Barkin' Babee Boy

Don't quite understand the fascination some gurlz have with babee dolls n barbies n such. If you's gonna be makin' ready a child for birthin' n rearin' littlins of theirs own, they be needin' a live critter to practice on. Back when Ma was age 9 and reflectin' upon her nuptials, she picked out a porker from the pen to bathe n bottle feed. Her Ma done practiced with a 'possum. Some generations back chilluns borrowed bambinos from a neighbor, but that all desisted when li'l Gerty Hoss dropped sucklin' Judd Pickens on his head. Story goes they alls learned their lesson that better an oversqueezed critter than a cross-eyed uncle. And so when we determinated that Ki was commencin' to think 'bout babees, we handed her the hound dog and said, "Practice on him!" She be takin' to mutherin' quite naturally!

Give me a B!

We done sat and spectated the local youngins in an athletic diversion of sorts...runnin' after a bouncin' ball. Not exactly a true sport like log rollin' or seed spittin'... Anyhoo, we went to watch Ki cheer on the competitors. All that jumpin around made us wonder if the floor was hot or if them gals had their bloomers full of ants. They were flappin' their wings n stompin' something fierce. But it was all a pretty good show.



We headed home and pulled out the ol' picture book and found a younger Ma in a tutu. Yep, Ma done a lot to inspire our very own pig wrasslin team to a county champeenship.


Our hound caught wind 'o the excitment, and not to be outdone, crawled in his kennel and came back out full 'o spirit. Seems he now wants to bark on the local pups in the upcoming rabbit chase games!

Snow Daze Vacation

My goodness but that was a bunch of snow! Check out the slide show at the bottom of the page. It will send shivers down yer spine!

Frozen Toes & Numbed Noses

The chilluns were chilled from nose to toes after all the slippin' n slidin' down the wintry hills. But no worries. The cement pond had heated water for de-frosting the ol' digits. They specially took to bein' flushed down the big plumbing...whoooosh! For those who didn't like splashin', there was curling up near the inglenook.

Kissin' Cussins 'n Other Kin

We be tied by blood to some famous clans like the Hatfields of the ol' Blue Ridge, the Dudleys from Pigeon Hollow and the Clinton bunch from Hempstead County, Arkansas (we don't hear from Bill much anymore now that he got hooked into pollitickin.) But our favorite kinfolk gots to be them Kentucky Hardcastles, those Minneeeesota Fenskes and the Ioway Browns. Of course there be some other Ericksons of the Great Northwoods....and they wuz all hangin' around awaitin' our arrival. We gots to see 'em all after battlin' blizzards and icy rains. Good thing we put snowshoes on our buggy cuz we barely made it through the weather. Oh my, and the chilluns were just a jumpin' when they finally saw their cussins! There be nuttin' so good as a collection of relations after a long apartness. And better yet, we collected around a hickory smoked ham!

Hey Grandpa, bring back the ham! We's hungry too!


The Fenske cussins considerin' the trubble they be in. Jake, Sam 'n Pete. They be the ones who stole the ham!

Sweet Auntie Marcy-Jo.

Big John. Used to fly whirlybirds, but now spends his time around the fishin' hole.

Cussin Allen singin' the Brown Jug Melodee with Ki at the pump organ.

Soooooeeeeey! Auntie Marla, Unlce Tommy and their littlins Ty, Trav 'n Tay.

Cody Brown. Plays baseball without cleats, just like Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Kyle. He be soon strikin' it rich like the Clampetts.

Bug races....a kinfolk favortive past time. Go Scooter!

No, this be not gamblin'....it be G-rated cards.

Grandmas 'n Grandpas

Over the river and through the woods to the cabins of our kin we went. We thunk it right for our littlins to get sum lovin' from Grandmas 'n Grandpas. Bein' Christmas 'n all, we wrapped 'em all up with ribbon's 'n bows, but we made sure to leave holes in the boxes so they could all breath 'til they wuz unwrapped. They appeared a little surprised when their grandchillun's climbed out through the paper and bubble wrap! But then they spent a lot 'o time playin' with the begotten of their own begat.

THE ELDER ERICKSONS

THE ELDER BROWNS

Gettin' Hitched

Don't xactly know when he proposed, but we insisted that there be no elopin'. We wuz lookin' for a proper hitchin' in the chapel. So Caleb and his betrothed Mary mounted up the altar and spoke some "cross my hearts." Here be a picture of the hitchin' party. Me 'n Pa thunk it strange the vestments, but you know these modern youth....they wear anything! Ki was overheard to say during the vows, "Y'all can't sleep here tonight!" Pa agrees....at least until he builds a lean-to on back of the cabin for extra sleepin' rooms. It was all such a beautiful thing 'cept for the fact that Caleb chose to change his name to Joe. Guess it's only fittin' seein' as Mary be changin' her last name too.

Christmas Grins

Well, it looks like ol' Santa must have come even though Pa stoked a roarin' fire in the fireplace. Either Nick had flame-proof civvies when he slipped down the chimney, or our fiersome watchdog lost his growl and let him through the door whilst we was sleepin'. We tried to take our precautions because the pudgy guy keeps stealin' our cookies! But this year he left some boxes under the tree so in the end it seemed a fair trade. At least the chilluns thunk so.

Kiki galloped away on a pony. We just gotta make sure it stays penned outside or else we need to teach our littlest littlin' how to use a manure scoop.

Caleb got his electronic marvel complete with wires and wires and more wires. Playstation 2. He says we can take the thing huntin' and bag a bear or moose with it, but that just don't make sense!

Cassie got some new duds for corn pickin'. The shirt came labeled as a reminder of her summer chores.

And Katie, well she's a book smart gal, but with all her studyin' at the University, she asked for some pleasure readin' material so we bought her the title she requested..."Thesaurus" by Webster. It's appears to be a foreign yarn with big words.


Best thing that Santa done brung was grins. They were pasted on the faces of all our chilluns.