Hillbilly's Corner


Well, my husband, The Hillbilly, is slowly taking over my blog, so I thought I'd just give him his own page. I'll just keep adding links to his posts, "The Hillbilly's Corner," until he shoves me out and takes over completely. Click on each title to read more!


Here he is:

The Hillbilly Speaks

As of course you know, I am married to my favorite hillbilly, whom I call The Hillbilly. Because I'm creative like that. For some time now, The Hillbilly has been threatening promising to write a blog post for me so that you can get to know him better. Well, he's done it, and here it is. Enjoy!

As my wife’s biggest fan, I thought it might be time to introduce you to her hillbilly.  I call myself the Missouri, Ozarkian, Redneck, Hillbilly.  Born in Missouri, in the Ozark Mountains.  Apparently a redneck, because according to my children, (when they were young and thought they knew everything), the whole town was redneck.  And yeah, I am a hillbilly!  ...

 

Family Pets Hillbilly Style  

On my last post, I mentioned the animals I was surrounded with and realized that I had forgotten one.  We had a pet skunk! Think about it. I don’t know of any other family, (hillbilly or otherwise), that had a skunk.  But now, you know of a family that had one.  Congratulations! ...


Hillbilly Charm and Rugged Manliness

Today I am going to give you a change and move forward to a somewhat more recent time. I know that Cynthia has told you some about how we met, but I want to go to what I would have to call our first true date.  We had spent a few evenings together attending a large church meeting and taking her niece out to various activities.   We had enjoyed ourselves and had laughed a lot but had really not had time to be alone and have any serious conversations.  So I took off early and we went to The Lake of the Ozarks for lunch.... 


Feuding with the Hillbilly




 Well, sometimes those with inquiring minds ask, did you ever know people that were involved in them thar feuds?  Of course, I immediately know that their inquiring minds were like mine and not that inquiring when it came to the English language. 






Hillbilly Science

 This time I am going to get into more of the technical terms or the science of being a hillbilly.  You see, genetically speaking, I am almost the perfect hillbilly!  And as I give you more information, you will see why.... 
 

The Hillbilly Knows No Fear!

Growing up as a hillbilly boy, there were a few things that I came to understand.  They were basically, that you will not be a wimp, sissy, scaredy-cat, or any other such weenie-sounding descriptive term.  I learned to overcome my fears, be a man, be tough, work through the pain, etc.  Rah!  I learned to respect the danger but not necessarily be fearful.... 

Of Hillbillies and Cherry Trees

You see, I have these two cherry trees in my back yard that I take care of. I trim them to make them pretty.  I fertilize, water, and care for them, but are they as considerate of me?  Not even close!  Do they have their cherries ripen when I have some time off to pick them? No!  So, instead of having a couple of days where I have 10 to 12 hours each day to harvest, I have only 3 hours or so per day.  And, it became apparent to both Cynthia and me, that I was in trouble.... 

The Final Chapter of the Cherry Chronicles

 The Princess asked, "Can you fill up my purse with cherries?"  I answered her by saying “Sure. Bring me the purse”. That was a mistake! I looked the tree over and decided to use the 6’ ladder unopened and wedged against the tree....  


Hillbilly Vacations

 As you may have realized from many of my posts, being raised in the country left me with major periods of time that were unsupervised.  Due to that and my upbringing, I became a little tougher, less fearful, and I experienced some strange things.  Boys will be boys! ... I had to be tough to survive vacation with my parents.


The Hillbilly and the Island of Doom

My parents would just come into my bedroom and wake me up at 2:00 AM and say, "Get ready; we're leaving!"  My sisters and I would ask, "Where are we going?"  They would not respond.  They would just load us up and take off!


Adventures in Yellowstone with the Hillbilly

When I turned twelve, we purchased a tent and a Coleman stove and began traveling.  Years later, we moved up to a small travel trailer.  Vacations became several days longer and covered many miles...


The Hillbilly and the Other Bear

 My dad was impulsive and many times acted without thinking.  He did everything quickly, and I am sure that as a child he was hyperactive.


The Hillbilly Gets Serious

Last year Cynthia and I took a road trip back to Missouri.  This trip was more for visiting than for sightseeing.  We did plan however, to do a little bit of sightseeing on the way.  I wanted to take a longer, more scenic route to once again see and to show Cynthia, Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.  But, mostly we were just trying to get to Missouri as soon as possible.


Hillbilly School Daze



Growing up in the country, I went to a country school--you know, the one-room kind for grades 1-8.  Since they didn’t have kindergarten, my first experience of school was the first grade.  This was a really traumatic change for a half-hyper, hillbilly boy who had spent six years running free across the land! 




Hillbilly Hygiene

I thought I would talk about some of the downside of having all these different grades with different ages of children all thrown together.  The downer was mostly young,heathen hillbilly children that obviously were raised in a barn! 
Since we just returned from a high mileage vacation, and my wife was driven to cartooning, (see her last post), and I was maligned, I decided to throw in my two cents worth of vacation thoughts.



The Hillbilly Boy Takes Up Boxing

 I thought I would talk about my first school fight.  I mentioned in a prior blog that, though we had knife carrying boys, we had almost no violence.  In fact, in all my 8 years of grade school, I can only think of two or three fights and a couple of "almost" fights.  Come to think of it, I was in most of these...


