Methane

Michigan's Methane Valley, enjoy the great out of doors.
Without research the date oil and gas was discovered and the first
oil wells drilled in the area of Meredith located in Clare County
Michigan is not clear.  My guess is the wells were drilled in the
late 1930s or early in the 1940s.  Memory is sketchy but story has
it when the oil well relief shift came they found the two man night
crew dead.  It looked as if the deceased workers had been sleeping.
Casualty blame fell on escaping gas released sometime during the
night.  For years the smell of putrid escaping gas required closing
car windows when driving on M-18 in the area of Lindy Lake.

Winds from the west carry stench far enough to be smelled at the
intersection of Dutcher and Chappel Dam Roads a distance of four
miles and even beyond.  When I say stink it's not the type you just
wrinkle up your nose and say phew, it is the type you clamp your
nose between your thumb and finger gasping in search for fresh air.
Off and on the escaping gas was vented and at times set fire. (The
eternal flame.)

Why was this gas not utilized?  Rumor claimed the
gas to be poison and unusable. Future oil/gas well, spills, leaking
storage tanks, venting of storage tanks, slush pits, leaking pipe
lines, transportation spills, and polluted air would certainly not
add to tourism, recreational areas, or healthy quality life.  This
article was written from memory and should be researched for fact.
The Gladwin County Record should have the above incident recorded in
their archives.  One thing I personally verify is the strong putrid
methane smell which has plagued the area for years*

BLACK RIVER SWAMP

While hunting in the black river swamp, became lost as I could be
Stumbled upon a fur-clad bearded gent, said his name was Lee
He was puffin on a homemade cigar, smelled like skunk cabbage leaves
Shook hands, then sat down to rest on a fallen cedar tree

I asked for directions, which quickly he pointed out with ease
Just face the wind, follow the sun, check the moss out on the trees
Before I left, on question yet, what would his answer be?
When asked what he was doing there?, this story then relayed to me

There’s too many cars, pollution scars, and cruel society
Rumors of war, terrorist plots, we’ve lost our sanity
It made me sore, couldn’t take more, longed to be free
Headed for the black river swamp, to find my privacy

Took along a saw, axe, candle wax, a change of dungarees
Jumped bog to bog, crossed the river on a log, left no trail to see
Built me a shack, on a little hog-back, carved my initials on a tree
Grew me a beard, sure looked weird, changed my identity

Got bullets, backer, a coon hound tracker, swamp life is for me
Eat roots, berries, wild grapes and cherries, all of them are free
Time to stroll around, with my old coon hound, better it can’t be
Chew spruce gum, sit and hum, while I drink my wintergreen tea

Set beside little black creek, the blue jays talk to me
Grass lands loom, flowers bloom, birds sing sweet harmony
Where bear is king, whip-poor-will sing, all keep me company
I have no clock, time means naught, when living the life of ease

Winters long, nights are cold, at times it’s misery
Snuggle up to my old coon hound, he always sleeps with me
In a few short weeks spring will bring, mosquitoes, flies and fleas
They don’t stay long, then they’re gone, your troubles never leave

Summer days will come, the swamp will hum, nature’s activities
Turtle, coot, porky-pine soup, again my delicacies
Love my shack, can’t go back, I’ve found my liberty
When they find my bones, leave them alone, so the porky-pines may feast

Sooooooo long

PLANET EARTH

Seems our big quest of today
is find another planet soon,
Earth now ruined beyond repair
could it be we all face doom?

We probe the sky with telescope,
send spaceships to the moon.
Electronic ears search night and day
for a place where life will bloom.

Greed and over population,
natural resource in decline,
our lakes and streams polluted,
earths situation is not fine.

It only took a few hundred years
to bring earth to no tomorrow.
In just a few years our technology
could leave future worlds in sorrow.

What if our new world is inhabited,
will we commit the same old crime?
Drive them from their homes to starve,
their race unworthy of our kind.

Each night before I retire
I pray God will not let us find,
another planet in his creation
to plunder in such short time.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

We say the American dream is over,

this statement is not entirely true.

Look around, the dream still exists,

but only for an elite select few.

Those willing to plunder our resources

destroying quality life, mind and hand,

profiting by the misfortune of others

polluting rivers, lakes and our land.

They deem this destruction progress,

I say it's almighty dollar in command.

Our jobs shipped to factories in China,

while homeless set forlorn in the sand.

Many have lost homes, been evicted,

work at low paid jobs when they can.

Mortgage defaults by the thousands,

each day more join the jobless band.

Speculators predicting future recovery

are buying up these foreclosure homes,

profiting from the misfortune of others

the victim looking for shelter he roams.

We no longer call hard times depression,

recession holding a much softer tone.

Description makes but little difference,

jobless, homeless, stripped to the bone.