At Long Last

Ah, my last blog post from the Backwoods. Just to prove that I haven't been exaggerating all these years about my rural lifestyle, last night I saw three deer in the clearing behind our house. Three of 'em! I was wishing my sister was here with her gun so we could have ourselves some venison for dinner. Oh wait. I'm not a redneck. I couldn't eat a deer that my sister shot with a 9mm. And besides, I don't have a deer license (not that that stops many people around here).

We're packing up and getting ready to leave this town, and hopefully we'll never have to come back. I had my first taste of Memphis barbecue the other night. It's taken me this long because, frankly, I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it. When you watch people eat barbecue nachos you kind of lose your appetite for any of the ingredients. Especially the barbecue part. (I'm not making this up. People around here stuff themselves silly on tortilla chips topped with pork or chicken swimming in Memphis-style barbecue sauce and topped with that melted fake cheese and pickled jalapeno slices. Urk.) So, I tried Memphis-style barbecue, renowned the world over as being the best barbecue ever. It was okay, a bit too sweet for my taste. Note that this was pulled pork and not ribs. The ribs here ROCK!

Gracie went to live with her new family yesterday. Rick and Mel are going to take excellent care of her, she'll have room to stretch out and be lazy, and, best of all, no big-ass, stupid lab is going to try to get her to play anymore. I am so thankful to Rick and Mel. I was sure I was going to have to put Gracie down before we left because I just don't think she could handle the drives (first one 14 hours, second one close to 30). They called last night and said she's made herself comfortable on the office floor and isn't intimidated in the least by their two Chihuahuas (I could have told them that).

So, this is my last post from Tennessee, but rest assured that I'm not leaving Heathenville. Heathenville, after all, is a state of mind, not a state in the union. ;)