tROUT

   Tee-rout and tee-ball is Tennessee's pace this time of year!  

  At the English Mountain Trout Farm on a sunny side of the mountain to recent flooding, they are doing chicken tenders, catfish, and of course, trout!  Owner, Charlie Ford, says, fried green tomatoes too.

  I ask him if it's a slow day, and he tells me it's an average day for this time of year, for the time of season we're in.  Customers mill about, fishing for supper.  Right now it's mostly back to school and "fall's in the air except for the fact that they've had some of the heaviest flooding in the area."

  When the leaves start to change things pick up and hum until Christmas.  Like most mountain people I've met, Charlie is looking forward to winter holiday time.  Stresses the importance of focusing on the season and not losing the value of visitors and customers.

  "Customers love the vibe of the mountains here as told through the stories of the Trout Farm," Mr. Ford explains of his business finesse.  A sample of blackened trout, freshly caught, brings delicious.

  Fish jumpin' and a waterfall sound like a creek keep the fish tamed but happy until it's time to dip in a Huck Finn style pole and short line.  A campfire rounds the outdoor scents into appreciative appetite's craving....

  Sounds of cows too, beef and milk the farmers' way.  A tart tartar sauce to an onion ball makes a meal sweet perfection.  Life continues onward up in the hills from severe flooding.  Excavating equipment is mud spattered and garbage stranded from creek wash is most everywhere being picked up.  Local radio WLIK hosts and presenters give updates on game place status and the Academic-community news .  The Virginia Humanities people treated students and teachers alike to program newscaps they might be missing on account of the weather that has brought death and destruction to the Southeast's regions.