Fancy meeting you here . . .

Crazy skies

Had to go to Walker today to mail a package to my kid brother because the post office in Denham Springs is not a functional building at this time. The Walker post office is on 190 aka Florida a very important road into and out of Baton Rouge. The Comite  River is a tributary of the Amite and they meet on Florida in Denham Springs so much of Florida was flooded with the highest water ever seen in these parts but the area from Juban to Walker wasn't as bad as the rest. Anyhow that's my thinking on the subject. When I gave the small package to the post mistress and she saw Preston, CT she almost had apoplexy! She and her husband were transferred from Preston by the railroad. She doesn't like it here but was shocked that I knew exactly where she had lived in Connecticut. She and her husband owned  the property with the extremely tall mailbox on the road to my brother's house. She told me how she missed Buttonwoods, the ice cream and the sunflowers. I believe that road is 165 not far from my cousin's former monument business. Well, I guess I will win the bet that my brother wouldn't make with me! I told him I'd get this package to him before he emailed photos of our Connecticut visit at the end on July. I win;  that's all that matters!

A few. restaurants have opened near Bass Pro, the Swamp Box and P-Beau's. Maybe I can talk P&D's Pop into a late lunch early supper at P- Beau's. We should be doing all we can to get these businesses back on track! I don't think Cavender's had any flooding and the Sam's Club is also okay. They are allowing any one to shop there even if they are not members. I also believe that Bass Pro is open and may not have had too much damage. 

Gotta go. Just got invited to lunch at P-Beau's! Yay!

We're back. P-Beau's didn't get water damage and neither did a few other businesses on the same side of the street but they lost power so all of their food was bad. It seems that Bass Pro had water up to their doors but it didn't get inside. Sam's Club and Cavender's also lucked out. Our waiter is from Watson and had over 7 ' of water in his home. He's thankful that everyone is pulling together and was asbright and charming as could be. He would not have spoken about his personal trials if we had not asked about the flooding at the restaurant and how he was doing. Incredible people who have lived here all their lives and have never seen this devastation. We'll be going back to local restaurants as they reopen to help out. Most people do not have the luxury to do that. We do.

Well my one Margarita lunch makes me lazy so I'll stop here.

Quote:  Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy.  ____Shakespeare

Impressive . . .

Not the best photo - but these buggers don't stay still.  Range wars on going!

The worst looking plants in the neighborhood but I'll figure out how to care for them eventually!

I received a robo call yesterday from the cardiologist's office in Zachary making sure I was okay and saying that if I needed them to press 2 on the phone. I pressed 1 to say I was fine. They were checking to make sure their patients were able to get their meds and whatever other medical services they needed. That's another,"Wow!"  My primary care giver, Mandy, is also up and running in a dry part of Denham Springs not far from the intersection of 16 and 64. I will stop there Wednesday to pick up the papers for blood work and bring it with me to Zachary at the end of the month. I only need a regular checkup but I'm still impressed by what's available for us in this mess.

We went to Walker this morning to check out the park and naturally it is not ready for flying! You can go fishing but just down the street the road is completely blocked. It looks as if the roadway washed out. We took the highway there and back and did not stop anywhere as we need nothing. But the streams of cars going to the Walmart and Stine's were incredible. The parking lots were full. It looked as if both the CVS and Walgreens were open. The flooding seems to have been sporadic on the Main Street with some stores' workers carrying their damaged and gutted internals to the side of the road and other stores were open. The Waffle House was jammed packed as were the McDonald's and Burger King.  Thank goodness that a few businesses survived so people can get get to work on rebuilding and eating to keep up their energy for what they must endure. I'm afraid there is absolutely nothing that has survived in Denham Springs. I can't imagine when any of the stores will be able to open again or if they will reopen. The Cracker Barrel on Juban and the Dollar General are the only stores we have seen open for business and the lines are still crazy and may be for weeks to come.

