My Journey: August 31st, 2005 "My House"

We got to my yard. My mobile home was sitting on the ground.... My house was splitting apart. We couldn't budge the door on the house, so much stuff had moved around and was pushed against the door. We had a hard time trying to get into the trailer. But we finally did. You couldn't stand the smell. The inside was covered in mud and sludge. Everything was soaking wet , and it looked like a tornado had been in there. We had to squeeze between the back of the steps to get in the door. I was trying to get in as Will was trying to get out. He about ran me over. The smell was too much to bear. He said" you dont want to go in there." I said" yes I do." I finally made my way in, It was too much to take in. You could smell the death in there. I had 3 fish aquariums, all the fish had just swam out of their aquariums and were laying dead all over. I saw some on the window sills. That was all I could take, Will was right I didn't want to go in there.............................God Bless..................................

My Journey: continuing August31,2005

Looking all around and seeing all these people, we are SURVIVOR"S, not refugee's.Thats what I'd like to be called. We finally made our way on Lower Bay road to the LaFrance ,Ansley road and thats as far as you could go. We parked and we all got out. Pam, and two other's decided they were walking to see her house. I couldn't go, being disabled , with my back and legs , she knew I couldn't walk. So me and the rest stayed at the truck. Here came a man out from the road, he said they wasn't nothing there. "All gone " he said. We all cried. Pam was determined to see her place. We gave out a few bottles of water to who we could, untill we ran out. There was finally one little spot of shade, down the road a bit. So we left Will there and me and jess went to Port Bienville to their work and they gave us a 5 gallon jug of water, Yea Ha. So we all had a drink now. We'd been there for hours in the heat and sun. It had to be 102" or so in the shade. I about had a heat stroke. I was used to cool 70" inside. So were most of us! We still had to find our way to Pearlington. Soon the three of them came down the road. They were pulling a cooler, carrying things. But a bunch of nothing. Because there wasn't nothing. They had to get on the railroad tracks. It was bad. They were exhausted and covered in mud, hot and thirsty. It was really sad. I was shivvering inside. I want to cry now just thinking about it. ...........We got ourselves together and drove towards Pearlington. The first turn we made we had to turn around. The trees were like a barracade in one section on 7th st. they were intertwined like you wouldnt believe. A Fortress............................... So we twisted and twisted our way and as close as we could get was by the little canal by the chicken lady's house.You know there on Whites rd. before Randall's house. In fact we got out and walked up the hill right there, there were so many trees and stuff in the road. There was Pig's ,Big and little ones, running around. There was a horse. All kinds of dead fish in the ditches. Salt water fish. Everywhere you walked was slipperly with mud, stinkin smelly mud. I had a pair of sandals on. GEE... We walked and finally when we got to my street, we had to walk threw a man's yard that had dead dogs everywhere. It was the grosses thing I've ever seen. It was pitiful, I cried. They were all hooked on 6ft. chains. ......................taking a break, will continue next time..... The picture: this was as close as we could get to my house, really a bit before this house..................God Bless.....................................................................................

My journey:,8/30/-8/31/05 going to our houses

8/30/05- We tried to get out of Terry's today, but couldn't. There were trees, wires and debree all over the roads. Everyone all around the neighborhood were out with 4 wheelers and chainsaws clearing the roads so people could get out. So we had to wait until the next morning to get out and make our way towards our houses!! .................GodBless................................

8/31/05
When day light came we were ready to leave and try to get to our houses. Pam and Gary lived in Ansley. So we decided to go there first. The sights we saw were just awful. It looked like we had been bombed overnight. The destruction all over. We had to drive over a million lines on the road. Trees, telephone poles were down everywhere. There was barley a lane so one car could drive thru. You had to take turns going down the road. We saw 18 wheelers turned over. Cars turned over. Where houses and buildings were now they were gone. When we got to Waveland, the people were wandering around in a daze. Most of them were covered in mud. There was mud, stinking mud every place. All the store windows were blown out. You could look straight threw Walmart. All of the inside gone. Most places looked like that. Or they were just gone. Going down hwy. 90 out of Waveland heading toward Ansley there were dead seagulls all over the road. I guess they were disorientated. There were hundreds of them flying low on the hwy. The vehicles couldn't help but hit them. It was pitiful. Everywhere you looked was total destruction. It was worse than any war pictures I've seen. It was like a nightmare and I was hoping I'd wake up. It was just too, too much for my brain to take in.......... God Bless...............

My Journey: August.28th.2005,packing&Leaving

Will got home from work at 6:00am. We were trying to decide what to take and what to do. We took his motorcycle to his mom's house in Ponchatoula,La. Got home and loaded up what stuff we could in both vehicles. Friends were suppost to come over and load up the 883 Sporster for me, but everything happening so fast, they couldn't make it.I was busy going around my home taking pictures ,and putting them into my computer and sending them to Walmart. Then I could pick them up later. Will kept telling me to hurry. I think we finally locked up at 3:30 or so. The last thing I did was hang a picture of Jesus on the inside of my storm door looking out. And we both said a prayer. We went to stay by friends about 20 miles north of here. Right above the Kiln. Our friend just bought the house 2 weeks before. He had just gotten out of the service and came home from Italy. Needless to say all his stuff was packed somewhere. So we all piled with what we had in different rooms of the house. Me and Will lucked out and got the spot in front of the fireplace on the floor. Our dog got the garage. Everbody just sorta layed around and wondered. Whats going to happen? Two of our friends lived in Ansley, right by the canal. It was her brothers house. Her daughter and future son-in-law was there too. And me and Will. And our dog. We layed and watched T.V. for as long as it was on the air. The news said once we didn't see them on air we knew it would be real bad. And by the time that happened it got real bad. The wind was blowing. It was rainging hard. The thunder and lightening. The wind was blowing the garage door back and forth. Will and Terry went out and moved vehicles on both sides of the door. If they hadn't we would had been in alot more trouble. Trees were cracking and crashing every where. This went on for a long long time. It was even scarier laying there beside that fire place with the crashes and winds howling and all that noise echoing down thru that fireplace. I knew this was the BIG one. But I had no idea just how BIG. These are some of the pictures of my trailer I took on the 28th of august, the day before the hurricane. I had a really nice trailer, 16x80, 3 bedrooms, and 2 full baths.............................God Bless........................................................

