it literally fell apart and it's a wonder the house hadn't caught fire. So from the time Appco came to change a meter and getting a new base in, was approved in about 6 hours. TALK about blessings THAT day. Appalachian Power I bitch about all the time, (the bills mostly) but let me tell ya, they came through for us and probably saved my house!!! It snowed and I wasn't in the dark for the weekend because of their actions!!

In between all this excitement, I've been making masks for the family. Made some for a local hospital and sent them by a friend over there. But now that everyone should be wearing a mask, been making them for family and friends. Using scraps from old craft projects.

Ironed and ready to sew.

What was so hard about that is I have inherited and acquired 3 sewing machines over the years. One is a table top 1938 white, one a 1950's Montgomery Ward portable machine and one a 60s Kenmore table top. When I went to find one to sew on, NONE of them were really in working order. All of them needed cleaning and oiling. I don't think any of them had been used since I've been ill.

Took me 3 days of tinkering to get one cleaned, oiled and the tension correct. Then the other needed a new electric pressure foot, a bobbin tire and some bobbins that actually fit it. About 30 bucks but I got 2 working and will get the timing on the other fixed this week. THANK you YouTube and the internet and Sewing Parts Online! I got the time, and when I go to feeling bad, I can stop and I do. I'm learning to STOP when my body says STOP. Everything can be left to be fixed another day. It's aggravating but better than being down for a week.

Well...that is my update. We are staying safe at home as much as possible, wearing masks, doing all we can to keep us and others safe. YA'LL stay safe!!!

D-Day is a Reminder To NEVER Forget, Not just sacrifices but why.

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 00:13:00 +0000

I've been watching all the D-Day 75th Year Memorial events on TV. Always reminds me of my Dad. He didn't go in on June 6th, 1944. He was with the artillery guns, the 50th Field Artillery Battalion, of the 19th Infantry of the 5th Army of Patton's 3rd Division and they went in July 13, 1944. Part of several waves of soldiers in that operation. D-Day was only the beginning of many battles of a long war. Those first men on June 6th, were at the most risk and lost 90% in the first wave. Though others would perish in that war, that first event at Normandy was one of the worst, that's why we honor June 6th. Their sacrifices made it possible for the others behind them.

Dad said the papers said before he went in, that the allies were 20 miles in. That was not true, on July 13, he said they were only about 13 miles in and it was many times, hand to hand in the fence rows fighting. The objective was Cann, France, 26 miles inland. It took almost a month and a half to reach Cann on July 21, 1944.

I have dad's military annuals. He went from Iceland through all of Europe to finally meet the Russians in the war. He marched 125 miles in 4 days, in sub zero temperatures in a summer uniform, (someone screwed up and sent the winter uniforms to Africa) to try to reach the men at the Bulge. Feats of strength and daring and some failures that I know in later years gave him nightmares. But he did it and he survived.

At the end of the war, for those that survived, he said they were giving out Purple hearts like candy to anyone that wanted one. They wanted to give him one for a scratch on his nose from a barb wire fence and he told them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Too many at the end he said, took them just for surviving but he thought that cheapened the sacrifices of those that had been killed and really injured. That's why when anyone told him they had a purple heart from WWII he'd always ask for what, when and where.

He made his way home after the war, on a military transport through Morocco, then Brazil and then hitting Florida and by train back to Bluefield WV.

After joining the Army in 1939, and staying for WWII, he then joined the Navy. When you asked him why he would say, "I wanted to ride in the rear with the beer for a while." He stayed through the Korean and Vietnam wars retiring in 1970. His Navy career was not as uneventful as he'd like and I'll write about that some other time.

So I made a couple of videos, and I want to post a few pictures of Dads from WWII. We should never forget what they were fighting against in Europe...a mad man that believed in eugenics and genocide and a false idea there was a superior race. A strong man that took over governments and killed millions in his way. We should never forget the sacrifice of all those soldiers fighting those that wanted to expand and kill anyone not like them, the globe over, in that war. We should never forget the lessons and never stop fighting against that kind of ideology and for humanity.

Then I pulled together a few pictures and dad's singing Potter's Pirates, the song of his unit and playing a harmonica for Dad's Pictures Video

The lyrics to Potter's Pirates.

To ALL the men and women who serve...we thank you.

Old Time Fruitcake Recipes

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 06:34:00 +0000

I know, I know tons of people don’t like fruitcake. As one friend of mine used to tell me, someone gives her fruitcake she thinks of it as a gift of a door stop for a year until another one shows up.

I think I understand why people malign fruit cakes….because they don’t make fruitcakes like the old timer’s did. The one's my mother would buy were NOT like the original fruitcakes in my family and I've often thought of them as cardboard with fruit. I have shared how my people were moonshiners and wine makers. Well the old timer’s in my family made their cakes with alcohol. And I don’t mean just adding alcohol to the recipe and then letting it bake out, I mean they SOAKED the cakes in alcohol for weeks!

Now the first time I noticed a difference was when I was a kid. My family would get these fruitcakes given to them that we kids were NOT allowed to eat. We thought the adults were just being stingy and wouldn’t share AT ALL. But you know how kids are…like sneaking into the liquor cabinet, we’d sneak a piece and let me tell you…that’s when I figured out some fruitcakes are much better than others.

My fruitcake recipes come from family. When I was a budding family historian, they tell you to go around and talk to your family first to start building your family tree. Ask family members if they have any stories they can share or things they can show you.

I’ve seen old quilts, guns, rolling pins and got an old bread board given to me and even one granny’s pair of eye glasses she wore. Now…I really didn’t want the glasses but you could tell they meant something to the person that gave them to me. They themselves were too tender hearted to part with them or give them to the Lion’s club which is what I did with them. Of course that was after putting them on and seeing how blind great granny was.

But the one share in those early years was RECIPES. Everyone had a recipe from someone in the family. Seems we Appalachians, our history revolves around food. So I started collecting those along with the family stories of where they came from.

I have two fruitcake recipes from both sides of my family tree. One is from my dad’s people and it’s soaked in bourbon. Well... they were living closer to Tennessee and Kentucky. Came from my Aunt Flossie and I can remember as a kid her making these cakes. She had a basement and in the basement was a wooden box that always smelled like alcohol. She’d make these cakes, wrap them in cheesecloth soaked in bourbon, wrap them in an oily paper and put them in that box. Every week or so go down and resoak the cheesecloth and re wrap the cakes.

Today I use a spray bottle, I don’t even have to unwrap them from the cheesecloth. First time I made these, I kept them in my fridge, which made it smell like a bar, for weeks! And everything had the taste of bourbon…bourbon scrambled eggs, bourbon lettuce, which my feller didn’t mind but the kids snarled their nose up at. So now I just keep them a cool place like an unheated room, in a box wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

The other recipe is from the mountains of North Carolina. Wilkes County to be exact. I’m told because it’s dark, it’s an English brandy fruitcake recipe using sour milk and molasses and I guess the oldest recipe in my box. When I wrote the recipe down from my Great Aunt Callie, I had put that she said it was her Great Great grandmother Perdue’s recipe.

I didn’t know who that was at the time, but now I know tracking the family history, it was Francis Wooten Perdue, who was born in Wilkes County, NC in 1837 and died in McDowell County WV in 1923. Her husband was John Wesley Perdue, who served in the Civil War and was at the battle of Gettysburg. After he passed, she was living with one of her sons who worked in the coal mines in McDowell County.

I’ve was told by someone you should make them up and sell these recipes. Well…there is a mountain tradition in my family that when something is freely shared, and it is not your creation, you don’t make money on it…first of all…. that’s stealing and second of all kind of a karma curse happens when you do that. I will not break that tradition of what was freely shared to be getting 30 pieces of silver.

And don’t eat these fruitcakes and then drive. Like my daughter said, “How am I going to convince a cop that the alcohol in my bloodstream is from my mother’s fruitcake?” Hope you enjoy these recipes and here is wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

You can make these cakes in rings or in loaves. I made loaves because it makes more to share, just watch them in the oven. Loaves don't take as long to bake.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Both of these recipes take a really long time to bake at a lower temperature oven and you use a pan of water in the bottom of the stove so they will not dry out so quickly. Otherwise you get more like a hard brick, instead of a cake. Yep...I did that!

