RETURN TO NEW STUFF OR TO HOME PAGE

FAMILY EFFORTS

 

A minor correction or two. No big deal. The big deal is that none of the family members got seriously killed. Rigged an attic TV antenna today. Seems to work fairly well. Will have to finish up with a mast mount so I can orient the antenna properly. Seems to be no end to clean-up and finish-up. Remember the time we (Gerry and Mart and I and also a pilot, as I remember) took that small airplane down the mouth of Mt. St. Helens and right over top of the still-smouldering lava dome? Don't believe I'd want a repeat at this particular time.
I got out the chain saw, CUT UP THE TREE TOP, rigged up a rope and pulled the SERVICE LINE back up so we could get our trucks out.
We expect a MAJOR hurricane once every ten years, but we averaged one every week and a half this year. Love you all, Bill 10-02-2004

Tornados, Volcanos, Hurricanes & Lightning, Oh My! 2004

LIGHTNING

Ingrid DuBose (Nellie/Wm> Edna>PaulPhilip, husband of Ingrid) -10-01-2004 We came through this hurricane fine. We didn't even lose our electricity this time. A few weeks before this we did have an electrical fire from lightning. I've never been in a lightning storm like that one. It was like bombs going off one strike after another. Thank goodness Paul called the fire department. He did that because our doorbell started ringing, and the security system went off. We began checking, and he got the ladder to check the attic. He smelled smoke and said, "Something is smoldering up here." He had called the fire department, and just as they got here it burst into flames. We stayed the night with neighbors. Next morning we smelled gas, and luckily we found that a gas line was leaking. If we hadn't taken care of that the whole house would have exploded.

HURRICANES

Martha Nell (Nellie/Wm>Alta>Martha Nell)-9/30/04 Bill's answering machine seems to be taking messages now, but I haven't heard how they came through things. Ricky and Billy (Nellie/Wm>Alta>Jim>Ricky & Billy) both took a tree on their place. Sandra & Bill's daughter, Cherryl's place was kinda demolished. Looks like Camille and that family came through it ok. That's all I know.

Bill (Nellie/Wm>Alta>Bill) -10/1/04-I had an antenna blow down during the first hurricane, and it went over a swing set. The last hurricane demolished the antenna. It looks like time for a new antenna rigged in the attic instead of external. We don't have cable out here. This last hurricane twisted the top out of a pine tree, air mailed it and dropped it on our service line. That was during the night. The next morning I looked out and saw we couldn't even get the trucks out of the garage. I got out the chain saw, rigged up a rope and pulled the top of the tree back up so we could get our trucks out. We have power now, but it's a temporary service line. With a rope holding it up that's not code. We thought our phone was off, but it turned out to be just the old answering machine that finally died. The only ding on the house was when that tree top came down, one of the limbs hit the garage door. I had plywood up to all windows and the French doors. It was a constant roar during the hurricane, and we could hear the brush beating against the boards. It I hadn't boarded them (the windows and French doors) up it would have come through them. I boarded up two times. When I took them down after the first hurricane that hit here I coded them with arrows so I could use them again, numbered them so I could put them in the same place. Sure enough there was a second time, and it took a couple of hours where the first time it took all day long. I know how to do it now, but I don't want to ever do it again. We expect a hurricane once every ten years, but we averaged one every week and a half this year. This has not happened since 1886.The house is built according to Hurricane Andrew codes, so it's strong. My daughter Cherryl's, house is essentially trashed. They are going to relocate and rebuild. The one thing you cannot prepare for is a tornado. A hurricane you can board your windows up, but nothing prepares you for a tornado. So far so good, no tornados. With all the scars and scrapes, we've been extremely lucky.

