Summaries of Gone Barefoot, seasons 3 and 4

Revised 9/5/2015

Here's what seasons 3 and 4 of Gone Barefoot would look like.  Refer to this post for seasons 1 and 2.

Season 3
Jan. 6, 2013: "There She Is!"
Brandy enters the Miss Idealia pageant as part of the Confederate Fall Festival.  Her immediate family (Bunky, parents Daniel and Laurie, and brother Blake), and also her coach Annie, travel to Stone Mountain, GA to watch her compete against representatives of other Southern farm families.  They meet CSA president Lyman Bowling Jr. and his family at the Idealia mansion at which they live, participate in the Harvest Parade, then go into the high-stakes contest.  Brandy wears a one-piece swimsuit despite great reluctance, rocks a homemade gown, and shows off her ballroom dancing skills.  In the end, it all comes down to a very tense moment on stage.  B.W. also reads pen-pal letters from two of the judges, Lulabettie "Lulu" Plumpkin and Billy Bob Ribble.
Jan. 13, 2013: "School Daze"
Belinda and Bryson are transferred from the Meadow School to the new family-based Overshot School, a one-room facility located on Meadowbrook Road.  Buddy Wayne drops him off on the first day, and learns more from teacher/uncle Noah and his wife Elma.  (By the way, all 21 students are related to him: his brother, his niece, 11 cousins, and eight aunts and uncles.)  Also, Popeye discovers the dice game called bunco and finds he's very good at it, and Hambone is promoted at Camp Paradise to receptionist and events coordinator.
Jan. 20, 2013: "More Big Doings"
Brandy returns from winning the Miss Idealia contest and is honored by the Meadow township council.  However, there's no time to celebrate, as she immediately enrolls in Lena Peacock's ballroom dancing school just north of the Peacocks Crossroads junction of state routes 50 and 96.  Also, B.W. nails down the farm as the site of vow renewal and Long Branch Church as the reception site.  Finally, Annie puts the finishing touches on her new book and prepares for a tour to promote it.
Jan. 27, 2013: "Hunting History"
For the first time, a woman is invited to what had been an all-male ritual: the daylong social hunting event.  Hambone is rewarded for both her earlier effort in the skeet shooting challenge and her interest in the "redneck" lifestyle by tagging along with Ralph, Harvey, and Bobby Ray to go after whitetail deer and "roadkill" animals (e.g. squirrel and possum).  Also, Popeye's brother Labell visits the house with his wife Allene and all 20(!) of their children.  Finally, B.W. and Brenda consent to have a specialist assess Bryson's educational development; they are concerned about delays due to his being reborn as a seven-year-old after he had earlier died in infancy.
Feb. 10, 2013: "Milestone Day"
(There was no show the previous week due to Super Bowl XLVII.)
Family and friends gather to celebrate the debut of Jennifer's new book, Black Crow in the Window.   As she promised, it combines elements of history, detective drama, and romance.  The case takes place in early 20th century New Orleans; Ella Littlebridge tries to find a local version of Jack the Ripper in the notorious Storyville section as jazz is being created and falls in love with Beau Brummell Young, a handsome mulatto.  Also, the results of Bryson's assessment are in; it is recommended that Bryson drop out of regular school for more instruction at home until he reaches appropriate grade levels.  Finally, Brenda is the special guest speaker at a church the Raynors (her side of the family) has attended for generations.
Feb. 17, 2013: "The Crafty Life"
The Barefoots prepare the house for winter by canning fruits and vegetables that they have gleaned from the farm and the briar patch and making quilts, blankets, and even socks and other footwear (in case being barefoot becomes uncomfortable).  Meanwhile, work begins on designing the treehouse for Bryson, as B.W. and Bryson tell Harvey their design ideas, and the moms assemble Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts.
Feb. 24, 2013: "The Roots of Man"
To commemorate the start of hunting season, B.W., Popeye, Ralph, and Bobby Ray spend a weekend replicating the hunting and gathering lifestyle that dates back to the beginning of humanity.  They even dress up in loincloths and wear animal bones; Ralph quips that "the only things we didn't see were dinosaurs."  Also, Bryson is re-tested and this time he is allowed to join the other students at Noah's school; and Bunky is taught the "Southern accent" by Hambone and Annie.
Mar. 3, 2013: "Brittany and Buddy: A Love Story" (2 hours)
