The Aftermath

By the afternoon of Saturday we were walking around and checking out what was left. We looked at the house and felt lucky. Roof damage, water leaked through 4 rooms. 10 trees down. But from where we sit, that is lucky. Seems funny to view the amount of work and the amount of clean up and use the word "lucky" but that was the feeling.

We checked out Terrie' Mom place.....trees fell the right way.....a yard full of limbs.....lucky. Our old place was peaking out from the pecan limbs and tree branches. A huge limb on the house but not through it.....lucky. My Mother's place where my daughter lived....1 to 2 feet of surge inside....not so lucky but she had evacuated.....luckily. In all we will be recovering for a very long time but we are blessed.

With the storm winds came the absence of electricity. Strange to look over the countryside at night and see nothing but darkness. Darkness inside and out. We were prepared with a generator so we started out building a personal power grid. What do you start first? Hmmm.
Refrigerator, fans, a light bulb. That should hold us till Sunday.

Then Sunday on to bigger and better things. Our well for water and the septic system. Good progress. Not everything at once but we can share. Then to the TV. Ahh the outside world.

I have to stop and say a thing or two about friends. Without them we would be still living in the dark ages. A Dog team mate came over and accomplished miracles. Wired the pump and septic system. Realigned the satellite dish for TV. Simply amazing.

Friends. Our dogs were captive to this storm also. I can't imagine what they must have thought. A bit scared by the wind and darkness. Because of another dog team member we were able to send two off for a break from all this. They got a vacation while the others had to live through. Friends....thankfully.

Friends. Terrie's brother had evacuated to the south so he brought back much needed gas for the generator. Gas is gold around here. No power to pump it even if the station is open. So getting a special delivery of 25 gallons is a real up lift. Three days of creature comforts.

Friends. I also know that many just stopped in by phone or by e mail to ask how we were doing. If you have never experienced a storm like this you won't know that just hearing from the outside world and hearing a friendly voice can make your mood change from bad to good. You live so "hand to mouth", so ruggedly that you only see the world that is in your immediate neighborhood. No news. No outside contact. When a friend writes or calls, it lifts your spirit and makes you smile because you are not doing this alone. Thanks everyone for your contacts. Much needed.

So by the end of Sunday we have enough to live on. Stored up food and water. A resupply run accomplished. And friends helping us make life better.......life is good and we were lucky.