Suspended
A lone steel cable hangs from the rafters… visited mostly by just the wind, dust, and spiders.
Stacked
Something about the texture of sun-bleached high-desert wood…
These boards have been standing there for over one hundred years now, and the time has only improved their aesthetic.
Seeing as how they weren’t put there just to get pretty, this building was demolished in 2012.
Dirt Surfing
This old abandoned house looks like it’s surfing on the soft dirt swell beneath it.
And the Landlord Taketh Away
Interior image of a long lost roof, likely once a stable part of a farmer or rancher’s home. This is out in Eastern Oregon near the Ochoco National Forest. There were obviously a few tenants around still making use of the structure, but they weren’t up for talk about the matter; most of them just flew off when I approached. The rest scurried underground.
The Dry Spell in Shaniko
This fire hydrant has seen better days. Heck, the town of Shaniko has seen better days. But dry and slow as it might be now, it sure is still purty.
Rural Disobedience
Sometimes the most mundane things find a way to say so much with so little.
Although we could have easily drove right by this spot, I really had to pee and hey – we were kinda lost (in a good way, of course). So we stopped and took it all in for a spell. Only after getting out of the car did I really notice this sign.
It’s easy to imagine that I wasn’t the only full bladder who’d visited that very desolate, very lonely intersection. I wonder if this sign caught them off-guard at first, too… boldly reminding everyone that cares to read it that no, there’s no hunting anymore here.
I can almost hear the steel sign thwack and twinge from the gunshots, being given an impromptu “salute to the union” just before the hungry ghosts beat their own hasty retreat; their beer bottles and spent cases left behind to find their own resting places.
Eventually the dust from their retreat settles back down and all that’s left hanging in the air is the close but impersonal wind, already exploring the sign’s jagged new holes.
Have a fun and safe Independence Day, everyone. Don’t hurt each other.