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EASYGOING COUNTRY LADYLIFE happens while you're making plans.
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9/26/2008 HURRICANE IKE AFTERMATHFellow Americans:
After viewing Galveston and surrounding areas in Cheryl Photonut's newest photo album, and reading her blogs lately, I am appalled. This many days later, there is so little response from the people of the country and the government. Whole residential streets have been swept into the ocean with nothing but slabs and the pilings they sat upon left on the flooded land. No tarps for damaged roofs on homes that were spared, no generators. Walmart opened, but supplies go as fast as they come in. No electric, poor water.
No schools open where many children ate breakfast and lunch. Now they're pilfering for food, and breaking in. One man actually shot a 13 year old boy in the head for stealing chips and snack food. They are hungry, for Heaven's sake! Cheryl and grandchildren have to go somewhere to eat food provided by the Salvation Army. Those who have generators have to wait in line for 6 hours or more to get gasoline to run them. Click on CHERYL's space in my friends list and go see for yourself.
Now the point of this rant is, Where are the trillions of dollars going? Out there to the rest of the world, to finance the war (which may be necessary), to rebuild countries we fight wars in, loans to other countries (do we ever get paid back?), and to bail out financial institutions (that their major mistake-makers still walk away with millions for themselves), and millions are poured into presidential campaigns.
We have many thousands of families who have lost their homes to flooding and natural disasters, and have no home to return to, and people starving, without clean water, or fuel to go anywhere else. Here we are, several years after Katrina, and many of those victims still aren't rebuilt, either. People have become numbed to the tragedies happening in our own country, to our own people!
YES, I SAW THE DEBATE......SO WHAT? These victims didn't get to see it, or all the fuss about the crash of financial institutions. They were sweating in the dark, being eaten up by mosquitoes in the remains of what was once their homes, trying to figure out how to feed and clothe and protect their families.
My prayers go out to all those still suffering, easygoingcountrylady
9/14/2008 AFTER IKE & A Legendary Woman Thanks to all for all the good wishes and prayers!
As for my daughter and family in Houston, they got by with fallen tree limbs and loss of power. They do, however, have a generator to keep the freezer and fridge running to preserve their perishable foods.
Regarding my brother and his wife that were house-sitting in Pasadena, I have no word yet.
I got off easy since the Hurricane was down from a 3 to a 1 by the time it reached me. Currently, there are 600 households here without power. On my street, there were a few broken branches, but nothing serious. The lights flickered a few times, and then went off. It was kind of dark indoors, too, so I took a nap since I was up and down all night. The power came back after 20 minutes.
I find it amusing that my house, on an old street with old houses, regained power within 20 minutes. My wealthy friend in the fancier side of town is without power as of 9:15 pm, as are most of his neighbors. If he hadn't invited a family living in a trailer to stay there tonight, I would have invited him over, but I don't have accomodations for all of them.
He's going to be disappointed when he figures out he missed the Coco Chanel story on Lifetime. We'd been waiting for weeks to see it. What a talented, passionate woman! She started the idea in 1926 that all women should have a simple "little black dress" in their wardrobe. She started her career a a seamstress when released at age 18 from a convent. She worked from 7 am to 8 pm daily (13 hours) for a dressmaker. She lived in a room above, for which she was charged rent taken out of her wages. She later went into her own business creating hats, and finally was so in demand as a seamstress she became a fashion designer. After that came Chanel No. 5. She dropped out of sight for a few years, then at age 70, came back with a collection of clothing that failed in popularity, but she didn't give up. She later did another collection, against her business partner's advice, and it was a hit. Thus began the simple Chanel suit that is still a classic today.
Hugs, easygoingcountrylady
9/13/2008 HURRICANE IKE Here we go again! Hurricane Ike is the largest hurricane I ever saw, bigger than Texas, which is very darned big.
My main concern is my daughter and family in Houston, and my younger brother and his wife in Pasadena, TX, just south of Houston. My daughter and I talked about 9 pm tonight on the phone. Her husband reassured me of all the precautions they were taking to shelter in place. They had all the plywood and means to secure it. They piled sandbags against two plate glass sliding doors to the back yard. The two daughters, 11 and 4, are sleeping with their parents in a room right off the inner hallway, where they can go for safety. Right now, there are high winds and heavy rains in their area.
My brother and his wife were house-sitting for a lady who had gone out-of-state to tend an ill relative. He told my daughter they were going to try to board up and protect the house.
As for me in East Texas in direct line of Ike, too, I am well. I loaded a bag of canned, easy to open food, a tote with my medicines and insulin, a small suitcase in case I have to leave, and other small essentials and placed them in an inner hallway with no windows. It's adjacent to the bathroom (no window) where I have access to water and the linen closet and the toilet. I have many candles throughout the house, since power outages are probable. I'm considering sleeping in the hallway on couch cushions.
