My Journey: more pictures from week 5

.......God Bless........

My Journey: Week 5 of my house

It's lQQking better & better every week !!!!! ............God Bless..........

My Journey: Sick again, with a bad cold......

Well I've been sick with a bad respitory cold for the last couple weeks, AGAIN !!!

I got some pills from my doctor, so hoping I feel better soon. I still say it's the bacteria and living in this fema trailer. But no one is ever going to admit to it . I'll be glad to get out of this tin can and into my house! It will be so wonderful to have a life again. And to return to a some what normal routiene again. If there is such a thing !! The group that was here last week bought me some flowers. It was so sweet of them. You get attached to the people, even in a weeks time. Thank God for those wonderful volunteers. I don't know where we'd be without them. .......God Bless.................

My Journey Ready to Move On

I think I'm going to be overjoyed to move into and to live in my house. I'm sitting here thinking back on all the places I've been and lived in , in the last 19 months. I'm tired of camping, I think it will be a very long time before I want to camp again. I'm ready to get settled back into my home and try to have a normal life again. Right now its still so overwhelming to go to a real house or even into a store. I have anxiety attacks. I hope I get over that soon. I guess you get so used to the confined place , which A Fema trailer, even a motel room, is a confined space. I know its not like a home is. It will be so nice to have some counter space. And to be able to walk around your bed without knocking your head on the t.v. shelf. And having a nice big bathtub, that you can really take a good bath, and soak for a hour !! And to have a real stove, and a washer and dryer. Oh Good God , I can't wait !! Here are a few pictures of what I have now. !! Which I've been fornuate to have, but its been a long journey. And I'm ready to move on.......God Bless.................

My Journey Businesses coming back, SLOWLY !!

This is a restaurant in Pearlington that they've been working on. Hopefully soon they'll be back in business again !! Things are starting to improve some. Thank God for the volunteers.....God Bless...........

My Journey: Some of my volunteers

Pictures of some of the volunteers from N.C.-Va. , and Michigan that were here working last week. It's so wonderful meeting all of these wonderful people. Each week new ones come. You get so attached to them, you hate to see them go. I am keeping a journal of all the people so I can keep in touch and send them a picture of my house when its finished. Its so amazing that these people from all walks of life take a week and alot of them more, out of their lives to come here to give us hope and love and support and kindess that they give us. We sure couldn't be where we are without them. God Bless them all. They sure are special people. ....................God Bless..........................

My Journey "My House ! coming along !!! "

Pictures of my House !! Its coming along !! Its so Beautiful !!!!

..............................God Bless..................................................

My Journey: The No-See-Ums

Hi, Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been so busy and sick again. I'll be so glad to get out of this Fema trailer. But it could be all this crazy weather too. One day I have the A.C. on and the next the heater. Or during the day the A.C. and at night the heater. Soon tho it will be so hot we'll all wish for this cooler weather again. I remember in 2005, Feb. came , I turned the A.C. on and never turned it off until the day I left for Katrina. I think that had alot to do with the storms that year. It had been such a hot summer. I know I was so used to air condition, that I about had a heat stroke being out in that heat. The only thing that saved us was that artisian well and we had some electrolite pills. Summer is here for us now , and I don't for- see too many more cold nights. The love bugs are here and so are the dern nats. Oh yea, the mosquitos also, but they never left !! A nat bit me on my eyelid a while ago, so now my eyelid is swollen about shut! They are some awnrey little things. And the worst part is you can't even see them !! There was a article in the SeaCoastEcho the other day about them, it was Sat March 3rd. called,
I Fear I See No-See-Ums, by Paul Estronza LaViolette in the Views from A Porch.
LOL he calls then No-See-Ums, he said they're really called Culicoides, with several species. He says its only the females that bite. Golly there are millions of females then !! I'm not sure which is worse the nats or mosquitos! They are all annoying and bite! The dern nats will even come thru the screens. They come here in the spring and in the fall. I really feel sorry for all the people that have to be outside working around them. I've been lighting a fire in a big metal pan for the volunteers. If you get leaves and get a smoke fire going is the only thing I know that helps. The bug spray helps, but I think they get amuned to it !! Well I'll try to write more often. Take care ..........................God Bless..........................................

