[BBOT] Life, Death and Oil

reply to post by LadySkadi


Excellent! Mothers are always happy to see the children survive and any little animal is always heartwarming, but the old and the homely are often overlooked by society.
Good for all of you who were for rescuing the rat!

Wow, well what can I say? The above posts have summed it all up.

I look forward to your work, my friend.

Very descriptive! I felt as though I was the rat. Poor little fellow. I didn't think I'd ever feel sad about a rat dying but you've pulled it off. Fantastic first story my friend!

Thanks again!
I really appreciate the comments.

reply to post by LadySkadi


Rats are cool.

reply to post by LadySkadi


Was that really your first effort?

Star and a flag for you. I enjoyed that, a great perspective, and well told. Thanks.

Sendran.

reply to post by LadySkadi

Superlatives are inadequate. Giving a star and flag is inadequate, though I did anyway.

Lady Skadi, you have the wonderful and very precious gifts of empathy and deep compassion, and your writing is the vessel that conveys their essence to us.

Thank you, bless you, peace and light to you.

Mike

Well done OP.
For such a short story, you tell a mighty tale.

Maybe, if you continue the story, some of the RATS at BP can get covered in oil.

Edit to add: I haven't cared that much about rats since Micheal Jacko(before he became wacko) sang Ben.

[edit on 26/6/10 by atlasastro]

Originally posted by Sendran
reply to post by LadySkadi

 

Was that really your first effort?

Star and a flag for you. I enjoyed that, a great perspective, and well told. Thanks.

Sendran.

Thanks for the comment.

Yep. My first story (other than academic).

Originally posted by JustMike
reply to post by LadySkadi

 

Superlatives are inadequate. Giving a star and flag is inadequate, though I did anyway.

Lady Skadi, you have the wonderful and very precious gifts of empathy and deep compassion, and your writing is the vessel that conveys their essence to us.

Thank you, bless you, peace and light to you.

Mike

Ah. Thanks Mike. You wrote some very nice things and I really appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.

Peace to you, as well.

Originally posted by atlasastro

Well done OP.
For such a short story, you tell a mighty tale.

Maybe, if you continue the story, some of the RATS at BP can get covered in oil.

Edit to add: I haven't cared that much about rats since Micheal Jacko(before he became wacko) sang Ben.

Thank you for taking a moment to read and comment.

Lol. I know the story is short - I've never written in the Writing Forum (or written much at all) before this, so I didn't really know what to expect, this time. I did consider adding a Part Two after, but wasn't sure if it was too late to add to the story.

Thanks again. Appreciate your thoughts.



[edit on 26-6-2010 by LadySkadi]

Wow.

Mighty Impressive and very touching.

Encore please

reply to post by LadySkadi


That was beautifully written, moving, touching!

You know, that took me back to the days following the Exxon Valdez disaster. I was on a small rescue boat compliments of the US Fish and Wildlife Service combing the waters of Prince Williams Sound for oiled birds and mammals. The birds that we picked up were heavily oiled and most died.

There was one joyful moment when I plucked a newborn sea otter from an ice island before it could get oiled. We delivered her by helicopter to Valdez to be nursed to health. We named her Annie. Annie, I was told was one of the few survivors of the early days of the spill.

I was back to the Prince Williams sound a month ago. There was no oil, birds and sea life was back to pre spill numbers and all was well. Only memories remained of the disaster!

Excellent job, Lady! Well written and emotive. Somehow, you managed to pull off a human interest story, told by... critters!

Well done!

Concerning the rat: I don't like rats, never have, never will. My daughter, on the other hand who (unlike my decrepit self) has a heart, said to tell Izzy that the rat is alive and well, and apparently sipping on a margarita on the beach at Cabo. Said the CIA flew him down there on a specially chartered Air America Life Flight, and even provided him with a tiny pair of rat-sized shades, to assist with his new identity.

Edit: for typos, because none are immune. Especially me.

[edit on 2010/6/26 by nenothtu]

VERY COOL!

Wonderful job there, I wish i had an imagination that vivid

Originally posted by jam321
Wow.

Mighty Impressive and very touching.

Encore please

Thanks for leaving a note!
Appreciate it...

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by LadySkadi

 

That was beautifully written, moving, touching!

You know, that took me back to the days following the Exxon Valdez disaster. I was on a small rescue boat compliments of the US Fish and Wildlife Service combing the waters of Prince Williams Sound for oiled birds and mammals. The birds that we picked up were heavily oiled and most died.

There was one joyful moment when I plucked a newborn sea otter from an ice island before it could get oiled. We delivered her by helicopter to Valdez to be nursed to health. We named her Annie. Annie, I was told was one of the few survivors of the early days of the spill.

I was back to the Prince Williams sound a month ago. There was no oil, birds and sea life was back to pre spill numbers and all was well. Only memories remained of the disaster!

What a tragic and yet inspiring story. Interesting the moments of joy (or light) that can almost always be found in times of trouble (darkness) ... and despite what we do to continually bring disaster upon the environment, if given enough time, Mama Nature does recover in some way. It may not be the same as it was (or it may be) but life finds a way to keep going...

Thanks for the comments. Appreciate them

reply to post by LadySkadi

What a tragic and yet inspiring story. Interesting the moments of joy (or light) that can almost always be found in times of trouble (darkness)

Thanks Lady!

And that is my point. No matter how difficult, oppressive, and overwhelming the present oil spill is, the Exxon Valdez spill was many times greater because of the concentration of sea and wildlife in a small area, the Prince Willliams sound.

Alaskans and I thought this was the end of life for all species in the Sound and the people who depended on them.

I was there picking up oiled birds, oiled sea otters, cleaning and rinsing out the oil in their feathers and coats. The odor of the aromatic oil was everywhere, the oil sheen was on the water and talk of the death of the otters and birds was nonstop.

I was the speaker at the US Fish and Wildlife Sea Otter conference a year after the spill to summarize the effects of the spill. Bottom line the effects were significant, many species were affected and many died. The affects were detectable till 2001 and possibly later in deep pits dug on affected beeches.

Fish and wildlife populations including my otters recovered relatively quickly, I'm happy to report.

Reems of scientific reports have come out of the Exxon Valdez spill but in the end the result has been a rather complete recovery.

Originally posted by nenothtu
Excellent job, Lady! Well written and emotive. Somehow, you managed to pull off a human interest story, told by... critters!

Well done!

Concerning the rat: I don't like rats, never have, never will. My daughter, on the other hand who (unlike my decrepit self) has a heart, said to tell Izzy that the rat is alive and well, and apparently sipping on a margarita on the beach at Cabo. Said the CIA flew him down there on a specially chartered Air America Life Flight, and even provided him with a tiny pair of rat-sized shades, to assist with his new identity.

Edit: for typos, because none are immune. Especially me.

[edit on 2010/6/26 by nenothtu]

Dang ... the old rat is living better than I am, now. Lol.

Thanks for commenting. Made me laugh.

I like to think that the Rat survived.....

That he crawled away into a sewer, mutated due to the toxic crude, learned Kung Fu and eventualy became Master Splinter.