Here we go again--Hurricane Gustav

For those of you who don't know, I'm originally from SE Texas, my family and friends are still in Port Arthur. With the threat of Hurricane Gustav in the Gulf, all of my attention will be trained on the news channels.

When Hurricane Rita hit three years ago, I lived in West Houston. My family and I chose not to evacuate because we were so far west I knew we wouldn't get any of the storm (and we didn't. Just 60/70 mph winds and a few hours of lost power). Plus, with the problems on the roads...no way was I going to suffer that with four kids and a dog! Just a five minute drive to the grocery store took 45 minutes to get home!

Anyway, my family (in the Port Arthur area) left a few days before the storm hit and were safely in Dallas when it pounded through...however, my brother, who's a CCU/ICU nurse supervisor couldn't leave until just hours before the storm hit because he was still evacuating patients. Of course he said by the time he hit the road, they were empty so his drive to Austin was short.

The day after the hurricane my husband was able to go into town (because of his job, he was in charge of the communication towers and had to inspect their damage) and took a side tour of the neighborhoods to see what damage was done to our family's homes. (Thankfully, not much on the outside). But, a week later, when residents were allowed to go back to assess damages, I went with my cousin (who had come down to stay with us so we could get the kids back in school) to Nederland to drop her husband home...he had to be back to work (at Dupont). The outside damage from the storm wasn't too bad. Her trampoline was now twisted metal leaning up against the neighbor's fence. Someone's metal roof was laying in the front yard along with a lot of branches (her husband quipped now he didn't have to hire someone to trim off the dead branches---humor is a great stress breaker). The woodslat privacy fence in the back yard was gone (most of the neighhorhoods lost their fences...in fact, that was the only damage my brother had at his house about ten miles away). But the worst damage to my cousin's house was the inside. Though they didn't have any major flooding in her neighborhood, what little there was got into the house. The 90 degree weather and loss of power....well, you can imagine what the carpet looked like. (I think one of those mold spores even moved! But the worst was the smell!! The grouper fish in the tank died, the freezer full of meat rotted (don't even get me started on why there was meat in the freezer!--I don't let her live that one down!) It smelled like a hundred people died in there! It was awful!

Anyway, with Hurricane Gustav possibly on a collision course with the area, no one is taking the evacuation order for granted. I really hate that I'm not still in Houston to offer refuse for my family especially since no one has really recouped financially from the Rita damage and therefore are going to really struggle with where they can afford to go. I'll be keeping a close eye on this storm via The Weather Channel and The PA News online edition. I'll also keep in touch via cell to my family to make sure they're okay.

So....where were you when the lights went out? And, if you're in the path, how are you preparing for this storm?

Godspeed everyone!

Outraged

Okay...I can't think of a song title for my title so I just went for the actual reason I'm writing my blog....feel free to find a song that matches.

Why am I outraged? Take a seat...this may be long.

My daughter has a friend named Holly. Holly is one of the sweetest, kindest, well-mannered young ladies you will ever meet and she is a very good friend to my daughter. Holly has one minor annoyance though...she has the tendancy to say "Sorry" a lot....and not because she has anything to be sorry about...it's just one of those automatic responses like "Hi, how are you?"
Case in point, she's been to my house several times. The first time she came over she asked something mundane like, "where's the bathroom". I pointed it out and she said, "Okay, sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't see it. I'm sorry." Seriously...three sorrys in one breath. I just smiled and said it's okay. It took a while to realize, this was just Holly. She says "sorry" in every breath.

Anyway...Holly runs cross-country track at school (she's a junior in high school). A few weeks ago she was riding her bike home after practice (like around 5 or 6 in the evening). Needless to say she was very tired. She crossed the street to get home, moving safely into the designated bike lane, however she was facing on coming traffic. Shortly after she crossed the street a woman came around the corner in her car and hit Holly. I don't know exactly how hard, but Holly managed to break the woman's sideview mirror (guess she used it to stop the car from taking her head off) and she sustained several cuts and bruises along her body, including a gash on her shin, a black eye, busted blood vessels in her left eye (whcih thankfully did not affect her vision) and she no longer has a bike because it was ruin, so I'm guessing--pretty damn Hard!

Now as you may be guessing, Holly's first reaction was to say "Sorry." Amidst her crying and bleeding all she could say was "sorry" over and over....and over. The woman, of course called the police to make the report. However, the asshole cop did not ticket the woman and told Holly it was HER fault for going against traffic. Uh....hello??? She was in the fricking BIKE LANE!! What the hell was this stupid woman doing in the bike lane!!!

Okay...sorry...when Holly told me this I was completely livid!! I mean, how stupid can that cop be??? He was probably related to that same jerk who killed someone's dog because he spent twenty minutes ticketing the guy for speeding when the guy was trying to get his dog to the vet. And on top of it saying.."It's just a dog!"

Now, the fact that this jerk cop told Holly it was her fault was bad enough, but now, the woman is apparently suing Holly for damages to her car! Can you F**KING believe that??? I told Holly if it came down to that (because they were afraid it would with Holly's "addmission of guilt" sorries) that my family and I would all stand up for her as character references. But it just so pisses me off that this woman...and if I knew who she was I'd egg her house every day!...has the gall to sue them for a $50 sideview mirror. Forget about the fact that Holly had to miss school, was laid up in bed for a couple of days, couldn't run track for a while and was totally traumatized...and still more so because of the lawsuit...this stupid woman needs a new mirror! Sofrickinwhat if Holly was going against traffic...that is still no reason this woman should have gotten off scottfree and be allowed to sue! And if she wins?? So wrong!! Makes me wonder if everyone who rides a bike against traffic in the bike lane and gets hit by a car will be the one to get sued. Heck, this morning I saw two elderly people riding their bikes against traffic in the bike lane....I coulda gotten a two for one lawsuit!

Arizona has a stupid motorist law where a person can be fined if they drive across a flooded road and have to be rescued...but what about the stupid people who drive 2 ton vehicles in the bike lane!!

Okay...rant over for now.

And, for the record...and to any cops who may stumble upon this...I love cops, have the upmost respect for them, even write about them in my work....but...sometimes I'll come across one in the bunch that makes me question my respect. So...apologies to those of you who aren't stupid jerks.