It's Friday...Video Friday.

Now, I do stand to be corrected. Earlier, on a couple of occasions I have said not to post for the sake of posting...Causes flue like symptoms. This is about the only time I do make exceptions. Video Friday, what everyone should be waiting for.

I found this video about five minutes ago. It was filmed around the boy's house, which looks like Kentucky or Virginia. It doesn't look like Western North Carolina, extreme Upstate South carolina or North Goergia. It's pretty though. Good song.



Before there was Cracker, there was Camper Van Beethoven. Take the skinheads bowling.


Ohwee!
The Appalachianist

Beautiful Dreariness

The last couple of days were so dreary, they were beautiful. And, beauty is infinite. I didn't mind the fog and drizzle of Sunday or Mondays rain. I'm glad to have had it.It was needed in more ways than one, rain falling from the sky to wash the dust off of our minds.

Partly thanks to a full moon, I didn't see any Deer the last few days. I did see a Skunk about eight feet in front of me and my partner early Friday morning and my Brother, that I've not seen in about a year and a half.

I also picked up a new Puppy last night from a boy over in Balsam Grove. She's 3/4 Walker and 1/4 Plott and eight weeks old. That's her you see, the boy who gave her to me called her "Skeeter head", and I call her that for the meantime. Yep, she's had her two parvo shots.

While at his dog lot and looking her over, I could hear the North Fork rushing down below us in the dark. It sounded as if it was up quite a bit. That river can handle allot of water. I'm not sure what the total rain fall was around here, but it was healthy. Water is our most precious resource. This drought goes on, but there is an end. Our minds can't stay dusty but so long.



Today, the 27th of November is the anniversary of the first Crusades, as was noted this morning on Writers Almanac. I suppose history proved it a scheme. That was just an interesting note I threw in there.

Truth be known, my mind is not ll dusty, it's rather active...It's beginning to stir.

There's still some living left when your prime comes and goes.
The Appalachianist

A Thanksgiving Message From Me

Happy Thanksgiving. I ain't going to preach, I am not going to compare alternatives in order to be thankful. I do hope you enjoy yourself the next couple of days. I also want to thank everyone of you, Heathens, Sinners,Saints, Lovers and Fighters, for coming here and observing my attitude.



Well, it's alright...finnaly found the lyrics.
Well its all right, riding around in the breeze
Well its all right, if you live the life you please
Well its all right, doing the best you can
Well its all right, as long as you lend a hand

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring
Waiting for someone to tell you everything
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring
Maybe a diamond ring

(chorus 2)
Well its all right, even if they say youre wrong
Well its all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well its all right, as long as you got somewhere to lay
Well its all right, everyday is judgement day

Maybe somewhere down the road aways
Youll think of me, and wonder where I am these days
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays
Purple haze

(chorus 3)
Well its all right, even when push comes to shove
Well its all right, if you got someone to love
Well its all right, everythingll work out fine
Well its all right, were going to the end of the line

Dont have to be ashamed of the car I drive
Im just glad to be here, happy to be alive
It dont matter if youre by my side
Im satisfied

(chorus 4)
Well its all right, even if youre old and grey
Well its all right, you still got something to say
Well its all right, remember to live and let live
Well its all right, the best you can do is forgive

(chorus 5)
Well its all right, riding around in the breeze
Well its all right, if you live the life you please
Well its all right, even if the sun dont shine
Well its all right, were going to the end of the line


The Appalachianist

The Loyal Order of theHill Billy Adrenaline Freaks

Squeaky riding rig on Coweeta Creek, Macon County NC
People, I'm not about to go into details of Friday and Saturday's Hunts. I hunted Macon County Friday and Transylvania on Saturday. Friday, we actually did a section of the Appalachian Trail where we let the Dogs run loose and came back to us in a half hours time. Otherwise we never did strike a track.

Saturday I hunted with the gang here in Transylvania and we killed a Bear and a hog. We let the dogs loose on the Bear a little after 0830, it crossed Hwy 215 and 64, plus two county roads and both the North and West Fork of the French Broad River. At 1110 it was dead. it was not a big Bear, but it was a fast Bear. Neither of my dogs stayed with that race. Bell came back out with two other boys and one said he saw Squeaky still up in there. A couple of dogs were on the Bear already when we loosed them. Squeaky, as smart and cold nosed as he is just can't keep up with that kind of a race. At one point we were stopping traffic on 64 as Dogs came off the mountain and crossed the road. Dogs were trailing up to 10 minutes behind the Bear. It was a fast paced, adrenaline packed race.