Bourbon Fruitcake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups raisins

2 cups mixed candied fruit

1/2 cup bourbon

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 cups butter, softened (3 sticks) BUTTER not margarine ( Margarine makes it just greasy and loses taste) Yep did that too.

1 3/4 cups sugar

6 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Combine raisins, fruits and bourbon in a bowl and let soak overnight.

Grease and flower a straight tube pan or 3 bread pans.

Sift flour, baking powder and nutmeg together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together in large bowl until smooth.

Beat in eggs until light and fluffy.

Stir in flour mixture alternately with milk, beating until smooth after each addition.

Stir in fruits soaked in bourbon and nuts.

Turn into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated slow oven 300 degrees. Make sure to put a pan of water on lower rack of oven. For tube bake 2 hours and 10 minutes. For loaves about 1 hour and 45 minutes. check with a toothpick if it comes out clean and it springs back when lightly pressed with fingertip it's done. Cool in pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan, cool completely.

Wrap cake in bourbon soaked cheesecloth: over wrap in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. Store in fridge or cool place. Each week I open them up and with a spray bottle full of Kentucky bourbon (or bourbon of your choice) I lightly spray the cheese cloth and recover. I let mine age 6 to 8 weeks but by the 4th week ...we break into one and it's fine.

Perdue Family Fruit Cake

Ingredients

1 pound of butter

1 pound of light brown sugar, sifted after it's weighed

10 small eggs, separated

1/2 cup molasses

4 1/2 cups flour (all purpose)

1 tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 cup sour milk

4 cups of raisins

2 cups of currants

1 cup chopped citron

1 cup candied pineapple

1 1/2 cup candied cherries

1/2 cup candied orange peel (recipe for this in on this blog)

1/2 cup candied lemon peel

2 cups dates

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup almonds

1/3 cup brandy for soaking fruit,

1/2 cup brandy for batter

Combine all the fruit with 1/3 cup brandy, over night. Leave currants, raisins whole the rest are chopped. Next day flour the fruit, sprinkle about a 1/4 cup flour on them and mix in.

Cream butter by itself until it is soft, then add sugar and cream again. Add egg yolks and beat all together for 5 minutes.

Sift flour, soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg together 3 times and add alternately with sour milk, molasses, and brandy. Beat by hand then add floured fruit. Add pecans chopped but almonds whole.

Last fold in well beaten egg whites.

Bake in loaf pans (I fill them about half way up) or in 2 large tube pans. Grease and flour dust pans.

Bake in slow oven 250 degrees for 2 1/2 hours with pan of water underneath on lower rack. Done when springs back when lightly touched.

Let cool in pan a bit and then turn out and cool completely. Wrap in cheesecloth soaked in brandy. Store in a cool place wrapped in waxed paper. (that was the aunt's wooden box in the basement) Resoak the cheesecloth once a week for 6 to 8 weeks. (I don't unwrap them today, I use a spray bottle) Garnish with half pieces of candied cherries and green citron. I used V and J brandy. Also apricot brandy, but it's really sweet when you use apricot.

Now I freely share this recipe with you and if you try to make money on it, because neither you nor I created it....there is kind of a karma that goes with that. Don't ask me why but the one's I give away turn out perfectly. It's meant to be shared freely. So be mindful of that. A bar owner would ask me to sell him several and they turned out TERRIBLE. So I traded with him. He bought all the ingredients for all my cakes and in turn got 3 cakes from me and that worked.

I bought my fruit and nuts from Nuts.com this year. They are really good fresh products and made an excellent cake.

Appalachian Requiem - Don't Get Excited - A Veteran'nullnullnull

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 16:45:00 +0000

I've had this article in draft since MAY! The month my Dad died. Since Veteran's Day is coming up...guess it would be a good time to finish it.

In life there are always days you have that you remember. Long after the event has happened, every year that goes by you still have a memory that associates with a date on a calendar. It's not like the days you celebrate every year such as a holiday, a birthday or an official anniversary of a wedding...no these are more nefarious dates....such as May 6th...the day my Dad died.

Every year when the date comes around, something seems off kilter. I don't really remember his death until I question, what's off, why does this time of year seem weird? I mean the mountains are coming to life, "greening up", the drab gray of winter going away. Everything comes alive and it is beautiful, why is something is off? Then thinking about it, memories break through and then I remember the days many years ago when Dad moved on from this life.

The entire week dad actually died was a strange week. Dad had been dying for a couple of years. Colon cancer. He was tough even in his illness. Even with colon cancer, up to two weeks before he died, he was chopping wood. My Dad was a soldier most of his life. He was one of the bravest men I ever knew.

His growth and bravery I believe, started by leaving the farm. He worked on a farm with his grandfather, Lindsay Stevenson, in Tazewell County before joining the Army in 1939. He was in the 50th Division of Patton's 5th Army in Europe during WWII. He said he took a pay cut in 1939, to go into the Army. He marched all over Europe with Patton for the entire war.

After the war, he joined the Navy and served during Korea and Vietnam. When you asked him why he got out of the Army to go into the Navy, he would say, "I wanted to ride in the rear with the beer for awhile." His Army days were full of marching, fox holes, bullets, mortar shells and tanks. His war stories and nightmares were his own.

My mother insisted on sleeping on the right side of any bed with him. He would have this recurring nightmare where if she slept on the left side, she'd get thrown out of the bed out of the way of a tank in his dream. After landing in the floor a couple of times, in the middle of the night, she finally figured how to deal with that one.

Because of my dad's service to the military, the one very stark thing I noticed about my father is he didn't get rattled when things went wrong like most people. He had the demeanor of a soldier and all those who serve, such as firefighters, EMS and police. The kind of presence that was reassuring even in the worst events, even though inside they were probably just as scared as anyone. They have a job to do and that overrules any fear.

Once I was driving his car and a tie rod end broke going around the corner. The entire front wheel folded up under the car, while I was driving. I was totally freaked out and he's sitting next to me so calm saying, "Don't get excited. The car is going to stop". Any and every family calamity, everyone knows that refrain at any catastrophe from Dad..."Don't get excited" was his pat answer.

Once we were driving "Up Home" on his vacation on a long stretch of highway and this wheel passed us on the passenger side. Dad realized it was our rear wheel off of the car. He said, "Look at that! It's our wheel." The car was riding on 3 wheels and instead of stopping my dad hit the gas and followed the tire. We went to screaming and he's telling us, "Now, don't get excited, sit down and well land it near the tire." He waited for the tire to stop rolling and then pulled the car in right behind where it landed about 10 feet away. The car went down with a thunk. He just jacked it up, cleaned off the brake and put the tire back on with some spare lug nuts he kept and down the road we went again.

All of us in the family knew, anything that happened, when Dad said, "Don't get excited", it meant, "hush".....now let's ride this out, look at the damage, figure this out and get to work fixing whatever was wrong. If you survived and were alive and were not physically hurt, that was most of the battle to him. The rest of it was nothing as long as you survived whatever happened. If you wrecked the car and came in with nothing but the steering wheel, it was going to be OK, as long as you survived it. If you lost a job, or divorced or had anything adverse happen.. "Don't get excited" People don't think when they are upset and make things worse.

This came from YEARS of dealing in the military with events, that would freak most of us out. I was a young girl when I became aware of how BRAVE my dad was. Just before he retired from the Navy, he was a flight mechanic. Since he had been working on military planes for SO Long...he was in demand for a special job. His job was to fly around the world with a flight crew, flying elderly planes that needed to be put in the graveyard in Arizona. It was easier to fly them on their last run than haul them over ground.

These planes were at the end of their useful career. It was dad's job to get them ready for their final flights. He would tell us stories of alarms going off while they were in the air and if they couldn't figure out what was wrong they would put a tape over the warning lights or disconnect the alarm and keep flying. He was one of the first flight crews to try out foam on a runway, because a plane's landing gear wouldn't work.

My mother would get these phone calls from the base that would upset her to NO end. They'd call her and say, "he's coming in with only one engine working or with a torn wing or no landing gear." About 2 times a month. She'd hit her knees and start praying. Then after it was over, they never called her to tell her whether the flight crew made it and he was OK. She would try to call the base and they wouldn't give out that information.

