I'm back....<BG> I've got a little story that explains a lot about cultural differences, even within families within the borders of MO. Y'all know that Greg and I are still newlyweds--we got married in May 1998. If you've been onlist long enough, you know that his folks were divorced when he was young, and he isn't real familiar with his Sheets side--although it's gettin' better (I'm a little insistent on these kinda things, no surprise). Greg's grandfather was born in 1906 in Laclede Co. MO, which surprised both of us last year at Earl's funeral. I'd never met him, but Greg's dad is so firmly entrenched in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and we knew that Earl had married Greg's grandmother in Andrews Co. MO (NW MO), that I'd never guessed the family had Ozarks' roots. However, many Ozarks' families--my own included--emigrated to the Kansas City area during the first half of the 1900s, due to the availability of jobs and an easier life. Shoot, I even moved up there in 1985, and didn't move back south until 1990--it's been a family tradition since my 2xg grandparents, Sherman and Annis Bull did it around 1919. You move up there, work, and sooner or later, most of the family moves back. I say most, because some of each generation has stayed behind in KC. So...if you lose your family for a while during the early 1900s, check out the KC area, both MO and KS. Especially if you don't find them in OK, TX, or CA eventually. "Ennyways..." Greg's stepmother is a Knudson, and her folks lived in the same house she and Greg's dad, Wayne, live in now in Independence. Wayne and Ilene did live in the house next door, still own it, but Greg's youngest bro lives there now. Ilene's mother passed away in December, and her father had passed on in 1993 (maybe 1996, I forget at the moment). The family chose to hold a memorial service in Independence last Saturday, and Greg--who knew the Knudsons from summers spent at his dad's--and I went up for it. Get this--we didn't even have to take any kids with us! (THAT was a big treat! It just sorta worked out that way...) Friday night, we got our room near I-70 and Noland Road, and visited some with Wayne and Ilene. Since Greg is nearly as involved with Roundup as I am--how many wives can say their husbands help them find men?--we, of course, told them about the play and Roundup. Ilene made the comment that a big put-down in their area is to call someone a "Bald Knobber" or a "slack-jawed yokel". So Greg then launched into what the Bald Knobbers were about, and she was impressed. I've been in a long skirt phase for nearly a year now--remember me telling about climbing the 6 ft cattle fence in one back in September? I'm still picking burrs off it--and finally found a long black "granny" skirt last week that I bought to wear Saturday afternooon for the service. We left the motel early Sat AM, ate breakfast at the Krispy Kreme (first time I'd been in one, pretty good donuts), and proceeded to hit the area thrift shops on Noland Road for costumes for the play we're doing for Outlaw Roundup (toldja I've been LIVING Roundup lately). Got lucky at one of the first places my 2nd MIL told us to go to, and found 2 "unblocked" gray felt Stetsons for $2.50 each. Unblocked means they are in hat form, but haven't been shaped into cowboy hats yet. These hats are huge, almost like straw garden hats, with a big floppy brim and deep crown (or whatever they're called), and they don't have a hatband. Could've used a few more, but I was thrilled to find them. Found some other great things we needed at a few other shops, then back to the motel to change for the service. Yes, I wore my long black granny skirt, black cowboy boots, black suede vest, and a leopard print tank. I've also been trying to manage my hair--which is getting long--with hot rollers, so it was very curly. So I looked like a dignified eccentric, probably/hopefully, since I dress to suit myself (and sometimes Greg), but hopefully still proper and ladylike (as much as I can be! <BG>). I got some compliments from Greg's sis and cousin, so I know it was alright. <even bigger grin> Mind you, these folks sometimes visit the Ozarks on vacation, but really have no idea on the culture or anything. Greg's father is little or no help on genealogy! After the memorial, 21 of us ate dinner at a restaurant on the square in Independence, then went something like 6 miles to a Maggie Moo's and Starbucks for ice cream in a big shopping center on the SW side of town. (I told Greg I liked the way the Sheets/Knudson clan does things!) Most of the family were sitting at tables on the sidewalks in front of the 2 shops, when I went out to the car for something. While there, I put one of the gray hats on, just for fun, and came trotting back like nothing was out of place. Would you believe not one person cracked a grin? Nor asked me anything? It's almost as if they were ignoring me to be polite. Probably what they were doing. I don't know where Greg was at that moment, but I felt totally unfunny. He laughed when he did see me, but not one of the 19 others said one word. Now, if Rick and Ingrid--my partners in time, co-writers on the play, and all-around running buddies--had seen me, they'd've been in stitches. I mean, hillbilly humor is understated, but I didn't think it was that understated. A big, floppy hillbilly hat on a city-dressed woman? C'mon, isn't that funny? Maybe not LOL, but at least a smile or "Where did you get that hat?" A little later, once some of them knew about the play and what Greg and I were doing that morning, it was better. Ilene's older bro, who is a Dr. in Columbia, even put the hat on--and looked pretty darn hillbilly in it. I got a lot of educatin' to do, it looks like. Some of them are coming down for Outlaw Roundup--that's a start. But it's jest amazin' to me that there is such a culture difference, and it's only 200 miles to KC from Taney Co. Of course, none of them know me real well, but still... Y'all have a good week! Vonda ListMom for MOTaney and MO-AR-WRV http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gregvonda/