Prologue to:
The story that goes with it.
This page was born 15 Dec 1999 and was last edited on 17 Dec 2004.
This web site is dedicated to, and primarily intended for the benefit of: Kevin, Shannon, Adam, and Jenny - with memories of Tom, Velma, and Sara. That may be the only serious remark you will find in these pages.
I intend to try my heart out to use all of my my lousy (but, of course, free) 100 MB for this web site. There is doubt, however, about whether or not I can meet the 05 August 2000 deadline imposed by Shannon for reasons that may be better explained by her. To tell the truth, there ain't any deadline imposed at all. I just want to get as much done as I can by then. The target date was my idea because she said that making this web site (which was, by the way, named by her as she made first default ".htm" entry because I didn't know how to do it) would be "the best present" that I could give her for a very important date in her young life. Having found out, after I first began this page, that 100 MB is a helluva lot more space than I then thought, I now know that I ain't gonna finish by the time I want to finish, but I'll do what I can. I want very much for her to get the very best present I can give - she deserves so very much more than I can give.
So, you should soon get a full dose of my comments (and as many pictures as 100 MB will permit) in re my life, times, and survival in various endeavors which make up the mother lode of treasure in my life's chapters, each installment of which is relevant to an Image Link on my home page.
In each installment, I may advise you as to something of particular interest to me within each related Image Link; but, if you take my advice and go there, I hope you will return soon to Mervino's Hole in the Web.
The installment dearest to me is: "Kids I didn't deserve." (Please don't think, "I wonder what he meant by that?") That chapter of my life, which is represented by the Discoball Image, may be completed last of all, or never; it deserves a Hemingway, Maugham, Tolstoy, or perchance even a Dostoevsky as the scribe. But, at least, I intend to give you some clues to research my progeny. The two ex-wives who are, respectively, the mother of one and three of them may even be mentioned.
Pictures, after all: (12/20/99 My #1 daughter, Shannon, has advised me that I do have space for quite a few pictures, so here's an experiment:
Please, if you recognize me,
no comments about drinking again - it's only coffee in the picture. I presume it was taken
with shoddy equipment
(presumed because of the photo's fuzziness and because I was not out in the sun very long
that day) on a Xmas day. What year? Oh, maybe 1994, or thereabouts.
A late (16 March 2002) picture flash: As you may have noticed, Mervino's Hole in the Web is now in it's own domain where there's more room for pictures than I'll ever have time enough to fill.
The key to genealogy: (02 Feb 2000) If you like genealogy, or even if you don't, and if the gods be willing, one of these days you'll get (here) links to a full dose of my family tree and, therefore, that of my progeny. For those who just stumbled on this hole in the web, I'll tell you now that my (full) name is David Mervin Key, that I was named after a grandfather who died two years before I was born, that the David M. Key who was Postmaster General in the cabinet of President R. B. Hayes was not, as far I can tell, one of my direct ancestors, and that the reason for my use of the odd middle name will be disclosed later. A substitute genealogy: (17 Mar 2000) I don't have my genealogy yet; but, for this Saint Patrick's Day, here is the genealogy of my favorite Irish Lady.
An add-on: (06 Mar 2000) I hereby authorize and request Shannon to do the genealogy chore at her leisure, if I don't get around to doing it - and I don't think I will without her kindly aid.
The soft thud of namedropping: (29 Jan 2000) As I told the Queen the other day, "I hate name droppers." However, I can't resist spicing these pages up a bit with frequent name droppings. I think that will add interest and amusement. Besides, it's always better to use name droppings than guano.
A last word on this page: (21 Feb 2000) Although this internet project will tell about many events in my life, it does not have an autobiographical purpose; and so many of the most important events (both good and bad) in my life, some of my happiest and saddest times, some of my dearest enemies, and even some of my dearest friends and loved ones are barely, or not at all, mentioned. My only purposes in undertaking this endeavor are to give my progeny and other interested persons some kind of insight into what makes me tick and, not being sure I can give enough clues to solve that enigma, maybe to entertain my visitors a little bit along the way.