My Dad had no idea they had called her and the first place the flight crew went after surviving these ordeals, was to a bar to get a DRINK. He wouldn't call home. Back then Dad called on a certain day, at a certain time because long distance was expensive. We would get post cards all the time. She finally just told them, "Don't call me!" "Just don't call me, unless he's hurt and needs me. I send him out with a prayer and if God sees fit, he will come back to us alive."

I can remember the worst fight I ever witnessed my parents have. They had gone to the base for a unit picnic when one of Dad's pilots he worked with told on him. He was shaking his hand and telling others, "This is the craziest S.O.B. I've ever met!" Then proceeded to tell a recent story on my Dad. The plane they went to pick up was at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was a radar plane, or a "stoof with a roof" as Dad called it. Just as it was getting ready to take off and gaining speed, half the landing gear collapsed. The plane spun around all over the runway, landed cockeyed and caught on fire. Everyone got out including my father......but Dad...went back in a burning plane and saved the Cuban cigars and Rum!

My mother on hearing that story, lost it!!! They came in arguing that evening. I remember Mom telling Dad, "I know what you do is dangerous, but dammit Donald, you don't have to make it more dangerous on purpose!" "You are going to leave me with 5 kids to raise alone, for Cuban cigars and rum?" My mother had a temper. I remember him telling her, "Aw, Lean, (he never called her Lena, but Lean) it wasn't all that!" She was mad about that one for a long TIME.

For a man that had survived WWII, and served in the Navy doing what he did...NOPE....nothing really rattled him much. One of his greatest lessons I think he taught me was, it didn't matter how bad things got, as long as you survived with your life, you have a chance to continue to live and hope for a future. "Things" don't matter, but being alive does, because it's life that is precious.

He told a story of being in a town in Germany, and when they first saw it, it was beautiful. After the allies bombed it, there was nothing left. As they were marching into the town, he said, they saw a man and his family at the end of a street. They had come out of a half blown away house. Before they could reach them, the man shot his wife, an elderly woman and his two children before turning the gun on his self. Dad didn't understand this...at all...because they had survived. He always said, the greatest thing regardless of what happens is to survive.

So in celebration of the week this wonderful man passed, and in lieu of Veteran's Day, I guess it does feel a little off, so I can reflect and remember and I do.

Mom's Chicken Salad Recipe

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 20:45:00 +0000

Well...I know...MONTHS since I've written on this blog. Well that's an advantage. I don't write just to write. Unless I have something to share or say. Keeps your inbox from filling up.

My son's health is NOT good. This ankylosing spondylitis has taken his eyesight in his right eye and in July, for the 4th, he was in the hospital. Inflammation has moved into his colon. SO...trying to find things he can eat or wants to eat has been an adventure. He can't eat much beef...it doesn't digest well. One of his requests was for chicken salad spread. Well those little containers you buy are expensive, so I resurrected Mom's Chicken Salad recipe. Been making it about once a week since the end of July and SO glad I did. I forgot how good it is.

Now my dad was a meat and potatoes, beans and cornbread kind of guy. He always had brown beans with every meal even spaghetti! Mom would make chicken salad as a revolt on occasion. She would use left over chicken sometimes, but we RARELY had any of her chicken left over after a meal. So when she got a wild hair for chicken salad, she would just make it from scratch.When she used leftover or can chicken it was NEVER as good as when she cooked the chicken specifically for her chicken salad. If she got a good deal on a whole chicken she would use that. I know. I used to be the one to clean the chicken meat off the bones, give the chicken skin to the animals, etc. for her to make it.

Today I use her recipe and just chicken breasts. 2 chicken breast makes enough for a week for two of us. I mentioned eating this chicken salad on Ritz crackers as, "Ain't nothin better" and was asked for the recipe. Was going to wait until next week, because I really don't measure when I make this salad and thought I'd be more precise...but what the heck... just wing it. It's all according to personal taste anyway. Just juggle the ingredients to suit you.

Mom's Chicken Salad Recipe with my chicken

2 chicken breasts

1/2 of a onion chopped
salt to taste
pepper to taste
garlic powder - a dash
poultry seasoning 1/4 tsp. or just a big dash (if you don't have this just a dash of sage and thyme will work)

salad cubes pickles- 2 big heaping tablespoons or to taste

mayonnaise - Depends on how much you like mayo. I like mine creamy. I start with a couple of big heaping tablespoons and then if it doesn't look like what I think it should, I add more.

chopped celery- about a stalk chopped fine. This and the salad cubes gives it just the right crunch.

lemon juice- About a tablespoon at least for 2 chicken breasts. THIS is the key to this recipe. Not only does it give it flavor but preserves it too.

Take 2 chicken breast, put in pot, cover with cold water. Add the onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder and poultry seasoning. Bring to a boil. Turn down the stove and let it slow simmer for about 40 or 45 minutes. Turn it off and let it cool until you can handle it.

Strain the broth. You can save the chicken stock in a jar in the fridge. Makes great stock for gravy or a soup base. Put the strained onion bits into your mixing bowl to go into the salad.

Take the chicken breasts and put them on a cutting board. Shred it with a knife and fork, like you would pulled pork and then I chop it up even more fine with a knife. Add it to the onion in the bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Store in a covered container in the fridge. It's best the next day but can be eaten immediately. It lasts 3 or 4 days in the fridge. Then about every Monday I make another batch. If you are single, I'd cook just one chicken breast....2 chicken breasts makes a lot of chicken salad. I

Modify it the way you want. I guarantee, if you take the time to make this, you will not buy it in those expensive containers anymore. I love it with Ritz crackers.

Christmas 2017, Dollhouses, Appalachian Heartwood Blog Update

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 14:23:00 +0000

Those that follow this blog KNOW I don't blog often. Too sick to keep up with so much. So I prioritize the old life. Blog posts are not priority but I try. So much to update on. Finally figured out how to get my anti virus to not interfere with my blog. It was a new development that took a couple of weeks to figure out.

First, dealing with Meniere's disease on top of CFS. Going deaf basically. It's OK...I'm learning important sign language to teach my family when I go deaf...like sign for, "Do you want some wine?"

Here's the way I look at all this illness. I was of the generation that didn't believe we were going to live past 30. Believe me, I tried not to. I worked hard and played hard. It's amazing I've made it through so many crazy things in my life through the years anyway. So now, that I am the age I am...HEY, every day is another gift regardless of what is wrong with the old body. Just sometimes the juggling of symptoms gets in the way of all I want to do before I do check out of this old world.

Regardless of what is going on in this old world, and it's pretty messed up at the moment, every day you open your eyes is a day to get it right. What is past is gone. What we write and do on this day is up to us to do the best we can. If we do our best, that's all that can be expected. Things we can't change, just change the way we think about them to deal with them better. Keep on going. I woke up today....best gift ever!

So what have I been doing with my time? Well my last post, I sent pictures of grand dad to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. Now that I'm back on the blog and figured out what was interfering with it, I need to review my pictures here and add they are now their property but I have permission to use digital copies of them. I still heat with wood, an environment not good for pictures and I had this fear they could be lost forever if I didn't find a safe place for them.

My daughter took me to an opening of their movie they are trying to promote the birth of country music. I rely on my family a LOT.
I went to meet a couple of cousins on my father's side. I'm going to be working on the Stevenson's of Tazewell County this winter. Got a copy of my GREAT GREAT grandmother's Bible to share. Whoo HOO! That's a separate post for sure.

Then since May, I've been working on a project for my G baby. A dollhouse. My daughter had one when she was young that we lost possession of through the years. She always wanted her daughters to experience that. Now there is only one daughter left in the house and I got a burr up my butt to make sure she has that experience. So I worked with my grand daughter on this house, all summer. Tried to get it finished for her birthday in October....that didn't happen. As a matter of fact, we just finished it last week. It's a dollhouse kit and a kit for furniture, but I added a lot of personal touches. The door knobs are from an old broken carnival glass necklace that once belonged to Aunt Florence. Same Aunt that when a missionary proclaimed, "We are coming to save the Appalachian, people!" and she asked, "From what?"

