Appalachian Patria

French Broad Log Jam

2012-01-22T07:39:00.004-05:00

I sit here in my humble abode typing these words. My leave is almost done, so, I don't speak of a place being far away.

I told you, that is if you read the last couple of posts, that I keep up with the news here at home. Another subject other than the next county over's Sherriff, that I keep up with is the Log Jam. In a section of Transylvania County known as Penrose( That's down stream of Pisgah Forest and Little River and just before Blantyre)in the shadows of Fodderstack Mountain, is a big pile of logs jammed up in the French Broad River.

Reports put it as wide as 75 feet, as high as 12 feet and 25 thick. The river is cutting around it and taking the bank off of the sides. A man's property is getting washed away and that is all the more sediment going down stream. It's also a public waterway and that makes it a danger to anyone in a boat. No brainer. Oh, and a bridge is right down stream.

Well, powers that be decided something ought to be done and things got in motion. But then times are hard so money came in question. The Lady Governor coughed up some funds. Now, this News Story is dated 9 November. Those logs are still piled up across that river. I read in the local paper, the Transylvania Times, that it's still a matter of who is responsable, dated 19th January 2012. They were talking about a border, etc. Which, a border is cool, but these logs came from upstream.

I think they want to bring in a track hoe and move the logs. I thought at first a few sticks of dynamite would get it busted. I don't know what's what, but what's the hold up? Well, they did say Febuary.

In a world full of isms, I cling to Appalachiaism...
The Appalachianist

Henderson County's Brewing Rumble

2012-01-07T09:55:00.008-05:00

I'm providing a link on my neighboring county's issue with their Shrrif's Department. This is a compliment to the previous post. This is an opinion peace. I like the writers style. He makes the point I made. We would make good friends.

Hey, my lucky number...13. Your's too. I've got 13 followers. My ego is bursting (I'm not dead). If you read this, give me a shout. Call me out on issues, lambast me. Then, "dance around the camp fire, hang around a while". I just looked at the weather back home and it calls for precious rain. I also realised Friday is the 13th. A black cat crossed my path today too. Do you think this is a good thing?

Cracker singing "Sweet Patatoe"

Lucky me
The Appalachianist

A Paradoxing Post

2012-01-06T01:03:00.004-05:00

It's a little after 9 AM here on a Friday. It's cool outside. it's hardly been cold at all and hasn't rained in a few weeks. In a few days I go on my Mid-Tour Leave. I look forward to it, though I have nothing to look forward to. Colder weather, rain...My own bed. Oh yeah, grass beneath my feet, trees and hills...Dogs barking in the distance.

The Jolly Red Headed Giant hooked me up. He gave me his set for Christmas and I'm having fun with it. I believe he got it when it was on sale though.

I try to keep up with news back home, eases the boredom. This is a boring place. One thing I've kept up with is troubles for the Sheriff's department in the next county over, Henderson. A while back, the Sheriff decided to take a leave of absence because he had been diagnosed Bi-Polar. Some weeks later a concerned citizen, a man named Hill, went to the Commissioners about hearing tell of a pay off in a sexual harassment suit. It turned out to be credible. The Commisioners were unaware that the County's Insurance had paid out for a settlement. That's a little spooky, but, a county like Henderson is a complex thing. The Commisioners asked the Sheriff for answers, he decided to retire. Apparently it's not stopping there. This same man that approached the Commissioners to begin with went back to them about "rumors". Now he is petitioning for an investigation of the Sheriff's Department. In the meantime the Henderson County Sheriff's Department is doing it's job.

It's a paradox of our society. A cop catches a murderer or a thief. He's a "Good Guy". A cop beats up a drunk or sells the drugs he confiscated(thievery?). He's a "Bad Guy". Now, I don't have anything against Henderson County. This could be so, could be not. It's me making talk mainly. But the Libertarian in me says "Ha Ha! Why do we make people anymore powerful than they need to be?". Sometimes things get messy and people get hurt. Maybe there is no "Good Guy" or "Bad Guy", but a "Not a Bad Guy" and a "Not a Good Guy"? I have no conclusion. But I know Hill's not a bad guy. And I know that some people will treat him like one for simply disturbing the status qua. While all along he has forced nothing on anyone for "their own good", or imposed his belief for a "greater purpose". That is another paradox of our society, biting the hand that defends.

Last night I was thinking about what it's like to look for the brighter side of people. It's bright like a flame flickering from a candle. It dances in the dark to it's own rhythm, it is light and it gives a warmth...And it can burn. That's not a paradox, that's just life.

Life is full of paradoxes (Insert grinning Icon here).
The Appalachianist

The 26th December 1776

2011-12-25T11:37:00.004-05:00

My Commanding General brought up the Battle of Trenton the other day while speaking to us. Trenton was a significant victory for the Continental Army. One point the CG made was that the Continental Army was about to have allot of Enlistments expire. And the atack improved morale greatly.

When asked most people will say, "Yeah! Washington crossed the Deleware and attacked the British." but there is more to the story than that statement. Yes, Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas Night and the wee hours of the 26th as a storm came in. With the poweder wet, or even damp, firing muskets was doubtful. Washington ordered to fight with bayonets. The assemblige after crossing the river was slow and maybe even clumbsy, but apparently they settled out the chaos quick enough. Anyone who has ever been on an Assault Force can relate.

One point that most people don't know or forget about, it was not the British per say that Washington's force attacked. It was Hessians, German mecenaries, brought in by the Crown. Hessians were professional troops and if they were not feared, they were definitley respected. The victory over such a force added to the Continentals weight.

Something else, it was one battle than two future Presidents were in. Two Americans were wounded, one Washingtons cousin, and the other a future President, that nearly died, James Monroe.
For a little more reading on the Battle of Trenton, go here.

And boys and girls, that is your quic history teaser for the day.
The Appalachianist

The Sky

2011-12-24T08:58:00.007-05:00

I find nothing pretty about this part of the world but the skys. They can be so clear and blue, the moonless nights and the plathora of stars...Though the richest starry nights I've saw were in Appalachia, and many in what is now my Ex's yard, others from mountain balds. In the land that I dearly call home the sky's are small, with trees and mountains lording around you. The sunsets are mixed with mountains while here, it's flat with little to no trees, it's just the sky...The sky alone in it's vastness. The sky owns the moment.

I seperate the land from the people in this view. I've known them in their gentle kindess and witnessed their brutality. They love the land, but don't respect it. They see nothing wrong in littering it for to them a man made garden is far prettier than the open land. And as I don't see it that way, it's the same as the Bride dressing to her finest, she's not pretty without the dress and make up. And in one manner you find them uncuthe, in the other you admire their customs. It's a brutal land and in order to survive you have to be brutal as it is, and to survive together, you have to have the thoughtful kindess of friendship pure. I've left them, but some I still see as my friends. I know that now some may no loger live, and I try to think otherwise.

I saw the skys that David Lowery looked at when he wrote this song and being a fan of his as I am, every time I hear this song, I think of the Iraqis and I wish them the best.

Tomorrow is Chistmas and I miss seeing the bare branches of the hardwoods and the sweet smell of wood smoke as well as the cool air that carrys it. Jesus loves you, Peace on Earth.

The Appalachianist

Sherman IB

2011-12-13T12:33:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting on a Sherman Tank with a 105mm gun on it. The tank was made in the U.S, but, U.S tanks never had 105mm guns on them. British Shermans did however. This is not the first time I've seen this tank. The first time was at Taji in a warehouse in 4th ID's area.

As the story goes, it was found in a junk yard and two Army Mechanics were given it to fix up when they were not bolting armor kits on to HMMWVs. It was recognised as a British varient, a Sherman IB. There was a lend lease program. As well, the Israelis used them into the late 60's, and even early 70's.

Somewhere along the line this tank ended up along the Tigris River. It may have went through Briish chanells, and then...A farther possability, the Iraqis got it in one of the wars with the Israelis, the 6 day War or Yom Kippur. But one would think if an Israeli crew abandoned it or were captured they would have set the thermite to it. And it would have been hauled all of the way across Jordan. I will lean towards the Brits.

It officially belonged to Iraq, and the Iraqis must have signed it over to us. I was glad to see it again. One other thing that I saw in the heeps of Military scrap that littered the place was a German 88. That was a gun that every Allied Soldier feared and it's rusting away just yards from the Tigris.

The Appalachianist

Devotion to Depth.

2011-12-09T05:59:00.004-05:00

I've had a busy week and the last couple of days not so much sleep. Another section was a little burdened, so, I was somone senoir to spare and was tasked out to help them. That put me on night shift in the middle of the week. getting in around 0100 every morning nad a room full of men getting up three or four hours later is not conducive to rest.
It's been an interesting week as far as things go here. Some I can't discuss, and some that I can.

Facebook...It's face value. Oh, I'm there. But I do prefer blogging. Blogging has depth. You don't find that with any social networking site. But, I've slacked off on blogging... Once because I was bored with it. And off and on now because it's bee hard to find minutes to devote to depth. Another thing about Facebook, it's a privacy fallacy. Someone figured out a way for the average joe to hack private pictures. Every little app is digging your information. It's as bad as the Untied States.

OK...my day is about to start.
The Appalachianist

Little to Say, Much to Show

2011-12-01T12:05:00.005-05:00

I posted a few pictures on this post that I discussed on the prior post, This Ain't The Pisgah National Forest.

A few miles below the Iraqi Border.

Another wrecked vehicle along the road.

KOA Kuwait. Apparently they just pick a spot along the road.

It occurs to me that I know barely enough German to be polite, enough Spanish to get my face slapped, enough Arabic to lock someone up and more than enough English to put my foot in my mouth.

The Appalachianist

This Ain't The Pisgah National Forest

2011-11-27T07:57:00.007-05:00

It's a little cool and breezy today. The sky is crystal clear except for a tan haze towards the ocean. The other day I mentioned a dust cloud hanging towards the ocean. It could have very well have been smoke and I suspected that it was. Well, it turns out I was right. I believe it was the day before yesterday that I saw a dark cloud of smoke emitting from the horizon and blowing towards the west. Once I got onto a high spot I could see it was coming from two smoke stacks. So...It's smoke.

Yesterday I made a trip to Camp Virginia and "K-Crossing". I've been to Camp Virginia before. I passed through there as I left Iraq in June of 2007. K-Crossing is where U.S. Convoys cross the border into Iraq. The land out there is wide and open, it's like the moon. It's bare, blah and ugly. The land slopes gently, there is nothing abrupt to it. This ain't the Pisgah National Forest.

At Camp Virginia I got the treat of McDonald's. Not that I am a huge fan of McDonald's, I barely went into the one in Buttholeville until my lovely Step Daughter started working there and then less when she left. It was just different and anything different is a treat. I think the biggest treat I've had here is when I went to Qatar and got to sleep in a real bed.

From K-Crossing I stared back into the abyss...AKA Iraq, not much there to look at. It wasn't iconic.

But, all along the highways going there was plenty to look at. Kuwaitis love to camp and from the roads toy can see their camps going into the distance. It was like KOA Kuwait, except allot less organized and their tents are not the North Face variety. They more resemble General Purpose Mediums (GP Medium), something about every Veteran can identify. Except their tents are cream colored or a dark brown with a cream stripe. Several tents are grouped together and sometimes there is an elevated water tank. Their there for a duration. Many of them have a little fence blocking off a square and even some have lights around the little compound. In a country of open land, everything is blocked off it seems. Of course the roads here are littered with trash and the remnants of obviously fatal wrecks. Hulks of bent and twisted cars sit along the road. They are always by them self and had to run into another, but it's only the one...It makes you wonder. Also, we drove a way down Hwy 80. That was the infamous "Highway of Death" from the Gulf War. It was once littered with the destruction that was the Iraqi Army of Occupation. It's gone now. When I came to Kuwait in the summer of 2006 there was some of that left sitting out near the Ali Al Salem Air Base. That was gone when I came back through a few months later.

"And the moment that you lived for it doesn't live for you..."
The Appalachianist

Thanksgiving Battle

2011-11-23T12:40:00.007-05:00

The time is going by. Sometimes the day drags, but, then one day rolls into the other. So, if I was to feel the need to express to everyone something to be thankful for...Honestly I consider such things a practice of Pharisies...It would be that time is moving. So much of my life I wished it would stand still. Not now.

One thing any more is our language. The words we use, lip service...Just lip service. We try to give everything special names...Like the "Super Comitee". I don't know what to call it, but, I suppose most people will call it failure now. Well, round in round it goes and where it stops, everyone knows.

I think the Army, the Military in general, is the worst at using flowery technical language. Take the word "battle"...Now, that's a Military word if we ever heard one.
it get's used so much for everything today, especially in the staff world. Let me give you the explanation. A kid goes to Basic Training, there he has a "Battle Buddy". His Battle Buddy is his newly assigned best friend. I had one, his name was Willis. We had very little in common but we got along. He was a little older than me and managed to put up with imature me. The Drill Segeants would say to us "your buddy". Today, it's the full blown thing, "your battle buddy".

I have nastolgia for our once simpler Army.

Another is the "Battle Box". That's a computer thing, so, you battle the computer. To put it simple it's kind of a sharing place to put files, and iformation for access by others. We're the Army, so we call it Battle Box. That way we can feel like we're slugging it out at Bostogne.

Back to Battle Buddy. It's a Drill Sergeant thing to call one another "Battle". So, is Battle a noun or a verb? Could it be an adverb? It doesn't matter, we like saying it. (I get called battle)

The other day I had a Leutenant Colnel say how we don't have the need for coloered alchahol pens and laminated boards anymore. "When was the last time you used one?". We're high speed! We have computers to do that for us now.

Don't get me wrong. I can see the need for computerised mapping, charts, and graphs. I love Google Earth.

Anyway, I hope you have a fun and entertaining Thanksgiving. It doesn't need to be perfect. There is going to be allot of poor stressed out women tomorrow. And, there ought not be. So...Happy Thanksgiving from all of me here at Appalachian Patria.

Until next time,
I am The Appalahianist.

Dust

2011-11-15T13:17:00.002-05:00

We’re leaving Iraq. Allot of the roads on this camp are dirt and gravel. Unlike the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys they’re not clay, but actual sand. The ground seems to have lime stone in it. It’s hard, with spots of loose sand on it. It can be dusty, but to me, not as dusty as the Baghdad area. At Taji, they sprayed the roads almost constantly with water to keep the dust down. Now, suddenly with the draw down coming out of Iraq, with all of the convoys rolling of equipment, it’s becoming very dusty.

Today a strange tan colored haze hung out towards the gulf. It was like suspended dust, but hung like smoke. It might have very well have been smoke. In Iraq you could always spot a FOB, look for the smoke of the burn pits. The Iraqis burned too, but not like us. They wanted it out of their way, piled outside of their domains, littering the roads. We wanted it gone, we piled it up in a huge pile and burned it. If you ever hear the Southern Culture On The Skids song, “My Neighbor Burns Trash”, well, that was us. Now there is a study going on about the effects of the burn pits on troops. Personally? I don’t know.

I know this…Looking at the news back home, all eyes are on the Occupy (insert name here) Movement and a child molestation scandal (that has not been proved in court). While we, the Military, are now pulling out of that shit hole Iraq. And, honestly, right now, it would be an unglamorous news story and that story ain’t wrote yet. A story has broken how our own, the Air Force, cremated our war dead and dumped their ashes in a landfill. Obviously, and for allot of reasons I can’t fault, the majority of the American public has wanted us out of there. I will say the same thing I would say…And did, when I was weeding through translations and 130 degree heat in 2006. Getting out of Iraq is no easy thing. And now, with it actually happening…Half of which, the Department of State will still be there…It’s largely going ignored.

I don’t hate the Iraqis. Despite how I would grit my teeth with them…I would turn around and laugh with them just the same. I wish them the best. I hope they can live in peace and prosper. I sincerely do. But, they won't.

The Appalachianist

This Week

2011-11-11T00:38:00.003-05:00

It's Friday, the 11th of November. Yeah, Veterans Day. So, let's get started with a little something to get your blood pumping. The Punk Rock is optionalTotaly optional man.
...

Veteran's Day
Yeah, Veterans Day. You can ask allot of school kids what day it is nad they will tell you. I don't think allot of them can tell you where it came from. The 11th of November 1918, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month...Today is 11/11/11.

He was our enemy, but the charctor of All Quiet on the Western Front, was killed on the 11th of October, 1918.

There is something bad though. You may have seen it in the news, maybe you've not. But there has been somewhat of a scandal at Dover Air Force Base. Dover is where he deceased have been taken from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was reading in The Stars and Stripes that some of the Service Members killed were cremated and then their ashes were dumped in a land fill. I won't make any further comment...

