Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Move to California.   Don't even remotely think about moving to  
> Appalachia!

What's the matter, Grumpy, woke up this morning and smelled the  
campfire of a new squatter?

I lost count of the many radio interview call-ins who told me I was  
ruining the Ozarks by telling people that I chose it as my ideal  
country home. My response was that I warned people about ticks,  
chiggers, no-see-ums, mosquitos, rattlesnakes, copperheads, poison  
ivy, tornadoes, thunderstorms, ice storms, radical weather change in  
minutes, rocky ground, and remoteness from civilization. Occasionally  
I mentioned the movie, "Deliverance," but only if the radio station  
was far distant from Missouri.

Paranoia is often a healthy condition, but people in general  
overestimate the influence of an author. I know of fewer than ten  
people who have moved to the Ozarks after reading my book. Of course  
they are superior human beings and fully deserve the sublime life there.

If not, they will soon leave. It all works out.