We are gnats on the elephant
dependent on weather
and her mastodonian nature:
a flick of an ear or a downpour.
She has taught us to be adaptable,
to stay humble, to turn tragedies
to opportunities and despite
our good luck, revel quietly
upon our small part of her dusty
hide. And she accepts us—as long as
we remain less irritating than those
on the rest of her landscape.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Greasy corrals, Greasy Creek, photographs, poetry, rain, Sulphur Peak, weather
One hundred degree cows
come close, feed on one side,
lawn on the other.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, Dry Creek, feed, garden, haiku, photographs, poetry, Wagyu X mothers, water, weather, weeds
Dawn bears down early,
sears flesh exposed,
blinds eye and mind
into a fuzzy daze,
fiery-white as hell
must be. We plod
slowly with heads bowed
to mantras of water
keeping the living alive.
Like cattle, we bed with
welcome breezes moving
shade to shade.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Dry Creek, photographs, poetry, San Joaquin Valley, Sulphur Peak, summer, sunrise, weather
We rise to dust we stir,
greet dawn with a cigarette
to clear our lungs.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged cigarettes, Drought, dust, haiku, photographs, poetry
First dawn after a rain
turkey vultures need
room to dry their feathers.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged haiku, photographs, poetry, rain, turkey vulture, weekly-photo-challenge
Of this earth and all its erosion,
its granite and baked clay slopes
alive with cycles of seed and grass,
we revel in its wet bounty
and die a little in dry hard times.
We have become the cows we raise
in time, generations of calves that stayed
to nurse another—this earth their home.
We are the strong and lucky ones
to be living in the middle of a miracle.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, Dry Creek, flower-friday, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
I’ve little time for wonder—
warm days plod circles,
wear dust tracks in thin dry grass
we follow like cow trails
without endings,
without looking beyond them.
There is no adventure,
no endorphin rush,
no epiphany other than
one more summer
to endure, to survive
like lichen on rock.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged deer, Greasy Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, weekly-photo-challenge
It’s a big world out there.
To survive, best
we learn to stick together.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Dry Creek, garden, haiku, photographs, poetry, San Joaquin Valley Quail
Followers of this blog may recall the February 26th “Good Guys, Bad Guys?” post regarding a helicopter circling low over residences and spooking livestock in the Dry Creek Canyon. The helicopter visits continued for several days thereafter until I went to the FAA site online and then contacted the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.
I didn’t follow up on this event in this blog after speaking with an apologetic representative from Southern California Edison who had contracted the helicopter and pilot. Two miles west of Dry Creek, SCE was installing a controversial high voltage transmission line. I was told by the representative that they were looking for Golden Eagle habitat, as a pair of Golden Eagles had built a nest in one of their towers that shut them down for a couple of months.
Concentrating helicopter time in the bottom of side canyons and circling over residences, two of which are off the electrical grid, made this explanation fairly hard to believe. Or, had they found evidence of Golden Eagles, would they then condemn private property as mitigation for the public good? I concluded our phone conversation with my displeasure with SCE’s failure to notice any of the property owners and the irresponsibility of actions that jeopardized our livestock business and frightened our horses. No further flights since.
But is this corporate ignorance or are big companies like SCE accustomed to disregarding the rights of others? I’ve long been a flag waver for free enterprise where people can improve their lot in life with hard work and a little luck, but if powerful corporations have become the epitome of a Capitalistic philosophy that has now embraced the planet, perhaps we need to rethink our values. Big isn’t always better. Furthermore, just because a corporation is headquartered in the USA, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s American owned, that the majority of its stockholders are US citizens, or that the majority of its stock is held by US investment houses.
After yesterday’s post, I couldn’t ignore the echoes. Maybe the warm weather is making me irascible.
Posted in Photographs
Tagged corporations, Dry Creek, EIX, free enterprise, helicopter, Made in USA, SCE, Southern California Edison
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