GUSTAV UPDATE: Aug. 31 – FINALLY, IT’S HERE!

After many days of watching, wondering, waiting and agonizing, finally GUSTAV has arrived. At least the first outer bands.

This morning crowned as a beautiful, sunny day here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at Long Beach.

Not as warm as it has been, and with a very light breeze flowing through the nearby Magnolia and Live Oak trees, giving no hint whatsoever of how different things will be in just 24 hours.

Due to unexpected interruptions yesterday, mostly at the Center, some of my planned preparation tasks on my GUSTAV To-Do List, did not get finished. Such as installing the three new tie-downs over my trailer.

The badly-needed tie-down job finally in process, gets put on hold, again. The front of my car is pointed straight south, and this property is approximately 2-3 blocks north of the Gulf beach.

That little task was the primary job that needed to be, must be tackled, first thing this morning. So, I laid out the six anchors in the spots where they needed to be screwed into the ground, grabbed a short two-by-four, and started auguring them into the ground.

Tough job when you are not used to doing that every day. When I was about half done, with the three rear anchors deep in the ground, my “On Call” cell phone rang, with my Director calling to say he needed me to come over to the Center to help reposition the large, gasoline, diesel and water trailers up to high ground, and maybe a few other things.

Damn! Was I never going to get those tie-downs installed? Before GUSTAV arrived with its testy winds?

One of the outer bands of clouds associated with Hurricane Gustav.

So, over to the Center I went, assisted with the trailer redeploying, and then got volunteered to go with the warehouse manager to deliver more specialized lift equipment, supplies and food up to the Specialized Treatment Facility, 12 miles to the north of the Center, where the last 40 of our clients were evacuated to today.

As I heard myself saying, “OK, I’ll go with Ray and get it taken care of,” I was acutely visualizing those three 27′ yellow tie-down straps laying in the grass besides my trailer, not doing a hoot in hell’s worth of good to anybody. And the countdown clock continued to tick.

Ray and I made the trip up to the STF, delivered all the things that were needed there, and headed back to the Center, where hopefully we would be done for the rest of the afternoon and evening. On the trip back, we gave a ride back to one of our Center co-workers, Stephanie D., who shared what her experience was during Katrina. Perhaps I can share that with you in a day or so. Very harrowing and incredibly stressful for Steph.

The STF, where approximately 40 of our clients were evacuated to today, out of harm’s way, from Gustav.

As we drove up Beatline Road to the STF, I noticed a lot of traffic moving north, especially vehicles towing boats and travel trailers. Most of the businesses along the route were already closed and most had boarded up windows and doors.

After Ray and I arrived back at the Center, I talked hom into letting me borrow a few plastic tote boxes, so I could put some important papers and things in, and haul them to a more secure place than my little fragile travel trailer. Ray offered to drop them off at my trailer on his way home, so away we went.

Arriving at my trailer, Ray asked if I needed any help with installing the tie-down straps over the top of my trailer, to which I replied: “Thank you, Jesus!”

Fifteen minutes later, we were done and the new restraints were all in place. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders, and my stress level went down by half of what it was running all day to that point.

Finally, the three additional tie-down straps are completely installed. I hope they do the trick against Gustav’s coming winds.

About 45 minutes later, as I was starting the next important task of assembling my gear for the transition over to the Center tonight, Ring – Ring – Ring, goes my personal cell phone this time. Dorothy, the Assistant Center Director, and my friend, was calling to ask if I could arrange to get 20 air mattresses out of the warehouse, get them inflated, and bring them up to the STF, as our Center staff members up there caring for our clients didn’t have any place to sleep, and they were needed.

As I deeply exhaled, again going visual – seeing all my gear sitting in my trailer, not in readiness for the transition, I said, “Sure, Dorothy, we’ll get it taken care of and have them up there in a little while.

Miss Dorothy is one of the nicest people (and fellow employees) I know down here, and when she asks, I’ll do everything I can to see that her request is taken care of. Dorothy has two sisters, Sally-Ann Roberts, who is one of the Anchors at WWL-TV in New Orleans, and Robin Roberts, Anchor at ABC’s Good Morning America.

So, I called Ray on my cell and told him we had another delivery to make up to the STF, and we agreed to meet back at the maintenance complex to dig out the 20 air mattresses and get them inflated.

A minute before 6:00pm, Ray arrived at the complex, and at that moment, an incredibly huge, black, rolling wall cloud, like something right out of the movies Independence Day or Close Encounters, rolled right over our heads, followed a minute later with the hardest downpour of sideways rain and wind I have ever seen.

HURRICANE GUSTAV HAD ARRIVED!

Or at least the first serious outer band of the huge storm.

Ray and I quickly inflated the 200 air mattresses, loaded them onto the box truck, and we headed up Beatline Road again towards the STF, with me following in my car. My gas tank was half empty, and I just hadn’t had time to top it off in the past two days, so I knew I should do that on this trip, or else risk not having a station available in several days or perhaps a week or two, depending upon how bad GUSTAV ravaged our area.

And wouldn’t you know the first several gas stations we went by were either closed, boarded up, or out of gas, due to all the last minute buying from people either evacuating, topping off their own tanks, or filling spare gas cans for generator use, if it comes to that. People remember what it was like after Katrina, and that’s good.

At any rate, I finally found a station at I-10, and filled up my tank, and we continued on to the STF and delivered the 20 air mattresses.

While carrying the mattresses inside the building several of the clients called out to me and said Hello, as they often do when I am doing a work order in their Cottage home. It was very heartwarming to see virtually all of them smiling and having an enjoyable experience there at the STF, out of harm’s way.

