Look out Texas

[fillyok]

Jeff, it was a cow, not a Chow.

[vicster605]

What is absolutely UNBELIEVEABLE to me is that 40% of the population stayed on Galveston Island and NOBODY DIED....guess God does watch out for little kids and STUPID PEOPLE.......NO LOSS OF LIFE so far I hope it stays that way!!!! But I would be willing to stake my life the ones that stayed there,that those will be the same people that will be LOADING UP and PULLIN' OUT EARLY if and when they are faced with another storm I know they were SCARED HALF TO DEATH FOR LONG LONGTIME!!! Amazing how LONG & SLOW the time passes with NO power and all those horribe noises going on and wondering if your gonna die

[fillyok]

28 deaths in 9 states so far and they haven't even started house-to-house yet...what's left of the houses. They're moving a lot of people out of there to here...big donation drive going on today. http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.as ... 52ff904753

[vicster605]

I just heard 2 in Tx and 2 in La though.....not sure if thats right. Those houses in Galveston look really bad.....its like I can't figure out WHERE I'm looking...we have local Houston news on tv like our news was during Gustav & Katrina. I've been trying to see how bad it was in Livingston but can't see as Jerryo is in that area as well as my friend Laurie's parents house. THey are in Houston worried about their house in Livingston. Heard that the large power lines aren't damaged that bad as opposed to them being very damaged which will help to get power back to the residents quicker...thats awsome news. Family togetherness without power is soooooo NOT fun
I personally don't donate to Red Cross after Katrina due to alot of the money not making it to the people that needed it. If you hear of any active church groups that need donations or have a site to donate I will happily donate to one of them, as they are the ones that truly help people after these storms. My friends that just flooded again, who are in their 70's.....have church groups at their house helping with everything from gutting to doing their laundry for them and they are truly ANGELS for all they do to help people, not to mention all the hot meals they provide. Just my personal opinion of course though.

[fillyok]

It is kinda crazy when you see the place on tv...like where are the houses or more like where were the houses? The mayor of Galveston was on the Today show with Matt Lauer...she told people to not come home yet. Too bad more people didn't leave like they should have...now they have to spend countless dollars on rescuing people.

Vicki, you might be right about the Red Cross...I just don't know. I do know they help people, but it's hard to know if you're helping who you think you're helping. I just got home from dropping off $100 worth of new underwear at the collection place. I figured if I was in a disaster like this, I'd want clean drawers.

[vicster605]

Phyllis girl, if your drawers are clean you can work thru the rest!!!!
Yes, Red Cross does help people, but there were some higher ups that stole ALOT of the money donated for Katrina. They had ALOT of money donated.....guess it just got too tempting Ran off to some island somewhere with it, or at least thats what I heard.......
Is Galveston still flooded??? It doesn't look like it on tv.....and I can tell you where the houses went....see all that wood I turned around 5 times in different driveways in a neighborhood I grew up in and walked to school everyday, couldn't figure out where the hell I was, amazing how everything looks different huh?? I keep waiting for them to start finding bodies since 40% of the population stayed.....no way they ALL survived.....if they did then they were doing ALOT of prayin' and God does watch out for STUPID people.......hope thats the case.
What people don't understand is the time spent rescing people that SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE in the first place slows down progress in everything getting fixed or repaired so folks can get back home sooner. Its gonna be a LONG TIME before Galveston people are able to come back because they won't have electricity for a long time from what I heard....water, gas etc. Hope they come up something better than FEMA TRAILERS when they do
Good news is a cold front is coming thru and usually that means that there probably won't be any more Hurricanes this yr.....I know the season isn't offically over but.....Usually no more......I know cold front to the rest of folks doesn't mean 78 but it does to us

[bevgo]

OK guys. I live on the mississippi gulf coast and stayed for Katrina. Sometimes you just cannot leave. In my case it was a VERY stubborn daughter that would not leave because her NEW job told her she would be fired if she left and could not be there when the casino reopened and the other thing was a college she had just began attending said they would be counted absent and could not miss more than 3 days without being booted for absence. She insisted on staying and would not allow me to take her 2 y/o son out so I stayed. It was a nightmare and she will not stay for another but there are times and reasons people stay other than stupidity so please have some compassion. Those folks are in a world of hurt right now even if they did not lose everything. They need our prayers and help. I know it seems stupid to stay but people DO have reasons that seem sane to them at the time. There is also the "it wont hit me" mentality. SOOOOO many misses in the past. Please just try to understand that most people that stay have valid (or it seems at the time) reasons to stay.
And BTW. I dont donate to Red Cross either. I agree with donations to the churches that are helping or even to habitat for humanity but that will be a need a bit later. I did see red cross feeding a large number of people here but I also heard the stories about fraud and theft. I think the same happened 9/11 with $$ donated when the twin towers were hit.