After the Bear was down we went and policed up Dogs. I caught one standing in someones drive way. I already had Bell (I took her to the kill, which she began to catch on) and another fellars "Methuselah Dog". She is a story unto herself. I stood along the highway where the Dogs crossed, trying to get a track on squeaky and any other numbers I had. A couple came along and said they saw a Dog up the road, "Black...and white". A Walker or squeaky and his white brand on his hind quarters? It took some calling but the old boy came out to me where we had took the dogs in. Good Bear Dog. The woods had too much feed in them, it was mid day and we let into there again. To make a long story short the Dogs struck a hog on their own. It cut four Dogs, one we stapled up on the tail gate of a truck, and two others on the kill site. After leading the Dogs out it was found one other was cut, and it went into it's intestines. That Dog ad to be taken to a Vet. Hogs are rough on a Dog.

The hog was nearly 300lbs if not there already. It ran off into the rough North Fork Gorge, it didn't get drug out, it was quartered out. It was black, first thought to be a Bear, with four inch tusks. It was about two hours after dark when we got it out.

Saturday was the last day of the first Bear Season. It shuts down for three weeks while Rifle season for deer opens up. Which means it's time to Deer Hunt...Speaking of, Twister up and decided to Bow Hunt Saturday, since his Sally Dog was in heat...Did he miss out.

Here's a good read. Not the same as Bear Hunting, but, some similarities. It speaks for the Rural South.

I grinn just thinking about it...
The Appalachianist

Bear Hunting is Gung Ho, Part II

"To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder"
The charector, Barnabas Sackett, To The Far Blue Mountains by Lois L'amour.

I'm not a big Lois L'amour fan. I picked up the novel mentioned because I was told it spoke of places like Chunky Gal Mountain over in the Nantahalas. Lois L'amour was known for accurate settings, and that has been a big influence in my writing. This novel takes part as Sackett escapes imprisonment in England. L'amour was not a one trick pony.

My weird and out there horoscope for the week.
Wealthy playboy Lapo Elkann is one of Italy's most eligible bachelors. But he told W magazine that if he ever decides to tie the knot, he would choose an Israeli woman. "For them, every day is a beautiful day," he said. "Because when you are in a climate of war, you take nothing for granted." Your next assignment, Cancerian, is not to put yourself in a battle zone, but rather to cultivate love with the same intense ingenuity and inexhaustible resourcefulness you might if you were living in a battle zone.
I got a kick out of it.

As it was neither me or Twister (The Militant Mulungeon, Amish Bohemian)got a hundred yards from the truck. Neither of us got to break into a sweat. But, I got a dog out of the box and off the lead. Right as I was letting him off the lead a dog from the Twelve Peice Box ran into the muzzle of the Socom 16 nearly spinning me around. I heard the barrel of the rifle crack the dogs head as it raced by me not slowing down, tearing through the leaves. Twister let Bell loose and she was a little behind the pack, a Blue Tic was let loose by her and the two only wanted to sniff each others ass. They looked like Ying and Yang. I snapped the two to my lead and ran them up the trail a piece and let them off. They smelled each others ass again and wouldn't get out of my sight. She's young, I'm going to have to work with her some.

Me and Twister went in on a slightly used Tracker Maxima together. I had left it over at Twisted Palace weekend before last so that he could use it while I was at Drill. He came over Friday night about 2300 and...ooops, forgot it. So, he ran back to Franklinstein Saturday morning and got back as I had the dogs loaded. It was a long day for him.

From where we were on the race we could not get a reading on the Dogs (We had programmed three of the other Dogs frequencies). We were in a common Bear Crossing..Traditional even...yet, not a place to read radio frequencies. I was told that a reading was taken on Squeaky's collar up the creek, so we headed that way when dark was getting ready to set in. The thing is there are some private in holdings withen that section of the Pisgah National Forest. It was said over the radio that one of the land owners had threatened to shoot Dogs recently. There's laws about messing with Hunting Dogs. The man lives on land surounded by National Forest, that is NC Game Lands and non Bear sanctuary..."Everybody knows the world is full of stupid people"...A man that will knowingly hurt someones Dog, what else will he do? We couldn't get a reading on Squeaky up on the top of the creek. We ran up onto a particular mountain. It's an odd mountain. My Dad has noted odd things about it to me, some other relations have as well (of a different nature) and it has a prominent place in Cherokee Lore. We were getting false readings off of the mountain. I remembered all of the oddity about it, was it a magnetic pull? Back down the creek to link up with the others...

