Sail
where we by Kim Couranz
Can Rocky and Dingo Save the Gulf Coast?
I
t’s summer blockbuster movminiature stair steps. ie season, and I know we’d Someone had gotten A brave owner took shears to all like to see a Hollywood to Rocky with the hog Rocky for the hair ending to the oil spill in the Gulf shears. I confirmed this donation effort... of Mexico: Oil Magically Stops with my hostess. She Pouring from Gulf Floor! But had indeed secured instead it seems the oil spill is a contribution to the more like a set of sequels—each hair boom effort from one in turn getting worse than its Rocky. predecessor. Blowout preventer? Please remember: No! Containment dome? Not so Rocky is a cat. Can you much! Top kill? Not working! imagine the resolve Diamond saw? Can’t cut! …and with which one must so on. attempt to give a cat a I recently spent some time haircut? But the threat down in Louisiana to support to the Gulf’s ecosystem some oil spill response efforts as and economy are so part of my “day job,” and instead great, residents in the Dingo donated of staying at a large chain hotel, region are willing to be some hair for a I opted to track down a similarly fully clawed by unsus“hair boom.” priced bed and breakfast. My pecting feline contributhinking was that for such a tors to the effort. chunk of time, I’d rather stay While the catassomewhere a little more homey, “At that point, the concept of “hair booms” trophe in the Gulf has and I’d rather the cost of lodgwas still a hot topic, as Gulf residents were arisen over the course ing stay in the Gulf area—allooking from all angles at how to combat of just a few short ready challenged by fishery cloweeks, we face related the oily menace.” sures and slowdowns in tourism challenges here in our thanks to the spill—rather than Bay that have evolved corporate headquarters somewhere else. over decades, perhaps centuries. As in the that hair booms mostly just suck up water And what a good decision that was. Gulf, many of the issues facing our Bay rather than oil, and tend to sink, so they’re Not only did my B&B hostess pack me a are due to human actions and loom over not as effective as other more traditional breakfast to go each morning (for I was up environment and economy alike. boom material. But still people were eager and out the door way before any standard I wonder if it’s like the old adage about to pitch in, so a hair drive was held, and B&B breakfast time), but we enjoyed some animal “hair” wasn’t to be left out. frogs and boiling water: drop a frog in discussions about the spill and its effects boiling water and he’ll surely know he’s in She arrived at the church with her each night as I returned to the house. A a bad situation, but put a frog in a pot of long-haired dingo mix, ready to contribute longtime New Orleans resident, she moved the end result of Dingo’s summer shave room-temperature water on a stove and outside of the city more than 10 years slowly heat it to boiling, and he doesn’t leftovers to the effort. But the line was too ago. She still mourns for the city of New realize it until it’s too late. Our rhetorical long; she left and went straight to her local Orleans that was before Hurricane Katrina, feed store, where she purchased a pair of water here in the Chesapeake is boiling— though the resilience of the residents are we the frog, or are we the chef who can hog shears. Dingo got his summer cut at inspires her. With the Saints’ Super Bowl turn down the stove? home—though a little more uneven than win, everyone thought the region was back And—are we willing to shave our cats to a razor might have enabled—and the hair on track. Until April 20, that is. save our Bay? went to the effort. I learned that the weekend before I arA few days later, I enjoyed some takeout About the Author: Kim Couranz is an Anrived, her church held a collection for hair. dinner on the front porch of the B&B as napolis resident who writes on Bay-related At that point, the concept of “hair booms” the sun set, and the resident cat, Rocky, topics. A member of Severn SA, she enjoys was still a hot topic, as Gulf residents were came to see if he could talk me out of racing on one-design boats including her looking from all angles at how to combat any of my fried oysters. I did a doubleLaser. She welcomes story ideas or questions the oily menace. Unfortunately, it turns out take: Rocky’s back fur was punctuated by at kimcouranz@yahoo.com.
38 July 2010 SpinSheet
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