Welcome to the Gulf Watchers Block Party
for Earth Day 2011!
Got plans for the weekend? If not, think about a weekend getaway of your own! Free admission to the National Parks is nothing to sneeze at, and it's good through Sunday.
See 'em while we've got 'em, y'all -- it's a bittersweet reality that on 2010's Earth Day oil spewing out of BP's Macondo well wrought havoc in the Gulf of Mexico and on Earth Day 2011, drought-fueled wildfires threaten the Gulf States from Texas to Florida. It's not just the fires that are bringing grief: it's the drought, all around the world. Today's AUV is here. Please give a moment's remembrance for the offshore blowout from which the Gulf Watchers Group arose.
Last weekend I took a getaway to the Texas State Park outside Buffalo Gap south of Abilene. Saturday we visited Buffalo Gap Historic Village. We had the luck to enjoy primroses and bluebonnets before the range fires hit the Big Country. Unlike Possum Kingdom, and the fire-ravaged far West Texas state park near the McDonald Observatory and Fort Davis, Abilene's State Park remains open. I hope to go back in a few days: it's fixing to be Airfest --
the annual airshow weekend starts Friday, as Dyess Air Force Base commemorates the 50th year of the C-130 Hercules. That aircraft's not just a wartime workhorse. It's a mainstay in airborne firefighting.
Across Texas from Possum Kingdom, Davis Mountains State Park is closed; the US and Texas Forest Services are staging firefighting efforts out of it. Fire news and maps on a national basis can be found here: http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/.... State parks news starts here for Texas: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/.... If you're so inclined, some donations of support, best wishes, positive energy, or prayers would all be welcome for the firefighters, the wildlife, the livestock, the farmers, ranchers, and volunteers trying to save, at least, the lots underneath them, and the survivors. Considering that much of Texas looks like this now, and this is how much our legislature cares, Texas needs all the real help we can get.
Time for this Earth Day party to start ... how about a board game to kick off the festivities? Or you could try the hide-and-seek puzzle in this animated artwork. In the spirit of recycling, here's a happy reason to wax nostalgic again, from black-and-white memories to those earworm-inducing theme songs.
Share YOUR favorite theme song from a tv show, film or a radio program in comments ...
Here's one of mine: Baa Baa Black Sheep