All of our Center direct care workers and support staff up there with them have done a great job of making them feel as comfortable and as un-stressed as possible, to their deserved credit, during this major disruption of their routines and normal schedules.

It was also heartwarming to note the staff’s dedication to that large and important care need up there, especially when many of them had families of their own still in a danger area along the coast, with GUSTAV approaching.

As I drove back down Beatline, traveling under I-10, towards my trailer, I checked my watch to see that it was about 7:30pm, and I suddenly realized that I had not eaten all day! Which is not an especially good thing if you happen to be a diabetic. My focus today was on many other things, and not on my health.

Ever try to find a place open to eat at, when a major hurricane was expected to start bringing its handiwork ashore? Absolutely nothing was open! Food stores, restaurants, all closed and most boarded up.

I finally found a place open, had a quick sandwich, and arrived back at my trailer, where I am finishing this post, relating to you all (or y’all) the process of continuing to prepare for Hurricane GUSTAV’s landfall.

What it’s like to be in the target zone of one of these monsters of nature.
And now it is time to finish gathering my hurricane gear, and move over to the Center to my place of (what I hope is) safety for the next few days.

Hopefully, I can continue these updates as GUSTAV continues to come ashore during the next day or two. I’ll do my best.

It is my sincere prayer that GUSTAV will not inflict the terrible carnage on any of the Gulf Coast area, like Katrina did three years ago. I don’t want anyone to have to be a GUSTAV hurricane relief volunteer. Please God, if you have anything to say about it!

Again, sincere Thanks to all of you many souls who stopped by for these hurricane updates these past few days, and for all of your expressions of support, your thoughts, prayers and encouraging and comforting words; they mean so very much.

Take care and God Bless!

Until later…

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GUSTAV UPDATE: IT’S GETTING CLOSER, …AND STRONGER

Editor’s note: I had intended to publish this GUSTAV UPDATE late last night, but wouldn’t you know, my internet connection took a hike then, and didn’t come back until a little while ago. I’ll attempt another update later this afternoon or early afternoon.

Preparations for the arrival of Hurricane GUSTAV in about four days, continue here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, as the storm gains speed and strength as it approaches the Gulf of Mexico today, the three-year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

GUSTAV made a serious transition today, from a Tropical Storm into a Category 1 Hurricane and will probably soon go to a Category 3 storm, as it continues its trajectory towards the Gulf of Mexico and landfall somewhere on the Gulf Coast.

As the following figure illustrates, today’s National Hurricane Center’s projected trajectory map of GUSTAV’s path to the Gulf Coast changed only in a minor way, from that of yesterday.

Most weather experts’ guesses (and that really is what they are at this point), are that GUSTAV will make landfall somewhere in southern Louisiana, west of New Orleans.

If that happens, that may be very bad for The Big Easy, as well as for the nearby Mississippi Gulf Coast (and yours truly and my neighbors here), depending upon how large and strong GUSTAV has grown to by that point. So much of what will happen with it, is still very vague.

So we on the Gulf Coast wait…

And wait some more…

And we continue to get ready.

Today, I personally observed considerable activity here in the Gulfport – Long Beach – Pass Christian coastal area, as may residents continue their own preparations for whatever GUSTAV brings their way on late Monday, Labor Day, and Tuesday.

The following types of retail outlets were doing a rather brisk business around here today, associated with GUSTAV’s approach, including gas stations, pharmacies, hardware and food stores, and the local Lowes and Home Depot stores. The number of cars and trucks filling the parking lots of these stores
was large, indeed.

During work at the Center today, we continued preparing for GUSTAV, removing awnings from buildings, boarding up windows, moving beds around between Client Cottages, assisting with preparations to evacuate our 135 clients in the morning to other facilities more north in Mississippi, moving many of our fleet of vehicles to the highest parking lot and a few other things.

Most of the clients don’t realize what is going on with Campus preparations for GUSTAV in their behalf, and will probably be slightly agitated during the moving process tomorrow. But, then most of them enjoy riding in the Center buses and vans to places, so I imagine overall, they will enjoy their adventure. At least they will be in a safe place during GUSTAV.

Today, I also had the opportunity to ask a number of my fellow employees at the Center where I work weekdays, about their own preparations for GUSTAV, and their feelings about Katrina and the fact that today was the third anniversary of when Katrina came ashore with its 30′ storm surge and hurt so many families living here.

Many of them admitted that they were having painful memories about what Katrina did to them, and how much they suffered from her powerful forces.

And then, some fellow employees admitted that they had not yet made any preparations for GUSTAV. But, they might start on that tomorrow…

LIKE, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, PEOPLE???????

One of the fellows I work with in Maintenance said that thinking about Katrina was quite painful for him, as it brought back such sad memories of him, his sister and his brother all losing their homes and all within them during Katrina.

He and I will be two of the four Maintenance guys staying at the Center in one of the administration buildings during Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday, when GUSTAV comes through. He currently lives in a Katrina Cottage, in Pass Christian, on a lot that had probably 15′ of storm surge water rushing through it during Katrina.

Another employee, a lady, who I am going to call Melissa here, had incredibly stressful memories of the morning when Katrina came to visit her and her family.

Melissa, along with her spouse, were at her parents home, along with her spouse’s parents, the six of them, the house in an area in Gulfport that was not formerly classified as being in any flood zone.

Katrina came chugging and churning in that fateful morning, exactly three years ago this morning. The storm surge waters surrounded the home, and rose steadily in a short time, until the waters started coming inside.

As Melissa and her family members watched in disbelief, the water came into the home and the level in the home quickly grew higher and higher, until they frantically decided that the rapidly rising waters were a serious threat to their lives, and they must leave the home and reach higher ground in order to survive.

