The Mind of WebbWoman

Hello! Look for future posts about my "observations" Lord knows I am always making observations, movie reviews, whenever I see a movie I want to talk about, or I may just vent my frustrations...who knows?

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Life After the Storm

Click here to see how some guys from Oxford, Ms spent their Labor Day weekend.

People from all over came down here to help out. The day following the storm the National guard was out clearing the highway so more help could get here. To respond any faster, they would have to be out in the storm catching trees and stuff as it fell. On Wednesday they were starting to distribute water, ice and MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). On Labor Day, September 5, 2005, our church got the opportunity to say "thank you" to some of the National guard fellows who came here to help us out by giving them an old fashioned "home cooked" meal. We all had freezers full of food that would ruin because we had no electricity anyway, so we had a pot luck dinner and invited them all to come eat.These were the first to arrive:

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


We showed them into the church fellowship hall and told them to "dig in." Here we see some of the guys line up for food:

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Because there were no lights inside we set up tables under a metal shelter outside. (Miraculously, this little shelter weathered the storm without any damage at all.)

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


The guys standing behind the table to the right in the picture directly above were standing ready to refill glasses as the guys emptied them. They look ready to pounce.

When we found out that the truck drivers who brought in the water, ice and other supplies were camping at the same place with the soldiers we sent word for them to come eat too. We ended up feeding some 50 to 60 people, not counting ourselves, and had enough food left over to feed that many more. We were wishing we could get word to the work crews who came in to work on the power lines.

No joke, volunteers came from all over to help out. I met crews from as far away as Canada. They are all my heroes and I thank God for them.

In the mean time we carried on as best we could. My sister and I moved back in with our parents temperarily because they had a generator, and also to help them clean up around the house. Problem with the generator, was getting gas to run it. It's no fun living without lights and running water when you're used to it, but we did the best we could. Below, my sister and I take care of laundry the "old fashioned way." Sis is scrubbing and washing...

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


...and I'm rinsing, wringing and hanging out. After wringing out a pair of blue jeans we all agreed not to wear denim till we had a better way of washing.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


The temp got up to as high as 100-f and we took to hanging out under the car port because it was cooler than being inside. A humming bird started coming by looking for food so we rounded up a feeder.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


After a few days without lights or running water I started to get a little scruffy looking....ok, that's my normal look but I'm still blaming it on the storm! Actually I was out surveying the damage, or lack thereof to our houses, etc, and was struck by how blessed we were.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Next I'll post some pics from down on the coast. Till then be safe and happy.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home