# What on earth happened here?



## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

This place is all but dead! A boring Sunday afternoon, the garden is taken care of, the wife is off to town to check on the condo, so I look in to see what is happening with the singles, the desperados and the honestly looking. Holy mackerel---like walking thru a graveyard. Five years ago this joint was jumping with interesting people and their views, their lives and their amusements.

I think I will look into the gardening section and see what is going on there.


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## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

FarmboyBill made a lot of posts here and since he went on a break things have gotten quiet, I hope he is doing ok he has been gone for a bit longer than normal.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

RichNC said:


> FarmboyBill made a lot of posts here and since he went on a break things have gotten quiet, I hope he is doing ok he has been gone for a bit longer than normal.


Maybe we should start a thread trying to guess what he is up to.


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## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

You start it and I will join in.


MoonRiver said:


> Maybe we should start a thread trying to guess what he is up to.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Well, I am in California visiting family. FBB is doing I-Don't-Know-What in I-Am-Not-Sure-Where, but he says he will be back, eventually.

I am not too sure what other people are doing, including Oxankle! (Hint, hint!)


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Terri; In the time after I was a regular here we have sold the farm, moved to Arkansas, lived in a condo (way too confining for me), bought a couple of acres in a tiny lakeside wide spot and gotten a few years older. Still up to no good, gardening but no animals, not even a pet frog. I came here to see what had happened to all the people I used to talk with---most have gone away. Barb corresponds with the people she knows from her years overseas and her lifetime of teaching, and I mostly play with the news and gardening sites. The kids are all too busy with their own lives (their teenage and college kids) to pay us much attention.

Computers are a wonderful invention. Fifty years ago when I was a young married man I was careful with my phone calls to Mama because the long distance charges were a burden. Three days ago I looked up two of the fellows I served with during the Korean war, found their addresses online and called within an hour, with no extra charges. 

I hope the nice ladies who used to frequent this place are all living happily ever after. I've not seen Bill in three years or more, but I note that his interests have not changed. I almost flipped when the Kid said he was married, but then found he was joking.


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## Clem (Apr 12, 2016)

Nothing interesting happens around here. I'm single again, and will most likely stay that way. I fought the good fight, and life ran over me with it's giant truck full of gravel. Still, life goes on, I find ways to entertain myself, and continue to be a productive gardener.

I have thought about making a presentation of the little house my wife bought, and I fixed up for her to move into. It was horribly abused and neglected, but thanks to her good taste, and my hard work, it's a really nice little home now. Home, 1.5 acres, and close enough I can go up and make 5 bucks cutting the grass, or something.

All for a total of 20k, more or less. She bought a lot of stuff I wouldn't have, but it's her house, and she can have any kind of lights and kitchen counter she wants.

Other than that 10 week project, same old stuff as usual. Figuring ways to do everything alone, and use my head more than my back.

Considering the Established philosophy that HT, therefore Carbon Media, own whatever you post on their forum, bruhaha going on right now in the thread about the folks posting youtubes, and the 2 or 3 members that go into nearly every thread, telling people that they're doing it wrong, I'm reckoning that I probably won't make a presentation about the little house, or other stuff.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Oxankle,
Real life always slows down things in the cyber world if folks are smart and leave their phones and devices out of their real life.

Over the years since GF and I got back together and I have found my comfortable niche in retirement, I still try to put some time in the morning over coffee before doing my day's tasks and again for a bit before I turn in.

Yes the board has been dead but all it takes is folks taking turns to breath a little puff of life into as they can spare the time.


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## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

Clem said:


> *Nothing interesting happens around here.* I'm single again, and will most likely stay that way. I fought the good fight, and life ran over me with it's giant truck full of gravel. Still, life goes on, I find ways to entertain myself, and continue to be a productive gardener.


No, suh...you are wrong about "nothing interesting happens around here." I don't think you could be bored if you tried, even if you were in solitary confinement or something.

I know that if I were in solitary confinement, my mind would keep me entertained 24/7... *pretty much like the picture below.* After years of reading your posts, I suspect your mind is a lot like that too, lol.

