IN
We, dog and I are still digging the spring out. I have decided it is really not a spring by definition but a small underground stream, the water is clear and we are using it for our water source. Dog already knows not to drink directly from the stream, I have a bowl to the side for him. This is a pretty good cave itself, but with the water it is too damp to live in for long. The home cave is started but that is all.
I spend a couple hours a day training him. He is a mixed breed and learns very quickly. While with the Company, I worked with a dog handler and learned some of the techniques. Dog also is a problem. I have decided on a name, I am not sure my friend Father O’Shields will approve. I know that this dog can scare the devil out of a person, so I have decided to call him Satan. I need a name to train with, and Satan is working well. He has gained weight since his trauma, and is healing well. WE are bonding, as they say, very well.
OUT

IN
It is freezing here. We have been staying in the cave we have dug for the spring. It stays a constant 70- degrees. We had a sprinkling of snow. I will start on our house soon. Maybe tomorrow. It will be a cave also, but I hope to make a nice underground house. When that is all you have to do the digging goes good. I just dig and put the dirt in five gallon buckets and then scatter it around. I am building sort of a berm around our camp site with the dirt. A Lady once told me to keep busy with my hands and I could clear my mind. I have a long way to go but her advice it good. I met the lady by the rail road tracks. A man there sells apples, he keeps a fire going, nice to warm by. He gets his apples from the mountain orchards. I like the cooking apples best, I love a hard apple that cracks when you bite into it. I am enjoying this solitude. I hope I can sort out my feelings before I have to deal with someone from the Company. I know no one out there is reading, but I feel better.
OUT

The company

IN (very cold)
The Company. You may or may not be familiar with your CIA. We that worked within the elite, just call it the Company. So yes, I was involved for a few short years with the ‘dark side’ of the Company, called Black Ops. They were illegal to a point, but every operation in which I participated was, in my opinion, absolutely necessary to preserve our way of life. My particular skills were in demand. And yes, I left under a cloud. Not in my opinion but I am sure theirs. BUT I just became sick and tired, distressed you might say. You work for something like the Company, you belong to them 24 hours a day seven days a week. I have always been a confirmed bachelor, so mostly it was no problem. But there are always errors and when they are yours they bear on your mind. I just need to get away. Oh, yes, they are definitely looking for me. But do you think they will look in a small cotton mill town. I don’t think so.
OUT

Just more in the woods.

IN
Well, we have decided on the spring. It will be really something. I think anyone would love it, if I can accomplish what I plan. I learned a lot with the Company. Sometimes using the stealth facts I learned there, I can get within ten or fifteen feet of the boys, and hear their conversations. Oh I know their names. The black kid is Sticky. The smart kid is Buddy and Tuck is the boy who will be an outdoorsman and hunter. That J.Leon is a little hard to read. I think he could easily get into deep trouble. He pushes his luck, as we used to say.
I will follow them in a couple days to the river. These boys are going to spend the night on an Island in the river. My father would never have allowed that. But somehow poorer kids make do with what they have. They can figure on their own, because they are on their on a lot, both parents work in the Mills.
Sticky’s mother works for some rich lady in town. Her husband owns a couple of the cotton mills. I may be getting too involved in the boy’s lives. I have plenty to do here at my home. I have lots of plans.
OUT

digging a spring

IN
Have you ever dug a spring? This is my first attempt. I found water but it is about six feet down. This is going to take some engineering. I did some research about springs. Amazing, if I can get a structure or a room like place, I can store the milk, butter I make there. And cheese IF I ever learn how to make it.
The dog actually helps dig some, I enjoy watching. I am learning to enjoy the simple things. Strange how our mind gets wrapped up in things and we do not see the simple pleasures in life. What is that old saying, ‘smell the roses’. I lost my mother early in my life, and dad never remarried. In my teen age years I missed having a mother to talk to. When I left my ‘lofty’ position my father could not understand and we had a big confrontation. That was when I was with the Company. I wish dad had owned a dog to talk to he would have grown to like it, I think. It is easier to talk to my dog than people.
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milking the nannie

IN
I saw those crazy boys again today. One came close to being bitten by a cottonmouth. One kid is good with a slingshot. Killed the moccasin.
I have found a spring, but it is deep. I am getting the handle on milking the Nannie. I have yet to figure a way to make butter yet. The dog helps use the milk. I will read up on it while I am at the library. Might just go over and talk to the Father at the Abbey.
OUT

nanny

IN
It is a strange feeling to be invisible. Yesterday I walked over to the Abbey to see Father O’Shields of the Benedictines. I only passed a couple folks on the way, they actually acted like I was not there, like I am invisible. I like it, now I know I am not real just a figment. Father O’Shields gave me a nanny to take care of and so I would have milk. I may be a farmer yet or an outdoorsman. Now I have got to learn to milk better. In awhile he says I can have butter and cheese. Father gave a demo, and dog liked the milk, this is going to be interesting. I started to dig yesterday. I have decided to dig a spring or well first. I guess you dig until you hit water. I could try to cut one of those divining rods and use that to try to find water. I have a water seepage close by. Should be a good idea to try there.
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Just another day and children

IN
Last night there was a lot of fireworks in town. I could see some of them from my place. So it is a new year. What is it about that that makes folks celebrate? It is just another day. The sun will come up and go down. Actually it will not. The Earth will rotate so we can see the sun for part of a day, then rotate on into the shadow of the earth itself. We call it night.
But it is just another day. In some parts of the world folks are dying. Some are fighting wars. Children are suffering because we 'big folks' can't get along.
WE give our reasons, but what good does that do the kid who has just lost his parents to a stupid bomb.
I see kids everyonce in awhile pass throught the woods. I watch and see them do dangerous things, it scares me. I just can't think of another child getting hurt when I am around. You can't watch them all the time. too much to be done. I have decided to dig a cave to live in.
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