One last Horrah!

We were invited to a final season pool party yesterday held at a friend of the friend's house. He bar-b-qued two beef cattle a small poultry farm and 3 pigs. At least with all the meat, it seemed PETA would be ther any minute. The food was really great. I even slipped in some vegetables, i.e. BBQ beans and cole slaw. Kennedy enjoyed swimming in the pool, but her dad had to get in with her and the water was cold. We had a good time and the weather was holding off. Thanks to Mark and Ashely for letting us crash their party. While there, a couple of our Friends children showed off some great fashion. GEAUX TIGERS!

Poly what?

Check out my Brother's company. This segment ran on the local news in Hattiesburg. Wow, he really is smart. So, if he got the brains, that means I must have gotten the looks. I think he got the better deal. Congratulations Brother, we are so proud of you, even though we don't know what it is you just said.

(My Brother, had a snippet from the local news that was embedded in the blog. The snippet has since been removed from the news website, and therefore had to remove the embedded file. But he used a lot of his big fancy educated words on the news cast. Thus the title of this post. )

In general his company has acquired a grant to do research on Chemo-therapy that would allow for the destruction of cancer cells without affecting normal tissues. Way to go Greg.

Aiden at last!

Saturday I didn't just catch up on rest. I decided to keep my original plan of going visit my brother to see his new son Aiden. Kennedy and I took off while Tanya attended a conference in Gulf Shores. It worked out well. We had a great visit and I get to hold him for a little while. He slept pretty much the whole time. I once again could not avoid hurricane duties. So I helped my brother go get a generator for his house with Ike looming in the Caribbean. Kennedy was great, she got to play with her cousins and hold Aiden again. She commented on how big he had gotten, because he no longer fit in her lap. She loves babies and loves more to help take care of them. He is growing bigger and soon will probably be able to hold Kennedy. Everyone was doing great. Below are some pictures, one of Aiden, asleep. The other my attempt at an artistic expression.

Tarping Rodeo!

Only some of my La. friends may get the title. A play on the Grand isle Tarpon Rodeo. Sorry!

Wednesday afternoon, Tanya finally heard from her parents. They were calling from her grandparents house using an old rotary dial phone. With power out, cordless phones were not working. And even if they were some of the telephone transfer stations were not on generator and could not carry a signal. Anyway, they called to ask for items that they were unable to get locally. Mainly gas and generators. Now they have a generator for there own home, but Tanya's grandparents do not and they wanted to be at their own home. Guess I can't blame them, I know once the storm would have passed me, I would have wanted to get back to my home as soon as possible. So Wednesday evening, and with the help of friends, I packed up 100 gallons of gasoline, two generators, water, batteries, flashlites, tools, tarps and anything we could think of that they might need.

I left home at 3:00 am Thursday morning. Of course with my cargo and the are I was going into, stopping was not an option. As my truck would have probably been pilferred. So straight through to my parents house first to bring them some fuel for their generator. Of course that is when I got to see all of the shigless from their roof missing.

Next I headed to my inlaws since they had more immediate needs. They had a leak in their roof, and rental properties with major damage. So after unloading we got Tanya's grandparents set up with the generator. Then up on the roof top hammer, hammer, hammer. Mr Dan and I put up a couple of tarps on his house, and i have to admit after putting down the second tarp we were getting pretty good. That's not a good thing, by the way.

That night it was hot and uncomfortable, even with generators. The cold shower I think was the best. My dad made the comment, "Leave some cold water for me." Yea right, I 'm using as much as I can.

Friday was back to tarping. This time at my father-in-law's rental house. The roof was blown out at two spots. Once again, our expertise showed through. This day was also great since filling stations were opening back up to provide much needed fuel. Also, more stores were begining to open with ice and water. Friday afternoon, my dad recieved his first load of groceries to restock his now bare shelves. So after helping Mr. Dan, it was off to the store. I helped stock shelves which I had not done in over 12 years. But every little bit helped. That night my mom kikced me out and sent me home. She wanted me to go home. So mcuh for being greatful. Anyway, last report was power back in 14 days.

Gustav!

Gustav took aim at the Louisiana coast, with Tanya's and my family in it's direct path. Of course neither of our families would evacuate from there homes. We received dozens of calls from our friends here in Alabama that were concerned about our families. Thank you all for your concern and prayers. Monday the storm came ashore in south Terrebone parish. The storm surge and strong winds caused major damage in the coastal regions. Of course not many people know this because most of the coverage was focused on Poor New Orleans. Since Katrina the media has been foaming at the mouth to have another disaster they could cover. Too many were just watching and waiting for the levees to fail again. Of course the storm went further west and N.O. was to the east side which as we all know is the worst side to be on. However, Terrebone and Lafourche (La-fush)parishes were the heaviest hit.

I spoke with my dad yesterday and he was at his grocery store. He opened up on Tuesday under generator power to provide what ever he could to the town. Of course he had armed guards to keep the piece. He reported roof damage and lots of debris. Reports were that power would be out for several weeks due to the damaged lines.

Tanya's parents we are yet to here from. Her brother Ryan is a First responder and is out helping to coordinate relief and rescue efforts. His wife is nun to happy about it but understands it is in his nature.

Anyway we wait for updates.

Kennedy and Joshua

Joshua is one of our friend's sons and Kennedy enjoys playing with him. Since Kennedy's school was closed Today, I stayed home with her in the morning and Tanya went to work for a half day. Her co-worker, who happens to be Joshua's mom worked the afternoon and allowed us to keep Joshua for a while. He and Kennedy had a great time. They rode bicycles and played in the house. They had a great time and Kennedy enjoyed having a friend over. He is an active boy to say the least. He just kept running circles in the house and had a blast pushing one of Kennedy's little shopping carts around as fast as he could. It was great to hear he and Kennedy laugh the whole time. He is a great child and we hope to have him over some more.