Thursday, December 3, 2009

Heavy Haitian Machinery . . .

Not too long ago I did a post about the side of a mountain being torn down in Haiti, being mined for minerals. In the following three photos (that's right Loulou, count 'em, 1 - 2 - 3 !) are some of the heavy machinery used for tearing down a mountain and carting it off. This of course begs the question as to whether the mountain wanted to be torn down or not. But the mountain was not answering quickly, as it was probably reasoning in geologic time rather than human time measured in greedy minutes.
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Sometimes I wish I had some similar heavy equipment to clear away some of the deadwood that's grown up in great thickets in certain parts of my life. I will not bore you to tears with a long list of woes, but if I had a bulldozer like this one to clear off the piles of tax forms and bills and car repair estimates and cat hair off the top of my desk, that would already be a good start. So I could have some clear space to sit down and write a poem or two that have been brewing in the back of this cluttered mind of mine. And so forth . . .
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Did you ever wish you had a bulldozer at your disposal ?
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In Haiti, broken down or wrecked cars are called "voitures désolées", or sorry, desolate old cars. This is a bulldozer désolé, and a camion désolé . . .
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And after I was done using the bulldozer, I'd probably be wanting a truck just like this one to haul all the plowed off junk to the great galactic dump in the sky . . . (note the rock under the back wheel to keep it from rolling off . . . does it have any brakes ?)
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28 comments:

Lydia said...

I hear ya. Clutter is the bane of my existence.....no, not true. The real bane of my existence is the destruction of this planet by the species to which I sometimes am ashamed to belong.

Deborah said...

Owen, If I had a euro for all the times I let tout le desordre on my desk interfere with accomplishing something useful, well, I wouldn't be worrying about getting the cheapest possible fare across the Atlantic.

Us creative types are all the same, it seems. We can't keep order, at least not for long, but some little part is just dying for tidy and snags up the whole works until it gets it. I have no solutions. When you find one, let me know. And give the cat a pet for me.

Rhiannon said...

This mountain probably cried "silently" with it's "echos of pain" not felt or heard by anyone but mother nature, father sky and the Universe...so sad.

Clutter? I kept thinking I was the only one having to deal with this. But you know when your a creative person, well maybe our "priorities" are a bit different than some? What drives me nuts is my "clutter", well papers and things get lost and I'm always forging through the "clutter" looking for some important paper I just have to have pronto! So now I shove them in old files and quickly "scribble" whats in there...so I'll know. Now I have a big mess of files piled all over my desk! Oh well...sigh.

Signed "creative right brainer",

Rhiannon

Anonymous said...

It often seems easier to let the rocks pile up than it is to find the motivation and wherewithal to bulldoze them away.
But, at least we have the choice, the poor moutain had no say in the matter.

J said...

The truck that's 'working' looks pretty desole to me too. (yeah i'm too lazy to put in the accents, sorry.) It conjurs up an image of them all resting their tyres on a bartop, sobbing into their drinks. Stella perhaps?

Steve said...

I have often wished that I had my own personal wrecking ball at my disposal. Now that would be great fun.

Jess said...

Don't you just love the frencch language? Camion désolé, camion désolé...I could say that forever...

CiCi said...

The bulldozer of life started working for me as I grew old enough to stop working. So very recently I have the time to clear out the old stuff, enjoy new stuff, take care of forgotten stuff. You get the picture. I wish for you the same. And I sure know how you feel right now.

Lynne with an e said...

Have you heard of a pen and a notebook? They are transportable. Empty the clutter from the brainbox thereon, and then once free of such detritus, you will be ready to excavate the diamonds from your mind.

I have three desks of varying sizes in my studio and they are usually all buried under projects in varying stages of neglect...er...development. Once I run out of small corners to work on, I resort to working on the floor.

Get yourself an "in-basket" (I got one for Pierre's mess on the office desk) and jam everything in there. Obviously, you'll never have need for an "out-basket" as it would quickly become "une boite desolée" (in fact, I can't find a French translation for outbox, only inbox!)

tattytiara said...

Woah. I'd feel nervous trying to use that equipment to knock over a pile of leaves, let alone a mountain.

jeff said...

Owen, pourquoi quand je clique sur ton "laissez un commentaire", j'ai une fenêtre intempestive qui essaie de s'ouvrir...?... Why ?
Sinon, ça, c'est du camion ! Je reviendrais Owen, je reviendrais...! Juste quelques minutes et je m'en vais... ailleurs !

Amitiés !
Jeff

The Sagittarian said...

Desolate cars? more like defunct!!
Yes a wrecking ball with a giant shredder would be great for certain things n'est pas?

Nevine Sultan said...