Here, we meet Brittany Spears, B.W.'s wife and fellow singer. (For professional reasons, she records as Brittany Raylene.) She tells her life story about growing up in rural Kentucky with a family of bluegrass performers, how she met B.W., and how they had to elope due to both family's disapproval (the Barefoots due to Buddy's earlier divorce, and the Spears' due to her age).  Now living with their separate clans, the two reunite in North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  By the end of the show, they agree to renew their wedding vows because, as Brittany says, "we all would like the chance to get it right."
Season 4
Jul. 7, 2013: "Reign on Me"
Brandy performs the usual duties of a reigning beauty queen and keeps a diary along the way.  Among the events she attends are the opening of a new communal farm house at the site of a former military base in Georgia, the World Cotton Picking Championship in Mississippi, and the famed hollering contest in Spivey's Corner (not far from the family farm).  Among the contest entries is James Minson Barefoot, a fourth cousin of hers.  "It's crazy, I just can't rid of that name," notes Brandy.
Jul. 14, 2013: "Dream House"
The treehouse project has been completed and Bryson excitedly moves in.  The house contains two chairs, a small bed, a workbench, and large spaces for play.  On opening day, Noah invites all the kids who attend the one-room schoolhouse to Bryson's new home.  Before too long, Belinda moves in with her dolls and Popeye launches a TV show from there.  In addition, B.W. ends the season as player/coach on the Meadow Indians basketball team.  Finally, Brenda shares her recipe for barbeque ribs with "all-in-one" sauce.
Jul. 21, 2013: "Superfan Winner"
Brittany Ramos, winner of BMN Superfan, spends five days in the family home, participating in various tasks, activities, and events.  This hour chronicles the week and gives details of season 2 of the reality TV competition.
Jul. 28, 2013: "Paradise Princess"
When Hambone continues to spend more and more time away from the rest of "the 13," Buddy confronts him during what was a routine talk session to ask why.  She discloses that Bud Strickland - owner of the property - has given her what amounts to a chief executive job at Camp Paradise.  She answers telephones, pre-screens visitors, and arranges special events.  The four Barefoot third cousins, 'Bone adds, continue to teach courses.  "Let's make sure this is all in your spare time," B.W. advises.  Also on the show, Annie finds a professional purpose for the mud pit and Bunky celebrates his birthday.
Aug. 4, 2013: "Bi Jove!"
Billy Bob and Krista Ribble come in all the way from Texas with a gift for the family: a "bi-horn," which is a hybrid creature combining a bison (commonly mislabeled as buffalo) and Longhorn steer.  The Ribbles have been pen pals of B.W. for some months.  In addition, Harvey helps in the rebuilding of the football stadium on the site of the former Meadow School and the mothers attend a baby shower for cousin Beth and their boyfriend to celebrate the birth of their son.
Aug. 11, 2013: "Beulah's Place"
B.W. and Popeye take a trip to the location in Meadow that was the site of Beulah Mae Morgan's orphanage; her service and generosity inspired one of B.W.'s hit songs, "The Ballad of Beulah Mae."  (Beulah Mae Morgan was a first cousin of B.W.'s great-grandfather John Noah.)  This show also has a Barefoot Moms' Club themed party, remembering the age of the "flappers" in the 1920s, and Bobby Ray talks about how he deals with working in a slaughterhouse.
Aug. 18, 2013: "It's Revival Time"
Ralph participates in a week-long special event simulating the church revivals that were common in rural areas in the previous human period.  He speaks to hundreds of people who have gathered from all over Johnston County at a church in Smithfield.  Also on the show, Bryson takes on Belinda in a fruit-picking contest, Harvey begins training for mixed martial arts, and Brittany Spears provides a video update about her daughter Lizzie.
Aug. 25, 2013: "The Pink Party" (2-hour episode)
The Barefoot-Johnston County Family Reunion, the official name of the "Pink Party," takes place at the old Barefoot Cemetery site on Eldridge Road in Dunn.  The first hour chronicles the incredible transformation of the 30-acre site to the location of one of the biggest single-family events in the state of North Carolina..  Days in advance, food is prepared, a dozen seating benches are set up around a huge tent, the main dining room becomes a formal ballroom and banquet room, and even the remaining farmland is turned into a simulation of a late-19th century fairground.  The second hour is a parade of characters and a beehive of activity that starts in the morning and goes well into the night.  Popeye upsets the ladies at bunco, two meals - an informal lunch and a formal dinner - are served, some of your favorite characters show their talents, and everyone dances the night away.  And somehow, the cleanup was completed in time for church services the next morning.  But - where did Hambone go? (To be continued.)

