# 1 Year Ago we lost a great Friend...



## HomeOnTheRange (Feb 23, 2020)

It was one year ago we lost our great Friend @Latestarter.  He was so willing to share his stories with us all and made us feel like we were part of this family we call BYH.  If you never got the opportunity to know or read Latestarter's posts, I would encourage you to find his thread and read through it. (Latestarter)
Here is to you Latestarter!  Gone, but you will not be forgotten.


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## B&B Happy goats (Feb 23, 2020)




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## Baymule (Feb 23, 2020)

August 9, 2016.

@Devonviolet and her husband, me and my husband, and Joe. He came from Colorado to look at some places, one of which he bought. This picture was taken at Bodacious Barbecue in Sulphur Springs. Every time we go by there, I think about Joe and the day we met in person.






I miss him, he was a good guy and he sure kept everyone here laughing.


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## promiseacres (Feb 24, 2020)

Can't believe it's already been a year. 🇹🇭(


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## Mini Horses (Feb 24, 2020)

HomeOnTheRange said:


> Here is to you Latestarter! Gone, but you will not be forgotten



AMEN!   Such a true statement.

Sharing, caring, humorous and a person I never got to meet but, felt great sadness and loss when he was gone.    RIP Joe, I know you are still lurking at BYH.


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## farmerjan (Feb 24, 2020)

I never met him in person either, but we had talked about some beef at one point.  I used to get a kick out of some of his escapades.  Like the wearing flip flops to the stockyards...... we also lost touch with @Rammy due to Joe's passing. 
It is a part of the scheme of things, the cycle of life, but it is still something sad we all face in the future. 
Does anyone ever hear from his kids?  Did his place finally sell to someone who can have their own little paradise farm?


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## Jesusfreak101 (Feb 24, 2020)

I came across the add for his house or realitor.com and it did says pending. (Still looking at houses just incase) he was i think the first person to say hello to me when i first joined. He was a funny guy some of his post were the kind you have to reread just because it was that funny.


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## mendofarm (Feb 24, 2020)

Latestarter seemed to always be the first to welcome new members. Remember when he lost his pig out of the back of his truck within the first few miles of buying it! He is missed.


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## Baymule (Feb 24, 2020)

When pigs fly!


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## Devonviolet (Feb 28, 2020)

Ah yes! Just the other day, I was just saying to DH how much I miss Joe. He was such a good friend!

I smiled and cringed when I saw @Baymule’s picture from Bodacious BBQ. I smiled when I saw Joe’s flip flops. I think he only owned one pair of closed toe shoes, and he very rarely wore them. I cringed, when I saw myself in that photo. I didn’t like photos of my self, because of my weight.  I have lost a lot of weight now, and don’t mind photos so much. 

DH and I were fortunate enough to see Joe not too long before he went into the hospital. He stopped by to return our disbudding box and disbudding iron, which he had borrowed for his kids.

Joe was always Johnny on the spot, to welcome new members. I can’t remember what the title was, but it was something like Good Neighbor, or Friendliest member, or something to that effect. However, I had the privilege of being the first one to welcome HIM to BYH. I saw that he had joined, and noticed that he was BYH’s 10,000th member. So, of course I just HAD to welcome him and congratulate him on being the 10,000th member!!!   

Joe was always the first to offer to help, when a project needed doing, and came to our farm to help with one project or another. 

Here he is with DH after he helped us build gates to put on the shelters in our chicken runs. This was before we built two. 8x16’ runs (with a door between them) attached to the back of the red chicken coop behind Joe and DH.

Oh and that is our much missed turkey, Edith, in front of Joe. She came with the farm and lived three years, before passing away, of natural causes. She is also missed a lot!




Like I said, Joe was always quick to offer to help, but wasn‘t comfortable asking for or accepting help from others. That’s why I was pleased that when he ended up in the hospital, he called me and asked DH and I to go feed his animals. I know it took a lot for him to ask, but we were more than willing and happy to do so.   Little did we know how involved that was going to get, and after Joe died, we were more than happy to help his kids find a home for Mel and take his goats to auction for them.  I really liked April and had offered to buy her. But, to show their appreciation, they told me I could have her. Wasn’t that nice of them? 