[vicster605]

Oh Bev, don't get me wrong I do have more compassion and sympathy for the people of Tx than anyone will ever know, and my heart feels their pain as I KNOW IT VERY WELL. It is just soooooo upsetting to know that they didn't leave. I understand peoples reasons for not leaving, had the same problem with my 30 yr old daughter for Gustav as she also just started a new job, has 3 small children and NEEDED her job and also had the fear of loosing it due to leaving. You said it yourself your daughter will NOT stay for another one. But after what the world saw during & after Katrina what I don't understand is seeing all that happened here and on the Ms Gulf Coast ONLY 3 yrs ago.......and hearing what THEIR Mayor said which was STAY AND YOU WILL DIE and put your SS# on your arm so we can identify your bodies after the storm.....and living on an ISLAND and still 40% of the population stayed. I would think that unless your part of the emergency teams that an employer would have to understand especially when there is a Mandatory Evacuation. They now have help for the elderly, disabled & poor to leave and have a place to stay......they learned that from Katrina....so why not leave???
If EVERYONE on the Gulf Coast didn't learn from what happened down here and still find reasons for not leaving then NOBODY LEARNED and all those lives were lost and we still didn't learn. The visual of people on their roofs and bodies floating in the street gave me more motivation to leave then any REASON I could ever come up with for NOT leaving. But then I'm also old enough to remember the aftermath of Camille and knew people who were forever changed due to all the lives lost then.
Forget the it won't hit me mentality.......as they saw what happened down here and now in Tx...... IT MIGHT AND IT ISN"T WORTH THE RISK....don't you agree??? I also know that the number, frequency, and the intensity of the storms are far worse than before for some reason......those of us that live on the coast have got to see NOTHING IS WORTH THE RISK....
THey have had my prayers from the start as I said I have friends and family in Tx as well as friends and family in Ms who have flooded YET AGAIN and they do STILL have my prayers and compassion, and help....and when I find some place to donate (that I trust) I will also donate. I do understand that they need our help, prayers, compassion and sympathy as we all know that live down here.... THERE FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO I.
I just want people to understand that NOW after all that we have been thru and what the people of Fla. Tx, Ms,Ala & La have been thru and are still going thru.....that Hurricanes are not something that you should come up with reasons to stay for.....weither we think we have very good reasons for staying or not.....when they say MANDATORY EVACUATION.....we ALL need to load up and go, leave early and if its for NO REASON and we come back we need to Thank God and perfect our plans for the next time.....to save our families lives. ALL the rest is replaceable and can be fixed.....Just my HUMBLE OPINION & I'm very sorry if you thought I was making light of what the good people of Tx are going thru as I have cryed my eyes out watching and Knowing it could have easily came this way although there are MANY good people here in La that are going thru the same heartache and loss due to flooding......I just want people to understand LEAVE no reason is good enough to risk you or your families lives.
And for the rest of the people that don't live down here, Bev is right.....Tx needs our help,prayers, donations, and compassion & sympathy

[Ginger Bears Mom]

Hi everyone, we made it through the storm, have had our taste of MRE's not bad when you are looking at another can of chicken noodle soup or something else canned. Without power we cooked up everything in the freezer before it spoiled as did our neighbors and had a street B-B-Q of sorts.

Power came on late last night, we are having rolling power outages those are not being discussed on the news though. Thankfully the weather cooled for us on Monday, we hunkered down as we were told to do in our area so that those in the direct hit zone could evacuate to avoid another Rita freeway bottleneck.

Tree's have taken down our fence but not the house, fence is back up, rather braced up, branches and bags of leaves at the curb, when we look at our local neighbors and the damage the storm has done our hit would be likened to needing a bandage.

Our animals are all fine, dog and cats slept near each other and our bird would squawk as the winds increased. Ziggy would bark to let us know each time a tree fell down and sure enuf we would look and another hit the ground.

Now I am trying to track down a cream chow chow that I spotted on the local news this morning, the report indicated it was in a temp shelter in Galveston. Have contated the Houston SPCA to volunteer as they are the steering committee on the rescue efforts.

Still a So Cal girl at heart though, even at 20 some years in TX, have ridden out a tornado on a boat in the water, now Ike, but I tell ya gimme a good ole CA quake any old day.

I will tell you though about 630 Saturday morning as some portion of Ike was passing over us (lost our power at 545am) I did go out on the "protected" front porch to sit and listen for a while, when the skies turned a greenish grey and the winds made a really ugly noise that made the hair on my back stand up and I hit the front door to the safety of the house.

Will keep you posted as I hear more on the cream, it's been a crazy busy summer for us.
Bets

[CoraP.]