(P.S. I am very, very sorry to hear about the danged gravel truck running over you like that.)


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Clem; sorry about then gravel truck---Been there, done that.
Shrek, I thought you'd been comfortable in retirement for years. I've spent more time on the net this week than in a long time---There is always work to do when you are keeping up two places. Tomorrow a fellow is supposed to come and trench 300 feet of water line for me--I've got the pipe and tools,, he's got the backhoe. I'll be an 86-year-old wreck tomorrow night, but the back garden will have water in 2018.


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

ST used to be a lot more entertaining, as more people posted. Whether or not they are/were single was totally irrelevant... but some of the discussions were truly worthwhile, food for thought.

I have found myself fairly recently single, and don't even know where to begin looking or if I should even bother to do so. I'm just doing what I do as best I can... 

It's a long story and I'm not really into bothering y'all with the details


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## MoBookworm1957 (Aug 24, 2015)

ShannonR said:


> ST used to be a lot more entertaining, as more people posted. Whether or not they are/were single was totally irrelevant... but some of the discussions were truly worthwhile, food for thought.
> 
> I have found myself fairly recently single, and don't even know where to begin looking or if I should even bother to do so. I'm just doing what I do as best I can...
> 
> It's a long story and I'm not really into bothering y'all with the details


Sorry about that.


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

MoBookworm1957 said:


> Sorry about that.


It will be OK!!


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

Sundays are hectic around here so not much time for internet till evening


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## rkintn (Dec 12, 2002)

Still just puttin' along. The kids still at home keep me busy when I'm not working. I celebrated my 49th birthday yesterday with 3/4 of my kids and a precious grandbaby The kids and I are going to NC very soon to see my oldest daughter and her family. I tried strawbale gardening this year and was pleasantly surprised by how easy and productive it was. I will do it again next year. I surely hope FBB is okay.


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## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

I partly blame the moderators for over moderating, but in fairness they were and are trapped. Mostly I blame the management thinking that if you have a forum and 99.999 percent of the viewers are adults, why would you moderate it for the .0001 Percent of children. Strange.......if there was a forum intended for 99.999 percent children.......you would not likely moderate it for the .0001 percent adult visitors. In the end the adults have mostly drifted to forums moderated for adults. And what remains is a forum moderated for children.........did it ever occur to anyone that children are not especially interested in "Singletree" or "Survival-Preparation-emergency Planning" discussions.

This forum gravitated to it's destiny based on the choices it chose. In much the same way that America is now reaping it's destiny because of the choices it chose.

It was always interesting to me, that back when I would post threads that required thinking in order to respond........the classic response was......"We don't come here to think, we come here to be entertained".

Maybe people got enough of the shallow entertainment, and discovered they thirsted for something more. All that remains of this forum is members in denial about what happened, and a few deluding themselves that it will someday be the way it was. While the end was predictable, it is still sad that the direction was not altered when the course was still flexible.


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

rkintn said:


> Still just puttin' along. The kids still at home keep me busy when I'm not working. I celebrated my 49th birthday yesterday with 3/4 of my kids and a precious grandbaby The kids and I are going to NC very soon to see my oldest daughter and her family. I tried strawbale gardening this year and was pleasantly surprised by how easy and productive it was. I will do it again next year. I surely hope FBB is okay.


Happy Birthday!!!


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oxankle said:


> Terri; In the time after I was a regular here we have sold the farm, moved to Arkansas, lived in a condo (way too confining for me), bought a couple of acres in a tiny lakeside wide spot and gotten a few years older. Still up to no good, gardening but no animals, not even a pet frog. I came here to see what had happened to all the people I used to talk with---most have gone away. Barb corresponds with the people she knows from her years overseas and her lifetime of teaching, and I mostly play with the news and gardening sites. The kids are all too busy with their own lives (their teenage and college kids) to pay us much attention.
> 
> Computers are a wonderful invention. Fifty years ago when I was a young married man I was careful with my phone calls to Mama because the long distance charges were a burden. Three days ago I looked up two of the fellows I served with during the Korean war, found their addresses online and called within an hour, with no extra charges.
> 
> I hope the nice ladies who used to frequent this place are all living happily ever after. I've not seen Bill in three years or more, but I note that his interests have not changed. I almost flipped when the Kid said he was married, but then found he was joking.