That rock under the back wheel is an all too familiar sight from my culture - I know it so well. And yes, I do wish, sometimes, that I had a bulldozer. But all that damage, who would be left to keep us from going insane? I mean, those voitures désolées look so sad. They look like how I feel, sometimes. I love poor old voitures. They make me think of immigrants who have left their countries, their belongings, valuables, loved ones, cars parked half on a sidewalk and half on the road, and gone to far off lands with dreams of a better future. And those cars' tires deflate and deflate and deflate, and after a couple of years, they're flat down to the rims, and the cars have an old whitewash of dust and rain and damage all over them. And they look so abandoned. So désolées. I cry when I see that, because I know that the people who have left those cars behind are looking and feeling just like those cars... See now, Owen? Tu m'as fait pleurer! And now I must go dry mes larmes. :-(

Nevine

Amy said...

These are great black & whites!

I used to work for a heavy equipment dealer (Caterpillar); I worked as a coordinator/admin assistant in the shop. Since I was buddies with the mechanics they taught me how to drive some of the equipment around the big dirt yard behind the shop. It was so FUN. And sometimes scary. I mostly stuck to the tinier equipment like mini excavators. :D

KING OF THE CAMELS said...

I HAVE GOT A BULL DOSSIERE UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF PAPERS SOMEWHERE!

French Fancy... said...

I hear you and totally agree. No doubt like us you have cupboards full of files and folders containing the years and years of paperwork they make you keep here in France. I've got cupboards I just can't open because the disarray inside is too depressing. I'd bulldoze the lot if I could

BLOGitse said...

sorry, can't hear you!...nor see you! too many papers, notebooks, pens, Owen, are you there? can't hear you?! heeeelp! what the h... no, no, no, it's a lighter!

jeff said...

Owen...,
j'ai l'impression de voir des armes de guerre quand je regarde tes photos de bulldozer, camions... ! Est-ce normal docteur owen ?...;-)
Et toi ? Où te caches-tu amigo ? Derrière le camion pour embarquer ta cargaison d'armes, prête à livrer aux révolutionnaires ?...
Il faudra dire au chauffeur, pour ce qui est de la dernière photo, an bas, que le caillou, il faut le caler derrière la roue et non devant, si on ne veut pas que ce dernier recule ! ! ! Non ?...

Ciao amigopix !
A bientôt j'espère ! ! !
...8:)

Catherine said...

the shots are beautiful in black and white ... and yes i could do with some bulldozers right now too!!

Owen said...

Dear lot of wonderful people that you are... I shall return this weekend just as soon as I'm able; to answer your comments here. A number of bulldozers at work were trying to run me into the ground this week, and now I need to go sleep for about ten hours... but I'll be back (said like the preacher dad in "Bad Boy Bubby") "I'll be back" !
Love to all...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

:: Karine :: said...

hope you'll be back :-)

Owen said...

Lydia, so, I'm not the only one who sometimes feels ashamed of the race I belong to ? It's not something I say often in public... but I empathize with you, we are a greedy, arrogant, violent crowd, I often wish the clock on this planet could be turned way back, way way back to a time when there were far less of us... a dangerous topic to get me started on... :-p

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Deborah, does that mean you'll be flying back across the Atlantic soon? Travel safely... Although I like to have a little order around me, I find things piling up so fast I need a snowplow to clear them out...

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Dear Rhiannon, you are not alone ! Creative right brainers unite ! Good luck finding the lost papers ! What amazes me is how complicated life has become, keeping records for everything, guarantees, insurance, taxes, banks, phones... everything...

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Hi DesignSlinger... yeah, I don't think anyone asked the mountain before the digging started, and yes, laziness is a definite danger; no wonder sloth is considered a sin...
:-)

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Hey J., that's going to be a big bar, with some big beer glasses for thoses sorry old trucks to get together in and commiserate their lonely lot in life... thanks for the nice image, maybe a huge old barn could be converted for the purpose, with extra-large drive-in doors...

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Steve, you've got it... listen, if you man the wrecking ball, I'll drive a dump truck, together we will accomplish miracles...

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Jessie, Absolutely ! From the time I first heard that expression it lodged in my cluttered mind... so expressive. We can make a chorus then of camion désolé, voiture désolée... and now whenever I see any ancient object showing its age badly, I refer to it as désolé... there are even des êtres humains désolés ... sometimes...

Owen said...

Hi TechnoB, you are lucky indeed, I find weeks, months, even years go by before I get around to clearing out certain messes that accumulate, inertia is a dreadful thing, but usually it's just I'm so darn busy all the time, never enough hours in a day...

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Dear Lynne, ah, there you are ! Actually, I think the best solution would be to just call in the raccoons and the magpies, and let them make off with everything, to insulate their winter nests with... you are clearly more organized than I, if you leave a space still free on the floor to work in... but thanks for all your kind suggestions ! I think I'll have a drink and think them over...
:-)
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Hi TattyT, you are quite right I'm sure to worry, I'm not sure I'd want to be anywhere near any of these monsters if their motors actually got started...

