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I'm not with a department anymore because I now live in an area that is covered by the city department. I was with the Medina Vol. Dept. before I moved and now sell fire suppressant to VFD's.

Ray Crooks one of the Battilion Chief's with the KFD is a lifelong friend and he and April had brought me some necessities before the sun went down. I was at their house just a while ago and Ray had been showing the FEMA folks the devastation all day and he took them by my non-house. Told them I was dirt poor and didn't even have on shoes when I evacuated. I laughted and told him he shouldn't be lyin' to those guuys cause even though I did loose everything, I did have some shoes just never got around to putting them on and that I wasn't quite dirt poor - close but not quite there yet!
Said he just wanted to make sure they treated me right if I got on their list, which I did. I called this AM, BUT that doesn't mean I will ake anything they offer me. One minute I think Yes, I'll take it; then next minute I am saying NOPE, no handouts from the Feds. So, guess I will just decide when the time comes.

Wow. Good to hear from you, TexanaRed! So, a tree hit the back of your house? Eeek. It is amazing that you got out! Somebody was looking out for you .....

And, some more people here want to help - as you have seen. What a group! Our President keeps encouraging us to help our "neighbors". Even though you are over there in Texas - you are our neighbor! And our soul-sister!

So, as we heard and hoped for and have seen to be true since Nov 2000: Help Is On the WAY!!!!!

What a wonderful, heartwarming post, RED! May God bless you and see you through this nightmare!!!

A number of years ago, my then-fiance now-hubby and I were caught in a very minor flash flood .... were just driving down a street within sight of his parents' house when a 4-foot wall of water suddenly overtook the car. The seats in the car started floating with us sitting on them ..... yikes! We abandoned the car (obviously ... duh!) and managed to walk to his parents' house, which was high and dry.

The reason I'm telling you this has to do with the car. We were planning on being married in a few months and just knew that the car was ruined ...... we were both college students and didn't have spare nickels to buy him a new car. He took it to a mechanic who got gallons of water out of the engine ..... but, amazingly, the car was ok.

A big concern was the upholstery .... that it would mold and mildew and make the car unusable even if it was, miraculously, ok mechancically. Every day, hubby would take the seats out of the car and spray them down with a well-known aerosol product that claims to kill germs, mold, and mildew as well as be a room deodorizer .... I hate to provide a commercial for the product so won't name it .... but it begins with L ... *grins*

With that daily spraying of the seats and opening the car doors wide each day, hubby managed to air the car out enough that there was never the first bit of mold or mildew!!! The car worked just fine for nearly a year after that when we were married, he graduated from college and got a job, and we were able to buy another car.

One caveat ~~~ this was 35 years ago and cars did not have the sophisticated electrical systems that they do now .... heck, that car even had bench seats. [A lot of FReepers probably don't even know what those are .... LOL!]

But that aerosol product was a real blessing to us! The car never even had a trace of odor.

Bless you, RED!!!

Thanks, Texana, for the post.
I tried to call you, but I know how busy you must be.
My son said you probably worked for one of the volunteer fire departments in the area around Kerrville.
As you can guess, they're very busy right now.
Thank God you made it out safely, Texana.
You have a lot of support here.
We'll all be thinking of you and the others who have lived through this tragedy.

Evening prayer ...

BUT that doesn't mean I will ake anything they offer me. One minute I think Yes, I'll take it; then next minute I am saying NOPE, no handouts from the Feds. So, guess I will just decide when the time comes.

Red, I hope I can push you at least a little in the "Take It" direction. It's YOUR MONEY they'll be offering you. You paid it in - you deserve to be able to take it out. THAT IS NOT WELFARE or anything like it. It's one of the few GOOD things that the federal government does with OUR money, so you damn well better take it.

< /rant >

But I mean it :)