This first photo shows the pipeline marker under the arm of the track hoe. The track hoe may be sitting on the pipeline now. It's hard to tell but it's too close for me. This is about fifty feet behind our house on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM. He is trenching next to a trench that has already been dug across the pipeline. It is the grassy area on the right.
This pipeline is owned by Gulf South and I was told by the responsible pipeliner that it is a ten inch pipe buried about four feet carrying 500 to 650PSI. It should be quite a show when it goes off. I won't see it because I'll be a crispy critter.
It will not go off right away unless these guys actually dig it up. Here is how it works. The ground here is a fairly firm layer of mud and clay floating on a deeper layer of mud. If you jump up and down on one part it moves all the rest. The house shakes all day from this activity and our rocking chair moves about three feet everyday. I had to pad some of my glassware the other day it was shaking so much. So this pipe is down there flexing all day everyday and has been for who knows how many years. It is very old. This recent activity could be the proverbial straw. If not now then any time from now on. Those doing this construction are gambling that they will be in the Bahamas spending the money they made when we get torched.
I am genuinely pissed off. I feel I am being crapped on and there is nothing I can do about it. That area was a bird and animal habitat. The birds have been driven off and I don't know where the animals went. The snakes and the deer flies came here.
When I came here I thought this was as good a place to die as any and that is still true. The only thing is I don't plan on doing it anytime soon so we are starting to talk about leaving. At my age that will be hard.
A fishwife sells fish not buys them so the title is not exactly accurate. SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) buys or catches fish but she can swear like a fishwife.
If a man is going to be married he might as well be married to a good looking woman that has a job, brings home the fish, cleans it, cooks it then washes up the mess.
This woman scored three red fish this size from one of the neighbors that fishes twice a week and is willing to share. It would be nice if she owned a vineyard (she is working on that) as well but I guess one should not ask for too much in fear of angering the gods.
First she checked it's breath for oil. Then she cleaned it. You can see the smoker behind the paper towel.
Then she cooked it and serve it up. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the cooked fish as I was busy defending the territory around my share. I did get a picture of some of the leftovers. This will be my lunch today. The meat in the cheeks is the best.
All the waste goes into the garden therefore it is not waste.
Regardless of the slick off hand way the government and the oil industry is burying the BP oil disaster it is still going on. The oil has for the most part disappeared from view but it is not gone. It has been found laying in a two inch thick carpet on the bottom of the gulf with a lot of dead sea life under it. BP (oil industry) not only managed to pollute the gulf with oil their evil alchemist devised a way to make oil heavier than water so that it sinks out of sight. That smacks upon witchcraft and someone(s) should be burnt at the stake.
These three fish died for our sins but thankfully not because of them. I hear we can get gulf shrimp now and I'll report when I do. I do hope so as I've tried the shrimp from Walmart and I'd just as soon not have any. My favorite eat out place gets theirs from South America somewhere and they are tasteless. I'm sticking to their fried zucchini and catfish both of which are excellent.
When I was flying pipeline in this area just northwest of here there was a blow out that closed the area for months. I was not allowed to go near it in the airplane as it was natural gas and it was bubbling up all over the place.
Further north a few miles there was a natural gas blow out six or five years ago that spontaneously ignited. Fortunately for me it was not a patrol day as I regularly flew right over the site. It melted the steel high tension electrical towers hundreds of feet away.
I live about 100 meters from such a pipeline. There is a local idiot developing a housing project next to it and has dug a drainage ditch across it. Life is cheap here and brains are not rare but they are rarely used.
The white strip at the top of the photo is a drag strip/race course for motor cars. We not only produce it we burn it but mostly it's so you can drive your gas guzzler a half mile to the gym for exercise.
The migratory birds will be coming soon some to just fuel up and continue. Some to spend the winter. Boy, are they in for a surprise. We have a new oil spill in Barataria Bay now to add to BP's fun time. There is some hopeless futile worry about that with talk of artificial refuges for those tourist. Those who would provide these rest stops just haven't figured out how to direct the birds to them. It's not like you can put up a sign that says "we're sorry we shit on your rest stop but if you'll go 20 miles inland you'll find a nice little spot".
This area host millions of migratory birds every year and that's not just a number, that is something I personally witnessed for seven years. I didn't just see them I flew with them. I just went faster, made a lot of noise and smelled like burned gasoline. I only hit a few.
