Grandmere Mimi Update from FranIam

Hi kids-

Spoke to Mimi again, she is still in New Roads. They have power but her daughter in law left and the computer went with her.

Updates may follow, but she is fine so things will be quiet unless she posts or wants me to post something.

I am also turning comment moderation on as Mimi requested. It is her blogcation of sorts for now!

You can always email me - easy enough to find on my blog, if you want to know something. I will post something here when we get our donation thing set up later this week, I hope.

Giving Thanks

"...in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

A tornado touched down in the woods behind our property here in New Roads. A tornado ripped up a neighborhood near where we live in Thibodaux. I am grateful beyond what I can express that my family is safe and that all of our homes are relatively undamaged.

On the day before Gustav came through, I spent time reading the Bible, turning to passages that are comforting to me. The only Bible here is a KJV, with it's stately and beautiful language. I turned to the passage below from Paul's Epistle to the Philippians:

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you."

Then I turned again to Paul from Romans:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The same Paul, whose words I sometimes shrink from, that same Paul's words were a source of strength and consolation in my time of stress.

Then I turned to the wonderful Chapter 61 from Isaiah and the Beatitudes from Luke 6, where I was once again blessed and comforted.

Thanks be to God! Amen, and amen, and amen! Alleluia! "My cup runneth over."

Change Of Plans

We will not return home to Thibodaux today. It seems dove hunting season starts today here in New Roads, and the guys want to hunt. I wonder if Sarah Palin would like to join them. They could ask. She's such a hot babe.

As for me, I may just decide to stay here in New Roads to see where Hurricane Ike decides to land. Again it's a roll of the dice to know where to go, but we are provisioned here for life without electric power. I'm sure that Grandpere will want to go back to Thibodaux to run the generator for his freezer. My DIL thinks she will stay here in New Roads, until we know more about the direction Ike will take. I won't stay here alone.

Fran, my dear friend, thanks for posting. You can only post what information I give you, and I can only post what information I have, and GP doesen't always keep me informed of his latest decisions. They're in his head, but sometimes he ain't tellin'. What can I say? Didn't I tell you that we were a crazy family?

Mimi As Channeled By FranIam Once More

I spoke to our beloved Grandmere this morning. The power is back on in Thibodaux so she is headed back there.

Mimi does not think that she will have her cable modem for awhile so it is not clear how often she can post. She will try to use other people's access or the library, if it is functioning.

Otherwise, you are stuck with me kids for a short while longer.

Stay tuned for details about a donation site in honor of Mimi to the people of Louisiana. This is thanks to the efforts of this blogger and friend of Mimi. I am but the mouthpiece... something I do well (deep sigh) so I am to be grateful for and use my gifts as God has given them to me.

Speaking of which, it is not too late to help our friend Jane R who had a tree crash into her house in NC a week ago. Email me at festinalente07 at gmail dot com if you wish to participate and I will explain. (For those who have sent something - thank you deeply, I know Jane will be grateful.)

Thank God for community. Mimi is grateful and we will keep you posted one way or another.

My MRE

I just finished eating my first MRE. I didn't have to eat it, because we have food, but I believe that everyone ought to have the experience, don't you?

The package included:

Creamy Chicken Tetrazzini
Crackers
Cheese spread
Fig bars
Shortbread cookie
Raisins (Osmotic)
Beverage base for lemonade
Spoon
Moist towelette

I must admit it was not bad. If I had no food, I'd be thrilled with it. I wonder if one meal would satisfy a hard-working man, however, it was more than enough for me, and Diana (my dog) happily licked up the leftovers.

Aren't my posts the most fascinating ever? I still have limited time on the computer, so I can't get into anything long or deep, so now you know more than you want to know about MREs.

Friday Report

We have power in New Roads, LA. Yay! The electricity came on last night while I was talking to Fran, but then it went off after a minute or so. I took that as a portent of good things to come, and, indeed, after an hour or so, the power came back on and stayed on, thanks be to God and the hardworking utility employees.

Still no power in Thibodaux, so I'll stay here for a while. My son who lives in Houma found his house in good shape, but for the two ventilating turbines blown off. However, there were no leaks as a result. My DIL's parents and her sister returned to Houma this morning, planning to stay. It's just DIL and me for now, and it's nice and quiet. I'm on my fourth wash load of towels, clothes, etc. It's good to be back in business.

I'm more grateful than I can say for all the prayers and good wishes. I speak the truth when I say that they provided strength and encouragement during the scary times. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I have the best commenters on the intertubes.

I have not been much in touch with the outside world, but I did watch part of McSame's acceptance speech. I didn't think much of it. I loved his line about Obama wanting to put a bureaucracy between you and your health care. I wonder how he feels about his own access to health care through the Senate. Does he spurn it? A lot of folks would like access to health care like yours, Senator, bureaucracy and all. Big applause for that line . I guess those folks are all well covered. The crowd was very white. If people of color were there, the camera did not focus on them, except for a brief pan of a Vietnamese for McBush crowd.

