Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday when many of us will flock to church where ashes from last year's palms are put on our foreheads in the form of a cross. The priest says, "Remember Man That Thou Art Dust and Into Dust Thou Shall Return." Thus begins the solemn days of Lent, culminating on Easter Sunday.

Lent is a time of reflection in the Christian world, a time to change our lives if we have lost our way. The road to our final glory is not broad and trouble free. It is likened as being narrow and crooked with many trials.

As I reflect this lenten season, my thoughts will be on the trials that we are enduring not only in Mississippi but also on all the upheavals that are present in our world today. My focus and prayers will be for the brave young men fighting for freedom in Iraq and for those of them who gave the ultimate, their lives.

I know that there may be criticism from a few about my being so open professing I am a Christian but so be it. My faith has helped me survive many hardships in my life. Please consider, if you are offended in any way, that you may be on the broad, trouble free road.

For those of you who believe, I quote, "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!"

My house was washed down today getting it prepared for a new paint job and I found that I am not happy about it at all. Feelings of doubt have been with me since the storm destroyed so much. Prior to six months ago , I had no trouble buying a piece of furniture or just plain frivolous items for my home or myself. I didn't need them, I wanted them. Frivolity which is part of my nature has now become uncertainty. Although my home received only minor damage I am reminded every day when I see the destroyed homes how quickly it all can be lost. Luck was on my side this time, but what about next time? Shouldn't I be conserving my resources? Prepare for what might happen again?

Fox News, CNN and every other news network is actually doing a countdown to when the hurricane season will begin. Is that necessary? There is concern for the Fema trailers and the money that will be wasted if another hurricane should hit the coast and destroy the trailers. How can housing people 4 or 5 months be considered a waste?

I had just moved into my present home in May before Katrina crashed into us. The trauma that I am still experiencing sweeps over me at unexpected times. My backporch was the reason I bought the house as newer homes very seldom have a backporch. I envisioned a porch filled with green plants, garden statuettes and comfortable porch furniture. Now that the reality is possible, I am hesitant. Since the news is seemingly "harping" on another active hurricane season vexatiously (love that word), should I waste my money? Money that would put me in a much better place than a Fema trailer if another disaster occurs and I could retain my dignity by paying my own way.

A disaster causes calamity and ruin and leaves the human victim distraught in emotions as I am. Most days are fairly normal but occasionally "flashbacks' occur. The water was rushing rapidly down the street, came into the house and started to climb the stairs. My daughter, my son in law, myself and my four grandchildren were going to drown. And ... then the water receded.

Katrina and Me

SUN HERALD - Sunday - February 26, 2006

Where We Stand

As the article indicates, we are gradually coming out of the fog we have been living in. All have had trauma in their lives but the degree of that experience can immobilize you. Katrina was the force that plummeted our memories of the past and aspirations for the future into the depths of hell. The loss of a loved one, homes that were destroyed, desecration of our places of worship placed a heavy burden on our psyche. Thanks to all that extended a helping hand to us and have prayed for our recovery. We are coming out of the dreariness of winter into spring and a new beginning.

In an earlier post, I was waiting for estimates to repair my back porch and repaint the exterior of my home. Work begins next week!

OH When The Saints Go Marching In....... It's Mardi Gras down South! For many years I attended Mardi Gras in Biloxi, Ms. My favorite place to stand and shout, "Throw Me Something Mister!" was at the corner of Howard Avenue and Hwy 90 near the Biloxi Lighthouse. Very happy to say that the lighthouse is still standing.

I know that there are many people who don't approve of the celebration but if you have ever been to a parade you will understand. The fun of it is contagious and the music makes you dance. It is ageless merriment!

Sorry I had to remove the video that previously was here as I couldn't link directly and my looking around WLOX in search of it became ridiculous. It depicted the agelessness that I mentioned above. The setting was in a hospital where the elderly were really enjoying themselves. No matter the age or setting, when the music starts ...you dance!

