Backwoods Boy

Now that I've checked my email, I will resume the position described.

'Tis the season. Here's hoping for rapid recovery. I think I just had a week of the flu. Didn't know it until it was over and I suddenly felt better. Reading up on the symptoms, they were classic, but unusual for me - severe aggravation of normal aches and pains. I thought I was just aging more rapidly than usual. After hiding out from several inches of rain over a few days, I cancelled my volunteer activity for the day to hide out from the forecast blizzard/freezing rain. So far nothing, but the radar predicts it to arrive within an hour. Waiting for January to be over. 😠 Y'all have a good day.

There's nothing like a first-hand report. My best wishes to you and your comrades.

What an awesome thing to volunteer for. My congratulations on stepping up to this, and wishes for your safety.

Thanks for the good laugh. That's gonna be me in about three days when that stuff is supposed to hit here. I may just hibernate until it's over.

Revelations. The back story adds a different dimension, and more justification for the punishment of all of them.

Mason is so transparent. Ya gotta love him. And the torture crap makes my blood boil every time it surfaces. Thanks for a very thought-provoking chapter.

I don't have a clue, but anyone who doesn't watch television shows is automatically on my good list.

This is an excellent chapter. I enjoyed the self-realization. The part about his mother encouraging him to be a friend to Michael, and then her guilt later was a particularly nice touch, in my opinion. I'll PM you on a couple other things.

Excellent chapter. It seems Chris is beginning to get his head on straight. It's tempting to either binge read or jump to the last chapter. Not going there.

Can't come up with just one reaction icon for this one. Here's hoping for better opportunities ahead.

Each poem is different, but taken together they immediately brought to mind the vintage song, "Autumn Leaves". Thanks for sharing these reflections.

Having been involved in this discussion in several places, I'd like to add a few observations. There was nothing wrong with the intention of the check mark, but before the comments on that thread were finished, the intended use by some as nothing more than a polite poo was crystal clear. Given that, I believe that the added icon was rushed to implementation without adequate thought of the potential use. The check mark as a placeholder is a personal tool that might well be available throughout the text and visible only to the user who put it there. As a retired programmer, I know how difficult even the first part of that would be, as Myr indicated. It ain't likely to happen. Precisely. Including any icons. Welcome to the party, something perhaps worth discussing in private at another time. You didn't miss any introduction, just a few semi-hidden trip hazards, which I hope @Brayon and I have made more visible. As @Brayon said, it's politics, and the emotion that goes with the politics. Speaking for myself, before the check mark was out of the gate, it had too much baggage to view positively.

Great way to provide some more perspective on Michael - from first-hand experience of his companion.

Thanks for the additional background. Thanks for the information. I hope to read a chapter a day until I'm caught up, and I'll be checking out the other options.

I gather from the comments that this has been previously published, but I'm happy to be reading it for the first time. I'm new to your writing in general, and I very much like the premise, not to mention the environment. It appeals to my rural nature.

Just started with this. The journal is an interesting approach to first-person, and an outside perspective on the other pack characters will be interesting.

In a land long ago and far away, life was simple. The author skillfully reveals, layer by layer, that it wasn't simple at all. A fascinating story of love and adventure, it is also a cautionary tale of good and evil, with multiple applications to more modern times.

Well, so much for a chapter a day. Yeah, I binge-read the last four, and was glad I didn't have to wait a week. This is an awesome story, tim, among the best I've ever read. Or as my neighbor would say, "Brilliant!".

Thanks for the education on the origin. I'm totally with both of you. It's a piece of 💩 which might actually be a suitable replacement.

Try: 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (just kidding, I hope you get some relief)

I think your "Weird" comment is still the definitive reaction. Apparently the thumbs up wasn't bland enough. I can think of a variety of responses that would have been more useful

I like the simplicity with which the story is written, but the depth buried within the simplicity too. You use contractions sparingly, and I wonder if that is deliberate. The result is a cadence more like poetry than prose.

I am enjoying this story very much - a genre I would never have claimed an interest in were it not for you and @Brayon. Thanks for so pleasantly expanding my horizons.

I dearly love this poem. It made me laugh, but the ♥️ is better. Maybe we should throw away the phone and texting gloves, at least on occasion. The geese may be wiser than we are.