I don't know how we got here but this blog now has over 100 stories and it's getting a little bit tough to navigate. The whole purpose of this article is to replace the original home page, help you navigate through the contents, and to introduce ourselves in a small way to you.
The individual on the left is Lee Wilcox. Lee, wife Sally, this Parrot, a second parrot, 5 donkeys, 2 dogs, 20 plus chickens, a llama, a dozen guinea hens, and a batch of muscovey ducks all live on 5 wooded acres close to Grangerland, Texas.
Sometimes a person's mind just won't shut off and it's good to occupy it with something that might prove enjoyable to others. The statistics on the site tell me that 2-300 people read this on most days. I don't intend to talk much about Sally or I in the stories so I think it's fair to introduce us now.
The individual on the left is Lee Wilcox. Lee, wife Sally, this Parrot, a second parrot, 5 donkeys, 2 dogs, 20 plus chickens, a llama, a dozen guinea hens, and a batch of muscovey ducks all live on 5 wooded acres close to Grangerland, Texas.
Sometimes a person's mind just won't shut off and it's good to occupy it with something that might prove enjoyable to others. The statistics on the site tell me that 2-300 people read this on most days. I don't intend to talk much about Sally or I in the stories so I think it's fair to introduce us now.
This is Sally. She is the person primarily responsible for starting this blog.I guess she got tired of me moping around the house in my newfound state (retirement). We had opened a site to augment her job as editor of the Texas Challenge (Freewill Baptist state newspaper) and I think I got in her way. I kept coming up with stories I wanted to write that didn't fit on a denomination publication.
For whatever reason she worked on getting me started doing this. Between us we possess a lot of knowledge about computers. She has 95% of that knowledge and I have 5%.
Now she is also retired and she spends time making presents for the grandchildren. This is a lego man. I don't know much about crochet but I think she is pretty good. Maybe I can get her to contribute here if I ask nicely.
For whatever reason she worked on getting me started doing this. Between us we possess a lot of knowledge about computers. She has 95% of that knowledge and I have 5%.
Now she is also retired and she spends time making presents for the grandchildren. This is a lego man. I don't know much about crochet but I think she is pretty good. Maybe I can get her to contribute here if I ask nicely.
If you did things right (and you did or you wouldn't be reading this) you came to a page like this. This website is produced by Weebly and I am very happy with them. They are different from Wordpress and probably others that I am unfamiliar with..
As you can see there are multiple sections you can choose from. The two headings on the right are different than what you will see. They were just the two most recent stories. They were there for your convenience and are filed when others are added. These are already filed. Each new story goes there for a time.
On this site if you make your cursor hover over any of these headings you will get a drop down menu. I expect if you are here you already know how to use them. Since they are key to navigating this site I'm going to pretend I know enough to teach about them.
Things get put under the home page when I can't figure a better place. You can probably tell that from the titles.
Most of these pages are blog pages. That allows comments. If you came to the stories through facebook (the only place we publish other than search engines) you can comment either on the site or on facebook.
As you can see there are multiple sections you can choose from. The two headings on the right are different than what you will see. They were just the two most recent stories. They were there for your convenience and are filed when others are added. These are already filed. Each new story goes there for a time.
On this site if you make your cursor hover over any of these headings you will get a drop down menu. I expect if you are here you already know how to use them. Since they are key to navigating this site I'm going to pretend I know enough to teach about them.
Things get put under the home page when I can't figure a better place. You can probably tell that from the titles.
Most of these pages are blog pages. That allows comments. If you came to the stories through facebook (the only place we publish other than search engines) you can comment either on the site or on facebook.
With regard to drop down menus. Family probably has more articles than any other. Driving Miss Sally is basically when we go on trips. We have a lot of family and like to share those experiences. We have been married almost sixteen years and we both brought adult children into the mix. Her six and me one. Since we don't do the S word (step) if at all practical, we have seven adult children and over two dozen grand and great grandchildren. I would have to write about these trips if it were only for them but it's not. We have had a lot of interest from others as well. Please note the > symbols after the top three subjects. That means if you hover over the subject and glide right another drop down menu will show. Do not lift your finger or they will all disappear from view.
You can see the results of gliding right in the above picture. Canada refers to our Canadian Vacation. It was a lifetime sort of experience. These stories get visitors all the time from Canadian websites. Guess they were curious what we had to say. There are a total of three drop down menus here and that is how Weebly has chosen to navigate their sites. Works pretty well if you have a good mouse.
This young lady is my mom and she is holding my uncle who would probably rather be elsewhere. She passed away in 2007 just a month shy of 102 years old. She left plenty of memories behind.