Mardi Gras Countdown (parade schedule)

Today is very dreary and I have noticed that a gloomy day seems to be when I write about the storm and the way most of us are living many months after Katrina's landfall There are tremendous problems here that seem insurmountable. We are a people that have such needs that we have been reduced to begging for huge amounts of money to put our bridges back, help us with suitable housing, rebuild our schools and our churches. We pray that more industry comes into our area to give employment to the many unemployed. We pray for our senior citizens who are at a disadvantage to overcome because of their advancing age. Last but not least, we pray for our children and grandchilren that they may rise above the seemingly insurmountable and bring back their heritage, Mississippi. We are a small town and places for people to live have been reduced drastically. The pic below is of a condo at the end of Martin Avenue just before turning onto Beach Boulevard.

Several pics depicting how bad the housing "crunch" is are shown below. There are thousands of trailers in the Pascagoula/Moss Point area. A short ride north over the Moss Point bridge takes you to Escatawpa where thousands more dot the landscape. Travel west over the Pascagoula bridge and you arrive in Gautier to find more "Fema" trailers tucked into the serene wooded areas of that city.

I think about the bad reputation that "trailer parks" have had over the years. Each state have had incidents where they banned or sued over the placement of trailers in their neighborhoods. How petty we humans are. It never crosses our mind that disaster can place us all in that position. Please understand that I am not talking about beautiful double wide trailers, I am talking "Fema". They are small and cramped. The sleeping arrangements in most of them are like shelving in a pantry. Should I say that some people are actually too large to fit on the "shelf"?

FOX NEWS - February 23, 2006

BUSH: PORTS DEAL NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

Read Article Here

I went out before noon today to take some pictures of the damage in Pascagoula. Please remember I am not a photographer and the day was overcast. There are no words to accurately describe what I see. The scene in it's entirety would have to be captured to show the vast devastation. How can damage to all the flooded houses be shown. Many look fine until you step inside. The buildings to the left of the old Ritz Theater building were all gutted and are under repair. Most were occupied by lawyers. The M&M Bank on the corner of Jackson Ave. and So. Pascagoula was demolished. The pic below is of the new bank being constructed. Now that's the way to go Pascagoula, build bigger and better.


The small mall on Delmas Avenue in downtown Pascagoula has been cleaned up and gutted businesses have been repaired. It is a very charming area and is worth preserving. It oozes with southern hospitality. If you can't make out the license tag on the car that I thought worthy of noting, it is TEXAS!




The next pictures depict the most distressing situation in our area. Assistance that was to start on February 20th has been delayed. I personally know people who checked the internet every half hour to see if the applications were online so they could print out the forms to enter their info and be that much closer to rebuilding their homes. Instead they got an UPDATE delaying the procedure. How much longer will they be kept in limbo?





The next picture will show you just how inept I am as a photographer. I not only forgot to roll up the window, the interior of the car framing the picture was not intentional. Thought I would tell you that. The picture was taken to show this soon to be beautiful home again as the workers complete replacing the siding.


The next pic speaks for itself. Reminded me of the children trapped in the school in the Phillipines and the unfathomable agony of the parents. A child going through disasters is the biggest heartache of all. Why the children?


In the Port of Pascagoula, like a mother hen, is the Holiday cruise ship giving refuge to people who have lost their homes. God Bless!


So folks this is my hometown that I hold dear. See our needs not only with your eyes but with your heart. The picture below is of a mallard duck that everyone knows flies south for the winter. In his migration he would have arrived after Hurricane Katrina did her damage but he stayed for the warmth. That's Pascagoula!

Since I write about my hometown in Pascagoula, Mississippi I should at times put links to more pictures showing the damage. So here are several. The last link is a video that shows devastation to the coastline. I recognize most of the area to be Bay St. Louis. All of you that know this area also know how close we are to one another.

More pictures of Katrina damage in Pascagoula, Mississippi

Assortment of Damage in Pascagoula

Mississippi Press Newspaper

Scenes from BSL, Waveland, Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport

The picture above is for my friends at amazing forums that do not reside in Pascagoula at this time. It was a beautiful pier. I am sure we will rebuild it.

It's that time again to take a respite from Katrina and to tell you a little about my younger years. For me, it will be a time of reminiscing.

