To Amuse Myself

No connection to haiku.
Just one of my favorite things.
I can see myself being buried with this.

Today I will write
ev'ry email in haiku
Annoying, I bet

To the heights and the depths... OH well.

At least I still have the towel.

Vintage Horsehide (!) Jacket: eBay Candidate?

I'll be the first to admit: 

I may be aging out of leather.

Hard to Know What to Do

"Foothills of the Appalachians"--where I'm from.

"Underground mining used to be the lifeblood of the region. It is being replaced by strip-mining, which often entails 'mountaintop removal'--literally blasting the tops off some of the oldest mountains in the world."   
  ~ Jedediah Purdy, WVa native, author, environmentalist

My grandfather looked like this, coming home every night.
He died of Black Lung. My aunt said he was
 lying on the couch and it was like his lung exploded.
I don't know what really happened but that's how she told it.

"That's the only jobs in the area. Factories everywhere is shutting down. What could they put here that would come remotely close to being what coal and the industry of coal is to the people of West Virginia?"   
    ~ Linda Dials, wife of 3rd 
        generation coal miner