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Show PAGE 21 THE ZEPHYRDECEMBER 1994 the blackbrush shrub itself was growing only a tiny, almost imperceptible amount each year. Slowing growth and sporadic nibbling by animals had gradually caused the shrub's outer surface to become a maze of stiff brandies. With its leaves almost inaccessible, the shrub was now visited only by an occasional bird. All in all life was good, and die mature blackbrush dirub remained robust For nearly four centuries now the blackbrush shrub had experienced only the majestic silence of die Colorado Plateau. Though elsewhere in the world people with names like da Vind, Columbus, Elizabeth, Beethoven and Washington made momentous imprints on human history, very little had seemed to change on the hill and in die grassy swale beneath. But changes were not long in arriving. humans came to the region and made settlements. Their herds of cattle and sheep grazed the land in a manner to which the dump-formingrasses and the soil crust were not adapted. The grasses in the swale below the hill were gradually replaced by plants that could tolerate die new type of grazing: sagebrush from nearby habitats, and cheatgrass invading from the steppes of Aria. The setders constructed a dirt road not far from the hill and swale. Horse and wagon traffic was soon replaced by noisy, wheeled machines. When the road's dirt surface was covered over with a hard pavement, the wheeled machines became larger and faster. Objects even flew through the sky in straight lines, without flapping their wings, never seeming to land all unlike any bird that the old blackbrush shrub had ever known. The surface of the hill was little affected by these recent changes, but the wear of five centuries was taking its toll on the blackbrush shrub itself. The springtime of 1994 found the shrub's life rapidly ebbing away. Where just a few years before die shrub was healthy all over, this year only one branch bore leaves. And on that branch, just a solitary flower readied maturity. Finally on a breezy lat&summer day, the leafy food factories shut down, the sugars ceased flowing, and the last bit of life flickered and went out of the andent shrub. An instant later, a swirling gust of wind shook the dead shrub. From the single remaining flower, a healthy seed fell off and bounced a few indies away into a crevice of the dark knobby soil crust. And time, whatever it is, seamlessly flows on without malice or benevolence. Light-skinn- Q m 8 ISgiSBl jgDQBB ed g Gflu)G2i2ti?Giufe3 NEGATIVE ENDORSEMENTS WE'D LIKE TO RECEIVE. - MY NAME IS NEWT GINGRICH AND YOU COULDNT PAY ME TO TAKE A RIVER TRIP WITH THESE LONGHAIRED GASTLIE Stiles Is running this 'Santa Into the ground, hat thing MPPIE- S- dont ifou think? OK. MAYBE canyon DARREN NURSERY name I'd FROA1 DECEMBER 1 1 TO DECEMBER I 7, CHECK OUT OUR GREAT SELECTION OF BEAUTIFUL LIVE CHRISTMAS TREES. Ilka to work for iou. QUALITY construction GENERAL CONTRACTOR Licensed Yard & 259-82- 74 Pack Creek Ranch Insured & Construction Cleanup Concrete Tear Out 275 WILLIAMS WAY For US5 & & Landscaping Replace Free Estimates |