The news from Japan is horrific. With the growing difficulties keeping water on the spent fuel rods at the northern nuclear facility, I could live to see a significant portion of the country made uninhabitable for generations to come. Things are close in Japan. The distance from the destroyed nuclear facility in the northeast to Tokyo in the middle of the country is slightly less than the distance from where I sit in mid-state NY to Manhattan. It is minor on the scale of this country, but it could be a third of Japan.
The concept of a regional zone of nuclear damage isn't new, with long term concerns about accidents at plants in this country and the more recent worries about dirty bombs. But it never had the reality of this week's news.
People are feeling the nearness in Japan - many have fled Tokyo. Business has ground to a slow crawl due to the loss of workers as well as rationed electricity.
I noticed in the shots of shelters in Japan that they had allowed people to bring their pets with them. For people who have survived an earthquake, a tsunami, loss of family members and now loss of their homes due to radiation, very small things could be the difference between someone making it through the day or giving up. Having the company and the care of the family cat and dog may be one of the few remaining life lines in this disaster.
On one trip to the living room I noticed that the younger Siamese Atlas, who spends much of his time yowling nastily at the cat who came in from the street, had declared a detente long enough to use him as a pillow in the sunny spot. We've been wondering how long it would take the pig-headed fool to realize that Andy (the street guy) is the softest bed in the house. Andy has shown remarkable patience through years of this behavior and for the most part walks by it, though once in a while he decides to play with Atlas because it is so much fun to get him to make noises.
But seeing them piled up this morning is nice.
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