Higher education for women in my era was a rarity. Girls graduating from high school could expect to work as bank tellers or secretaries. Nuns prepared us well for these positions and I excelled in secretarial work as I could, not only type, I could write and decipher all the squiggly symbols of shorthand. This talent removed me from the "steno pool" very quickly. I was on call from every executive at Ingalls who preferred shorthand over a dictaphone. Was faster for very busy men.

When asked by anyone if I could do this or that, I always said "Yes I can." I trained other female employees in the use of what we called the "teletype". It turned out to be the very beginning of computer interactions.

I was fingerprinted for security purposes and my background thoroughly checked. I had in my hands secret plans I personally brought to the Navy Department. Looking back, I wouldn't have been able to divulge any info as in my youthfulness I really didn't know what I had. That's probably why they chose me. On my deliveries to the Navy I met Commander George S.... who later transferred to Ingalls as a civilian in the capacity of Sales Manager and I acquired yet another "boss".

Mr. S was instrumental in my being at a commissioning of a naval vessel. I can not tell you the name as I was more impressed by the ceremony and the young sailors that helped my girlfriend and I aboard the ship.

I went aboard one of the two luxury liners being built at Ingalls for the Moore-McCormack Lines. It was very luxurious but what stands out in my mind is claustrophobia as the corridors were so narrow that both my elbows grazed the walls.

On another occasion, the women at Ingalls were in a union and staged a strike for higher wages. I hadn't joined the union as I was happy with my wages. Again I had no idea what it all entailed. When they went on strike Mr. S and his wife drove me through the picket lines into the yard. They had a convertible so I wasn't hidden from view. I waved at my co-workers and they all waved back. What peaceful times existed then. I wasn't called a "scab" or ostracized thereafter. They patiently taught me what was involved. They got a raise and so did I. My naivety once again saved me.

In writing these excerpts from my past, I became aware that I played a minute part in the history of my hometown.

Every other day, I take a ride to the Pascagoula beach and then circle around to Washington Avenue, a block over. Each time I go, tears well up and I cry. If my heart hurts how much more the hearts of the people who lost their homes and possessions. A large piece of plywood with their name and address scrawled in huge letters leans against the Fema trailer or a nearby tree.

When driving through the areas, my feelings are of being in a strange world, a place I no longer recognize. It has become extremely difficult, after almost six months, to remember what was there. The once beautiful oak trees have a petrified look, as if what they had seen on August 29th turned them to stone.The scenery is devoid of color. It has become a wasteland.

Today the Corp of Engineers were everywhere. Washington Ave., So. Pascagoula and all the side streets in the vicinity of the destruction. Linemen from power companies were hard at work "restringing" the lines.Workers from telephone companies were making repairs to their lines. The bustle of activity lifted my spirits.

As I rode farther down Washington Ave., I heard the sound of hammering and the loud shrill of saws. At least four homeowners in close proximity to one another had begun to rebuild their homes.Their spirit will encourage others to once again rebuild and not let fear overwhelm them to the point of not going on with day to day life.

We have all learned many valuable lessons from Katrina. Of course, we have no control over the destruction a hurricane may cause but we can take better precautions to save our lives. Our area, at this time, had only a dozen souls who didn't survive the storm but they were a dozen too many.

Mississippi is coming back!

This is something I think warrants recognition on my blog. There are so many beautiful, generous people from not just the United States but from all around the world who are coming to our aide.

You can find the article here!

Stepping Way Out With Katrina Views

FOX NEWS: GOV'T COULD HAVE PREVENTED KATRINA DEATHS

Read Article Here

After reading many articles like this over the last five months, I think it has become more of a "Party" fight. Democrat versus Republican. Katrina is often referred to as overwhelming (crushing by reason of force, weight or numbers; irresistible). A party preference would have made no difference. We were POWERLESS! Finger pointing is not going to solve the problem. I happen to think that all the highly educated people involved in this so called "investigation" are simply a distracting smoke screen for the real issues at hand.