All that area along the edge of the gulf is loaded with thousands of dead unattended oil wells and it's crisscrossed with hundreds of pipelines. Someday when all the land is gone and I guess that won't be long the pictures from space will show South East Louisiana as a pile of pick-up sticks because of all the crisscrossing pipelines. I think those pipelines are all that's holding this mud together now. I know about that because my job was to fly over it once a week at low altitude in a small airplane and inspect it. Not only for what was leaking but for what I thought might leak for whatever reason. That's how I came to know the birds.I may have to wait until winter to reclaim this hose.
Areas that have been in the news recently I came to know intimately from the air. I did this before and after Hurricane Katrina so I have etched in my mind the before and after pictures of that storm. I do wish I had documented those flights with a camera but I did not.
This was paid for by the pipeline companies. Pipeline companies don't have anything to do with drilling and spilling. There purpose is to deliver the oil but even with that there are two different parts to pipeline companies those that build pipelines and those that operate pipelines. I only concerned myself with those who deliver since their sole concern was to deliver oil and that means no spill. There is no profit if the oil is spilled instead of delivered.
Those pipeliners that do that work take it seriously because they have to live here too but I cannot say that for some of the owners of the pipelines. Of course they don't want a spill but that's not from the goodness of their heart it's based on profit. It appeared to me there was a lot of paperwork and maneuvering to be in a superior position in case of lawsuits or fines by the government. They always try to pass the blame down the line to some lesser contractor or individual. It's a sleazy game corporations enjoy.
I justified making a living off oil by seeing myself as a protector and handled myself accordingly. I took it seriously and took no shortcuts. Looking back on it I realize now how much I disliked the whole sleazy oil business but I had to do right or the earth and us who live there suffer the consequences. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I had to help them make a profit even though I disliked that dirty business. They had me right where they wanted me but one mistake and I would have been thrown into the volcano in an eye blink.
Corporations have no conscience or responsibility and there are no mental giants in the oil industry. Meanwhile these two lovers don't know anything about oil and at the moment don't care about anything but the business at hand. The last I saw of them she was smoking a cigarette and he was wandering off looking for a beer. He didn't hang around to make small talk.
It's been 21 year and 4 months since the Exxon Valdez destroyed the fishing in Alaska and they don't have to pay for it. Our government sees to that. The environment and the people there were decimated and they still have not been compensated as if they(we) could be. Exxon has spent billions to not pay for its negligence.
The State of Alaska still loves oil as a whole but not the people who live from the land. Because of the money they will suck on that pipe until it kills them.
So BP is supposed to pay 20 billion dollars for their damages in the gulf of Mexico. Believe me it will never happen. They lie and the government will help them to weasel out of it. They say they have paid 4 billion already and I truly doubt that. They say that the safety of the cleanup workers is paramount but I know that is a lie. Those people are bought and discarded like a boxes of Kleenex.The news media loves it because they have a disaster to talk about and as a group they don't want it to go away (it sells cars). I'm sure that individually they think different but as a group they need disaster to survive but survive for what. BP is a sleaze ball company and right now they are at the top of the sleaze ball heap but there are others to take its place on a moments notice.
I have known hard drug addicts and they don't ever get over it. They might stop using but the vast majority will use until it kills them. We humans will keep mainlining oil until it kills us all. It shouldn't take long and I may actually live long enough to see it (not something I look forward to). Unfortunately many other beautiful living things will go before us and we'll get to see that as well.
People with the money that live above all this will be affected as well as those of us who live in it and with it. The ignorant will wonder what happened and try to pin the blame on someone else. Man is only an animal and will go the way of all animals in due time. Meanwhile man is helping the animals go. Things have a way of evening out.
I think I'll go take drugs now. I've obviously lived too long.
Pictures are from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. I decided not to put more because these few made me sick to my stomach. I apologize for being weak.
About three weeks ago I harvested these radish seeds. This plant is left over from last summer and was let be to see what would happen. Seeds happened. I took them not to replant but to eat. This is a giant radish and I didn't really care for it so I'm not planning to plant this variety again. I ended up with a heaping tablespoon full.
Four days ago I set about sprouting them and sprout they did. They were beautiful and fast growing. Yesterday I tasted them and they passed with flying colors. I decided to let them go one more night of growing before refrigerating. WRONG.
The top photo is the result. At first glance it looks pretty good but it you inspect it closely you'll see the white hair that is growing faster that the radish seed all through it. (It's on a 9 inch plate for scale). Everything is edible to some degree or another but I'm not going to eat that.