Sarah Palin was a very poor choice as candidate for VP. What was the 72 year old candidate thinking, or was he thinking? Of course, the plan is to bring out the fundamentalist vote for McWorse, and this may well do it. And the Repubs say that Obama does not have experience! I consider myself a feminist, but women do not get a pass from me, just because they are women. Sarah is NMKOW. She's pretty much a disaster of a choice. Women can be strong without guns and liking moose for dinner!

When we had our talks with our teenage children, we gave them the facts, including birth control information, and our advice on how they should conduct themselves, bearing in mind that they may not heed our advice. We said that if they were underage and a pregnancy occurred, that there would be no wedding, but we told the boys that they would have to take responsibility if there was a baby. So what does this little family vignette have to do with the subject of the post? It's pertinent, or it's not. Take your pick.

Again, thank you for your care and concern. Mwah! Mwah! Virtual hugs all around, except for those of you who don't like hugging.

Thursday Report

Grandpere is in Thibodaux with no power, but he emptied the refrigerators. He will stay there and keep the generator running for his wife, the freezer. Yes, I have concluded that his true wedded wife is the freezer. I guess you could say that I am his second wife. Did you know that south Louisiana allowed polygamy? My son in Thibodaux has a gas stove, so he will eat with him.

That's OK, because the Winn-Dixie store here opened, and we were able to buy groceries and supplies, like much needed toilet paper. The store was not a mob scene, and I took my time shopping because the store was air-conditioned. Until power is restored in Thibodaux, I will stay in New Roads, because we can cook, and we have hot water.

We tried to wash a load of towels, but the 40 year old washer did not complete the cycle, so we had to wring the towels by hand, and they are now hanging on the porch. I had washed a few of my clothes by hand in the bathtub yesterday, and my bras and panties were on full display on the front porch swinging in the breeze for all to see until they dried.

We're eating well, because we're emptying the freezer. My DIL cooked delicious fried shrimp and fried potatoes for lunch.

My son and grandson will go to Houma this afternoon to check on their house, but they will return to New Roads tomorrow.

I'm reading your comments and enjoying them, but I can't respond to them now. I can only answer essential emails. I'll try to post each day as long as I have access to my DIL's computer.

Love to all.

Hello Out There!

Hello everyone. I'm using my DIL's computer briefly. We are still in New Roads, LA, with no power. The storm was bad here. The eye-wall passed over us. Lots of trees down, but the two houses here are fine. All my family are safe, and all our houses came through with minor or no damage. Thanks be to God!

The eye of the storm passed over Houma, LA, and inflicted major damage. My town, Thibodaux, LA, suffered a lot of damage, too. We do not have power, and the water goes off for a brief period each evening, but comes back on pretty quickly. It's hot and raining still. We are beginning to run out of supplies, but no stores are open yet.

The FEMA blue tarpaulins that Fran mentioned were in Texas until this morning when 50,000 arrived in Louisiana. I don't understand why they were not in Louisiana before the storm. Many folks have roof damage and could have used them earlier I can't verify this either, but there was a trailer on Channel 9 out of Baton Rouge yesterday, saying that no tarps had arrived in LA yet. That delay makes me angry.

Our governor is getting his baptism by fire. When he was told that it could be weeks before power could be restored in certain areas, he said that was "unacceptable". I had to laugh. That's like stamping your feet in a temper tantrum. If anyone is truly working it's the utility people, clearing away fallen trees and branches so they can work to restore power. It's a roll of the dice to decide whether New Roads or Thibodaux will have power restored first, so we may return to Thibodaux tomorrow.

So. Here I am hot and cranky, with only one local TV channel, not knowing what's going on in the big world out there. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and concern. The prayers worked!

I posted by accident at OCICBOV and decided to leave it there ans post here, too.

Where In The World is Grandmere Mimi?

She is still somewhere near or around New Roads.

Power is off.

Weather is hot.

Generator will not give enough power to run clothes dryer.

Wet dirty clothes do not dry in the humidity.

Water is off - then on - then off.

No cell phones.

Local TV reports.

Food running low, no stores open. They are still ok however.

This is far from the coast and they still got hammered by the storm.

And she is deeply grateful.

That's our Mimi.

Grandpere has made a run back to Thibodaux and will return to New Roads. No power on in either location.

Mimi really wanted me to blog about FEMA Tarps that were stuck in Texas by mistake and only just got to Louisiana. She was REALLY angry about this.

Sadly I could not find a link - if someone else can, Mimi wants it blogged about.

Mimi is very disturbed at the way the RNC is going and is desirous of wanting to act and not react, for Democrats to be strong and not defensive.

That's something we can all agree on.

Monday Evening Update from Fran

My good blogfriend Dcup put a comment in for me on the last post as I was away from home for hours and Dcup's cellphone was readily available.

Actually I was on the phone with D... her name is Lisa actually and Mimi called but it must have gone straight to voicemail. Lisa knows I would have hung up on her for Mimi!

Anyway - all is well, but no power and phone service is intermittent due to busy circuits. I actually did continue to try to reach Grandmere but busy busy busy circuit signals.

They seem to be doing okay and holding up, but the storm was very bad, even up in New Roads.

Thanks and prayers to all, for all.

Fran