A Second-Grade Hillbilly History Hater

History was supposed to be a class for 4th graders.  Since two of us 2nd graders were well ahead of the other children, the teacher decided that we two needed to also take history...

Country School Surprises

First, modern children are coddled, protected, and treated in such a way to supposedly make them feel more confident in their abilities --- whether they have them or not!  For instance, in my school days, at recess, two of the best athletes would choose up teams to play a sport.  If you were young or not very good, you would be the last one chosen.  It was not surprising to you if you were chosen last.  




Hillbilly Feeding Habits


At the school I went to, we actually had a kitchen/lunchroom and hot lunches.  This was rare for small country schools.  Also unusual were the rules to do with the lunches that were put into effect by the unerring wisdom of our P.T.A.  The rule that led to various funny happenings was that all students were required to eat everything on their plate.  EVERYTHING!  It didn't  matter if you hated it or were not hungry! 


The Hillbilly Attends My High School Reunion

When you reach my age, you have been to a few high school reunions.  Okay then --- quite a few!  In my experience, the first one (mine was the 10th year) has a let us impress everyone with our greatness --- look at what I have accomplished attitude to it. 


A Hillbilly Halloween

Since Halloween or All Hallow’s Eve is arriving, I decided to talk about some superstitions and other similar things this hillbilly has run into, heard, and questioned.

The Hillbilly Explains Laps

Oh!  You thought I was going to talk about swimming or running laps!  How could you think that?  I mean that is just work that is called exercise!  So no, today we are going to talk about the laps that we all have when we sit!

 The Hillbilly Hangs with the Beasts

In my business of driving and picking up various types of samples from veterinary clinics, I have seen all types of animals, people, and events.   Some are sad, as some people lose their pets, and others are quite funny and adorable.  I have chosen to write about the funny or adorable ones.

A Hillbilly Tour of Epicurean Delights

Being a hillbilly and a fine food connoisseur (somewhat), I decided to give information that all you non-connoisseurs might appreciate, such as some of what I consider my favorite foods, restaurants, etc.  Now, I realize some may disagree with my choices, but remember, the reason you won’t agree is your non-connoisseurism!

The Hillbilly's Thoughts on Bullying

 There is a subject that I have considered discussing that kind of comes and goes depending upon our news cycles.  That subject is bullying.

A Hillbilly Friend Is a Friend Forever

 Looking back over my life, I began thinking about the many good friends I have and some that are no longer with us.  In doing so, I caught myself smiling, because I connect them with particular events.  Some of these events have to do with us being helpful to one another, the others have to do with humorous events.

What's Bugging the Hillbilly?

 In my post today, I want to talk about critters (animals, insects, and such) we have around our houses.  Having grown up on a 40 acre farm in an old farm house that was surrounded by a barn, old chicken house, feed storage shed, and other miscellaneous outbuildings, we had our share of critters. 

Hillbilly Lawn Ornaments

It is springtime and people are beginning to do yard work, planting, and decorating their yards.  Being a hillbilly that grew up on a small farm, yard work for me was mostly mowing.  

The Hillbilly Reflects on Boston

As to the reason I am writing this, it is because I can.  I am still alive to tell you about some of these things!  I am old enough to tell you about experiences over a large period of years, more years than seem possible because it seems like such a short time.  I can tell you about my experiences, my children, my grandchildren and so on.

The Hillbilly's Take on Communication and Depression

 I guess that if I was going to give this blog post a title, though it is really not the main theme, it would be the question – what could have been?  

Don't be Crazy...or Ignorant!

 I catch myself watching the news and becoming verbal about what is being said.  I say things such as:
"This guy is an idiot!  These guys have no idea what they are talking about!"  And I say other such intelligent thoughts that come to mind. Yes, hillbillies occasionally have intelligent thoughts.  And yes, in finding that out, you have also become more intelligent!

The Hillbilly's Sweet Tooth

 I decided to talk about sweets.  Yes, sweets!  You know!  Those things we cannot leave alone such as cookies, candies, cakes, pies, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, and ice cream!  Yum!  Yeah! 

The Hillbilly...Teaches English?

 I will begin this post by explaining that not one of Cynthia’s readers have ever asked me to explain the difference between use of words in the English language.  I misspoke; Alyssa did ask the difference in hillbilly and redneck --- that is kind of English --- I guess.

The Hillbilly Faces Danger

I have been thinking about writing a little more about hillbillies.  As you can imagine, there are different levels of hillbillyism!  For instance, a friend of mine’s mother and sister both smoked pipes and also chewed tobacco.  

What They Say Ain't What They Mean

The other day, I was thinking about things we all are told by the opposite sex and their families over the period of our lives.  No, I am not talking about the simple, one or two word type of statements or curse words.  But statements that sound like they mean one thing but most likely mean something completely different.

Hillbilly Sayings

 You know, we all have our favorite sayings and expressions. The ones My Hillbilly uses are slightly more . . . descriptive than the ones I'm used to.

The Hillbilly Talks about the Wedding

As per Cynthia’s recent posts, you obviously know that we just got back from my daughter’s wedding.  That being the case, I thought I would bring up a few of my thoughts about my experiences about the trip, wedding, family, and new friends.