As they forced the front door open and waded onto the front porch and steps area, Melissa’s father, who was in the lead, was suddenly swept away by the swiftly flowing and rising waters. The frantic family members quickly lost sight of him, as they, themselves, with considerable effort, made their way through the deep water, all the way around the corner of the house and into a nearby large, Live Oak tree growing there.

They climbed high into the tree, desperately hanging on for their very lives, all the while consumed with grief and worry that Melissa’s father had probably not survived in the waters that took him away so quickly out of sight, as he led them from the house.

For six long, wet, windy hours Katrina raged and raged, while the five of them clung to that Live Oak tree, waiting for the terrible conditions of the storm to lessen, so they may climb down to the ground and go searching for Melissa’s missing father.

At long last, the wind and rain lessened, and practically numb from their perilous experience, they climbed down from the limbs of the tree, into the knee-deep water, and began their search.

A short time later, miraculously, they found him, alive, also in a large tree.

All during those six hours while they were clinging to life in the tree, they had no idea if he was alive or dead. And, he, also in a tree, had no idea if the five of them had perished or not. Tremendously stressful, physically and emotionally.

When I first met Melissa, about six months after Katrina, it was very difficult for her to talk about this life-threatening experience. And for the first two months after I met her, she just couldn’t bring herself to talk about it. Finally, she consented to share her story.

So, one evening while we were having supper in a large, white FEMA food tent, speaking very slowly and with some difficulty, she shared her terrible memory with me. As I listened, tears appeared in my eyes, and I slowly wiped them away as she continued.

When she was almost finished with her story, she looked down and then went on to describe that almost drowning wasn’t the worst part, nearly losing her father wasn’t the worst part, losing her home and all her clothes and furniture wasn’t the worst part, the worst part was losing her pets which she and her husband had left in their home when they had gone over to be with her and his parents. Because their home also was not officially in a flood zone, they had thought they would be safe there.

Tragically, they weren’t.

I have heard so many tragic stories from area residents during my time here with them, each one seemingly more tragic than the previous one. I don’t know how many times my heart was broken listening to them, crying tears with them as they remembered and shared those painful memories.

This evening, I journeyed through Long Beach, over into The Pass (Pass Christian), and observed many families there preparing their homes for GUSTAV’s arrival.

I also shot many images of how buildings near the beach (like I am), look now, before GUSTAV gets here. I also stopped at SHAGGY’S CAFE in The Pass Harbor, one of my favorite seafood places to eat, and had a fish sandwich, before heading back to Long Beach and a quick stop at the food store for some milk and juice.

The Gulf there near The Pass Harbor, was beautiful this evening, with some children playing in the shallow water, probably not even suspecting that in only four days, that same water would be absolutely treacherous, unforgiving and merciless, to all who may be in there.

During that trip, I marveled at how much recovery the area had made since Katrina, how beautiful so many of the new buildings are now, after Katrina reduced them to rubble three years ago. As I looked at them, I silently wondered how many of them would be changed by GUSTAV.

Along Highway 90 in Pass Christian, work is still under way to rebuild beaches there which were severely eroded by Katrina’s storm surge and wave action. Will GUSTAV reverse the tremendous progress made in that effort to rebuild the beaches after Katrina?

As I sat in SHAGGY’S eating my sandwich, I wondered if I would be able to eat at SHAGGY’S next week, after GUSTAV.

I wondered how GUSTAV would change my life.

I decided it already had.

This evening, after arriving back at my trailer, I ran across my dear friend Maggie-Dammit’s post about the friendship we share, and how very much it connects with my life here on the coast. Maggs is such a sweet soul, she just blew me away with her sweet words. She is such an incredibly gifted writer, great mother and spouse!

Tomorrow morning early, I will assist many of the staff at the Center with the evacuation process, including fueling up all the buses and vans that will be used for the moving process. After that, I will concentrate on my own last minute preparations for GUSTAV, here at my trailer, including installing the three new 27′ tie-down straps over the top of the trailer and get the anchors into the ground, buying a few gas cans of extra gasoline for my car and generator, packing my suitcase for when I will be at the Center during GUSTAV, and packing up and moving most of the trailer contents over to a secure room at the Center, for the duration of GUSTAV.

That should take most of the day I think. And, I’ll respond to any calls from the Center that need attention, being the Maintenance guy “On Call” during this weekend and this coming week. With the clients being evacuated in the morning, hopefully it will be more quiet there Saturday and Sunday.

Depending upon what happens with GUSTAV during its approach to the coast, I may be called in to do more window boarding and other things at the Center.

And somewhere during the weekend, I am hoping to get a little sleep. Yeah, right!

Thanks so much for all who stopped by today to check out the GUSTAV posts, over 300 of you, and offered encouragement and prayers for those of us here on the Gulf Coast. Your thoughts and prayers and encouragement are so appreciated!

Please continue to stop by for more Updates, and images, as I will try my best to keep them coming before and all during when GUSTAV gets here, depending my internet access.

I am anxious to see if the Cell towers go down when GUSTAV is here, too. That would suck!

See, there’s no panic in my voice…

IS THERE……….???

We’ll see how it goes…

Take care.

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2008 – WEEK #17 – MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BLUE BIRD UPDATE

Ok, Blue Bird fans, it’s Week #17 update time for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Program in the city of Long Beach, on the 45-acre campus of the South Mississippi Regional Center!

So, here is what ‘Master Naturalist’ buddy John and I found today, June 27, 2008, walking around campus during a Friday morning, taking the Blue Bird Trail nesting survey.

There are dozens of gray squirrels on the SMRC Campus.

