Thanks for the best wishes! Still no power, but last night was cooler (mercifully), so we were able to sleep with the doors open - thank heavens for the curfew, I doubt we'd be comfortable being so open and vulnerable if the streets were open for business! I guess I should be thankful the cops harrassed my son, because if they did that to him, chances are they are REALLY cracking down on the bad guys
School started today for my son, and he is glad to be going back, it actually got boring for him to sit around with nothing to do. I am glad that he will have some normalcy (and air conditioning) during the day!
So, yesterday I went down to my dad's house. Boy, if I think my neighborhood is bad in terms of debris, it is nothing compared to down there. Besides the piles of tree debris like we have, they also have piles of furniture, appliances, tv's, clothing, basically anything that was on the bottom floor. The piles jut into the streets, so only one car can pass. People have set up tents outside and are sleeping there. Some houses literally were wiped clean down to the studs - like you can see through them, every wall was carried away by the water, and they are now piled up against the neighbors wall. It is utter destruction!
As I said, my dad has a number of boats leaning up agains his now broken down fence. But, seeing them is amazing. It is crazy that they stopped where they did, literally within about 20 feet of the house. He is so lucky. The yacht club yard is covered with boats, some incredibly beautiful, now either ruined or badly damaged. I took pictures of it, and if somebody will tell me how to post them, I'll try, it is incredible looking.
My dad and his wife are very tired, but were cheered when I offered to take the mildewy laundry they had to Houston. I had no idea how much they were talking about until my car was filled to the brim. Hilariously (and y'all with elderly relatives can relate), much of it is stuff that I would have thrown out, but they are of the waste not want not era, and are determined to save every scrap of fabric - never knowing when it might be needed as a wash rag
I'll wash it all if it makes them happy
Their downstairs is trashed, all the sheetrock and panelling needs to be taken out, they've lost all the appliances, but the studs and support look to be sound, so they can rebuild, and the surge probably (in my mind) helped them get rid of much of the useless crap they had laying around (like I said - waste not want not
). Their upstairs is pristeen, having never really been used, so that is where they are living now, it has a wetbar with small refrigerator, but they have no power, and they will be out for much longer than we will. I'm hoping to get our generator to them asap, and set them up with a microwave, coffee maker, hot plate, etc. to put them in a situation where they can stop eating MRE's. I think my dad might be a bit sad when that happens though because he is amazed at the chemical reaction used to heat the contents and doesn't think they taste half bad, he has his favorites though
I love him so much, he's definitely trying to make lemonade out of lemons!!
Hybrid Mode
