I'm Done

I think I have officially reached the "I am done talking about the hurricane" phase. I went back to work today with instructions from the heads of the district to "Let the kids talk about it." And after 7 periods of hearing about the destruction, and having to share my story...I'm exhausted!

With that being said I did have four students who lost everything. They lived in Seabrook and, don't anymore. Very sad, but they were holding together very well. I did have one student fall completely asleep sitting up in his chair, to the extent of drooling on himself. He lost his house and has been living in a small travel trailer with no electricity, until yesterday when the electricity came on. I also still have one student that is unaccounted for. I am hoping she will turn up soon.

Our weekend was very uneventfull. Tobie worked on our front garden that got pulverized by Ike, but is looking good now.

Tobie loves decorating for Halloween and has begun the process of spookafying our house. I will have to post some pictures when he is done.

They are Melting the Ice!

Okay, I am going to get on my soap box for a little bit...so bear with me...or just don't read.

I have issues with the handling of FEMA ice. Three nights ago they showed aerial photos of FEMA melting bags of ice in San Antonio, and dozens of truckers sitting idle in Houston at the Reliant stadium. When interviewed in Houston, one trucker said they had been sitting there for days, waiting to be told where the need was....GALVESTON!!!!!!

Yes, I do agree with people who say that those lazy, cheep, taking advantage of the system people who could now just drive to the store to buy ice, but instead are sitting in long lines for free ice, do not need it. I agree!

This is just one quote I take issue with.

"He said the agency decided to unload the ice and let it melt because it would be more expensive to keep it frozen indefinitely to fill some unknown future need. Scorza did not know how many trucks or how much ice was headed for Seguin, but said if any areas on the coast needed more ice, FEMA could supply it immediately. "

Unknown future need? Indefinitely? GALVESTON people! I does not take a degree or even a slightly intelligent person to see where the need is. The people in Galveston and in other areas around here are still hurting and if FEMA can't see that I don't know what good they are being. Galveston is going to need it for awhile and I feel it is a slap in their face to say there is no need.

Okay, I'm done.

Hurricane!

I LOVE this picture! This barometer belonged to my Grandfather, I don't know the story behind it except that my Dad said, every day his Dad would tap it. Well, I tap it everyday and was very excited to see if it would work when a hurricane came. It does slightly change when we have a storm rolling in, but WOW! did it ever work! Click on the picture so you can get a better view. Look to see where the black hand is pointing.

Evacuation Ranch Days

We had a wonderful time on the ranch. The kids got to enjoy the animals, and Tobie and I enjoyed the clean country air. We would love to own some land in the hill country, even if we just hold onto it for a while before we can build a house. Just dreaming big, I'm sure land is expensive were we were looking.

Ivy really enjoyed the animals. She showed no fear. I remember the first time Izaac saw a horse out side of picture books...screaming and tears if I remember correctly. She got very excited every time we took the walk down the long "drive way", for she knew what we were going to go do.

One evening we all loaded up in the back on Mr. Edgars pick-up and went to feed the cows. Again, Ivy showed no fear. Here she is in the pasture...the hands in the mouth thing is a new habit. Not so tasty when you have been running around with farm animal....Yick! She is also covered in blue chalk dust and road dirt. Cant go to the country and not get dirty right:-)

Izaac also enjoyed the animals. He does not know which one is his favorite, but he keeps bringing up "hamberger", one of the new bulls that is going to slaughter:-) Don't know if he gets the joke.

Thank You!!!!

Sorry about the previous grumpy post!

But what I really needed to tell everyone is "Thank You". The outpouring of concern, prayers, well-wishes and offers from a place to stay to places to do our laundry, was overwhelming! We weathered the storm just fine...it was creepy...I would probably do it again only I would send my kids away with someone. Tobie and I were able to do damage control throughout the storm, so what did happen was lessened. As Shelly told me and I found out, it is very hard to leave your house. But leave we did.

Monday after two and a half days in the dark, we had had enough. I think the decision was finally made when Tobie had to stand in the FEMA line to receive ice, to try to save what little food that was still cold. So with offers to go to many different houses we finally decided to make a "vacation" of it and we headed to a small town outside of San Antonio. Tobie's friend Travis grew up in the area and his mother and step-father own a ranch and they thought the kids would enjoy the country and the animal. They were right.

So two people who had no clue who we were took in our whole family including the dog. So thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Kathy and Edgar Dodson, who took us in, fed us, let us enjoy their home and made us feel welcome.

I have many pictures to add, and they will come in the following days. But until then, Thank you everyone. Please keep the people in this area in your thoughts and prayers. They are going to need them!

It's called insurance right?!?

So the insurance adjuster just left...don't know what to say right now so I thought I would share a picture of the damage in Izaac's room.

There was other water damage but the pictures are not as interesting as this one. We are worried that the insurance is not going to pay enough to cover our deductable...rotten insurance. I know our damage is not as bad as others, but we pay our insurance like everyone else and when we have damage you would hope the insurance would pay. That is the point of insurance right. It almost does not seem worth it. Not in a good mood. I will add more pictures when I'm not so grumpy.

Boarded up for Ike