Lace from her Great Aunt's lace materials that we made her wedding dress from are embossing the bed. Just all kinds of things like that. Grand daughter picked the colors and wall paper, etc. I'm not rich, so we made a lot of things like the newel posts out of stuff I had laying around here. The ceiling lights are out of old wooden beads and the bottoms of a Gatorade, vegetable oil bottles and an old chain necklace. Living in the land of Lilliput. Grateful for a grand daughter with lots of energy and nimble hands!

I'm pleased with how it turned out. Sent it home with g baby with a bottle of glue to fix what breaks and to finish up adding what she wants to it. I really like this craft. When I'm sick, it's small and I can fiddle with things sitting up in bed with a tray on my lap. Got another kit for my birthday but this time it will take even longer...unless I can con my G baby to help with that one too.

So that's my update. Hopefully winter will allow me to have more downtime that I can spend on the blog. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas or whatever you choose to celebrate. I don't get hung up on what folks say around this time of year! WHO CARES! As long as we are being wished well!!

I have to relate this story. I was going through the checkout line at the store the other day. When the cashier gave me my change, I said, "I hope you have a great holiday." The lady in line next to me, said "It's have a Merry Christmas!" And the cashier agreed said, "That's right!" I asked them both, "What if I'm Jewish, like Jesus?" The look of shock and then shame was apparent. I said, "Wishing one well, should not be based on if you are a Christian or not," and I walked off. I thought we were over this issue the last couple of years. Obviously, not everyone got the memo. NOTE: If you are walking around with a chip on your shoulder on how people wish us well at this holiday season, you are not very Christian, AT ALL! You are creating the war on Christmas. Be grateful and LET IT GO!! God's got this. Blessings, Peace and LOVE this holiday season.

Bristol Sessions 90th Anniversary - Born In Bristol

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 13:14:00 +0000

I'm so lax with this blog. I'd probably have a lot more followers if I'd post more. Ah...what the heck! It's for at my pleasure really. Just something to keep me going and hopefully entertain a few. So forgive me reader if I'm not prolific at blog posting.

West Virginia Coon Hunters
Grand dad Bane front left

This week coming up is the 90th Anniversary of the Bristol Sessions. Called the "BIG BANG" of country music. I've been invited to see a premiere of a documentary entitled, "Born In Bristol". My daughter and I are traveling to Bristol to see it. The Birthplace of Country Music is putting this show on for the anniversary. Looking forward to it. I'm also donating some family photos of my grandfather Wesley Bane Boyles. My copy of the original West Virginia Coon Hunters, etc. I've been assured I can still use copies of them. Better be..they are all over this blog but the originals need a safer home now.

I was thinking about how Appalachia has given so much to this nation and the world. Country music and blue grass music would not be country and blue grass music if they hadn't recorded these sessions. Country music artist consider the Bristol Sessions, "the Bible". Grand dad would be tickled about all this attention.

My dad used to say that Appalachia was the backbone of the U.S. We carried so much of this country and help build this country, in the background, most folks don't realize. They always tried to break our back but we are still way too strong. We still sing about it all.

So it's going to be an interesting evening. They are having several showings if you are around Bristol, TN this month. Here us the link for the museum. Born In Bristol via Birthplace of Country Music site

Born in Bristol - Trailer - Audio Mix 2 from Chusy on Vimeo.

Spring 2017 Update Appalachian Spring

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 11 May 2017 23:37:00 +0000

Lord have mercy! I been busy! It's been a WHIRLWIND of activity. Trying to blog...yep it's not working. Too much interference but I'll get to some book and video reviews in this post. I read quite a few this past winter like, Liberal Redneck Manifesto :Draggin Dixie Out Of the Dark, White Trash and Hillbilly Elegy to name a few. Scroll down if you are impatient.

My son was FINALLY approved for disability. WHAT A BLESSING! We were at the crossroads of no return. But though that is a small blessing, doesn't make up for him working, we've a long way to go to get him WELL! He's getting an appointment at UVA. This crazy disease he has, (is anyone sure these immune diseases are not in our environment?) is moving into his eyes. We try to take care of each other, but at the moment his condition is pretty bad. Much worse than I am. It's OK...we are alive.

Spent some money catching up bills and a couple of things giving him a reason to keep trying. Got him a computer. He was using my old one and another that was given to him. Both pretty much slow as molasses and out of date. He really needed a new one. Got a chair that lifts and reclines, which has helped him immensely!! We tore down the bedroom he's staying in. Hadn't been changed since he was a teenager.

He had a bad episode a couple months ago and while I was in there trying to help him up and get his socks on, I noticed how depressing his room was! We changed that. A good clearing out, paint and a rug and a new bed frame helped a bunch. Took us WEEKS to do that. He can't look up or bend at all..so he was at mid level. I did above and below with help. He slept in my bed (it's higher to get in and out of) and I slept on the couch.

After working on that, I was SPENT. I think I'm still recovering. But this is what I noticed, with his illnesses, the change in his surroundings, it's changed his mood from one of despair to hope. So it's worth IT! He has a long battle ahead to get him to the best he can be. Every little bit helps.

The election...WELL....it happened.....let's not go there. It's going to be an interesting next couple of years. I'm not sure what to think really. I piss a lot of my family off about politics. I'm not liberal or conservative but I'm also liberal and conservative...depends on the damn issue!!

Not happy at some of the things being rolled back of course. After going through these illnesses I don't believe we are "throw away people" because we can't afford health care without help at the moment. Without it I believe my son nor I would not have a chance at survival. It's not a game, it's not a theory, these illnesses are not something we could have prevented from happening with clean living. But we are only 2 people in a sea of Americans, trying to survive in the same boat. It amazes me we have money for war and walls but not healthcare solutions. So yes, it's a pretty touchy subject to me.

I've read a few books and watched a few videos of note over the winter/early spring I'd like to tell you about. I'd love to do separate book reviews, but I don't have energy or time. I will just link and make a few comments.

Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester and Drew Morgan's, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin Dixie Outta the Dark, is absolutely wonderful. First book on my list, one I overly enjoyed reading. I took it to read waiting for a doctor's visit. I busted out laughing to tears at some of it, and had to leave the waiting room because I was giggling too much. A lady, when I returned, asked me what I was reading that was so funny. I showed her the cover and she FROWNED at me. Don't know if she believed me, but I told her it was worth the funds and the laughs. I related to every bit of it, and if I had the money I'd buy every young man, over 18, in the South or North, a copy. It's got cussing and it's bawdy. Funny as all get out though. I gave my copy to my grandson to take with him on his way into the world. You can find them on tour with a listing of all things Wellred on their web site.

Or purchase your own copy on Amazon. Draggin Dixie Out of the Dark

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. I'd heard so much about this book. It's a good, fast, read. Read it in a day but.....it's the world of Hillbillies according to the experience of J.D. Vance. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We all see the world differently. To say I agree completely with his view, would be lyin to ya. His mamaw could of been my own mother, but his insistence of he was the Appalachian version of Horatio Alger, "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", kind of guy, kinda made me wince. It's the overall, anti-government intrusion theme, doesn't jive with what we who live here, know how he and his family would have lived. Especially here...in the heart of Appalachia.

The Marines is a government funded job, bub, and it got you on the road to your success. My dad took that same route. I'm sure there were student loans, grants etc. that educated you. I'm sure there were other programs that kept you alive until you could join the Marines. Since you were so poor, I recognize that the details of your own family finances might not be something you were privy to growing up, but don't insist to others, if you don't know, you did it ALL on your own, without any government assistance. Government assistance is not just food stamps and welfare. The difference is chance, access and those that take advantage of what is available to improve themselves.

His view of pay day loans is typical anti government regulation view of an industry that preys upon the poor. He got a loan and paid it back. Good for him. Said he saw no reason to regulate that industry, because HE was able to not have any further misfortunes and figured out a way to pay it back.

I've been to Richmond trying to get the legislature to regulate how much interest these payday and title loan lenders can charge. Believe me, he's not the customer they make the most money on. We had people testify about their loans, raised to charge over 300% interest. These loans trapped them in a cycle they can never get out of.