She left a sheaf of papers that were handwritten. They were what she wanted to pass along. I don't remember how many pages but when they were typed they amounted to 35 pages. I didn't edit those pages really, but I did find pictures on google images that represented the events and the times.
You will find these stories under Mom's Memories. My sister Carol and I both added an article of our memories of growing up with her and Dad. Carol was the archives (pictures) and I had the vehicle to publish them. Guess it was a limited partnership. Limited means you can't sue and I hope she isn't going to.
She left a sheaf of papers that were handwritten. They were what she wanted to pass along. I don't remember how many pages but when they were typed they amounted to 35 pages. I didn't edit those pages really, but I did find pictures on google images that represented the events and the times.
You will find these stories under Mom's Memories. My sister Carol and I both added an article of our memories of growing up with her and Dad. Carol was the archives (pictures) and I had the vehicle to publish them. Guess it was a limited partnership. Limited means you can't sue and I hope she isn't going to.
Geocaching is another thing in this section. It would jump out if you hit Texas instead of Canada. If you don't know what Geocaching is - folks hide things and you find them
All you need is a smartphone and a $10 app. The app tells your phone the GPS coordinates and your phone leads you close. Some of them are very clever. One of our Granddaughters told Sally that the kids in high school were doing that last year. Actually I expect it's been longer than that but we were the last to know.
If we stay healthy there will be a lot of geocache log entries.
All you need is a smartphone and a $10 app. The app tells your phone the GPS coordinates and your phone leads you close. Some of them are very clever. One of our Granddaughters told Sally that the kids in high school were doing that last year. Actually I expect it's been longer than that but we were the last to know.
If we stay healthy there will be a lot of geocache log entries.
Our farm and animals. There will probably be a bunch more of these. As you can see, if you hover and glide right there are multiple stories on each. I don't make up any of these stories, the animals do. All I do is record them and I've been working around the place so don't have many new ones.
The Eclectic Gearhead. There might be better names but this is written by a guy who likes to be outdoors working on stuff.
The redneck engineering section contains stories about all sorts of work I have done on the farm. The title is half misleading. I am a redneck but I am not an engineer. I have done some welding, some carpentry, some concrete work and probably more. Not much that I do is pretty but most of it is going to last a long time. You might find this humorous or you might not like them at all. None of these projects are going into the better homes and gardens magazine but I have figured most of them out myself and done them my way. Reality check: I'm not above stealing a good idea.
The vehicles category contains mostly things we have seen while driving around. If you like cars that are old, weird, or whatever, take a look. I do intend to add a vehicle we made while I was still a special ed. teacher.
Flotsam and Jetsam could probably be categorized better. To this point it is primarily about experiences in or memories of submarines. I spent time on them during the cold war and part of that time was in the Vietnam area. Not all of the cold war was cold and a lot was exciting. It does qualify as gear-head stuff for the most part. Some of these articles have been publicized on the submarine Facebook pages and I haven't received any hate mail yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Chimneys 101. I was a chimney sweep and certified by the National Chimney Sweep Guild. I have tried to make this section a primer on chimneys. If you have a chimney in your house you should read this. I think that even if you are experienced you will learn something new.
I may add to this but I hope it helps you have some idea what the blog contains and better find what you want.
The redneck engineering section contains stories about all sorts of work I have done on the farm. The title is half misleading. I am a redneck but I am not an engineer. I have done some welding, some carpentry, some concrete work and probably more. Not much that I do is pretty but most of it is going to last a long time. You might find this humorous or you might not like them at all. None of these projects are going into the better homes and gardens magazine but I have figured most of them out myself and done them my way. Reality check: I'm not above stealing a good idea.
The vehicles category contains mostly things we have seen while driving around. If you like cars that are old, weird, or whatever, take a look. I do intend to add a vehicle we made while I was still a special ed. teacher.
Flotsam and Jetsam could probably be categorized better. To this point it is primarily about experiences in or memories of submarines. I spent time on them during the cold war and part of that time was in the Vietnam area. Not all of the cold war was cold and a lot was exciting. It does qualify as gear-head stuff for the most part. Some of these articles have been publicized on the submarine Facebook pages and I haven't received any hate mail yet. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Chimneys 101. I was a chimney sweep and certified by the National Chimney Sweep Guild. I have tried to make this section a primer on chimneys. If you have a chimney in your house you should read this. I think that even if you are experienced you will learn something new.
I may add to this but I hope it helps you have some idea what the blog contains and better find what you want.