Eleven Years Old
Twelfth Year Begins
Today, Saturday, June 2, 2007, marks the
eleventh anniversary of
Ridge Rider News
and the beginning of our twelfth year of publication. Thus, it
is with a bit of pride of accomplishment that we share a few thoughts regarding
our past success and our expectations for the future.
In reflecting on the past, we would note that eleven years ago this week
the first issue of this newsletter was mailed to three households. At the
time, no thought was given to the possibility that the fledgling newsletter
would survive for eleven years. Neither, did we anticipate the role the Internet
would play in the expansion of this newsletter, because eleven years ago
America Online and CompuServe were still vying for consumers interested in
emerging technologies. E-mail existed but was not widely used, as home computers
and Internet access was limited by connection speeds considered slothful
by today's standards.
Eleven years ago, Ridge
Rider News sprouted, in part, from the seeds of a desire to leave
a written accounting of the life and times of the family of Wayne and Barbara
Carter for their descendants and to help revive the dying art of letter writing.
Our early efforts were encouraged as individuals sought to be added to the
weekly mailings.
While we envisioned increased communications with readers in the form of
email, personal letters, or visitation, our expectations have not been realized.
Perhaps we cannot revive letter writing, as once we hoped, but we recommit
ourselves to doing our part and will encourage our readership to do the same.
In recent years, it's become customary to report on our known readership
by listing the number of households, by geographic location, that enjoy
Ridge Rider News.
The following is a breakdown of ninety-eight households (up 10
from prior year) with parentheses used wherever the number of households
for a given area is greater than one:
Foreign Countries - 1: Germany
Out of State - 28: Tennessee (8), Indiana (3), Georgia (3), Alabama (2),
Arkansas (2), Louisiana (2), California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky,
Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico - A total of twenty-eight households across
fourteen states.
In State - 69: Pontotoc (44), Tupelo (4), Thaxton (2), Belmont, Bruce, Caledonia,
Ellisville, Florence, Forest, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Leland, Olive
Branch, Oxford, Pearl, Ripley, Saltillo, Southaven, Starkville, Vicksburg,
and West Point - A total of sixty-nine households in twenty-three cities.
For reasons we fail to comprehend, this newsletter appeals to a remarkable
range of persons in various socio-economic levels, from poverty to affluence,
from the hardly-educated to the well-educated, and from young adults to the
aged. We make no effort to analyze our readership other than to note that
which is shared here.
We recognize that this accounting of our readership does not accurately reflect
the entire readership, for certain individuals share their personal copy
with others. While we know how often our newsletter is opened on the Internet,
we do not know with any degree of certainty how many individuals regularly
read this newsletter online. However, we have confirmation that at least
nine individuals scattered over five states use the Internet weekly to access
Ridge Rider News
Online. Additionally,
Ridge Rider
News is emailed to sixty-five households and is either
hand-delivered or sent via U.S. Mail to thirty-three others. By conservative
estimate, we believe our newsletter is read by one hundred fifty or more
individuals each week.
Normally, we would be announcing our intention to celebrate our anniversary
by hosting friends and family to a backyard party, perhaps a fish fry or
cookout, but as of this date, it is doubtful that resources of time and money,
not to mention physical energy, will be plentiful enough to permit such a
celebration this year. We hate to disappoint those who were expecting a
celebratory party this summer, but perhaps we’ll do one next year.
The staff of Ridge
Rider News are unable to predict the future and cannot pretend
to know how long the editor will strive to continue his favorite hobby. But,
we have it on good authority that this newsletter, which is certainly not
your average newsletter, will continue for as long as the editor enjoys his
craft and God grants him the ability to continue doing that which he loves
to do.
Felicia’s
Showers Ten And Counting
On Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend, Barbara and I attended a shower
for our niece, Felicia Brown. Felicia, who will wed Cullen Pollard on June
9, 2007 at FBC Pontotoc, has had a flurry of showers thrown on her behalf
by friends, since becoming engaged in January. I knew she’d had several,
but I didn’t realize just how many there had been until I asked her
for a count.
After counting off the showers on her fingers, she announced, "Thirteen."
"You’ve had thirteen showers?" I quizzed, slightly overwhelmed by the
number that dwarfed those of my bride of almost forty years, as well as most
members of my family.
"No, this one makes ten, Uncle Wayne," she elaborated, "But, I’ll have
thirteen before the wedding."
I felt honored to be attending
Felicia’s tenth shower, as it was the only one to which I was invited.
