leo marx appreciation post

Curiously enough, this was the first image hit when I Googled "old junk cars." It's actually an old dump truck--probably 1930's vintage--and I don't think that it will ever be roadworthy again.

I wonder how long it can sit there before a piece falls off. I can imagine a quiet afternoon, with some animals scurrying around, hiding nuts in the seat upholstery and in the wheel wells, when all of a sudden--THUNK--the door succumbs to gravity and drops to the ground. The creatures will be briefly startled, and then get back to business.

We tend to separate man made items from nature, but there is a miraculous point when the human creation shifts from the realm of people and becomes a pure object. American forests now consist of a taxonomy of plants, animals, and geology. The rusting cars and collapsed cellar holes are a subcategory of the geology. Occasionally a nutrient source, sometimes an obstacle or hazard, and frequently a shelter.

My father owned a dump truck that looked a little like this.