November 10th 1775
Yesterday was the Marine Corps Birthday. They really get into it, and that's good. But, where I want to talk about it is in a significant context to us as a Nation. The year is 1775. That's our year, still we don't have the Spirit of 76, but that was the year the American Revolution was coming to surface. We had a fledging Army since June of that year*. We were'nt going to compeat with the british very well if we could not engage their Navy. So, on October 13th, the Continental Navy was born. I imagine that that was no small feat. It would take quite a bit of material and effort to equip a Navy. Eventually John Paul Jones was in Command of a borrowed ship from the French.**Roughly a month after the Navy started being formed, the Marine corps was born. The Navy needed Marines to protect it, and to be an assault force for it. Well, after that, we didn't have much in the line of ships, but we had a Navy with Marines to support them.

The Royal Navy, despite holding it's gains from the Seven Years War against the French, was not all too prepared for delivering more troops across the Atlantic and the Gun Ships to support that. For them it was not just a war against the rebellous Colonies, but, the French and the Spanish. They had allot of water to cover...And the timber they had been using for heir masts came from the forests of New England.They were stretched thin.

Stretched thin or not, they had a Navy, and we didn't. When who ever it was went into Tung's Tavern and recruited the first Marine, well, as poorly equiped as either of them may have been, they had the most important thing...A person. It was sloppy, at times hap hazard, but we were compeating.

Arifjan Kuwait
Now, back to the future. Allot of people here are getting sick. It took a little longer than usual for it to start going around. It takes about a month or so and it's been about two months. It alread hit me. I went to Qatar for a week with one mean head cold.

Admenastrative Note
I'm taking on the daunting task of tagging all of the posts from my blog, over 600 of them. I never did it before. But, over time, as I found people doing searches for information on my stats, it started to make sense that I do.

*Trivia question! When did the first Commander of that Army, the Continental Army, take command?

** I get tired of French jokes, though we owed the French monarchy more than the post French Revolution Government, we owe allot to the French, Marquis De Laffayette, being one of them.

I've said enough.
The Appalachianist

November 6th Notes.

2011-11-06T00:22:00.005-05:00

Something is up with my different browsers. The only one out of the three that I use that will let me manipulate the controlm buttons for Blogger is Internet Explorer. I went as far as un installing and re installing Mozilla. I imported book marks to Google Chrome, and it was the same there. I might just un install and redo the both of them.

I have the day off, so I somewhat slept in this morning. Despite being woken several times by one or two of my many room mates, I woke around 7 to the sound of rain. For a brief second I wondered what the sound was, but then realised it was rain...."Our crops are saved!" Like the happy ending to a sharecroppers drama. It only lasted but a minute, wetting the sand and getting soaked up quick. That's unlike the two river valleys in Iraq where it turns to a sticky mud.

Well, we're pulling out of Iraq. We're not out of there yet though. There is allot of people and stuff to come out of there still. And then...There will still be the Department of State. There is allot to think about there. ALLOT.

I got word my oldest Dog, Rebel, got hit by a car. I've no details other than he is fine. It was not a catastophic hit. It most likely happened on a race. If the bear crosses a road, then so do the dogs, like little kids running after a ball. Then if the race falls apart or a dog drops out and makes it's way to a road, it's at risk. Fewer Hunting dogs get ran over on the hunt than pets do around the neighborhood. There are allot of threats to hunting dogs, what ever it chases, bear, coons, even deer, can fight them. They can be mistakenly shot, which everyone takes great care as to not to do. Then, there are cars, trucks, four wheelers and horses. But if you were to ask me what the biggest threat there is to one, I'd tell you it's the three kinds of people that will take your dog. A dog thief, someone bent on messing with a hunter, and someone that believes they know whats best and out of some moral better than though "rescues" your dog.

My last note: I've read little bits here and there on the Occupy(insert name here) movement. As I see it, they are ineffectual, just like the Tea Party. That's good, because, they don't know what they are talking about. The Tea Party got side railed by a bunch of republicans. I knew when I started seeing them dressed up like paul Revere, it was going to get real hoaky. The Occupy movement was clueless to start with. Or, at least some were. Deep in any group like that you are going to have your Marxist at heart types. There far too militant than the Tea Party. By far, the Tea Party has smarter people, more class and a genuine complaint. The Occupiers are just complaining.
Their most famous news shot in Oakland was when the Police tried evicting them. Now, Oakland has a reputation for being a pretty left wing town. I read that the Mayor of Oakland days before marched with them. The reason the Police were called in, was the sanitary problems. It reminds me of John Lennon's lyrics from "Revolution"..."But if you go carrieing pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow".

That whole song comes mind.
The Appalachianist

The Great Awakening

2011-10-21T12:44:00.004-05:00

I had once been told that the American Revolution began with a Baptist Revival. That is somewhat true, I think it was the pre running of the Methodist. While in our history books we're told that religious persecution was the primary factor in the migration of Europeans to the New World, and how we came to promote religious tolerance on account of it; this is not entirely so. A man named George Whitefield caused quite a stir in New England and eventually as far down as Savanna. Jonathan Edwards was another. The Puritans of new England didn't take well to them and they had the political power, having laws passed to prevent them from spreading their view of the Gospel. But Whitefield was a charismatic preacher. Benjamin Franklin went to hear him preach out of doubt about the size of crowds that the man drew. He would preach to 25,000 people without a microphone. Ben Franklin had to see it for himself. After which Franklin and some other men raised money to have a meeting house built to house the Revivals or any other religious event. Many of the people in the Great Awakening did not want to pay taxes to a church that they disagreed with, and resisted at risk of being jailed and fined. These were seeds of Revolution, another chemical in the mix. "The Age of Enlightenment" rising.

I'm now reading a book on Ethan Allen. If you don't know who Ethan Allen was, he was a major player in the American Revolution. . He was the leader of The Green Mountain Boys, which was not a backwoods militia as you would think. He,rather easily, captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. The British Garison knew nothing of the events at Concord Green due to word being sent around Nova Scotia and down the St. Lawrence.

Here is where I wanted to go into talking about another man in the bloody history of Lake Champlain, Robert Rogers. I had read a great book about his life earlier this summer. But, these two men are a complicated history.

The Appalachianist

Hemlocks of Carolina

2011-10-08T12:48:00.004-05:00

The Middle East is not like anywhere else. Everything, other than the base needs and desires is different than anything we Americans grew up with. To me everything here is "flimsy". Flimsy designs, flimsy in every sense. Flimsy in a way that I don't think I can get you to understand. Honestly, a few people that I know back in Eden have expressed an accuracy to me in their comprehension of this world. Usually those people are Transplantavanians that came back to the ground they knew as home.

I call there Eden, but, I know full and well it ain't. Other than the fact Eden was abolished with the advent of sin, home is a place of turmoil, confusion and drama. It's a culture war back home, it's fought every day, it never rages, just simmers in the summer heat and glows on winter nights. At times, it appears we've had the lick, and then at others we're hanging on better than ever. It's not waged as much as outsider versus insider as much as it is the new with the old.

There's a biological war as well. The hemlocks have taken a bad bad beating. They stand like skeletons, once proud and now sad old snags. Taken down by a little insect, the Wooly Alleged. Someone here before me had a subscription to North Carolina Wildlife and I picked one up and read an article on the Hemlocks struggle. I remember leaving to Iraq, those few years ago, seeing the green of the Hemlocks and coming home to see them standing without a needle on them.

Just a few years before a beetle had killed many of the pines. Where did these damn insects come from? The orient or just somewhere they should have stayed? You stomach that sight, there's no anesthesia for that pain. You accept that it's happening and pray for an answer...Then you hear some bright fellar is trying to find one. Who is this masked man?

Counter insects have been brought in, they've sprayed the trees...And have crossed some Asian trees to try to build immunity. That last one takes a long time...

Though I'm not one to lament, this ain't the first time I have lamented on this subject and it won't be the last.

The Appalachianist

Swedish Rockers

2011-10-02T04:13:00.005-05:00

As I was packing up for this deployment I packed a case full of CD's. I've always been a lover of music, and I had every intention of hearing what I wanted. The trouble with CD's is, they are bulky. I was slow to catch onto CD's. I held onto to vynal and cassettes as long as I could. I still don't like to just down load music, I like album art and notes. I also appreciate lyrics. Well, all of the cases are back at Appalachia central. And, all of my CD's are on the ocean somewhere. Why are they on the ocean? That's why I was rambeling, listen, or in your caase read, the ramble and know why. Because, CDs are bulky, I can only pack so much on a plane and personal items were put in tough boxes that went into overseas containers and onto a ship...As I sit and think about it, they have gone quite a trip. They flew from Asheville NC, to Atlanta, to Seattle and were then put into a tough box that went into a container that went to Texas that eventually went to Charleston SC. It was almost like a loop around the nation just to end up in this...I'll put it nicely...Barren land.

At the time I live in a big open bay room with over a dozen other Senior NCOs. We all like different kinds of music, or we talk with folks back home (mostly over Skype) and work different hours. As a result, all hours are quiet hours. So, if we listen to music, it's on headphones. I had enough music to survive short terms of boredom. And, with wireless internet working in the "not too shabby" zone, I can listen to allot of stuff off of Youtube. I was explaining all of this to a girl the other night that suggested I watch Kiss sing the Beatles. Kiss, after all, are boomers, and were not all about Metal.

Now, I've lost allot of readers. That's cool. But most everyone that has hung around since the days I went to Iraq know, I get into the Swedish Garage Rock band, The Hives....Tick Tick BOOM! Yeah...

I love their stuff. It's my prerogative so I don't need to explain why. You like it or you don't. But if you were to ask me, I'd tell you why. Because I'm that kind of guy. Ok...I'll tell you why, because they ROCK. It's simple, then complex, hard hitting and, they're real. They are also nuts in a Euro-cocky kind of way.

So, have a dose of The Hives on a bootleg video!

That's not enough...

You danced didn't you? How do you dance to that? Well, you just kinda shimmy and shake.

I am/was also a fan of the mid 90's band The Refreshments, they were a good time light hearted all around good band. They're stuff was funny.

So, the other night I was doing something and picking tunes off of Youtube...I did some Replacements, so I got to thinking Refreshments and I came across two different Refreshments. Turns out one is Swedish. And these guys play the stuff your Grand Daddy rocked too. Just like this. Rolling across the hot and humid South to three chords!

Not enough...They've got friends, check them out with Albert Lee, they guy with the crazy hair.

Variety is the spice of life, is it not? Well, one of the spices, only one spice and there would be no variety. So, does it beat the coperate stuff you get pushed on you in the US market?

Just saying...
The Appalachianist

Another Cool Reason TV Video

2011-09-30T00:55:00.005-05:00

This is political. But it's the kind of political thing we need to be talking about instead of the status qua that comes out of Washington. As a country, we're in a position where we need to be making some real decisions.

Now, some of this hits home. I'm from the Mountains of North Carolina. Known for their breath taking views, clear streams and illegal white liquor. That liquor that our grand fathers were making (and some neighbors are still making)was illegal before prohibition as it was during. That was not a health concern, but one of revenue. Hince, "revenuers". It goes back as far as the Whiskey Rebellion.

We can call it a double standard. We can call it a paradox. We can call it grey. But, it created somewhat of a sense of pride in rural communities where liquor was made. We had this notion, and a rightful one, that we were upping one to the nonsensical Federal Government, one that was blind to anything but it's own political and bureaucratic desires. And, then we pitied and despised the alcoholic. Preached about the troubles he caused and lamented over his demise.

People often get into something over emotions and then later divorce it for a reason. That's life, it's a cartoon, we play our part and sometimes have fun along the way. But, better choices can be made when we look at the why and how of the way things are.
And I've got the notion there were as many alcoholics per capita during prohibition as there is today. Abstaining is a personal decision.

Sit back and enjoy some neat video clips as Nick Gillespie talks from the trunk of someones car.

stuck like chuck in the land of sand...
The Appalachianist

So What's It Like?

2011-09-22T04:27:00.003-05:00

We've got crappy plumbing over here. Yep, you read me right, we've got crappy plumbing. It was that way up in Iraq, and, it's that way here. Oh, it works, it's just shoddy work. Pipes laying on top of the ground with a ply wood fame over them is one example. A little hose that pushes water in a stream hanging over the side of a urinal is another. But again, to give it credit, it works. Nothing is leaking out onto the ground. Pipes getting baked brittle in the sun is more of a threat than freezing and busting.

Back...Way back, when I was an adviser to the Iraqi Army (a slave with two masters)the Iraqi shower and latrine was a filthy trailer with a rotten floor and leaking plumbing oozing sewage into a ditch, that if I remember right was dug to collect what was leaking. It was a matter of concern, but, primarily the Iraqi's problem. They wanted us to solve the problem. We couldn't do that. The whole idea was to ween them. Stepping into an Iraqi porta-john was a safety hazard. You could trip over all of the water bottles on the floor.

Which reminds me of another problem. At the time the Iraqis were only issuing their guards two little bottles of water, one to drink, the other to wipe their ass with. If more water was near a Jundi didn't have to worry as much, but spending hours out in a tower with one little bottle to drink and bowel movements beckoning put him in a predicament.

I don't know how many times I saw muddy boot prints on the seat of a western toilet where they tried using it in the eastern fashion. Or how many times one was stopped up. I never saw that problem with an eastern. And here, some porta-johns are marked "Eastern" with a picture indicating it.

What brought this all to mind was a beautiful marble floor. They like marble floors over here. So, here was this beautiful, shiny floor and a urinal with flexy pipes twisted around going into the wall and some plaster daubed around them.

Every building I've ever been in over here was like that.

It's 6 AM in Eastern US Time Zone, time to get out of bed.
The Appalachianist

ArifJan, Kuwait

2011-09-17T12:40:00.004-05:00

I'm now at Camp Arifjan Kuwait. We flew in last night and after a short trip we were at our destination. I keep comparing everything to my trip to Iraq. That was very different. This is very different.

I had been writing my posts on Word and pasting them to the blog. Last weekend I dropped my netbook and the screen went out. So, I bought a new lap top, an HP Pavilion. That's what I had my first tour. Anyway, the deal is, I don't have Word on this thing, so posting was a little harder. To be frank, internet on Ft. Bliss sucks rotten eggs.

More to follow. I'm on a Replacements kick, so I leave you with The Replacements...It won't let me do it... But then it did.

The Appalachianist

28712

2011-09-08T16:38:00.002-05:00

1 September 2011
I use the internet at the PX food court. Ft. Bliss has a really unique and large Px and Commissary complex. I’m too lazy, you google it, either now or when your done reading. Just check it out. It has music playing classics and oldies. Allot of old school R and B. Now, I hate to be negative, but if you don’t speak up, nothing will get fixed. They play way too many Bee Gee songs. Way too many.
No one pays mind to this blog any more. And, I’m not too sure if I mind that. Don’t let that discourage you, dance around the campfire. Just don’t get crazy and fall in.

I regress. I previously stated that this is my first time in the southwest. Well, no. In July I was in Las Vegas. But, I don’t feel like talking about that. Not that what happened stayed in Vegas. It just didn’t leave.

2nd September

I’m a mountain boy. People have made comments to me about my accent. I’ve used words that have raised some laughs. These words I know are not exclusive to Appalachia. The Chief of Staff (A full Bird Colonel) used the same term… “A slew of”. They didn’t laugh at him, but he validated me and well, I hope it inspired them. Now, I don’t mind the laughs. I laughed with them. Damn Seattle people…

7th September
Believe it or not, I don’t like complaining. But somewhere I must have inherited paticuluarness. Or it’s my astrological sign, or just the way God made me or how he tolerates me. So, already you are wondering what I’m about to complain about. I’m going to complain about a place I’d love to be right now, Buttholeville. Yes, odd, quircky and overall great place to live, Brevard NC. County seat to Strangelvania…Uh, Transylvania County.

What happened is the county turned 150 years old. Who would have thought we’d make it that far. Being after the place became it’s own county it was a dangerous and depressing place to be during the 1860’s. But, it is what it is today. And, we’ve seen better times, at this point, it’s on a down hill slope in the economical sense. Socially it’s always been different, but not so much that it distracts you. Though, in my personal opinion, it’s socially depressed.