My Journey: Fems'a got to be joking me !

Ok, I asked Fema to check out my camper for Fimilhide? {I know I spelled it wrong!!} Anyway, the fema man came to check it. He said they don't have any type of instrument tester, that he was told to use his NOSE!! Boy, what a joke. He asked why I wanted it tested. I told him because I've been sick alot since I've came home. He said usually there is a smell. I said yes I know I had to air it out for a long time when I first got it. He said yes they use it in the carpets and stuff. Then he said, "the only thing we can do is bring you a new one." Wow, then I'd have to go threw the new smell all over again. Yea, sure let me get it full strength again !! HaHa. I don't think so !! ................God Bless...........................

My Journey: " From all across the World !!"

I just looked at my sitemeter. I checked on the hits by location, and saw Coatesville, Pa. That is where my mom was from !! She was born and raised in Pa. All her family. We always went there for Christmas, and in the summertime. My Grandpa Hoopes lived there, and worked at a hardware store all his life. My cousin Donnie, and my Aunt . My mom's mom, her brothers, and my great grandmother. We loved going there. Boy does it bring back memories !! At my Grandpa's there was a old lane we drove on to his house. It was a old farmhouse. He had a out-house. We took a bath in a big washtub. They would fill it with water out of the spring in the morning. Then the sun would heat the water all day. Then we'd take a bath. We'd chase the cows all over the farm, and correl them into a big stone built wall enclosure thing !! One time the cow turned and chased us !! They had a hand pump in the kitchen, which I thought was pretty neat. We'd play in the alphia field too, we'd lay in it & make tunnels thru it by flattening it down. I remember seeing alot of Amish families there. They'd ride in the buggies, pulled by their horses that had blinders on them.I liked hearing stories my grandpa and great grandma would tell us. I always slept with my great grandma, she'd tell me stories about coming to N.Y. from England. She had beautiful hats with the long, pretty hat pins. I just loved her to death. My mom, my grandma's and my aunt would get together and make donuts. Yummy, they sure were good. Oh, they were the good ole days. I wish I could go back to those days. It would snow so much, my dad would get out of the car and push us up the big hills because of the snow. And in the summer my mom would drive a little faster over them little hills and it would be like we were on a roller coaster. Our stomachs would do a doozie thing !!
Thanks Coatesville for the memories !!.........God Bless....................

My Journey: " Getting worse"

Most of the houses everywhere you LQQK that are still standing, but were flooded are just falling to peices. They're caving in. This is a picture of Ronnie Cuevas house in Pearlington. I wonder what they're waiting on ??.....................God Bless.....................................

My Journey: The Tugboat

The Tugboat finally made it's way back into the water. This one was sitting on the other side of Hwy. 90 from where it belonged. Whoever owned it, took it back across the Hwy. and made a small canal and got it back into the Pearl River.
{ Bottom picture} This picture was taken near the White Kitchen too.
................God Bless..........................

My Journey: " A Roadside Park"

All the top pictures were taken just a couple days ago. And the bottom picture was taken right after the storm.{ you couldn't walk on it, there was so much debris} This is the roadside park just past the Old White Kitchen on Hwy. 90, just before you turn onto Freemo going to Slidell. I'm not sure if the Eagle nest is there or not, couldn't tell. But I didn't see it.
............................God Bless...................................

My Journey: My House- LQQKING GOOD !!

Well after getting the pilings inspected, and getting another elevation they were on a roll. They did this in two days !! It sure amazes me. The people that were here and worked on it those two days were from Ohio. They were a very nice bunch of people and have a very special place up there with the Lord. I'm very gratful for them. My house is Beautiful !! I'm so overhelmed !!.....God Bless.......