My Journey: a day in my life: July30,2006

Well it rained again today. Which we still need badly. I went outside to put Frontline on my dog. I was out there a total of 5 minutes and got bitten about a dozen times by the mosquitos.When will they STOP??? We're all going to get the West Nile. I was reading yesterday's newspaper, a lady in Diamondhead poured a pot of boiling grease on her sleeping husband then drove off. Wow! Thats serious. This evening when Will got to work he called and said,"at the Fema park beside Port Beinville ,there was a big neighborhood fight." "The police were there" I just wonder what Katrina has really done to everybody. I think it's only going to get worse before it gets better. There is not enough help here for all the people. Whole towns just demolished. It's just like we were in a war. It is a war zone....... And sometimes I wonder Who's side are people on? It seems like the people that need help the worst are the one's not getting any help. Like at the recovery center, if you volunteer there they will help you. I'd love to do volunteer work, I tried and physically couldn't do it. And it makes you see things you wish you hadn't seen too. I saw Volunteers take stuff that should have been there for the victims. But No, the victims don't even get to see it. It's Pitiful. I think all the stuff being sent here for the community should be given to the community. Well thats enough on this subject for right now. I could go on but my blood pressure will go up. These pictures are the Pearlington Recovery center. The buildings, { Red & White ones} are bunk houses they built { i think 7 of them} for the volunteers to stay in. The brick building by white truck is our school, which they aren't opening back up. They've already torn some of it down. This is the web address for the recovery center: http://www.pearlington.blogspot.com if you'd like to check it out. It is a very interesting blog....................... God Bless......................... Update on the volunteers that were taking stuff, I;ve been told the recovery center has gotten rid of those people. God Bless.............

My Journey: Aug.27,05" freakin-out", taking pictures

I was going around the house trying to figure out what things I should pack. My boyfriend was at work. As he worked the night shift security work at a Plant at Port Bienville. I was listening to The Weather Channel. And just messing around as I usually did, on computer... I forget excatly what time of morning it was but The weather channel announced that Katrina wound be making landfall at La. Ms. line on a small town of Pearlington. I Freaked. I called my boyfriend. He Freaked. He then Freaked everyone in the plant out by putting the news from my T.V. on the loud speakers. Which was his job to alert of bad weather. At that point Katrina had a 50ft. wave of water in her eyewall, which was going to hit Pearlington. At that point I really freaked. My Boyfriend, I'll call Will, ok. Well Will said" I think its going to turn." I said "Yea right. Well I can't swim in 50ft. of water." I'm getting the _______ outta here. Are you with me or not? Will was with me. Needless to say I was up all night figuring out what to take in my small vehicle, plus the dog. Will had a junky old car we were taking also,it was good on gas. So I started taking pictures so I can sent them to Walmart so I can pick them up anyplace. Thinking, lord what are we coming back to if anything? I was so bummed out I didn't know what I was friggin going to do. I had alot of Native American Art work, some I bought, some me and Will made, and we'd trade too. Alot of $$$ we both had in crafts. I made a Seafood Wreath too. I'll finish the rest of the pictures tommorrow.................................................God Bless My Home ...................................

Where do i begin? July 29,2006" Dedicate to my MOM"

<- I just took this picture when I was in Va.
This is one of the only pictures I have left of my mom, I'm dedicating this story for her,"MILDRED" The boy, David is my son and the girl is my neice, Jackie, I think this was in 1977.
I think it really began, back in Jan.1980. My mom had gotten sick over Christmas Holidays, with what we thought was a cold. But it was really her heart. It was the 17th. of Jan. I came home from the Technical school and had to ride past mom's to pick up my son. Everything seemed fine. Well the next night I passed and a neighbor stopped me and said my mom was in the hospital.That night my world crashed down on me. My mom passed away at 3;30 that morning. I was the only one there at the time. It was the hardest thing to do, having to go to that funeral. Anyway our step-father pretty much had nothing for us and thats that. I lost my apartment, my mom helped me pay my bills. I was divorced. She said stay in school and finish and you'll be doing good when you finish. I grew up in a small town in Northern Va. called Woodbridge. Anyway my family fell apart and I ended up in NewOrleans. That wasn't any place to raise a son, so I moved further north into Pearlington, Ms. I fell in love with this small town. It was a small knit community. I stayed and became a resident here. I've been here 25 years now, and it's my home. In the 25 years of living here we've went threw a few storms, but i've never had water in my house, the house is on a slab. And I lived in that house for 20 yrs. We had built the house, me & a ex, started in 82 or so. And I bought my trailer in 2001.....God Bless.......................