Ox....I've been single 15 years and counting....and had my heart broken a time or two during that time.As much as I'd welcome someone in my life,finding a compatible life partner can be difficult at my age.Most folks my age have children and grandchildren and often properties/homesteads of their own and are reluctant to leave what's become a comfortable life in order to venture into the unknown.I do understand it compltely though as I've recently paid off my third Homestead since moving to Arkansas from Alaska...just had the deed recorded last week as a matter of fact.And although I'm not nailed down, I do have a lot of time,money and sacrifice tied up in the place and am in the middle of setting up my new Blacksmith's Shop/Knife Shop..so it would take quite a woman to make me give it up now..However.. LADIES ... I AM SINGLE...


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Kid; my wife gave up her place to come to me. A couple of years later I came in one morning after feeding and watering cattle in snow and below freezing weather, when my tractors would not move hay in the snow. The lady said something to the effect that I was too old to be doing that---A few months later we'd sold the place and moved to her condo in Arkansas. I tried that for a while, but the condo might as well have been a cell---hence the two acres, a shop and gardens. We spend probably five days a week here. I know that there will come a time when I cannot manage the place, but they will have to drag me off it.

If you want a woman bad enough you have to make some concessions, and if they want you to be happy they do the same. To tell the truth, it has always seemed to me that they willingly gave up more than I did. 

It has been my great good fortune never to have been close to a selfish or spoiled, high maintenance woman. If I could have married all the pretty, kind, gentle, loving, good and hard working women I've met I would have run Solomon a good race.


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oxankle said:


> Kid; my wife gave up her place to come to me. A couple of years later I came in one morning after feeding and watering cattle in snow and below freezing weather, when my tractors would not move hay in the snow. The lady said something to the effect that I was too old to be doing that---A few months later we'd sold the place and moved to her condo in Arkansas. I tried that for a while, but the condo might as well have been a cell---hence the two acres, a shop and gardens. We spend probably five days a week here. I know that there will come a time when I cannot manage the place, but they will have to drag me off it.
> 
> If you want a woman bad enough you have to make some concessions, and if they want you to be happy they do the same. To tell the truth, it has always seemed to me that they willingly gave up more than I did.
> 
> It has been my great good fortune never to have been close to a selfish or spoiled, high maintenance woman. If I could have married all the pretty, kind, gentle, loving, good and hard working women I've met I would have run Solomon a good race.


I'd settle for just one good one. .....


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> I'd settle for just one good one. .....


You will find her. Have you tried dating sites?


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

One thing that has to be taken into consideration as to Singletree slowing down is that the era has changed again.

When I launched this message board the world was in "Y2k mode" and the concept of the 1970s modern homesteading aspect was once again embraced as it was during the deep recession years in the mid 70s by folks fearing job and home loss.

The difference in the Y2K era starting in the later part of 1998 as folks realized computer processors were partially hard fused in respect to chronological date, families and single folks alike wondered if 12:01 January 1,2000 was going to leave the world in the dark, planes falling out of the sky, warheads going into the sky, water sources disabled and society going urban zombie or back to the caveman days.

Thankfully as the year 2000 began some system clocks simply reset to the year 1900 and everyone had a chuckle because we all knew better. Now as car odometers wend from clocking 100,000 miles to the capability of clocking to 1,000,000, computer processors are no longer hard fused for chronological date despite the fact that they antiquate at a shorter support timeframe and have a shorter electrical half life span than components in the 20th century when some personal devices were built so well that they function now like old PCs, pong , Nintendo and Atari game systems can still be found.

Anyway, enough of the technical stuff. As the modern homesteading trend of the 1970s waned as the prime rate lowered and the economy improved, after the Y2k non-event, those who prepared turned their concerns from the conversion of their preps to weather related use and country living for the next decade or so, single folks included .