I'm glad everyone is o.k.! Hope the cream chow is located.

[fillyok]

Thank goodness you're okay!!! I was worried about you and your family. As far as the Chow goes, a lot of animals from the shelter in Galveston have been moved to San Antonio, please let me know if there's anything I can do or if you find out the Chow is heading my way.

[Ginger Bears Mom]

Thanks for the offer and the kind thoughts. You would think if the topic showed on TV and their website I could find the chow but no not yet...but I don't give up that easily. Calling and emailing until I find the little cutie pie...it was not happy in the crate just looked very confused......if you hear anything locally in SAT let me know....they are not posting the chows on the Houston SPCA site yet.
Bets

[Nita F.]

We left last Wednesday, the 10th, for the Michigan wedding and hubby, as well as Mimi, our chow, went with Mom and I. I was hoping for dry weather but it rained most of the time we were there. Mimi traveled great and had fun with all the guests, including my great-niece and -nephew. Her one major issue was the hotel elevator we used on our first night. By her 5th trip down to go potty she had to be pushed into the elevator. Poor baby! The B&B we stayed at for the wedding had stairs and she seemed to enjoy those. She barely ate any of her kibbles but I made sure she at least ate treats to have something in her stomach. When we returned home she ate her kibbles like normal. Go figure!

We missed Ike in Louisiana by leaving Wednesday, but we drove through him while in Illinois returning on Sunday. Winds were probably 50 mph and higher in gusts. We could even tell when the former eye passed over when the winds shifted direction. The destruction and flooding it caused up there was bad.

My sister and brother-in-law were to fly out of New Orleans last Friday. After a 2 hour delay they finally took off in gusts of 40 mph. They missed their connecting flight and had a 4 hour layover in Cincinnati before flying into Kalamazoo, MI. On Sunday their return flight out of Cincinnati was delayed because of Ike again. They were sure glad to get back on the ground in New Orleans!

No damage from Ike at our house except for the downed phone line due to a electric company bucket truck hooking and yanking it down. We may get it fixed by next Tuesday.

Glad to hear our Texas folks are ok. The damage to Galveston and other coastal areas, as well as the Houston area, is amazing. We still have places in Louisiana without power and other services from Gustav, so I'm certain the Ike effects will also take a while to repair. Hang in there!

Nita

[CoraP.]

I'm glad you are all OK, Nita! Ike sure made his presence known in a lot of places!

[Zhuyos mom]

Anyone hear from Jerry and Benny yet or how Trinity faired after Ike?

[vicster605]

Welcome Home Nita Glad you faired ok too GingerBears Mom, our fence kinda looks like its doin' the wave too Long as the house is ok....the fence can be propped LOL!!!
No word from Jerryo.....I emailed him the other day and and still no reply. My friends Mom lives in Livingston, not far from Trinity I believe....they had power back on there, so am hoping Jerryo is just busy cleaning up the Piney Trees mess...at least thats what I'm hopin'...may still not have power

[jerryo]

From: Fort Piney Woods ChowQuarters
Subject: Status Report

As of Friday night power was restored, but the internet cable didn't come back up until today, so I have not been able to communicate with the outside world until now. Fort Piney Woods came through with only the lose of some of the pine trees in the yard. JerryO is ticked off that they didn't hit the house or one of the cars, 'cause he had to insure them for more than they're worth. The tops just seemed to break off about half way up, and then the rest of the tree came down seperately.

Everyone in town really pulled together and made the best of it. Lots of folks volunteered to help FEMA and their neighbors, so there were no problems that we have heard about. The emergency action folks had an amazing supply distribution system set up almost immediately. I sent JerryO down there a couple of times for ice, water and food. He did OK on the ice and water, but the only food he came back with was MREs --no Nutro. Fortunately, he stocked up on dog food, and that smelly stuff BobbyCat eats, before the storm. We had extra water and people food on hand too, so it was no problem. He said FEMA was quicker than going through McDonald's.

Anyway, everything is getting back to abnormal here, and we will all have more stories to tell at the next ChowFest.

Thanks for everyone's concern,

Benny
Lady
BobbyCat
JerryO

Note to Exhausted Leader Steelo : Please explain to your biped, Chris, that Fort Piney Woods ChowQuartes is highly secret, but deffinately does exist. Unlike in the movies, East Texas has huge areas of pine trees, some up to the 100 foot range. We lost about a 60footer and a 40 or so footer from the side yard, along with three or four smaller trees. We still have plenty left, SteelO, so not to worry. (OK, JerryO made up the "Fort" part, but the Piney Woods are real. )

[fillyok]

Great to hear from you Benny (and the rest of your gang)!! I was wondering how Ft Piney Woods fared through this storm.
And I'm right there with you about the MREs...YUK!!