This Morning I Cried

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water just off the Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into marshes, never to be seen again.

I cried when I read the beginning to the Associated Press story. I don't what else I can say, but I am deeply saddened to see this happening to the region I love. My memories are intact but the hurt I feel right now for the animals and people suffering the insult inflicted by the BP oil spill simply overrides them.


artwork by Joan Daugherty

Wile E Coyote

Greetings from Batavia, Illinois, and Happy Saturday! Son Scott is back at Fermilab with his summer job in the computing division. He loves the people at Fermi and says, "It's like working at the United Nations." However, I think the actual environment at this massive national laboratory funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy captures his attention just as often as interacting with Russians, Germans, and people from all over the world. The 6,800-acre Fermilab site contains wetlands, woodlands, grasslands and more than 1,100 acres of reconstructed tall-grass prairie. And, a cute coyote pup!


photo from June 11 Fermilab Today credited thus: "PPD's Terry Tope spotted a coyote pup in the woods on Pine Street on June 5."

In the area and want to visit:
Fermilab's site is open to the public every day of the week from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from mid-October to mid-April and from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. when daylight hours are longer. Fermilab visitors are allowed to visit two buildings on their own: the first and ground floor of Wilson Hall and the Lederman Science Center, which is open Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. A map of Fermilab's Public Areas is available online.