In relation to the article, I find no acceptable excuse for the four days we waited for life sustaining help. Due to that delay, there were deaths that could have been prevented. The link I have provided to a Sun Herald editorial explains how our state felt after Katrina's storm surge had subsided. Editorial

9/11 was the worse tragedy that happened in America. The death toll was staggering. Most Americans can remember exactly what they were doing that particular morning. We witnessed the first airplane strike the towers and thought the pilot was off course. When the second airplane struck, we knew that America had been attacked. I recall saying over and over, "Oh no, Oh no!!"

There should be no comparison between 9/11 and Katrina, as the comparison between the two gives rise to the thought that Katrina was an attack also, doesn't it?

Regardless of all that has been written and all the warnings we apparently received, most of it is "hogwash". To those of us who were here during the storm, shouldn't what we experienced first hand be taken into consideration? Katrina defied the physics of a hurricane. Camille was a category 5 storm and maintained that status as it made landfall. Katrina was a category 4 storm that made landfall as a category 3. The destruction of Katrina made the destruction of Camille pale in her wake. Something is wrong!

Happy Valentine's Day

Since it's Valentine's day I have decided not to write anything that is of a serious nature. Today is a day to share love with those you hold dear. I would also like to wish a day of love to all the people who have faithfully come to read my blog and thank you for your interest. My writings have helped relieve some of the tension that I am experiencing and hope they have given insight to you.

We seldom have cold weather in the coastal south but the frigid air this past week has allowed me to put a log in the fireplace. Each summer I wonder why I live here when it is so hot. Each winter I know why. Our weather changes from horridly hot to ideal.

Stand Up and Be Counted

The goodness of locals who have survived this disaster shines as bright as a star casting a light on our battered communities. The love and generosity from good people all over the world has added brilliancy to this light so we can find our way out of the darkness.

We, in the state of Mississippi, haven't forgotten Florida, Alabama, Louisiana who suffered from Katrina. New Orleans is especially in my thoughts and prayers. The great state of Texas also for what they endured when Rita struck.

Unfortunately, there are people in our area that haven't learned the lesson that Katrina came to teach. They take, they hoard, they help only their community, they hurl derogatory barbs at denominations different from theirs and people they perceive to have more money than they. The sense of brotherhood has escaped them entirely. They have become like ravenous wolves.

We all need to free ourselves from being "kept" by the government and stand on our own. A disaster as devastating as this one can drain resources necessary to keep our country operating efficiently.

So to all you diehards out there. Appreciate what you do have. Stand up for your State and your Country!!!

Flapping screens on my backporch were a gift from Katrina. Although I thought I got away with very minor damage, I didn't. As the months rolled on the once pretty porch has now started to mold. Not black mold, just plain mildew from dampness. Doing the storm, rain water seeped under the baseboards and ruined them. The entire outside of the house needs repainting as it has slowly taken on sickly green colored splotches. Earlier I had said I would repaint myself. Well, scratch that! I can't imagine me on a tall ladder stretching to reach the highest peak. Would be a catastrophe waiting.

I engaged the help of my son in law to find me someone who paints and can do minor construction work also. He was successful in that endeavor and now I am waiting on two different estimates. One for the painting and one for repairing the porch and replacing a section of rain gutter. Actually, I don't care how much it costs because this is going to be a one time thing. If we have another catastrophe, I am just going to walk away. Where will I go? I haven't the vaguest! I could go to California and experience an earthquake or to Massachusetts and be buried in snow each winter. Or maybe I will just simply get a condo and let someone else take care of the maintenance. Now that's a good idea!!!!

Previously I had a link in this post to the Sun Herald on an article dated 2/10/06 reporting on a homeowner being delayed starting construction of a new home because some new ruling from Fema stated that any house built before 1960 had to be approved before demolishing to ascertain if there was historical value. I am happy to update that article. The homeowner was given permission for "a go ahead".

Thought this would be of interest. Yet another frustrating delay to people who are anxious to rebuild their lives. We once owned a home in Gulfport, Mississippi built in 1957. Maybe we should have kept it.

Beauvoir, the last home of confederate president Jefferson Davis was damaged by Camille. By restoration, in my opinion, it then became a replica of what it originally was. Katrina inflicted devastating damage and in its present restoration, logically speaking, "Won't it become a replica of a replica"?