This board came about because so many folks felt modern homesteading was strictly for families to pursue like the Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie notoriety, yet they overlooked the many single folks who went off to the wilderness/ country life to either live in solitude or prepare a country paradise to one day share with a someone special to them and that was the fuel for Singletree.

During the last decade or so, society is more interested in the latest electronic gizmo and personal assistant by amazon or google and counting their steps on their wristwatch jacked to their iPhone instead of turning and planting a garden.

Younger folks now mostly don't want to get an acre or two in the country to work on and burn calories and would rather live inner city within walking distance of restaurants, coffee shops and gyms with machines to burn their calories instead of sweating in the sun tending their own land.

Is Singletree and many other social media sites slowing down or dead? Yes. Will they increase in popularity again? It depends greatly on how this era and the next influence the direction they choose to follow.

How do we bring life back to Singletree? Those of us left here simply make time to visit the board and invite others to visit also.

If the participants of the board don't want to help keep it lively then we keep doing as we are with some of us coming here between our real life chores and interests and some simply abandoning the board and only coming by once in awhile to comment about how dead it is.

Singletree board is here for you, the participants to use for education in homesteading alone, reassurance, a kind word in your time of need, debate of a angle unique to singles, conversation with married folks as to what to expect if you follow their path and yes entertainment within the host content limits.


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oregon1986 said:


> You will find her. Have you tried dating sites?


Every single one of them...


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> Every single one of them...


Maybe that's part of the problem!


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## Echoesechos (Jan 22, 2010)

ShannonR said:


> ST used to be a lot more entertaining, as more people posted. Whether or not they are/were single was totally irrelevant... but some of the discussions were truly worthwhile, food for thought.
> 
> I have found myself fairly recently single, and don't even know where to begin looking or if I should even bother to do so. I'm just doing what I do as best I can...
> 
> It's a long story and I'm not really into bothering y'all with the details


Very sorry to hear this.


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> Every single one of them...


Hmm are you being too picky?


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Hi Oxankle!!!! The Egyptian Walking Onions that you sent me years ago are still producing good!!! Like the Kid, I've been divorced now quite a long time - 12 years - but have been enjoying my singledom.  I retired from teaching 3 years ago, have several more grandchildren and seem to get busier every year! Took up my quilting hobby again since I retired. Due to physical problems can't get out and garden much but do have a nice garden in pots on my deck that I enjoy.  Kim


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## Sourdough (Dec 28, 2011)

ShannonR said:


> Maybe that's part of the problem!


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## tambo (Mar 28, 2003)

The deceit of the owners and miss treatment of Melissa is what happened to HT as a whole. You can twist and turn it any way you want to but that's what happened.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Tambo: I suspect some changes in management. Shrek's explanation may account for some of this, but the change is too drastic for such an explanation to cover it all.

Kim!!! Good to hear from you. LOL, it is easier for a woman to be single than for a man. A man who wants to marry again, especially and older man, had better advertise for a woman who WANTS a man. Women know that men require more work and aggravation
than a puppy.


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## ShannonR (Nov 28, 2012)

Oxankle said:


> Tambo: I suspect some changes in management. Shrek's explanation may account for some of this, but the change is too drastic for such an explanation to cover it all.
> 
> Kim!!! Good to hear from you. LOL, it is easier for a woman to be single than for a man. A man who wants to marry again, especially and older man, had better advertise for a woman who WANTS a man. Women know that men require more work and aggravation
> than a puppy.


Oxankle, have you noticed that our discussion of site censorship earlier in this thread has been.....well, censored? Like it never even happened!


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## Twp.Tom (Dec 29, 2010)

?******?


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

Oxankle said:


> T...... Women know that men require more work and aggravation
> than a puppy.


Wow....I got a puppy after my Dh died. Now I know WHY! LOL

Good to see you Ox!

Mon


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Oxankle,

When Chuck sold the host site and the host went through ownership changes, yes there were a number of issues that arose, however we have worked through them with the host ownership and continue to do so as other issues are brought to our attention.