Found out that my plants loved all of the rain so from now on I shall keep them well watered. They are finally starting to look gorgeous, at least in comparison to what they used to look like! I still want to get a few more pots but I shall wait until the chaos here slackens. Will be watching the USA Women's basketball team defeat Spain in Rio this afternoon! Now I must go out and feed my plants!

Quote:  It is one of my favorite thoughts, that God manifests himself to mankind in all wise, good, humble, generous, great and magnanimous men.   ___Lavater

On an odd note . . .

Ferrying supplies into our dry neighborhood and then they'll be sent to the shelters.

I've been getting a rather painful spot on my right side just under the rib cage and I was getting a little nervous about it. It would subside after a few days and then I'd get it again. Well I have now figured out how I get this pain in the side. We have a very deep new washing machine with no tall center agitator so I have to reach in down to the very bottom to pick up the little socks etc and voilà that is how I keep bruising myself. Yup, self inflicted but easily remedied - I will now stand on tippy-tippy toes  and be less aggressive so I don't fall into the drum. Of course I can ask P&D's Pop to help but he's usually out and about somewhere and being the get-it-done-tout-de-suite-person that I am I will probably continue to remove the clothes from the washer but will be more careful - like use a small pillow to cushion my side and hope I don't fall in head first.

As I was walking last evening I stopped and spoke with the man who is staying with his son across the circle. He had the most beautiful dog. a Blue Tick, Bozo aka Bocephus and Bocephus is very unhappy and wants to go home. He's not used to a kennel or having to share a house with other dogs but there is no home left. Nolan's Dad and Mother were evacuated by boat Saturday and were only given 30 minutes notice. No one in weather services or government had given warning about this monster flood. Within 15 minutes Nolan's Dad and Mother were up to their waists and were just able to manage to get Bozo aka Bocephus and two changes of clothes before they got out to the boat. At that time the Dad had to stretch his neck out because the water was already up to his chin and he was able to take Bozo with him. He tried to get his wife's cat, her baby, but the cat was wild with fear and he couldn't save her. He told me he's never felt so helpless in his entire life and he is an Army veteran. I believe he and his wife are in their sixties. He has lived in his home for over 40 years and has never been flooded out. They have no flood insurance because this was never supposed to happen. It seems that FEMA will allow each homeowner about $33,000 to clean up but I can't see that that will even come close to the cost of the destruction of people's homes. Nolan's Dad told me that they went yesterday to save what they could but there wasn't even enough worth saving to fill the back of a small truck. They are hunters, sportsmen as are all natives of Louisiana and his freezer is full of rotten meat. He said the smell was overpowering. The beautiful cat was dead and other than their hunting and fishing gear there was nothing to save. This is only one story. People who are staying across the circle to the right of us have lost their trailer, three cats, their Harley and her car. They had just bought the property near their trailer and were preparing to fix up the house and move in. They have little they were able to take with them as the waters rose so fast that they also walked out to be rescued in chest deep water. Both of these stories happened in opposite directions from our home. This is just a tiny slice of what is happening in Denham Springs. There are more stories but I cry as write them down so I will stop writing. I've held hands and hugged many people who are stunned as they walk our safe, dry subdivision. We have not gone out yet to get groceries or meds but Thursday, since the main highways are now open we will wend our way to a safe area north of us in Mississippi to shop and go to CVS. CVS there has managed to get a prescription I need even though it's too early to fill but the druggist got an override from our insurance. People are wonderful and we remain physically untouched by Nature's Terror. Not sure we can blame Nature as man has put people, businesses and companies in her way. This entire area is floodplain except for a few modest spots and man/government, is now paying the price of his foolishness.

Quote:  In nature things move violently to their place and calmly in their place. __Bacon

Thankful . . .

At the end of our street. People have been rescued and brought here from their flooded home by boat.

The couple that live here were flooded out of their home in New Orleans in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina.  Wally runs in our neighborhood every morning.  He is now with his children. Hope their property can be saved. This is directly across from the end of our road, Ashland Bend Drive on Brown Road.