Summaries of Gone Barefoot, seasons 1 and 2

Updated Sep. 5, 2015

Originally, this post was about a single 13-episode season of my reality documentary TV series Gone Barefoot, about the lives of the residents of the Barefoot Family Farm in North Carolina.  However, a few months ago, I thought such a season was unrealistic, certainly by the standards of the industry.  So I expanded the production schedule and reorganized everything into two "seasons" of eight episodes each, but all of them airing in 2012.

So now here's the complete first season - and second.

Treatment
Gone Barefoot is the historical re-enactment and documentary TV series chronicling the adventures of Buddy Wayne Barefoot and 12 of his distant and immediate relatives: brothers Bobby Ray and Bryson, mother Brenda, great-uncle Alonzo "Popeye," uncles Ralph and Harvey, aunt Reba Pearl "Hambone," first cousins Brandy and Britton "Bunky," sister-in-law Jennifer, and niece Belinda.  The show takes place on the family's 35-acre property in Johnston County, NC, just south of the state capital of Raleigh.

The program airs Sunday nights on the family-owned cable and satellite television network BMN and on the bmntv.com website.

Season 1
Jan. 1, 2012: "Meet the Family" (2-hour premiere)
Buddy Wayne Barefoot is raptured into Heaven and goes through the Great Tribulation and Millennium periods.  Once that occurs, he is welcomed to his new home in rural North Carolina by guardian angel Mary Elizabeth "Biddy" McBiddlewhiskers.  B.W. is then introduced to his new eternal family.  In all, 11 people are introduced, but Biddy teases that there's someone else he wants B.W. to meet.  After the usual televised tension, the 13th family member is revealed to be Bryson, B.W.'s stillborn brother, prompting one of the most famous lines in reality TV history: "My Bryson is back!"  A welcome feast and prayer session ends the episode.
Jan. 8, 2012: "It's Our House"
A tour of the new house is shown, emphasizing the features that make it a traditional rural American house.  Among other things, there is no electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing.  However, a home irrigation system is installed.  We also find that sleep can be uncomfortable in the Barefoot household, as six bedrooms are somehow crammed into a small space and Hambone has to sleep in the barn due to being the odd person out.
Jan. 15, 2012: "It's Planting Time"
B.W. hand-sows the ceremonial first seeds of the season.  Later, he shows us the barn where there are not only animals, but also primitive farm equipment pulled by mules and other animals.  Belinda and Bryson pluck fruit from the orchards, while Harvey establishes the workshop on the second floor of the dwelling.
Jan. 22, 2012: "Outside and In" (renamed from "Something Old, Something New")
Brenda, Jennifer, Annie, and Brandy establish the Barefoot Moms' Club for social interaction; they immediately start a quilting club.  Annie also establishes an in-house beauty parlor in which all the makeups, hair treatments, and shampoos are made from natural ingredients.  Also, Bryson and Belinda start school at the Meadow School facility; it's a temporary location while a one-room schoolhouse is planned for them and their relatives.
Jan. 29, 2012: "Shootin' the Breeze"
When the days' work is done, the dining room turns into a social room to discuss Barefoot family life from all angles and to confess items never before revealed.  At the end, B.W. sings "Poor Ol' Mule" on her guitar and Hambone performs the body percussion that led to her nickname.  Also on the show: Popeye, the family historian, seeks public records from Johnston County to answer questions about the past, and Jennifer shows the skills she learned as a podiatrist.
Feb. 12, 2012: "Smellie and Booger" (renamed from "I'm Your Puppet")
(There was no episode the previous week due to Super Bowl XLVI.)
Belinda has a dollhouse, which we take a look at for the first time.  And what a time for it: the nine-year-old prodigy is organizing a "marriage" of two of her favorite dolls: Sarah Michelle MacSmelliefoote and Benjamin Jeremiah Boogerberger.  It's filled with moments both hilarious and dramatic.  Also, Brandy finishes her first homemade piece of clothing, and a hollering exhibition is followed by a ceremonial hog-killing.
Feb. 19, 2012: "Are We In or Are We Out" (renamed from "First Fruits")
The Barefoot Moms' Club runs its first-ever fashion show!  They are joined by several guests to show off what they have designed.  In the spirit of the close-knit traditional community, the designers model their own clothes as the common room is turned into a runway.  In addition, Bobby Ray introduces us to some of the family's prized farm animals, and Popeye visits the former home of his great-great-grandfather, "Pink" Barefoot; the former cemetery is now his immediate family's home and is used for extended clan and community events.
