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More Celebration Pics

Dad had several groups that he considered family; one was his Bits and Pieces family – of course! He dedicated hours upon hours to ‘scour the web’ so you didn’t have to. He joked about how it was his job – but he truly loved doing it.

One Bits and Pieces reader said Dad ‘was larger than life’ and I’ve been thinking about that for a while now. I think it’s not that HE was larger than life.. it’s that he was so excited and interested by life.. by people and the things they do.. excited by the things he saw – that he felt compelled to share what he found. He wanted you, the readers, to be excited by the things he found too.

And you did. Some of you followed him for years and years, checking in each and every day to see what else he had found to entertain both himself and you.

He hosted the Big Ass BBQ where several of you came to gather here in St. Louis over 10 years ago. He met several of you along the way on various trips, even if it was just for a quick lunch during the drive to another destination. He absolutely LOVED that. Thank YOU for that… for giving my dad the gift of your friendship.

  • BABBQ 2010
  • DJ and Pat
  • The Winfrey’s and Pat

The farthest traveling people who came to the celebration were from Ohio and Georgia – and of course they were B’NP’ers. <3

End of an Era

We are very saddened to report that our dad, Jonco, has passed away tonight. Mom came home yesterday from work and found him unresponsive and with a head injury. He had a major brain bleed from a bad fall. He was ambulanced to a local hospital where they had to put him on life support. Mom and us kids were able to be with him. He ended up in hospice for an hour or two and died peacefully this evening with us all around him.

Thanks for being a friend to dad in whatever capacity you were. If you are reading this we know you are a friend and hope that you take comfort in knowing that he appreciated all of your support over the many, many years of running these blogs. We know for a fact that he considered you all part of his extended family.

As you may know, he did some pre-posting, by setting up posts in advance – so you are sure to see some future posts, that he had planned – we decided to leave them as he had planned them.

We would love it if you comment with a favorite memory of him, whether it’s a personal memory.. or of how these blogs have positively affected you.

Love to all – take a moment and hug each other, and crack open a beer and make a toast to our dad – Jonco.

Dave and Kris

and Pat

B&P Turns 19

It was 19 years ago today (March 31, 2002) that Bits and Pieces was born with a single post. Miss Cellania left the first comment. B&P was started over on Blogger and after a little while, I moved it to a self-hosted WordPress site where it still resides to this day. 

A couple of years after that people were urging me to monetize the site with ads.  It was getting more and more expensive to keep the site going.  Domain costs, hosting costs, security costs, blogging-utilities costs keep rising so the need is there for revenue.  We changed hosts last year and the new host is several times more expensive than the previous host but I have no doubt that it was the right move and is worth the cost.  While the ads help we depend on the generosity of the readers and their donations to stay afloat. 

B&P has been a big part of my life for these 19 years. It’s been a labor of love. While B&P isn’t as popular as it once was it still gets over 2.27 million page views a year. We’ve had some ups and downs over these years, the worst of which was a hack in 2010 that caused the loss of two or three years worth of posts.

Thank you! I’ve met a lot of really nice people both online and in person who I consider good friends if not like family members. Thank you for stopping by, whether you do it daily, weekly, or just every now and then.  A special thanks to those who comment for I think you’re the lifeblood of B&P. I don’t think the site would still be here without your input.  Thanks to my fellow bloggers whom I “borrow” from and to those readers who send me things to post.  I don’t know how long we’ll continue here, but I’ve got to see if we can make it to 20 years.

I still love doing this and having people from across the globe be part of our little world-wide neighborhood.  Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States.  It is a time to reflect on things we are thankful for: health, family, and friends are at the top of the list.  I am also thankful for those who serve in our armed forces and all the first responders, some of which can’t be home with their families today. I’m especially thankful for those in the medical field who have been working tirelessly on the frontlines of the current pandemic since March. 

Thanksgiving is also a time when I’d like to thank YOU, the readers, for coming here day after day, week after week, and year after year in some cases. I’ve been doing this going on nineteen years (next March) and I’ve enjoyed almost every minute of it.  

I know there are many who come here and never leave a comment, nor do they read any of the comments.  I think they’re missing out on a lot by not doing so.  But I thank them for coming by on a regular basis.  I especially thank the regulars who contribute to B&P by sending me things or just by commenting.  Without you, I wouldn’t still be here.  

I still find it fun to scour the web for things to post.  Thanks to my fellow bloggers who are the source of most of the rest of the things I post here. 

I still like the analogy of Bits and Pieces being a little world-wide neighborhood. We’ve shared blessings and heartbreaks, highs and lows, good and bad.  We’ve discussed, argued, listened, and learned other points of view on many topics.  We’ve agreed, disagreed, and agreed to disagree on many subjects.  But we still respected one another for the most part. There may be a couple of people who have a hard time grasping that concept.

Most importantly, thanks to those who have donated to B&P.  Your donations keep Bits & Pieces afloat and show me that you appreciate our little world-wide neighborhood. 

The idea behind Thanksgiving is to give thanks. Giving thanks doesn’t just mean the utterance of words, but means true feelings of grattitude and thanks from the heart.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

B&P Turns 17

Today, March 31, marks the 17th anniversary of the start of Bits & Pieces.  It was on this date in 2002 that I started B&P over on Blogger.  After a short while, we moved to a self-hosted WordPress blog.

It has been a major part of my life these last 17 years.  And I’m sure I wouldn’t still be doing it if it weren’t for the wonderful people that have come together as contributors, readers and especially commenters to make Bits & Pieces what I like to call our little worldwide neighborhood.  

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