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A wonderful idea!

So many lost everything, really horrible.

U.S. President George Bush (news - web sites) (pointing) meets with residents of Comstock Ave. during his tour of damage from Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola, Florida September 19, 2004. REUTERS/Larry Downing

That piece of cardboard the lady has tucked under her arm, AP cut off so you can't see it's a 'Bush 2004' sign.

President George W. Bush (news - web sites), left, hugs Karen Heinold, center, while touring areas damaged by Hurricane Ivan Sunday, Sept. 19, 2004 in Pensacola, Fla. Heinold's husband Jim is right. The president toured hurricane damaged areas in Florida and Alabama Sunday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Bush (news - web sites), center, walks along Perdido Beach with, from left to right, Mayor Steve Russo, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Rep. Jo Bonner (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., and Sen. Richard Shelby (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., as he tours damage from Hurricane Ivan in Orange Beach, Ala.., Sunday, Sept. 19, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

If most of the Alabama officials are anything like Alabama's Homeland Security Director Jim Walker, y'all are in good hands. I listened to an intereview with Walker a few weeks ago and he was impressive. Here's a website that might help you or a friend with the mess Ivan caused.

Pics for mountaineer.

Greta Swann (L), owner of a restaurant equipment store in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia stands on the front step of her business looking at slowly receding flood waters with worker LeRoy Parker (C) and her son Scott Swann (R) on September 19, 2004. Wheeling was devastated first by flooding caused by heavy rains from Hurricane Ivan on Friday and then by the swollen Ohio River. REUTERS/Jason Cohn

Belmont County Sheriff's Deputy Ron Miro surveys flood damage to State Route 40 near Wheeling Creek, Ohio on September 19, 2004. Communities along the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia were devastated by flooding caused by heavy rains from Hurricane Ivan. REUTERS/Jason

Yikes.

Yep, those photos are my neighborhood. In fact, the restaurant supply store pictured is where I have bought a lot of my cooking equipment, including my mixer.

I just took a walk a couple of miles out the road that leads to Pennsylvania and was stopped by three substantial landslides - trees and debris all over the road. The landscape has changed a bit. A fishermen's shack in the vicinity was picked up by the flood waters of the creek that runs through our town (which ultimately dumps into the Ohio River 7 miles west of here) and transported several hundred yards before it hit a bridge and was deposited into a horse pasture. I explored its smashed remains. Strewn about it in the field were old tackle boxes, a couple of fishing rods, glassware, broken radios, a "Best of Steely Dan" LP and a bike. I took home the bicycle, its spokes tangled with leaves and grass, in the hopes it could be cleaned up and refurbished.

Although Verizon said the telephones wouldn't be fixed until Wednesday, our service has been restored, I'm happy to say.