Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group 20 cases of Dawn...

Well my friends, I can assure you that this latest catstrophe is of unimaginable proportions, we've been out in it and it's quickly advancing onto the shoreline, we've all signed up to help, my Dad has developed some multi-depth booms that were working great but today's weather has brought 4' swells in the ship channel and much higher in the Gulf, rendering booms ineffective, it's such a mess...and still 5,000+ barrels a day are still leaking with no end in sight, in all reality, we will lose all seafood harvest for many, many years to come and so many will lose their way of life, the main two ways to make a living here are working in oil & gas production and seafood harvesting, sadly both will be affected...and with an already vulnerable coastline, we will probably lose all of our marsh grass which helps to protect us from hurricanes...that's a real concern as we head into another hurricane season...please keep all of the residents of the Gulf Coast in your prayers...

Sheesh Michelle - *You have been especially in my thoughts and prayers. Horrific state of affairs. Just hope somehow that you can pull your precious business together. Am desperately sad for all the wildlife out there. And all the people affected.

Prayers and thoughts winging their way over the watery divide hon.

Many (((HUGS)))

Molly C (France)
Keeping on Keeping on - with prayers for y'all

I'm with you Molly, the wildlife just breaks my heart, but I've got 20 cases of Dawn, washtubs, towels, crates, cages and kennels ready to roll, gonna do what we can...just a really sad situation...man-made catastrophe...I know the cousin of one of the missing platform workers and she told me that his wife had spoken to him that morning and she could hear the stress in his voice and he kept telling her that he couldn't wait to get home and that he loved her and the kids, so I suspect that they were battling a critical situation in the hours leading up to the explosion...and we now know that it was disclosed that BP did not have an emergency plan in the event that such a mishap occur...I'm sure now they will call for more stringent safety measures but I just don't understand why they wait until a disaster occurs to address these issues...much too late! I think of you ever so often too, my very dear friend, big hugs & much love!! xxooxx

Hey Michelle

I sure hated to hear that the spill was making landfall. I hope that something can be done to contain it quickly.

It sounds like you are going to be a busy gal in the coming days and weeks. Watch yourself, stay safe, and know that we are keeping you and everybody along the Gulf in our thoughts.

Thanks Chris, it's quite a mess and the weather is working against the containment efforts, we've already had sea birds landing coated in oil and some some dead marine life coming in...I'm sure you're right, we'll all be busy...I was thinking of you when they did the controlled burn...it was an eerie sight at night...

Hi Michelle,

I'm sorry that this is one more stress in your life. I'm also really sorry about the horrific damage to the coastline.

Many years ago, when I was a child in Cornwall, an oil tanker sank off our coastline - the Torrey Canyon - at that time the largest oil spill to that point. I remember the oiled seabirds that we worked on to care for and try and clean. I remember a guillemot in a box in our kitchen recovering after we had spent hours trying to clean its wings. One of the worst affected beaches was Sennen Cove - the place that my granddaughter, Sennen, is named for.

Here's a link to the wikipedia story for anyone who is interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrey_Canyon

I remember months of oil on the beaches, we couldn't swim and damaged birds and other sealife were part of life for quite a while. It wrecked the Cornish economy which was almost exclusively dependent on tourism (for the beaches) and fishing.

As you can guess, that experience as a child has made me very anxious when it happens elsewhere in the world so all my sympathies are winging their way to you.

This makes me very sad. I really hoped things would be cleaned up before it got to shore. Don't over do it and suffer later for the work you are doing now.

Not wanting to hijack this thread which is about the current disaster but here is an interesting youtube video about the Torrey Canyon disaster which shows how far we've come in environmental cleanup methods since then. They used tons and tons of detergent which, it turned out later, did more harm than the oil. The video and sound effect sounds so ancient now with that old style of reporting that sounds like a second world war report. The vehicles you see are from the 50s and 60s. I was 12 at the time. The washing of seabirds is shown. Didn't have Dawn back then.

Hope you don't mind me posting this, Michelle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV-EhBesVjg

Hi Wendy...that is so sad...I may be calling on you for advice, I'm thankful that I have the space for these critters and I'm in very close proximity to a wildlife rehab, the same one that I brought Rocky to after the '08 hurricanes...big hugs and much love...

Hi Micki...yep, what a shame, we were initially led to believe that this was a very small spill and that our coastline wouldn't be affected but...so far, it's just a thin layer but I have a feeling that in the days to come we'll be sitting in a wasteland...thank you so much for your thoughts...