Feb. 26, 2012: "Just One of the Boys"
Ralph, who is skeptical of Hambone's redneck ways, challenges his sister to a contest of shooting a .45-caliber rifle at clay pigeon targets.  The contest has some simple stakes: whoever loses has to wash all the clothes on a pre-arranged day that Brenda has off.  It all comes down to the final shot!  Meanwhile, Brenda finds a battery-powered radio and cassette player to listen to her favorite songs, and B.W. visits Brandon McLamb, his publicist, who lives on a nearby property.
Season 2
Mar. 4, 2012: "Worth a Hill of Beans" (renamed from "Secrets in Heaven")
At the end of the fall, B.W. grows his first crop of bean blossoms, which aren't really blossoms at all but more closely resembles broccoli.  Flush with that success, he finds wild versions of wheat and corn at a nearby briar patch, which surprises him because he had been told such crops were extinct.  Ralph washes the dishes after his loss the previous week and wears a woman's apron while doing it, and Brandy and Hambone begin to do battle while milking their cows.
Mar. 11, 2012: "It Only Looks Scary"
The Barefoot family celebrates October Harvest and Heritage Day.  It's like Halloween, without the scary parts or Satanic references.  They do dress in costumes and tell stories of how they either died or nearly died during their original time on Earth.  As part of the festivities, B.W., Brenda, Bobby Ray, and Jennifer take a hayride; meanwhile, Bryson marks the day by joining some male classmates in tying up teacher Shirley Mae Crabtree as a prank.
Mar. 18, 2012: "Giving Thanks"
For the first time, "the 13" celebrate Thanksgiving.  In the largest gathering to date, all of the rest of the immediate families are there, with the glaring exception of Alfred, Buddy and Bobby's father, who unfortunately went to Hell.  The usual elements are there: large amounts of food, storytelling, and entertainment.  We also see Brenda's insider tips on preparing the perfect holiday meal, and Ralph tours a nearby church he wants to take over.
Mar. 25, 2012: "Our First Christmas"
This time, "the 13" are joined by only a few distant relatives and family friends.  All the traditions are observed: special message about the birth of Jesus Christ, a formal dinner, a performance of carols from the Barefoot Boys, and gifts.  B.W., for example, gets a replica NASCAR race car resembling that which will debut in the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season.  To top it all off, Biddy arranges for them to speak to Jesus Himself!
Apr. 1, 2012: "Perfect Harmony"
Three of the boys launch a new Southern gospel music singing group, as Popeye, Ralph, and Harvey start the Barefoot Boys.  When Bobby Ray declines to join them, Popeye walks all over the neighborhood to try to find the fourth singer, until Landon Jr. (Alonzo's nephew) says yes, and the group starts rehearsals.  Also, Harvey also shows off his wrestling skills, which were good enough to make the state tournament, and Ralph updates work on renovating the church.
Apr. 15, 2012: "I'm Your Bashful Barefoot Beau" (renamed from "Life on the Beulah Mae")
(There was no episode the previous week due to Easter.)
A talent show and mass "date" ends the young ones' time at the Meadow School site.  A group of about six boys - who have called themselves the Rotten Rascals and who include Bryson - say sweet nothings to the girls, and the girls come back to give letter jackets to the Rascals.  Noah - Popeye's nephew - comes by to announce that the one-room schoolhouse is ready for occupancy next fall!  In addition, Harvey picks up another sport by joining a family-based softball team.
Apr. 22, 2012: "Branchin' Out"
Ralph purchases the Long Branch church two blocks from the family property, and moves services there.  The opening is attended by all 13 residents as well as dozens of their distant kin and their friends.  The Barefoot Boys perform vintage hymns, and everyone dresses in American colonial-to-Civil-War era costumes.  Also on the show, Hambone and Bunky begin spending free time at Camp Paradise, a 150-acre site in nearby Ingrams; Bunky participates in a survival-skills program, while Hambone is a greeter and office assistant.
Apr. 29, 2012: "Checkers or Wreckers"
The finale of season 2 takes place at the new short-track made of red clay dirt in Bentonville, the town in Johnston County which had been known as site of one of the last major battles of the Civil War.  B.W. climbs into a 1930s-vintage race car and competes against other local drivers in a 150-lap main event.  After a night of beating, banging, and bad tempers, the race ends unlike any other in motorsports history!  We also see flashbacks from a pre-race visit B.W. makes to the Singing Grove in Benson, where his fans celebrated his NASCAR championships and reality-show music competition success.

