This has left me more heartbroken than I have been in many years....

Staten Island Residents Plead for Help | NBC New York

Please watch the video.  I can't describe how this makes me feel to see this happening again.  Their questions were our questions.  Their fears were ours.  I would give my left arm to get to these people and help them.  If there is anyone out there who can help -- please help.  Not donating to the Red Cross... Really helping.  Get something to these people.  Get in touch with these people.

If anyone out there knows how to get help to any of them please email me at paglia@cableone.net as soon as possible.

I thought it was over too.

Just in case you thought this Isaac thing was over.  It's not.  I admit when I passed out on the couch last night I was expecting to wake up to some leaves to rake before getting on with our lives.

But we woke up to this:

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U.S. 90 closed between bridges for Isaac flooding | Isaac | The Sun Herald

U.S. 90 closed between bridges for Isaac flooding | Isaac | The Sun Herald

I sure hope this is limited to U.S. 90

Torture

That's the only way to describe this one.  Is this storm moving at all?  Auuuuugh.

This is how it looks outside at the moment.

Since absolutely nothing is happening weather-wise, I will take this time to talk about my feelings.  

I was expecting to get all post-traumatic-stressed about this one.  Especially since this is the first time we have made the decision to ride out a storm since Hurricane Katrina.  (Check out the story of our last evacuation back in the 2008 archives if you don't know it already.)  Strangely, I feel great.  More sane than I have in many years.

We already broke out the new coloring books.

I searched around in my brain for denial.  Maybe I feel great because I don't actually believe there is a threat from this hurricane, etc.  It's not there -- because I do actually feel threatened by this hurricane.  As a matter of fact, we have had more hurricane-like conditions from this little storm than we did the night before Katrina.  I am not unsettled by this, however.  

I am aware that there could be another freakish storm surge and our house could flood once again. I am also not unsettled by this.  This time around we know exactly how it feels.  We know exactly what it means.  We know exactly what we will do.  

Emotionally, I think maybe I need this experience to finally conquer all of the lingering insecurities from 2005.

I am not sure I can put all of it into words right now.. maybe it will all be easier when we see what actually happens with Isaac.

An illustration of deteriorating weather conditions

 Pascagoula Beach last night around 7pm August 27

 Pascagoula Beach a few minutes ago (12 pm August 28)

And again.  It's looking kinda tropical around here.

Luck

The air conditioner is broken.

No. Really.

Nothing at all to do with an approaching hurricane.

Just really horrible timing.

Hurricane Isaac: Day One, Part II

Back out to get Mom at 9:30 this morning.  The storm surge started to move in.

River Road was covered with water just south of the entrance to her neighborhood so we had to take the long way and approach from the north -- but at least it was still clear in that direction.

Pascagoula River @ 9:30 August 28, 2012

Our cousin, Ritchie, took this picture at around the same time on south Martin in Pascagoula - down by the beach waterfront:

Other than that, the skies are blue and the kids and animals are bored.

Still waiting....

Hurricane ? Isaac: Day One

After finishing up our usual pre-hurricane routine this afternoon, which includes rushing out to get all of the stuff we totally forgot about when we were making our checklist, we checked out the latest forecast.  At the time we were hearing that we should expect hurricane-force winds sometime tonight with deteriorating conditions into the morning.

And so we made the decision to go pick my mother up from her house in Moss Point tonight.

We drove to her house to tell her we were going to be picking her up since I had been able to reach her by phone and then left again to pick up a big bag of rabbit food for the bunnies.  On the way out of her neighborhood we noticed a couple firetrucks and fire rescue trucks had arrived.  Fire rescue type guys were going door-to-door with clipboards.

By the time we had secured the bunny food and returned to Mom's house, the fire crew had made it to her street.  One of the clipboard guys told us they were taking a little survey to see who would be staying and who would be leaving.  Mom put herself on the 'leaving' list.

The rest of the evening was uneventful.  I mean, really.  Really, very uneventful.

We played with the dogs a bit.  We heckled some news coverage.  Watched a television show.

Then we checked out the latest update on our friend, Isaac.  Landfall somewhere in the world around 8 pm Tuesday Night.

And so, at 11:20 pm Mom repacked a small bag and we drove her back to her house for a good night's sleep.  We told her to make sure she calls if anything changes in the middle of the night.

11:45 pm:  Dave discovers Mom's cell phone on our living room floor.

12:09 am:  Waiting for Dave to get back from returning Mom's cell phone.

I think we will sleep in tomorrow.

As for conditions here in Pascagoula, MS at this very moment, I'd say the moon is very pretty tonight and there is a breeze.

We'll see what unfolds come sunlight.  Until then....

I could not have said it better myself.

The T.V. talking heads are all up in our “landmass” when they want to talk about racism, civil rights, lynching blacks, teen pregnancies, bottom of the barrel people of poverty, poorest state in the country, religious “nuts”, or the HORRIBLE education system in Mississippi…

Read the rest:

The Land Mass Between New Orleans and Mobile

Waiting for Isaac (A stunningly original post title)

Went out to get coffee.

Lots of people at the grocery store and out on the road.

I spotted out-of-state contractors with their fancy trucks and long trailers already descending upon our town.  I hope their trailers blow away.

I never thought doom would look quite like this.

 Also drove down towards the beach to check out the wave action.  

Did not find any wave action.

I considered texting Dave to ask him to get the boat ready.

Hey - we still have a few hours before doom, right?

It is okay, little bunnies.  This is a temporary housing arrangement - not at all unlike a FEMA trailer.

We have finished our preparations.

I should say we are not making any more preparations.

We have food and water.

The laundry is done.

We don't have anything important at floor level.  (Haven't since Katrina actually.)

We moved whatever wasn't tied down into the garage.

