An Approaching Disaster

I remember the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. Living in the Midwest at the time, it was a headline and an ecological tragedy that happened far away. We all saw the oil encased birds and black coastal rocks and we were, naturally, upset with Exxon and the drunk captain of the ship. All disasters are relative to your own backyard, I guess.

Now, our backyard is threatened. Many of the entries of this blog have revolved around the beach, the beach-goers and all the things that relate to the beach. We even had a close encounter with a gentle manatee last summer. The morning stingrays that come close to the water's edge for some reason, the sea shells, and the dolphins that we see out by the buoys. The tourist businesses, the fishing and commercial companies, the lives and jobs that depend on a healthy Gulf; the price to families, the environment and fishlife alike is beyond an arbitrary dollar estimate.

Yesterday, officials began the preparations to battle the gulf oil slick as far south as Sarasota, which is south of us. Other reports say we will be lucky and miss the conflagration but that the currents will wreck the Keys. Who knows, we'll see, but it saddens me to think that the white beaches and green seas may turn black.

I don't have any political rant: I don't know enough about off-shore rigs, but I do know we need oil to keep the nation moving. I'll leave that to the experts, politicians and activists. All I know is my back yard is about to be ruined, and for once, a tragedy is real.

Comments

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. No...

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me, they came right from the MDH website. I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access. After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances. But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs. I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered. The original MDH at this site was just the front part. The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library. It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place. He passed away around 2002, I think. Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...

Existing In BFE

Search This Blog