Google has a doodle, but I think Nettles’ ode to her newborn son is more Eostere-y.
Speaking of the verdant season, thanks [allegedly] to Exxon, a Mississippi couple are up to their… torts… in alligators:
… As Mr. Christmas tells it, he was rabbit hunting in October 2007 when his dog crawled under the fence into the property next door, Rogers Landfarm, which is owned by ExxonMobil. Mr. Christmas drove around to the entrance to retrieve his beagle and what he saw floored him.
Signs on the imposing metal gates said: “Keep Out. Waste Disposal Site.” A land farm, the rustic name notwithstanding, is a waste dump in which the waste is plowed into the soil, eventually to be decomposed by naturally occurring organisms.
For decades, Exxon had trucked containers of oil waste sludge, as much as 140 tons a day, from its refinery in Baton Rouge, La., to Centreville, according to court records.
Beyond the gates was another sign: “No Fishing. Snakes and alligators in area.”
“I started seeing all these alligators all over the place,” Mr. Christmas said, shaking his head. “I said, ‘Good God!’ ”…
The Christmases, who say they lost two calves and a Catahoula hunting dog named Bear to the gators, began making inquiries. Neighbors, including people who worked at the land farm, told them a strange story.
The company, they said, had brought in a menagerie — alligators from Louisiana, as well as ducks, chickens, geese and peacocks — to serve as coal-mine canaries, their health intended to gauge the environmental health of the land.
The chickens, geese and peacocks are no more, ground birds offering the equivalent of a snack-food machine for alligators…
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Apart from bidding farewell to a winter whose passing very few of us will regret, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Vernal Equinox!Post + Comments (46)