Cowboy Zebra

Ian just escaped into the big part of the house. After a few moments, I went to check on him. I found him in the front hall, hands on the decorative table which holds the African nic-nacs. He was peering at the ostrich egg in the center and saying, "ball ball". As soon as he saw me, he started to shake his head no, knowing he wasn't supposed to mess with it.

My mom and dad left this morning for a three month trip to Singapore. They'll get there tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon our time which will actually be Sunday in Singapore.

This warehouse was completely full before the hurricane. Not anymore. The storm surge cleaned it out. That chassis was outside, now it's inside and twisted around a bit. It had a 2 story concrete office built inside, it's gone too.

I've posted a new gallery of post-Katrina Gulfport photos here:
http://cowboyzebra.net/drupal/image/tid/14

Ian likes to drink the milk out of his cereal bowl BEFORE he eats the cereal. One morning, he was surprised to discover that his bowl was stuck to the table. Instead of being able to pick up his bowl and drink from it (and spill half the milk), he improvised.

It's hard to tell who is having the least amount of fun, Ian or Chuck?

During Berck and Joanna's wedding I saw this piece of seaweed on the beach and it immediately reminded me of a guy slam dunking a basketball...

Ian loves to put his daddy's shoes on.

This barn just down the road from us used to have an upper level. Katrina changed that.

Are back.

I can't say it was THAT horrible without them. Sweaty at times... But not horrible. Most nights it was nice.

Home: We're still without power. On generator but we're having water pump problems. No water since yesterday evening. We're making due with saved water for toilets and plenty of bottled water for drinking. Last night the weather was great for sleeping with the windows open. I think it was in the middle 70s.

Work: We're fully operational. Power. Data. Voice. The Bellsouth engineers did an excellent job of getting us back up even though they have to completely rewire several equipment centers near us that were flooded. Flood waters got almost all of our buildings but it never quite reached our equipment.(Read More)

SSAMarine lost our operations in New Orleans and Gulfport. Pascagoula was damaged but is supposedly repairable. Gulfport looks better than we had heard. For pics of our Gulfport operation go here:

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24333784.jpg

Nobody died but several employees lost their homes. The company is relocating them to other operations and providing them with shelter. SSA is taking care of its own in an amazing way.

Gas: Gas is in short supply. I don't need it yet so I haven't bought any since before the hurricane. I don't look forward to the lines.

This road is full of debris and mud. And, the containers on the right are usually stacked a bit neater.

The inside of this warehouse had several feet of water in it. There's an inch or two of mud left. I was happy to have an All Wheel Drive car. But, my feet got a bit muddy.

As you can see from the pics we had a lot of trees down and a few shingles blown off. We're without grid power but we have a generator to power the fridge, freezer, TV, and water well pump. I'm using my laptop and Verizon cell phone for internet access a few times a day. We're all safe and pretty content. It's hot, and without AC it can get muggy inside, but outside today the weather was absolutely wonderful.

The company I work for has several offices throughout the Gulf Coast. We lost our operation in Gulfport, Ms. It'll be a while before they rebuild the Port there. Our office in downtown Mobile, Al flooded but the 2nd floor is supposedly ok. We go in tomorrow to check it out assuming the port is opened.

Well, that and because we have to tow a horse trailer.
But, it did well pulling this stump up.

Stephanie made cookies using our gas grill. They turned out perfect! And, tonight, after a long day of cutting, pulling, yanking, and towing trees I look forward to sitting down to a glass of cold milk with cookies.