My Birthday

Since I love Fall so much, to have been born in September was perfect. I awakened to a gorgeous day, the morning temperature was a cool 59 degrees. I made it through another year that brought only a few tears and lots of laughter. Things are definitely looking up. Thanks to Dave and Anita and Bruce and Peggy for a perfect celebration.

Do you know what this is? "A vacuum cleaner that matches the recliner"? It is a product made by "Shop Vac" whose products are usually great. It vacuums leaves and mulches them too. We tried it out today and it works well, of course there will still be some raking because the trees in my yard are huge and drop a mountain of leaves. My birthday is fast approaching so Dave and Anita gave me an early gift. Anita and I ran it through a test and laughed as we vacuumed, the leaves were falling the entire time. I will update you on how I determine how to put this sharp machine to a productive and work lessening usefulness.

As for hurricanes, I haven't even tuned in to the weather channels as I am just living a normal life at this time. Yesterday I returned all the things I had inside since August 30th to the back porch. I also watch the New Orleans Saints football game every Sunday .. on September 7 they won over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-20 and on September 14 they lost to the Washington Redskins 24-29. That's the Saints, win one lose one. We go from elation to the bottom of the pit but still we stay loyal to them.

I haven't much to say at this time .. just stepped out of my "glass" house and put on my "rose colored glasses" long enough to say hello.

Will be back!

Washington Avenue

Washington Avenue

Although we were spared a direct hit by Hurricane Ike, we had flooding in low lying areas. No major damage to report. Ironically, on two major anniversaries we had two hurricanes to contend with. Katrina struck on August 29, 2005 and we found ourselves in a mass exodus on August 31, 2008. as we sought refuge in Atlanta, GA until Gustav made landfall on September 1, 2008. Another hurricane named Ike became a threat as 911 drew near. On September 11, 2008, we were feeling the effects of the storm. That evening as I lay down to rest a feeling of peace surrounded me. The sound of the wind lullabied me to sleep.

We have gone through too many things to mention here over the past three years. A minority of people and the media criticize every decision that we make in regards to our safety and under that guise they take the liberty of insulting us. While America is still free, we have the right to think for ourselves.

Yesterday, my daughter, Anita and I drove around taking pictures and videos. We walked all the way down to Pascagoula's new pier and as we turned around to go back we had to keep our eyes closed because of the blowing sand. Later we discussed how free we felt as we played and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The scene was awesome!

Scalloped Lace

As We Played Building Went On

Our Brush With Ike

The last 24 hours have been absolutely exhausting. Just leaving my house to be with my daughter and her family meant I had to pack up once again what I would need. I have not quite recuperated from our trip to Atlanta, Ga where we made an attempt to put distance between ourselves and Gustav ... then along comes Ike. I am very happy to say that we came through very well. Last evening the winds were gusting at 30 to 40 mph as it passed us. There was not much rain in our area and personally I am very glad as I live off River Road and the Pascagoula River was rising and spilling over its banks. Had I stayed in my house I would have been trapped as the bridge to my left went underwater and the road to my right was beginning to flood when I left the house but I knew that I could return for a couple of hours and relax as we were at low tide. I returned to daughter's house about 6PM last evening. After a relatively uneventful night, at 10AM this morning I packed and started winding my way back home and this is what I found on the same road I came out on. I made a feeble attempt to drive a short distance through the water before I backed out ... there was a current.


A little later Anita and I went to take pictures. I have still shots of Beach Boulevard but I can't top her video. My video lasts a minute and the syrupy voice you hear is mine but don't let it fool you, "I am tough as nails". "smile" Will post a few more pictures tomorrow.

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Hurricane Ike

These are pictures I took before noon today of how Hurricane Ike is affecting our area. I am at my daughter's house as the area I live in has been evacuated because of the rising of the Pascagoula River. I might add that I am dictating and Anita is typing on her laptop as we speak. I miss my computer.

I have such an aversion to water that I can't even look at a glass of it. I have told you before that Moss Point's water is so dirty and brown that I have a hard time bathing in it - I jump in and jump out. But I think it's more that because I am afraid of water that I complain about the color of it.