His not knowing what forks to use at a fancy dinner, because in our hillbilly world no one ever taught "him". Well that was his experience in his part of hillbillydom. My mother, who was raised in a 4 room house with gravity flow water and an outhouse, took out the Betty Crocker cook book and taught her kids, which fork was what, just in case we attended such a dinner. I have my grandmother's home economics books from the 1920s, that the girls were taught in school these lessons. It might be some knowledge lost on his generation but it was not mine or further back.

So it was a well written book, his family members could have been mine, his description of where he was raised hits a memory for a lot of people..... but...the world of hillbillies is much more broad than his experience or just his view.

So many of us don't want to leave Appalachia, to make a what he would consider a "success" of ourselves. I would say those that have clung to, stayed, and survived, regardless of money are more of a success story of Appalachia. WE ARE STILL HERE fighting to make it and keep our children here. We know what the hillbilly highway out of here is. We know how our ties to this land call us back when we take it. Many more prefer not to take it out of here, no matter what the outside rewards. That's doesn't mean we are not and could never be a success. His version of success is not mine.

I read Ron Howard is making a movie of Hillbilly Elegy.....I hope he doesn't kick us in the teeth.

One of my favorite websites and Facebook pages is The Bitter Southerner. They publish awesome stories and views about how diverse the Southern experience is. Appalachians relate to the South, in Ohio even, more so than any other group. Last week they published a post by David Joy called, Digging In The Trash It's a more honest and truthful picture of poverty in the south and in Appalachia.

My next book was right up my alley. A history book!! White Trash:The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, by Nancy Isenberg. It's a history book about class in America and a timely eye opener for anyone that doesn't know this history. I've studied this, because I've came across it in research. Walter Plecker was a prick for eugenics and partly responsible for running many of my family members out of Virginia in the 1920s.

Isenberg puts this history and it's background all in ONE book! She added some wonderful research and quotes to use later. I LOVE IT. If we are going to tackle poverty and race issues, then you need the history of class and of that poverty as a base. Helped me with some family research too, on some places to look, when she wrote about indentured servants.

Let me type from the flap.

"Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature, and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America's supposedly class-free society --where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Some of the founding fathers believed poor people were subhuman, and wanted to apply strategies used in agriculture and animal husbandry to improve the stock. Poor whites were central to the rise of Lincoln's Republican Party, and in addition to slavery, the Civil War itself was fought over class issues. Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which was a factor in the rise of eugenics - a widely popular movement embraced by Theodore Roosevelt that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJ's Great Society. Now they are offered to us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty, and the label is applied to celebrities ranging from Dolly Parton to Bill Clinton. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been near the center of major debates over the character of the American identity."

Highly recommend this book.

I FINALLY set down and read the complete edited copy of Building Power, Changing Lives: The Story of Virginia Organizing. by Ruth Berta and Amanda Leonard Pohl. If you read my About Me, then you know I've been involved with this organization since its inception. Yep, I and many others are in this book. This book was created for our 20th Anniversary. It explains the organization and lists all the local and state issues we worked on. With the political climate as it is, I am MORE sure than ever certain, the way we do it, this is the way to go. It's inclusive, strategic and deliberate in what we try to have influence over that makes a real difference in people's lives.

It's not about political party, (It crosses paths with parties, only if a party starts working towards what helps the most people, you work with them) but it's more about all people in their community tackling issues important to them. People normally that have not been active but suffering. That takes time, but it WORKS!!

Jay Johnson and I talking about Lee County, the FIRST county in the state, to a group.

So many times people look at an organization like this and say, "I see this problem. What is this organization going to do to fix it for me?" When the question really is, "What are YOU going to do to fix this problem for yourself and your community?" VO gives tools to do that. We do a lot of teaching, and breaking down barriers between communities. The book is full of many accomplishments related to that. Sometimes they don't seem that big, such as getting a deaf interpreter on call in a hospital where there is a large community of deaf people. It means a lot to the deaf community! Or getting a county to make sure their jury pool is diverse. This book is full of those battles and wins. Like a pebble in a still pond, it radiates out.

AND this year I was put on the schedule to speak in Blacksburg, VA at the 2017 Appalachian Studies Conference called, "Extreme Appalachia", for Virginia Organizing and went with one of our organizers Brian Johns....why the heck can't I ever remember to take a CAMERA!!

If you are not aware of the Appalachian Studies Series....it's EVERYTHING Appalachian!!! At the time I was needed at home and it was hard to get away just for the day! But I would have loved to have stayed to visit every forum this year. All of them were top notch. This was my second time in 20 years being there. Next year's 2018 conference will be in Cincinnati, OH under the theme, "Re-stitching the Seams: Appalachia Beyond it's Borders".

Our session was convened by Penny Loeb and entitled: Democratic Participation in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia. Two of our presenters didn't make it because of family emergencies. But I met Patricia Bragg, who I absolutely LOVE. Her story is told in a book written by Penny Loeb and movie called, "Moving Mountains: A story of Faith and Perseverance". Her story is the perfect example and BASIS of the contention between coal mining and the destruction it's causing to our communities. We struggle between needing an environment where we can continue to live and drink the water versus coal mining jobs. I bought a copy directly from the author and it was a good video. I recommend it highly.

What I'm reading now is Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II book, The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear. I'm a Dr. Barber fan. He speaks what I've thought for YEARS especially knowing history. The 80's Prosperity Gospel movement, and it's whole message is destroying too many people's lives.

It's tied to the alt right movement of perverting the messages of justice and mercy of the Bible and other faith traditions. I've not finished this one yet. I read it when we go to Doctor's appointments. Doctor appointments have allowed me to READ A LOT!!

Barber's preaching on You Tube with Repairers of the Breach movement, gives ME HOPE. Like none other. I can be so depressed and listen to him speak and feel better. The work I've been involved with for 20 years is because I have this sense of caring, mercy and justice. When I've been screamed at and called everything but something nice for standing up because people are being made to feel as if they have no right to their rights....Creator has got this! What ever troubles, whatever craziness is going on in this world, there are good people and if it's not about love or forgiveness it's not from God. If it's pointing out others sins and being self righteous of our own, and being implemented as policy, it's not right either.

AND LAST.....Several years ago I was contacted through my blog from a company wanting to possibly use some of my grand dads pictures for a project. The West Virginia Coon Hunters. I'd sent the few I had, sent them all the way to California and got them back, and they even scanned them at high resolution for me and sent me a disk, but didn't get to see the project. It was a photo project of country music. Seriously....all the stuff going on in our lives with sickness...I FORGOT about it.

A couple weeks ago I was flipping through Netflix. I don't get to watch it much. Saw this program "Country:Portraits of an American Sound. Company sounded very familiar. So I watched it. I ended up in tears. For a few brief seconds, the picture of my Grand Daddy Bane, with the West Virginia Coon Hunters, was on a program with photos of Country's TOP performers!!! Photos of everyone who was anyone in Country Music. He finally friggin MADE IT! I'm still tearing up. Thanks to the Annenberg Space for Photography Arclight Productions for contacting me and for including them in their documentary!!

So I been a little busy!! Hope all are healthy and blessed. Thanks for reading. HAPPY SPRING!!!

Momma's Meat Ball Sub Sandwiches

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 21:52:00 +0000

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah , Happy Kwanzaa Happy WHATEVER YOU celebrate! Wishing you love, peace and JOY!!

Been a while since I've written anything on the blog. Wish I was a doctor as much as myself and my son have been to doctor's offices...it would wonderful to be working instead of the patient side for a change! Alas...that is not to be. I'm very grateful for all our doctor's trying to help us.

Now it's a crazy YEAR!! Crazy election and regardless of who you voted for....WE ARE ALL STILL IN THIS TOGETHER!! We either rise or we fall....TOGETHER.

I'm sick this week so I'm going slow. But binge watching my favorite TV show. My daughter over the years, for Christmas, has bought me seasons of NCIS. I LOVE NCIS. Basically because they make forays into Appalachia and mention where I was born and lived from time to time. I was raised a military kid, a NAVY brat. So much of it is pretty glamorized but I still like it.

So while NCIS playing in the back ground, I'm going to share a family secret recipe. Every Christmas Eve my family gets together. It began when all of us kids had kids and it became so unwieldy to get us all together on Christmas day. The kids wanted to drag all their toys to grandma's and when we would not let them, they wanted to hurry up, eat dinner and beg to go home. Momma remedied that. She had us get together on Christmas eve and then we were free to get together with the other in-laws on Christmas day. She and dad would then be free to go visiting or do nothing all day. Just WORKS for us.