We passed by three vehicles coming off of Davidson River, Deputies and Cadaver Dogs Handlers...A sad story. Twister said he would stay with me until we got Squeaky back. I began to wonder...Why was Squeaky away from the rest of the Dogs? Someone had said over the radio that they had seen a Plott (he was the only full and obviously Plott among them) running with a bitch. It was also said the Dogs were doing a circle...Had he struck a colder track that the others were not on? To my pleasant surprise, Squeaky had come back out where he had been let loose, like a good bear Dog does.

I snapped the dogs back to their chain that night and looked up at the Milky Way as pretty as all get out. The sky was still, no planes... No shooting stars..."It's great to be alive".

Speaking of The Refreshments...


I'm Hunting in the morning...As many of you read this...It's going to be a cold one. Especially where we will be. Earlier I cleaned leaves out of the Dogs water and could feel ice chunks forming.

Aut Pax, Aut Bellum
The Appalachianist

Bear Hunting is Gung Ho, Part I

Oooh…With a name like Zilda, she has to be good…

To let you heathens know, Bear Hunting is not the same as other Hunting. It’s not often done alone, it’s done in groups. It’s a networking thing. It’s everyone chipping in. It’s everyone working together. Mind you, this is Hunting with Dogs. If you don’t have Dogs, you better have a back. It’s also desired to be trustworthy and a Man about things. It’s also hard to get into a good group of Bear Hunters. The best way to meet Bear Hunters is to Bear Hunt.

Saturday started Thursday night when I called a fellar I had only heard of and asked if me and Twister could go hunting with him, something almost unheard of. We talked for a few, and he said to call him the next night. Friday night he told me when and where to meet them. It was a polite thing, but we had to show we had something to bring to the plate. We weren’t there to tag along we were there to Hunt. It was a big group, about a dozen or so, among us we had a little over thirty Dogs. The ice broke after a little and everything was OK. Everyone was good folk. Two of the boys were from Jackson County and had Hunted with Twister and the other boys I hunted with from Macon before. One had been present the day Twister killed his Bear over on Burning Town. I mentioned I had one of Jimmy C’s Dogs, and was mine now. The boy asked if it was Squeaky. It’s a small world amongst Men ad Dogs.

My contact pulled up in an old Toyota pick up converted into a flat bed with a home made box on the back. Ideal for Bear Hunting. He had about a dozen Dogs, Walkers and mixed breeds. It was a funny sight, but everyone of those dogs were getting along. We’ll call it the Twelve Piece Box. One of his Dogs caught the eye. He said she was part Kemmer Cur and Walker, she wasn’t much bigger than a Fiest. It was said she had ran a Bear from th head of Cathey’s Creek almost into Brevard before and was on it’s heels all the way.

We hunted both Jackson and Transylvania County. This time I managed to get Squeaky off the lead at least. It had gotten late in he day, about noon, a track was going to be hard to get. It was dry and the warmest of the day. We let the Twelve Piece Box loose along with my two running up a creek to let them strike a track on their own. And, they did.
On the other side of the dividing ridge behind us the Law was out searching for someone missing since the 20th of October with Cadaver Dogs. I’m glad the race didn’t head that way. It wasn’t too clear what happened, but the dogs were on a Bear, and the race broke. We didn’t get the Bear. It’s a little harder than the early part of the season, they are getting spread out. It was hasty, and if we had had time to get off in that country with the Dogs, than we may have gotten the Bear. None the less, the fellar with the Twelve Piece Box seemed to run things and he was thinking ahead of the Bear. He was a good fellar and we liked him.

Allot came from the day. This is just part of it.
The Appalachianist

Post In Progress

There was a Buzzard on my drive way this morning sitting on an overhanging limb. Bosco, the ever faithful giude dog, guideing me down the drive way didn't see it I think. She smelled something and came to a sudden stop. The Buzzard flew on to another limb.

It was that first weekend of October that I went over to Tennessee. I saw a Red Wolf on the way over, just the other side of New Found Gap. It stood in a pull over and the head lights caught it.

I saw a Dog being lead by a girl through town on Halloween day. There was somethng about it. I asked the two girls about it and what I thought was true. The dog was half Coyote. It had the body of a Coyote and the face of a sheppard and a reddish blond color. She said she was very good natured though. The girls were really nice about our enquireies.

While off in Coweeta a couple of wekends ago we heard a pack of Coyotes yelping about midday. The Hounds and Curs looked around, but, didn't pay much more mind.

Coyotes were in my yard Labor Day weekend. Twisters brother, Jamie, killed a Coyote this last weekend. Nice one.

Alright, post in progress
The Appalachianist

Video Friday VII, Drive By Truckers

First, it's a long one, 7 minutes. But, if you have the connection and you have the time, listen. You've seen me qoute this song as recently as the last post. When you live in a Cartoon Town with a bunch of Cartoon Charectors, you laugh and you grinn. This towns alright with me there's nowhere I'd rather be.

