For Certain Family Members

... Who think our county isn't rural enough (not that I'm trying to influence where you choose to live the next time you move. Oh wait. I am.* ;-):

In the fifteen minute drive to the library book sale today, I encountered 6 farms, cows, horses, one very lonely road with practically nothing but fields of grass gone up to seed interspersed with mini forests, and a genuine tractor. If you go to the other side of the railroad tracks from us (other way off the interstate), you're not five minutes out before you start seeing cows, horses, and sheep dogs who actually herd sheep. There are blueberry and pumpkin farms, and vast fields. Take a little side trip south to the next major road and you'll see a deer processing business run out of a quaint little farm house.

West of our house lies church, and once on the way home from church we had to swerve our car to avoid hitting a chicken who had wandered into the road. We've seen deer and what we think was a coyote on the way to church as well. Turn off of the main church road and you start seeing farms and grassy fields.

North of our house you reach the rolling foothills of the Appalachians within the hour. Closer to our house are more blueberry farms, and when we once took back roads home from the blueberry fields (as opposed to the interstate, only one or two exits from our house), we came across tiny near-dirt roads where free-range chicken eggs were sold on an honor-based system. The owner put the eggs in a hinged wooden box inside a cooler. You left money in a smaller hinged box and went on your way. The sign was painted onto plywood.

The MidWest we are not, but please do not judge our county by the tiny pocket of suburbia that lives off exits 7 and 8. Get past that and you will see that you could do much worse than to live close to us.

(*OK, we know you don't have much choice in the matter, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to plead our case just a tad.)