The Oil Spill

Officially the Mississippi Canyon 252 Oil Spill Response.


 
I've been isolated on a barge on the Louisiana coast with no land contact other than rescuing birds for the last four days. Ten more days left. The mission is a search and rescue for birds and mammals affected by that massive oil spill gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. The first wave arrived two days before me and has been the stock footage for the national media. They've been showing that stick in the oil footage for 10 days. Cell coverage is spotty, satellite internet works. Every morning we pull out in boats to search the coast. So far there's been little to find in the way of dead birds, much to the chagrin of the national media. Word has come down that they think BP and the government is in cahoots to hide the true numbers of birds. Not there. The first oil wave is in the soil. The next one is approaching.

Face Book Can Rot in Hell

I was recently accused of being a social zombie by my sister-in-law for criticizing the Big Brother tactics of Face Book, specifically the lack of privacy. People may think I'm a social outcast by choice but I don't see the need to dilute my life and time with peer pressure obligation to be a friend to someone I hardly know or whom I never met. I have too much going on right now to do that. I made a Face Book account to communicate with Joshua in Lubbock whom I mentor for most of his life. Then my little used face book started to morph into a nagging monster. I repeatedly received emails from people I didn't know who wanted to be my friend. I guess the tipping point came when my sister in California became furious because I didn't confirm her as a friend. Enough! If people are insulted because I don't join the Face Book Matrix with them then they should reevaluate our friendship. After all I'm just a letter, email or phone call away.

The fuddy duddy Rogue Botanist.

 

Check out:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/267112

and

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/facebook-fallout-survey-finds-60-percent-may-quit-over-privacy/34863?tag=nl.e589

Connor's Pack Test.

Connor took a pack test to qualify for wildfire assignments where ever.  He's also qualified to pick up oily birds on the shores of Louisiana. 

Must walk (not run) 3 miles in 45 minutes with a 45 pound weight vest.  Time:  38:50.  Excellent!

Looking for Critters

With the possibility of the great oil slick heading for the Texas coast it is imperative that the FWS gather pre-slick information on the subsoil populations of invertebrated that will be affected. I joined a monitoring crew to inventory invertebrates at four FWS complexes – Texas Midcoast, Texas Chenier Plains, Anahuac and South Texas. With a 4" diameter modified PVC pipe we'll pull up a column of estuary soil and sift through it for inverts and send them to Corpus Christi for identification. When the oil hits and kill everything we have an idea about what existed in the soil beforehand. Then we'll place a monetary price on the damage and get our pound of flesh from BP (like everyone else). In other news I'm placed on availability to help with the clean up in the next few months. 

The Front Yard

Spring again and the yard is a cornucopia of over 100 species of flowers. This is the last year it will be this abundant as I'm covering up some sections to have the property ready to sell when I get that as yet fictitious job elsewhere. 

This is Too Classic!

I was a little despondent over the recent Supreme Court ruling that the cross at the Mohave National Park was allowed to stay on government land when I read the news about the founder of the Family Research Council. The organization that wants all homosexuals to go to hell and turn our country into a theocracy.


 
The court ruling was a 5-4 decision which allows a cross to stay on public land and by proxy became a government endorsement of religion. The majority stated that because it had been at the site for 70 years to honor the servicemen who died in war, it was now an historic monument. A sad, pathetic rational for government endorsement of the Christian religion over other religions. A very slippery slope and an affront to other servicemen of other faiths. What will the Justices rational be when a Wiccan wants to place a Wicca symbol in another park?
Be careful what you wish for people.


 
The Family Research Council - a narrow-minded, bigoted organization that profits off religious gullibility and paranoia. Since its inception it has been at the forefront to demonize gay people. It was at its most powerful during the Bush Administration (go figure) but is still a potent force in politics. So imagine the ironic recent turn of events surrounding one of its founders – George Rekers who was verified to have a male companion he found on "Rentaboy.com". Rekers recently billed the state of Florida $87,000 to testify that gay parents are unfit to adopt children. I remember Chelsea telling me that the most vocal anti-gay people are closet gays. You can take that to the bank. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/the_family_research_council_co.html

This ends my rant.