Judy (Nellie/Wm>Billie>Judy)-I've been through four hurricanes. I lost power briefly during two of them. I'm in great shape. There's no damage here. Hurricane Ivan was such a powerful hurricane. It must be my area or something to keep us as damage free as we've been. It went on up to Alabama. It did more damage in north Florida than here. The first one was scheduled to hit dead on, and two hours before it was supposed to hit it took a turn. I feel good that I made it through that many. This building is pretty strong. It has a big hallway that I can hide in. I thought about evacuating, but I have this cat, and I don't know how I could do that. They told us if the roof goes off we can just go down to the second floor. I'm on the third. I don't complain. People have lost lots of property. Some are without power, buying ice, people getting free food & water. When they're (hurricanes) on the way all of us wait and wait and don't know what's going to happen. You either learn to cope with it or you go under. A lot of people are pretty stressed. I've heard from people in my family I never hear from. My aunt Rosalie called the other night. She is 86 years old in Tennessee. She turned on her TV and said she was going to keep me company, telling me what was on the news. I had to sit on the floor in the hallway with my little lantern when the lights were out. Martha Nell called on a conference call with Gerry. I told them I made it through my 60th birthday September 27. I told her I had to go to work, and she said, "Well quit running your mouth and go run your bath water." I kept going to work through these hurricanes although we were cancelled quite a hit. The hospital was closed a couple of times for safety. One time they kept it open, and the nurses were locked in. I missed some hours. Lots of inconveniences, traffic lights out. At night they would have to shine the lights on their police cars to warn us at the intersections. My Aunt Jewel actually wrote me a birthday card from the center of Alabama. She lost power 2 days. They got it worse than I did. Not saying other people in Florida didn't get it pretty bad. My stepsister and her husband were sleeping on the floor of a church as they live in a mobile home. I don't think it was damaged, at least the first two times. Kimberley (Bill's daughter) called me and was looking for her dad. I called back and they had already found him. Where I work they took up a $65 collection and told me to go get a massage for my birthday. People got flooding from these hurricanes all the way to Maryland.

Cheryl (Nellie/Wm>Alta>Reatha>Cheryl) They (Reatha & Lloyd) have survived another with very minimum damage, just a few shingles off. Their power went off at 8:30 am Sunday and is still off. But they are safe. How are you Camille? How did you and your children survive this one. How is your Mom? 9-28-2004

Camille (Nellie/Wm>Alta>Mart>Camille) We lost power for several days, but we escaped damage to the house.

TORNADO

Lois (Nellie/Wm>Isabelle>Lois)--On a chat screen with Virginia--"Well, I have to go now. There's a tornado heading this way." (Simpsonville, South Carolina). 10/01/04 No hit from the tornado.

VOLCANO

Virginia (Nellie/Wm>Alta>Virginia) 10/01/2004--Mount St. Helens, in Washington State around 150 miles southeast of here, erupted again after a period of relative quiet lasting since 1980. This eruption is mild by comparison to the 1980 one which killed around 60 people and flattened forests surrounding the mountain for miles around. This time the ash cloud blew southwest toward Portland. In 1980 it blew east. Both times we, northwest of the mountain, did not get any of the ash or feel the earthquakes accompanying the eruption. During the past twenty-four years I have taken numerous trips to the mountain, and I have watched as the evergreen forests, replanted by various civic minded groups, have thrived. They are interesting as they are of various heights, depending upon when the replanters did their work.

---

Forwarded by Barbara Burdett S. for 9/11/2002

Author Unknown

TWO THOUSAND ONE, NINE ELEVEN

2001 - 9/11

Two thousand one, nine eleven

Three thousand plus arrive in heaven

As they pass through the gate,

Thousands more appear in wait

A bearded man with stovepipe hat

Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"

They settle down in seats of clouds

A man named Martin shouts out proud

"I have a dream!" and once he did

The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray

Others in khaki, and green then say

"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"

The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear

"The only thing we have to fear.

The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,

trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves

You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"

The Newcomers had heard this voice before

A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannisport shores

A silence fell within the mist

Somehow the Newcomer knew that this

Meant time had come for her to say

What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,

Watched our children play in sports

Worked our gardens, sang our songs

Went to church and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought

Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the stovepipe hat

Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!

Look at your country, look and see

You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene

Of rubbled streets and twisted beams

Death, destruction, smoke and dust

And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,

Knee deep in hell, but not alone

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman

Side by side helping their fellow man!"

So said Martin, as he watched the scene

"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised

The colors high into ashen haze

The soldiers above had seen it before

On Iwo Jima back in '44

The man on sticks studied everything closely

Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly

"I see pain, I see tears,

I see sorrow -- but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives

Daughters and sons and so many lives

are suffering now because of this wrong

But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you

All of their lives, they'll never forget you

Don't you see what has happened?

Don't you see what you've done?

You've brought them together, together as one.

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said

"Take my hand," and from there he led

three thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven

On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven