Sipping Coffee and Waiting on News...

This morning has been a much more relaxed and leisurely morning than the past few!

Byron fired up his smoker and prepared his famous ribs for our evacuees. Enjoyed coffee with Mom, Mae, Sister and her tribe of dogs and boys! We are now only waiting on hearing confirmation that our Daddy in fact made it into Sabine County and is on his way back here to ARkansas. Yes- he's just that "driven" and drives us all near to distraction with all the "what if's" and risks he's taking.

The situation as it stands today is looking up for our Texas Rita folks.

Stephen drove into Port Arthur yesterday and found that his parent's home had only one tree on about a 4 foot corner of the house- so not a whole lot of damage there. NO flood in their home- even though their neighborhood was. As he was emptying out the freezer- he was challenged by a police officer. He was really pleased with that- cuz they are even protecting his Mama's steaks from looters!

His parent's who are staing at Robin & Stephen's have not been able to find any holes in Robin's roof- all the water that came in during the storm must have been blowing up under the shingles. They are using the gasoline from the bass boats to power the generator- and Stephen's sister, Christy, actually was able to drive over the 2 mile-bridge to Many LA for some supplies and got a call out, too! So, good news on that front. I'm sure they'll stay at Robin's home until they start to allow folks back into Port Arthur when the utilities are re-established.

Wayne, Stephen's Dad, was able to drive the 60 miles to (and back) to our 'rent's homes at River Bend. He reported that there were about 10 trees down (I'm sure he was only looking at the very closest part of the yards next to the houses) and none of them were on the houses! Not sure about the huge garages and all- but, that they houses were spared is encouraging to say the least! Dad's only BIG concern was emptying out the three freezers. Thus his "flying" trip today.

He and Robin had been discussing when would be the right time for them to go back home considering the utilities, the school, the lack of food and gas supplies and just the trecherous state of the roads. Hemphill proper has had their power restored- it may be quite some time before Robin's home in Fairmount and the much more remote communities have theirs. Hemphill ISD has announced that their schools will reopen next Monday- so, they must be expecting to have a lot more progress as far as the basic essentials in Sabine County. I don't really see how they can realistically expect that considering that they are still having MRE's served by the guard and the sheer fact that there is so much debris to be picked up and if the young men are in school they won't be able to help much in that effort- but, I'll quit editorializing and continue with the facts!

Now, that he jumped up and LEFT Robin this morning- means he'll be making a 2nd trip (probably on Saturday) to take her, the boys and perhaps the dogs back home. We'll wait and see.

The boys' other g-parents (Donald's folks) and uncle James tried to stay at their mobile home at Lowe's Creek. I understand that there is a tree on part of it- but, apparently it's not demolished... after one night- they returned to Donald's home because without power it was entirely too hot and miserable. I don't know that they've had any confirmation on the status of their homes in Port Arthur.

And, that's as up-to-date as we know from SE Texas.

Today's weather here is overcast and still a little muggy. I'm on a search for a kiddie-pool for the Labs. They prefer to sit in their water to drink and this ought to be a do-able accomodation for a little dog happiness! They are very sweet dogs- even though they are mighty big! All of them seem to have adapted to living inside and really provide quite a distraction to what we call "everyday" life! They especially prefer Mr Richard and all the attention he gives them! Our daddy! He should have been an animal trainer... oh- wait! He was! Band director, animal trainer.. same difference!