Blog = FAIL! BP = FAIL! Louisiana = FTW!

So it turns out I am pretty horrible at keeping up with this. I certainly need to work on that!

This week I am in New Orleans, LA. I LOVE Louisiana. I am not sure exactly what it is, but if I were to guess, I would say the food, the people, the foliage (thats right, foliage!), the music, the wildlife, and ultimately the mystique that attracts me to this place.

With the disaster of BP's gulf oil spill overshadowing this trip I was interested to see what the people had to say. As to be expected there are a lot of angry people in and around the gulf coast. Everything really hit home as I was driving to Galliano, LA to visit for the first time a shop called Animal Xing. A husband and wife own this little full line shop surrounded by a fishing community. When I arrived, Stephanie was in the middle of putting a Hagen order away. I started chatting with her and she said that in there 5 years of being open they were just starting to pull out of this economic rut earlier this year in Jan, Feb, and March, and then when the oil rig exploded, her income immediately plummeted. So many of her customers in the community are intertwined in the fishing communities that everyone was tightening up and not spending money on lavish things like pets, and aquariums. Stephanie, her husband who works a second job, and their daughter run the shop, so it is truly the epitome of a mom and pop pet shop. It was extremely disheartening to hear that this fixture in the local community may be at risk of closing due to the accident that no doubt resulted by a huge company trying to cut corners and costs. My heart goes out to all of the folks in the gulf, not only in LA, but in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas who are directly or indirectly affected by this disaster.

Today I dropped by a shop called 50 FathomsPet Shop in Metairie, LA (East of New Orleans) and met with the owner Dane. Dane is a very outspoken person, and may have been even more outspoken because he was dealing with an ornery fax machine. I caught him as he was getting ready to leave the shop with his son to go scuba diving in Lake Pontchartrain. Dane was extremely frustrated with the fact that this leaking well was into the 59th day of spewing gunk into the gulf, and nothing had been done. He is very much of the mindset that between BP and the Federal Government, someone has to have some way of shutting the well off, but he thinks that it has progressed the way it has because BP is after the almighty dollar and why would they want to kill a well when they could still manage to siphon some of the oil out of the spill to be refined. Dane asked where I was from and when I told him Colorado, he said that I had nothing to worry about the spill, but at the same time asked what the people in our area thought about the situation, and I conveyed how frustrated everyone I know is with the situation. Dane was very disappointed with the Government's response to the spill and said that this is the 2nd time in 5 years that the people of Louisiana and the gulf coast had been screwed. He said that at least after Hurricane Katrina, the people could pick themselves up by their bootstraps and begin the rebuilding process, but with the oil spill, and the dispersant, no one knows what is going to happen and the unknown, and the waiting, is what is so unnerving.

It was certainly a gut check visiting with the folks in this area this week. These people have been through the absolute worst and now are facing many unknowns, but if I have learned one thing from this trip, it is that the people of this area will not be dragged down. They are some of the kindest, most genuine people that I have ever met, and are amazingly resourceful.

I dont know if I said it already or not, but I LOVE Louisiana. If you have never been, you certainly must, and if you do go, make an effort to talk to some of the locals. Chances are they will share with you much more than you could possibly imagine, and will tell you some stories, that while may or may not be true, will be wholeheartedly entertaining!

Cheers~!

Jon