FLASH FORWARD: SEPTEMBER, 2008

It was supposed to be a leisurely stroll through the earlier months of this year to catch you up, but some things just can't wait---like bi-weekly hurricanes. And it's so like three years ago with Katrina and Rita. With the first we had the big influx of refugees, and with the second we got the weather and some refugees. With Gustav we certainly received a huge number of people and thankfully the damage was not so great as with Katrina, and they were able to return home much more quickly. With Ike we didn't have as much damage as with Rita, but there were still some hits locally. Lots of people have downed tree limbs and debris, but damage reported in the newspaper happened to be from my neighborhood and the southern part of the city.

This is a fallen tree/damaged house two blocks behind my house. Note the big green bandaid on the house.



My street is only one long block long, and I live on the southwest corner of the block. Here's what happened to the house on the northeast corner at the other end of the block which has a triangular shaped lot. Their house faces another street, but their driveway comes from my street.



Between that house and mine another tree went down in the street, and I really have to hand it to our city crews for prompt attention to getting it out of the way. They were out there Saturday afternoon shortly after it went down and before the worst of the storm came (which was probably 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.), that is to say the strongest winds, and had that tree out of the street. As you can see it still has to be cleared away; it stretches across three home lots, I think.


My heart goes out to those who actually live on the coasts. Somebody has to live there to take care of our coastal business, fishing, oil drilling, whatever. But those of us who live three to four hundred miles inland suffer also from these storms---while we try to harbor those who have fled in our direction. And here's my point: Can't we just keep trying to improve how we care for one another as we deal with the natural threats of life? Do we really have any business making life worse for others and ourselves through warfare, shunning those less fortunate than we, denying differences of opinion as unworthy or "unAmerican", political sniping? Who knows where the next house will be flooded or tree falls?

All of these pictures I took the day after (today), and this last one was this evening's sky. There is no rainbow, but I feel in it a promise. It seems that we must now make a covenant with each other to gain the fulfillment of that promise.