An Update on Us & Some Nautical Summer Fashion

I'm doing fine, it's takes a bit of adjusting, but I'm getting there. I scooped a lot of poop yesterday morning. I'll never run the Captain off permanently, anyone to help with that task, is a keeper. 5 dogs, remember? Big ones too! Ewwww enough of that. Guess what else I did? I mowed the grass with the John Deere all by myself. I just couldn't go backwards, so I got myself in a pinch once. I was quite proud of myself, couldn't start the weed eater though, oh well, I'm still proud! I read online how to operate the John Deere, climbed up on it, and off I went. I went a little too fast once, but I learned my lesson about that quickly. It was hot, my goodness was it hot.

Your not going to believe what I did yesterday afternoon? I indulged in a little Toddler's in Tiaras marathon on the big screen. Shhhh don't tell he'll never know, but I like actually watching what I want for a change.

I need something to bake, that I can throw in a Ziploc, and send out to sea. Something that will last for a couple of days, a little token of what he's missing back home. Send me some links baker buddies, won't you?

I have just spoken to our Captain, he says actually as far as 60 miles out, there is hardly any oil out there. It's not nearly as bad as he expected, he went through a patch about 5 miles long, and 5 miles wide, and that's about it. He is currently located 10 miles south of Fort Morgan, in Alabama waters. He says it's hot as hell out there, and I should get to see him when he comes in for groceries on Wednesday, but only for a little while. I'll take what I can get. He is replacing a Captain hospitalized with a heart attack. Of course I wish no harm to him, and have sent my prayers up, but I am still crossing my fingers and wearing out my knees that this will be a permanent gig for our Captain. It would be life changing for us. He sends his love to all of you, I am printing out comments so he can read them all, when I see him for a bit on Wednesday. He's getting the big head about all the love and affection, but again, I'll take what I can get, big head or not.

Some of my girlfriends are planning a pool party for the weekend. Can't wait to get out and visit with them. I hate My John won't be home for Father's Day, but me and The Boys will save it for when he is home.
via Dustjacket Attic my favorite from last week
As far as the oil spill, if you are reading words like tar balls, and oil patties. Let me tell you exactly what I see. Every 10 or so waves, there are two or three waves of oil, so thick it rolls on the shore. (Now after talking with John, I must have been there at just the right time for a plume to wash in, I don't know though ya'll it was quite a bit of oil, and I am certain it was oil. ) There are people there immediately scooping and removing, and putting down new sand, I'll admit I was impressed with that portion, all on BPs bill, so again, please don't boycott them now. You aren't hurting the stockholders, you are hurting me, Captain John, and our friends, neighbors, and little gas station operators. Some of you got this when John said it recently, think about it, and someone from the boycotts explain to me, the person who is living this nightmare why this makes sense.
The helicopters woke me up at 5am on Saturday. Seems their turn around spot was right over my house. The dogs went ballistic when the house vibrated each time. I actually got a little annoyed with it. I have heard rumors of big sharks, 15ft or more close to shore, disorientated and hungry, they were speculating closing the beaches, but the Tourism Commission had a cow, and I haven't heard more about it, they have however put up warning signs all over the beaches in the area. I'm not getting in the water, the Captain gave me specific instructions, and I don't usually anyway unless we take the boat out to the islands, which some people are still doing. They're oblivious to the fact that less oil spotted means more dispersant being used, as we all know it's pumping more from the leak than ever before.

Here's a little clip of an article in my paper this morning titled Here's Our Story Mr. President.
This will explain how we all feel right now, from another point of view.
Here's the link, if you want to read the whole thing. The whole tarballs and oil patties bulls**t again is included in this article.

The worst natural disaster in U.S. history. The worst economic recession in generations. Now, the worst man-made disaster in U.S. history.

The people of South Mississippi have often been called “resilient” — a reputation hard-earned after Hurricane Camille in 1969, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and repeated often in national media reports. That resilience is being put to the test.

“I had a bank examiner in here the other day, and he asked that same question, ‘How are things going?’” longtime Coast banker Chevis Swetman (Chevis Swetman is the authority on banking in Biloxi, MS)said. “I told him, ‘Well, you know, we had Hurricane Katrina in ’05. In December ’07 the national economic meltdown started, then about 50 days ago, this oil spill started.’ I said, ‘You know, I’m just looking for the plague of locusts to show up next week.’ He said, ‘You people are pretty resilient.’ I said, ‘We are pretty resilient, but the question is, how much more can we take?’ I know we’ll weather this. But heck, at some point it starts to seem like piling on in a football game.”

Casino executive Keith Crosby calls it “another sucker punch.” But, he notes, “We’re getting used to them, and we’re getting pretty good at playing over our head.”

Hurricane Katrina showed South Mississippi communities, churches, volunteer agencies, local governments, business leaders, state leaders and congressional leaders have an uncanny ability to work together when push comes to shove. But then, we know hurricanes — how to prepare, how to dig out and, as Gov. Haley Barbour put it many times in his Yazoo drawl, how to “hitch up our britches and get to work” on recovery.

With massive oil leaks — not so much.

“Nobody really knows who’s in charge,” Harrison County Supervisor Kim Savant said. “I guess ultimately it’s BP. We’re told to send things up the chain of command — I say chain of command but it’s really more just a progression — and BP is supposed to tell us yay or nay. That all works fine, except we don’t get a yay or nay from BP ... It’s unlike anything I have ever been involved in.”

You never know what life brings you, and I am relying on the theory that everything happens for a reason.
Found this quote this morning HERE: Nailed my thoughts this morning.

Love,

The Bumpkin