Roger's Blog Archive

Tuesday, Apr 17

My Aunt Betty Walls Baxter went to her Heavenly reward last week. She was a gracious lady who was a key member of the gospel singing Baxter Family - made up of her, my uncle and their children - who sang all across the mid-western states in the 1960s and 1970s.

I was in the middle of doing a favor for one of my other uncles (transferring his old 33 RPM record albums of the Baxter Family to modern CDs so that he could listen to them once again) when Aunt Betty passed away. So then I created an online tribute to her including photographs and examples of their music that features her beautiful voice. You can share your remembrances of Betty through the Tribute page which you can visit by clicking on the graphic banner on my home page.

Roger

Monday, Feb 27

Updating the problem with the Toshiba Satellite laptop - in spite of all the effort to help it, it's performance gradually deteriorated to the point of only being able to work in Safe Mode while being plugged into the power outlet and the battery became too weak to hardly get it booted before kicking itself off again. So I essentially gave up on it and got a replacement.

That replacement proved to have a defective trackpad. Everything else worked just fine ... as long as we used a USB wireless mouse. So before the wonderful SamsClub 90 day return it for any reason warranty ran out, I returned it for a quick and easy, no questions asked (well, they did ask why, but put up no fuss about it) full refund of the purchase price and the extended warranty price that I had paid for it.

And then after researching the models now available, I bought another HP laptop at SamsClub. It is hard to beat their features for price point ... and their in house 90 day warranty just can't be beat!

Roger

Sunday, Jan 8

We are finally back home again after 30 days away spending Christmas and New Years and visiting family and friends in Arkansas and Illinois. It is always good to be in your own home.

Along the way we collected additional genealogical information and even met a distant "cousin" while taking photographs in a rural cemetery. I now have so much new information and new to me ancestral photos that it is going to take me quite a while to get everything posted online. So be watching the "Recent Updates" list on the Family Then and Now website to see what all I have found.

Roger

Saturday, Sep 3

Some have jokingly suggested that Janice and I refrain from traveling any more since every time we go away and return we have one or more somewhat serious medical issues by the time we get back home.

This summer we returned home and each of us had to make multiple trips to doctors for our newly developed ailments. Janice experienced a new eye problem and I have a bum shoulder that puts me in the category of one armed men when it comes to doing any work until this thing gets healed better. But, hopefully, the urgency has worn off now and we just need additional time to continue healing.

Even one armed computing is a pain. At least I have one chair where I can use the laptop without causing additional pain. And the laptop itself is mostly fixed now as well - at least so long as I only use it on battery power when in normal operating mode.

So things are slowly getting back to normal.

While away I gathered a lot of new data and images for the Family Then and Now website. And I have begun the process of adding all of that online. It will take some time to get caught up, but FTAN is starting to realy shape up with photographs and stories to go along with the basic family genealogy stuff.

Roger

Monday, May 16

This is a special link for Sonjia which links to an online video of a 10 year brain tumor survivor - http //rogerbaxter.com/gbm

The page which shows that inspirational video has links to other additional information by the person in the video.

Roger

Sunday, May 1

There has been lots of work on the Family Then and Now website, but most of it has been on tightening up security while setting up the ability to have assistant editors able to cover certain restricted family groups, etc.

Plus I have now started expanding on the family lines filling in places that had been skipped in the past, especially along the maternal family lines. The FTAN search index has been updated to cover the roughly 400+ individuals now included. And the Attebery / Atterberry / Atterbury line has now been extented back to 1480.

And a few new photo albums have been added as spring has arrived with all of the flowering trees, etc.

Roger

Monday, Feb 28

Seems like there has not been much time to make many updates recently. But there have been a few...

Several additions have been made to the Johnie E. Baxter Memorial website section. These include information regarding his eighth grade graduation ceremony plus his adult education classes along with some writing samples found among his keepsake papers. Also in the process of being added are photos and information about the over 20 houses he built during his lifetime.

A new photo album of the Not So Little Puppy Sisters has been added along with a video of these still lively girls.

I want to express my appreciation to all of the distant cousins who have contacted me regarding the information contained in the Family Then and Now website. I have not had time to make any updates there recently, but hope to be able to get back to that soon.

Janice's sister, Sonjia, will complete her six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy this week. She will be going back for evaluation by her surgeon in the next couple of weeks to see how things are progressing. And then comes the decision on what to do next. Continue to keep her in your prayers.

Thank you for visiting today.

Roger

Sunday, Jan 23

After being away from home for 30 straight days it is delightful to be home again!

Janice's sister, Sonjia, has started her radiation and chemotherapy treatments, and continues to do well enjoying as much time as possible with her beloved twin grand-daughters.

With all the other turmoil and time away from home base I have not been able to do much on the websites recently.

Roger

Saturday, Dec 25

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sonjia had a wonder-filled Christmas day with her twin grand-daughters at home today with on and off snow flurries.

We hope that all of your Christmases were as delightful.

Roger

Tuesday, Dec 21

Sonjia, Janice's sister, had a brain tumor removed yesterday. She is recovering as well as expected and is improving almost hour by hour right now. It is expected that she will be moved out of the Neurosurgical ICU and to a room later today. She and her family remain in need of your prayers.

Roger

Monday, Dec 13

As some of you may have already heard, Janice's sister, Sonjia Pearson, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Please be in prayer for her and her family as further medical advice and treatment is sought for this condition over the next few days.

Roger

Monday, Dec 6

It is Christmas time! It is my favorite time of year when I turn back into a wide eyed little boy gazing in wonder at all of the shiny ornaments on the Christmas tree.

This past weekend we got one of those North Carolina kind of snows where it turns beautiful for one afternoon with the snow falling and the ground, bushes, and trees, all turning a sparkling white ... and then the next day almost all of it melts off and we go about our business normally.

So I have added a series of new pages showing our main Christmas tree with its 1500 ornaments gathered throughout the years representing fond memories of people and places in times gone by. Just click on the picture of the tree to get started.

And I have switched the Today in Family History function a the bottom of my home page to directly tie into the Family Then and Now data base of information. Just click on the links of the names mentioned to learn more about that individual and how they fit into our family tree.

Have a very Merry Christmas season each and every one!

Roger

Monday, Nov 22

Family Then and Now has its own domain now. You can bookmark it at FamilyThenAndNow.org

Roger