My dad is doing very well;  he’s mentally back up to speed but he’s still weak and needs the physical therapy stuff.  He’s starting to gain back some weight, too!  That’s a good thing when you’re 94 and have been losing your appetite over the past few months.  He’s still not able to stand, but maybe that’s a good thing.  We’ll thankful to have him back!  Thanks for all your encouragement and prayers.

I was telling one of Dad’s nurses how Mom and Dad met and found out that she lived on the same road my mom grew up on;  the “Needmore Road”.  There’s a little community a few miles from here called “Needmore”.  Aside from the obvious jokes arising from it’s name, it’s regional reputation comes from the quality of moonshine that is brewed from it’s crystal clear water.  There’s a seam of white clay in the region and in the deep south, many people say it’s medicinal.  In some places, women have been known to eat the clay to assure a trouble-free pregnancy.  But I’m not going to speculate about that…

Now making your own whiskey is frowned upon in Alabama and both the Federal Agents and the local law enforcement love to destroy such operations.  The moonshiners on the Needmore Road were apparently legendary, but I didn’t know about them until a series of raids were publicized recently.  The moonshiners have yet to be caught, but they’ve lost at least 4 sets of distillers.

I remarked to this nurse that it was really strange that I spent so many years in that area going to church and visiting my grandfather and aunt, but I never knew that such illegal liquor was available right down the road.  She smiled and said that these days it’s cheaper to buy your rotgut at the liquor stores but to her family, moonshining still remained a matter of tradition and pride.

HER FAMILY!?!

That’s right.  The cunning corn mash connoisseurs were relatives of hers and while she didn’t name any names, she did mention that select members of her family tree had been making it since the Civil War and that they aren’t making it to sell anymore, they’re making it for select friends and family members.

Wow.  That’s some tradition.

Perhaps that’s the source of the complex vowel sound that linguists call “the Confederate ‘ai’”

Which explains why the Southern Drawl is gradually disappearing…