What distracted me was… I read about it in the Hendersonville paper. They had a big to do down town. The usual celebration stuff. Except a Barney Fife impersonator was there, “making the place feel even more like Mayberry”. People that place never has been, is not and never will be Mayberry. We’ve got a sandwich shop on Mainstreet now called Mayberry’s. I ate there once, it was OK. Service was decent. The waitress didn’t call me “honey, sugar, sweety” or nothing. I’m not holding that against her.
Oh, but, no. We’re not Mayberry. We’re Brevard. We’re unique as is Franklin and Waynesville is to themselves. That’s Mountain Communities. It goes for Sylva or Saluda. We’re a small town with our own riffs, secrets, politics, laughs and joys. We’re often divided, too damn independent to stand up together and never sure as how to do it, much less on what to do it for. And, yet, the “everybody knows everyone” syndrome is not all bad. You know who’s who and what’s what adding to the overall piece of things. But, that can get ugly all the same. On one of the most beautiful and peaceful stretches of road of the county a very gruesome thing happened once. And, the story only attests to how much someone can hate another. We’re not sadistic or mean people, but then we’re not always nice either. Things can be very personal in rural societies. That goes for kindness as well. I will repay a favor to someone for having the same last name of someone kind to me. Except for McCalls, Galloways and Owens. There’s too darn many of them…Just kidding. I’m related to all three, and not to all of them. Not all at once, that is. But, seriously, If I meet someone from another Mountain community with a possible tie to someone I’ve known through the Service, or I’ve hunted with, and, they were good people. I look after that person. Being nice is personal, and being a jerk is too. If one of those kind that I mentioned were not as good to me, I treat the person with caution. Meanness can be hereditary, birds of the same feather flock together.

Not to say all is meanness. At times we are naive, and at others we are as smart as anyone and no one is really that innocent. Brevard NC is a great place. No other place I’d rather be. That goes for the county. My people chose a good place all of those years ago. We struggle, we win we lose. Were not innocent, we’re not charmed. Please, don’t associate us with Mayberry. Mayberry was only associated with typical small town quirks. Not the other way around. You want to live in Mayberry? Turn on your TV.

What do they teach them in OCS?
The Appalachianist

Dr. Bernice's Delta Eighty Eight.

2011-09-01T16:28:00.004-05:00

H30th August
I’ve been around. That is to say I’ve traveled, and mind you, not always by choice. I’m more interested in the wonders of my own back yard (Southern Appalachia) than I am anywhere else. Yet, thanks to Uncle Sam and I admit, other endeavors, I have been to a few places. However, unless I was there long enough to get the dirt under my nails, I don’t consider myself as to having been there. I’ve passed through Ireland, Spain, Germany, Newfoundland and Hungary. I can attest to their beauty, but, I only saw it from a bird’s eye view. I was in those places no time at all. The same can be said for a few states.

This is my first time to Ft. Bliss, and believe it or not, my first time to the Southwest. I’ve gotten the dirt under my nails here. From a distance I can see parts of El Paso and Juarez across the river, but the river is not in view. I’ve been off post once, and that was in transit. El Paso appears to be a growing city. And, the mountains in the distance here are pretty. Yesterday I was on a range and I could look and see a big ridge to the east and across a gentle, sweeping valley was another low ridge of hills. The hills were sparse little knobs and the ridge just rose and bent over into a broad, flat valley. Of course there were the bushes and yuccas growing in the waterless valley. But, a man could see for a ways. It was like the set of a western. I could see Outlaws riding their horses in hopes of making it to Mexico and Hombres greeting them at camp fires while wondering what trouble they’re in. I tried humming a verse of Marty Robin’s song about El Paso and a certain Mexican Girl.

I think of the history here, little that I know. Longstreet was Commander here before he went and served in the Army of Virginia. US Officers watched Poncho Villa’s battle at Juarez from across the Rio Grande. Anglo culture of the United States met the culture of the Mexican populace in what came to be The Republic of Texas and then another State of the Union before a Confederate State and back to the Union. And, amongst it all outlaws rode through Hondo Pass in a desperate rush for Mexico. Now, Mexicans cross the Rio Grande in a desperate push for The United States. It’s ironic. I wonder what the Apache think?

1 September
I know that somewhere across the river in Juarez is where Dr. Bernice got the fake leather seats for her Delta 88 she spray painted black and on a hot desert night with the windows down wide the stars will spell out your name...

Sand in my eyes,
The Appalachianist

Nonprofit

2011-08-28T13:25:00.001-05:00

26th August
Sometimes I wish I was a celebrity. Not so much that I could have beautiful women hanging on my arms, though, that would be rather pleasing, or to have a fancy house with a flashy car and a crew of people telling me I’m cool, but…I’ll stop. Run away sentence alert…But, so I could have my own charity. That’s what they do, they give back. Usually to some cause plucked from air. My cause? It wouldn’t be the save this that or the other cause. Couldn’t you hear that?” The Daniel Wilson Fund to Save This, That and the Other. A nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving stuff. “ Oh, but, I want my own charity. I just can’t figure out what for. Part of this is my…OK…I’ll say it, machoism. Not to be confused with Appalachiaism. I don’t want it to be about saving stuff…But, I do. I want a Wildlife fund, because you can’t save people. Animals are cool, and people suck, at least when they are not being cool. Do I want to save wildlife? No. I want wildlife to have outstanding habitat, the rest will follow. Could you just hear that? “The Daniel Wilson Fund to Provide Outstanding Habitat to Wildlife and Beyond. A nonprofit organization dedicated to giving wildlife outstanding habitat and beyond”. That way we say it twice so people really get the point. What is it…A validating statement, a validation statement, take your pick. I like validating things. I could have the “Daniel Wilson Validation Fund. A nonprofit organization dedicated to validating things and stuff too”. Things and stuff are not always the same thing, or the same stuff. And, sometimes things and stuff need validating, but, I will stick to wildlife.

To be honest, since this country has spent itself into a hole and cut backs are inevitable (though spending money is not) then wildlife and forestry are going to take a hit. So, outdoorsmen have to step it up.

Oh, I didn’t explain the “Beyond” . That’s just to make it sound even more cool. Or better yet, that says everything will follow once wildlife has outstanding habitat. First, I’ve got to become a celebrity. I wonder how I could do that? What kind of nonsense am I good at? Got any ideas? I need an act, right now! If I’m going to become a famous celebrity with my own nonprofit organization, I need to get busy.

27th August
Want to know a secret? I’m home sick. Not that if I was back there I’d be living in some Mountain Paradise, but, my thoughts drift to the place. Its running season, you can run Bear with Dogs, just not kill the Bear, that comes in October. Last season wasn’t good and wasn’t much to me. Last night I would most likely have been out all night long. I’m here instead, the Desert Southwest. I’ll not fret though. I’m here, here and now, and I’ll take advantage of the opportunities it offers me. Which, Lord willing, will be bountiful.

Jello Boy told me a touch of fall is starting to show. The sycamores are losing their leaves, they usually drop them first. I know with Irene running up the coast she has pulled the moisture out and the air is dry. Dry for the Carolinas, that is. I was telling one of my buddies here that some of the prettiest days are on the heels of a Hurricane or Tropical Storm. The days are still hot now, but the nights have that little cool to them. The next time I see Transylvania, it will be winter or spring. At least I get to see it though. All of the guys before, Vietnam, Korea, they did a whole year. No computer with video chat, barely a call home, and no mid tour leave.

For Now
The Appalachinist

Pink Unicorns

2011-08-25T17:26:00.001-05:00

I21 August
Today is Sunday, the 21st. It won’t be long before we’re in Kuwait. To tell you the truth, I’m ready to get it over with.
22 august
This is too much like a diary. I feel like a little girl and I like the color pink and unicorns… Right now, I like sleep. I sleep, but it ain’t the best sleep. We are doing an exercise of some kind. There are imaginary players and events, we handle them. I work a 12 hour shift at night. Then I come home, crash and wake up, and go shower not so much to be clean but to just feel good.
I packed all my music CDs into a foot locker that is going over on a boat. My room mate is a Metal fan, so he plays some music from his computer sometimes. All I have is a mix on my phone of Drive By Truckers, Old 97s, Son Volt and a Drivin N Cryin tune…Scarred But Smarter. I keep listening to the same songs over and over. And, sad thing that it is, I’m heading to a life of Groundhog Day.
Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) are little cities withen them selves. Everyday you get up and walk to work, same way, you can take the long way, but it’s just more of the same stuff. You eat at the same place, unless you eat at one of the fast food vendors serving out of a carnival trailer. You wear the same thing every day. You get used to that, but it’s just the primer. Everyday, you deal with the same stuff. Same people. And, being the middle east, the weather pretty much stays the same through summer and fall. An ugly kind of beautiful.
Honestly, Arifjan, the Capital of FOBs in all of Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan is rightly plush from everything I gather. It’s close to the ocean in Kuwait, people get off work and wear civilian clothes. In Iraq, you might have a t-shirt and pair of shorts used for relaxing in your hooch. Civvies are not authorized. But at Arifjan, you go to the PX in civvies.
Taji was a mud hole. Everyone that was in Taji jokes about the dump it was. It was Saddams Maintance hub and some interpreters told me they were trained there during their stint in the Army. The Iraqi maintenance system was cannibalization out of junk yards, so, there were quite a few junk yards and armored vehicles were scattered everywhere. There were craters, some 20, 25 foot deep. I found all kinds of old weapons rusting under a layer of dust. A Martini Rifle once. The barrel was bent as it had been burned. Gutted buildings. Saddams face painted on walls and litter scattered everywhere. A Security Contractor asked me if I knew what the Iraqi flag was. His answer? A black garbage bag caught in Constantia wire. He was right. It was a place that was one of the dirtiest things I ever have saw. Just to think, it had been worse before US occupation. But, it was interesting. I’ve been in T-55s, T-62s, BRDMs, BMPs. I’ve seen air craft missiles dug up from the ground.

I say occupation because we occupied the place, We called it “coalition”, because there were other nations there as well. Estonians, Macedonians, and one or two others on the place. There was the Coalition and Iraqi side which was like the wild west.
24th August
After I got transferred I almost fell out of contact with my old Company. I checked up on them and turns out one of the guys that had been in the Company got hit by an IED in Iraq. The story is by trying to get another guy out of the vehicle he got third degree burns on his hands and arms. Another boy got killed. This happened last month and no one got word to me. They thought I had already headed across the water. He’ at Sam Houston. Now he has the medal no one wants but everyone that has one is the proudest of…A Purple Heart.

Pink Unicorns Out
The Appalachianist

Summer Nights

2011-08-17T11:51:00.000-05:00

12th August
Well, that was yesterday. Do you need a laugh? A car passed me on my way to Sick Call and splashed water all over me. Just like in the movies, and my back, well, the Doc said I was taking good care of it and gave me a prescription. Now, it’s old news to me and I don’t want to talk about it.
Believe it or not, the Army Reserves has allot of bright people in it, people that are just full of ideas. Unfortunately, allot of those ideas stay ideas, lost in mediocrity. Some ideas seem like schemes, some are harebrained and some are simple solutions. A problem that the Army Reserves has, and is becoming more common, is all of the Active Duty wannabes. Often these people have served on Active Duty, and spend years in the Army reserves trying to pull more time. I’m not knocking it, it’s usually a monetarily motivated quest. Not all, but most of the wannabes are not the flexible, imaginative Reservist. They are usually unimaginative, inflexible and dogmatic thinkers. They think the Army is the ultimate society. It’s not. There is no ultimate society.
Let me tell you something…I’ve got a friend, he served in the Israeli Army during the 1981 invasion of Lebanon. One day we were talking and he hit the nail on the head. Back back to the Cold War. We’ll break it down into East and West. The West won the Cold War, not because we were so good, but, the other side was so bad. They defeated themselves. (And, this is my part, Ronald Reagen just helped them convince themselves that they were) We’ve …
16th August
I lost that thought. Well, I knew what I was thinking. I started with one of the many Army Reserve personalities. Oh, yes, there are different types. And yes, sometimes you’ve got to give your own enemy credit for their failures before you pat yourself on the back. No one is perfect.
Speaking of perfect. Let me pause…It’s weird how people pop in your head. Let me unpause. Today, my whole part of this unit was in a room, kinda like a cubicle farm without the cubicles. It was chaos, noisy, everyone trying to come together in their little piece of the puzzle to make it all fit. It annoyed me, but, then, it was something to behold. If it wasn’t so chaotic, then, well, nothing would be happening. Everyone was making an effort. Everyone wanted success. People want to perform. Not for some personal recognition, but some sense of success. There is only one person in this unit that I’ve met before, that was back on Taji, and I don’t remember him much. It was when I was leaving and he was coming in. But, we are slowly getting a bond, putting into the pack. We want to put into the groups success.
Now, all aside, I think of home. Katydids screaming…My house is dark, it’s Training Season, if the weather is not too hot Friday night a man can run his Dogs while the katydids make their sweet racket. They are yelling that fall is coming. I’ll not see fall this year, well, I doubt it. It’s just good to know all of this is happening. And, that my house is dark. The darkness of a summer night is solemn.

The Appalachianist

At Last I post

2011-08-14T09:10:00.002-05:00

11th August
I can now manage to write. It’s been two weeks now that I’ve been on Active duty. In some ways the time has gone fast, mostly. In others it’s not. Things have gotten a little more organized from what they were in the beginning and, as time goes it gets a little better. There are allot of moving parts to this thing. It’s to be expected. But…There’s always a “but”…As my Ex pointed to me about how people would say “I love you/him/her but…” The clause to the statement, the clause to the feeling. But…There are allot of interjections. Changes, information being placed in the wrong context. And, believe it or not, I’m guilty of it too.
It’s a little after 0500. Most everyone has gone to a Combatives class. There is a storm east of here, maybe it’s in Mexico, after all, I hear Juarez has been a violent place the last week. I’m not with them because I hurt my back Monday night lifting some over loaded foot lockers. Tuesday I could hardly walk, yesterday was better. I was very stiff after standing up for a minute or two. It wasn’t feeling like a boot in my back. I went on sick call and was asked if I could tough it another day, that they were all filled up for the day. I could, so, I took it for the team and toughed it out. I claim no bragging rights. I can count the number of times over 25 years that I’ve gone on sick call and have fingers left. The word has a bad connotation. People ride it, like people that ride welfare or any other program. But, people know who those people are. However, it’s more common for someone to not take advantage of it. Guys…And gals, will avoid if they can for a number of reasons. Peer pressure, not wanting to be poked at in a gruff Military medical clinic, not wanting to be taken form their duties. The list goes on.
It’s raining now and I can hear a train. Someone mentioned yesterday that it was muggy for Ft. Bliss. Maybe this is why.
I’ve not gotten allot of opportunity to call home, or get online. It’s been a little late when we’re done. Most often the folks back home would be in bed. I can’t help but wonder about home either. Not in a worrying fashion, just a curiosity. I’m mortal, the sun rises and sets without me. Where ever I go, it comes up and sets the same. It's just not the same.

The Appalachianist

Hope for Hemlocks

2011-07-29T20:47:00.003-05:00

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I wouldn't live here, not even for Love. I do have a tinge of jealousy for here though. They're evergreens are standing pretty and tall. This is where I explain...

I'm from Transylvania County NC. It's one of the greenest* places in the country. But, over the last few years we've lost some of our finest greenery, the Hemlocks. The woolly adelgid has been eating them something fierce. One of my last acts, and it was only a detour in taking care of business, was to drive up Davidson River over to Balsam Grove. It's lined with the snags of once proud Hemlocks. It's no longer a new sight to me to see naked, dead Hemlock standing on a mountainside. That was to me when I returned from Iraq. The dark green had turned a dull gray. It's a sad sight. But, as always when I stare out at the lifeless limbs, and catch sprigs of green. Needles hanging on to limbs on all but the biggest. I really don't know what my grandchildren will see. Like my Grandfathers that knew the Chestnut, all but lost to my generation. Then there is one, a sapling, but ancient no longer shaded by it's parent tree, raising up to reach the sun.

The sun, Before long I will see it in it's worst context, in a desert. Lifeless desert. Oh, I know life is there, but, that is the best words to describe it. Deployment is so aggravating. This is so different than when I deployed before. That predeployment was more organized, still full of changes, but far more organized than what is happening with this one. It's a different kind of deployment though. Before when I was going to Iraq, my year was nothing but uncetain, where I would be, who I would be with and what I would do. Otherwise, the day to day was lined out. Not that it is not lined out here, but, it's a whole different set of circumstances. I have bitter thoughts comparing it to before, then I have to remind myself, the Army changed the deployment rules, how they want to deploy Reservist from my time in 06. It's a broken up process and that creates issues of it's own. Things get lost...Time is lost.

But unlike in 2006, I don't think the Hemlocks are doomed. I know where they are all green, not a snag among them. At least, the last time I was at one of those places. So, I grit my teeth in these temporary circumstances and know, just like for the Hemlocks, there is hope.

Today marks 25 years of the Army. It's been all of my adult life.
The Appalachianist

*I'm not talking the Environmental Fad

Satruday Morning Post.

2011-07-16T06:50:00.004-05:00

Oh, I love this video!

