Pony-Pulled Mine Car Wheels

Occasionally Aaron is able to find old mine car wheels in the gob piles that come into his work. Gob is coal that has been rejected and deemed unusable. Big gob piles can be found all throughout WV and they are far from attractive. Aaron's plant is able to take the gob and process it again for electricity. It burns clean and what is left over is a very fine dust or ash. His plant is considered a recycling plant since it uses reject coal. The primary benefit of this clean up effort is that WV streams that where once considered dead or void of life because of run off from the gob piles now have fresh water trout, small mouth bass, and other species of fish thriving in them. The secondary benefit is that the unsightly piles of gob are slowly disappearing from WV.

In the old piles of gob, treasures can be found such as the two mine car wheels that sit in my gardens. The first one, Aaron found several years ago. It is complete and was used between 1899-1902. I believe it has a date stamp on it somewhere but its been awhile since I've seen the bottom side of it. It was the last style of mine car wheel before the mines quit using ponies to pull the cars.

The second wheel has curved spokes which suggests it is a bit older although I am not certain of the date. This one is also not complete but it still looks beautiful sitting in my money plant.

I have been trying to research mine car wheels to make sure my information matches but I have been unable to find anything. If anyone knows anything about these wheels I'd love to hear what you have to say.

My little slice of heaven

I went down in my little section of woods today to hunt for morel mushrooms. I wasn't lucky enough to find any but I wouldn't consider it a wasted trip at all. Since I moved here 6 years ago, I must have tracked down into those woods half a million times. And half a million times I have stood in awe at everything that surrounded me. Nothing has changed but I always find something new that intrigues me. Whether it be a simple trillium flower or the red tail hawk that has lived here longer than my family.

This little section of woods has been lucky enough to have existed since the beginning of time never once being disturbed by man's hands. The soil is rich with millions of years of decaying trees and the atmosphere is at peace. Stress does not tread down this far, it dissipates before it can enter.

As I explored there were a few sounds that I stopped and took in. The pitter pattering of rain on the canopy well above my head, birds singing, and the creek bed rushing downward to its destination.

I also stopped to look at the moss covered stones and trees, as well as, the large rock faces and the underbrush that hide wild turkey, deer, and other woodland creatures. I may not have found any morels today but I did commune with nature in my own backyard.