Photoshop pictures: Again, something old, something new

The two I have this week consists of a reissued picture and a new one.

The reissued picture goes back to when I depicted Brandy as a ballroom dancer.  She has dance lessons with Rebecca Peacock in (where else?) Peacocks Crossroads, at the junction of state routes 96 and 50 in Johnston County, NC.  I don't remember when I posted this first, but I know of one family member of hers I left out the first time: her brother Blake.  He was born second in the birth order, exactly between Brandy and Bunky.  Blake lives with his parents Daniel and Laurie at 889 Barefoot Road, about two miles from his siblings.  Of course, the whole immediate family comes together for the recital, as I show in the revised picture.  (The role of Blake is played, posthumously, by Corey Burke.  He was one of six people killed last Tuesday when a public bus collided with a commuter train in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada.  Burke was on the bus, which was sheared in the front side.)

The new photo montage shows a cherished country tradition: the hayride.  It has long been a preferred pastime of farm families and lovebirds alike, and it's reflected in my choice of subjects: son Buddy Wayne, mother Brenda, and Jennifer (who would have a side view, with recolored hair) and Bobby Ray, who are husband and wife.  I placed the heads on top of bodies from an existing photo I picked up from a web page of special offers from the Winston-Salem Journal which I got via e-mail.  Of course, I replaced the shoes worn by three of the four original models with bare feet.  The source of the feet was a photograph of a woman I found at the site luvfemtoes.com.

My week in Photoshop

This week, I have so much to share that I am posting twice.

In this post, I, as always, put up my latest work from Brady Poirier's Photoshop class at ABC Adult School.  As promised last week, I begin with the Bryson and Belinda "fetch a pair of water" photo.  One note about the caption is that it is technically incorrect.  They are not "first cousins" in the sense that none of their parents are related directly.  Instead, Belinda is Bryson's stepdaughter!  (Bryson's mother, Brenda, had Bryson out of wedlock; she then had two more kids [B.W. and Bobby] after she married.)  Nonetheless, it shows an important facet of life in a traditional, agrarian society like the one in which the Barefoots have chosen to live.