Actually I have never understood what makes for historical status. I definitely know that age alone isn't the only criteria. The picture below is of the old home I grew up in along with two brothers, a sister and our parents. It existed in the 1920's and reliable sources say it goes back further in time.


Why my fixation with the old house? It is the one thing left of a once nice area. Progress destroyed the neighborhood. Memories of both my grandparents homes, as well as those of aunts and uncles, are buried under tons of concrete. Deterioration due to old age has brought ridicule to the now dilapidated house. Demolition is a certainty. It will be gone but not forgotten. Whatever the land is used for my children and grandchildren will keep the memory alive by pointing to where their ancestors homes once stood.

My previous post spoke of love for your neighbor and my charitable work gives credence of doing good works for those I don't know but...... What do I do with a neighbor who arouses my anger to the point that I have on several occasions wanted to shout "mild" expletives in his direction?

What did he do to rouse my anger? For the 9 months that I have lived in my present house, he has shown no respect for my property. He is very neat and that I commend but he is detrimental to the appearance of MY property. He puts his garbage cans, sheet rock, cabinets, open cardboard boxes stuffed with all kinds of discarded paraphenalia over the property line in the front of my house. He doesn't bag the leaves from his yard, he blows them across the line to my house. He trims his hedges that divide the property and lets all the clippings fall in my side yard.

On one particular day I was so angry with what he had in front of my house I went out and he was standing in his drive about 15 ft. from me. With super human strength I began throwing all the junk back into his drive. You know what he did? He turned and scampered back into his house. I was breathless when I finished lifting and hurling the trash back where it belonged thinking this will make him aware of what he is doing. It didn't! So for the next time I had another plan of action in mind. I raked and bagged all of the leaves in my front yard and made a barrier between his debri and my property. The next morning when leaving the house to do errands I thought to myself that this might work. When I returned all my bags had been picked up by city workers and his "stuff" remained. Where once he had been infringing on only 5 ft. of my property, that had changed. A 20 ft. fallen limb from one of his trees extended 15 ft. beyond where I had the bags as a barrier.

Today I watched from the bedroom window as he blew the leaves from his yard into mine. Back to the drawing board!!!!!

My daughter and I share an interest in many different things and oft times we work together. So her introducing me to blogging was yet another way for me to write. I prefer truth over fiction and at times I may come across too strong and opinionated. Anita

Her latest post is beautiful and well thought out and gave me an answer to something that happened over 8 years ago. The morning after one of our well known thunderstorms, local news was reporting on a small church that was damaged by the storm. The pastor and his parishoners, at their own expense, had been in the process of adding another few hundred square feet to accommodate the congregational growth. The results of their labor lay scattered in ruins. My husband and I decided to make a sizeable donation to help put the pastor's church on the road to recovery.

The necessary calls were made and he and his wife agreed to meet us at the church. When we arrived, and opened the door, they were sitting in total silence on the small altar. I lead the way down the aisle and introduced us. The pastor's wife started weeping and hugging me. She said, "As you walked down the aisle you looked like Jesus." Whoa! I didn't quite know how to handle that statement. A feeling of unworthiness washed over me and I cried too.

It is the tendency for man to put too much importance on his own self worth and to want recognition for the good he does. I remember being thrilled to be able to "shine" in this good deed. The answer I got this morning after reading Pope Benedict XVI'S encyclical was because of love for my neighbor and the answer to the pastor's wife's prayers, she visualized Jesus walking down the aisle, not me.We are the Body of Christ and are his hands, legs and arms sent to do His Will.

The same principle holds true for the work I did as a volunteer for Operation Vanessa minnesotahelpers.org

I was merely an instrument!

Okay! I have just about had enough of being an invisible victim of Hurricane Katrina. No wonder Mississippi is at the bottom of most all polls taken. Not everyone seems to know that we are a state. We are not the surrounding area of New Orleans, Louisiana as all the major newspapers have been reporting for over 5 months now. New Orleans is not on the coastline AT ALL! I realize they have a population much greater than ours and we didn't have a levee that could fail. We don't have the French Quarter either but we have many things that New Orleans doesn't have that is unique to the people of Mississippi. What is uppermost in my mind is we are thankful for the smallest thing done for us. That is why when catastrophe hits another state we give back monetarily and send the best of what we have in the way of manpower. It's nothing new to the state to be overlooked, it has happened many times.