Here are this week’s Survey results:

Box #1- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #2- 3 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 3 Blue Bird babies, 2 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #3- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Another campus gray squirrel.

Box #4- 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.

Box #5- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #6- 3 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: New Blue Bird nest, 1 Blue Bird egg.

Box #7- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest on Friday afternoon.

The Killdeer babies on the campus have really grown during the past week, and almost look like their parents now.

Box #8- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #9- 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird babies.

Box #10- Empty nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

Box #11- Few old straw. – Last week: Few straw, no activity.

One of the Killdeer parents is always near the babies.

Box #12- 5 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: e Blue Bird eggs.

Box #13- Empty Nesting box, no activity. – Last week: Empty nesting box, no activity.

During the past several days, ‘pop-up’ thunderstorms have been very common on the Mississippi Gulf Coast area, and yesterday, provided a very heavy rain storm over the SMRC Campus.

Totals This Week: 12 Blue Bird eggs, 3 Blue Bird babies, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 0 sterile eggs,
7 empty nesting boxes, 3 Killdeer babies.

Totals Last Week: 12 Blue Bird eggs, 7 Blue Bird babies, 0 Sterile eggs, 7 empty nesting boxes, 4 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 3 Killdeer babies.

Master Naturalist buddy John continues to be very enthused about the activity, and reports that during the last 17 weeks of the program, 36 Blue Bird babies and 6 Chickadee babies have flown from their nests, and we also have 3 Killdeer babies who have left their ground nest in one of the grassy areas on campus, and have joined their parents in feeding on the ground, during this first season of the new Blue Bird Trail.

The weather today was partly cloudy, light wind and about 88 degrees.

Another update will be along next weekend.

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HARBOR LUNCH IN ‘THE PASS’

Yesterday and today, I had the pleasure of hanging around with Master Naturalist Buddy John and Emily, the Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog, out at John’s home north of Pass Christian, Mississippi, on Bayou Arcadia, north of The Bay of St. Louis.

You got a bit of a look at John’s place in my recent post, “Week #13 – Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Update.”

The weather this weekend has been pretty nice, with daytime highs around 88 or so, with moderate humidity; not nearly so nasty as it has been the past couple of weeks and will be again soon, as we slide more into the heat of the gulf coast summer.

A rain shower passes by John’s home on Bayou Arcadia, north of Pass Christian, Saturday afternoon.

I had done quite a bit of work for John last summer and fall, helping to build a new bathroom in a ground floor room (he calls it his ‘shed’) at his home, and he and I were doing some more modifications to his ground level area this weekend.

As you can see from the images in “Week #13 – Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Update,” John’s home is quite a ways up off the ground on wood pilings, but still not so high that he could escape having 5 feet of storm surge during Hurricane Katrina in the living area of his home. That amount of water made it necessary to completely gut the inside of the home up to the ceiling level.

John had the foresight to have had flood insurance on his home structure, and that allowed him to repair it after Katrina finished with it, much of it done with volunteer helpers. He has been frugal in choosing the materials and sources for re-doing his home, and has been able to end up with a beautiful home to live in.

He has planted a large number of flowers, plants and trees on the property, especially in the back yard, between the home and the pier on the bayou. One of the most interesting things he has growing on the ground floor area, above the fish-cleaning table and lower back deck, are the young Banana Spiders. The largest one he has there at the moment, is about the size of an old half dollar. John advises that they will grow to be the size of a canning jar lid, and be beautiful. Yeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh, I can hardly wait…

While cutting some boards this afternoon, we chased a Brown Recluse female spider down through the deck floor boards, where the Black Widow spiders hang out. Maybe some of you would like to come and help the next time I go out there to work, huh? If not, I’ll understand.

The beach next to Pass Christian harbor on Sunday.

John doesn’t let Emily out in the back yard now without watching her so she doesn’t go near the pier and water, since he saw a gator measuring about 6′ in length swimming around there two days ago. If the gator hangs around, he will call the Game & Fish to come and trap it and transport it to an safer location.

After finishing working yesterday afternoon, John and I went over to Kimball’s Shrimp Cafe in The Pass for lunch. They have giant cheeseburgers and great shrimp po-boys. While there, we ran into a fellow I work with and his sister, who is rebuilding her home in The Pass, which Katrina totally destroyed.

This afternoon, with most local cafes closed, John and I went to Shaggy’s Cafe on the beach, in the Pass Christian Harbor, for lunch. Shaggy’s Cafe is located right in the middle of the harbor, on the water, up high on pilings, with various private boats and shrimpers moored nearby.

Shaggy’s Cafe in the harbor at Pass Christian, Mississippi.

They had a pretty good size crowd when we arrived, and we ended up sitting at a small table out on the deck in the sunshine, directly overlooking the water and boats.

John ordered some Gumbo, while I had the Shrimp Po-Boy, and we dined watching various boats come and go all around us.

A big thrill was when a 39′ banana boat with three engines pulled in and docked directly below our table, and we got to watch the crew unload several large yellow-fin tuna from the fish hold, into the lower portion of the restaurant. The six people on board had been out two days and caught the tuna halfway to Mexico.

Part of the harbor in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

After we sat down at our table, a young waitress who John knew, named Katie, stopped by our table and said hello to John. He introduced me to her, and advised her that we had been working at his house earlier in the afternoon. I told her I was from Wisconsin, and when I did that, she grabbed my arm and punched me in the shoulder. Then she said she was from Wisconsin, too!

I said, “You’re kidding, where from?” And she says, “Most recently, Madison. My mother just got back from there last week.” I said, “Girl, my home is just south of Madison. What a small world!”