Up next is Barney Laughinghouse, the aptly-named clean comedian who has become one of B.W.'s pen pals.  B.W. first saw Barney at the annual regional retreat; there, Barney is often part of the featured entertainment, along with musicians like Bubba Brister and Blondie).  The "performance" takes place at a typical comedy club; the bricks come from a photo that was once featured on Brett "Rev. Ralph" Barefoot's Facebook page.  His face is that of Austin Barefoot of San Clemente, CA, with the clothing from a couple of sources, the microphone from Buddy and Bonnie Baldridge's bio page, and the arms from ex-Division II NCAA soccer player Bailey Miller.  (I should disclose that the Brister and Blondie links are dead; I just made them up to represent the sites they would have if they existed.)

The final resting place of my inspiration

Those of you who have been here at all know just how my Buddy Wayne Barefoot character got my name.

The original Buddy Wayne, as found in a phone directory published in the Benson, NC addition to the 1993 Raleigh phone directory by BellSouth (now part of AT&T), was actually named Alfred Wayne Barefoot, whose nickname was Buddy.  As I have written before, he died on Jan. 25, 1999, 10 days shy of what would have been his 45th birthday.

Now, thanks to a picture uploaded by Thomas Justis at the Find a Grave website, I can now share what Alfred's grave marker looks like.

The grave, as shown, has the inscriptions "husband," "daddy," and "gone not forgotten."  (Alfred left a wife, Carol, a son, Bradley, and a daughter, Amanda, who was the basis for the look of B.W.'s "first cousin" Brandy.)  On the base of the marker are two stones, one with the logo of Duke University's sports teams (he loved to watch the basketball team play) and another with the words "eternal love."  Finally, there are three cars, as Alfred worked at Capital Ford in Raleigh and may have also been a fan of NASCAR or another form of motorsports.  The final, and most important, item on the marker is a picture of Alfred himself.

Yes, this is sad, but also fascinating to see the representation of the person whose name in the phone book changed my life (or at least made it less boring).

(The grave site is the Pink Barefoot Cemetery in Benson.  It is named for Miles Vinson "Pink" Barefoot, who once owned the property and is also buried there.  Of the 137 people buried there, 69 carry the Barefoot last name and at least some of the others are related in some way.)

Pictures: Two old ones redone, one new one, one bummer

It was a busy week of activity as I returned to ABC Adult School for the first quarter of the 2013-14 school year.

First, I'm sad to report that I can't show you a work I am so proud of.  I have Bryson and Belinda in a romp down wildflower meadows outside the family home.  Belinda is holding a bucket after getting water for the clan's use.  Pretty picture, huh?  However, the file is locked away in one of the school's computers, and I have not transferred it to my flash drive for home use.  Therefore, I won't be able to see it again until Monday and won't be able to post it here until sometime next week.:(

Now for what I do have.  First is an entirely new image, made just today.  Ralph, the family preacher, is proving that just because one is a man of the cloth doesn't mean everything in that man's life has to be taken seriously.  The caption - and what's on the back of the T-shirt - says it all.

Next is the update of one of last week's photos.  The Barefoot Boys - Popeye, Harvey, Landon Jr., and Ralph - are put in a church setting, supposedly before a performance, and their microphones are put in the correct proportion.

Finally, it's one more version of the leadership conference poster.  This one has the suits that I intended for them all along.  It's based on a different file than the one I used for the last time, and only one file was needed to represent with the suits and ties this time, rather than two.

Two for the road

On my recent trip to San Francisco with my parents, I was able to take Photoshop with me.

The first one is something I started there and am still in the process of finishing here.  It will be a publicity photo of the Barefoot Boys Southern gospel quartet (Popeye, Harvey, Landon Jr. and Ralph from left to right).  Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time with the background photo of Texas music ministers Buddy and Bonnie Baldridge since trying to figure out the correct backdrop with cloning and erasing has proven very difficult.  For now, the picture has a blank background as I try to figure out what to do next.  (If Popeye looks like a cartoon, the reason is that the original picture is poor scanned quality.  The blur tool improved the image somewhat, but the distortion came back when I gave Popeye a full face, without the hat that he has wore in previous images.)

The other one is a done deal and all of it took place in "The City."  It's another picture of the Barefoot Moms' Club as it puts on a 1920s-era "flapper party" set in a speakeasy.  Speakeasies were special bars set up during the legal prohibition of alcohol in the United States, which lasted from 1920 to 1933.