Well,  not so much about owl sex, but got your attention didn’t it?

Mom’s been watching the owlbox video stream and moderating the chatroom for three months now.  14.5 million users/chatters later, the last owlet has fledged;  it’s all over. Molly and McGee flew into the owlbox today and Carlos turned off the cams to give then some personal time.

Think about it folks, 14.5 million people tuned into Ustream to watch a brood of barn owls hatch, grow up and fly away.

It was a growing experience for Mom. She’s learned to ignore the squawks and horks from adult children. They’ve fledged and will make their own way.

And Mom has fledged, flown the coop too.

I took Mom down to the ‘Glades last November.

It was a new experience for her. No cellphone, no internet, no gps. No signal. It was a life-changing experience. The children couldn’t get ahold of her to share their drama short of sending the sheriff out to look for her…in the Everglades.

Now we’re up on the Cumberland Plateau until we freeze our butts off. Obviously we have internet access and also have a cellphone signal. But Mom doesn’t turn the phone on. No interest at all. If there’s a family emergency they’ll just have to have it without her. She’s never going to do drama again.

The chicks have fledged, the nest is empty. Mom’s free to live again. She’s released them into the universe.

My two cents worth…

Lookit, this thing is an absolute disaster, a man-made disaster, for everywhere the Loop Current and Gulf Stream touches. Fishing/oystering/scalloping in the eastern Gulf will be a thing of the past for about 25 years.

Tarballs on east-coast beaches aren’t anything new; lots of tar and tarballs on beaches in Ireland will be impressive.

BP and the operators of the Deepwater Horizon cut corners; the DoJ criminal investigation will certainly find that. Of course that happened; it’s not much different than driving 65 in a 55 zone….until you crash.  Everyone does it.

BP stock has taken a $30bn hit. I hope no one owns a significant amount of BP stock or any oil-company stock. There’s going to be a shaking-out.

But you know what, really, no one’s to blame. Not the execs who were going slightly over the speed-limit and certainly not the crew, many of whom died on the rig. It’s just plain bad luck. Maybe shockingly huge bad luck, but bad luck just the same.

You could try blaming the politicians who allowed deepwater gomex drilling, but if they hadn’t you’d be blaming them for somewhat higher gas prices at the pump. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but most of that blame falls on you and me for wanting to, expecting to, hop in our cars and run to the corner store.

That’s right boys ‘n’girls, we have met the enemy and he is us! (Walt Kelly, Pogo)