Two weeks ago we found ourselves evacuating to Atlanta, GA because of Hurricane Gustav and now I have had to evacuate from my home off River Road because of rising water.

We were always sorry that during Katrina the Terrible that we were not able to take pictures. So I have my camera this time and a fully-loaded battery. If worse comes to worse -- I'll have pictures.

EAST INVASION - Featured Story - SunHerald.com

EAST INVASION - Featured Story - SunHerald.com: "PASCAGOULA -- Jackson County residents felt the effects earlier this week when thousands of Louisianans clogged Interstate 10 and U.S. 90 instead of taking the contraflow route north in evacuating from Hurricane Gustav.

Emergency Management Director Butch Loper said Friday that what happened made evacuation more difficult for his county. Luckily, the storm stayed on course and spared Jackson County a major hit.

Contraflow is designed to route all traffic from New Orleans north into Mississippi on I-55 and I-59."

Evacuees return to battered New Orleans

Evacuees return to battered New Orleans: "Meanwhile, other residents are returning to a city that has been shaken but by no means devastated to the extent it was by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. That storm and its aftermath damaged or destroyed thousands of homes in New Orleans; it put 80 percent of the city underwater. By contrast, enforcement inspectors had found eight collapsed houses in New Orleans by Wednesday and 57 others in danger of collapsing."

Not all unkempt people are evacuees but all evacuees are unkempt

I can say this without rancor nor am I poking fun at a serious situation but merely pointing out my perspective on what it means to find, that because of a disaster, you have become an evacuee. In an earlier post, I talked about carrying our luggage and other paraphernalia to our rooms without hotel assistance. The elevator did work so that eased our predicament in that we didn't have to climb the stairs to the 16th floor. To lessen how many trips we would have to make I had three tote bags on my left arm and a cardboard box full of snacks for the children braced against my right hip. My son-in-law held the door for me using his left hand as his right arm was weighted down with what he was transporting to our costly retreat. I dropped the box and the management stood there and watched it all without lending any assistance. My daughter has always told me that there is a dignity surrounding me but, after over a 10 hour harrowing nightmarish drive, I arrived looking more like something "the cat dragged in". I checked my shoes before we went in to make sure that I wasn't trailing toilet tissue behind me. There was a strong possibility that could be after all the dirty restrooms we stopped at on the way to our "vacation retreat". Any makeup I started out with had melted away in the heat. My slacks were wrinkled and my shirt sported various stains, my hair was covered with a scarf but still it was an unruly mess.

In my life, when I prepared for a "vacation" there were new clothes, shoes etc. and I stayed well-groomed but we weren't preparing for a vacation, we were getting out of harms way and should something unforeseen happen on our trip we had things like flashlights, batteries and food that did not need refrigeration. Lots of cash in case places wouldn't accept credit cards or checks. If I could name only one thing that we learned from Katrina .. that would be .. we know how to survive. On our return trip, when we arrived in Mobile, AL, Mississippi cars were side by side in the two lanes going home and many of us will never leave again.

A Safe Haven

Today I am walking around "zombie like" after driving more than 10 hours to get to safety and more than 7 hrs. to get back home. Turns out, it wasn't safe at all in many ways. We were involved in a mass exodus and unless you have been in one there should be no comments like, "Well even though the storm didn't do what it was predicted to do, you did the right thing." Since I love doing new things at least once and survive, I am sure that after I recuperate that I will say, "Never again but I have that notch on my belt too." We were trapped, no way out, all we could do was go with the flow. In spurts, the traffic would start moving until you were forced to travel at 75mph to 85mph and you found yourself flying to "safety". I remember that I hydroplaned a couple of times after the rainstorm but Hey! What the heck! I was safe. Another incident, a semi in the far left lane came to a stop and another semi that was near moved next to it and stopped. Our lanes started moving slowly and as I glanced to the left there was a car laying on its side. My daughter asked later if I saw the man that ran in front of her and she almost hit him. Because we had to keep moving, we don't know if he made it or not. In another wreck a 2yr. old child was killed. I am sure that there were many more that we didn't hear about. I wouldn't let any of the 5 grandkids ride with me but I took Judge, the family dog. I worried about him but thought maybe if I had a wreck that possibly he would survive as he was asleep on the backseat and thus relaxed. As for me, I was tense and if I wasn't killed from the intial crash the 300lbs. of pressure from the airbag would have finished the job. Later we all talked about the nonsense of running from predicted danger to real danger. We concluded that for us, it is safer at home.