The next time she walked by us, I asked her, “Where are you from originally in Wisconsin?” She replied, “Tomah.” I said, “Really, I used to eat at the supper club in Tomah, ‘The Teepee.’” She says, “No way! My family and I went in there to eat all the time!” Then she said, “I’m going in and call my dad and tell him about this; this is amazing!”

Yes, it is a small world, at times.

Shaggy’s Cafe at the harbor in The Pass.

As we dined at Shaggy’s, I couldn’t help buy notice the many shrimp boats which were tied up at piers in The Pass Harbor, rather than out in the sound or gulf shrimping. Shrimping season started during this past week, but many shrimpers were not going out, due to the high cost of diesel fuel and the current low price of shrimp, due in part, to the competition from shrimpers in southeast Asia.

Like I said, it is a small world, at times, and what happens on the other side of it, does affect us on this side, more and more as time passes.

Rebuilding Pass Christian, and the rest of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is proceeding along, and much has been done to repair and replace homes, businesses, schools, churches and public buildings damaged or destroyed by Katrina. However, much remains to be rebuilt, as evidenced by the large numbers of empty home slabs remaining, as well as the large numbers of Katrina Cottages and FEMA trailers still left around the coast. Those are families without permanent homes, still waiting to get their lives back.

It is that challenge which brought me to Mississippi Gulf Coast a year and a half ago, and which I will continue to play a small part in the rest of this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

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MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE BUFFET… OH, MY!

It was about 3 weeks or so ago, that I posted “Dammit! (Not you, Maggie)” about my experience during an evening supper at a Buffet in west Biloxi, when four women sitting at the table next to mine, all ended up talking on their cell phones at the same time.

After finishing my day job late this afternoon, I was over in south Gulfport this evening, working on a home about two blocks north of the gulf, and after finishing up there, decided that as long as I was that far east, and it being the end of my birthday week, I would drive a little more east and treat myself to supper out at the Chinese Buffet I was at three weeks ago.

When I walked inside the restaurant, I was seated in the same general area where I sat last time, and after a quick glance around, I noted with relief that the same four women were not in attendance this evening.

Shortly after I arrived and started eating my food selections, a young family with three children, probably ranging in ages from 5 to 10, were seated at a table next to mine.

As they approached their table, I ventured a quick glance in their direction and noted that the mom was a stunning, young woman, about 5’9″ tall, buxom, slender, long, black, shoulder-length hair, with a low-cut, black blouse on top of a pair of snug, designer jeans. Dad was in a white t-shirt and jeans, also.

What was particularly noticeable about the woman though, in another glance their way a few moments later, was the design of her loose-fitting black blouse.

How can I accurately describe it and due it justice?

Well, it was constructed so that the black fabric stretching from the left shoulder crossed the center of her chest and went over the other expanse of fabric coming from her right shoulder and attaching at her left side. The most notable thing about the blouse, though, is that it was cut very low and very open! In fact, the opening in front was so large as to just about expose most of her breasts.

The next time I glanced over at their table as I was taking a drink of Diet Coke (and yes, I continued to eat my supper; I didn’t freeze and just stare open-mouthed), I almost spit the Coke all over the table, when I saw that her left breast had escaped from her blouse and was right there in the open like a grapefruit sitting there waiting to be picked!

About the same time, her husband, who was sitting across from her, noticed the gate was open, and said quietly to her, “Honey, your breast is out of your top.” She looked down at it, made a quick comment: “Oops!” and deftly tucked it sort of back inside the blouse.

No on else was sitting close enough or at the right angle to have noticed the ‘action’ as myself and her husband had, and as I took another drink of my Diet Coke, I said to myself, “This could be a long meal!”

As it turned out (no pun intended), “IT” happened 3-4 more times during their supper, with the husband noticing and telling her each time, to cover it up.

When the wife/mom went back over to the buffet lines a few minutes later to refill her plate, a younger man from the other dining room came out to refill his plate also, and ended up being near her as she made her way along each line to check out the foods.

It was interesting that when she walked from her table over to the buffet, the husband stopped in mid-bite, kind of like he froze in place, watching every move she made, as well as how close the guy from the back dining room was to her during her selection process. When ‘they’ would become partially hidden by a post or other patron, the husband would half stand and stretched right or left to try to see his wife and what she was doing.

I couldn’t help suppressing a chuckle watching his movements as he watched her so closely, wondering just how much he really trusted her. When she was just about back to their table, the hubby ‘un-froze’ and started eating again, watching her as she sat down. He then said something very quietly to her, so softly that I didn’t catch what was said, but she just kind of made a face and shock her head a little and went back to eating, pretty much ignoring him as she did. A short time later, they finished their meal and left.

I sat there for a few more minutes at my table, slightly shaking my head and chuckling to myself, thinking that one never knows what human drama will play out near him as the minutes and hours of his life pass.

I finished up, paid the bill and then stopped by the Sears store in the Crossroads Mall for a few minutes to purchase a new screwdriver, to replace one I had lost a couple of days ago.

I then headed back west towards Gulfport and Long beach, driving on Hwy 90 along the gulf shore, enjoying the beautiful sunset to the west.

It was an interesting day, and an even more interesting night, down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Earlier this afternoon, just before punching out from my day job, I spent about 20 minutes sitting on the sidewalk beside one of my favorite clients at the Center, Gary, who is wheelchair-bound, repairing his super squirt gun, which had sprung a pretty good leak.

During each afternoon I am at the center, when I see Gary in his mobile chair near his cottage, I usually stop, go over and see if he has his squirt gun with him, and if so, I’ll go inside the cottage and fill it with water, so he can squirt everyone who comes along. Gary gets a great kick out of it, no one else seems to mind, and he ends up fulfilling one of the staff goals for him to flex and exercise his fingers on the one hand he does have the use of.

