Roller Coaster Week

Even me--who usually remains on an even keel--emotionally, have had my emotions go up and down like a roller coaster, until I nearly made myself sick.

I watched too much of the Weather Channel and the news--too many hours for two days straight.  How can those people ever recover?  WE ARE TEXAS STRONG!  Well, of course that's a nice motto and supposed to be uplifting, and any State would say that faced with a disaster like the flood, but c'mon...at sometime in this tragedy, any normal person would break down.

Coming home to find everything destroyed with a couple of Water Moccasin's curled up on my flood soaked davenport, would put me right over the edge.  Let alone seeing every scrapbook and photo album I have, ruined.

Having to live in that big center, for more than two days, would put me into a catatonic state and mentally gone.  No privacy.  All the humanity--the noise.  How could you sleep--on a small uncomfortable cot, babies crying during the night, people coughing, snoring.  The fatigue alone would kill me.  Having to be on guard in case some drug addict, coming off his high, was going to take the few dollars I had with me.  

FEMA can help, but it wouldn't help me.  They would loan me some money to restart, but with what little I have, I couldn't re-pay the loan on a new place.

I don't know how any of those people can ever recover.  Especially the farmers!  No food for their live stock.  After the flood waters recede, the pasture will be covered with heavy silt, mold and not fit for cattle to eat.  

I sometimes think, those that died are the lucky ones.
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Friday came along and I HAD to go foraging for food.  I had two prescriptions to pick up at Walmart, so I made a list of what I needed for food, the cats, anything I could think of and walked to my car, parked in back, and traveled on up to Howell.

It was like a Saturday in there.  Why were these people, who usually work on Friday, in the store?  My gosh--every kid in the county was in there--arguing with their parents over school supplies, or just crying in frustration.

Well, I put on my smile and went about my business and when a boy came out from a side aisle and T-boned my cart and his mother screamed at him,  I said, "Hey, that's okay.  No harm done.  I should have been watching more carefully."  He looked at me with tears in his eyes.  Trying to be a big boy and help mother with the cart and the baby sister.  I wanted to just hug him.

Then on the drive home, I wondered how I was going to make 7 trips back and forth to the car--parked 85 steps away from my front porch.  I knew, I couldn't do it.  I was already exhausted and feeling a bit weak.

I pulled onto my street and thought, "To heck with it.  Drove right up on my lawn--as they have tape across the old part of my drive--where I could have carefully parked.  Got another bright idea, trudged out to my shed, got my wheel barrow, put some of the smaller bags into my canvas shopping bags, loaded the two gallons of water in the front, over the wheel, layered my 4 jugs of Pepsi in the bed of the wheel barrow, and put the rest on top.  Pushed it up and under the yellow tape up by my front steps and toted in my groceries.

Came in and rested my back.  My doc would have been happy to see I had a nice heart rate of 67 going on.

Saturday, I was all ready to sit in my recliner and watch the first football games.  To my dismay, when at noon, I clicked on to watch my Michigan State Spartans, I discovered it was on ESPNU--a channel I had last spring, but lost when I had to down grade my Comcast.

So I watched a pretty good movie on TCM, then watched the Michigan University game against Florida and later the Florida State/Alabama game.

This morning, I watched my favorite pastor and bible teacher, Dr. David Jeremiah and then, once again I watched a live-stream, on my computer, of the Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina.  The sermon was based on one of my most favorite hymns, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and the last hymn they sang was my Mother's favorite hymn, "I Need Thee Every Hour."  I am getting more used to the style of preaching the pastor has.  I felt very blessed from his sermon.  

I am such a lazy church goer.  I have to admit, I kind of like "going" to church while in my jammies, drinking my warm cocoa and eating my Cheerios.
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3/4 done with my counted cross stitch project.  It took me the entire month of August to stitch just that part on the hoop.  Such detail in this.

I started the last two Shepherds today.=
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Rain is expected late tomorrow, so I better move my car.  The lawn is hard enough now, so the tires won't leave any dents, but with rain?..............