Corner View: Slow

My drive to work and back used to be relaxing and beautiful.

Now that Utica Shale fracking has begun,

it has become stressful and tedious.

I have to leave earlier

so that if I get behind a big vehicle,

I can still get to work on time.

It takes me ten to fifteen minutes longer to get home

regardless of heavy equipment.

When the pipeliners' and  fracking men head out for their temporary homes, 

it's not unusual to end up in a line of six to 12 vehicles.

The ones that are particularly irritating

are the semis hauling huge equipment

on Rt 147's two lanes.

We regular-vehicle folks have to pull over.

However, the water and brine bearing trucks

are the ones that can momentarily take my breath away

and cause me to come to a slow-rolling stop.

The reason?

They are heading my way and are across the yellow line.

In other words, they hog the road.

The photos below are courtesy of online photos

of the fracking industry.

Here are some photos of the drilling tower sites -

the reason why 'slow-moving' has become

a part of my daily life.

They are lit continually and it's like high-noon 24/7.

Folks have to buy black-out curtains

and no longer can sit out in their yards and gaze at the stars--

the blazing light blankets the stars.

We have many similar sites throughout our farm community.

I think it would be tough to live so close to one

because someone else owned the land next to you

and allowed the drilling site to be built.

Money talks.

However, one of the nice outcomes

is that farmers have been able to fix up or completely restore

their old barns, thus saving part of America's heritage.

They have also been able to buy much needed equipment.

 For more views on 'slow', head over to Francesca's.