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Salut Jeff ! Je n'en sais rien pour les fenêtres intempestives, cela ne fait pas ça ici chez moi, et personne d'autre l'a signalé, peut-être tu as chopé le néfaste virus MyBlogDooom qui infecte une multitude de pages blogs malsains... ? Pendant un bon moment, j'ai rencontré plus ou moins souvent un phenomene, en fermant la page blog de quelqu'un tout d'un coup une incontrollable série de pages s'ouvraient, et plus vite que je ne puisse les fermer, quand cela s'est passé, il ne restait de solution autre que d'éteindre brutalement la machine... bref, tu sais je serais toujours content de tes passages, de soit une minute ou soit une heure, peu importe... entretemps, sais-tu à quoi sert ce camion La Releve ??? Imagines-tu ce qui pourrait être dans la benne derrière ??? Pourquoi penses-tu que l'enfant est là avec une marmite pour écoper dans la cuve ???
Alors, à bientôt ?

Bien que, j'espère qu'il n'y pas un souci en effet de fenêtre ou script méchant ou truc machin, c'est vrai sur le poste d'aujourd'hui il y a quasiment pas de commentaires, quand d'habitude il y a au moins quelques uns... soit les lecteurs sont choqués par mes toilettes, soit ma boite commentaires ait atrappé une maladie répulsive au public...
A suivre...
Ciao...

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Hi Amanda ! well, Steve already claimed first dibs on the wrecking ball, maybe we can let you drive the bulldozer ? Although, after a Tuesday tipple, that could be decidely dangerous... Hope you have a fabulous weekend away...
:-)

Owen said...

Chère Nevine, you have summarized in just a few perfectly chosen words a universe of abandon and decay, which is one of the multiple universes we inhabit, and like tires slowly deflating over a period of months or years, so do people sometimes deflate, or in some cases they inflate grotesquely, which is a form of deflation also... But please, here is a soft cloth to dry your eyes, and a smile, to warm your heart. As much sadness as there may be in the air around voitures désolées and their kinfolk, I always experience an element of pure joy when discovering such carcasses... so now, lets laugh together, decay is all around us, yet we continue to breathe and to shine...
:-)
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Amy, that's wonderful, so no doubt you can really relate to these... funny, I too worked in my youth for a trucking company that had alot of tractor trailers, and the mechanics taught me to drive the big tractors, Kenworths, Peterbilts, Whites, Macks... no end of fun... for a while...

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Dear Camel King ! A bull dossiere ?!!? And is there a cow one under that mountain there too ??? Heaven forbid that the two should ever meet and decide they like each other ! ! !
:-D

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FF, oh my god, ain't that the truth, sometimes I think a fire might be the only solution... but no, I can live with the clutter... as long as I can find my camera and the computer keyboard, all is well...

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BlogITSE ! You are naughty ! A lighter ?! Do you have a little arson hiding in that felonious heart of yours ?
:-)

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Ah Jeff encore, voilà, j'y suis enfin, la semaine était épouvantable... qqn a oublié de caler le camion, et il m'a roulé dessus quand j'avais le dos tourné... maintenant je suis tout plat, mais encore en vie...
A+ pxpt...

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Hi Catherine, may you find a handy bulldozer then, often I am amazed at how life seems to deliver sometimes just what we need...

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Hi Karine Dear, of course I'll be back, je ne pourrais pas rester loin de vous tous pour longtemps, juste une semaine éprouvante au boulot qui m'a mangé la semaine en deux gloup-gloups, me laissant lessivé... mais au moins il reste le weekend pour me ratrapper un petit peu, car vous me manquez très vite, toi, K'line, Jeff, Rox, Nev, Clo, et tous les autres merveilleux compagnons de route qui se rassemblent ici dans le blogosphere... oui, un manque bien intense quand des jours passent sans contact... Voilà, donc un grand bisou doux, et je te souhaite le meilleurs de dimanches...

BLOGitse said...

shhhhh, don't tell others...
When I was a teen,
had a candle on the table.
In the morning - no candle but black mark on the table.
A lighter? Seriously. Nope.
I have to do paperwork this week and a lighter is not a good idea!
(or I might lose money!)
Have a great day!

Buskitten said...

Oh, Owen - yes, I need a big bulldozer for moving loads of emotional and physical stuff, I guess we all need that, in some way or another....
Good to catch up with your bolg and I emailed ya! xxx

Owen said...

Liz, I'm sure I could see Tiddles driving a bulldozer for you ! Thanks so much for the e-mail ! And for catching up with the bolg... in this bolg new world !
:-D
I know, it was a typo...

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Blogitse ! Interesting idea, but it's dangerous to play with fire... anyway, that's what I was taught when little...

pchandran said...

The shots are beautiful in black and white ... and yes i could do with some bulldozers right now too!!





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