If I had a camera...
The Appalachianist

Pardon Me

2011-07-14T06:40:00.003-05:00

Pardon me... This might seem naive. But, I don't get all of the stalling on the debt talks. Now, I will admit personally, I'd like to see some major cuts in the Federal Government. I also admit, I can't see not raising taxes. I've got two little grandsons and a little (2nd) cousin that have not yet graced kindergarten that should not be stuck with the bill of $14 Trillion debt.

Now most heathens and gentiles can agree, if you don't use something, then it's not needed. We know that recently the Government Accounting Office came out with a report of duplicate programs for one thing or another that are rarely if ever used. You find what works and what doesn't and you cut the doesn't. That's the easiest way to start. Now, that may be happening and then it may not be, I'm mainly relying on big media lately.

I'm not too naive. THat won't add it to the major cuts needed. Yes, I said needed. That is the most we can expect of cuts with the two big parties running the government.

The Appalachianist

The 5Th of July

2011-07-04T20:07:00.002-05:00

I've got a neighbor I was talking to today. He is one to listen to a scanner. I can listen to what's going on, if something is going on. But, I won't listen in general. I find it annoying to listen to the way cops talk on the radio, that's just me. That's not what this post is about, it's about what my neighbor was telling me.

I live in Transylvania County, which is in the state of North Carolina, which is a part of the United States of America, you know, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. We also have a healthy population of what allot of folks call "red necks". Hence the brave and the free. And, as my neighbor, a flag flying Vietnam Veteran, said, it's the 4Th of July, people are going to shoot fireworks. There is a little bit of a problem with that. Not all fireworks are legal in the State of North Carolina, we can't even buy a rare hamburger. We can have a sparkler.

He told me that all night he listened to one call after another of someone shooting fireworks. The Deputies and the Police couldn't keep up with it. He went as far as saying they sounded as if they didn't care either. I don't always agree with the "powers that be" around here, but if that is so... I'm proud of them.

Now, Raleigh will tell you it's to keep folks "safe". Most folks will say "money", being you can buy a permit (I'm not sure of the cost or process). Personally, i'm more willing to say "control". South Carolina sells fireworks by the hundreds. And, yes, there is a story of a boy that went to school with my parents blowing an M-80 in his hand while coming up Ceasor's Head. But, South Carolina isn't setting up a temporary morgue every July. Why should we? Afterall, more stumps have been dynamited in the Mountains than the Piedmont.

And...Speaking of temporary morgues...I'm sick of people lamenting about "how dangerous it is" and crime. It ain't Baghdad people. No one is setting up a temporary morgue down town. You don't count how many family members are missing. Most of our crimes are fabricated crimes. We incarcerate more people per capita than China. Go ahead, look it up yourself. I won't link it so you don't depend on my information.

Now, back to fireworks. North Carolina is a state and will do dumb, political things. But, calling the law over someone shooting fireworks on the 4Th of July is just plain nanny minded busy bodiness. Some folks don't know what to do but shoot fireworks and fly flags. I'm not going to rain on their parade.

I know I've put this video up before. I'm doing it again. It shows what it was like to stand up to disciplined British Red Coats face to face, toe to toe. We get our ass handed to us here. We got our ass handed to us allot. Yet, we kept at it. It paid off in time.

Beat your drum on the 4Th, fight on the 5Th.
The Appalachianist

Uncle William's Thing

2011-06-23T18:24:00.002-05:00

If I told you William Galloway was my uncle, and you were from here, you would wonder who I was talking about, but, if I said "Red" Galloway, you would say..."Oh Yeah!". The family called him William, everyone else called him "Red". My "Uncle Red" had an old Volkswagen Thing. It was orange, just like the one you see here. What ever possessed him to buy it was probably a good buy and a third vehicle. You could haul stuff and youngins and, well, it was a Volkswagen. Who cared if it was ugly, it was useful.

We had a family picnic down at Sycamore Flats one time, that's the time William had the Thing. All of us kids were checking it out, I mean it was ugly, so we're going to look. William decided to give us a ride. Off we went. The only place I remember us going was Highway 276. That's because it caught on fire. The battery was under the seat, and it got to smoldering on us. My cousin calls out to him that there was smoke, it had happened before. William gets an agitated look..."Well, see if you can stomp it out"...But, William stays calm, while all of us kids had visions of us hopping out as it goes up in flames. My cousin Mark is stomping his heart out..."You get it out yet?"
"No, it's still smoking"...
"Well, keep stomping"...
William looked agitated, but, he didn't lose composure. He pulled back into Sycamore Flats and in someway he got it out. I can't recall how. He just did, and he didn't hang onto the Thing too much longer. He probably sold to someone for a good buy.

Unfortunately, I relayed this tale today at his funeral. William had a Bobcat, it was his favorite toy. While he worked at the Ecusta Paperrmill, now laying in dust on the ground, he cared more about his side business's. One of which was landscaping, in comes the bobcat. But, even more, William wasn't one to stand and watch another man work. He'd help someone if he could. Monday he was helping a neighbor, and that bobcat rolled over on him...I wish it wasn't so.

I was told he wanted to talk with me before I headed out. I'll not know what he had to say. I was to see him this weekend. Another thing I'll always remember about William was him sitting by my Pau Pau's side as he was dieing, patiently talking with him. Or laughing about tearing down the old house and finding liquor in the chimney. But, the most thing will always be the characteristic he had, no matter how grim things got, no matter how bad it seemed or how much it hurt, he took it straight faced. My cousin Mark inherited that, and I respect him for it. I saw allot on William's face over the years. Disappointment, dread, pain, laughter, determination, seriousness and joy. He was a man about it all though.

Me and William didn't see each other that often. I'm sure going to miss him though.
The Appalachianist

Reflections

2011-06-11T20:15:00.003-05:00

Well, I just returned from another trip to Seattle. It was pretty uneventful. Some pretty days. I was there for a class on handling contracts. Contractors have a bad rap in theater. some well deserved, others, not. Working with Iraqi Army we had both US/UK contractors and Iraqi. Anham is a company from Dubai. I'm not sure where to put them. sitting in the class I remembered the one Iraqi contractor, a company ran by...get this...A woman. I never met her, though I did speak to her over the phone. I was told she was a very attractive woman, and she was charming over the phone. She had an engineer and workers. For several reasons it was decided to terminate the contract. shoddy work and a host of other dramas. Ms. Charming was playing a game and not paying her workers. What happened...A day I will always remember due to the FOB getting hit hard with 120mm Mortars...We tracked the engineer down, he was running from us in the Iraqi contractor camp. We cornered him, us from the Depot and the Air Force advisory to the IA Base MPs. We kicked him off the FOB. He was back a month later. Ms. Charming never got another contract.

There was another woman though, an American. I can't remember her name. I did meet her once, a big woman. I first heard of her because she ran a kitchen that other US/UK contractors would go to on the Iraqi side of Taji. She had been a dog handler for I think maybe Blackwater.She later did some work for us, a carpentry job. The last thing I remember was that she was gone and CID was looking for her. She was barred from all FOBs (in good old hostile Iraq)and if we did see her we were to detain her and hand her over to the MPs. It ad something to do with a large sum of money. Around a million, I think.

I know I've told you about sleeping through a rocket attack. I'm still not sure how I did that. In those days I was spending allot of time on the hot pavement and it did get me tired. I was eating with some friends right after my return and there was some thumping against the walls on the far side of the restaurant...it sounded like mortars walking in. I was judging the distance and direction. One of them had been in Vietnam, and I think he could tell. But, sometimes...When I least expect it...A big bang, if it has that deep sound will make me jump. And, it has occurred to me, I will the rest of my life.

God save the angels of Oconee.
The Appalachianist

Me Going Off On The Media.

2011-05-27T19:52:00.004-05:00

It's nice to be home, at least for the meantime. I'll be back in Seattle this time next week. I'll be going back out for 7 days, I have to attend a class.

That's news on me. Now, about the news. I have this belief, that if you are paying for news, your are getting ripped off. My time in Iraq convinced me of that. Take this end of the world thing. Someone is always predicting the end of the world, it fascinates people. I think it's a little cocky, and well, people closest to me call me cocky, so, it must be cocky. Why was it news? We have three wars and they are reporting on that? Yes, three wars, count them.

While I was away good ol' Buttholeville made the national news. Some Police Officers were arresting someone when a woman threw lighter fluid or something on them and then tried throwing a flaming cotton ball on them. Now, that's not funny, but it is. How do you throw a flaming cotton ball? Well, not too good, because it didn't reach the cops. The carpet caught fire. The Police got up and put it out the old fashioned way, they stomped it out. Word is there was a meth lab in the place, I don't know. The cops ain't saying. It started out a drama arrest. The guy had misdemeanor warrants ad was acting crazy, not like it was murder, but it ended in attempted murder. Go figure.

Well, back to Iraq. Allot of my experiences the last few weeks have made me reflect on that time. One reflection being that I never saw the media do anything in depth enough to get a grasp on the real situation. Later, I was able to read between the lines on such issues. They blew allot of stories. They went on canned State Department tours, in some cases came on the Muslim Holy Day (Friday)or asked a couple of questions, smiled, snapped some pictures and whisped back off to a cozy place in the IZ. Allot of the time, they didn't grasp what was taken place. If the reporters did get something, in my opinion, it gets messed up in Big Media...Lost to the "industry standard". I would sit, well, actually stand and listen to the S2 dump (intel) almost every day. The violence would be sporadic at times. At times it was the big ticket stuff you saw on the evening news. But, what you saw,( hey, notice how coverage has nearly disappeared?) was a very small part. Honestly, allot of it would not have made sense to you anyway, but, if you contemplate our Military Endeavor, if you got your information from the news, you didn't get much.

I do enjoy the sight of a pretty lady reporter...
The Appalachianist

Speaking Of Easter

2011-04-24T17:48:00.005-05:00

First and for most, Happy Easter. The spring's first full moon came finally. I managed to see it in Seattle, that doesn't always happen. So, once it's here, it's Easter. Easter is a funny sounding word, but it's a sweet word. It can mean allot of things for allot of people. But we all know it's about Jesus and not rabbits. I wonder how rabbits slid into the picture? Oh, well, that's no concern. They're cute and taste good, we'll leave it at that.

A short while ago, on recommendation of my roommate here, I saw the movie Conspirator. Interesting drama. Speaking of Drama, foolishness has given that word a bad name. It made for some good viewing, however. It had a moral, though I can't attest to it's accuracy, that Mary Surratt, owner of the boarding house where the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln was to have been plotted was railroaded by a Military Tribunal. It made me want to learn more.

Speaking of learning, I've been learning more about Daniel Boone. Daniel Boone was a man, he was a big man, but, his debts were bigger than he liked for them to be. As well, there are more fables of Daniel Boone out there than there is truth. He never claimed to have killed more than four Indians in his life and took no pleasure in it. He did travel far, he was born in Pennsylvania, moved to the Yadkin River country of NC, trapsed the Blue Ridge, got lost in Florida, stomped what is now South West Virginia, West Virginia and the eastern half of Kentucky,as a prisoner of the Shawnee's was taken to Detroit. There he feigned loyalty to the Crown in an effort to save his skin and the skin of his kin. I'm yet to finish the book, he's just making it to Missouri, but, I am enjoying the read. I can say this, he was a man, a real man and he lived a rough life and made the best out of it as he could. As a quote from T.E Lawrence I read in Boilerplate over at the Barnes and Noble (killing time so I wouldn't drop a phone call on the folks back home in Easter Dinner) that no one ever writes the truest form of History. That's true. Daniel Boone was an exploited character apparently. And, by the way, I'm reading the biography "Daniel Boone", by John Mack Faragher. An Author with local ties, Robert Morgan, (The Morgan's are the only Welsh family in Transylvania County) wrote one on him too, and I intend to read it as well. Check several source.

Today is cloudy and it drizzled this morning. The last two days were beautiful here in Seattle though. Not a cloud in the sky. I'm listening to Drive By Trucker's "Southern Rock Opera, Act I"

Know the Lord is coming, the South will rise again
The Appalachinist

I Made It

2011-04-16T21:46:00.002-05:00

Friday morning we were flying into Atlanta, we were close, the grass was looking blurry and then suddenly, the Pilot pulled it back up. We race tracked around for 15 minutes, taking time away I needed to catch my next flight. Turns out the runway wasn't clear. At least we didn't wind up on the news.

The weather is all dreary out here in Seattle. But, heck, I've seen it cloudy for a month back home and drizzling half the time. And then, I've seen the sun for a month, but not as much as the rain. But, then...Then is the theme of this paragraph in case you can't tell...Maybe I remember the rain more. Yet (you thought I was going to say "then")the weather is a mix up enough back home that such things are easy to remember. Not seeing the sun for a month is the norm here. So, then, if they were to see the sun for a month here these folks would express some form of exclamation.

I have a minor case of jet lag
The Appalachianist

Head West Young Man

2011-04-11T18:03:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've done this. Heck, it's like old times. Makes me want to stomp and holler.

I'm heading out west for a few weeks. Life on Spanish Oak Branch is about to be on hold. I've been tagged. A unit in the Northwest had a shortage, and well, I qualified. On the 15th of last month I was involuntarily assigned to them for reasons of Mobilization. I'm heading back to the Middle East. Only this time in a support role in Kuwait. Long story there. It was a roller coaster last month, going from you might go, to your off the hook to you are the only one we can send, you can volunteer, but, we're going to send you anyway. You'll be sweating your taxes and I'll be flying to Seattle.

I'll be hanging on to three Dogs. At least I'll try to hang on to three Dogs. I've got a few months to work it out.

God Bless The Angels of Oconee
The Appalachianist

"The Brave Captain Kirkwood"

2011-01-17T19:41:00.008-05:00

Today is the 17Th of January. You've seen every image of Martin Luther King Jr. and heard "I have a dream" sound bites all day long. You know it's Martin Luther King Jr. day. The media is not going to let you forget. If you ask me, and you just did, you read my blog, it's a bunch of silly hero worship. Don't get me wrong. I have allot of respect and admiration for the man. He was a Freedom Fighter. He was not the only one sticking up for the colored folk, allot more did. But, to carry on like all of this, it's hero worship. He was just a man trying to do the right thing. Thanks to the way everyone acts, allot of others are becoming forgotten. Allot of lessons go with them.

But, let's back up to get to the reason of this post. Today is the 17Th of January and in 1781 on this day backwoods militias and Continentals stood toe to toe with a well organized and disciplined British Legion and won. Lord Cornwallis had lost one of his flanking forces already at Kings Mountain and with Cowpens, he lost the other. Afterwards Cornwallis chased Nathanial Greene to his demise at Yorktown.

With Yorktown, the British were finally forced to admit defeat. It was something a long time coming. The Tories of New England seemed to only be with the King in spirit. The British openly talked of writing off those Colonies. The British had taken troops from where ever they could be spared and hired Germans soldiers to fight. Their Navy was stretched thin from Gilbatrar to Dominica and proving not up to the task. The French and Spanish smelled blood and were eager to help the United States. The Continental Army and Militias were becoming a more professional force and despite some humiliating defeats were managing to drain the British as they attempted to re colonize the South. It was too much for Britain. Something finally gave.

What was taking place in the backwoods of the Southern States was a brutal guerrilla warfare. South Carolina had around 800 different skirmishes. It was not pretty. Loyalists and Whigs fought bloody fights and left each others families hungry. Many of the men at Cowpens were the expendables. Young men without families to feed, widowers and the like. Many had had experience as Continental Soldiers and were serving a time in the Militia. The Continentals were far from their homes in Maryland and Delaware.

Maybe you've figured it out by now, but I went down to the Battlefield this last weekend and snapped a few pictures.

Captain Kirkwood was the Commander of the Delaware Company of Continentals. The Company was noted for their actions, as well as himself. Cpt. Kirkwood never rose further in rank and was never highly decorated. He was killed after the Revolution fighting Indians. From what I've read, he never asked for nothing.

I would say, the best book to read on the battle itself, is "A Devil Of Wipping"

Remember The Waxaws
The Appalachianist

They Poison Themselves With Their Judgement

2011-01-12T21:56:00.005-05:00

This song came to my mind.

Steve Jones was a Sex Pistol.

JWFO
The Appalachianist

Merry Christmas, from me to anyone

2010-12-25T08:05:00.002-05:00

Its Christmas morning here at Appalachian Patria Central and about to snow. I'm throwing down the Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits and typing with one hand. It's 10 minutes after 8 and all through the land sleepy eyes parents are just catching a breather as the kids wind down from playing with toys for four hours. Someone breaks out the mantra, either said in excitement or in the typical mantra tone, "Jesus is the reason for the season". We're lucky he loves us regardless. Understand, someone is freaking out today over something that doesn't really matter. If you are reading this Christmas day, you're not. Remember the WWJD Campaign, allot of pre teen girls walked around with bracelets saying WWJD on them. WWJD stands for "What Would Jesus Do?". It helped kids find ethical solutions. Maybe we should give some to the folks in Washington DC? I think we should start a new campaign titled JWFO, Jesus Wouldn't freak Out!" It just started snowing and someone is freaking out...Calm down! Jesus Wouldn't Freak Out! In a small, calm voice, they reply, "No, he wouldn't".

