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.

We’re in for a stormy week

As much as I hate winter, it’s on its way.  I wish we were getting ready to start February instead of December.  Big sigh…

There’s not much happening here except work and more work, but I’m not complaining.  However, it seems like the older I get the more difficult it is to do repetitive things for six hours at one time.  I’m talking about the cheese demo I had on Friday.  It’s now Sunday and my arms feel like they’re falling off and I feel like I did about a hundred sit-ups.  I had to cut hard cheese wedges into small cubes.  I bet I cut approximately 900 cubes of cheese with a pastry cutter.  The only way to do this was to rock it back and forth and lean into it.  I probably should have taken a big, sharp knife instead and will try that next time.  Anyway, needless to say, after Wednesday and then Friday I’m glad to have a couple of days off.  The holiday season is in full swing with shoppers.

 

Sunrise in the desert

 

A lonely bird surveys the desert

 

I managed to get this beautiful sunrise the other morning and also one of a lone bird sitting on a tree branch in the backyard.  Then yesterday the storm clouds came in and I got these pics at sunset.  Today it rained and then the sun came out but it’s a chilly 45 degrees right now with upper 20’s expected tonight.  I’m not at all excited about that.

Storm clouds gather out back as the sun is setting

I’m not in the holiday spirit at all this year, but at least I got my ornaments and will get them in the mail in the morning.  My sisters and I exchange them every year.  We have quite a collection now.

We have big thunderheads rising over the mountains again

Sunni's Photo's 

 

It has really rained this summer, much more than in the ten years that we’ve lived here.  Of course that means it’s been more humid too.  I’m okay sitting under a fan, but cooking and cleaning up is hell.

We have storms coming in for Sunday though next Wednesday unless they change the forecast.  At least the temperature is going down this time to the low eighties and upper seventies.

 Koki

Tootie

Raven

The cats don’t like this weather much either and lie about like limp rags all day.  I know some of this is due to the fact we try to open the windows around here as much as possible.  There’s only a short window in the spring and fall when you can actually do that in the desert.  I always hope for some breeze or air circulation.  However, this doesn’t always happen.  But I honestly have to say that it still feels cooler outside at times, even when it’s ninety degrees.  In my opinion, we keep this house way to warm in the summer.

When we do turn the A/C on later in the evening, Raven goes crazy jumping for joy that it’s cooler.  He’s been playing with Koki more, but only if Koki is in the mood.  Raven’s always in the mood to play and have a good romp about the house.

Raven

Workers are still working on the pool area of the new house they’re building down the street.  Installation of the rain gutter happened last Thurs. and just in time for a downpour that lasted ten minutes.  We’re not sure where that came from, but the water was pouring out of the rain gutters and pounding on the patio, splashing up because it was hitting so hard.  It even knocked the Dish out for a few minutes.  That didn’t go over well because my husband was watching one of his political shows at the time.

My work in the garage is on hold until I get over my earache and it gets a bit cooler out there.  Maybe all this muggy weather is just a trial for the next stage of life if we move south.

My neighbor’s back from Wyoming, so I’m off cat and garden duty for a few days.  She has three more trips planned before winter sets in here, although she hasn’t told me about them yet.  I saw her calendar while she was gone.  I guess she didn’t want to lay that news on me right away.

I’m really getting in the mood to write so maybe somehow I can find time to get back to the edits on my mystery book.

Cat and Garden Duty Again

Well what a picture, but they were all over the house

Well August has arrived and my neighbor is off on another hiking trip.  She’ll be back in full swing with these trips now that fall is around the corner.  Well honestly, it’ll be a while before fall comes to the desert, but come August, she’s busy planning trips big time to get them in before the snow flies.

 Raven can't wait to see this carrier land in the house because he's going visiting.

So I’m watching Snuggles again until next Saturday and watering Sherry’s big garden.  Snuggles is no problem and very sweet.  I feel sorry for her when her “mom” travels so much of the time.

Part of the garden

 The garden is another issue because watering in the intense heat we have here is not very pleasant.  Usually it’s still in the 90’s at midnight.  Today we did get a rare reprieve because we had intense thunderstorms that rattled the windows and pounded us with large drops most of the night and part of today.  The high was only 78, something that doesn’t happen in the desert in July.  Good thing is I didn’t have to water the garden tonight and the water all the plants got was free.

 The desert sky was like this most of the day

I’ve been taking Raven over with me for a play date with Snuggles.  So far, this arrangement is working out pretty well.  Both cats are entertained.  There’s no hissing or growling.  They mostly check each other out at this point in their relationship and haven’t started playing yet.  Tonight Raven was real upset when I left him home to go over there.  He knew where I was going and wanted to come with me.

Snuggles on the play date

Raven on the play date - it was hard to get both of them in the same photo

 When we got back last night, Raven didn’t want to get out of the carrier.  When he finally did, I took it back to the garage and he shot out the door and found a completely new place to explore.  Heck, I didn’t want him out there.  It’s such a disaster area, anything could fall on him, and I’d never find him in all the conglomeration of stuff out there.  He managed to make it to the far wall where I seized him before he could slink his way under a box.  At least he didn’t crawl under my car.