Our lodgings were a big disappointment, we found ourselves still trying to survive. When we arrived at the hotel and were paying for our rooms, we were told that if any of you smoke in the rooms there will be a $250 dollar fine. I could almost hear the cash register bells going off. Dogs can stay in the room and we all know that no matter how clean the dog, they smell like a dog but the smell of a cigarette is more offensive to what seems like the majority of people. Many hotels serve a complimentary Continental breakfast and the one we stayed at did too but we arrived late, 130AM Monday morning and missed the breakfast because we needed sleep more than food. So Tuesday morning when we were preparing to leave I went to ask if the breakfast was still being served and it was so I told the man that we would be down shortly and he called after me, "It is no longer complimentary, you have to pay for it." I didn't see any security at all. A couple of times I had to go to my car for an item and a feeling of dread would wash over me that there was no protection for me but I am sure that if I had drank one of the three bottles of water in my room that were tagged with a note that said, "If you drink this bottle of water, it will cost you $3.", that a siren would have sounded. I think that FEMA is still reimbursing these hotels and they are being fleeced but the people who are fleeing to maybe find a safer place are sometimes being mistreated.

I was anxious to get home to assess the damage and this is all I found in my backyard.

Well, We Did It Again - We Evacuated

Against our better judgment we evacuated but never again. It was the most dangerous thing I have ever done in my life. A wild ride with 2 adults and 5 children in one car. I drove my car and had as my companion, Judge, their dog. We were on our way to Atlanta, Ga and certainly were not lonely for companionship. We must have had the two million people that evacuated from New Orleans alongside us. My car idles 5mph without my foot on the gas pedal and we did lots of idling, stopping, starting, fast braking that took us close to the rear end of cars. We went through a heavy rainfall that became as dark as night so we pulled off to the side of the interstate and waited as the two million people passed. How could they see anything, we couldn't? We arrived in Atlanta at night and all we had lighting our way was the red tail lights of the cars. Anita was driving and I was right behind her and every signal she gave me to go right or left became actually perfectly synchronized as we weaved our way to the west side of Georgia to find the hotel where we had reserved rooms. Dave had drawn a map and so finding it was no problem.

We went inside to pay for our rooms and were told we had two rooms on the 16th floor. 16th floor? I looked to see if they had elevators We asked for a cart to bring our belongings from the car and were told they only had 3 carts and they were in use. We had to carry all our things up and it took several trips. We were at a "first class" hotel that, in my opinion, certainly was not. We settled down finally and looked for news of the coast hurricane. CNN was following the storm closely and just like it was when Katrina devastated the Mississippi Coast, only New Orleans was mentioned. Of course, we could tell from the pictures shown that nothing devastating happened as in 2005. A neighbor called to tell me that my house was fine. Whew!! Dave and Anita's home did okay too but I will let her tell you about it. We arrived in Pascagoula at 2PM this afternoon and everything was as it was when we left. My neighborhood had some tree limbs down and I had a half of a limb down in backyard. No devastation here. There is no way that we can continue to just pack up and evacuate elsewhere and risk our lives on the interstate. Monday was Labor Day and it passed without our giving a thought to it. We should have stayed home and grilled hamburgers and enjoyed ourselves.

So now there is Hannah, Ike and Josephine and maybe we will get all three of them or none of them. Either way I am staying home. I can't take the panic anymore, it is not living the life you have been given when you run away from it. If I am to die in a hurricane, I will go out praying not running.