ooh, ooh that smell, can’t you smell that smell…

On occasion, depending on the winds, we can smell oil here in Diamondhead, MS. Keep in mind the weather here has been horrible for the last 4 days. No oil yet on our beaches, but we can smell it.

Please fly away, you sweet Least Terns, please fly away! This picture was taken yesterday, off the beachfront in Bay St Louis on a drive-out fishing pier. The innocent Least Terns are so used to sharing their nesting spots with humans that they don’t even fly away when cars or people come close to them. The Least Terns have protected nesting beds all along our 27 mile beach coastline here in Mississippi. Sadly, this is their nesting season. You can just imagine what might happen to them.

I want to introduce you you to these amazing blogs that here in this region. These girls share the same fears that we all do on the entire Gulf Coast.

Bumpkin on a Swing and her Captain John are Mississippi neighbors here that are trying to help in every way possible. This blog is amazing and a must read for up-date info in our local area. Bumpkin is Worried Sick right now.

NOLA GIRL wrote an amazing post so eloquently and factual. She says all the things I wish I could say, but I break down and cry in trying to do so. Please read her amazing post: Feeling Helpless but not hopeless.

As for me, I’m signing up for some of the classes being offered to assist in the clean-up. I am quite depressed but realize I need to do something to help and keep busy. This is pretty much the attitude of my all Mississippi neighbors that pulled through Katrina. We blame no one (our entire country is oil dependent, so the blame is on all of us)... do not blame or diss any one entity. Spend your thoughts on what you can do to help us here in the Gulf Coast Region.

Katrina was a natural disaster... this oil spill is a man made disaster. We residents know the first response is up to the locals and the citizens. NOT THE GOVERNMENT. We realize we have to rise up and help our community and ourselves. Does the rest of our great country understand this attitude?

And we wait…

For the second day in a row, the skies are heavy and oppressive, as if the oil slick has been dumped overhead. It is windy, warm, and humid…almost difficult to breathe out of doors. I had prayed that 2010 would not present any misfortunes but it looks like we all on the Gulf Coast will be expecting the worst man made national disaster. After going through the worst natural national disaster. The Coast Guard planes have been flying low over my house all this week. Our local shopping spots are full of Coast Guard and the National Guard are now starting to show up. Gives me Katrina flashbacks.

The waiting is just like waiting for a hurricane. You know it’s coming, it will hit somewhere. You secretly “wish cast” it to another area, feeling a little guilty about doing so. This morning I heard a reporter from Louisiana wish cast the oil to us in Mississippi. His theory was the oil will be easier to clean up from the beach then it would be to clean from the estuaries. I suppose this is true.

I’m headed down to the beach to see what is going on. There’s this page on Face book that has great info about volunteering. Apparently we have to be trained as the oil is dangerous. I’m signing up to do whatever I can. The waiting is really getting to us all…