I’m withdrawing from this conversation.
6 p.m. and I’m hearing New Year fireworks already. Probably hear them until midnight. LOL
I had to go back and reread - I never meant you or your ancestors were like the locals from the holler here. Obviously, somebody in your family left the hills at some point. Same with those here closer to town, they got out and mingled a bit.
What’s left is people who leave dogs on heavy chains with no shelter, even when it’s 14 degrees. Raise roosters and pit bulls for fighting. Pen up hunting dogs, only letting them out for hunting and otherwise neglecting them. Othrrs dogs and cats run loose, until they are killed by cars or predatirs, and they go pick up some more - who knows why.
And of course, no animal is vaccinated, treated for tics, flees, heartworm, etc. We’ve been here 6 years and they never had an animal live more than 2 years old. And it’s the same, if not worse, in the other hollers up and down the Appalachian near the TN/VA/NC border. I don’t even want to mention how they treat horses or mules.
Other areas could be different. I think the key is genetic diversity. 3 or 4 surnames being shared by many hundreds - not a good thing.