Everyone is freaking out over something or someone these days. Jesus wouldn't. He never freaked out over someones behavior, not even Judas, and he always got results.

Jesus Wouldn't freak Out
The Appalachianist

It's coming down pretty good out there. It's sticking to my drive way.

Toboggan Weather

2010-12-09T19:57:00.005-05:00

We've been smacked by a big 'ol blast of cold air. It's not been comfortable to say the least. Everyone laments on it, and, well, that includes me. We usually get hit with one closer to or after Christmas. Last winter got everyone spooked. Heck, you'd think we moved Southern Appalachia to Wisconsin. It's early this year. That's winter and we jut have to deal with it.

Now, if you go by the wooly worms, they are black on the front and the tail while brown in the middle. I've been told otherwise, but, from what I was told before I was told otherwise, by someone that was probably told otherwise, the black is the cold, and brown is well, not so cold. Last year everyone I seen was as black a the ace of spades and last year was as cold as the dickens. We all know about the dickens.

Now, you may have caught what I said. I said it unapologetically. I'm from Southern Appalachia where "seen" and "saw" can be used just the same as the other. Last winter might have been like Wisconsin...Well, maybe not that bad, but you get my drift. Look, at this latitude a month of below freezing weather is a good stretch...but, we don't talk like them, but they may say the same thing. But we'd get a laugh when one of us Mountain People said we were going to put a toboggan (pronounced Toe-Boggin) on our head. Those folks would be puzzled as to why and how we were going to put a sled on our head. No rhyme intended. It's one of those things, only we, the residents of this region call a watch cap a toboggan. How it got so, I've no explanation. It's something that we grew up with. When I was a kid living in SC we were the only family that said toboggan. It might have rubbed off on some friends, I don't know. If so, well, I was spreading Appalachiaism earlier on then I thought. But If I could spread on thing of Appalachian Culture it would not be our peculiar speech. It would be that it's OK to be curious as long as you mind your own damn business.

The Appalachianist

Bill Sipes.

2010-11-24T10:07:00.003-05:00

Most anyone following the comments here will remember my friend, Bill. I just got the call this morning from another one of my friends that has gone on to retire out of the Army. SFC Bill Sipes (USAR, Retired) passed due to the cancer he had been up against for some years now. Bill was a hell of a guy and he really gave a dam about people.

The Appalachianist

Begining Of An Era

2010-11-18T20:13:00.003-05:00

I've been moving. Not to get into it, but, I had no intentions on staying where I was. I am selling the double wide I lived in and starting a rent to own on an old house that needs a little work...OK...Allot of work. It's nothing that can't be done though.

I now live in an area of the county called Selica. It's old farm land, the property has a 1.88 acre pasture/garden area with the yard being about a half acre to add to that. It has a spring and borders a little creek known as Spanish Oak Branch with an old barn that I will rebuild. It's a little close to the main road than I care for, but, it's a nice place and I'm only a few minutes from one of my favorite hunting grounds. I carried a little meat out of there some years back.

It frosts more here than it did up on the Mountain I had been living on. I get sun all day long though.

Well, the election is done. The news said not as many people voted around here. About half of the registered voters. We picked up a new County Commissioner that might have something in mind other than real estate interest.
Now on the national scale, we managed to get back to a grid lock of sorts. But, something I noticed. The last two elections Foreign Policy was a big issue. It was hardly mentioned this time...Interesting.

The Appalachianist

Something To Thin About

2010-11-12T07:46:00.002-05:00

Good Morning. I will be tapping on this thing soon but for now, I present...Another video! Surprise? OK, not a rock group but something that is very true. We are not as fee as we were in some respects, but more so in others.

The Appalchianist

End of An Era

2010-10-07T06:56:00.003-05:00

I'm kicking. I'm going through a big transformation right now...It's the end of an era. I'll pick this thing back up when I'm done.

The Appalachianist

26 September 2010

2010-09-26T19:30:00.002-05:00

From the 1991 movie, Black Robe.

The Appalachianist

"Scarred But Smarter"

2010-09-13T20:12:00.006-05:00

We've got more acorns and hickory nuts than Mother Nature knows what to do with this year. They are big and fat, healthy nuts. It might be one of the heaviest mast crops I've ever seen. Including that time deer Hunting in South Alabama. As a result, game doesn't need to travel too much. Out training dogs the last few weekends, it's been hard to find a track. Any track, not just a cold track. This year, we're going to earn our Bear. There is not the Deer around that there was 20 years back. They will move with the rut, but we miss the rut with our season here most of the time. Bear just sit down and eat. Hogs won't move as much, and they are nomadic. But, then, game may breed more.

To give you an idea. The other night, me and two others were listening to some other Hunters Dogs off in the distance. One boy had his night light on, shining on the ground. Where three men stood and talked, there may have been maybe 15 acorns within our reach.

James Reid has joined the Army...

I heard on the news that Drivin' And Cryin' got all of the equipment ripped off in Macon Ga. $50,000 worth.

I met a Hindu Monk and he was showing me books that he was giving for donations, in one was a picture of Karma, with an ax over his head..."Karma, justice, whatever you call it...There's always a chance to get restarted to a new world, new life, scarred, but smarter..."
The Appalachianist.

2010-08-09T20:22:00.002-05:00

My Squeaky Dog ran his last race. He died early Saturday morning. In October he would have been 15. His real given name on his papers was PR Trimont's Rambo. PR meaning Purple Ribbon. He was AKC registered.

He was called Squeaky because he would squeak when he struck a track, he would squeak when riding rig on the box. He loved being up there. He loved running Bear. Two weeks before he died a big Bear lumbered out on the bank the opposite side of the house. I ran Squeaky and Horton over to the track and Squeaky was opening up on it trying to climb the bank. If I'd unsnapped the brass he would have ran that Bear, albeit, slow. He cared little for "junk", though he was known to run it some, always with another dog and not for far. You could check a track with him, though. If he didn't open, you didn't have a bear or it was just to cold. He did have a good nose. I believed he could have worked a 6 hour old track, easy. 8, pretty good. He knew a dead bear from a live one, a wild one from a captive one. Sometimes he acted like he knew what you were thinking, allot of that time, it was like he didn't care. Squeaky was a Bear Dog.

Squeaky had fought bear and hogs. He had his share of scars, one was an ear that had been cut short. Last fall a Sow bear nipped him in the chest, cutting him and nearly taring the buckle of his tracking collar off. He fought her coming down that mountain, she lunged at him, he darted and grabbed at her along with all of the young dogs. When I got him to the truck he patiently let me staple him up. He patiently let me shoot him up with penicillin. He had gotten off from me a couple of sumers ago. He was gone for three days and I picked him up over near the County trash pile. He had been into it with a Bear ad it had whooped him pretty good. He was tired, sore and still as cocky as before. We lanced his sores and gave him a few shots. He never flinched. Not until the last shot. He stopped eating last weekend. I did get him to eat soft food. I got him to take Aspirin and B12. But not Friday.

In a few weeks, I'll start running the Dogs. I've got three young ones a Cur and two Plott litter mates. I have Rebel, who pulled off his chain to run after a Bear the other night. I don't have a rig dog, or a colder nose strike dog. On that first Friday night, when I load the dogs up I'm damn sure going to miss that son of a bitch. He wasn't a perfect Dog, but he was a good one. He was a Bear Dog.

The Appalachianst

It's Started

2010-07-15T20:49:00.003-05:00

A few minutes ago I went out on the front porch to cool off. Inside it was the sounds of Son Volt, but once I was on the porch it was Katydids. Off some where's in South Carolina there was lightening. I've not heard them until tonight.

The Appalachianist

A Typical Post By Me

2010-07-10T22:59:00.002-05:00

You know what I miss? The Georgia Satellites. I remember listening to this song right before I went to Pre-Ranger.

You know what else I miss? Judas Priest.

That song makes me think of Bear Hunting...

So I might as well begin to put some action in my life...
The Appalachianist

1775

2010-07-04T11:34:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting here trying to get a bid on E-Bay, Ssshhh...Otherwise, I'd be out messing with something another. But, today is the 4th of July, fireworks, hot dogs, pretty girls in shorts...But, not subjects of some crown. Though, we have become subservient in a complicated tangle of confusion, disorientation, bewildered by a maze of self serving corruption. Let's not get into that, lets not let that mess of folks ruin OUR Day.

So, in the summer of 1776, some smart men sat down and wrote out a truly magnificent statement, The Declaration of Independence. But, let's not focus on what it said, but what had been going on. We call this "our nations birthday", but Lexington and Concord had been fought over a year before. The Guns of Ticonderoga were captured in May 1775. Bunker Hill or Breed's Hill, was fought on 17 June 1775, the Army had officially been created three days prior, 14 June 1775, with the Navy following on 13 October and the Marines on the 10th of November. Creating, manning and supplying Armed Forces is something that Nations do. And, while many issues were being hammered out, not in essence, but, in spirit, in reality the 13 Rebel Colonies were, The United States. The Deceleration of Independence only validated an idea, that had become a reality.

Let me further emphasize, When the likes of Cornwallis, Ferguson, Tarleton, and some lesser known figures went south, captured Charleston what Historians explain that they were doing was trying to reestablish South Carolina as a British Colony...In hopes that Tories would rise up and the rest of the Southern Colonies would fall in line. They did create a foothold, but it ultimately failed. Southern Rebels were far more passionate than Southern Tories.

So did my attempt on E-Bay...Hit the button too late. 2 seconds....Oh well, I've lost the girl, lost my pride, lost my mind and thought I'd lost my way, but found that I was right where I needed to be...Then I figured out it's true, "you'll never lose your mind as long as your heart always reminds you where you left it".

One Cooley song deserves another...

The whole point, I'm making is, it didn't take a piece of paper to make us free...It took an Idea, one that was radical...Farmers and Frontiersman turned the world up side down...
The Appalachinist

Tourist Alert

2010-06-29T06:53:00.002-05:00

Out on the Rosman Highway is a bill board that reads "Tourist Alert Level Orange". I'm not sure what that means. It's not red this year, that's for sure. Maybe it's me, but it doesn't seem as "crowded" this year. The out of state tags trickled in, not showing up until later than usual.

Tha Appalachianist...Spreading Appalachiaism like a plague...

Whish I could write

2010-06-24T18:00:00.003-05:00

I want to write. I've wanted to write and every time I want to read a blog, I get distracted. I've been following the deal with Gen. McChrystal, in a way, since I once knew him, it's been personal. And, for many reasons I have to laugh.

I wanted to write last week. The 17th was the anniversary of Bunker Hill, where the British paid a heavy price for a field and realized they were in for a long fight to bring the Colonies in line.

A fellar down in Cleveland County seen Big Foot. That's not the first time it's been spotted there, there was a rash of evidence back in the late 70's.

I'm also writing more NCOERs than I need to be writing.
The Appalachianist

Ant Poison

2010-06-13T18:32:00.003-05:00

Let me tell you about my ants. There's millions of them. They're mean, hungry and as persistent in annoying you as the day is long. Some have claimed them "Allegheny Ants", I don't know what they are called, I'd like to call them dead. These ants don't belong here. They don't show up just any where in the county. The only other place I ever seen them is in Washington State. There they build hills head high. Here, they build in much of the same fashion, but never get as high as your ankle. They make paths across the ground, but not as organized as the ones did in Panama. My theory is that some one unwittingly brought them back from the North West visiting home. As, I've told you long time readers before, allot of people here have relatives out there, including myself. They went out there to cut timber and only came home to visit. And, as I think, someone brought those ants here.

The winters here are harder than out there, at least on the west side of the Sierras. So, they can't build like they do out there. But they will take over what ever they can; including my house. Every year I see them crawling around and then in days their little crumped bodies on the floor. I've already put out an entire bag of "Bug Be Gone" and they're back. Maybe because it was dry when I put it out and I didn't spray enough. I hit them with different things. They were slower to come this year, and are proving harder to kill. For a few days they weren't showing up like before. I killed the ones in the yard, but not in the woods.

Hard rains seem to slow them down. But, that's all it does. This week I'll throw out another bag of ant killer and see what happens.

The Appalachianist

8,000 Acres

2010-06-05T17:59:00.003-05:00

I don't have a link to it. A man named Charles Taylor, one of the biggest land owners in Transylvania County, owns 8,000 acres of land on the head of the East Fork of the French Broad. He's wanting to give it up. Wants to hand it over to the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy. It is the largest tract of Private Forest Land in the county.

The East Fork flows west and enters the French Broad just below Rosman. For the most part a road follows it along. It's pretty and would be prettier it it wasn't for all of the No Trespassing signs. A good part of those signs belong to that land.

Charles Taylor was the 11th Congressional District Representative for quite some years. He's a Republican and got voted out of Office in 2006. The green crowd hated him. They called him "Chainsaw Charlie". Ask them why and they will give you a blathering of how he is a despicable person. He has a reputation of a slum lord. He has had plenty of accusations of being hateful. Some would say he is evil.

Despite all of that, he owned 8,000 acres of some beautiful land. He did not hire loggers to cut every twig and never had it developed, despite the gated community of Connastee being near by. At one time, he could have made a mint off of it, and he did not.

I offer no defenses as to what people say about him. While he is asking a price, it's valued at 33 Million according to the story on WLOS, he's not selling it in parcels at twice that.

As to what comes of the land, will it be a suburbanite bicycle mecca like DuPont or a highly restricted park like Gorges State Park (Auger Holes to us locals)? Or, will it be a place where you can go see the wilds, a Hunter can hunt, and the land can be land, and not a pawn in the Culture War of Appalachia?

The Appalachianist

The Legacy Of Rebellion

2010-05-25T17:50:00.003-05:00

I stumbled across this interesting video on YouTube. In a snap shot it will explain some of the attitude that many of us possess here in Appalachia and how it came to be. It's from a group called "FreeKeen". Keen, apparently is a town in New Hampshire that is becoming a Libertarian Mecca. It's nearly 10 minutes long.

Times change and some attitudes change with it. But, not all. Not everything. Liquor is still around. Marijuana is not as common a crop here in my corner of Western North Carolina as it is in Kentucky. As far as booby trapping fields, around here it would make enemies of a man. Someone or something innocent could get hurt and that violates principle. The right to be left alone. A man would just lay low and not visit his crop if he suspected it was found by a bystander.
I've walked many a mile in the least visited areas of the Pisgah National Forest and the Nantahala as well, and never came across any growing marijuana. But, I've seen the evidence of stills from the past, and that not so often.

Hope you enjoyed it...
The Appalachianist

"organoleptically"

2010-05-18T05:06:00.002-05:00

If "recalcitrant" is a 50 Cent word, as my friend Ed says, then what is organoleptically? Spell check doesn't know. See what it means here.

The Appalachianist

From Rebels to Revolutionaries

2010-05-13T03:32:00.004-05:00

I've embarked on reading "The War For America", by Piers Mackesy as my bed time reading. It was published in 1962 and tells the American Revolution from the British point of view. With out the bickering, opinions or rhetoric of the two sides. At least it's supposed to. I've not read enough of it to say.

But, in the Introduction, "The Servants of Kronos", a point was made. In explaining to us sensitive and proud Americans...The recalcitrant Scotch-Irish...The use of the term Rebels, as differed from a use for American Combatants in our history books, Patriots, it was said that "Rebels" are only "Revolutionaries" if they are successful. The Confederacy Of America is an example of that. Here in the South, where traditions run deep though often not completely understood, the term Rebel was a badge of honor. It's turned into a pop culture term.

England tried containing the Rebels animosities. The increasingly independent Patriots wanted no part of England. Though neither of them were in a position to fight. It's an amazing story, and I think it's under rated.

Recalcitrantly Yours
The Appalachianist

Friday's Children

2010-05-02T17:49:00.004-05:00

Here lately I've turned into a Revolutionary War Buff. I speak of the American Revolution, sometimes foreigners read this. I recently read a book on Cowpens that I've been meaning to read for a time. A very good book that breaks it down by experiences of those that were there and time and space. Time and space are everything in combat. A man being shot at has a very small world.

In reading this I became more enthralled with the war. Most Americans have a comic book sort of understanding of the conflict. To a point I did, myself. Our Nation spawned from violence. From the point of the first Englishmen setting foot on the shores on through the Revolution. A smaller, poorly equipped Army of amateurs managed to wear down and defeat a larger well equipped, highly professional Army with a great amount of resources at it's disposal. During the Revolution, more Americans served in the British Army than were in the Continental Army. "Nothing but bloody animals, Friday's Children..." Out numbered and out equipped. Often fleeing from the Fusiliers bayonets.

