Preparing for Rita

This is what you do to get ready for a major hurricane! Relax, stay calm, sleep in a hammock while the wonderfully warm breeze drops pecans on your head... oops, that's probably bad advice if yall take me seriously...

Okay, Rusty took this picture of Lynna and me about 3:00 this afternoon. The wind is picking up now, at about 7:00 pm. Looks like Rita is going to visit Liberty and Livingston, at least part of her - how lucky can we be!

Rusty drove through the WalMart parking lot last night and found a family of eight, including four small children, who were in need of a place to go. He came back here to the lake house and asked Lynna and me if we would be okay with taking them in, but when we went back up there to get them, they had gone. So this afternoon (we got up from our naps on the hammocks) we went back to WalMart to see if there was anyone left stranded there. I am happy to report that the first three families we talked to were expecting people coming to get them within the hour. The fourth car load we came upon had five women, a dog, a cat, and a bird. Rusty asked them if they were okay. They had about a gallon of gas left and no place to go. So we brought them over here, along with the lady next door, who is by herself and has been crippled by polio since childhood. So we have 10 people here now - Rusty is outnumbered 9:1! Hee hee! This over-estrogen is good for him... :)

Our new guests had been on the road from Houston since 10:30 am yesterday - about 30 hours with no sleep, all crammed in a small car. Now they've showered and eaten dinner and we're all just sitting around in the living room chatting, getting to know each other. I'm glad we could find some folks to help - actually, all four of us were really excited about it.

Well, the lightning is starting to come - the sunset is cool - Rusty's out taking pictures of it now.

Better run - as long as I can get a signal I will post more updates on this blog.