When ever I see Gary tooling around campus in his motorized chair, we always stop and exercise a crisp, military salute to each other, each one a reminder of our friendship with each other. When I catch him when I am out of my work truck, and am fairly close to him, we also do an ‘Incredible Hulk’ upper body flex action at each other, and then knuckle bump before parting company for that time.

When I finish my two-year hurricane relief personal mission down here around the end of this year, and head back up to Wisconsin, I am going to miss terribly seeing and interacting with client friends like Gary. It will be very hard to leave them.

Tomorrow, I will be working on another home just north of Pass Christian. Hope it isn’t too hot and humid.

But it probably will be.

After all, it is mid June in south Mississippi…

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SATURDAY HEAT AND WIRING FUN!

This morning and most of the afternoon I had the privilege of working on several wiring issues at the home of a young family in Gulfport, who needed some miscellaneous household electrical wiring projects done.

It was very warm working in the sunshine, and it was quite considerate of the father to bring out several bottles of cold water for me to drink while I was working. He did his best to help out, and told me that he was not a handyman, but he liked to help out when he could. He really was a big help.

Hopefully, by the end of the project this afternoon, he now has a little better understanding about how household electrical wiring circuits work. The family was very appreciative of having me assist them, and it was another one of those work projects down here which provides a good feeling to be here and helping.

Fortunately, Hurricane Katrina didn’t hurt them any worse than it did.

After finishing the wiring project, I drove up to the Barnes & Noble store, had a caramel macchiotto coffee drink, a turkey & cheese paninni sandwich and read a bunch of mags for a while, then drove back to my little travel trailer and turned on the A/C in my bedroom to relax and check stuff online.

The temp in the trailer in the late afternoon gets to be about 105 to 110 degrees when the air has not been on; these things have such little insulation, it takes quite a bit of time for the temp to cool down below sauna level. I don’t run the window A/C unit when I am gone, as it makes my electric bill much harder to pay each month, so I grin and bear it (and sweat).

I did enjoy a couple of quick emails after I got back with friend, Sarah of The Almost Royal up north near my Wisconsin home, about her community’s annual celebration called “The Frolic.” She is a neat young lady whose posts are hilarious and always get my undivided attention with her enthusiastic and witty prose!

Apparently, the heat outside today took more out of me than just sweat and water, as when put my head on my pillows, I crashed and just woke up at about 10:00pm. Hmmm, must have stayed up too late last night viewing posts and web sites (again!).

Tomorrow morning, I will go over to a friend’s Katrina Cottage in Pass Christian, to help with the building of his sister’s new home located behind his, being built by volunteers. She lost her previous home on the same site, to Katrina’s storm surge.

There are still a lot of empty slabs around the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a lot of slabs… and the Atlantic (and Gulf Coast) Hurricane Season 2008 begins officially in exactly 25 minutes!

Time for some more sleep.

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2008 – WEEK #13 – MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST BLUE BIRD UPDATE – WITH PICS OF EMILY THE TREE-CLIMBING WONDER DOG & NATURALIST JOHN!

It’s Week #13 update time for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Blue Bird Program folks! So, here is what ‘Master Naturalist’ buddy John and I found today, May 30, 2008, walking around campus during our Friday afternoon Blue Bird Trail nesting survey: (sprinkled in among the findings are images of Master Naturalist Buddy John, his Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog Emily, his home and his magnificent view).

**John asked me to remind our readers this week that he is: still single, and eligible, has a great dog by the name of Emily – the Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog, a black manx cat named Haley, lives in a beautiful home with a magnificent view on a bayou north of Pass Christian , likes to hunt and fish, is interested in dating and possible marriage to woman who is: single, age 21-35, beautiful, educated, good sense of humor, loves dogs and cats, loves to fish and has a boat. If interested, please send picture of boat.

I don’t know, folks. That’s what he told me to write…

Here goes:

Image of Nesting Box #6 from last week’s survey.

Box #1- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird babies flew.

Master Naturalist Buddy John, cooking fish at one of his famous bayou cookouts, is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, which is also Brett Favre’s alma mater.

Box #2- Full Blue Bird nest built, 1 Blue Bird egg. – Last week: More straw placed in box.

John’s dog, Emily, the Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog, in a 750-year old Live Oak, in Long Beach, Mississippi.

Box #3- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Emily the Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog heads up a steep incline in the Live Oak.

Box #4- At least 2 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: At least 2 Blue Bird babies.

Emily is literally not afraid to go way out on a limb, in this second largest Live Oak tree in Mississippi, with a limb spread of 161 feet! Emily is not afraid to get up in the air in her pursuit of squirrels.

Box #5- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Yep, she loves it up there.

Box #6- 3 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.

You wouldn’t catch me up that high!

Box #7- 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: 4 Blue Bird eggs.

She’s one amazing dog!

Box #8- Empty box, no activity. Last week: – Empty box, no activity.

John’s home is on the Bayou Portage, and has a beautiful view of the Wolf River Marsh, on the north side of the Bay of St. Louis, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, just north of Pass Christian. Try to picture a Katrina water storm surge level which reached a foot above the hand rail of the very top deck! That was 31 feet above sea level, folks! John;s home survived the surge, but had to be completely gutted inside.

Box #9- 4 Blue Bird eggs. – Last week: New nest built & 1 Blue Bird egg.

View from John’s dining/living room and back deck of the Wolf River Marsh.

Box #10- Empty box, no activity. – Empty box, no activity.