(That was from the 1985 film "Revolution". A good, well made movie without heroes that didn't do so well.)

Then on the other hand how did a highly disciplined fighting force, state of the art for the time, such as the British Army find it's self conceding to the Colonies that it sought so hard to control. It had a great amount of resources at it's disposal, both through out the empire and on portions of the Continent that it did control. It had a powerful and vast Navy to back it, bring reinforcements and supplies. yet, it conceded to a fledgling Nation of former Colonies that hardly had a plug nickel to it's name.

It fascinates me.
The Appalachianist

I Am Here

2010-04-15T05:09:00.002-05:00

I'm slow on posts. Don't post for the sake of posting, bad karma, causes flue like symptoms. I actually began a post Easter Weekend, and, didn't quite get it finished. I've got a picture or two to upload. I've managed to keep busy when something or someone wasn't busying me. I'm on the verge of finishing a book I'm really enjoying, I've had allot of distractions Military wise, and a few in more personal matters. I'll get the post finished (no politics in it)and get about being about soon.

So, if your a fan of Johnny Cash and or The Sex Pistols, this video is for you.

The Appalachianist

A Thought on the Tea Party

2010-03-27T17:39:00.004-05:00

You know what turns me off about the Tea Party? Sarah Palin. Yeah, she's a nice lady, but she's got about as much substance as the current regime. Bob Barr and Rep. Ron Paul had more substance and was fundamentally different from the other politicians. They have balls. The real difference between Obama and McCain was health care. Forget the war. Foreign policy? LOL. Health care Reform? If you want to call it reform. (Did you get to read it before it was voted on late at night on weekends) And the Tea Party people quoting the Founding Fathers can only come up with Sarah Palin to headline events?

The Appalachianist

On Talking

2010-03-16T20:32:00.000-05:00

Diversity is more subtle than you think. As a word it gets allot of lip service and little true appreciation. Division and diversity start out the same. Where ever you go and who ever you see and talk to are different and there ain't nothing wrong with that. It's a good thing, it makes us unique.

What provokes that statement is the language I grew up with. The way people speak around here...And sadly the word spoke could be used...Is a part of the broader southern accent. Yet, it's distinct. I say this for entertainment purposes only...Or do I? No. Leave the way I talk alone. As long as you understand someone, what is the problem?

I really grew up with two forms of the Southern accent. One, Southern Appalachian and the other the way people talk in the Piedmont of South Carolina. I think that is a reason I use "you'll" a little more than "Yuns". I remember using "yuns" as a kid in SC and getting puzzled looks from other kids. They thought it was funny. If I had said it in Northern Pickens, Upper Oconee or Northern Greenville Counties, it may not have been so odd as it did in Anderson County further into the Piedmont. Those other places are in the Mountains, the foot of the Blue Ridge, SC's back door. The same as anything beyond Burke County is to NC.*

The Cherokee were not exempt from this. The Lower Towns, in what is now Pickens and Oconee County SC and Stevens County GA used a rolling "R". While across the Blue Ridge they used an L in it's place. Hence Cherokee from Tsarigi, Tsaligi in the Middle, Valley and Overhill Dialects. From what I know, none of the Lower dialect exists other than in documentation.

As it turns now, someone on the head of Savana River uses their Rs while someone further down it in SC tends to drop theirs.

Some people try to make the language here sound romantic. It's likened to Shakespeare's English, and, maybe some. They claim Appalachian English is more in line with Old English. Yet, most of the people here in Southern Appalachia descend from the Scots of Ulster. Make the connection. Sometimes you don't know how you got what you have, other than you have it. And, once you have it, it's yours.

While searching information on a man that lived in Swain County, "Uncle" Mark Cathey**, I came across the web site, Southern Appalachian English. It has recordings of Men and Women that lived around the Smokeys***. One being Mark Cathey, which you would think immigrated from Ireland. He was born and bred in Swain County. No one I've ever known from over there talks with such an accent.

One word I'd never heard used out of these Mountains is the word "Haint". Haint is a ghost term. The way I had heard it used always made me think of it as a hostile ghost. "Got chased out by a haint". One book I have, Dish Pan Pie and Snow Bird Gravy, documents a man named Hicks from Watauga County that said a ghost is heard, but a haint is seen.

Now the people of North Alabama speak some of the same way as they do here. But further down, not so much. I watched a video made in Tuscaloosa the other day and it caught me when I heard the word haint used. The Urban Dictionary puts it as a Southern Term. I'd not heard it used anywhere but here, and never heard it used to describe a contrary woman.

Here is the video, a Rock Band goes to an abandoned Mental Institution and plays (some good!)Gospel Music. During this time they get caught for Trespassing but the cops are lenient. When the tape is edited it's found it caught a few things. You will hear different accents from the same general area in this video.

Ladies, Fellars, Heathens and Saints, The Dexateens and "Old Bryce"...

Wheew...That was fun!

Back to Southern Appalachia...So, we talk the way we talk and you talk the way you talk. Dialects and (most) accents are beautiful. There is no need in coercing someone into speaking a bland form of English. Now that I made you wonder why you say the things you say, don't worry about it. I'm not going to be ashamed of the way I talk. And, if you take issue with it, you don't know nothing.

* The Mountains run north east, but I use Burke as a central point.
** I recently read a book that talked about Mark Cathey and I was curious of what Rifle he used, which I determined was a Winchester Model 1910.
***Flat Land Tourist like to refer to any of these Mountains as the "Smokeys", while we of the Western counties of North Carolina refer to the Smokeys as the actual range.

In a word consumed by "isms", there is Appalachiaism...
The Appalachianist

PS: It took me days to put this together. Like writing a book.

Guilford Courthouse

2010-03-14T19:04:00.003-05:00

After the Battle of Copwens, fought by Daniel Morgan in January 1781, Nathaniel Greene's Army made their way north to Virginia before Cornwallis could catch them. Greene recollected his force and went back into North Carolina. On March 15th 1781 the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought. Cornwallis claimed it a British Victory, though costly. Meanwhile Nathaniel Greene and his men marched on..."We fight, get beaten and fight again"

The Appalachianist

Ironic, Is It Not?

2010-02-28T20:59:00.004-05:00

Since TV went digital, in order to fight terrorism, I only get the Greenville SC Station enough to pay attention. On the news down there all that they ever talk about is car wrecks and murders. Up here on the Asheville news you get that too, but it's more that someone is ticked off over someones dog. Most often a Pitt Bull.

I saw on the news this wail jumped up out of the water and snatched a woman, thrashing her around until her death. The park is hanging on to the wail. If that was a Pitt Bull, it'd be in the dirt already. In a world that thumps it's chest over zero tolerance anymore, it sure makes some exceptions.

Over in Hendersonville, AKA Hooterville, a Policeman shot a Pitt Bull in someones yard. I can't remember why he was there. All of the neighbors were upset, saying the dog was only playing. I never heard what came of it.

I'm not partial to Pitts, myself. I'm not going to tell some tourist trap what to do with their wail. It's not my place. Bob Barker might. It's ironic though.

The Appalachianist

Counting Snows

2010-02-24T22:03:00.003-05:00

I believe today was the 9th time I've seen snow this winter, maybe the 10th. I did Deer Hunt in one in the late fall. And snow has been laying in some places since the week before Christmas. No matter, the rivers are well fed, they're fat. The water table is healthy again after the drought and the rivers will have a good current for some time.

The Appalachianist

A More Harmonious Way

2010-02-23T12:39:00.002-05:00

A fellar flies his airplane into an IRS building and the big debate is whether it's terrorism or what? As if the IRS hasn't harassed and bullied the American public for decades? It's more insanity for a crazy world and it's lacking in honesty. None of that silliness would have happened if we had a National Sales Tax.

Here is where I give the blanket statement, "I'm not condoning what he did"...No one ought to get hurt. I'm no moral authority. The point I'm attempting to make is, there is a more harmonious way of doing things.

The Appalachianist

Chow Meow

2010-02-17T20:00:00.003-05:00

I had Chinese take out for supper tonight. I mentioned to my buddy at work that that was my plans for supper. "Where you going? The place next to Food Lion (Food Tiger if your from Cherokee)?" "Yeah, it's on my way home", I replied. "Chow Meow? Is that what the call it?" He was being serious...Actually it's called New China. But, commonly referred to as the little Chinese restaurant, the new Chinese restaurant...I suppose that we'll start calling it Chow Meow now...That kinda sounded neat.

It's like the old man that said Food Tiger, you know he was meaning Food Lion. Which, sells diet Cran- Pomegranate juice now. Only place in town that does. So, I had Chow Meow and diet Cran-Pomegranate juice. My buddy made mention that Chinese food doesn't fill him up. That's what I wanted. Twister refuses to eat it before a Bear Hunt, but, has an appetite for Thia food afterward. Isn't that a twist? My buddy would have liked the ribs though. He's from Alabama and those folks do wonders to ribs. The best ribs I've ever had came out of Tuscaloosa Alabama.

Now, someone is going to say the old cat's and Chinese food joke...That is so...Go ahead, pick your own word. My ancestors came from Scotland, they ate Haggis. Big deal.

I was at my Stepsons the other day. My Grandson was watching some little video. It was supposed to teach vocabulary, blah blah blah and multiculturalism...Multiculturalism. Kids are taut to respect pop culture more than anything else these days. They don't even know their own culture.

Dear Mr. Kephart. I just read his book about the people of these Mountains. He painted no pretty picture, and it ain't. He was wrong that people here supported the Union "overwhelmingly". That's a myth. But his discussion of dialect ain't. Allot of what he wrote in that chapter is still alive and some of it...Well, maybe it's hidden in a holler. Terms such as seed, knowed, heared, year in place of years, double and triple negatives will slip from my lips. And, like the Indians that were not allowed to speak their own language in a boarding school, kids today are shamed if they say any of that in wrong company. We use our R's here and we place emphasis on the last syllables of a noun. We speak differently than the people in other regions of our perspective States. Just like Mr. Kephart said.

Eating ethnic and speaking Hill Billy.
The Appalachianist

It's Friday

2010-02-12T17:10:00.003-05:00

It snows every Friday. It's a really pretty snow out there right now. It's covering the old snow up. It's sitting on the tree limbs. Coming down all steady. It's Friday.

Last Friday it was ice. Allot of ice. Quite a few trees were broke here, including two on the edge of my yard. One of which came down on the power line. That got fixed.

For the life of me, I can't see why people believe that they must add difficulties to any given tasks. They must add some drama...A simple snide comment, or, unattainable standard...As if under normal circumstances is not enough. Oh, for the life of me...I do see why...They are not results oriented. Either for their own ego to be stroked in dysfunctional glory or the illusion that all is unattainable and they do not deserve reward. You reap what you sew...Sew your own fields.

The Appalachianist

It's a Psychoblogger Freak Out!!!

2010-01-28T21:06:00.006-05:00

I mentioned some new pups. There's two of them. A male and female. The male is bigger and bolder than the female. I was perplexed as to what to call him. I've settled on Horton. I named him after the Reverend Horton Heat. I almost named him Iggy after Iggy Pop, so being because I saw him strolling across the yard one day and I thought of the line from Search and Destroy "I'm a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm". But, the more I watched him, the more I thought it didn't fit. He isn't really a Punk Rock Dog. He's more Rockabilly, he reminds me of The Reverend Horton Heat. He's a little blocky and stout, wide mouthed too. He's more smooth and rolling with licks, not the crashing almost too filled with energy crudeness of Punk Rock. He's more stand up bass, less growl.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Heathens alike, the Reverend Horton Heat!

Now the little female pup I call Star, so named after one of the Cur Pups I lost. Which, was named after The Cult's Star for which I had playing on CD when I got her.
So, without undue applause, The Cult!

Star is about a third smaller. When I got them I reached for another of the litter, but it walked behind the rest and I couldn't reach it, Star though wiggled up to the front and I picked her up. She was the runt, sucking left hind tit. She's sweet, reserved, but friendly, and programmed. Yes, programmed.
See, Horton is hungry pup and flat out greedy. He wants what ever someone else has. I feed them separately and he spy's her food and runs to it. Star then mosies over to his abandoned bowl, until he spy's her eating from it and they trade places again. I observed he was getting the better of it, so, I put her up on one of the houses. She would stand in the door to the outbuilding where I pan up the food waiting for me to pick her up. That was CoCo's house, which when I started that I had locked up while she was in heat. Which, reminds me of The Reverend Horton Heat again...
So, after CoCo got out of Cur Dog Gulag, I started feeding Star about 15 feet away, I'd look behind me and there she would be, waiting in the door way for me to come and get her. That worked fine for a bit but, Horton began to spy her...Now, I just feed her in the building.

They wrestle in the yard, wonder around, follow Bosco...You know Bosco...I sneaked a picture of her! Yep, that's the fickle thing right there!
But, they are healthy and happy. Unique too.

Snow and Sleet and other things that's neat...
The Appalachianist

Someday

2010-01-25T06:22:00.004-05:00

"And if you see the dark clouds gathering out on the horizon don't be alarmed they're just there for me"

Here lately, I get up at 3AM. I turn the TV on for a few minutes as I tie my boots. I watch the weather feed out of Greenville SC's Channel 4. But, the other feed is NBC programming. We've beeen barraged with the Connan news, The Late Night fellar. He has been getting reran at 3AM. Well, I saw he's gone now, and they put Meet The Press in the 3AM time slot. One comedy for the other.

I also locked my hubs at 3:20 Am. With the ground thawing and the rain the dive way is plumb mud. At 3:22 AM I unlocked the hubs. Some time after 4PM, I'll lock the hubs again. The days are just kinda running in to each other.

I've had the Army Reserves twice this month. I was in Charleston SC for a meeting Saturday. I don't care for Charleston. But, both Saturday and Sunday I got to sleep until 6AM. That's my usual waking hour. That's the time my body says, "get up, roll over, get your brain engaged, do something".

Last Monday there was black Ice on US64. I drove across it not knowing at a faster rate of speed than normal. Again, I never knew it was there. Later four cars got piled up in the ditches there. God looks after me. At times I wonder why, but, I suppose he has his reasons.

So, getting up every morning I feel like I'm getting up and dusting myself off. It's like there is some distant goal in the distance I sometimes lose sight of...Putting one foot in front of the other. "Yeah, one day I'll gt it right"...Try and try again...Oh yeah, I know what it is again. I just know one day I'll get it right.

You know me, "Just cause I don't run my mouth don't mean I got nothing to say", but, I've said all I need to say for now.

The Appalachianist

Just Me Preaching

2010-01-18T18:57:00.003-05:00

I'm no pundit, but, I am a Tax Payer. I'm no genius, but I've got some sense. Using the sense that God gave me is my right and my duty.

Don't expect miracles. Miracles are a thing of God, not us. We're foolish mortals, that, do possess good sense, but, not enough for miracles. God does miracles, we stand in awe.

The United States has been pouring money into Haiti for a very long time. In recent memory we came a hair of invading them, because we didn't like their new boss. Once upon a time in the 80's when I was on Active Duty, we were giving a heads up that we might be sent in to pull out Americans over unrest. It didn't happen. Missionaries from the United States has been, since we don't know when, making trips, preaching, giving, helping and just plain being friendly down in Haiti. I don't know how much money, and I wouldn't be surprised if the real numbers were fudged, but none of it has made the place a utopia. None of it has stopped corruption. Some children were fed and clothed. Some friends were made. Still, the place is a state of chaos.

You can laugh and throw rocks at Pat Robertson, say it's the hand of God, or just a terrible action of Mother Nature. But, it is God's Earth. And, we're not "God's Children", we're his people. He gave us sense, not enough for miracles, but enough to manage. He intended us to be responsible and help ourselves. We're God's People.

Well, it doesn't take a Scholar to tell you what happened in Haiti has been a terrible Human Tragedy. It's really bad and it can happen any where. It could happen to us. As a Nation, helping out is a neighborly thing to do. It's the Christian thing to do. It's just plain compassion. It doesn't matter what form of Heathen you are. But, it's going to start here soon. We're going to want to fix things. We're going to fix this, that and the other. We're going to want to change things. There can be a fine line between helping and meddling. The Private Sector will be where the real help comes from.

I'm not wanting to preach. I say this as a word of caution.

The Appalachianist

Just A Dull Post

2010-01-14T19:23:00.003-05:00

I've been caught up with work. I've pulled some long hours and then some spare moments were tied up with me doing my First Sergeant Gig. So, all work and no play makes The Appalachianist a dull boy. Thus, no post from me.
I could talk about the weather...It's just been flat out cold. Though today was quite a bit warmer. I could talk about any what not...