On Christmas Eve, we make Mamma's meatball sub recipe. You get tired of the same old holiday fare and it's a break from the usual. That recipe came from Norfolk VA. My dad was stationed there his last tours of the Navy before he retired. There was this sandwich shop in the 60's and 70s, that existed somewhere near 13th Bay St and Ocean View Ave. I can't even remember the name of it.

Made the BEST sub sandwiches long before there was a subway. We would get that treat from time to time when he was stationed there. But it was after he retired that we visited on a yearly trip we looked forward to. We took that trip to visit my sister who stayed in the area and my dad made his way to the naval store to buy his yearly supply of shoes...he never liked civilian shoes, and his civvies, i.e. underwear. After being military for years he never could STAND civilian underwear, shoes or socks. It's just what we did and our favorite sandwiches from that shop were their meatball subs.

Mom got to know the owners pretty well over the years. The last trip to the sandwich shop in the mid seventies, we learn the owners were closing shop and retiring. Moving to Florida. The realization that was going to be the last favorite meatball sub sandwich we would get from our favorite shop was a bit upsetting. As we sat there and waited for our to go sandwiches, mom was telling them how much we were going to miss them. When our sandwiches were ready the owner put the hand written recipe for her meatball subs in my mother's hands and gave her a hug. And that's how mamma's meatball sub recipe came about.

There is no other recipe like it. I know because I lost it once and went looking on-line and in the library, never found one exactly like it. But I found it again, luckily stashed in a phone book before I threw the phone book out. So I'm going to share a family secret recipe. Just like all recipes you just have to modify it to suit yourself. Depending on how many we have visit we double and sometimes triple it.

I realize there are some unscrupulous people out there stealing recipes, not giving credit, adding them to collections for sale to make a buck. I don't roll that way. I wanted to share this as a gift before it's lost to memory. Be forewarned it wasn't given to make a buck and therefore according to natural laws we go by you can't sell a gift that is not meant for gain and have it be successful. So just a reminder, Karma, of which I know exists.....is a B!TC#!

Mamma's Meat Ball Subs

In a large bowl- Mix well

3 lbs. lean ground beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium green pepper, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced fine

Bread crumbs, Old bread toasted in the oven about 3 cups at least. Crumbled

2 large eggs

1 tsp. Chili powder

1 tsp. Sage

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

Roll into meat balls on a tray. Mine average at least 2 inches in diameter. The larger they are the longer you cook them.

Take a large skillet, heat hot oil. Brown meatballs in oil until they are well browned and hold together well. Place meatballs after frying in a large pot. The bits and pieces of veggies that end up floating in the oil. Take a slotted spoon and put those in the pot too.

Cover meatballs in pot with cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and place meat balls back in pot. This gets rid of a lot of fat. Watch clogging up your sink.

I make the sauce in a separate pot. And you can use your favorite bottled sauce too if you are in a hurry.

Sauce

1 small clove garlic minced

3 cups water

3 cans tomato paste 6 oz.

1 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp sugar..(owner said it cuts the bitter of the tomato paste)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Stir until heated through. Pour over meatballs in the large pot, bring to a boil, cook on low 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

We serve them on sub rolls with mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, green pepper, lettuce, tomato or just plain with the cheeses.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!!!

I'm An Appalachian with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 08:43:00 +0000

War On Coal Proponents Confuse the HECK out of ME!!

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 06:31:00 +0000

This War on Coal/Friends of Coal crap and the fight against the EPA confuses the heck out of me. I guess because what they are preaching ain't the truth. Just a bunch of companies that have some vested interest in what's left in the ground trying to get to it and take advantage of us again.

I don't understand it. We lived this and this wonderful life in coal is BS. It was feast or famine when it was good!! Maybe for a few they got something out of it, but it was terrible as steady employment. Never was enough employment for everyone. Sharing a link for a brief history lesson!!! Sounds real familiar that nothing has changed. Even though we got some of the severance taxes implemented by some states, it was too little, too late and they kept dickering with it...they didn't pay what they should have. Those severance taxes should have been retroactive. Still cost us more to have that coal dug just in the bad health we suffer from it.

PAST time to diversify the economy. Just diversify. Stop putting all our eggs in a coal bucket and burying us for the coal. Below is part one of a two part series. Here is the link for both Appalachia: Poor People, Rich Land #WaronCoal #AppalachianHistory

I'm An Appalachian with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 05:10:00 +0000

I put 3 of these up today on You tube. I will be able to go back and forth on this. I'm working on a blog about Thanksgiving. I hope to get that up next week.

Appalachian Heartwood Blog on You Tube?

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 04:36:00 +0000

Ok folks trying a something different. I been pretty sick and so I posted a few videos to You Tube. Don't know if this will be good or bad. We are going to roll with it.

Primitive Pottery #1

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 04:32:00 +0000

Low Tech Person In A High Tech World!!!

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 04:58:00 +0000

I'm pushing myself too, TOO much. And I know it. Trying to learn all this technology is making my BRAIN hurt and my body ache. I'm taking an online social media marketing class that has been helpful but truthfully? I don't want to spend hours on social media marketing. Some of their methods can't see the trees for the forest. Some of it I find useful, most I find a pain in the butt. If someone wants to do this marketing as a full time job, that's great. I don't...just pick up a few tricks and tools here and there to use and let this grow organically. If I'd just post more and share those posts in links here and there, just what I've been doing, I think I'd accomplish the same thing. Alas I never post regularly and I forget to share what I do post!! My bad.

Tonight I'm frustrated, I can't get their program to work...plus every time I learn a program, they change it!!! So I will do what I'm good at and that's put a blog update on here. People who are suppose to find me will. Still have to get this blog changed over to a website. Already have the name purchased. That will be another week in the future. These days it is just too much going on to shake a stick at. Friday night sat about 6 hours at the ER with my son. He's having vision and pain problems. ER's on Friday nights are really INTERESTING places. Bless those people manning those ER's. I'd of pulled my hair out I had to work that every weekend!!! Not sure what is going on with my son, he has a referral to an eye specialist. Blessings and prayers would be appreciated.

Wolf Creek Indian Village and Museum is having their 20th Anniversary celebration, Saturday September 17th and I've been trying to help on the history timeline and identifying pictures. Blasts from the past and realizing so much history because of this one little site. Yep I've already caused an uproar with my Jenny Wiley posts. BUT dag gone it.... so many of the history books are WRONG and of all the stories that need to be told, the history of the early Europeans and Native Americans need MUCH more scrutiny in Appalachia than what has been written and taken as fact. Especially when in fact, a lot of what has been passed as history of our area is absolute BS. WCIV is a place for those conversations and beginnings. So life goes on.

Next....When Appalachian Service Project crews were here, repairing my home, I felt so grateful, I made some corn husks dolls and such as gifts. They were not great and accomplished in a hurry and I used every dyed corn husk I had. I had to get some more and dye them quickly!! I promised to try to demonstrate at the Mercer County Heritage Festival coming up here in a couple of weeks. Here is one of the little ladies I made for a member of one of the crews.

This one went to a Pittsburgh Steeler's fan who saw what shucks were dyed in my box, wanted black and gold. Did it, though the flash on the camera makes it look much lighter. Need to work on my photography too.

So last week, I began the process of dying corn husks to replenish the supply. I'm trying to write a how to book on how I do this, and give directions on how to make all kinds of corn husk crafts. It's in progress!! Thus why I was interested in Social media marketing. I'm just not interested in going that in depth to spend days on it to do what I could figure out with a Google search! But it did get me to work on my twitter account, open a bitly account, get on Linked in and Klout and Hootsuite and explain the concepts which is a good background to know. I just don't like using the programs they want us to use. Big Data is a bit intrusive and scary...I just want to sell a corn husk craft book later! I'm one of those people that believe things will come to you when you want or need them. Don't need to push it, so much as let it be found.

