It is almost impossible to believe it, but today is the 15th anniversary of The Conservative Treehouse. I will never forget that day as long as I live! This is what happened – most of this post is taken from the one I wrote on our first anniversary, February 1, 2012.

Our “oldest” Treeper friends first met at another political blog site, hillbuzz, in 2009.  Some of us were new to the world of political blogs.  Many found the way there via an open letter to Rush Limbaugh, which Rush mentioned on his radio show.  For me, visiting with my “imaginary friends” became a welcome part of my day (and a large part, LOL), even better than reading the blog posts.  I’d usually jump right into the comments on the Open, especially as time went on.

Terrible Saturday in November, 2010.  Above-mentioned blog owner has a breakdown of some sort, insulting his visitors, most of whom had been supportive with praise and money.  Hurtful words were exchanged, resulting in visitors either leaving voluntarily or being “banned”.

Horrified at the real possibility that we would be separated from our friends forever, a few of us used what information we had to gather the troops together at lucianne.com’s The Connection.

After a couple of days of putting out a clarion call to any lost friends who might see it, one of our group set up a WordPress blog called Honeytrail. We were very lucky to gather as many of our friends together as we did, and greeting every new arrival was reason for a party. It was wonderful! None of the several administrators had much experience with blogging (except Sundance), so we made our own rules as we went along.

The shining stars were Sharon’s “Mailboxes and Old Barns” posts, which we all looked forward to eagerly each Sunday morning. Many of Sharon’s later MBOB posts are still available in the CTH archives.

Unfortunately, fallout from our previous blog association caused a rift in the ranks, and the founder of our little blog abruptly pulled the plug when it was just a couple of months old, completely deleting our site (with no notice to the rest of us) on February 1, 2011.

I’ll never forget that day. The blog was shut down and deleted in the afternoon without notice to any of the rest of the admins. The way in which this happened was unfair and shocking. When I attempted to visit the blog from work that afternoon, this is what I saw:

We admins were in total shock, communicating by email. As much of a shock as this was to us, can you imagine how our visitors reacted? What if you clicked on your link to Stella’s Place or CTH one morning and found out that they were gone forever?

Once again we gathered at The Connection, and it didn’t take long at all (maybe 3 or 4 hours, instead of several days, like it did the last time) to set up anew at WordPress.   I remember Finch and Sundance wondering aloud what they had done THIS time!

Finch said “Do you think it’s us? We keep getting kicked out of the treehouse. I’m starting to get a complex ;-)” 

and SD said back, “@Finchy, you get a complex? How do you tink I feel? Yikes, I’m like the fat kid in dodgeball.. Whammoo”

Then our dear Menagerie, who we didn’t know as well then as we do now, said:  “Sundance, I suggest The Last Refuge, or something, anything. We had too good a thing going to let it stop here. I am just feeling like I came home to find a tree on my house or something.”    SD replied, “Menagerie, I understand. TOTALLY. Hey I like that name “The Last Refuge” … Missfits R us…” 

That Menagerie was always a smart one!

We talked among ourselves for a little while at The Connection – SD, Finch, WeeWeed, Bijou, Garnette, Menagerie, with Ad Rem and Sharon standing by to see what would happen next (I was at a wake in the middle of a blizzard until late in the conversation).  Of course, some people knew where to look for us this time.  We all offered to help.

Menagerie said, “I can learn fast.  I’m willing to go set one up, but I’ll wait until we talk a little more, see what everyone would like to do.  We just gotta do something. I need a drink.  If typos get worse, you will please understand I am spending time with the Gentleman, Jack that is.”

• Sundance took charge, as he usually does (I like that about him), and said,

“OK, I’m gonna try to do sumptin quick.  Hang on.  Be back soon.  Fix Bayonetts and CHAAARGGGEEE!!!” 

• And before you know it (really, 20 minutes) he was back with news:

“OK here we go.  Go here and we’ll figure out the rest as we move forward: http://….. theconservativetreehouse….com”

There were two “official” posts that SD wrote right away.  The second one was actually the last one he wrote for our other blog forum.  It is called, “A New Beginning…..”, and it has become our mission statement.  You can read it here.

There are a couple of earlier, getting-it-together, posts, but the VERY FIRST REAL post is called, “Clearing The Literal Air”, and it is here.  What SD says there about US is the absolute truth, although I always thought that SD was our Pied Piper:

“The reason ya’ll are assembled here ain’t because of the likes of me.  It’s because ya’ll like each others company.  Each of you enjoys a little community of peeps, and you’ll share your flashlights on the path so each can find their way safely.  Look to your left, and your right, and you’ll find a great friend to lean on, laugh with, and cherish.   That is what brought you to this place.  Remember that.   Sometimes things seem weird, and uncomfy, and yes at times a good screamin’ is needed, it clears the air.   Like sittin’ on the porch listenin’ to the neighbors have at each other, it can be unsettling.  But, if you know em’ well, you know that is just life, and tomorrow they might just be listenin’ to your version.”

Looking at the comments the first couple of days was wonderful. All of our old friends gathering together again. Their comments still touch me deeply, because you can tell they felt the loss of community as much as I did. MRM and zmalfoy, Bijou and G8rmom, Ad rem (first in line for s’mores), Menagerie, WeeWeed, waltzingmtilda, Patriot Dreamer, GracieD and RedPill, AFinch and tnwahm, Ytz4Me and ZurichMike, Amsterdam Expat and librarycountess, Hxbuff and Sharon, Michael F and wendyann. I know I missed a few!

Here’s a good example:

And another:

“The conversational nature of this whole blog is wonderful. Really – coming here is like sitting down in a room with a bunch of friends. The chatter ranges from serious to silly, from educational and informative to just plain fun and entertaining. We laugh, we cry, we pray, we share. That’s THE recipe for friendship in my book – and I consider you all my friends.  I love you all!”

That’s how I feel about it too.  And I hope and pray that we can continue as friends, helping one another, laughing, playing, crying and praying together, for many more years, both at the Treehouse and here at Stella’s Place.

And, as Sundance said in the very beginning,

I wish for each of you a long chain of bold, strong, beautiful links, polished with the reflective brilliance of Love……..