Hurricane Harvey

By now this is old news, but you can bet I watched this closely and was on the phone with family the whole time.  Almost everyone lives there except me and my youngest sister.  I’m thankful I have a sister who keeps track of everyone and gives the rest of us updates on everybody.  Sometimes it’s very hard getting answers out of any of my siblings on a regular basis.  Everyone is too busy, I guess.

 This photo by Richard Carson of Reuters

This photo is from the Guardian

Can you believe ALL this water? 

All my family is okay and trying to get back to normal.  I think they were off work about a week, or so, due to flooded roads everywhere.  Lots of water is still standing, but no real damage to repair.  My mom is safe in a nursing home and they had no problems there, thank goodness.  One of my brothers had two inches of water in his garage but no other damage, another brother lost power for a few hours. 

 This is a rescue on Tidwell Road in Houston - photo by CNN News

 Stranded cows in LaGrange Texas - photo also by CNN News

My dependable sister kept me updated and sent me a few photos.  She was lucky that her place is a bit higher and quite safe after all the rain that fell.  I have another sister who lives in a neighborhood that’s prone to flooding, if it rains hard, but the water only came up her driveway and then receded a couple of times.  I think her backyard may have flooded though, but no water got into the house. 

 This is from my dependable sister's yard.  Not bad at all after all that rain.

 

I believe my sister who lives in a rural area, in more of a farm setting, got the worst of it.  She got about twenty inches at her place and the pastures flooded, but her house was unscathed.  I’m not sure if she lost any cows or other animals. 

 Here's a bit of a different story on my sister's farm, but this could be far worse.

 

Everyone is trying to get back to normal, but I know life will be far from normal for thousands as they rebuild their lives.  There’s still about eight feet of water covering Beltway 8, a main road that circles the city of Houston.  The news reported that the water is going down about an inch a day.  It might be weeks before that freeway is open.  I’ve been on these interstates many times and it’s astounding to see the pictures of them flooded by that much water.  I wanted to get closer to home, but of course this is now an argument as to why we should move there.  I guess time will tell.

Below is a video from CNN, but you’ve probably seen this on the news.  If you care to watch it again, click here.

I’m back!

Sorry to have neglected this blog so long.  I was away visiting family out of state and am back home now.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to post before this because I had to recuperate.  (You don’t know my family).  It’s always non-stop action with no schedule, which I love, but such things can wear you out.  I was living out of a suitcase, until my sister suggested I just take things around in a shopping bag when I changed sibling’s houses.  This worked out very well, but she’s a lot smarter about this type of thing, plus she has an endless supply of cute, reusable shopping bags in all sizes.

When I got home I went to bed and slept fifteen hours.  I was exhausted and since then I’m back at work almost every day.

 This is my sweet mother

The object of my visit was to see family and my mother who is now in a nursing home.  She suffers from dementia.  I couldn’t put off my trip any longer.  It had been almost five years and a lot can happen in that span of time.  But I was prepared for the worst of scenarios when my mother saw me.  Of course she didn’t recognize me at first.  I look a lot like one of my sisters who is her caretaker.  But she did remember me after a few minutes.  She had a big smile and gave me a big hug.  Bless her heart.  She didn’t have trouble remembering me the rest of the trip.  It was very hard to kiss her on the cheek and tell her goodbye when I knew I was flying home the next day.

I think I was able to visit almost everyone during that fast two weeks.  I even got to meet my new great niece who was celebrating her first birthday party in style with a good old fashioned Texas barbecue.  No one can make barbecue like Texans.  My brother in law (and the birthday girl’s grandfather) stayed up all night cooking brisket, sausage, pork and chicken on the pit.  Naturally, there were baked beans and country potatoes and lots of other trimmings, not to mention all the homemade desserts.  Somehow I came back from that trip weighing the same amount as when I left, thank goodness.

I’ll write more about some of my visit soon.  I took 455 pictures and we had many adventures.  Of course a lot of talking and laughter happened all the time.  There’s no better medicine than that.