I write this blog post as attempt No. 4 in learning how to post to my new blog here at theﾠPocahontas Times. My first, which I wrote spiritedly, with links to everything I was talking about, disappeared after I hit ﾓSubmit & edit.ﾔ I wrote the next one on a word document, and hit ﾓSubmit & edit.ﾔ Obviously that one disappeared. So finally I was frustrated and just typed and hit ﾓSubmit & publish.ﾔ Then this happened ﾅ

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Blog title ﾓRawrﾔ

Content: ﾓwill this workﾔ

Well, oops. No punctuation, I didnﾒt even use real words. After that I learned how to turn a post to ﾓinactive.ﾔ

So hereﾒs to No. 4. Iﾒm rewriting this because this anecdote sums up my first week in Pocahontas County -- technological errors and stumbles. Whether it was my fault, the video cameraﾒs fault or the computerﾒs fault, and I think we all rotated pretty well, things just didnﾒt mesh. But, I have good news. Things have improved, and I think the equipment and I are starting to sync.

I arrived inﾠMarlinton around 11 p.m. last Sunday night, after about a four-and-a-half-hour, windy-roads-in-the-dark, drive with my cat, Oscar. Thankfully, Oscar was pretty good in the car. Except for the last two hours of the trip, which the fat cat spent lounging across my lap as we twisted and turned around the mountainous roads.

As I walked into the office on my first day of work, I was greeted with, ﾓHello, are you Melanie?ﾔ ﾓHi, Melanie!ﾔ Everyone already knew my name -- Later I realized many people in the county already knew my name. Iﾒd say that was one of my first ﾓsmall town communityﾔ experiences.

With help from my coworkers, I compiled what I think is a pretty interesting list of story ideas in the county. My first project, which Iﾒll start when the weather is more cooperative, is on the debate about makingﾠCranberry Glades and other beautiful areas in Pocahontas County into a national natural monument. Others include features on camps in the county, the local farmers market, a violin maker and local landmarks.

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Here are some of the things I did last week:

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• Attended a county commission meet and a hearing at the magistrateﾒs office
• Visited theﾠGreen Bank Telescope
• Attended the�Parlor Soldiers live at the�Pretty Penny Caf�
• Created a video about Chester the Chickenﾒs Grand Opening a Foodland
• Met with a car dealership owner about a commercial
• Walked theﾠGreenbrier River Trail
• Updated the Timesﾒ social media sites. Follow us -- @pocahontastimes. ﾓLikeﾔus!
• Began meeting some of the incredibly interesting people of Pocahontas County.

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