More Often

Maybe if I post more often, it won't be so overwhelming and a little easier.  Sidney and I are trying a strategy of 15 or 30 minutes of work followed by 15 minutes of break this afternoon to try to get our stuff done.  She has piano and homework to start and I have blog and Antarctica preparation.  Yes Antarctica.  We leave in less than 3 months.  We decided to do this a little less than 2 years ago and it is almost here.  Wow!  I need to make a list of stuff to pack after I do the research.  Probably need to purchase a few things as well.  So I am going to try to make myself work on that for 30 minutes each weekend day.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Many semis worth of debris from the school

I forgot a little story in the last post.  It is how to make mom vomit in two easy steps (or maybe three).  Here goes.  Sidney takes a cup out of the cabinet and puts ice and water in.  She tells me the water smells.  We have had some trouble with our softer not fully cycling and get super salty bubbly water instead of nice water.  So I thought something was up.  I smelled her water and nearly threw up. I start turning water on all over to see if it is just the refrigerator water or all over but I can't get any bad water.  So I dump out the cup and look in the bottom and it clearly had been put away dirty, probably with milk in the bottom.  I cannot tell you how awful it smelled.  My stomach turns just thinking about it.

The library had significant water

We are four weeks into the school year already.  That means only 32 weeks to go but who is counting.....So far so good for the most part.  She is getting everything turned in it looks like but needs a bit of strategy in math to both check her work and do all the problems.  A little bit of a bumpy start there but we are going to work on it.  I truly hope this year stays this way and smoother than last year.   7th grade was tough from a do and turn in work perspective.

The nurses area also had a lot of water

I did one of the longer runs I have done in a long time two weeks ago.  I ran 9.3 miles.  It was tough.  I intended to do 8 but underestimated and it was a long up-hill home.  I am going to try to hold that mileage though until the Spartan race because it will set me up well for the 12-15 miles of that race.  I think if it will cool off I will have an easier time.  I also will be walking the fine line of injury there as I do have to fight shin splints regularly.  I have also added hill runs once a week and the power line road which is both technical and hilly, once a week.  I am doing tire flips three times a week (just started those and bucket carries).  And I added sled pulls today.  I am trying to do a bit of functional training.  I hope it pays off and I don't die on the race.

The piano from the church

Sidney spend some of her birthday money on snack boxes from other countries.  The first one was from Korea.  It had interesting snacks that for the most part were OK.  Nothing was amazing.  Some of the saltier or spicier snacks are still quite sweet.  But it has been fun to try.  We are still waiting on the second box she ordered.

First Presbyterian Dickinson Sanctuary

We went to Houston last weekend.  We wanted to go over and support the churches we have attended there in the past.  We went down to the Webster church and worked from there.  Our first task on Saturday was helping set up for kid care for families needing to work on their homes or businesses.  We also did a little tidying around the church while waiting for some other needs to come up.  Our second job was to help a school teacher move back into her classroom at an intermediate school.  That was a good job.  But heartbreaking.  The school flooded significantly.  A few inches in some rooms and feet in others.  The gym will be unusable for the rest of the year and most of the orchestra and band instruments were lost as there was several feet in the electives wing.  I think most of the library was a loss as well.  Drywall was getting replaced although I think taping, floating and painting will have to occur during the year as well as replacing all the flooring.  For now it is all stripped down to concrete.  Many of the classroom walls were block so that helped a lot.  We got the teacher and others at least to a point where they could function.  We tried to get the room back to cheerful.  It will be a long road to recovery for the teachers and so many of the students who have had significant losses.  The good thing about school being back is that kids get the food they need and parents can get back to work also.

The semi arrives

After eating lunch at the school we headed over to First Presbyterian Dickinson.  They had significant damage having had more than 5 feet of water.  Dickinson was one of the harder hit area of town.  Many houses had water up to the eaves.  Evidence of devastation was everywhere.  The Dickinson church also housed the local United Way sponsored food pantry which had been restocked right before the hurricane.  All of the food was a loss and the building that stored the food was damaged possibly beyond salvage because of both the water and the rotten food.  The food and most of the drywall had already been removed from the food pantry but it still smelled awful.

The drywall, flooring, pews, stage and musical equipment had all been removed from the church.  We worked on cleaning some stuff up as well as getting the Sanctuary ready to store a semi-load of stuff that was coming in later that day. We also worked outside getting the grounds ready for service the next day and retrieving a long lost picnic table that had floated a block or so away.  When the first member of the congregation got to the church after the flood, an ice machine had floated 1/4 mile from the other side of the interstate, over to the church.  Everywhere you looked the devastation was obvious.

The semi of supplies finally arrived at about 5 pm.  The supplies and semi came from the good people of Hammond, LA.  Hammond has known many a hurricane and sent so many needed supplies.  The semi driver was a super guy having driven for long hours to get the supplies to Dickinson.  He also was an expert at backing that semi in to where we could be most efficient unloading it.  The semi had clothing, food, toiletries, diapers, cleaning supplies, fans, housewares, school supplies, toys, books, etc.  Fortunately the semi wasn't loaded to the top of the 53 foot long trailer or we would still be unpacking and would have run out of room.  It was however loaded several feet high the whole length and width.  We had a lot of people and it took us a solid two hours to unload.  The church will organize and distribute the supplies to the community while they also rebuild.

