Tennessee

There he was... in the Appalachians .............
The huge wooden buildings were set in close with the overgrown Forest.......

Who ever designed and built the structures had in mind lots of light.....
Sky lights, Windows and doors...... were everywhere....

Apparently the enemy over the years  was Leakage.........

Great idea he thought to himself but now everything was rotten wet and moulding ... a non repairable mess....  of what once was quite the place.........

He went into the local do drop inn.......... not far away....... down the road  ' a piece'

Damn if people there weren't friendly as Hell.......

He had wondered why in the World would you ever want to live up here?

Maybe he was finding out...........

The Girl started singing...........  boy she hit home......... she sang.......

"Since you've been gone I've been Thinking........ Whats longer then you and shorter then me?"

an older woman pulled up a chair to the table he was sitting at....  and there was conversation going on at the adjoining table... on about so and so needing a place to park her camper for a while... NO Problem plenty of ROOM.... so and so has a spot over down below Clarks Ridge... with lots of good clean Drinking water....... she'll be fine there for a while......

He was explaining to the woman sitting at the table with him how where he came from the people had grown hard  and Calloused..... and everyone had P.T.S.D........ as he began to tear up........

Here the people really liked Ketchup... never set the bottle on the floor he was Scolded by her.... and they all  wore threadbare shoes..........

Happy as Shit ..... tapping their feet to the music as the Girl Sang.... her Lament of having left from down there...... and it's Folly.....

The Catchy Refrain.... was clear as day.... " Since you've been gone ; what's longer then me and shorter then you?'

and...  "Since you've been gone and I'm living in Tennessee..."

He went into conversation once again as she sang the refrain... with the lady explaining how where he had come from folks had grown and become Hard and Calloused.... it was release therapy.... Cathartic .......

and he observed:   The Peoples those mountain Folk Seemed to know about the way it used to be......

They seemed  overall... warmer and to care more for one another... and there was clean water around clean enough to drink.......

Maybe his opinion was changing?

and where he had come from was the fucked up place.......

A chain of harsh Islands...... That they always have been...

Collecting ... only Certain Sorts........ like a Ferrous Magnet... drawing in.... or repelling...

With all the best of intentions......... of Course...... Either way.........

Freaky No Good Feeling

Have you ever experienced a freaky no good feeling?

Forrest had the distinct pleasure yesterday......

He was installing an outboard engine bracket on the back of his trailer Sailor....  a 20' mono hull Sloop...

He had to crawl furthest most aft under the solid cockpit seat....  he could barely fit....

He guessed it was 104 degrees out....  crawling on forearms dragging his body... then putting washers then nuts on the through bolts... of course having to look backwards and overhead at it all.... sweating profusely.... and of course naturally the  threads were slightly marred.... thus not allowing them to thread terribly easily and having to use an end wrench..(a Spanner)  to incrementally tighten the little bastards.... while holding the bolt with a pair of pliers... two handed operations.... you see...

on the fourth  one... Forrest felt an  ensuing panic.......  He  guessed it was claustrophobia .... very enchanting... feeling... not divine at all........

He talked to himself in a soothing voice....   there , there, 'take a few deep breaths Forrest .... everything will be OK'..

Finally Forrest got the last stubborn mule of a nut... tightened up... and went back around all four of them and gave them a good final tweaking..... the caulking oozing out....

He couldn't back paddle quick enough to get his fat sweaty ass out from under the confines.... into the fresh... air....  and seeing all those dots.... before his eyes.... once out....

He don't want to go back up in there again........

Freaky No Good Feeling...........