The previous nine were hosted by women and for women only. I’m not sure
that’s fair to us men, because half the money spent on gifts for the
bride-to-be came out of household income defined as "our money." But, until
large numbers of men start showing up at bridal showers, I’m not going
to complain too loudly of our being overlooked when invitations are mailed.
Barbara attended roughly half of the first ten showers and took a gift each
time. Apparently the seven-piece set of All-Clad cookware and Henckel knife-set
didn’t count as shower gifts because they were given separate from the
shower-party format. I told Barbara that we’ll go broke buying gifts
if the wedding is not pretty soon.
I’ve not taken the time to number the gifts, but I’d say there
have been a lot more than two hundred. The gifts range from decorative to
useful, from place settings of fine China and flat wear to everyday dinner
wear, from linens and towels to McCarty pottery items and more.
The shower to which I was invited was a themed shower.
"We’re supposed to take a gift that can be used in their backyard or
for a cookout," Barbara shared.
For my tastes, a themed party is great. It narrows the choices from which
one must choose a suitable gift. Two other showers also had a theme. The
Chaney family in Oxford hosted a gathering of mostly Chaney employees and
relatives of Felicia that I felt was somewhat unique as showers go. It was
a "Round-the-clock" shower where each invitee is sent a specific hour and
asked to bring a gift appropriate for that time of day. Barbara had the 10:00
a.m. slot and took a picture frame, two drink "huggies," and crafted a poem
explaining the significance of the items.
At a shower hosted by some of her teacher friends, the theme was "ABC." Guests
brought one or more gifts with names beginning with their respective initials.
For this shower, Barbara selected a set of Bamboo trivets (B as in Barbara/
Bamboo).
Other than the backyard themed shower, I had little input into the gifts
my wife selected. However, with regard to backyard gifts and outdoor cooking,
Barbara sought my approval. We chose a charcoal-lighting chimney and a flexible
gooseneck lighter for whatever grilling need the couple is sure to have.
The backyard shower was held at the home of Brad and Julie Henry, parents
of Meagan Henry for whom Felicia used to baby-sit. Family guests included
Julie’s parents, Bill and Theresa Ard, her aunt and uncle, Terena and
Carroll Kyle, along with the family of Jay and Mitzi Russell. On the
groom’s side were his parents, Debbie and Jimmy Pollard, an aunt and
uncle Bo and Janice Ragon with two of their three sons. The bride’s
family included mother, Sarah C. Brown, brother, Brett Brown, aunt and uncle,
Wayne and Barbara Carter, as well as the children and grandchildren of Wayne
and Barbara.
The delicious food included char-grilled hamburgers and smoked sausages,
corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, twice-baked potatoes, grape salad…and
homemade ice cream for dessert. All was served near poolside and guests enjoyed
dining in near perfect weather.
Felicia received a number of useful items, not the least of which was a chiminea
presented by her hostesses. As of this writing, Cullen comments his house
is almost full and Felicia still has a living room at her mom’s house
filled with gifts, all waiting to be transported to Oxford. I doubt it will
all get moved before the wedding and honeymoon.
Bodock Beau Cruise
Special
Certainly we do not wish to insult anyone, but blondes are often the brunt
of a good joke. See the following from Powell Prewett.
Cruise Special
A blonde walks by a travel agency and notices a sign in the window, "Cruise
Special -- $99!"
She goes inside, lays her money on the counter and says, "I'd like the $99
cruise special, please."
The agent says, "Yes, ma'am," then grabs her, drags her into the back room,
ties her into a large inner tube, pulls her out the back door and downhill
to the river bank, where he pushes her in and sends her floating down the
river.
A second blonde comes by a few minutes later, sees the sign, goes inside,
lays down her money, and asks for the $99 special. She too is tied to an
inner tube and sent floating down the river. Drifting in a stronger current,
she eventually catches up with the first blonde.
They float side by side for a while before the first blonde asks, "Do they
serve refreshments on this cruise?"
The second blonde replies, "They didn't last year."
Three Things to Ponder
Cows: Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government
can track a single cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the
stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her
calves to, their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal
aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a
cow.
The Constitution: They keep talking about drafting a Constitution
for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really
smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.
The Ten Commandments: The real reason that we can't have the Ten
Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot post "Thou Shalt
Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery", and "Thou Shalt Not Lie" in
a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile
work environment.
Shared by Ralph Jones
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