Gustav In New Roads

These pictures from the aftermath of Gustav in New Roads, Louisiana, were taken AFTER the initial clean-up. I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures before the clean-up started.


Big Tree Down

Across the highway, which runs in front of the house, you can catch a glimpse of False River, the oxbow lake that was once a part of the Mississippi River, but was cut off when the river changed course.


Gathered Piles Of Tree Limbs

In the center rear of the picture, those are not bushes growing, but piles of fallen branches.


Persimmon Tree Down


Ripe Persimmons On Fallen Tree

The fruit at the top of the tree would never have been picked, because it was a very tall tree. The good news is that the folks who like persimmons had a field day.

How Sarah Palin Was Elected Governor

From the The Raw Story:

In perhaps one of the strangest twists to date in the story of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a video now shows the governor crediting her electoral success to a preacher who claims to successfully hunt witches.

The speech, shown below, was filmed in June. Palin describes the visit of Pastor Thomas Muthee to the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005.
....

In 1988, Pastor Muthee and his wife traveled to Kenya after being "called by God." Setting up shop in the basement of a grocery store, they claim to have brought 200 people "to God" and away from the town's "spiritual oppression."

The source of the oppression? Witchcraft, Muthee says. When researching the community, they found that a woman named "Mama Jane" ran a divination clinic that drew a large following in the town.

“We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place,” Pastor Muthee said.

Read the rest and watch the video of Sarah Palin's speech at The Raw Story.

Keith Olbermann had the story tonight on Countdown. He said that Jeremiah Wright (Obama's former pastor) looked like Fr. Flanagan next to Pastor Thomas Muthee. You can't make this stuff up.

More on the story of Mama Jane, the "witch" from The Christian Science Monitor.

About Those Oil Rigs That The Fish Love

From Forbes:

WASHINGTON (AFX) - At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a source from a US Coast Guard unit operating in the area.

'We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was,' Petty Officer Robert Reed told AFP.

The missing rigs were in the Gulf of Mexico, Reed said, citing Coast Guard overflights of the area and information from oil companies.

Post-Ike Response, Gustav Response Continues

From the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana:

We will be delivering food and supplies to hard-hit Lafitte Thursday and Friday. And Saturday, a team of volunteers from throughout the diocese will be going to Bayou du Large to begin gutting. If you'd like to join us, please contact Pete Nunnally at (504) 259-1417 or pnunnally@edola.org.

We're also working with local parish leaders and exploring partnerships with local organizations to distribute supplies where they are most needed in Terrebonne and LaFourche Parishes, and we also continue to work with Mother Gay in Plaquemine in our continuing Gustav response.

Since Ike hit, deacons have been delivering sandwiches and goods to Lafitte and Crown Point, while the Office of Disaster Response has been distributing water, bleach, and gloves to Bayou du Large, as well as assessing gutting needs to be addressed Saturday.

Trinity School and Country Day School have collected canned goods which they will deliver to Lafitte, and the Mobile Loaves and Fishes truck will also be sending sandwiches to Lafitte. In addition, we have been fielding offers from churches throughout the New Orleans area to help out wherever needed with chainsaw debris clearing.

Outside of our diocese, the Diocese of Kansas is prepared to deploy small teams to our diocese to volunteer.

We continue to respond to the needs of our diocese, and we thank all of you who give of your time and money to help us in this effort.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

I was overwhelmed by the prayers and good wishes and kind words on my birthday, my friends. I'd like to answer each of you who left a comment, but that's not possible. We had not planned our celebration of my birthday for yesterday since Grandpère was out of town. It's a good thing we didn't, because the power problem came up.

He missed all the fun of the power outage. I spent much of my day on the phone with the power company, doing the number punching to get to the service that could help me and then punching in my phone number and account number or shouting into phone to a technology voice with no person behind it. You all know what it's like.

In between my dealings with Entergy, I'd peek into my blog and read the lovely comments, and that lifted my spirits immensely. Thanks to the bloggers who posted about my birthday, even MadPriest, who seems to have "lost" his post rather quickly. I was fortunate to get someone to come out yesterday to set up my temporary power supply until the workers can find the bad spot in the wire, dig up the yard, and put in another splice. I had to pick up my grandchildren at school, and I just knew that the repairmen would come while I was gone, but they did not. So for now we are set.

I used my laptop a good bit yesterday, but I like my desktop much, much better. I feel so cramped using the laptop. Also, I'm browsing with Explorer, which I do not like, but I have heard of a few problems with using Firefox with Vista, so I have not downloaded it yet. So far, Vista seems fine. I haven't run into any bugs yet, although I've heard of the problems that others have.

Brownout!

Well, I'm having an interesting morning day. I had a partial power outage in my house. Some rooms had power, others did not. Then the electricity came back on, but in brownout mode where the outage had been. The brownout scared me more, because of what weak power can do to appliances and computers. I was working at my computer when I lost power.

I've been on the phone several times with the power company, Entergy, not the best company, with their punching numbers game, and I've been in touch with the electrician, who is due here shortly. Grandpère is out of town, of course. He misses all the good stuff.

Several years ago, my neighbor cut the main line that brings electricity to my house. (The utilities are buried.) Since then, the power company has come twice to repair the line. It could be that again, or I suppose it could be something in the house wiring. What fun! Dim, bright, dim, bright. Should I switch the main breaker to "off"?

I'm on my laptop connected through DSL through my phone service.

UPDATE: The electrician came, and it's definitely the power company's problem.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Step right up folks and wish me a "Happy Birthday!". I know you will anyway, so I'll give you a place to send your good wishes. Can you imagine! I've been on God's not-so-green-anymore earth for one year short of three quarters of a century. That's a loooong time.

I've had my ups, and I've had my downs. I've taken the high road, and I've taken the low road, but, all together, it's been a good run.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you....

Thanks be to God!

And it's Ruth's birthday, too!

Economy a "Mixed Picture"

I heard on NPR that Dana Peroxide said the economy was a "mixed picture". This after Bush and McWorse have been consistently saying that the economy is "fundamentally sound". Could they actually be slouching toward reality?

The Word From Houston

My friend in Houston came through Ike quite well. She lost power for a only a few hours, and her internet connection is back up. She has an elderly friend staying with her until her power is restored, and also another friend's dog. My friend is my age, so, of course, she is not elderly - yet. She'd better not be, because that would mean that I am elderly, too. Here's what she had to say:

But it's sunny and cool - much more pleasant for "clearing brush".

I'm sure that Poppy and Barb are hard at work, too.

Feast Day Of Hildegard Of Bingen

Illumination from the "Liber Scivias" showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary

Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God. Hildegard of Bingen

Readings:

Psalm 104:25-34
Sirach 43:1-2,6-7,9-12,27-28
John 3:16-21

PRAYER

O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Please go read It's Margaret's post on Hildegard. It's beautiful.

UPDATE: More lovely music on the feast day of Hildegard from Tobias Haller.

Hildegard's words from the Lectionary.

Image from Wiki.