My little Cur Dog, Co Co is out of heat. She must have felt punished being penned up. She kind cowered and stood back from me when ever I fed her. Sensitive little dog, she is. I've been told Curs are like that. I've got some pictures of those Kemmers on FaceBook...AKA FaceBore...And folks ask me for one as a pet. Co Co ain't like them. She's brindle, has a smaller head and is not as big. I actually prefer a blocky head dog of a medium build. But, I can say, she is smart and a fast little Dog. She's got tight little feet as well.

Those poor folks in Haiti. In some ways it's better it happened on land than out in the Ocean. It's bad though. It couldn't have happened to anyone worse either.
I've felt some Earthquakes here. I've sat up in bed with the house shaking. I could only imagine what that 7.0 felt like. As a Nation, we waste allot of money on foreign aid and get ourselves consumed in other nations affairs. This is one time we need to get involved and give. It's the Christian thing to do. Anything else would be a sin.

It's been a dull post...Hey, but, I posted;)

The Appalachianist

Dogs Are Tough

2010-01-03T17:42:00.002-05:00

Here we are, 2010 and the thermometer hasn't busted out of the 20's yet. We're burning the wood here at Appalachian Patria Central, and plenty of it. Twice a day I'm having to break the dogs water up with an ax. The Dogs, they're all settled down in a bed of cedar chips. The air is stinging your cheeks outside and someone is watching a documentary on global warming. Irony at it's best.

I don't suppose, I've mentioned my Co Co Dog. She's a little brindle Cur I got as a pup this summer, about the time I got back from Ft. Knox. She's six months now and it's time to start tethering her. She just came into heat the first time. I've got two little Plott/English mixes too. They are little. Full brindle coats with a dash of white on their chest. I'm keeping them for six months and deciding on which to keep. They've paid the cold no attention. I ax the water and they come running, drink up some water and go on to wondering and playing. It's fun to watch them.

Last Saturday we hunted Macon County and had to throw the dogs across the rushing creeks. It was cold, I got in water over my boots and about froze my feet off. It was nice to put new socks on at the truck that evening. One time I looked down at Rebel and he had steam coming off of him. Dogs are tough.

The Appalachianist

1" Snow, Two Puppies and Party Puppets

2009-12-31T06:57:00.003-05:00

I've got an inch of snow in the yard. Not all of the last one is gone. There's puppy tracks in the yard, laid there by two little brindle pups wondering aroundin the night.

Tonight's the night, tomorrow is the new beginning. Poor Baby New Year, he goes on over the months and nobody loves him. NPR this morning is talking about the "Decade of Scandal". No one is making a big deal of it, the New Year that is. No one seems excited. It's like everyone is going through the motions. Party Puppets laughing and smiling on cue.

Maybe folks will perk up soon.

Happy New Years!
The Appalachainist

Christmas Music

2009-12-22T20:21:00.004-05:00

Before I get going, let me complain about the Government. It's sad. Real sad. It's ridiculous. Senators rushing into Capital Hill, conveniently on the weekend, much as the House did, to pass a so called "health care reform bill", over 2000 pages long...I'm sure they read it carefully...Cutting drug deals for their home states that are practically criminal. You know, if they don't hurry up and pass this thing little obese children are going to starve. In the mean time, we're sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and we don't have a signed Defense Budget yet. The economy sucks. It's going to keep on sucking. Borrowing money from China...Government Motors...It's silly and don't let it ruin your Christmas.

Christmas. The thing I don't like about Christmas, other than the hectic shopping, the tension amongst family, some stressed out woman...How in the hell do you'll live longer?...Is Christmas Music. Jingle Bells...Baghhumbug!

Here is my list of cool Christmas songs. Just three.

Mark Sanford likes this one.
I think Tiger Woods is wishing he got something else for Christmas.

I never knew an Emily. Merry Christmas to who ever she is.

I still think about you...Women always have a way of showing back up on me...Answers that question.

And, what's Christmas without Santa Claus?
I like Bob Dylan, does what he pleases. Wheres a mullet if he feels like it.

But, what I heard this morning, coming from the sleepy mouth of Garrison Keeler, what we should all know best at Christmas was said in this poem by Anne Porter, titled Susanna.

Nobody in the hospital
Could tell the age
Of the old woman who
Was called Susanna

I knew she spoke some English
And that she was an immigrant
Out of a little country
Trampled by armies

Because she had no visitors
I would stop by to see her
But she was always sleeping

All I could do
Was to get out her comb
And carefully untangle
The tangles in her hair

One day I was beside her
When she woke up
Opening small dark eyes
Of a surprising clearness

She looked at me and said
You want to know the truth?
I answered Yes

She said it's something that
My mother told me

There's not a single inch
Of our whole body
That the Lord does not love

She then went back to sleep.

Merry Christmas. The Truth shall set you free...
The Appalachainist

Year Of The red Neck Mama

2009-12-18T19:19:00.003-05:00

Just a little Cracker to get your blood pumping, this isn't about Redneck Mamas.

Push Play and go on.

You can say I've had Bloggers Block...Maybe.

Once upon a time I lay nearly on my back between two downed logs covered by some small Hemlocks. I was watching a Wildlife field on the Davidson River in what light was left after work. I heard something rustling next to me. I've learned to be careful, I had a Bobcat come up behind me once. He's in my den mounted on a piece of drift wood now, but, this is not about that Bobcat. It's about a Raccoon, that's what I saw over my shoulder. It was preoccupied with the ground and didn't notice me. I stared wondering if it was going to notice me for a few seconds, which it did. And once it did things quickly got in motion as it screeched a squeaky sound at me. as it was squeaking it propped up on it's hind legs throwing it's hands in the air in what to this day I'm not sure was a gesture of surprise or surrender.It looked like the Hamburgler from the old Hardees commercials, now they have a beautiful woman choking down a burger as if it was the fountain of youth. But, this isn't about Carls Juniours Cuties, it's about a Raccoon, that's what had its hands in the air in astonishment that it had walked on top of a human. Once it got over it's intitial astonishment it scurried a couple of feet grabbing a sapling and swung around it the way that brown haired Girl did that pole years ago at Ft. Benning. It swung around and peeked at me as if it was looking around a corner and let out another screech, leaped from the sapling and ran a few feet, looked back at me and R U N O F T!
I never saw it again...

Then last month I pulled into the Naval Supply Corps School (NSCS Athens), where I happen to be at the moment, and the gate guards pointed across my truck. "You're not going to believe this, but there is a raccoon over there that just beat a cat up over some pizza", she said. I looked over and the thing was defiently standing guard against some shadow over something.

Raccoons, you gotta love them...

Before you ask, yes, it snowed back home. I drove through it on into South Carolina where it was all rain. It fell real quick and got white in a hurry. Tomorrow, I go back to watch it go away...

So, if that was too much for you, this will settle you down.

So, this wasn't about Red Neck Mamas. It was about Raccoons...Bandits of the Forest. But, someones going to be checking the sky at 3AM...

The Appalachianist

Change is Inevitable

2009-12-03T21:26:00.002-05:00

What would they think? So much has changed since then. Change is inevitable. Some of it for the better, and some of it for the worse and still, some of it is just change. Not black, not white, just gray. People preach change, and then resist it, others stand back and watch. In the end nothing changes...But change itself. But, what would they think if they could see everything today? Would they be impressed, worry or would they say that not much has really changed? They saw so much in their life times, one born before first flight to see men on the moon and a shuttle in space. Once every road they knew was dirt, Live stock ran free and electricity occurred in town. They knew life when radio was rare and before television made it's way into peoples homes. We say that...Made it's way, but it was invited, not nearly the invasion we make it to be. They saw the Chestnuts die out. They saw the farms, the logging and the pulp mill. They saw allot change. Change is inevitable, some of it for the better and some of it for the worse. What would they think? What would they think of change that changes how we define who we are?

The Appalachianist

The Last Thanksgiving of the Decade

2009-11-25T19:25:00.002-05:00

Being, your Blog Host, I'm obligated to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. So, Happy Thanksgiving. Allot of Turkeys sacrificed their lives for this.

Now, here is your obligatory lecture: Complaining is not giving thanks, so shut up. If the Turkey is dry..."Honey, it's great"...She put that special ingredient in it, heat. You can't cook Turkey with out heat. It gets dry, get over it. So, you're going to watch a ball game after you eat? It doesn't matter if your team loses, because you're going to fall asleep anyway. Dry Turkey does that to you. Wet Turkey will do it. Cranberries are good for you, so eat some of them. And, be grateful about it. Some guy in Wisconsin waded around in a bog for them. It gets cold up there and he did it for the all mighty dollar...Which ain't worth a whole lot right now. But, don't go complaining about the economy. Don't complain about politicians either...so, here goes the list...Your teacher, the cop that wrote you a ticket for doing 95 in a 55, your ex husband/wife, boy friend/ girl friend, Hollywood or Bollywood, Oprah Winfrey, Willie Nelson, the weather, Windows Vista, bureaucrats, work, not working, your family, your friends, your enemies, your enemy's enemies, Facebook, yourself, and don't you dare complain about God.

Well, that ought to cover it. If I missed something, complain after Thanksgiving. Don't let anything or anybody ruin your day.

The Appalachianist

Milton Friedman

2009-11-23T20:28:00.003-05:00

The late Milton Friedman had an interesting point of view. Necons would wet themselves one minute in excitment and go into spasms of disbelief the next. Liberals would, and have, label him as "evil" and greedy all the while shaking in their boots. He's inspiring to Libertarians and, more straight forward than Ayn Rand was. At least in my opinion. He had a better sense of humor too.

Not that I'm picking on Ayn Rand. I agree with her on allot, but, there are elements of Objectivism that I reject. Namely, her point on the Metaphysical. I believe in a Higher Power where as she rejected it. But, I'm no expert on either one of these people. Oh, but, they are relevant. With all that is happening they are getting dug up from their graves.

Freidman believed in an all Volunteer Military (for we now have), Legalizing drugs and prostitution, free markets and that free markets lead to greater peace and harmony through out the world, smaller more limited government, and that greater choice and freedoms of the individual. He stated on drugs that the role of the Government was to protect the drug cartels by making it a monopoly and that crack existed because the war on drugs made cocaine so expensive. It was a cheaper alternative. He believed that it would lead to other restrictions, as I do too. In many proposals of gun laws, drugs has been pointed to as a boogy man.

Do I like what is going on? Obviously, I don't. Do I expect you to change your point of view to mine? No, I don't. I only want to provoke thought. And, when you gripe...You know you do...Every time you watch the news...Just laugh and think about what Milton said.

The Appalachianist

Appalachian Angst

2009-11-16T19:15:00.004-05:00

We let this one go, a Sow Bear with Cubs, which, you can't see in the picture. We let the Dogs bark a few minutes and left her alone.

I heard something sort of funny on the way home. President Obama, speaking to China said that we get our clothes and etc. from China. Then he went on to say we sell them machinery. I heard this as I passed Ecusta Road. Ecusta, where ever the name came from, was the paper mill here. A few years back through a change of hands, a union strike, bankruptcy and more drama than an unhappy marriage the paper machines got sold to China. The place is leveled now. Only a few buildings stand, one of which is the Waste Water Plant.

Western North Carolina is a sick place. Somebody somewhere has got the notion to make it into "a village". I think "Freedom Village"...Boy, that's pretty damn patriotic. I hope no Tax Dollars get spent on the venture...

But, the way things go around here, I don't know. The County built a new jail to replace the old flat roofed one down town that leaked. The new one, that cost a nice sum, has a water fountain at the entrance. All of the repeat offenders can rejoice that the water is splashing out front now and not inside. What do you want to bet the new one leaks?

Oh, but it's got 100 beds. More than Transylnowhere needs. Yes, even with us drunken, and rebellious Scotch Irish Hillbillies. The plan is that they can rent out beds to other Counties of drunken and rebellious Scotch Irish Hillbillies that has ran out of room. We'll leave the light on for you.

Personally, I find it a bit sickening that local government's are in the incarceration business. But, who am I? A sober and rebellious Scotch Irish Hillbilly?

Now, if everyone around here would stop breaking the law...I know, it's hard to do that and mind your own business at the same time...We can put half of the Government out of business. Think of the money we could save!

I don’t know what the world may need,
But I’m sure as hell that is starts with me.
The Appalachianist

Friday The 13th Be Damned...

2009-11-13T07:45:00.003-05:00

It's the international day of bad luck...Great day to break a mirror.
That ain't stopping me...

Thanks Tom.

The Appalachianist

20 Years

2009-11-08T19:45:00.004-05:00

20 Years ago the Berlin Wall came down. Matt Welch at Reason Magazine called it "the most liberating moment in history". For the great number of us that grew up and did Military Service during the Cold War, when we reflect, it's hard to argue with him. Especially anyone old enough to remember the Berlin Airlift, the Cuban Missile Crisis or spend their childhood jumping under school desks. The Russians were a mysterious people that bred children to compete in the Olympics and ate the ones they culled. To them we Americans were evil Capitalists that ate our children too. That and we both had some big nasty bombs...

I recently made friends with an Israeli that made a point of truth, we the West won the Cold War not because we were so much better, but the Warsaw Pact was so much worse. He's right. Nothing, nor nobody, can defeat you as much as yourself. The Soviets were in no position to compete. They changed their ways. We didn't do it for them.

The Cold War was WWIII, and it ended with less fireworks than anticipated. I personally didn't think we'd ever go toe to toe with Eastern Block. I'm thankful that we didn't. Europe is not lined up against each other. We can be friends now, and we should.
ADDED NOTE: also see this from The Christian Science Montior

I remember watching Gorbachev's speech on TV. I had just been off active duty a few months. Jello Boy was there, just out of High School a few months. He couldn't understand why I was paying so much attention to what was happening. The World had changed and yet, it didn't.

Last Week I ate at the Steakhouse. My Waitress was a very sweet and lovely girl from Moldova that was rather happy to be in the United States. 21 years ago, I wouldn't have dreamed that possible.

"It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not."
James Gordon, M.D

The Appalachianist

Another Meaningless Post By Me

2009-10-30T06:47:00.003-05:00

Now, who ever heard of such a thing?...Most likely Ed, he lived in Japan.

Speaking of Captain Beefheart...Cannes 1968

But if there is any Captain Beefheart song to disconnect the phone to, it's this one...

and speeking of girls...and since it's Halloween.

I sometimes miss 1995...
The Appalachianist

Fun Week

2009-10-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

I had a fun week. I really needed the break. I have a few things to catch up on though, and unfortunately, the Blog is low on the priority list. I have work to do Army Reserves wise...Plus other life matters. Laundry is about done...

More to come
The Appalachianist

There Is No Appropriate Title

2009-10-14T19:41:00.003-05:00

Ill Be You - The Replacements
I'm not bored. Far from it. I've got Drill this weekend...Three days of it. Me and my Commander have to brief the Brigade Commander on our Company's Strength, Schools and AT Plan. Three hours from our Reserve Center, Weapons Qualification, PT Test...And brief the Colonel...I've spent allot of my breaks at work trying to get things lined up the last couple of weeks. A little of it was productive and some of it was spinning my wheels. Oh well, I've busted my ass...They could bend my dog tags and send me either back to Iraq or to Afghanistan, and I'd pass my Replacement and his bent dog tags on my way back home, LOL. No, actually Alpha is not in bad shape considering our circumstances.

Sometimes I don't know if I'd want to shake Bill Gate's hand or kick his ass for his contribution to the computer world. Yeah, he helped make it possible to blather our opinion, get news on demand, surf for porn and dig up obscure 80's bands. But computers also convinced the Army of their fantasy of putting 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lbs bag. They knew they could do it somehow. It just took the right civilian to make it possible.

Next week I'm off...Off to blow the world off and Bear Hunt. I packed for Drill and consolidated some hunting gear. Honestly I would like to be in bed. Sunday, after I get in, I'll fix something in the crock pot to eat for the week, last minute fixings on my gear. The shock collars are charged, I'll throw new batteries in my flash lights and load the cooler with snacks. The Rifle is ready, the HT(Hand held radio) and spare battery is charged up. The Dogs are healthy and anxious. We're going to run 'e like we're running in our last race...

The Appalachianist

Not So Ouch

2009-10-08T20:16:00.002-05:00

Yes, I've freeze branded two of my Dogs, Rebel and Tip. Dogs are not as docile as Horses. You shave them, they keep wanting to move around, you brand them, they are fidgity. I believe branding dogs is tougher business.
What they don't show you is the brand needs to be submerged in a dry ice and acetone bath to get it cold enough. About -109F (-78C). It will need to be submerged for 20 - 30 minutes. It also has to be a freeze brand, not a hot brand.
Read ore here. I got y brand from Pittsburgh Foundry.
As for Rebel and Tip, tie will tell how well I did.

