New Year's Resolution: Start Blog January 1, 2012

Why start blogging now?  I was born way before the internet was surfed.  We wanted to raise our kids in a rural setting, so we bought our home and small parcel of land just outside of town.  Living in the country was great, but there were tradeoffs.  For example, our telephone service was not optimal.  We had to share a 'party line' with four neighbors.  That was okay on good weather days.  If it rained very much, the phone lines wouldn't work at all.   To tell the truth, we were the last family I knew that got a VCR.  It was a third-hand, hand-me-down freebie.  Heck, I had a facebook for years before I even knew how to use it.  In 2001 my MOM had to teach me how to open zip files and navigate through Windows OS.

Today, we still don't have DSL or cable internet out here.  Just some high speed satellite connection that is almost as functional as our old four party telephone line.  Most days it chugs along agreeably if the sun is shining and nobody else is trying to use it at the same time as you are.

I am starting to blog because there are a lot of things I'd like to share.  The decision to start today was obvious.  The passing of the old year and celebration of the New Year brings to mind a spirit of renewal.  It is definitely the right time to start.  There is lots of good advice out there.  Some blog advice that helped me navigate came from Musings of a Housewife  How to start a blog, Blogelina's How to start a great blog in 5 days , and Penelope Trunk Blog's The easiest instructions for how to start a blog . In the end, it is like jumping off the high board at the deep end of the pool for the first time.  You can't stand up there staring down for too long.  I had to jump in.

In closing, I wanted to share with you the story behind the blog name.  The juniper trees you see in these photos came from my maternal Grandmother's place in Temple, OK. I think her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Cox, gave her the seedlings from their own yard  Those seedlings grew into sturdy adult junipers.  From those junipers, more seedlings came.

 When we bought this home in December of 1985, there were no big trees here.  It was built on land that had been  cleared for grazing cattle and farming.  Nan shared some juniper seedlings with us and we planted them all in a row on the east side of our property.    Today they spread their fragrant evergreen branches out in many directions.  These juniper trees can symbolize many things - renewal, endurance, growth, and shelter.  When I look at them, I think of  Nanny's love and the wonderful memories I have of her.  In my minds eye those memories are still fresh and sweet, just like the juniper.