The Yellow Daisy craft show was lots of fun, as always, and I managed to not quite spend all our profits buying other peoples' crafts. (There were three coffee mugs I couldn't resist though.)
Reminders of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were everywhere. Driving to the show, we saw several military convoys and an armada of Power Company trucks heading south. When we arrived at Stone Mountain, I realized I'd forgotten to pack some essentials, so we headed out to Walmart for pens and a toothbrush. The young couple with a toddler ahead of us in line turned out to be hurricane evacuees. Then the cashier turned out to be one too. She said that the employees could continue their jobs at any Walmart in the country. I thought that was pretty nice. She said her house was underwater, but that she felt blessed to be alive.
At the show there was a large jar at the entrance, for donations to the Red Cross. One customer wrote them a $2000 check!
Hubby and I are both bird nuts, and have been birdwatching at Dauphin Island many times in the past. The island, especially the west end, got hit hard by the hurricane. Boardwalk Realty has been doing a great job chronicling the changes on the island. They seem in remarkably good spirits too, considering that their office was destroyed, 37 of the 90 houses they manage are gone, and most of the remainder sustained heavy damage.
They posted some interesting pictures of the hurricane damage (including an alligator under one of the houses), and are keeping a journal of the island's recovery.
A soapmaking colleague's husband sent these pictures from an oil rig near New Orleans.
Damage on the rig.
Snakes! Big snakes!
For comparison, that's a 12-inch pipe the water moccasin is on.
Glad to see you're back! Those photos of the snakes are downright scary. I'd heard there were lots of snakes in New Orleans right now, but I hadn't seen photos of them. The snakes alone would be enough to get me to leave town!
ReplyDeleteSooooo glad to see you back. Yours is the best blog on the planet, and we were all a little worried about you. Thanx!
ReplyDeleteGood Lord! I will have nightmares about those snakes! Glad you had a good time at Yellow Daisy.
ReplyDeleteDang, poor snakes. It's nightmarish, all right, to imagine having to swim in that awful soup, and having your food supply washed away, and being swept away from your territory...
ReplyDeleteWe were listening to Larry Bensky's radio show yesterday, and someone reported a conversation with a friend as they were realizing they were trapped and facing a long wade through the water to get help. One person worried about snakes in the water. Another said that they'd better hope there were snakes, because otherwise the water was too toxic for snakes to survive in it and wading through it would be even worse.
Ugh.
Oh, and think of the rodent population rebounding faster than the snake population in the flooded areas... OK, that's enough disastermongering for the day.
I'm glad Yellow Daisy went well. Sounds like fun. Glad to see you're back, too.
Man, those snakes look like dinner to me. Rattlesnake is tasty, light and flakey... damn good eatin'...
ReplyDeleteYuck! I hate snakes...good pictures though.
ReplyDeletemissed you so much. glad you're back. i was worried about you.
ReplyDeletewow...those are some snakes! and you think i'm fearless!
I was worried about you...Glad you had a good time.
ReplyDeleteThose are freaking big snakes...yikes.
The Gator is kinda cute, though
Glad it went well. Your photos well illustrate a world gone topsy-turvy.
ReplyDeleteThank heaven's you're back. I was starting to get the shakes from not having my daily dose of Rurality.
ReplyDeleteGlad you kept safe. Looking forward to once again reading your fine posts.
I'm so glad you're back. I've been having 'Rurality' withdrawal -- and those snakes. Oh my!
ReplyDeleteWow, great comeback...thanks for the stories. So nice to hear that someone donated $2000. Every bit helps.
ReplyDeleteWould love to see a photo of your 3 mugs!
Welcome back, we've missed you.
ReplyDeleteWhat Troutgrrrl and Jenn said.
ReplyDeleteRattlesnake really is delicious.
Thanks everybody. It's good to be home but of course there are a million things on my "to do" list. I guess I was sort of hoping that they'd do themselves while I was gone, but no.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Ron to say, "Poor snakes!" :)
Lyn, I'll try to get a shot of the mugs and post.
Holy schnikey that's a BIG snake! I'm not normally afraid of snakes, but the snake in that last photo would have made me jump back and wet on myself a little!
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