My Journey: " A Art peice, from one of my trees"

We're going to make a stool or small table out of this peice of wood. I think it's a pretty shape. It was in the way of where my house is being built. For legs we're going to use a few logs. It's a start on getting some unique art pieces back. We had so much $$ in crafts, and art work we had made and we had bought. Things are getting better each day.
.........................................GOD BLESS.......................................

My Journey: "Coming along on my house"

Pictures of them pouring cement in the piling holes !! These guys are workers !!

These guys left today. They are getting a new group for next week. Top (2nd. Picture) is me (left) and Pam (right). Gary, (in Blue shirt) standing there watching them work. And the rest are the guys working. And one picture is walls, floors, etc. I'm so excited! I cried yesterday, but it was" Happy Tears. " Pam did too!! Me and Willy & Taz went out there before the cement set up all the way and wrote some stuff, and put a few things into the wet cement !! Taz put his paw print in it.Behind me & Pam you can see stuff I tried to save, covered with tarps. But the tarps are leaking, so everything is ruined for sure now. I hope I can get materials to build a shed. I signed the list that the Pearlington Recovery Center had, a bunch of times, a year ago now, but haven't gotten a shed yet. Some people in town have 2 sheds. The wonderful thing about these young men, they were covered with mud and wet, down in those holes digging, and they were still laughing and having a good time, all day long. They were a delight to talk to.........................GOD BLESS............

My Journey " Our Haven when we left Terry's house"

After Katrina we only stayed with Pam, Gary, and Terry a few days. We knew we couldn't stay there. All of us were just trying to survive. We left there and went to Cousin Earl's & Kathy's, just outside Picayune. They lived in Waveland, but had some land there. They had told us to come there for the storm, but we'd left our house so late. And the first place we came to was Terry's. Earl and Kathy had a BIG boat(middle picture) and a old trailer(top) they were rebuilding. No electric, or running water. We got there and got settled in as much as we could. We found a couple of couch cushions, and a peice of a small matress. But it was better than the floor. And we did have a roof over us. Kathy & Earl moved into the boat he had dry docked there! It looked like a Gilligan Island boat !! LOL Anyway, they didn't have a bit of food, but we did. We had essencials. A camp stove, pots&pans, and a coffee pot. The Artisian well was just a few blocks down the street. So we'd go there to get water and take a bath and wash clothes. And to just cool off, it was so hot. Before we laid down to sleep we'd go there and get cooled off, so maybe we could sleep. We stayed there until we left for Tennessee. But it was out in the sticks so we had to leave there everyday to try and get food and ice and water. We were happy when the Military finally got to Picayune. The first things we got were a bag of apples, ice, water, and a BIG box of chicken legs quarters. We thought it was steak! We had to go between Picayune and Waveland to get MRE's and ice, etc... And we still couldn't get gas anywhere. Or make any phone calls. No stores open. We had it better than alot of people tho,we saw people covered in mud, with nothing. It was so pitiful,unbelieveable, so sad ...................GOD BLESS.............

My Journey: " New Playground in Pearlington"

A group came here about a month ago, and built this beautiful playground . They were "Save the Children", and had a group of " Fire Fighters" with them. They had a BBQ a couple times that day. Just building and having fun. They built it beside the site of the New Community Center. But I'm wondering how many children are really here? You sure don't see many around here. You don't see people around here like it was before the hurricane. Some homes here haven't even been touched as of yet. And I wonder if they're going to be.

.....................................GOD BLESS......................................

My Journey: Picture of C.C. White

This is a picture of C.C. White and ? I don't know who the other woman is. C.C. is a woman that I've mentioned in a few of my postings. She is a Angel !! A real Miracle Blessing for Hancock County. her web address is:

http://www.c.c.herehope.org She came here right after the storm to help. It looks like they're relaxing some, which I'm sure she really needs !! C.C. is on the left.God Bless her & her son.....God Bless...........

My Journey: " My New HOUSE"

Well I got my permit, and they've started on the house. I have to get another $300.00 elevation permit tho, because we don't know where my mark is from when they did it before. But it's coming along !.............God Bless.....................