Reposting

I've been on a bit of a hiatus the last few weeks but I've been regurgitating some old posts that are favorites of mine. Like the time our Founding Fathers had a conversation in a Philly Pub and the loss of a faithful friend in 2008.

Rest assured.....I'll be posting and re-posting more nonsense soon.

Posts with the Most in 5 Years

Hoosier Happenings turns 5 years old this month.  Since we have a local fireworks ban, I have cancelled the major celebration and have settled for this commemorative post instead.

A few months ago I stumbled upon the new format by which blogger records stats.  These have never mattered to me before, but I did find a few things intriguing, and maybe a bit disturbing.

I'm running close to 32,000 views.  I doubt that that is all that much (3 thats in a sentence...that's a lot).  Obviously most of my readers are from the US, but folks in Canada, Australia, India, and a few European countries also seem to be regular followers.  This is the 754th post....which means I'm probably running out of things to say, hence this post.

I have seven posts that have resulted in about 300 page views or more.  And this is where it gets a bit disturbing (you'll see why by the titles).  Here is a countdown in increasing readership order:

Burning of Democracy which is a post about "streamlining" government by doing away with unnecessary democracy

Obamish Acres Presidential Retreat which is a comical look at the possibility of President Obama creating a presidential retreat on an Amish farm after spending so much time in Elkhart County

UFO - Unidentified Flying Owl which is one of my recent rants about trying to get so-called "experts" to believe we have Barn Owls

It'll Tickle Yore Innards which is the history of Mountain Dew....which probably isn't at all what the reader was hoping to find

God Bless It! covers the topic of asking God to bless America

On vs. In deals with wearing your Christianity vs. living it...but this is where it starts to get a little weird-it had over 1,000 hits.  I'm sure some people were disappointed when they got here and read the content.  Great way to be a witness I guess.

And the number one read post....with almost 3,000 hits and growing DAILY:

The Creeper which is a very short post I wrote back in 2008 about a tiny little bird called the brown creeper.  Again, I assume people were disappointed with what they found when they got there.....but I can't imagine what they were hoping to find!

So I'm figuring that the majority of my readers are either wackos or perverts....which is why Hoosier Reborn of River City in good 'ol Republicania County likes to remain anonymous.

Thank you to all of my friends/readers who DON'T fit into the two general categories above.  Despite a bit of a loss for words recently, there is still much to write about here in Hoosierland.

Patriot Nathaniel Cole

It seems like the family history bug has bitten our family.  My son spends a crazy amount of time on Ancestry.com, my wife is reading through her grandmother's war-time diaries, and I've had my head wrapped around our family reunion.  A few weeks ago we loaded up the family and did a "Hoosier roots tour" for my dad's side of the family.

Given that we are celebrating our country's birthday today I thought I would write about one of my Revolutionary War soldier-ancestors, Nathaniel Cole.  Cole was born in 1747 in Barnstable County, Massachusetts and was descended from Mayflower stock.  Their family moved to Connecticut where Cole enlisted in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War from 1775-1783.  After the war Cole received for service to his country a section of land in New York State.  He selected a hill at the crossroads of two market routes and constructed a home in 1795.  Cole led a small entourage of other settlers from Connecticut and they named their new settlement "Cole's Hill" which is now known as Colesville today.

Cole Tavern

 In 1800 Nathaniel Cole enlarged his house and constructed the first tavern in the area.  The tavern was used for military housing and the grounds were used for training.  During these post-Revolutionary War times military preparedness was the law of the land.  The tavern served as the area's post office beginning in 1806.  The tavern stood at the top of Cole's Hill and was two stories tall and painted red.  Large fireplaces were at either end of the building and a grand staircase led to a ballroom on the second floor.  A schoolhouse and church were built opposite the tavern at the crossroads.

Nathaniel Cole's Grave

 Nathaniel Cole died in 1832 and was buried in the community cemetery.  Much of the estate once owned by Nathaniel Cole is now part of a Broome County park that bears the patriot's name.  The tavern was razed sometime after 1870 but the schoolhouse and church are still standing and are interpretive museums.  Cole was my great x6 grandfather on my paternal grandmother's side.