View from the top deck of John’s home, of the Bayou Portage and Wolf River Marsh. The little girl on the short deck, is Evy, and the fellow bending over on the right on the bayou dock is her father, and they are also the daughter and husband of none other than that Wizard of Words, MAGGIE, DAMMIT, who, with her family, were all on the Mississippi Gulf Coast last June as volunteers helping rebuild homes after Hurricane Katrina, her second such volunteer relief trip to the coast in the spring and summer of 2007.

Box #11- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

Emily the Tree-Climbing Wonder Dog.

Box #12- Empty box, no activity. – Last week: Empty box, no activity.

The boat/fishing deck at John’s home on the Bayou Portage at sunset, is an incredibly beautiful place to be. The fisherman on the right on the dock is the husband of Maggie, Dammit.

Box #13- 4 Blue Bird babies. – Last week: 5 Blue Bird eggs.

Totals This week: (may 30, 2008): 9 Blue Bird eggs, 9 Blue Bird babies, 7 empty nesting boxes.

Totals Last week: (May 23, 2008):15 Blue Bird eggs, 2 Blue Bird babies, 5 Blue Bird babies flew the nest, 5 empty nesting boxes.

Master Naturalist buddy John continues to be very enthused about the activity, and reports that so far, 19 Blue Bird babies and 6 Chickadee babies have flown from the nesting boxes during this first season of the new Blue Bird Trail. The weather today was partly cloudy, humid and about 88, with more of the same during the next seven days.

Another update will be along next weekend.

Happy Birding, and Thanks for stopping by!

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GLIMMERING WATERS HIDE MONSTER THAT WAS THERE – HELP NEEDED!

The waters were like a beautiful, glimmering mirror, driving westerly along the beach on Highway 90 in Pass Christian Saturday morning.

Just a hint of a breeze, but not enough to really cause a ripple in the calm, Mississippi Gulf Coast waters.

How quietly deceiving.

As I drove along, witnessing such calm beauty, I couldn’t help thinking about if I was on this very spot, at this very time, on August 29, 2005, just 32 months ago, this same beautiful, calm water, would be 27 feet over my head, and I would be dead, like 32 others were in Pass Christian that day, 3 of whom, still have yet to be found.

The beaches have been cleaned up, and look really nice again.

Highway 90 is in the process of being re-paved, to erase scarred, ugly reminder of what Katrina did to it.

And almost all of the lots in The Pass have had the storm debris removed from them.

There remains thousands of dead Southern Pine trees, though, killed by the salt water of Katrina’s 31-foot surge.

Of the homes which were spared by Katrina in The Pass, were damaged in some manner, but were left on their foundations, many have been repaired, many not yet back to where they were on Aug. 28, 2005.

Many of the empty lots there, most still having the empty foundation slabs, have had new ‘tree houses’ of some nature, built upon them, much higher in elevation than their predecessors.

And, multitudes of the lots and slabs remain empty. Waiting.

Except for those still hosting one of the many FEMA trailers still around this town of formerly 7,000 residents.

There has been progress, yes, but so much remains to be done.

Volunteers from out-of-state and the area, are still coming to help, but in much smaller numbers than in the past. It shows that there are people from outside who still are aware and understand and care that much remains to be done all along the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast and in New Orleans, to help families recover from Katrina.

I received an email yesterday from my friend, Pastor Dennis Perger, of Jordan Lutheran Church, in rural Argyle, Wisconsin, inquiring about bringing another youth group down to Pass Christian this summer, like he has the past two years, for a week of volunteer work.

This evening, on my way back ‘home’ to my trailer in Long beach, I stopped in The Pass at The Tent Village, where Pastor Dennis and his group stayed last summer, to see if the Village could still host them.

A delightful, dedicated fellow, Wesley Beaver, is in charge of the Tent Village now, and advised that, yes, indeed, they are still operating and accepting volunteers there to come and help recover in The Pass.

However, Wesley shares my estimate of the great deal of work yet to be done, and asked me to try to inform anyone I could that many more volunteers were still needed here, and to ask that interested volunteers, school and church groups, whoever, call him to make arrangements to stay in the Tent Village, and help in the rebuilding and recovery of Pass Christian. Wesley can be reached at: 228-216-5189.

The situation is similar all along the gulf coast.

For the past 15 months, your bloger has lived, worked and volunteered on the Mississippi Gulf Coast on a two-year personal mission, in an attempt to help in a small way with that enormous rebuilding process. It has been an amazing experience and privilege for me. Like many down here, though, I want to do still more, and I would like you to join with me in that effort.

