UPDATE

For more than 40 days oil has been spewing (I'm actually in need of a much stronger word -- suggestions?) into the Gulf. In today's Washington Post officials from BP Oil Company and from the administration say that it is possible that the oil will continue to spill (need a stronger word here too) into the water until AUGUST!!!!!! That's four months since the explosion, four month since 11 people were killed, four months since birds, mammals, sea creatures and vegetation were contaminated and starting dying off. It's just way too long. We keep hearing that they are trying to stop the spill -- the "top Kill" (whoever heard of top kill before this disaster?) failed, other attempts have failed and now we are told that the oil may not be contained until AUGUST!!!!, it's just not right.

This is one of those situations where it is easy to feel helpless, BUT every one of us can write a letter, let your representatives know that something must be done sooner. Write to President Obama. He mentioned that his daughter asked, "Did you fix the hole?" Let him know that, like Malia, you are worried that the environment will not be able to bounce back from this enormous disaster.

On another matter that I feel equally powerless to control is Bruce. He came home from the hospital on Friday, had a great night, a good Saturday, an okay Sunday and a miserable Monday. He came back to the hospital today. Right now it seems like I can't do much but watch him, offer him food, make sure he's comfortable and drive him to and from the hospital. Bruce has a wonderful medical team caring for him. At this very moment its beginning to look like even they, fabulous as they are, may not be able to help him. The picture to the left is of Brucie chilling in my office after getting fluids. I am grateful to Dr. Rosen for taking my call as she was to board a plane for home. She listened to the update and instructed me on what could be done for Bruce today. I am indebted to three members of the incredible medical center staff, Evelyn, Kira and Maria for administering fluids today, Memorial Day.

Once again, shelter and medical center staff are here when others are enjoying a holiday. Bruce and I (well, probably just me) are extemely grateful.

The Worst Environmental Disaster -- Continued

The oil spill is not contained -- it's getting worse by the minute. Every news update says a greater number of gallons are contaminating the Gulf. Pictures can't begin to show the devastation. It's sooooooooooo sad. A group of wildlife rehabilitators from Delaware is there trying to rescue birds covered in oil. And still, the underground well continues to spew crude into waters. As bad as it is, we may not know the total impact on the environment on some time. According to one AP news report --

• "Efforts to prevent the slow-moving mass from washing ashore in parts of four states have been hampered for days by choppy seas and high waves in the Gulf, but forecasts suggest calmer conditions in the next few days."

Gulf Oil Spill -- An Epic Catastrophe

The picture looks like an old, overexposed film shot that missed capturing the subject. Unfortunately, the darkness in the picture IS the subject. This Associated Press' (AP) April 28th aeriel photo of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, shows what may very well be the biggest environmental threat that the U.S. has encountered! Sounds like a dramatic disaster-movie exaggeration, doesn't it? It's not. The massive spill, which as of Wednesday covered eight miles off the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River at the Southern tip of Louisiana , is now oozing into the Louisiana wetlands; extreme windy weather conditions are hampering any attempts to contain the seepage, let alone remove the miles of oil. It's not going to get better any time soon -- a clean up, humongous in scope, may never be fully complete. About 42,000 gallons of oil a day are leaking into the Gulf from the blown-out well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed eleven workers just a couple of days before the 40th anniversary celebration of Earth Day.

While the cause of the explosion has yet to be determined, scientists know that the devastation from the catastrophe will be felt for a very long time. An AP report by Cain Burdeau and Holbrook Mohr offered this distressing update --

• The spill was bigger than imagined — five times more than first estimated — and closer. Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines.
  "It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."
  The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life. Thicker oil was in waters south and east of the Mississippi delta about five miles offshore.