The Appalachianist

Ouch!

2009-10-07T20:50:00.002-05:00

You know that couldn't have felt good...
The Appalachianist

A Long Time Ago

2009-09-26T11:32:00.003-05:00

All of this talk about General McChrystal in the news has taken me back some. I once knew him as Captain McChrystal in my early days of 3rd Ranger Battalion. He was the Commander of Alpha Company and I was in HHC. I was a Cook in those days and I came in contact with everyone. At the time I would have gladly traded with one of my buddies as a Rifleman in a Fireteam...They did fun things and got weekends off, as where I just worked all of the time...But, through coming in contact with everyone I learned allot and gained a perspective on things that I won't put into words.

My buddies that were in the "Line Comapanies" did live a hard life.

In my memory, Cpt McChrystal was a popular Commander, so was his First Sergeant, 1SG Laws, a Vietnam War Ranger. All of us young kids held them in great respect. Alpha Co. was a crack Company. I don't know by what and who's standards, everyone claims some degree of greatness in the Military, but, at the time they had been dubbed the "best Infantry Company in the Army". There was obviously some chemistry in the Company. There was a reference to them as "Alphabots" for having a almost robotic mannerism. Veterans of different Ranger Bns will usually chuckle and say that every A Co. in the Regiment is kind of like that. I'm no one to say that it's true.

Before I got Mobilized for Iraq I corresponded with a guy from A Co. from those days and ran into another while I was at Ft. Knox this summer. Gen McChrystal is still popular with those guys. I say that because they speak positively of him. Rising so high in rank doesn't do it. There is a common notion that Senior Officers...And many Senior NCOs are out of touch. Being in charge doesn't make you popular. It's being you that makes you popular. And I've learned that having first hand knowledge doesn't make you right if you only look at something from one angle.

There is no man that was in that Bn at the time that I can glorify. At 20 "glorify" to me had a hint of blandishment, at 41 the word is vain. There's no man that I respect that I could do that to.

One of the figures that stands out the most from that era of my life was "The Purd"...My Company's 1SG. 1SG Purdy. He was later promoted to CSM. Stories still abound in circles from people that knew him or knew of him. Some actually show the different sides of him. Some stories I've not known whether to believe or not. Several years back he wrote a piece that was put on Col. Hackworth's web site. It's a popular...That word again...Rant article, posted in frustration by...I was going to say Soldiers far and near, but, "all sorts of people" is better. Soldiers are people. I see more of it than a rant. I've found advice in it.

All of the stories say, in some way, he was a tough Son of a Bitch...That he is. He WAS called a relic from the past and allot of people thought he was crazy and I'm sure they still think he is. People can believe what they want, but I will tell you something. He was no premodonna, he was no chest beater and when he spoke everyone listened.

Rangers Lead The Way!
The Appalachianist

Another Post About The Rain

2009-09-18T06:47:00.003-05:00

Not much to look at there but an open can of 'Coon bait. I'm on my Cracker kick and it's appropriate. It ain't raining outright, but an upper level low siting down towards Texas has been giving us rain off and on again. It goes from gloomy to rain back to gloomy. I've seen it stay cloudy for nearly a month before. Ont time I was out riding the kids up around the Davidson River while their Mother was at home wraping their Christmas presents. They had both fell asleep on me. Suddenly, I saw the moon and stopped to show them. They thought there was an animal in the road. Just hadn't seen clear skys in a while. Parts of theis county is considered tropical rain forest.

That Song brings back some memories...
The Appalachianist

Useless Stuff

2009-09-13T19:21:00.003-05:00

Since I posted Southern Bitch in a JukeBox Player, and it plays automatically, you are just going to have deal with that. Muting it is your prerogative.

I checked, you get a full play of the song, Cracker is good about that. However, the first five seconds of the song is NSFW.

Useless Stuff - Cracker

Does it really matter to you what I did with my time this weekend? Does the little details of my life concern you so much that you just come and check in? Darn I hope not. One thing that stuff like Facebook and Twitter has done is to compel people to broadcast to the world that they ain't doing a damn thing. Update Status: "I'm watching TV"..."I'm making my bed"...Nothing exciting and they have to tell you about it.

Someone once said to me that I put everything on this blog. No, I don't, didn't then, didn't while I was overseas, and I don't now. I don't think that was ever my intention. I dabbled with the sort-of-online-diary thing once but that would only be something to be misconstrued and be like begging or attention. As a result, this blog has been everything from a square dance to a mosh pit and will continue to do so. But, there are people out there so out of touch and self centered...Hence, hubris...That I will...Or is do a better word?..."Tell you about my life as a Citizen Soldier and my Appalachian roots." That is because to me, it's cultural survival.

I'm not going to talk about the Army. I would complain. Do you want to read me complaining? Which, reminds me I have something to take care of in the dreaded Defense Travel System...I'm not going to talk about it...I'd just complain.

What I will tell you though, is that I've had some long nights this weekend and last. Two nights in a row I trudged up the side of a mountain between the hours of 0100 and 0200, sweat pouring off of me, watching for snakes and all the long thinking how amazing it is that dogs can see so well in the pitch black. I turn my light off and can't see my hand in front of my face...Twister said to me once he didn't think the Jungle in Panama had too much on Laurel and Ivy thickets...The dogs are ahead barking nearly every breath. I catch mine, cross the rocks, make through the thicket and into the big timber. I could be at home asleep. I could be laid up with a gal. I could be hearing music. But, those Hounds put out a sweet sound.

God put us here with the intent we live out some adventures. That's one reason I love my dogs so much. It ain't self glory. It ain't all reflection either. It ain't a statement of a cause as it is a statement of the truth. It may not mean a hill of beans to you, but it does to me. That's all I'm saying.

It's training season and life is good.
The Appalachianist

2009-09-02T21:15:00.001-05:00

I used to think there was nothing to do...

Special Thanks to Southern Bitch.

I first heard this a few years back, about the fall of 2004. Poetry of our patheticness or rally cry for common sense? Oh, I guess that's for one's self to decide. Maye it's just coordinated noise...Who's John Gault anyway? But, I can't help but think about it when I see what's going on today. We've got busy bodies left and right trying to synchronize every facet of our lives. Where are our principles? Where are our fundamentals? Well, I think we're just spinning around like a top until we can figure that out. At least we're sill spinning. That's the bright side.

You wonder why kids are fucked up today...
The Appalachianist

The summer Of Luck

2009-08-21T20:49:00.001-05:00

They sat staring at their children through the cracked door reflecting on their lives until this night, contemplating the future and which direction to take. He had been a Lumber Jack and she a Bikini Model. They had met in the Summer of Luck and she fell for him when she first saw him. He strode towards the massive tree among all of the protests and shouts, Husqavarna in hand with a look of determination she had seen on no other man's face. She leaned further out to get a better look at him, then slipped, falling from the branches of the massive tree and into the arms of the Lumber Jack. "You saved me", she said in astonishment. But she had saved him, giving his life a meaning other than satisfying his addiction to cross word puzzles and sudoku. Her heart had been broken so many times it seemed to only be held together by glue. It had been one cause after another, baby Seals, educations funds for the poor, hungry children, all leaving her heart broken and bleeding. In his arms that day, in the Summer of Luck, she felt it beating anew. He smelled clean and she flushed in shame not having bathed in over a week in the protesters perch in the massive tree. She anxiously showed him all of her portfolios, he showed her all of his chainsaws. She asked him to marry her in the pouring rain as he carved their initials into the massive tree under which they had met. "Hell, why not?", he told her. Together they ran away to the South where the sun shined for her bathing suit and he could cut pulp wood. Along the way they found their children, selling lemonade after their parents had abandoned them. They bought their lemonade and took them to the back woods of the south. They had cut most of the pulp wood and the sun had not shined in weeks. They thought that it was a good time to get away, so they got the children out of bed and left for the North Woods to show them their initials in the massive tree in the Summer Of Luck...

Just a little writing excercize.
The appalachianist

Fighting Cows

2009-08-12T19:56:00.003-05:00

The first and last time I ever tried a tobacco product, Hawkins Dip, if I remember right, I was walking across a cow pasture with my cousin. I had just put it in my lip as he instructed me when he yelled a bull was coming. I looked over my shoulder and sure enough a bull was in a fast walk straight to us nor more than twenty yards off. The fence was about five yards in front of us, five yards that we covered quickly. I had dip all in my mouth, all over my teeth and after we cleared that fence all over my fingers getting it out. I told him that I wanted no part of that again. He understood.
Seeing this video reminded me of that.

The Appalachianist

Decisions Decisions

2009-08-09T06:22:00.003-05:00

Well, Good Morning. It's clear on this mountain, but, I know down in the river valley there will be fog. I just got my morning dose of view point. As so you know, I'm sitting here making up the gumption, while listening to Cracker, to go to town...Town, that urban configuration where people gather for the greater goodness...What ever that is. Opinions vary, but for me it would be a plate of eggs, slice of bacon and the rare weekend cup of coffee. But, then, I'm debating a family reunion today and those have a tendency to be high calorie. Decisions, decisions.

It's been a split weekend for me. Yesterday, Saturday, for you confused folks, I was at Ft. Jackson for a Brigade conference. Two weeks ago it was Greenville NC...Yes, North Carolina...Which is way on the other side of North Carolina from me...About the biggest thing here and there have in common is the Governor...Then of course there was my trip to Kentucky to the littered banks of the Ohio. That was preceded by two Drills in June. It's been a busy summer that ain't over yet, but, I'm not going to lament. Lamenting has been a misdirection of energy to me. Even when I was a little kid. Heck, I sometimes forget that I ever was a little kid. And then at the same time I long to be a big kid. Not bigger, but, kiddier.

It's quiet. The dogs are quiet. There's a light breeze and between songs I can hear a cricket.David Lowery is singing into the microphone "You know what time it is, you know what time it is".

Time to go.
The Appalachianist

Just for grins

2009-07-27T11:48:00.002-05:00

I was about to post the other night, then had a sudden change of plans. I'm alive, I'm kicking. About everything else is too.

Here, listen to this, it was part of my post. Learn the words and sing them over and over. When people ask if that's the only words you know...Tell them yeah, and it ain't none of their business. Then grin real big.

I Understand Now - Patterson Hood

Cold Dark Water

2009-07-15T19:55:00.001-05:00

Lake Jocassee sits down off in South Carolina, on the head waters of the Savanna River, fed by rivers from North Carolina. Below it sits Lake Keowee on what was the Keowee River. It cools a nuclear power plant near Seneca for Duke Power.
The lake may be called Jocassee, over a dubious legend, but the place was known as "The Auger Hole". My Grand Daddy said that was because it was like someone took an auger to the ground. People lived off in there in a place once known as The Cane Break. That was my Ex's people. Her Great Grand Father payed taxes to Transylvania county NC and both Pickens and Oconee county SC. Well, Duke needed that land off in there to help cool the power plant and to make a long story short, it's in water now. Three hundred feet deep in cold dark water.

My Ex's Father helped build those lakes. He tells a few stories that would make everyone of you grin. I have immense respect for the man, and I'm not going to talk about his business, but I see a hint of regret in him sometimes.

Most of the water sits off in SC. The rivers, gorges and ridges leading off into there are mainly in NC. Allot of it is a State Park now. They call it Jocassee Gorges State Park, but, everyone else calls it The Auger Hole. Looks like someone took an auger to the ground. Biologically unique, steep as a goats face. Water spilling down the Mountain into a pretty lake. Three hundred feet deep in cold dark water.

That water goes to the Atlantic. The creek next to me goes into the West Fork of the French Broad, that joins the other forks as the French Broad that later becomes the Tennessee. That water makes it's way to the Ohio then to the Mississippi and out into the Gulf. I see it as an amazing part of our Creator's world.

Call me sentimental...I don't care if you call me a son of a bitch...But when I see a lake, I can't help but wonder about the history underneath it. Yeah, I like my power, but I wonder what lives were lived there. While there are folks around that hold a grudge against Duke Power for allot of that, it's not nearly as much as the Tennessee Valley Authority did. Well worth a candid look.

That's what this song is about, the TVA and false hopes. A World War I vet in a world of disappointment. Uncle Frank. Fifteen rocky acres in cold dark water.

The infamous Drive By Truckers

The Appalachianist

Robert Strange McNamara

2009-07-06T08:51:00.004-05:00

I had a Birthday the other week. Once, the things were just another day, the year another number. Well, today, it's still just another number, but, I appreciate my day. That's not my subject, just the rambling of my mind. My own reflections. But, as I marked my 41st year, I found it marked by death. The year before, I had an Aunt die the night before. I spent the day hating to look into my Cousins eyes with their Mother just dieing.
Then, this year, death was all over the news. It's been a media frenzy. So, in this post, I offer a reflection. No lamenting, no, no judgment. Any of those are not my intent.

Robert S. McNamara, former Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, has died. He was highly intelligent, somewhat reluctant to the Posts that he served in and, he was a unique individual. His life was not without controversy and as he will be laid to rest, we will be reminded of this. Much like Michael Jackson, his life will not go without heckling and defending statements.

He was a "Technocrat" and statistics were his business. Which reminds me of the Army saying, "Figures don't lie, but lairs figure". But, he obviously made differences with his findings in statistics. Both for the Army Air Corps and Ford Motor Company. In reality, I believe the man was a truth seeker. I don't believe he was as bad and blind of a person as many with certain agendas will say. He was not the righteous man some may defend him as. I believe he was honest.

McNamara was convinced that it was luck...Just luck...That kept us out of a Nuclear War during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He admitted technology was not as effective as we make it to be. He, as well, admitted that "neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient"..."You can't change human nature".

Robert S McNamara's Eleven Lessons.

1. Empathize with your enemy
2. Rationality will not save us
3. There's something beyond one's self
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
6. Get the data
7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
10. Never say never
11. You can't change human nature

The Fog of War

I hope he finds Peace on he Other Side...
The Appalachianist

Ya La La Yalla Yalla

2009-06-30T15:52:00.000-05:00

Cracker

The Appalachianist

Out of the Office

2009-06-28T07:54:00.002-05:00

In a short while the final packing will be done, the house buttoned up, the hot water heater turned off. I'll water the garden one last time, and top the dogs water off. I'm heading off to Ft. Knox Ky for a few weeks.

Time to get...
The Appalachianist

Cracker Soul

2009-06-26T09:06:00.002-05:00

It's a shame I'm going to miss these fellars at Bele Chere this year...And the Belly Dancers...Now, I'm not one to toot my horn, but, damnit, "I'm Feeling thankful for the small things today".

Cracker, Happy Birthday

The Appalachianist

This Is Neat...

2009-06-24T11:49:00.002-05:00

Someone at my civillian job told me aboout this. This thing is a well thought out piece of machinery.

The Appalachianist

Tonight I Post

2009-06-22T19:31:00.002-05:00

This is the post you get to say, "Wow, that's neat". That's what I want it to be...But, tonight I feel...I've got a strange mix of thoughts and emotions in me. Talking to people from the past sometimes has it's consequences. I learned that someone I regarded as truly Beautiful was in a car accident some years ago and died as a result of it. She had a Beautiful Heart.

I come across something and I want to write about it. The things I could say...Blogging can take time though. Goofing off takes time...Once in a fll moon I rent a movie...Hence once a month. One of which was a documentary on (some of you may dread him) the lessons of the life of Robert S McNamara. S is for Strange. His Wife didn't know that until they announced their engagement. It was made a few years back. However, he was in good health, alert and keen. And, this about the time I referred to "Bombs Away LeMay". And, that "War Criminal" talk came up. As well, when he came to Ford Motor Company after WWII they had broke even on their best years since the early 20's. Reminds you of the dwindling three today. However he helped make the company competitive, unlike today. This is where you say "Wow, that's neat."

My fellow Libertarians and any Objectivist that may read across this, I have undertaken Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I took a break after the first part and read "Call of the Hounds", a book about the times of professional guide Del Cameron that hunted Mountain Lions and Bear in the Northern Rockies. As a Houndsman, I loved this book. They do things a little different than we do here in Southern Appalachia, but there are some parallels. He hunted Lions when there was a bounty on them and much of the Montana Mountans were still virgin forest. he hunted places like The River of No Return Wilderness before it became a Wilderness. Anyone with interest in the Northern Rockies or Lions should read this book. While it deals with the Hounds, it deals with nature as much so. If anyone is curious about Hunting with Hounds, they should read this book. It's at times poetic, at others gruesome and plain, it's primal.

OK, what else? Well..Oh Yeah, I noticed a hit on my Statounter coming from Red Georgia Clay...A year of nonposting...If Dave can come back, well I reckon I can too. Now, I've got to link him back, Red Neck Engineering and all...

Nuff Said Tonight...
The Appalachianist