BACKING UP

I am going to backtrack to Hurricane Ivan that made landfall September 16, 2004 near Gulf Shores, Alabama and Hurricane Rita that made landfall in the extreme coastal areas of Louisiana and Texas on September 24, 2005. The people living here take hurricanes very seriously and do the necessary preparations to safeguard themselves. At the time, I resided with Dave, Anita and their young family. Ivan was a fierce hurricane that was posing a threat so we evacuated to Birmingham, AL. I made that sound easy and smooth didn't I? All the hotels for miles and miles were filled to capacity but after many calls we found a vacancy. We had to take so much with us that I took my car too. The three children then were a girl 11 mos., two boys 7 and 6. Any of you who have children can venture a guess how many times we had to stop along the way but finally we arrived. After a considerable wait to check in, we found a mistake had been made and there wasn't a room for me. A longer wait ensued until the clerk finally said that I had a room. I do remember that the news didn't make me happy. My reservation had been made so why act like a favor was done. Here I draw a blank .... I have no recollection of what I did after I checked in. I remember eating breakfast the next morning. I remember the blaring of sirens and a bell captain telling us that we were in tornado alley and that it wasn't unusual. Talk about frightened. We had driven so far to a safer place and found that no place is truly safe. Shortly, Hurricane Ivan was headed Birmingham's way. We scurried around and got all our belongings back into our cars and we left to go home. We drove interstate 25 and the wind was blowing about 70 to 75 mph with heavy rainfall. Trees were falling across the highway but fortunately we made it. We learned later that 8 people had been killed on that highway by falling trees. Were we crazy? Maybe ... but would staying and chancing being hit by a tornado been any safer?

August 29, 2005 was to change our lives, as we knew it, forever. My daughter and her family stayed at my home for 12 days after we found I had a home to return to. We felt like we were living in luxury once again as we had an a/c, a phone and a full tank of gas in my car. What we didn't have was food. We ate MRE's or I should say we picked something that we could nibble on from the MRE. I usually ate the big cracker that had no taste at all but it was all I could stomach. We had cans of expensive survival food that my late husband had bought but it was so high in calories that we would gag. I convinced the boys to eat toasted potted meat sandwiches and their hunger made them eat slice after slice. The two little girls (the new baby was born August 12, 05) drank powdered milk. We didn't stay up late in the evening because we were always exhausted after we struggled through another day. Dave would use my car, with me insisting he take it, to go to their damaged home to do what he could. There was no gasoline anywhere so we had to carefully ration what we used. I remember on one of his outings he returned with candy bars for us. Now that was a little bit of heaven! We washed our clothes but they were never really clean as the pilot was off on the tank and we didn't know how to light it because it had an ignition of some kind. After surviving what we had just gone through, to blow up would have been so pointless. The days passed and eventually we would all go to their house to do what we could. So many things that were once treasures were thrown out like so much garbage. The new baby girl's clothes that were so lovingly chosen in anticipation of her birth were thrown out. Neighbors would haul pieces of furniture to the curb. Soon there were mounds of furniture, clothing, toys, appliances ... all at the curb. Cars sat still in driveways. I would go back and forth to my home to clean the yards as best I could and when I bathed I heated pots of water on the stove . At the very least, I felt clean again. The Red Cross had arrived and was driving through neighborhoods handing out hot food. On one occasion after leaving my daughter's home I stopped their van and asked for a hot lunch. They just stared at me ... I guess I was too clean. Anyway I felt I had to explain to them that I needed a good hot meal. All the hard work and not eating properly was taking a toll. Eventually, they gave me one. My daughter told me of her experience with them ... she asked for water and a volunteer asked what she wanted it for. She said to drink. They asked why don't you have water and my daughter said because you won't give me any. A guy in the back of the van belly laughed and gave her water. By the time I saw the Red Cross in my neighborhood, I had my own food. Helicopters started flying over my house and I was elated as they were a sign of hope. They flew so low that sometimes I would go outside to wave and could see when they returned the gesture. It was surreal .. this can't be happening ... this is a dream.

In September the unthinkable happened, Hurricane Rita was making an appearance. The remembrance of what just happened was too fresh to even chance the possibility of wading through pesticide laden water again or smell the stench of raw sewage that had backed up in the house. We made the long drive to Atlanta, GA.. The hurricane came ashore a day before my birthday. My most vivid memory of Georgia was that everything was so pretty especially the buildings that had gold colored domes and as I drove I noted all the restaurants. I can truthfully say that we ate everything that we had been craving. The long list included eggs, bacon, sausage, steak, salads, pizza and ice cream. We stayed a couple of days and then returned home to continue with the aftermath of Katrina which is continuing at this writing.

As you can see, we do evacuate and would have for Katrina had the forecasts alerted us to what was headed our way. Seismic activity from Katrina was picked up as far away as California. Experts came to the coast and said the detruction looked like that of an earthquake. We heard the rumble as we stood on the porch waiting for "whatever" was going to strike us. Katrina was not a normal hurricane.

I will be back in a couple of days with pictures. Today I am waiting on a guy to come and give me a price for weedeating.