We are a conservative people so I am sure we have at times caused agitation for our views on different referendum. When Alabama was ordered by the state to take the "Ten Commandments" out of it's Federal Building, Mississippi offered to take them. Mississippi Offers to Take Ten Commandments

Although abortion is now legal in our state the people fought hard to stop the killing of babies and are still fighting Yes,,,,, we think it's a baby and not just a "glob" of tissue. Petition Drive Aimed at Prohibited Abortions in MS

We were appalled at the killing of Terry Schiavo. She had the right to live, as the Declaration of Independence states. When the first baby was aborted, somewhere down the road we knew that euthanasia had gained a foothold. Who is more helpless than a baby, an ill person or the elderly? Because of his views, President George W. Bush had Mississippi's vote.

When there was such a slow response to what happened to us here, I personally felt that even though it was the biggest natural disaster to hit the United States, we wouldn't get the response that we should have from our leaders. Not enough thanks can ever be given to the people of all the states who came to our aid. Without all of you we would have given up hope.

The people of Mississippi are often referred to as poor and ignorant. I am neither. There are many rich people in our area. They didn't take jobs from those classified as poor nor did they abscond money. They worked hard to attain what they had. Katrina took it away but their determination is intact to build again.

I am going to end this rant by saying that constantly referring to us as poverty stricken Mississippi is like kicking us when we are down. I will be the first to admit that what wasn't poverty stricken before Katrina, is NOW!

My spirit lifted this morning as the weather is beautiful today. I decided to stay close to home and take care of things around the house I flipped on Fox News and rather quickly my sense of well being crashed as they talked about nuclear weapons in the middle east. Who has them and who doesn't? A question was asked if America has to use nuclear weapons what will they use? Of course, a lot of rhetoric followed. Pictures were displayed showing different weapons that could be used. Do you believe that ..... I don't! Why would any american believe our government would give the strategies they may have to use to the enemy? We live in very dangerous times and can only pray that our leaders will make the right choice to preserve our still young country. If not, it won't be God that destroyed our world, it will be the fault of mankind.

You may have read where I suspect something other than a hurricane devastated our area because of what is happening in the middle east, I still feel that way. Progress is still at a snail's pace. I watch my daughter and son in law working hard to repair their house and my heart weeps for them. I was a young child during World War II, a young teen during the Korean War and a young woman during the Vietnam War. Neither my daughter or son in law were born then. They face an even more terrifying fact, the threat of a nuclear war. America, as great as it is, has never been truly at peace, we have always had to fight to attain what I call a false peace. Somehow fighting to bring peace hasn't solved our problems. Peace brings tranquility. Fighting is the opposite of tranquility.

Come on America pray! Prayer can work miracles .... I know!

Oh No! I Have Been Tagged!

Had never heard of this until my daughter Anita said it is a game bloggers play to have a little fun. I have to humble myself to publish this post but "What the Heck"? Lets see... list five things ( quirks) that are inherently mine.

I am never without lipstick. Not just any color , it has to be red.It rejuvenates me to complete the many tasks that arise on any given day. If I am mowing the lawn or raking, it is done with lipstick applied. To uphold the authenticity of this I submit the following. Some years back my colon ruptured and I lay unconscious for a week Upon awakening my first words were, "Hand me my lipstick." After brushing my teeth at night I sometime freshen my lipstick before retiring. Notice I said sometime so this "quirk" hasn't completely taken me over. There is a person I hold responsible for this. Her religious name was Sr. Clara. I thought in 8th grade I had the right to wear lipstick. She had me stand before the class and they witnessed my humiliation as I bore their laughter. She ceremoniously wiped it off.

I know that through this post I am going to excuse myself in some fashion but it is in defense of what I personally believe. We aren't born with quirks, they are acquired from things we experience in our lives.

