Flattered? Yes...

Once again, we here at Hillbilly Savants have been honored with another Thinking Blog Award. In a virtual game of "gotcha-last", the Weenie Wonks (their name, not mine) over at The West Virginia Hot Dog Blog have reciprocated some high praise on us. Thanks folks, for reading and spreading the word about Hillbilly Savants! We hope we'll continue to cut the mustard for you.

Playing within the rules of a Thinking Blog Award, it's now our turn to nominate five more blogs for the same award (you can read all about our first award and nominees here). It's not an easy task to choose just five blogs. As you can see under our Kith & Kin section in the left sidebar, we like blogs. A lot of blogs. In a long, excruciating process that involved a little Scotch and a fair amount of reading, here are my nominees:

1) Living Green: As a home designer professionally and as someone planning my own home construction, Aaron Doyle's real estate blog focusing on sustainable living is a great resource. It's a subject that all of us face as urban sprawl creeps deeper into Appalachia and energy consumption becomes more of a conscious decision.

2) BLDG BLOG: It's not based in or on Appalachia but this blog is probably the best blog I have ever read. If you are a fan of art and architecture, click the link.

3) Squirrel Meat's Journal: Techically not a blog, but Squirrel Meat is friend of HS and to us contributors that attended Emory & Henry College. The journal is his way of telling us what is happening as he hikes the Pacific Crest Trail. S'meat completed a southbound hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2003 and is tackling the Canada to Mexico trail on the west coast as I type.

4) Blue Ridge Muse: Just down Route 8 from me, in Floyd, Virginia, Blue Ridge Muse is full of wonderful photography and writing. I like it because Floyd is kind of like Las Vegas, word of what goes on there doesn't reach us on the main drag via the mainstream media until we find it on the blogs. Blue Ridge Muse is just one of many great bloggers from Floyd County, the arts center of the New River Valley.

5) Fretboard Journal Blog: Anyone with a slight interest in music and instruments will find this writing worthwhile.

And again, the rules from the thinking blog:

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

That was that! Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking! It is the first time I am starting something with my blog so I hope it doesn't come back to haunt me.

The Blog I So Desperately Wish I Had Thought Of Creating Myself & Demand That Everyone On Earth Add to Their Favorites List

Griffith & Feil Pharmacy in Kenova, West Virginia
(Image from the West Virginia Hot Dog Blog, which gave
Griffith & Feil a ranking of four and 1/2 Weenies)

I have reviewed a lot of blogs in my day. Some of them are touching, some of them enlightening, some of them flat out funny, and some of the absurdly useful. I don't usually review political blogs, though I do read several, mainly because, being a moderate (socially libertarian, internationally a classical realist of a Machiavellian/Hobbesian bent, domestically a pragmatic Smithian, and environmentally just right of the greens, but from a security perspective, influenced largely by Malthus and, here's the kicker, Nixon) and a political scientist I feel such an urge to deal with issues in all their historical, economic, political, and social complexity that it makes either for horrible posts or for convoluted, huge posts that take the better part of a day to write, and frankly, I ain't got that kinda' time.

I'm off subject. Apologies. Let me recenter.

As I said, I read and review many, many blogs. It is a joy for me to see folks from around Appalachia producing intellectually stimulating such-have-yous. But no words can describe that special pleasure I experienced, shattering my nervous system like a hammer to glass, when I first stumbled across the West Virginia Hot Dogs Blog (via William Stewart's political commentary blog, always an interesting read itself).

That's right. I said it. It is a blog about hot dogs. In West Virginia. And the culture of condiments associated with said hot dogs - specifically slaw. Oh my sweet jumping Deity. This blog makes me believe - no, scratch that - know that humanity is going to be okay. You know why? Because there are members of our species who appreciate the little things, the details. It can't be all bad when there is time for us to dabble in the glories of minutiae. Sigh.

Now, to be accurate, I should point out the the blog is merely a child of a broader project - West Virginia Hot Dogs. Um. Yes.

Oh, and guys, if you ever read this, you need to check out my hometown of Bluefield. Not only do the Dairy Queens (including the backwards DQ - long story) there have unique buns (like toast with a fissure of happy), but Bowen Field, home of the Bluefield Orioles, is legendary for its contributions to Canis caldarius culture. Go Baby O's.