Almost afraid to write. The devastating flooding of the Amite River into Denham Springs over the last three days has destroyed the lives, properties and businesses of most of the people here. We have been so fortunate to live on an island of dry land that has so far withheld the waters. We are being careful not to use much water so we don't have drainage problems but other than that you would never know that anything major is going on all around us.

We walked our 37 home neighborhood this morning and everyone is fine but there are many more people and animals that have been forced to seek shelter with our neighbors. We've met a lot of people we had never seen before because they were at work or camping but everyone is home today taking in their families and friends who have lost everything in the flood. We are all locked into our subdivision because of the muddy, filthy waters surrounding us. We are fortunate that the sun is out and there is a nice breeze. We can only hope and pray that the worst is behind us and that in a few days we will be able to get out and about. I have no idea where we would even want to go because everywhere within about a 50 miles radius has been flooded but I'm hoping to get to Frank's on Airline in Prairieville just to be prove that we can all get back to some semblance of order. We have our son's puppy staying with us as they were camping in northern Louisiana during the flooding here in the south. Daytona will stay with us for about another week as we can't get her home yet because of the closed roads and when they are cleared for travel her folks will be off camping and fishing again! It is really our pleasure to keep this sweet little puppy even if she gets upset with me sometimes!

Quote:  Who will not give some portion of his ease, his blood, his wealth, for others' good, is a poor, frozen churl. ___ Joanna Baillie

Still grouchy but this letter of Ma's is sprightly and bright so I'll copy it from the original handwritten letter to one of her younger sisters written perhaps around 1937 or so . . .

Hello little one,
It seems ages since I've written to you.  It is too. Do you remember whether I promised you snapshots of the fish pool, 'Dicky cat' and Lucky's trained mosquito or was it merely a possibility of taking said snapshots and sending same to you?  Well, be it as it may, the mosquito has died a well-earned, though inglorious death, the cat is too fat and lazy to even pose for the camera, 'Dicky' has been given to Louis because he destroyed and killed everything in our prized fish-pool! Papa, you recall, was gone one month (with Jenny) and during the day Annette, who cared for Dicky, let him loose several hours daily.  Dicky developed a particular yen for bathing and this craze he indulged to his heart's content in our fish pool.  The cat-o-nines, pickerel plants, rice plants, floating elodea, pond lilies, etc, were no match for Dicky's vigorous splashings and his "I'm-out, you're-in-game" with Gertrude Bernard's big dog "Stubby." Next spring we'll have to start all over again and believe me we'll make darn sure there are no dogs around to mess it.

What with teaching besides all your studies, you certainly are one busy youngster. Try and not overdo it, old top, remember you are still in your 'teens.' Lucky and I have been working on the average about seventy hours a week on those blooming town reports.  The money was quite welcomed but it is much too much for me and last weekend I was compelled to lay low.  We even worked Sundays!  Mrs. Burgess would have passed out had she known! You know, sis, Papa got thirty bushels of potatoes to one bushel of seeding.  One potato (we sent to Mrs. O...) weighed one pound, ten ounces and another, one pound, nine ounces and I. . . writes that they were perfectly sound and not hollow.  Is Pa strutting around.  All the other gardeners around complain of poor crops. Papa had lovely tomatoes, delicious corn (we sent ten dozen ears to Mrs. O...) and his flowers were the envy of the neighborhood. Boy, he's O.K., no wonder Jenny wanted to take him to Chicago with her.

Listening to some John McDermott . . .