 Part of my garage disaster -  almost embarrassed to post this, but I'm working on it

My husband said Raven watched from the window tonight and cried while I was gone.  So tomorrow, I’ll have to take him with me again.

Into Elephant’s Anyone?



Picture by Franz in Botswana

 

I thought this was a beautiful picture.  I like reflection pictures and the pink hue here is really nice.  Just wanted to share that.

 It’s been quite stormy here lately with thunder and lightning almost daily, but at least it’s cooler.  That’s a relief, even if it’s short-lived.

 I was at my neighbors a couple of days ago and she was so intrigued by the lightning show that we couldn’t even carry on a conversation.  I have to admit that the red rocks against the very black sky did make a stunning picture with the lightning forks coming down and branching out.  It is very hard to photograph lightning, almost impossible to click the camera at the right time.

 Aside from this and the usual things I have to do in daily life, I’m writing like mad most of the time, with my cat Koki by my side in the evenings.

The Day I Met Carla

One of the things we could look forward to, growing up on the gulf coast, was hurricane season which came around every summer.  It seemed like several years we taped all the windows with masking tape and made sure there were new batteries to operate the flashlight as well as making other preparations to be ready for an impending hurricane.  Sometimes Daddy would even nail up old pieces of plywood over the windows as protection from the impending storm.

Most of the time the storms went around us and we only got some gusty winds and a lot of rain.  All of us remember Hurricane Carla because we were in her direct path.  We made our usual preparations and even boarded up some of the windows with plywood.  The winds kept getting stronger and stronger and the more the wind blew, the more apprehensive Mama became.

As the hours wore on, we kids became more excited about all the commotion.  The adults were tuned in to the news updates on the radio and we just wanted to look out and see what was going on.  When we found out it was headed straight for us, we had to go out and get the potatoes and other veggies that were ready to be picked out of Mamaw’s garden.  All of us older kids helped with this task.  We were down on our hands and knees digging up potatoes with wash tubs to speed the process up.  The sky kept getting darker and darker and the wind was strong and chilly.

As kids we were more excited than alarmed about the whole thing.  Nothing ever happened out on the farm and this was something happening that was out of the ordinary daily events.  We kept trying to peer out of the windows to watch the wind.  All of us crowded around the door and watched, wide eyed, as tree limbs and pieces of tin off the chicken coop went flying by.  We were spellbound by the wind and Mama was hysterical, running around frantically and yelling at us to keep away from the doors and windows.

Well, as kids, that was mighty hard to do when there was action going on outside.  We opened the screen door to take a better look and the wind almost ripped it off its hinges.  Instead it swung back, with a bang, flat against the house.

We could really see out then.  We had a large cottonwood tree at the corner of the house with a tire swing on it.  We watched in awe as a big limb came crashing down and landed right by the door.  By this time, Mama was beside herself with worry, all she could do was cry and yell at us repeatedly to get away from the door and the windows.

Daddy was very calm during all this.  He wasn't afraid of anything and kept trying to reassure Mama that everything would be alright, although I think his words were falling on deaf ears.  We couldn't help wondering why Mama was so afraid for all of us.

It wasn't long and Houston Papaw (Mama's daddy) and his wife Gelena drove up.  We didn't have a phone in those days and he was worried about Mama so they thought they would brave the storm and come and check on all of us.  Mama was so frantic that they were insistent we should all go up to their house in Houston.

Of course Daddy didn't want to go.  He was ready to ride the storm out right there.  Well we all know who would win that argument.  It wasn’t long and all of us were loaded up in the old pink and white station wagon.  We followed them back to Houston (about 30-40 miles). Papaw had a brick house and he thought it could weather the storm better than the sharecropper’s shacks we lived in.  The ones who stayed were Rosenberg Mamaw and Papaw (daddy’s parents) and our uncle, aunt and cousins, but the wind eventually got so bad that they went to stay at the National Guard Armory in Rosenberg (a town of 25,000 about 3 miles from the farm where we all lived).

When we got to Papaw’s house we all had something to eat and then bedded down on pallets on the floor.  The pallets consisted of a couple of quilts, or a quilt and a blanket.  We put these on the floor of the kitchen, dining room and living room.  It was wall-to-wall kids with the youngest kids in the kitchen because it had linoleum floors and Gelena was always afraid somebody would have an accident.  She would never let any of us sit on the furniture when we went to visit.  We always had to sit on the floor.

We stayed at Papaws for one night.  The wind blew hard, but the lights never went out.  We could hear it howling all night and things creaking and banging around outside.  The next day, with the worst of the storm over, we headed home to see what was left of the house.

It was still standing, but a big tree in the back yard was down, our tire swing was demolished, most of the chicken coop was gone and a few cats and chickens were missing.  Naturally our driveway and much of the field and pasture was under water.

My sister Scherri had a favorite cat that was among those missing.  She cried and cried, so Daddy put on his knee high rubber boots and took the flashlight and they went out in the rain to look for it.  They found it stuck in the water on one of the turning rows out in the fields.  They rescued it and brought it home.  The cat survived.

After a few days of heavy rain the storm passed on and the rebuilding began.  We never had another storm like that the rest of the time we lived there.