define reality

I have been told that I think entirely too much for my own good and sometimes it escapes my loved ones as to just why I do that particular annoying thing. After all, it is what it is. My ex accused me of trying to effin' analyze him when all I wanted to do was meet him halfway and talk about history. His family was quite fractured and it would take a road map to identify who all was up in the mix of the "village" that raised him. Our little village is the same way...several families grew up together as neighbors and raised kids and grandchildren but still call this place home. Those memories are very special to me and to the others who lived them over the past 56 years and prior to. One man at the dead end of the road by the river and the little family cemetary was even RAISED out here and still lives there with his wife. He, and the recovering alcoholic who is his neighbor, watch out for my parents just like Mayor Mozella and her extended family do. We're all in this together.

Before hitting the pool for some intense footwork, I stopped by to check on my parents and asked them what they would do if the checks don't come next week. Her SS check is minute, but his is retirement from the federal government for a career in government service, beginning with the Air Force and ending with a long tenure at the USDA. They have both paid dearly through years of working and paying taxes to be able to live out their golden years as they wish, at home. Daddy said they'd work it out...they always do. The best thing about this whole hoorah with the national debt is that people are actually beginning to believe that there is an end to the bottomless treasury that is the USA and we've just about hit the wall. I'm all about some spending cuts for the fluff that our government subsidies pay for. If anybody has any doubt that homeland security is misdirected, just remember Katrina and the WTC. Levees break and buildings topple, and in the meantime politicians live high on the hog and get paid room and board while we all wonder if the world will end next week. Somebody is a big fat whiny baby, but I'm not gonna mention names.

During WWI, the heir to this farm made a brazillion bucks and invested it in the acreage that we call "the farm." His fortune came from a military contract producing rain gear for soldiers. Guess what happened when the war was over? Going to war is big business for everybody who has the technology to invade countries and attempt to get rid of the bad guys while helping to maintain the infrastructure. And for the contractors who provide everything. Through government contracts. Sheesh.

I dropped by the store to see BG and her co-worker this morning and bring them some breakfast and the buzz was all about the 17 year old found dead in the project across the street. What a waste of a life. Gang activity has increased in western Tennessee substantially over the past ten years with the groups moving out of Memphis and into nearby little towns. Our county is at the northern part of that exodus but our law enforcement folks are pretty much on it when it comes to violence and emergency response. Fewer people, fewer problems.

The bar up in the kudzu is being sold to a regular who knows the client base and will work it for what it's worth. Interestingly enough, there is a lot of cleanup going on at the nearby Forked Deer river landing next to the farmer's market. Anybody who knows me knows that the project makes my heart skip a beat. Situated next to some of Dyersburg's oldest industries, it's a great venue to showcase that part of town which was "washed clean" by two years of flooding. The old iron bridge runs parallel to the newer concrete one crossing the river and heading south out of town on the business route. I usually go that way because the by-pass is just so damn boring. As I drive through what used to be a thriving downtown area and look at the decay of century old buildings, I wonder what the hell ever happened to Mayberry and Walton's Mountain.

Maybe that's the reality I choose to believe in ^j^