Anyway, I use all kinds of things to dye shucks: Kool-aid, food coloring, cold water dyes, rit dye, natural dyes. The brownish black above was accomplished using black walnut husks. What ever I have on hand. It's been so damp and humid, I was having a time after they were dyed, getting them to dry for storage on the dining room table. Outside we kept having the "monsoons" every day so the ground was damp and the wind would pick up and then die down. Laying them out on the ground on black plastic usually works on a hot day....IF the wind is not blowing. I finally resorted and used the old pickup truck bed as a drying rack. THAT worked beautifully. Hillbilly ingenuity.

I always use salt as a mordant. Think of dying Easter eggs, it is the same concept. So here are some pictures of that process and a flyer for the Mercer County Heritage festival. I'm going and will be demonstrating as long as I can hold out. I start getting veritgoey or washed out I will have to quit...but I think I'm in better shape this year than last. Last year I was VERY sick and I hope I hold up much better this year.

BUT, I NEVER KNOW! Like I've said before, I can tell myself, "I'm going to do such and such today!" And my body replies, "HA! YOU WISH!" Such is the life of chronic illness. But it's always a good day.....I WOKE UP!!! Just have to roll with it.

Took 3 days to dry these on the table.

Purple UNSWEETENED Kool-aid with salt as a mordant

Taking over the sink for a couple of days!

I use mason jars filled with water for weights.

Setting overnight.

BEST IDEA all year. Black Truck bed liner with sides, didn't blow away and dried in one afternoon.

End of POST. Blessing all and back to this CRAZY class. I'm so far behind.

Appalachian Blessing Bracelet

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 16:49:00 +0000

When Appalachian Service Project folks were here working on my house, I was so GRATEFUL. That each crew I made some small thing for them to take home with them. I'm a crafter at heart. They all did not get the same things. Some I made corn husk dolls. Some I made thank you magnets to go on their refrigerators. The last group, I taught them how to make a blessing bracelet.

When I was young, I had a great aunt, on my dad's side that made me one of these and taught me about blessing beads. I will not even put her name on this because her family are a little strange. They are kin but they are strange. This great Aunt, (actually she was my GREAT GREAT Aunt) would have been known as a granny woman, or in many unsavory minds a granny witch. Which is no more the truth than anything.

She was a very religious woman and a healer. She went to church every time the doors flew opened. She knew how to draw fire from a burn and stop blood with just a Bible verse. She was very close to watching nature. She said crows brought messages and would count them. She saw signs in everything around her, and wasn't uncommon her predictions came true. She was ostracized by many in the family as having something other than Christian but these same people called on her when they were sick. I think they were afraid of something they didn't understand.

When I was about 10, before she became really ill, I had to stay with her overnight. I'd never met her before that time. Got to visit with her just a few times after that. But I learned a lot just roaming around her and my uncles house and listening to her talk.

One visit, I didn't want to stay with her. I was being a typical kid. To amuse me, she showed me a bracelet she was wearing made of pearls and shell beads and asked me if I wanted to make one. If I stayed with her we would make one. She called it, "A Blessing Bracelet" and told me how it worked. I stayed with her that afternoon and made one. I wore it about a month before I broke it. Forgot about it for many, many years.

When I worked at Wolf Creek Indian Village they sold these cedar berry bracelets that reminded me of the blessing bracelet my Aunty made me. I bought them too and sort of used it like a blessing bracelet but broke every one within a month of buying it. I'm rough on jewelry.

When I first became ill and had to resign my job, I made myself another Blessing Bracelet because I thought I needed it. It was an uncertain future time for me....figured I needed all the help I could get. You can see in the picture above, I'm wearing my blessing bracelet. I've worn it for over 4 years now. It's made with a strong wax string. I made it the day I had to sign my resignation letter.

So I thought.....this should be shared. It's not just the making of the bracelet but how it WORKS.

Blessing Bracelet

The bracelet is made the old way, when there were no clasps. You string your first bead with a long tail. I use two, five, two combination of E beads. Two for the strongest moons, new and full. You end your beading with two and when tied together makes what I call the 4 directions beads and where I start from every time I use the bracelet. The five are for the ancient beliefs of the five seasons in a year. And it's made to your size so I can't give you a number of beads.

You measure your string around the widest part of your hand with your fingers outstretched close together and your thumb open. That's how many beads you will need. You tie it to the long tail of the beginning bead in a knot.

To put it on, you place it over your fingers and press your thumb inward and roll it on your wrist.

How IT WORKS.
First of all it's made to you so you can't sell it. Besides selling anything like this makes it not work.

There are sections so you can choose to count by the 2 beads, the five beads or individual beads beginning at the four.

The first way to use it is praying. YOU NEVER PRAY FOR YOURSELF. You pray for others you know are hurting or have difficulties. Going around the bracelet as much as you need or as many times you need. You can also pray for your enemies. My Aunty warned me about this. She quoted a Bible verse about praying for your enemies. If they are truly out to cause you harm for no good reason or evil intentions, praying for them to be blessed heaps coals of fire upon their heads. If they are just being ignorant of what they are doing they might be blessed with understanding. If they are truly righteous and not trying to cause you any harm and you call them an enemy, the coals come back on YOU.

If you don't believe in God I guess you can use it to send good thoughts to people and bring them into remembrance that someone may be worse off than you at the moment.

Second way it's used is when you are depressed or in despair or think you lack something. You use it to count your blessings on the individual beads. You can see, you can walk, you can talk, you can write, you have clean sheets and coffee this morning....what ever you are blessed with at this moment.

What happens when I count my blessings?...One I realize whatever I think I'm lacking I really don't need or two, I'm already blessed with something that will get me what I need.

That afternoon making my first one, she made me recite my blessings. I'd come up with one and she'd say, "What else?" I'd say, "I don't know, I can't think of any more!" She'd say, "You thankful for your shoes so you don't have to walk barefoot in the snow?" And it went on that way until my parents returned. Turns out I had a lot I never thought of. She died a few years after that. At her funeral I noticed she had hers on and was buried with it. I wonder how many of her family knew what it was?

Last week was the first time I'd shared this. Kind of thought I'd be thought nuts to say what it really was or to wear it but now it's just a part of me and what I do. Got me through the last 4 years!!! Thank you Aunty, wherever you are!

Summer 2016 Update Last of the Appalachians?

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 13:34:00 +0000

Much going on at the old homestead. People have come to volunteer their time through a wonderful organization called the Appalachian Service Project and friends who have donated extra materials to help repair my house. It's been badly neglected and would be falling down if something isn't done. So far what has been done is amazing!!! Groups from all over the U.S. have helped.

If you want to support a group truly helping Appalachian people here is a link to their website.Appalachian Service Project. Now with the WV floods, more help will be needed than ever. While we are trying to figure out what to do to increase our economic development, it helps us to maintain homes we have.

I've been about useless in this endeavor. First, I screwed my foot up tripping into the hearth. This new development of Meniere's Disease, I keep forgetting I can't move or turn too fast. I have to let my ears catch up with my head or I stagger.

I keep telling people, those wild times I had in my twenties and thirties actually was a training ground for this. I could walk straight, drunk, though if I moved too fast, or bent over, I fell then too.

Myself and bestie Sherri. I asked for a million dollars
She asked to, "get out of trouble". I think she made a drive through out of a restaurant.

Well it's that way now but constantly and none of the fun of drinking. What is up with that? If I actually get drunk will it make it better? Too chicken to try it and with everything else going on...I do good to move. Woke up with the vertigo yesterday. THAT I HATE! I know how to treat it, so it's not as scary but another day lost on BS illnesses. Sigh...work with what ya got! It's a good day....I WOKE UP.

Enough of the illnesses I can't do a thing about but learn to live with them. There is this wonderful facebook page you should check out called the Appalachian Project, or TAP. A few days ago Shane one of the admin's posted this:

The Last of the Appalachians?

"We have discussed at length on TAP the fact that many traditional Appalachian practices have waned and some have almost completely disappeared. From canning our own food to observing certain deeply held superstitions and everything in between, a lot of our cultural traditions are clearly beginning to be lost on new generations. I have observed it in my own children who have little to no interest in learning the beliefs and skills of our forefathers.