BTW, I used to live in SC and went to school with the drummer.

Buttholeville is coming.
The Appalachianist

It's Not A Big Post

Yesterday was a heck of a day. It used to be the over 40 physical, now it's the 39 and over physical. The Army sent me to the Sisters of Mercy for my physical. They were sympathetic. I had blood drawn from both arms, air blown in my eye, two women inform me they may have to shave my chest as they stuck probes to me, told I have a slow heart and that was good, turned my head and coughed, and a man stuck his finger up my ass and told me my prostrate felt good. The Army is giving me one whole days pay to do that. I shouldn't have to do it for another four years.

Turned Cold
It's been cooler the last couple of days. Squeaky's water had ice in it both days. Bells bowl is little deeper. Bosco drinks from the creek.

Political Dreaming
I had some strange things in dreams. I dreamed I was telling someone I wouldn't vote for whoever I was dreaming about if they were running Republicrat for dog catcher. I have no idea who. A couple of nights ago I dreamed that someone (I keep dreaming about this someone person)told me in ten years NC and SC would become one state. That's sadly political.

It ain't a big post. It didn't say a whole lot...But...
"I don’t want anything I done to be nobody’s fault
even if they got more money and mouth than they got balls.
That’s just how it went down, right or wrong, it’s just that way.
Just cause I don’t run my mouth don’t mean I got nothing to say...."

The Appalachianist

It Is Good.

Wile I was back at Taji word was out of a big reorganization of my Division. The 108th Division took control of all the other USAR Training Divisions. The 9th Division of New York State was being moved south, and my battalion, the 3/321’st was handed over to the 2nd brigade 98th Div, the “Iroquois Division” at the beginning of the fiscal year.

My unit is at the edge of Ft. Jackson SC, three and a half hours from my house. To make a long story short, five of us left a deactivating unit to be there. Through retirements and deployments we dwindled. I had become dissatisfied with it, and the traveling. While in Charlotte I was approached by a Captain new during the Train Up for Iraq about going to his company, B, 3/323 in Clemson SC, a Drill Sgt Unit.. I was once the Training NCO of the company. The unit had been Mobilized State Side a year ago and many of its members were promoted and transferred out. They were rebuilding the Company. I told myself I was going to find something new after I got back from overseas. It was one of several changes I wanted.

This weekend as I drove back from Columbia, I had a signed DA Form 4651-R by my Bn Commander. He wasn’t blocking my transfer. He’s a good man, and him and the CSM didn’t blame me. I’m going back on “The Trail” after being off of it 13 years. The Bn was being considered for a State Side MOB after the first of the year, but was passed over this weekend.

Recently, since I’ve come back from Iraq it’s been increasingly hard to find a place to stay at Ft. Jackson. Between gas and rooms, I spent nearly half of my take home drill pay*. If that’s not reason for a transfer then what? But, I do look forward to going back to B 3/323. It’s fun to build a company up. It’s a challenge, and people get tight. It gives you a sense of purpose. It’s a chance to cut out bull shit. I knew the CO and 1Sg from before and they have a no silly shit attitude. I appreciate that.

I’ll be taking a platoon there, probably 3rd. I’ve always been in the 3rd of something. 3rd Bn, 3rd Plt 3rd squad. As well, usually Bravo Co. I have been in a HHC, Alpha, and a Delta Company.

I felt bad this weekend that my Dogs, Squeaky and Bell (No, not belle ,look “bell” up in your dictionary) couldn’t hunt. Bosco, being a Yard Varmint…This morning half her snout as covered in dirt…does her usual. Bears are getting scattered out and harder to run. I’ve not gotten the dogs into a good race yet, only getting to hunt them two days. I am taking Veterans Day off to hunt. I got a raise when I went back to work, but didn’t get vacation. I’m not entitled to it. To just not work would be irresponsible.

Tomorrow I have to fast. I have a Annual Physical (Army Business) Wednesday and they don’t want me eating. I’ve not been that hungry lately no way.


*End Slavery! Contact your congressmen about voting the Fair Tax in.

This is about all I intend to say tonight.
The Appalchinaist...Making the South East safe for Appalachiaism.

Is this Video Friday VI?

I've not posted this week, no, I haven't. And contrary to rumors I was not abducted and held hostage by a lesbian biker gang. Don't post for the sake of posting, it's bad blog karma. Causes flu symptoms.

I didn't have anything paticulaly in mind for Video Friday VI?. So your gettingThe Dead Milkmen.



Have fun eating left over halloween candy. I'll be doing the Army Reserve thing this weekend.