Within The Swamp, Rondeau Options

[Larry]

Within the swamp are brackish pools
where gators wait for food and fools
from towns and cities far away.
Sometimes they stumble in to stay
and ripen where the gator drools

but that’s not taught in any schools.
With knowledge and the proper tools
some folks can work or live and play
within the swamp.

My friend gets rich. He and his mules
go out to where bald cypress rules
and finds old sunken logs which pay
their weight in gold. Without decay
these fallen giants are nature’s jewels
within the swamp.


Here it is Daniel, comment or crit at your leisure!

Larry

[Larry]

Hi Ali,

I agree with your math but we are not talking about just one log. There are thousands of felled bald cypress logs in the swamp from the hundreds of hurricanes on the gulf coast. I did a little figuring myself and here is my conclusion:

Perhaps I should have said “worth their wait” in gold. Cypress averages $2.70/bf across the full spectrum of sizes and grades for lumber used in building or flooring. The guy can pull 15-20 medium sized cypress logs from the swamp with his mule each day. Each log averages 500/board ft. which renders 7500b/f to 10,000b/f for each day’s work for a total of $20,250.00 to $27,000.00 per day with little or no manual labor on his part. If he could keep up that pace for one year, he would realize from $7,391,250.00 to $9,855,000.00 per year. That is up to $2700.00/hour or the equivalent of 20 troy ounces of gold per day. His cost is feeding himself and his mule and they can eat high on the hog for $27,000.00 a day. Large mining companies have huge overhead in equipment, wages, refining, etc. Their average net after all costs is around 16% so they would have to bring in approximately $61,593,750.00 gross in gold income per employee to equivocate the income of this one guy.
This, of course, is highly metaphorical and speculative but I have heard of some guys who make well over a million a year retrieving these fallen giants. It is illegal to cut down the live Cypress without a bunch of permits, much like picking up your petrified wood shards. Besides, it’s a nice way to glorify life in the deep south.

Larry,
with tongue firmly tucked in cheek!