My personal belief is that the world at large is becoming more homogenous in large part due the widespread use of the Internet. Information is literally at your fingertips and exchanges with folks from different areas of the country and world are quite common. My son has made friendships with people from Peru, New Zealand and the UK. They routinely discuss the geopolitical impact of Brexit and the upcoming US presidential election on world events. The closest I would have come to a similar experience would have been to put a message in a bottle, throw it in the Clinch River and hope it floated all the way to Ecuador.

I see all these rapid changes and then think how different my childhood was from my parents and how much their childhoods were different from their parents, and so on. Very few people truly want to be drastically different than their peers so some of this "Appalachian assimilation" is inevitable as people see how the mainstream of society live.

My question is what can, or even should, be done to preserve our culture? Change isn't necessarily a bad thing but I personally don't relish the thought of becoming the new Mohicans. - Shane

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments."

This is something I have pondered forever. We have changed. Just in our speech that has changed so much. I was demonstrating at an event once and I do what we call as "cross switching". When I'm with other Appalachians I revert back to our dialect in a BIG way. The way we speak among ourselves is much different many times than when we are in public. Especially if we are in any professional capacity. SAD but if you don't, people treat you like you are ignorant.

Last year a the Mercer County Heritage Festival demonstrating corn husk crafts,
I will be there again this year, hopefully. Lord be willin and the creeks don't rise,

When I'm in public I speak not so much with a twang or the sing song of our language. Many say they can't understand what I'm saying if I speak with the dialect. Feller came up and watched for a time heard me speak and made the comment, "So by your speech, you are not really an Appalachian? Did you learn all this from the Fox Fire books?" He got a mouthful of Appalachian then. I told him, "How'd ye like to go snipe huntin' and I lose yer ass in these mountains?" Got my red up then. He ambled on to insult someone else.

I didn't learn my skills from the Fox Fire books. The Fox Fire books were one of the first to write down some about our culture, our skills and became popular. Here is what I posted in response to Shane and the Appalachian Project post:

"I'm sharing this one on my page Shane and with your permission on my blog too. As someone who is descended from a LONG line of Appalachians and still living here I question this all the time. I worked in the tourism industry and helped people with their genealogical research in Appalachia for 25 years. I demonstrate and STILL demonstrate some of the old skills.

I get pissed off when people put down the Fox Fire books. I didn't learn my skills in the Fox Fire books, I was taught like the kids that wrote it down....BUT IT'S written DOWN and preserved that way. I know people who are not from here that know more of our culture and skills than our own people do today. That's the sad part!!! Getting the younger generation proud of who they are, where they come from and interested in learning these things, that is the challenge.

In my county there was a high school history teacher, John Dodson, who 20 years ago, developed a program that the high school students went out and interviewed family members. Kind of like the Fox Fire tradition but with a twist. They put it all online and maintain the database, even today. It's called the Bland County History Archives. Wonderful project because they learn computer skills while preserving history and culture at the same time. Here is a link to their project. Bland County History Archives

The reason I started my blog was to share some of the little knowledge I still know before I'm gone. It is said, it takes a thousand voices to tell a single story. Appalachians should be sharing and writing down their own history. Appalachia is always changing but I think it is the sharing of our culture and our history that will keep it alive."

I'd love to hear your comments too.

Shady Grove and Copper Kettle lyrics

rockygapsmith@gmail.com (D. Smith) — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 20:00:00 +0000

Well it's official...I have Meneire's Disease that is causing my vertigo. Yee Haw! Since last September it's been a wild walk. I walk like I'm drunk when I get an attack. I know people who see me stumble around wonder, "What is she on?" I can say for certain now, I have a new empathy for drunks. But...I woke UP. It's a good DAY!!

Any way, this post has been on my mind for some time and in draft. Back in 1971 or 1972, my grand daddy, Wesley "Bane" Boyles came to live with us for a time. The man lived to play music. Here is a link to his story. He would pick up his fiddle and Momma, at the time, would play guitar with him...... sometimes. But she was busy running a household. He got it in his mind, while he was living with us, to teach me to play a mandolin and teach me to play a few songs so he would have someone to play music with.

I was a teenager....I was more interested in Creedance Clearwater Revival than bluegrass music. I hated what I called, "the nose twanger singers" of blue grass, people who sounded like they were singing out their nose in a high pitch. No offense, some people say it's not bluegrass with out it, but it's never been my favorite bluegrass. The playing may be excellent but the singing hurt my ears.

He invited some folks over to play and that's what they sounded like. He could not convince me to learn anything until mom said bluegrass did not have to sound like that to be bluegrass. That the old time music she remembered did not sound like that and I didn't have to sing through my nose. So he tried to accommodate me and to convince me, taught me a few songs that more modern day folk singers had recently recorded at that time.

He gave me a mandolin and when I would not practice, took it back. That was the end of the lessons and then I think he moved to Bristol that year. Gosh I wish I could go back, but I was a dumb kid and the modern world was calling.

I remember the names of three songs he tried to teach me, Fair and Tender Ladies, Copper Kettle and Shady Grove. I don't remember how Fair and Tender Ladies goes, that was the one he had me working on when I quit...but I continued to sing Copper Kettle and Shady Grove to my kids as lullabies. Poor kids!!!

Through the years, I've heard versions of these songs and realized my grand pap taught me a different version of both of these songs. Since he was at the Bristol Sessions and one of the original old time, old timers...I thought I ought to share these before I go.

So about a year ago, I recorded myself singing Copper Kettle. The versions out there changed the dialect and with that changed the words and the tune. I didn't know even writing it down, how to get that across. Now I'm not a singer, maybe in my youth I could carry a tune.

Today I'm a bathtub baritone, sounds great under water. I was going to re do this but since I've got this hearing, balance problem, losing hearing in my right ear, it's much WORSE than it was a year ago! I put what I recorded a year ago up on You Tube last night. I'm sorry you have to suffer through it but, I overlaid pictures to watch on the video as I'm singing to make it a bit more tolerable. I hope someone that can sing can bring it out and sing it as I learned it.

Now as for Shady Grove, Shady Grove is a popular tune the only difference is the story behind it and the words. I'm just writing the lyrics down he taught me and what he told me about the song.

Grand daddy Bane called Shady Grove a "roaming dandy" or "ramblin man" song. Basically he warned me if any feller sings it to me...RUN. They ain't gonna be faithful! That's why I think there are so many versions of the lyrics. They have been personalized to fit the singer. He even taught me changing lyrics when you learn a young lady's eye color. Get their eye color right and sing it to them, with the catchy tune, it would make them swoon, I reckon.

Just as he knew about moonshine, he'd know about this one TOO! I'm sure from the experience of being a rambling music man! Think about it...what is the significance of a "shady grove" other than a place for lovers to meet away from prying eyes?

Shady Grove - Lyrics

Chorus: Shady Grove, my little miss,
Shady Grove, I say,
Shady Grove, My little love
Better be on my way.

Went to see my Shady Grove,
She's standing, in the door.
Shoes and Stocking's in her hand
Little bare feet on the floor.

Chorus

Next 3 are changing verses were based on a girl's eye color. If you were singing for your gal you knew their eye color.

Cheeks are Red as a blooming rose,
Eyes the darkest brown,
She's the prettiest thing I know,
The prettiest thing in town.

Cheeks are red as a blooming rose,
Eyes the prettiest green,
She's the prettiest thing I know.
The prettiest I've ever seen.

Cheeks are red as a blooming rose.
Eyes the prettiest blue.
She's the prettiest thing I know.
The prettiest to be true.

Chorus

Every time I pass this way,
It's always dark and cloudy.
Every time I see my girl,
I always tell her howdy.

Chorus

Wish I had a pig in a pen,
Corn to feed him on.
I'd give it to my Shady Grove
To feed him when I'm gone.

(This one about a pig, I was amazed to hear the Grateful Dead do a version of a song with this in it. But I originally heard it as part of Shady Grove.)

Chorus

Peaches in the summertime.
Apples in the Fall.
If I can't have my Shady Grove,
I want no love at all.

Chorus

So there you go. I hope others are taking my examples and begin to think about sharing some of the Appalachian songs, culture, story and traditions that are passing out of time that they know. If I could go back...I'd pick that old man's brain for the knowledge that went with him when he passed in a heart beat. But I will share what little of it I did get. P.S. If anyone performs these songs please record it for me and send me a link!!! THANKS.