Right now, it's 1:08 am on Friday night, and I'm watching a Dallas station with full-time coverage of Hurricane Ike. I will stay up very late, and the storm is expected in my area between 4 and 6 in the morning. I have friends next door and a friend a couple of miles away who will be checking on me in the morning, since my cordless phone will be useless if the power goes off. I went out to move my junky car next to the house and away from large trees. The old garage with no doors is useless; it would probably fall over in a strong wind. My at-home provider that comes in 3 days a week helped me move in my plants and other things from my porch. Anything could be a missile in high winds.
I feel I've taken all the necessary precautions, so don't worry, but prayers couldn't hurt. Besides, if the weather is unbearable without power, there is a hospital lobby with generator only half a block away. My prayers go out to Cheryl Photonut and any others in the way of Hurricane Ike.
easygoingcountrylady 8/31/2008 Hurricane Gustav and Other News * My daughter and her family in Houston cancelled their trips to prepare for Gustav, by boarding up their lovely home, packing necessities for evacuation, and prepare their pets for leaving, too. Daughter AD says one of her employer's clients in New Orleans, has plane tickets to Tennessee.
Locally, here in East Texas, the shelters and charitables organizations are getting stocked up on water and supplies, setting up cots, and taking Red Cross and other "Volunteer Boot Camp" training to do the most efficient help they can. I went to the grocer's on Saturday, and the bread shelves and others were nearly empty already.
In Dallas/Fort Worth area, military veterans are helping to receive about 500 or more sick and disabled transported from Louisiana, and helping get them set up in area medical facilities.
On TV, they said some of the buses transporting refugees out of New Orleans are going as far as Oklahoma.
* About billionaire Richard Branson, who even sold some things to revamp Virgin Airlines: Virgin America has been proclaimed the best domestic airline. He upped the service onboard, and they now fly seven major cities.
* Branson and other influential people like Nelson Mandela and former president Jimmy Carter are forming a sort of Council of Elders, to get together the best experience, minds and money to help solve world problems. I have to say I am impressed, and wish them the best of luck.
* I am pleased that "My Name Is Earl" is doing so well on TBS, because more people need to understand what alcohol recovery is about. Unfortunately, many people think alcoholics are lower class. Alcoholics come from all lifestyles that allow alcohol. Too bad that "Grace Under Fire" and "The John Larroquette Show", both about alcoholics in recovery, didn't last longer, too. I really loved those shows.
* I wish John McCain hadn't done that! By selecting such an inexperienced, less qualified woman as his vice-presidential running mate, he mocks Americans' intelligence. It took less than a day for the criticism to start. I hoped he would pick an excellently-qualified running mate we could rely on if they had to take his place, given his age and all. His wife would have been better than Palin. At least Cindy is already involved in world projects to help the human race.
* I have to admit Barack Obama's acceptance speech was impressive----I just hope he doesn't eliminate programs that are badly needed to save some of the others. Solving the Iraq situation could save us billions of dollars that were taken from other areas to finance the war.
* Frankly, this is one of those election years that feels like we don't have good choices to vote for.
Hope everyone stays safe, easygoingcountrylady
8/27/2008 MISC. TIDBITS OF NEWSA few news items:
*Did you hear that Julia Child, Theodore Roosevelt's son and Ernest Heminway's son were all WWII spies for the OSS, the early version of CIA?
* Congratulations to all the American Olympic medal winners!
*Condolences to the loved ones and all the fans of Bernie Mac, and also Isaac Hayes.
*I recently saw a documentary about Katrina survivors in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, that was taped in 2006. Many families were related, and had no one to turn to, since their relatives were in the affected area, too. At the time of the taping, only 3 families in the whole parish had received the promised federal assistance. I wonder how the rest are now??
*Isn't it silly how many people think wishful thinking makes them parents (OR NOT) of both legitimate and ilegitimate children? They go on television shows in front of the world, where DNA makes liars out of so many. There are women who claim men are the daddy "because they look just like him", and men who deny paternity because "they don't look like" him, amid other excuses.
I'm getting bored with the stupidity of most of them. Why neglect, deny and punish the child that very possibly could be theirs? How could one ever make that up to a child?
Look at all the kids raised by the legal husband of the mother, whether it was his or not, before DNA testing. I wonder how many of us are really of the DNA of our "fathers"? It seems practical that some cultures' ancestry is traced through the mother, not the father.
I know an Eskimo lady who explained to me how, if they got pregnant and couldn't afford another child, they would give the child to their siblings or cousins or other relatives who wanted a child. Her first husband raised 5 children in Alaska after their divorce. She married a Texan later, and had 2 more. After he was incarcerated when they were in elementary school, she met a sweet, sober man who has been helping her raise the 2 children. Both the mother and children are healthy and happy.
I guess my point is, a father is a man who fathers, (provides for, protects and loves the child), not just donates the sperm.
*Thank goodness the weather has cooled some and we had more rain than usual this time of year. Everything was parched. The temperatures are between the 70's and 90's now.
*My oldest daughter and her two little girls will visit this Labor Day weekend from Houston.
I hope all is well for my Space friends, easygoingcountrylady
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