This included the bunnies.  Poor bunnies.

Now we are waiting to go get my mother.  

We don't want to get into wait-and-see mode too early, else we will lose our minds.

I am already losing my mind with the hurricane shutters up.

No wind. No rain. No clouds. No waves.  

Nothing yet.  

We shall see.

Shutters going up for Isaac.  Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have deja vu.

http://blogs.clarionledger.com/mramsey/files/2012/08/082812Isaac.jpg

At last!

Seven years later following the explosion of Facebook and plenty of time to stew in our own juices... The Land Mass between Louisiana and Alabama is making itself known.

https://www.facebook.com/TheLandMassBetweenNolaAndMobile

Getting ready for Hurricane Isaac.

Let's hope there will be no further updates to this blog page.

Prayers for all my fellow Land-Massers - as well as all our neighbors along the Gulf Coast.

Not professional

So after the terrifyingly high estimate for remodeling our backyard... I stopped moping and moved on to other things.  Seventy-five bucks buys a jug of concrete acid stain.  It's worth a shot right?

You know that sound...

The one that a record player makes when you slide the needle off the record?  It's used a lot in comedy these days - despite the fact that a majority of audiences have never seen a record player - but that's another post entirely.

Anyway - If I could spell that sound that's what the title of this blog post would be.

I was really excited last post about getting an estimate for work in the backyard.  I loved the guy who came out to do the estimate and was impressed with his company.  I had visions of a lovely sanctuary-like backyard. It would be the way it used to be before it was wrecked.

A week passed and I didn't hear from the guy.  I tried not to take this as a bad sign, but I was getting nervous.

When Dave called Monday to check on things and was told that he had worked on the estimate over the weekend, I really started to worry.  When the gentlemen came by the next morning and got out of his truck with a beautifully bound and covered estimate booklet, I cringed.  I peeked at the final page with the figures.  Just peeked.  It was devastating:  Over eleven-thousand dollars.

Now I just feel silly.  I was figuring on actually  having some money left over for a playset for the kids.  I thought there would be money left for mulch and plantings.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I didn't at all expect to be that far off on the costs.

To be fair - I don't think his estimate was high.  I think I was suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking.  A quick search for retaining wall and paver costs (installed) on the internet and plugging in our dimensions comes to quite near that figure.  It isn't like me not to research things ahead of time.... This was an emotional blunder.

Sigh.

I am sadly going back to the drawing board.  The drawing board will involve shovels and sweat and digging out those flowerbed trenches like we always have.  We don't really need a patio.  Maybe I'll still get that playset.  We'll see.

In the meantime - we'll go back to focusing on our practical repairs.

There are porch columns calling my name.

Pick me up

It hasn't just been months and months since we have blogged about our Hurricane Katrina repairs and/or home improvement projects.  It has been months and months since we have done anything.  We experienced and are experiencing burnout in a major way.

Out of money.  Out of energy.  Out of time.

It will be six years since Hurricane Katrina wrecked our house and our two sets of French doors are still fused shut from rust.  (Out of money.)  We still haven't put that final coat of paint on the living room walls.  (Out of energy.)  We never got around to finishing repairs to the back porch columns, replacing the crumbling ceiling fans, or replacing the fascia that has fallen off in subsequent storms. (Out of time.)

A snapshot of our lives right now:

There are five children.  Two are teenagers.  One is three years old.  We have school events, sporting events, projects, fundraisers, and constant expenses.  That's for two of them.  The other three are still taught - by me - at home.  We have eleven animals.  Eleven.  Eleven.  Dave does have a full time job.  I volunteer many hours a week.  We also clean the school cafeteria on Saturdays.  Milk is just over $5 per gallon.  Gas is a little less.  Our house is insured for over half a million dollars - but it doesn't appraise for nearly as much.  That costs a lot of money.  Teenage boys eat a lot.

Don't get me wrong.  I love my life.  I don't think Dave would complain either.

But I'm feeling a little overwhelmed... and a little down in the dumps.  We have been so used to making progress on the house that it seems like - despite all we do in a day - we aren't actually doing anything.  Add to this the fact that seven people in a house for a few years causes some inevitable wear and tear - and watching the things that we DID manage to fix slowly get old and worn and it's downright depressing.

And so.. It's time for a major project.  It really really is.  Yes - we'll be replacing those french doors soon and I have a couple painting projects to work on.  We'll be replacing the light fixtures in the kitchen and eventually finishing the back porch columns...  But I mean a major project.

Yesterday we had someone come over to give us an estimate for a backyard renovation.  I'm waiting breathlessly for the quote.  I'm wanting a stone retaining wall and a nice, new patio.  This is the pick-me-up I think we all need.  I'm sure of it.

With the fence installed...

It's time to post a couple of follow-up pictures and discuss the next steps.

The fence looks quite nice, but as you can see in the photos the flowerbeds have been allowed to go completely to heck.  This wasn't pure laziness on my part (thought it played a role).  With the telephone company out here for just over six weeks tromping on plants and digging large holes and trenches in our yard - it didn't seem prudent to spend a lot of time repairing their damage when I knew we had a fence to replace anyway.

I'll be posting plenty of horrifying before pictures of the backyard soon.  Anyone who has ever read my blog before knows I have always been pretty proud of my yards and gardens - so this will be an exercise in humility.  But I'm hoping the after impact will be all that much greater as a result.  Stay tuned.

Don't fence me in

We have a few projects planned for the next few months so it's time to start blogging again.

First up - there's the back fence that's falling down.  Or I should say - that was falling down.  It isn't anymore because it's gone.  One afternoon and night of taking the dog out on a leash and then we'll be set again.

Blogging on the go

Not enough time at the computer these days so we are going to give mobile blogging a shot.

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