The only good thing that came of this is that I ate a big mouthful yesterday and it was delicious. It was radish only more delicately flavored and peppery. I was looking forward to having it in a salad.
What a way to start the weekend. Oh well the worms in my worm pile will get a treat.
I should have known better as it has been so wet here these last few week with perfect temperatures to grow moss, mold and that white fuzz. Before all this rain the heat had stopped my tomatoes from setting fruit and the remaining blossoms to drop but they have revitalized. They are making new leaves and flowers just in time for a big heat wave to kill them off. I am letting them do what ever they want but I know they are doomed.This little cluster of six plants is thriving here in the shade of the oak tree. Left to right there is the Sage, tomato and in with the tomato carrots and basil. Bottom left is something that SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) calls "Sweet and Spicy", she doesn't know it's real name just that it is supposed to grow up to be a hedge that smells sweet and spicy. Next is a pumpkin left over from last Halloween. I think it was just left there for want of anything else to do with it and this is what happened. Seems we have better luck with accidental stuff than with what we do on purpose . We had no rain yesterday for a change and my bubbling brook has turned back into a dry ditch. The air is warm and just moist enough to feel like Hawaii with a light body caressing breeze. Very sexy except it smells like the grease pit at the auto garage. Makes me kind of queasy. I hear that BP is trying to devise a way to charge us all for getting salt water in their oil. If you think that sounds preposterous then you should hear some of the really fringe rumors that circulate.
Remember that tomorrow is July 4th and that we celebrate "The Declaration of Independence". A concept that had never before been voiced. It has been called the worlds greatest invention and it is not just for the USA. You'll notice that it says ALL men.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We here in the United States often forget that "All" means everyone not just those that hold citizenship. Our founding fathers were a little confused as to what "men" meant when writing that body of law called the Constitution and we have been trying to straighten that out since. I believe that those who wrote the Declaration of Independence, there was more than one you know, were not confused about it at all. All meant All and Men meant Mankind. What a concept.
And with that I'm going out into the yard to watch the juvenile cardinals, be adored by the dogs and smell the oil in the air.
I don't make it a practice to write a post everyday but this is serious enough that I really feel that it should be widely disseminated as quickly as possible. I don't do religion or political either except for the occasional snide remark. This however transcends race, color, gender, creed and political affiliation.
I subscribe to Michael Bloch's Green Living Tips.com newsletter and Issue #45 which I received and read yesterday really got my attention. I can't copy it here for 14 days as it is copyright material and that is his condition but here is an excerpt and I don't believe he will mind that.
From Michael Bloch's newsletter issue #45
Spare a thought too for the people of the Niger Delta who live with a BP magnitude oil leak disaster every year. If any good has come out of the Gulf disaster, it's the increased exposure of what is happening in the USA isn't an isolated incident and maybe as a result, things will change in other regions suffering too.
If you follow the links below you can join me in my frustration of knowing about something I can do little about.
The Guardian What the big oil companies are doing and how the corruption of the government is helping.
It's clear that if we here in Louisiana were not a mouthy, loud bunch with plenty of money we would be ignored and BP, Shell, the rest of those lying bastards and the politicians they have bought would just move on to greener pastures. To the oil companies and most politicians we are just chattel to be maneuvered around and sucked dry.
Now I'm going shut down my news feeds, put on some soothing music, bury my head in the mud and see if I can get my chest to stop hurting. I bought my last fishing license here but I suspect it may well be the end of days for places like this.
I got this from http://fakescience.tumblr.com/ and found it to be an appropriate comment since we are demonstrating this procedure here on the Gulf of Oil. It's perfectly safe according to the all powerful oil industry. They guarantee it.
Come on down and get oiled or stay home and wait for the loop current or the next hurricane and we will bring it to you.
Drill baby drill! We will have oil no matter what the cost. Even if it kills us.
This rig has been inspected and it's perfectly safe so they say. Well it is now as it has gone the way of Atlantis but we haven't heard the last of it yet. And there is not a damn thing we can do about it except file law suits which has begun already.
The state park south of here is still closed to swimming due to pollution. It's waters are full of fat crab but I wouldn't eat them. Oh yeah our shrimp come from out there too. Do I sound pissed off? Drill Baby Drill! Why not hold a gun to my head while drilling as well. Think I'll have a cocktail until my hands stop shaking. Look here.
The track hoe may be sitting on the pipeline now. It's hard to tell but it's too close for me.
This is about fifty feet behind our house on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 PM. He is trenching next to a trench that has already been dug across the pipeline. It is the grassy area on the right.
