Muy Muy Grande

[Texas Ranger]

Brother Noble, every north bound road is a parking lot, in 24 hours I would make maybe 75 miles.  Folks came in from 70 mile south, over 24 hours driving to get here.  Folks are walking wounded, the charity of the country folks is showing with water, food and shelter offered to all.  Our church opened up for a shelter, as have the schools.  County has ordered evaucation for "substandard housing", we have a lot of poor folk living in old trailers and shacks.  I just hope they, and we pass the Lord's muster as the deserving.

See the other Rita post, I'll report when I can.

[Patty]

Be safe there Don. We wish you and yours the best of luck.


You know, you are so ornry that old Rita might just be too scared to come your way. If she is smart she will keep a wide berth between her & you!

[Bibbyman]

Looks like it's been a couple of days since we've heard form the Texas Ranger.  I sure would feel better if he'd check in and tell us what's going on.

[DanG]

I heard today that there was a dam giving it up in the Livingston area and they were evacuating everybody.  That sure made me think about ol' Don.  I just hope he got out, or at least had his waterwings blowed up.  Rita was still a hurricane when she got to his place, and it was headed right at him.  My experience has been that places that never saw a hurricane before don't tend to fare too well.  Lots of weak trees that can't take it, and that sort of thing.  I feel like he's ok, but I wouldn't expect him to have real easy access to the Internet right now.

[Jeff]

I just tried calling him and it just rang and rang. I tried his fax line, hoping the fax would pick up and let me know that there was a line working, but it did the same thing, rang and rang.

[Tom]

One of the Foresters on another site I visit has talked to him and he is alright.  Livingston Electric has had some major high power lines knocked down and it might be a couple of days getting the power turned on.  Don is probably in this "dark" area.

[beenthere]

The National Weather Service 2-day history of Livingston, TX showed very little rainfall and winds that were pretty mild. Not to downplay the wrath of Rita, but for Livingston it didn't look too bad.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KCXO.html

[Texas Ranger]

Uh, been there, we had a Cat 1 kissing my back door, 117 mile per hour winds, and o nly 4 inches of rain, my daughter, 65 miles north had 90 mph winds, and over 12 inches.

that 117 wind like to took out an earthen based dam on a 86,000 acre lake.  Had us high stepping for a while.  We are living on MRE's, water, and ice.  The office has power, sometimes, none at the house.  Comes and goes.  I will check in and make a real report when things stabilize.

Thanks to those folks who spoke to the man up stairs, we lost very few folks, and most of those were dehydrated old folks that could not handle the 24 hour 70 mile drive to get here.

Horror stories, but a whole lot more of the generosity of the human spirit here in Texas, and I suspect most every where.

God grant His Grace to all of you that He Graced us with.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Well, ALRIGHT. Glad ya made it, TR. 

  Lets all hope this is the last for this year. 

[Roxie]

I sure am glad that you're ok!     I wouldn't want to find out if my house could take 117 mph winds.  God Bless ya, and stay safe. 

[DanG]

Thanks for checkin' in, TRanger.  117 is Cat 2 if I remember kerwreckly.   I thought about ya when I seen about that DanG Dam bustin' out, and yer been on my mind ever since.  I look forward to the "real report."

[OneWithWood]

Good to hear from ya, Don.  I bet you are real glad that you've been behavin' yourself and did not have to go through all that standin' on your head.

[sawguy21]

Glad you resurfaced in one piece TR. We were thinking of you.

[Texas Ranger]

Just a short note for now, power stable at office and house, for now.  In recoverystage, my area not hit near as bad as some of the country east of us.  We are in full recovery mode, and my back is killing me.  Only think I have to help kill the pain is an evening snifter of Scotish descent.   Grocery stores beginning to open, short supplies, I was able to score two angus steaks yesterday, and Sue and I sat down to our first real dinner in 5 days.  As we started, some country folk (I rent her office space) came in looking for a hot shower, so we shared dinner with them.

End results, I lost 10 pounds in 5 days.  Cannot recommend that as a method of diet.

All we hear on the news is New Orleans.  Rita only hit Louisiana, I suppose.  Death toll here under 50, so far, our losses will be country folk at the end of the road, and the county is trying to get to all of them.  Dam did not bust, but scared a bunch of folks, they emptied the lake(86000 acres) and flooded homes down stream, slowly, better than the full thing going I guess.  Fema no declared disaster in our county, yet we have hundreds of homes destroyed and on one of the three north bound evacuation routes.  Evacuees took over for a while, and we held their hands and helped them on the way.

Gas in short supply, vituals improving (MRE's are not that bad).

I will write the full story latter, till then, I hope this is my last hurry cane, and DanG, how y'all put up with 4 in a row is beyond me, one has made a mess of this place.

[Patty]

Good to hear from you TR.     We were worried about you and your family.

[OneWithWood]

Thanks for the note, Don.  Keep the 10 off and sip your painkiller ever so slowly.  No telling how long you will need to stretch your current supply.