Loggerhead shrike - note his beak

Not sure what will come off  the tips of my fingers today. Haven't been in the mood to write lately but I've forced myself this morning. Went for our usual IHOP  breakfast and Linsey our  30ish  Japanese American Cajun waited on us. She always makes us smile. I know it isn't polite to point out someone's ethnicity but I think it's our mixed up American selves that make us wonderful. I enjoy going to church here because the congregation is a slice of the melting pot and it seems to me our society no longer wants a melting pot. Society wants to separate the peoples that infuse this great land with character and bright, good, hard living into stereotypical blasé, indifferent know nothings who only know how to disparage those who dare to be individuals with their unique ways of dealing with God's earth, its animals, physical nature and peoples. I'm sick and tired of not feeling as if I can just accept a person based on how that person presents himself to me in whatever capacity I meet him. Needless to say I am also speaking of women. I still believe that when I write man I'm including woman because I'm an old fashioned lady who's sick of having to be careful of how I use words so I don't offend anyone. I'm at the point that if someone is offended by my notions of man I will choose not to deal with that person. I'm tired of hearing that this race is superior to that race; men are superior to women; women are superior to men; Yale is superior to UCONN; cats are superior to dogs; Loggerhead Shrikes are nasty, disgusting birds because they capture live prey just like eagles and hawks but they don't fit the accepted role of a small, bug or seed eating bird. Yep, I've decided to forget all of the misery that is portrayed in the media and just go along with my own up and down life. I'll just enjoy what I have and pay no heed to the doomsday scenarios that are always in the forecast. Still looking for the silver lining.

Well there now.  There's more pent up emotion in me but that'll do for now!

Quote:   True philosophy is that which makes us to ourselves and to all about us, better; and at the same time, more content, patient, calm and more ready for all decent and pure enjoyment.    ___Lavater

It's been a while . . .

Beautiful planes

Will be leaving soon to pick up some meds at CVS and then continue on to Big Kiddo's home to get youngest puppy. She'll just stay with us until this evening as there will be no one at her home full time for a couple more days. Big Kiddo will stop for supper and pick up the pupster. We've been home since noon Sunday and as wonderful as it was to be with Middle Kiddo and her family it is always nice to be home. Looking forward to the day when she has to come to Louisiana for her job with Cox Automotive. Perhaps she'll be able to bring our Kiddo with her on the flights and he'll be able to stay with us. Now that would be peachy keen!

It was a perfect stay in Connecticut this past week. I was really excited and very happy to see my brothers and sisters and P&D's Pop's brothers and sisters. I really couldn't ask for more from a vacation. We saw everyone we needed to see so I don't feel as if I missed anyone. There are still many friends we did not have time to put in the schedule as I wanted to spend all the time I could with Middle Child and her Kiddo. That was the ultimate best part of the trip. They have a great property and will always have things to do outside if they want exercise! There's even an apple tree. Wish I knew how to trim it so that the apples would be worthwhile picking. Perhaps with time son-in-law will be able to get some help to figure it out. I'm wondering if the little dried up brook on the edge of their property will ever have some fish in it after the winter snows and spring rains? That would be such a lot fun. It would be a good job to make a nice path along the brook just to hear it gurgle. But I am way ahead of myself as it seems I'm already planning for next year's visit. I may go on my own because P&D's Pop feels much better when in our home here in the South. It very hard to be gone when you have to leave behind the life you love best - building planes, flying planes, reading about cars and spending time helping out with the grand puppy while Big Kiddo and wifey go off camping and fishing, enjoying the calm on weekends after the chaos and stress of weekly meetings and unraveling the problems that always crop up in business of any kind. It's so good to see them enjoying some solitude. Solitude can be a blessing. I'm getting used to it more and more as I grow up and try to realize how much peace there is in silence and deep restful respiration!

Will have to try to get back into taking some photos and walking at the parks but it may take a while. The heat is getting pretty dastardly; I walked after eight last night because there was no sun shining directly on me! I may never get used to the brightness and angle of the sun here so my excellent pair of super expensive glasses are helpful although if I walk in the late evening, right with the sunset I can actually stroll around without a hat or glasses. It'll still be in the high 80's but I don't walk fast, that's for sure. We have a homeowners meeting at 7:30 tonight. I think the big thing on the agenda is putting up a sign so people will know the name of our subdivision! We think that's foolish but it seems most everyone wants a sign! I think that's a North/South divide! We'll see what happens. We pretty much just listen as we are the newest newbies and we're from Yankee Land!

Quote:  As there is much beast and some devil in man, so is there some angel and some God in him.  The beast and the devil may be conquered, but in this life never destroyed.   ___Coleridge