Okay here is another ...,, I don't eat a slice of birthday cake as "normal" people do. I stuff it in a glass and pour milk over it and eat it with a spoon. Gee!!! ..... even to me it seems strange. Okay this is in some way the cause of this peculiar quirk. An aunt at her children's birthday parties always had me be the last in line to get a slice of cake. It never failed that when I stepped up to get my slice it was all gone. I would eat the icing off the candles. I really have no earthly idea why I "stuff" it in a glass, I could just place it gently in the glass right? There definitely is a problem here as my "stuffing" it in is done angrily. Could this have arisen from merely not getting a slice of cake? Is this a quirk or do I need help!

My sleeping habits I can blame on no one but me. I do not like to sleep on a pillow. They are only used to give shape to the bed when I make it in the morning. I sleep only on my left side with my arm supporting my head. If I should turn to my right side, I wake up. I can have no air conditioning or heater running as the noise disturbs me. So in the summer I sweat and winter, I freeze.

Quirk number 4.....Hmmm!.... I know! Things have to balance. Pictures on the wall, the placement of furniture in relation to the pictures on the wall. Do you understand what I am saying? For instance, the Grand Casino in Gulfport, Mississippi faced north and had a slight leaning tilt that I mentioned for years to whomever would listen that it was sinking into the sandy foundation. If they actually saw it they never said anything. Maybe they didn't see what I saw or just accepted the slight imperfection. It actually bothered me that it wasn't perfectly balanced. Can you imagine what the leaning Tower of Pisa does to me?

Final quirk ,,, This is tough.... I hate the telephone as they disturb my peace. Telephones have been in my life since the "party line". Their RING to me means something is WRONG. Gosh ... Please don't ring my phone after a reasonable hour because my quirkiness becomes paranoia.

Okay all you bloggers out there I tag you to dare you to expose your quirks. Think of it this way. By talking about your quirks you may help fellow quirkers to live with this malady.

Yesterday was not a good day for me as five months of not seeing progress can take a toll. There is no beauty anywhere.The only adjective I can use to describe what I see is "shabby". My home has also fallen into shabbiness because of an inability to find someone to make small repairs The torn screens on the backporch ,as I feared, have given access to residency for the roach. A few weeks ago, I saw a raccoon walking along the top of the privacy fence and I imagine at night he is enjoying the porch. Small things? When you live from "day to day" in this environment, it is monumental.

Most distressing was two unidentified people, a man and woman, were laid to rest after spending five months in the morgue. How many more people may not have been found? There are still many missing. Northrop Grumman, before the storm, employed 12,000 and only 80% of them reported to work. Are they just displaced? Many were in administrative positions. I find it strange that they didn't make contact. Will we ever know how many along the coastline lost their lives? Questions, questions, questions!

Every day chores that once were so important seem more intrusive now. I received a notice that it was time for my car's oil change. Maintenance is necessary but I would rather have the decorative trim put back on the hubcaps. Earlier in the aftermath, three of my tires went flat.That's correct, all at once. Either the mechanic repairing the tires is responsible for the missing parts or all the pot holes in the road that I hit takes precedence. I now prioritize what I think should come first. If it pertains to making something more pleasing to the eye, it
goes to the head of the line.

Well I got that off my chest! Thanks for listening. Maybe today I will at least "hear" the sound of rebuilding.

At 430AM I awoke to the predicted severe weather that was forecast last night. As I peered out the window, the street light, along with the flashes of lightning, gave me a glimpse of blowing rain and a heavy downfall. A thought came to me that none of us can protect ourselves from the elements with certainty that we will not be injured or killed. Chance of tornadoes was high. Should I have evacuated?

What about all the people now residing in Fema trailers? You and I know that trailers can be overturned by high winds. It was suggested last evening that they evacuate to a safer place. Where would they go? We are talking about thousands of people crammed into a small local shelter or two.

When a disaster occurs of Katrina's magnitude it brings far reaching problems well into the future. I have inserted a link to a problem that can arise in the very near future.

Pascagoula Officials Worry Clogged Drains May be Gulf Coast's Next Disaster