Overall, we have done pretty well in holding HT together since Chuck sold his interest in the site five years ago.

Austin our current admin is very much in tune with us and relies on input from we mods and the HT community to maintain the HT core value in place.

As far as Singletree goes, HT is still a high quality subscription free host for this part of our board.


Visiting the topic of "how dead" Singletree is, if the 15 members who have posted on this thread simply each post just one thread of positive or entertaining topic, there would be a whole new page one here.

Of course some may try to push host content limits and if that happens then Terri and I would have to moderate posted content same as we always have.

As I mentioned earlier, the level of activity here is the responsibility of the participants, not the free host.

Ironically, this thread lamenting the lack of activity has had participation by about half of our usual core participant group. Imagine if each of us offered our own thread of interest. The Singletree so many claim to miss would quickly be found by them here ready for their participation as it always had.


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## Clem (Apr 12, 2016)

Conversely, as a character said, in one of the Hannibal Lecter series of movies and TV shows, "It's hard to find a satisfying relationship after you've already killed a few"


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## tambo (Mar 28, 2003)

The new owners may have worked through the problems but the trust they broke will never be repaired as far as I'm concerned. I don't mean to be a negative nelly just stating why I don't post any more. It is what it is.


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oregon1986 said:


> Hmm are you being too picky?


There is no such thing as being too picky when you are considering a lifelong union of two people IMHO..If you meet someone and you see right up front that you'd not be compatible you'd be a fool to take it any further. Anyone with the even the slightest possibility of being compatible is given an opportunity...it just hasn't been in the cards....YET...


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> Every single one of them...


Maybe "They" are...


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> There is no such thing as being too picky when you are considering a lifelong union of two people IMHO..If you meet someone and you see right up front that you'd not be compatible you'd be a fool to take it any further. Anyone with the even the slightest possibility of being compatible is given an opportunity...it just hasn't been in the cards....YET...


Well I hope you find her very soon


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

LOl, it is nice to see so many of the old-timers here coming out to speak their pieces!!! Glad to see you all--sort of like going home for a visit. But like going home again, there are so many missing.


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## DKWunlimited (Sep 11, 2006)

Hey Ox! Good to hear from you and glad it's going well. I do still pop in to read once in a while but rarely post due to 2 issues. #1 I have always come here to vent and get away from my usual social circles, too many of my posts and been shared again in email or social media and I don't seem to be able to stop that.
#2 A stalker from years ago is still here and my posts start his garbage all over again. I tried blocking him but apparently that only stops me from seeing his posts but doesn't stop him from seeing mine.

Thank care!


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## 54metalman (Jul 12, 2011)

I was thinking the very same thing when I came back on here. I know life has gotten in the way or moved on for most. I was thinking back to late 2011 when we had the Southern Princess with the Silent Knight thread going. It was fun and lots of folks to talk with about all kinds of things. Now not much going on.... I have been busy with life and getting over loaded with stress. I was hoping to get back into here and "check out" from the reality trash. Hope we can get things going again....Miss my Southern Princess


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oregon1986 said:


> Well I hope you find her very soon


So do I....Life is Short...


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> So do I....Life is Short...


Yes it is and everyone deserves to have someone special to spend it with


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oregon1986 said:


> Yes it is and everyone deserves to have someone special to spend it with


I may just have to buy a tv ad during the superbowl...lol


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

Kiamichi Kid said:


> I may just have to buy a tv ad during the superbowl...lol


Lol at least you'd get a football watcher


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Kid; I have sworn off high stress TV; I switched to Chromecast and watch only what I wish, free, at the cabin. In Town still on cable, but only on weekends and then mostly the news channels or Netflix.


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## Kiamichi Kid (Apr 9, 2009)

Oxankle said:


> Kid; I have sworn off high stress TV; I switched to Chromecast and watch only what I wish, free, at the cabin. In Town still on cable, but only on weekends and then mostly the news channels or Netflix.


Ox, I haven't watched TV for over 15 years...and don't miss it..


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