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1 " To be a full-blooded hillbilly was to be a living koan. Half of you wanted to be dignified and half of you couldn’t tolerate any restraint. You could see it in the regional art and hear it in the music. Wood carving with chainsaws. Cloggers who danced up a storm with the lower half of their bodies, but held the upper half perfectly still and stared off into the distance stone-faced. Or a group of bluegrass musicians who’d be playing the most raucous tunes imaginable, looking around at each other with bemused expressions that seemed to say where’s all that racket comin from?Phoebe believed that nearly all the adult males everywhere were pretty much the same way. Most of them could manage to keep the top half of themselves under a semblance of control, but the bottom half tended to run wild. As she continued to descend the trail she couldn’t help but think that most men were mentally ill below the waist. "
― Carolyn Jourdan , Out on a Limb: A Smoky Mountain Mystery
2 " Inside a barn is a whole universe, with its own time zone and climate and ecosystem, a shadowy world of swirling dust illuminated in tiger stripes by light shining through the cracks between the boards. Old leather tack, lengths of chain, rope, and baling twine dangled from nails and rafters and draped over stall railings. Generations of pocketknives lay lost in the layers of detritus on the floor. "
― Carolyn Jourdan , Heart in the Right Place
3 " They’s nothin more triflin than a pet groundhog. "
― Carolyn Jourdan , Medicine Men: Extreme Appalachian Doctoring
4 " Maybe the ability to confer attention to another person was not simply common courtesy, but was the fundamental act of humanity. When it came down to it, all we ever really have to give each other is our attention. Wasn't that what love was? Paying selfless attention? "
― Carolyn Jourdan
5 " People think the park is a display put on by the government to entertain people, rather than understanding that it’s a pristine landscape we’re trying to preserve. "
― Carolyn Jourdan , Dangerous Beauty: Encounters with Grizzlies and Bison in Yellowstone
6 " You know the old joke about how to survive a bear attack: Make sure you hike with someone who you can outrun. "
― Carolyn Jourdan , Bear in the Back Seat II: Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
7 " Tourist: “What time do they let the bears out?” Ranger: “They’re out all the time.” Tourist: “What do you mean? "
― Carolyn Jourdan , Bear Bloopers: True Stories from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Smokies Wildlife Ranger Book 4
8 " This, I think, is the most tragic loss brought on by the modern health care system. The loving interconnectedness of doctor, family, and community is being destroyed. These ties that bind us to each other are the bonds that define our humanity, and yet they are being systematically severed in the service of automated bookkeeping. The entire health care system is now being organized around machines instead of human beings. Not prioritized to reduce human suffering, but rather to optimize a computerized recordkeeping system. This is a tragedy. "
9 " Tourist: “How high do you have to get before the deer turn into elk?” Ranger: “High on what?” Tourist: “I mean elevation.” Ranger: “What?” Tourist: “At what elevation will a deer become an elk? "
10 " There iddn’t no devil,” Nerve said. “Not really. At least not on the outside of us. He’s in us. Just like the Lord Himself can’t work ‘cept through our hands, neither can the devil.” "
11 " Maybe the ability to confer attention on another person was not simply common courtesy, but was the fundamental act of humanity. "
12 " What was unique about this recovery was that with most carcasses you gag while you’re working because it stinks and looks awful. But this elk had fallen into a hot spring and its carcass literally smelled like a pot roast coming out of the oven. "
13 " Bears do a lot of things that are humorous. But bison, I don’t know what kind of sense of humor they have. Dr. Harold D. Picton "
14 " I asked a blind friend why she didn’t use a guide dog. She said she’d tried and they were great, but having the dog caused problems that never would’ve occurred to her. “I was out practicing with my dog downtown and got lost, so I asked a person standing next to me on a street corner for directions. The fellow I asked got down on his knees and gave detailed directions to the dog! “Then he stood up and whispered to me, ‘These guide dogs are really incredible, aren’t they?’ “After that I decided to use a cane. "
15 " My nurse told a female patient, ‘Strip to the waist and put this over your head.’ Then she handed the patient a folded paper gown. “A few minutes later I came into the room and the lady was sitting on the examining table stripped to the waist, with the gown, still folded in a small square, laying on top of her head. "
16 " Although female grizzlies mate during the spring, embryo development and pregnancy are suspended for a few months in a process called delayed implantation. This means if it’s not a good year for food and the female is unable to gain enough weight to successfully produce cubs, the embryo will be reabsorbed and the pregnancy won’t proceed. "
17 " The bear had snatched Ray’s shirt off the clothesline and was absconding with it. "
18 " That in a nutshell characterizes the people of the Southern Appalachian Highlands. We refuse to be embarrassed just because we made a mistake, even a really big mistake. "
19 " The entire healthcare system is now being organized around machines instead of human beings. Not prioritized to reduce human suffering, but rather to optimize a computerized recordkeeping system. This is a tragedy. "
20 " I was carrying an old-style pack with a metal frame. I could hear a zzz, zzz sound, like a bee. I looked around but couldn’t see anything. I was trying to dodge the bee, then I realized there was no bee, it was electricity. The sound was electricity zipping along my backpack frame. "
