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Posted on 08/24/2005 9:50:25 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
New verse:
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Upon the hearth the fire is red, |
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Still round the corner there may wait |
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Home is behind, the world ahead, |
~groan~
;-)
Almost 80%...not too bad for dial-up!
The author's name is Brian Jacques. You could start with "Redwall", but there's also a 'prequel' called "Martin the Warrior". It's the story of some good animals; badgers, mice, moles, voles, and hares who have to protect themselves from the bad animals; weasels, stoats, rats, and foxes. They are a series of books, and they are somewhat formulaic, but the kids always loved them. I'm sure your public library has them.
*snort*
Formulaic, ha, yes, they are that. I liked that series... the bothers still read each new volume... but they did all have rather the same plot. Good books though.
Mom used to be a little heavy on the "Anne of Green Gables" and "Little House" books, and light on the "Prydain Chronicles" types but I have so many fond memories of being read-aloud-to. Definitely something I will do when I have kids.
Heh...I was expectin' more of a reaction. It was pretty simple though.
Walker. Tennis balls. End of story.
Just not somethin' you want to hear in the middle of the food court at themall.
We went last minute shoppin' fer school stuff.
themall [shudder]
'nite folks
We talked to our Pastor this morning about 'adopting' George's Parish so that the kids in the school here can be pen-pals with the kids down there, and our Parish can help them monetarily. Most of those families will not have any income for a while, so they won't be able to pay tuition. Fr. Mike said it sounded like a great idea, so I sent him George's phone numbers so they can talk about it.
heh...it happens to me all the time and theboy is the same as Joseph..."Mom"..."Come on"...and starts laughing...at least thegirl is more sympathetic.
Morning all...anyone here...oh yea...it's early you all are probably still sleeping. Been getting up at 4:30 to get G'nad off by 5:00. I'm fixing to have some quiet time.
Mrsnad
Goooood morning! Happy Monday, I mean Tuesday, er, Monday!
Is it Friday yet?
Just wanted to share what I saw in Mississippi. Our route of travel was down to Nashville, to Birmingham, then west to Tuscaloosa, to Meridan, then south to Laurel and Hattiesburg, then a bit further south. By the time we hit Tuscaloosa, gas was rationed to 10 gallons. As we got close to the Mississippi state line we began to see trees down and signs damaged, it was only a precursor to what we saw after we neared Meridan. It was hit hard with signs down, roofs off, and buildings twisted. As we turned south the number of trees down grew with each mile. You could see where the crews had to cut trees to clear the highway (I – 59) and also where areas were just cleaned out by the storm. As we reached Laurel, we could tell the power was out as the police had to direct traffic, also as we had passed in Meridan we began to see long lines at gas stations. We had also seen a large number of pick ups like us carrying gas cans. We had been warned that gas was as valued as liquid gold and as people notice the amount of fuel we had it was clear there was interest in purchasing it from us. ([Friend's Name] having the 9MM was comforting)
But we pressed on, as we passed through Hattiesburg the line was three times longer, but not for fuel, this we found out was the line for a bag of 8 lbs. of ice and a case of water. As we reached my cousin’s home about 15 miles further south we had to travel in one lane. The they were excited beyond belief to see us as they had poured the last fuel they had into a generator that morning and her husband and brother left for Alabama to get more supplies and drop off children with relatives. As we dropped of the gas we had to trans-load the supplies I had brought for my Mom onto a four wheel drive as my cousin had checked on her and it was only passable by driving off road at points. We did and were happy to find my Mom and Sister who live in a small sub division doing OK.
Folks in the neighborhood were sharing everything, someone had a water well and another was using the generator to operate it so everyone had water, the phone lines had gone back to work as well. All said the damage to Mom’s house was minimal (lost shingles and some facing from the roof) as opposed to many others who had lost roofs or had trees fall into the house. While it was a bit primitive they seemed to be faring well. We got back to my cousin’s house and realized that traveling at night would be dangerous so we spent the night. My cousin had three families with her, as they had a large enough generator to keep freezers (families brought them over after the storm) and a refrigerator working long enough to keep food from spoiling. They were using charcoal and wood in a pit to cook over, an each having a far bit of deer meat they considered themselves lucky as they were also able to power the well to have water.
We were able to leave the next morning and head back north with enough fuel to get to Tuscaloosa and were happy to find that they had increased the fuel allocation. But I have to admit it felt like I was in a Mad Max movie for quite a bit.
Trouble is that there is no information flow, the only radio station up was the NPR station which was trying to put out information for a 200 mile square area – doing the best they could but still so difficult. This lack of information is a MAJOR cause of stress as people will hear rumor about a gas station opening and line up for miles only to discover it has none, or go to a civic center and line up for hours to find it has nothing for them. On the positive side the local churches have set up kitchens with folks sharing generators so they could prepare food for those who could not help themselves.
I can not describe the pride I felt in seeing so many helping each other. But it is rivaled by the sense and level of despair so many folks are feeling. The little news they are hearing is always about New Orleans so they feel forgotten by the media. When the President visited he did not come close, and little or no aid from FEMA has made it to the area. They all realize that in comparison to New Orleans they are lucky, but the sense of being forgotten was evident by the reception we received everywhere we went – I could equate it to liberating Paris, as seeing someone from outside the area arrive provided hope that they were not forgotten.
The best news was I know the Mayor of the little town and spoke with him, he had been told that they would have power back in the center of town the next day or two and would be able to operate two of the local gas stations. This is critical as many of these folks have generators and have been using them to keep food from spoiling, but after 5 days they were down to sucking fuel out of cars, lawn mowers, or anything that held gas.
They are hoping to have a more “normal” life by next week with power being the key. The number of lines down and power towers destroyed is huge, but again the number of trucks headed south yesterday gives great hope. Also the number of folks who once they were OK working to help there neighbor was amazing. As opposed to when the last huge hurricane hit in 1969, the area is much more diverse with families members living side by side, so the opening of homes and assistance given shows so many positives about the human spirit.
Also on the way down we only passed one military convoy, but on the trip back we passed several, as well as convoys of state police from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. The number of cargo truck and fuel tankers gave us hope that things would ease and as we hit Meridan going back the gas lines did seem shorter. My family is so very lucky as they live about 50 miles north of the coast where the worst of the damage is. And we only have a few distant family members yet to be contacted, but the concern is that they are in the hardest hit areas. I share this with you to give you to say thank you for your thoughts and support, and also to give you a bit more of a personal idea of what is going on.
Kilt.
Whoa...
Amazing.
That well wasn't flooded, I assume? Our well got six inches of flood water on it when I was a kid and it was contaminated.
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
heh heh heh
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