The Devil and Thomas Adams

 
She waited patiently, bidding her time in 4.44 degrees Celsius. Sugar, Water, Vegetable Oil preserving her till "Best By Jun-16-10". This slurry had briefly seduced the teenager; evident by the finger size indention on her surface. Coconut, Dextrose, Corn Syrup. The teenager would not suffice. His body, impregnated with Mountain Dew, Red Bull and Big Macs would provide near limitless energy but his mind would be too willing to submit. She desired the cerebral pangs of addiction in another, another who resisted her for the past three weeks. What was her purpose? This matrix of Polyoxethylene-Sorbitan Monostearate and Mono-and Diglycerides with Propyl Gallate concocted in the test tubes of a multi-million dollar food conglomerate. Why did she come to his domain? Was she a cohort of the demon that covered the birthday cake lo those months ago? Seemingly unnecessary and now relegated to the forgotten realm where pickles, catsup and expire yogurt reside.

Oh she was vast in her reach, not just a single plastic tub of frosting. The Succubus had spread her tentacles over the country. Reveling in the senescence of America she was well entrenched in the food supply – bread, soft drinks, baby formula, breads…. first or second in the list of ingredients. She came in many guises, most commonly as high fructose corn syrup. HFCS - the cheap toxic enzymatic processing of glucose into fructose.

Nearing a half-century he tired of the highs and lows, sluggishness and the poison. He had purged himself of all weaknesses save this one. It was easy to rationalize that a 4-mile run earned him a trip to Shipley's Donuts, a Mr. Spunkmeyer cookie for toiling all day without eating or a double size Snickers because he had gone without sugar for a week. "Foolish mortal" she laughed, "you cannot leave me, I am everywhere".

For four years he ignored the warnings, the pleadings of the lovely oracle that the Sugar Succubus had seduced him. He had conquered many demons before and she would fall also he retorted. The oracle is now gone and he must fight alone. The line in the sand had been drawn. Three weeks nigh he has resisted her siren call. There were near moments of weakness though; jonesin' for a chocolate glaze donut, an Oreo double stuff cookie. "Take me now" she purred but his will was strong. Her evil was purged from his body but not his house. On the third week he cleaned out the refrigerator and found her. No one's here he mused, no one would know but me.

No! Temptress you will not have me!

She screamed as he wiped her from the container into the bowels of the garbage can.

There, done! But she was still on his fingers! "Exorcizamus te, omnis immudus spiritus, omnis incursion infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregation et secta diabolica".

He had won the day. But she will return to seduce anew.

Next Week

The next week I was on the road delivering milkweeds to the Balcones national wildlife refuge. I spent the night in San Antonio where the following morning I drove to the hills with my nephews and their father to repatriate a species of sedum that for now is only known from a small rocky outcropping. I found this species several years ago and for years grew it at home. So far no one can identify it to species so I’m taking the initiative and start the procedure to submit it as either a new species or one that is not known to grow in Texas.

It was good to get my nephews (Nick and Tim) into the bush, get some dirt in their fingernails and introduce them to a number of plants they’ve never heard of. My bother-in-law - Mike, and I wore shorts and were subjected to repeated stings from stinging nettle. After a while the sensation on the legs is that of numbness. These species are minor nuisances when compared to bull nettle (which is in a different plant family). The hairs on the nettle act like hypodermic needles, injecting chemicals such as histamines and acids that cause a reaction on the skin. Nettles are high in vitamin A and protein and lose their stings after soaking in water. With very little substrate on the outcropping we had to use soil from the trail to cover the sedums to protect their roots until they rooted into the rocks. Developers have built up to the very edge of the outcroppings where I use to find solitude as a kid. The recession seems to have slow down their destruction for now.

On the road here there and everywhere

On occasion I get into cycles where for a few weeks I am pressed for time from sun up to sun down. These last few weeks were particularly daunting albeit very fulfilling. It started with meetings that require no less than four presentations from prescribe burning invasive weed control. It never fails – I spend dozens of hours on presentation and each is presented within thirty minutes. Josh, my 15 year old buddy from Lubbock, flew down for spring break and somehow I fit time in for him. He’s an avid fisherman and I’m not so for the most part I’m either the driver or paddler. Throw in bushwhacking in the bottomlands and slaughtering Zombies on the Left4dead 2 video game and we managed to fulfill a spring break that otherwise would have been spent languishing in dreary Lubbock, TX।

The visit ended at Padre Island where we and Joshua’s’ grandmother spent a Saturday morning picking up garbage at the Padre Island National Seashore. From there Josh and his grandmother drove back to Lubbock.

A hassle? One person at a time

http://organicconsumers.org/Politics/palmoil100305.cfm


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/11/205249/850/242/494014