He who smelt it, delta.

With the exception of my own distinct odors, I have been cursed with an elite sense of smell. On random days for the last few weeks here on my back porch, where I can see a slice of Mobile Bay, I've smelled something amiss. It's like someone melted crayons and shoved them up my nose. It is unmistakable. It is oil. Mother nature's B.O.

I'm not happy that my last three posts have had to do with the oil spill, but it's something that is constantly on my mind. I have been closely watching the events unfold since April, and I've watched as, by Google's estimates, nearly 40 million gallons of oil "leaked" into the Gulf. I've watched and thought about the effects of the spill as well, and it saddens me to see oil washing up even on the beach where I was married.

I wonder if my daughter will ever remember some of the beautiful sights she's seen down here. My heart says that it will not impact the wildlife and scenery for long, but my head says that it could take years, decades maybe.

But, the thing that has been keeping me up at night is that many claim that they just do not know the long term health effects on humans. Good luck finding credible information on that.

Good news is, unless you are a cleanup worker, even if you can smell the oil, the consensus is that the pollutant levels are low and not harmful to inhale. The only symptoms--and this is if you're too sensitive, or have asthma or other respiratory problems, or if you're too young, or if you're too old--are nausea, vomiting, or headaches! Sounds like my weekends.

But, wait! There's more! If that stuff bothers you, just stay indoors, close the doors and windows, and turn on your central air conditioning--unless you work outside, or you're too poor for central air and insulated windows, or none of that works anyway. The outdoors is for looking anyway. Wonderful.

While the companies involved with the whole oil spill are trying to play the he who smelt it dealt it card, and hurricane season is upon us, I will do what the parties involved should have done in the first place: have a plan for the worst case scenario. Although, my plan is not so much about how to deal with it directly.