• Farming As I Have Known It: 60 Years in Central Appalachia, by S. Thomas Bond, copyright 2007; first edition.

  This book, on farming and farm life, was written by my father over 10 years in his spare time, and is an absolutely fascinating look at farming from the era of my great-grandparents and grandparents through to the present day.

  Although I grew up on a working farm and spent most of my time before I graduated from college working on it, I was never as deeply involved with farming as my father, something I now regret deeply. This book gives a very good idea of the determination, hard work and deep thought required to build and keep a family farm in West Virginia.

  Dad had copies of this printed and some of them were Christmas presents for us for 2008.

  The book is available on the web.

The kids I game with get mentioned a lot. Right now they're my daughter and niece and nephews. I'm really lucky to have such a great bunch of kids around to play games. (Some of the parents game occasionally, and I'm glad to include them in the games, any time.)

L.B.

is my daughter.

My brother C.P.B. and his wife C.B. live about an hour away, so their kids get to play semi-regularly.

B.B.

is the oldest of the bunch, which means I've been experimenting on him the longest. ( I hope it hasn't hurt too much. ) His first game was a FUDGE Bunnies and Burrows game; I think he was 5 years old then.

He's married and off to college now, so we don't get to game together as much any more, alas.

D.B.

is the middle brother.

M.B.

is the youngest child, and started playing well below reading age, so usually plays as part of a team with his dad or an older brother.

My sister C.I.A. and her husband J.W.A.II and their kids live on the family farm, next door to me, so I get to run games for the A. kids, along with my daughter, the most.

T.A.

is the oldest boy.

E.A.

is his younger sister.

M.A.

is their younger brother and is the youngest of my regular gamers. He can read now, and lots of fun playing.

C.A.

is the new baby boy, and he recently started playing in our games. He's very young yet, but seems to be having fun.

My brother N.A.B. and his wife K.B–B. live far out of state, and so their kids only get to play on summer and winter vacations when they come and visit the family farm, but I enjoy running games for them when they are available.

T.B.

is N.A.B.'s oldest son.

O.B.

is his younger brother, and started with Buggin', but now plays Savage Worlds

I'm going to try online gaming with a map tool and either a chat inteface or a voice interface when the kids are a little bit older, so the ones that are farther away can get to play more often.

I've run a lot of games for the kids; Fudge Bunnies and Burrows, BESM Dungeon, Toon, Buggin', D&D, Savage Worlds, and perhaps others.