Here is Joe with his gentle giant, Mel, on his back deck when we visited him shortly after he moved to Texas.











farmerjan said:


> Does anyone ever hear from his kids? Did his place finally sell to someone who can have their own little paradise farm?


The last time I heard from Joe’s son, he had told me he was coming back to Texas, to clean up the house, to get it ready to sell. He had asked me to pick him up, at the airport, in Dallas, and take him to the house. He was planning to drive Joe’s pickup back home.  I never heard from him after that, so I don’t know if he ever came back to Texas.

I checked back on Zillow several times, to see if the house was for sale or if it sold, and until recently, there was no activity on the house.  Then a couple months ago, when I checked Zillow, I saw that the house was listed for sale and someone had done a great job of fixing up the inside of the house. There was a total interior paint job, new floors, new countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. The house literally sparkled!! The bushes in the front of the house were trimmed, and it looked darned spiffy.


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## Baymule (Feb 28, 2020)

No reason to cringe when you saw yourself in that picture @Devonviolet. I know you don't like pictures of yourself, but I couldn't cut you out of it now could I? You are a beautiful lady, both inside and out. You and your husband were a blessing to Joe, offering friendship and helping one another. You look at your picture with critical eyes, I only see the lovely person that you are.


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Feb 28, 2020)

Sounds like I would have enjoyed him as well !  I’ll have to go find some of his threads.


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## Devonviolet (Feb 28, 2020)

Baymule said:


> No reason to cringe when you saw yourself in that picture @Devonviolet. I know you don't like pictures of yourself, but I couldn't cut you out of it now could I? You are a beautiful lady, both inside and out. You and your husband were a blessing to Joe, offering friendship and helping one another. You look at your picture with critical eyes, I only see the lovely person that you are.


Awww!!! Thank you!!!  

You and your hubby are another set of awesome friends DH and I have met since moving here to Texas in January of 2015!  And we wouldn’t have met y’all without BYH!!!


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## Devonviolet (Feb 28, 2020)

Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> Sounds like I would have enjoyed him as well !  I’ll have to go find some of his threads.


 You really should! Although, his journal is REALLY long!!! It will take you several days to get through it. You will laugh and you will cry. But in the end, you will say that was a really nice guy who really cared about others!!!


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## farmerjan (Feb 28, 2020)

@Devonviolet , I am the same way about pictures because of the "extra weight" that I carry.  Mostly gained in the last couple of years from restricted activity from the ankle and knee pain in the walking that I used to do.  So don't put yourself down for that.  You look like a nice and very sweet person.  I am hoping that between the surgery, and enforced restrictions which have really cut down my appetite, I will have lost a little weight.  My last trip in the hospital for the accident in 1998 I dropped 15 lbs in 17 days.  Alot of trauma from that accident and surgeries.  This was not as bad but I know that my consumption levels have dropped.  Plus it takes alot of energy to just get up and around.  I want to try to get back to eating a little better too.  Plus, surprising, the "bed exercises" have helped me to strengthen my core muscles a bit and that is always good so maybe tighten up some of the "fat"..... I am going to take advantage of the "silver sneakers" part of the medicare and go to the free gym classes once this ankle is healed and at least try to learn some of what I can do at home to get back in a little better shape.  I am trying to do most of what they had me doing in the PT so that I continue to strengthen my muscles anyway. 

Liked seeing the pictures of Joe and Mel, and all of you "fellow Texans".


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## Duckfarmerpa1 (Feb 28, 2020)

Hi guys...so, I was trying to look up late starter in the search area...but it just brought up a few threads that he made some posts.  Do you remember the name of his journal?  You all have me really wanting to know this man


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## Jesusfreak101 (Feb 28, 2020)

I believe she posted it in a link in the first post.


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## Baymule (Feb 28, 2020)

Whenever he came to see us, I always cooked a good lunch. The man liked to eat and was a good cook, but he sure liked good food he didn’t have to fix! LOL


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## frustratedearthmother (Feb 28, 2020)

Duckfarmerpa1 said:


> Do you remember the name of his journal? You all have me really wanting to know this man


Try this:




__





						Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.
					

Bay and Devon have been to his place, ask them (but don't tell Joe I told you to do that). And actually, if you want to dredge into this journal I think maybe the real estate listing was shown. Now YOU gotta find it before he does and deletes the post ;)



					www.backyardherds.com


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