Free Republic

The owls gathered in the trees around the silos because of the mice, which came because of the loose grain scattered on the ground. There were five silos, each 30 feet tall, standing together in the valley next to the Snowbird Mountain range. Nestled halfway between Murphy and Andrews in the very western corner of North Carolina, the area around the silos is a rich floodplain, thanks to the creeks and streams that feed into the Valley River, and the farmers there grow corn, soybeans and wheat. Like the owls and the mice, a gaunt and weary man emerged from...