end of the money trail

Post Date & Time: 2008-04-23 08:55:32

Category: [landscape]  

Camera: DSC-H1
Focal Length: 54.2 mm
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec
Aperture: f 4
ISO: 64
Flash: Fired
Cropped: No

...continued from the previous post...


Beyond the small barn and through the trees the foothills roll. The road twists and turns and as the trees part, glimpses of the top of hills are caught. They are laid bare from clear cutting. Dirt turns to mud as rains water the land and erosion leaves crevices where life once grew thick and wild. Animals of all sizes have scurried away to find shelter on other hills.

Diesel trucks roar past at speeds beyond the limit leaving trails of dark smoke, acrid to the nostrils. There are times when the eye catches fire leaping from the top of pipes and the heart skips a beat wondering if an explosion could occur or perhaps a spark could ignite the forest.

No doubt a lump sum of money could have enticed anyone worn and broken down from years of hard work in what seemed a futile existence. Cattle prices falling, feed prices rising, tractors wearing out and new ones out of reach.

There will be no more mornings to awake in a cold house where one fireplace is the only source of heat and no more hot summer nights spent on the porch feeling the cool breeze listening to the silence, and the soothing call of the Whippoorwill.


In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the cops.
- Paul Brooks

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