I saw a story on CNN this morning where some evacuees from Texas that have been living in their cars for a week with their children, pets & everything they have left in the world, found a hotel yesterday, spent 1 night but they're getting kicked out this morning to accomodate football fans that are coming to town for a game....this is what it's like when you evacuate and then can't get back in after the storm and you have nowhere to go...some of these poor people didn't look as if they had the money to drive around...it's pretty hot to be sitting in your car all day with babies & pets, if I knew how to contact them, I'll let them come here...

I should probably explain why so many people stayed after the '05 hurricanes because I'm sure a lot of people wonder why anyone in their right mind would stay....okay, Katrina hits and the powers that be have a round table meeting and I would guess that it went something like this..."What are we gonna do? You know that when the homeowners get their insurance money, they'll pack up everything they've got left and they'll be gone and then all we're gonna have left are the citizens that need our help and without the tax revenue from the homeowners, we can't afford that, we'll be broke in no time and we won't have jobs!"..."I know, let's call the insurance companies and tell them to drag their feet settling these insurance claims...we can tell them to drag it out, I don't know...a year or two...and by then, people will have settled down."..."Yeah..and we can send them letters from the city & parish telling them that we're going to fine them if they don't clean up their property and that way not only will we still have tax paying citizens here but the city will be liveable and we get to collect some pretty hefty fine money from those that can't/won't clean up their place in the meantime."...."Hey, check this out, I got a phone call from a private for-profit company this morning...they said that if we can get the Feds to give us some disaster money for rebuilding, they'll handle the distribution of the money to our citizens for us and we don't have to be bothered with it at all.".....Enter R.O.B.(the private, for-profit company that has so generously offered to help), "Gentlemen, Good Morning and I must say, great job! I understand that you rallied the government and they allotted yall 15 billion dollars to help the poor people of this unfortunate tragedy.....well that's great, wonderful news!...as my partners & I explained in our earlier conversation, we would like to help you and the victims of this hurricane....for a small fee, of course...oh and, uhhmm...we'll need money out of that fund for administratives fees and uhmmm payroll, bonuses, travel expenses and general overhead...yes sir, it's gonna take BIG money to help these people...big money but your people are gonna love you for it, no doubt you'll be re-elected next term, you see we have a subsidary enrollment company, Wehook Youcrook, that we'll deploy to sign up the victims and they'll be lobbying for you while they're out in the field getting the contracts signed, we had our legal firm, Dewey, Skrewum & Howe, formerly known as Sucker, Punchem & Runn, draw the contracts up. All of this can be yours for a small fee, of course.... but the best part, you won't have to lift a finger, no sir, not a finger we'll do all the work for you....let's see, how does 40% sound?"....all the while he's thinking to himself..."HeeHee, I'm gonna shake things up so bad that by the time these fools realise what's happened, I'll be long gone and I'll be taking most of that money with me and if the feds figure it out, I'll blame it on my CFO and let him take the fall while I'm laughing all the way to the bank!" Meanwhile, back at the farm....

The citizens call R.O.B. to check on the status of their application and the phone number has been disconnected and suddenly reality slaps them in the face....the boat's gone and they're still in the fishbowl....

The insurance adjuster from my auto company just left, he totalled out the trucks immediately and I'm so lucky, my neighbor's have a different insurance company and they told them to hose out the inside of their vehicles and then take them to a dealership and they'll clean them up and they'll be just like new (she's got a new cadillac & he's got a new dually truck)....my insurance adjuster agreed with me that since it was salt water the vehicles are going to rust out, he even showed me that mine was already starting to rust....I have State Farm and I have to say that they treated us well but I feel for the Lebleu's, they've got a tough battle ahead of them with their insurance company..

One more note...we were notified this morning that there are two more tropical systems out there and one of them is favored to strenghthen and be a threat to us as the steering winds will likely bring it right through here...this is it for us if we get hit again...I've already begun gathering what I can and taking care of as much as I can, we may have only a few days to do what we can....

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Oh nooooo Michelle... there is NO WAY you can be in for another storm, that is just utterly unfair and how on earth will you evacuate without your trucks?



That's it, you need to come to Canada now.
mig

Canada Dry.....that has a whole new meaning now too! My neighbors called me shortly after hearing this news to see if I wanted to meet them outside for a drink...I had to tell 'em that I'd already started without them! Yep...I'm having me a few White Russians...at least I'll get my calcium intake! The girls are at the coliseum bathing the newest rescues that were brought in last night, I hope they don't hear the news while they're there but it's very likely that they will because I've already had calls about relocating the staging area for pet rescue....I don't know how we're gonna leave without the trucks, I was contemplating that one myself! But...then I remembered....I have the lovely shrimp truck to fall back on! WooHoo!

BTW...thanks for fixing my baby's picture....in the words of Lync....YOU ROCK!!! Oh, and did you see the storms on the hurricane map that I posted the link to? I don't know if this is a battle worth fighting anymore...it may be time to through in the proverbial towel! J'ai eu assez mais il est tout bon!

Let's here it for the girls!....Chelsea & Abigail!! This was on the front page this morning, it's the second time in three years that this poor soul's casket was unearthed!

Sue got me to thinking about something...she said it was nice to have pictures on the internet now, so I decided to post my baby's pictures here in case something happens to my computer...so, here's my Monica, Claire's big sister...they say she's a mini Me and you can hardly tell the difference between Monica, Claire & I in our baby pictures. You can't tell in this photo but Monica's hair is all the way down her back...long, long...it's in a ponytail in this picture because we were eating langouste (crawfish) at our camp....