Scene in Pass Christian, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina; one of several thousand homes destroyed there.

~~~~~And, here is where Your Help Is Needed!

To further that goal of further assisting families on the Gulf Coast recover from Katrina, as well as also attempt to respond to the needs of other Americans experiencing future castatrophic loss, from whatever cause, as their needs may be, and our abilities, resources and available personnel permit, I am founding a new, 501(c)(3) charitable organization, called SAMARITAN DEEDS MISSIONS (SDM), and am seeking similar feeling people who wish to join with myself and others with the mission to help our fellow Americans in that rebuilding process, growing in effectiveness and scope, in ways that aren’t possible with a personal mission, and ultimately, to complete as much of the recovery process as is practicable. The main point of this new mission is to be devoted to helping Americans in their time of need, first!

Madison, WI Katrina worker Jordan Peterson, top image, and his father, Baraboo, WI electrician Neal Peterson, work on wiring a home in Pass Christian, Mississippi, helping families there recover from Hurricane Katrina, which had a 31′ storm surge in Pass Christian.

I have spent much of my life trying to respond to the needs of other Americans in their time of pain, and bring long years of experience to this new caring organization, to help in guiding its charitable mission efforts. Several of my long-time, fellow charitable workers in other missions , are joining in this new important effort. But many more are needed to make a real difference to suffering families. YOU are needed!

Realistically, that recovery process along the Gulf Coast from the effects of Katrina, will continue for several years to come, until our work here is no longer needed. There is a lot more that we can do now to help our fellow Americans in their time of need, as well as help with other disasters occurring in the United States.

Some might say, “That’s our government’s job to help in a disaster.” Well, if Katrina is any indication, FEMA’s historic, miserable, slow (non) response to Katrina’s aftermath doesn’t provide too much self-assurance in that department. FEMA was required to make public on June 1, 2007, their new plan for responding to future disasters, like Katrina. They missed that deadline, and more since then, and still do not have a new plan in place as of this date, with the start of the 2008 Hurricane season starting on June 1, 2008, ready or not!

Losing your home, having it just dissappear – never to be found, during Katrina’s 31′ storm surge, created incredible stress for survivor Evie Worland, of Henderson Point, at Pass Christian.

What HAS made such a critical difference in helping families on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans recover after suffering such serious losses in Katrina and Rita, has been the work of faith-based organizations and other private groups who have organized and stepped up to lend a meaningful and timely hand. That’s us, folks!

A windshield eye view of all that is left of Second Street in Pass Christian, MS four weeks after Katrina virtually destroyed 60% of the small city of 7000+ people.

And, as you would expect, there are start-up costs in creating and getting a new charitable organization off the ground and up and running , as well as other organizational needs, and I would take this opportunity to ask you who read this, to please consider helping in making the organization a reality, by contributing financially, and/or contributing your time and/or other resources, as you may be able to, and by helping publicize the need to others for support of this new organization of veteran charitable workers and their strong desire to help others. Those who contribute, will receive receipts for their contributions. Contributions can be made to: SAMARITANS DEEDS MISSIONS, and sent to: SAMARITANS DEEDS MISSIONS, P. O. Box 531, Long Beach, MS 39560. To Volunteer, contact: SDMissions@cableone.net

Work on a website for SDM is under way, but additional help and suggestions are welcome. I know many of you have some incredible skills in that technical area. Fund-raising is a whole other challenge, and a strong effort in that area is definitely needed, to help make SDM efforts successful.

Please be aware that this (now) very small, fledgling, charitable organization is not to be confused or thought to be affiliated with the huge, $300+ million dollar Samaritans Purse organization. We could sure put some of their funds to good and meaningful use, though…

SINCERE THANKS to you all for any and all assistance you may be able to lend to help SAMARITANS DEEDS MISSIONS in fulfilling its mission to help fellow Americans in need!

Can you help?

Will you help?

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March Madness comes to the coast

“March Madness” is many things.

One is tournament basketball, on several levels.

March Madness can also be Spring Break in Florida, or Mexico, perhaps.

But another form of March Madness, since August 29, 2005, is what’s called “Alternative Spring Break.” ASB.

And it’s happening all through the Gulf Coast of Mexico, from Mobile, Alabama all the way west to New Orleans, Louisiana, as thousands of high school and college students, their advisers and other adults, swarm all along the Gulf Coast to help affected families there rebuild their homes and their lives after Hurricane Katrina.

Not too long after the huge storm came ashore and wrecked havoc with everyone and everything in its path, I was in New Orleans for a short visit, and happened to see a classic T-shirt for sale in one of the dozens of such stores in the French Quarter.

The lettering on this particular shirt said: “Katrina, you Bitch!”

After all the billions in property damages it caused, and more than a thousand people it killed, I guess the description on the shirt was appropriate. No, I didn’t buy the shirt.

In the aftermath, some two years and a half years later, people still care about what happened then, and about the incredible amount of rebuilding there still is to do before homeless families all get back in their homes again.

This weekend in the small, rural marsh-land territory of Pearlington, Mississippi, people from all over the United States are arriving to celebrate their own form of March Madness, reaching out for a week, or more, to help their southern brothers and sisters in their continuing battle to set things right again.

Saturday, students and adults from the University of Maryland, The University of Texas at Austin, and adults from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado and several other states, arrived at the Pearlington Recovery Center (PRC) with their duffels and gloves in hand, ready to bring a week of hope, hard work and fellowship to area residents so long at wits end.

These early Saturday evening arrivals, some 75 strong, including 12 young adult volunteers in service to Americorp, are but first wave of this coming weeks’ group of some 250+ hurricane relief volunteers that are descending upon this grass roots recovery organization to try to make a difference in people’s lives these next six days.

These caring folks are full of energy, enthusiasm, faith and hope for the task ahead. Many are back for their fourth time as Hurricane relief volunteers, bound and determined to do their best for as long as it takes to undo Katrina’s powerful deeds.

The woods in Pearlington will reverberate loudly this week with the sounds of hammers, chain saws, nail guns, circular saws, battery drills and other tools making scores of noises, as their users move area families farther along the road towards hearth and home again.

At the weeks end, lots of hugs, and some tears, all around, from visitors and residents, as they recount what love, service, dedication and faith can accomplish, how lives of all involved continue to be moved and touched, a nail, a board, a shingle, a length of wire, a sink and bathtub, one at a time.

My part today in the drama during much of the day, was to help formulate plans for future wiring updates on the grounds of the PRC, physically update much of the wiring in many of the lodging facilities, prior to the first wave of volunteers arriving in the early evening, and later to repair old steps to the bunk houses.

Sunday will see me working on installing additional electrical wiring in several of the structures, with the goal of making them more efficient in hosting the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers that will pass through the volunteer camp during this month of March Madness.

What a privilege and blessing to be able to be a small part of the moment, in the lives of the movers and the moved.

This is what I consider, pretty close to heaven…

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