Sidney did good work

I am so very proud of Sidney.  She was such a super helper at the school both organizing and getting books and supplies set back up but also trying to make the unusual classroom situation that the kids were going to come back to better.  She decorated and and tried to put nice touches on each table.  She was a good runner to go get things and just generally cheered everyone up.  She also jumped right into that semi to help unload.  She worked really really hard.  I am a really proud and blessed mom.

Semi unloaded 

After all the work we were exhausted and starved.  We took a quick shower at the Webster Presbyterian Church Associate Pastor's house before going to eat an amazing hamburger.  I ate the entire thing, something I can never do with a regular hamburger.  The Associate Pastor had only a little water in her garage and a small leak in the roof but even her neighborhood had devastation.  Only a few houses were spared.  Every where you look, people belongings and lives are sitting out on the curb.

The quilted art work

We went to Webster on Sunday morning before stopping in Belaire to see some friends.  We saw some of the coolest art at the church in Webster.  They have been hosting art exhibits in their beautiful space themed sanctuary.  The current exhibit is small quilted hangings, each with a unique them and story.  Each was also amazing.  The exhibit will ultimately end up at the Smithsonian.  It was so cool.  Their house is new and built above the flood plain although they still had several feet of water in their garage and lost both of their vehicles.  They were some of the fortunate ones in the neighborhood.  They took many neighbors in during the flooding rescuing some by kayak.  I think they had 13 extra people in addition to the 4 already living there.

We heard many stories and saw lots of good while we were in Houston.  We heard about neighbors watching out for neighbors both during and after the storm.  We learned how to water a chameleon (apparently a half a grape each day or so) from a neighbor watching out for another.  The streets of Dickinson and other parts of the city were full of people who didn't live there but were there to help muck houses and remove debris.  We heard about strangers rescuing and housing people and their pets at their homes even though they had never met before.  They came because they had a truck and could.  And then they got the people home again.  Heartbreaking and heart warming in the same minutes.

We got back home and counted our blessings.  We are settling into a semi-routine.  Its hard to say anything is routine really with swimming, school, piano, work, and volunteering.  We went to the Food Bank yesterday and put tomato cages up.  Its a good thing Sidney and I are up to date on our tetanus shots.  The were rusty, dirty and sharp.  We are both scratched up.  But we love to work there.

I got rear ended again a week or so ago.  This will be my third bumper on the car this year.  I haven't been hit this many times in my whole driving career.  A friend told me I should turn my cloaking device off.  Or I guess I should remove the sing that says hit me.....

The other day I was running hills in front of the house and had my water sitting on the porch.  I checked the outside for ants and didn't see any.  I didn't hint any more about it until the next day after I had drank a lot of water from the cup and saw three drowned ants.  I wonder how many I drank... yuck.

I think I forgot to put in the last post that we had a family for a day during Harvey.  Neighbors of really good friends near the Katy area.  They left under mandatory evacuation and had two dogs.  Our friend sent them to us and we were so happy to have them.  They only stayed overnight before learning their home was OK and that they could get back.

Sidney and I went show shopping yesterday.  That is always torture.  I can't wear any larger than a women's size 5 athletic shoe.  Sidney and I often like the same shoe and were wearing the same size.  There might have been some discussions and indefinite borrowing.  I am happy to say her feet are now bigger than mine.  So at least she can have a selection on more than 3 pairs of shoes in the entire store.

We are back to our old swim team, the Sharks.  Right now I am happy with how things are going.  Sidney is swimming harder and wants to be there more.  The schedule is more tolerable and the location is fine. Hopefully it keeps going well.

Bad dog - Look in the corner of her mouth

Lunch note missing corner

Well I think that catches us up.  It still was a lot to write.  We are praying still for our friends in Houston and other areas affected by Hurricanes and also for are friends impacted by the fires in the west.  We live in amazing country that seems really big when you think of all the things happening in it in a day from the east to the west and the north to the south.

Ok I forgot some.  Mostly because I forgot to actually post this after I wrote it.

Our hummingbird feeder thief is back.  I went out a few mornings ago and the feeder was dislodged.  I brought it in that night and thief, whoever they are, wasn't happy because it was scratching at the window.  Scared the daylights out of me and got the pets all worked up.  So now I am back to bringing it in every night.

Then on the way to work a few mornings after the feeder events, I came of the the hill on Kyles Seale, the main road down from where we live and saw what I first thought was the biggest and most reflective rabbit ever.  The road has no lights and as I came of over the hill I saw what looked like a very large reflective rabbit.  Very large.  After that random weirdness passed through my head I realized it was a person wearing a reflective vest that had the reflective parts like and upside down V. Use your imagination......

Shandy, the cat, has been a bitt off and loosing weight.  She is eating fine but just getting skinny and vomiting some.  We took her to the vet on Friday to get a few things checked out.  We don't know anything yet but have increased her diet a bit.  However the vet did an ultrasound of her bladder and she doesn't have stones but apparently she has so many crystals she looks like a snow globe..... So we are waiting to see what else we hear.