Economizing During a Flood of Bad Times

One of the blog's readers - MH - suggested I just keep writing about whatever comes to mind right now. Maybe I'll give it a try and see what happens.

I've been thinking a great new idea might be something along the lines of "Making Ends Meet" - or how to survive on next to nothing.

I'm getting pretty good at that, the next to nothing part. I've learned that there's something called Citizens Energy that will help folks who have just a little too much money to qualify and receive the heating assistance we read about now and then in the news. I happened across an article about those kind folks and thought I'd apply and see what happened.

What happened was that within a month I actually received a voucher for 100 gallons of free heating oil.

I haven't used it quite yet, I'm still wondering what the fuel supplier will say when I tell them I have this great voucher. Will I find out they don't accept it, will it turn out to be too good to be true?

I don't think that will really happen, I'm actually waiting another week to make sure my oil tank will allow all of that free 100 gallons of fuel oil before I make that phone call. I figure that oil will take us into good old spring time when we will no longer need to buy oil - if my timing is correct.

I highly recommend anyone who thinks they might fall into the category of being just a "little too well off" to receive HEAP - they should do an internet search and find Citizens Energy and fill out the application. Do this now, I believe the cut-off date is soon approaching for applying.

Another idea I've been using this winter has been that of spending my Sundays cooking up a storm. This one doesn't flood our home, rather it fills our refrigerator with a week's worth of meals.

For example, yesterday I cooked up one of those storms and now have 6 - 7 days worth of dinners just waiting for me to apply the finishing details.

I made a soup-pot full of Minestrone Soup, good for two dinners and two great lunches this week. I had a huge kettle of stew beef simmering, waiting to become Beef Soup and Beef Stew. Herbed-Chicken breasts were baking in the oven, they will become Chicken Pesto sandwiches and also Chicken Paninis. While all that was going on, I precooked pasta for yet another quick meal for one of our busy evenings.

Cost-wise, all this was a bargain. I'd taken advantage of sales weeks ago and didn't have to purchase one single item for this weeks dinner menu. I just had to open the cupboard and freezer and take out the items.

A highlight of our week, my daughter's especially, is to visit a local church on "bread day." Once a week we venture out to that church and have the pleasure of receiving "day old bread" provided by a local supermarket and that church's mission of helping others in need.

When I say my daughter loves "bread day" - it's an understatement. Her eyes light up if they happen to have a few of her favorites, such as bagels, or raisin bread. She loves finding hard rolls - because that will mean she will get to have mom's version of Manwich sometime that week - something she's only recently discovered she actually likes to eat.

Once in a while they even have a half-sheet cake, and then she's hard to control, or maybe a pie, some real treats to her mind. Then there are those really special days when they have scones - oh - that girl loves scones! She discovered that last winter when we visited my son in Scotland.

Most days we stay home, other than to attend a few local classes she enjoys. Like I've said before, staying home saves lots of money.

By making these few adjustments, so far we've managed to stay ahead of taking on debt. We've also learned to swallow a bit of pride in the process.

There are times we start off our day by putting ingredients in our bread maker, so it can be busy making dough while we're doing our schooling during the morning. Bread making - the kneading - is not something I'm good at, but asking that machine to do the first part of the job assures things will be more edible when we take the finished product out of the oven at dinnertime.

Last fall we made our own basil pesto and have been enjoying our wonderful harvest all winter. Yesterday I opened the brown paper bag I'd placed our thyme into last fall - and out came a jar-full of beautifully green thyme! I'd read up on how to preserve it, and that method is wonderful. Clip it, bag it, and set it aside in a dry area of your home. Give it a little time and presto - lovely dried herbs full of color and flavor. I wish now I'd done that with our beautiful Rosemary plant, instead I'd potted it and brought it inside - only to watch it die within weeks.

We've made it a habit to keep our thermostat set at 60 during the day. We have an energy-efficient (so the label said) space heater for our schoolroom, and it's kept us very comfortable all school day long this winter.

The problem has been, when we come downstairs for lunchtime, it's a bit chilly. We dress warmly though, and it does make lunch a bit quicker for us. When we're finished with school in the late afternoon, we turn up the thermostat to 62 until bedtime.

At night, we turn the thermostat down to 58, and once we climb under our wonderful comforters - we're fine for the duration. We lucked out several years ago when we bought two beautiful and super warm Waverly comforters - they really do surround us with warmth. It helps too - that for some reason our bedroom is the warmest room in this house. We're often too warm, even with the thermostat set at 58.

Even with our economizing, we've had a good winter. My daughter and I have found things to keep us busy and content.

A local library has taken an interest in home schooled children and have been offering interesting events once a month. She attends a gym class weekly and her favorite evening at Bible club too. We ventured out for a movie and have been making plans to see another soon - our family friend gave us a "movie ticket" fund as a Christmas gift and we are doling it out on only very worthy films.

Currently there's a cold wandering through our home, it's been a week now so we are all hoping the worst will soon be over in that regard. It's not the first this winter, but it's the worst one to hit. Somehow I was very lucky a month ago and totally missed a cold my daughter had picked up. This time around, we all caught it.

It's good to know a week from today will begin the month of March. Spring is heading our way and the temperatures will warm - not fast enough for some of us, but it will be coming soon.

In the meantime, we do what it takes to weather the economy and the winter - and muddle though the best we are able - just as we waded our way through the Invisible Flood of 06 that ended us up in this financial dilemma. These days will pass, it's only the getting through them that matters.

Today's thought: Spring brings a sense of renewal and hope - it's coming, really!

'Til next time, Pam

Let's Blame the Computer This Time

Just when I was all set to try to get back into blogging, my computer decided it was time to die. After about a month's time, that great 23 year old son of mine was able to get it up and running again.

By that point - I was back in that dark hole of not feeling up to the task of writing.

I honestly don't know what's going on here folks, maybe it's a very delayed post-flood thing going on. I really just don't know the why or what of this shortage of writing on my part.

Tonight I thought I'd try again, see what I come out with word-wise.

Maybe I've blogged all I can blog about the Invisible Flood of 06 - maybe there's nothing more to tell. I tend to think that's really not true - for us it won't really be resolved until the day we finally move away from this lovely flood-victim of a home.

I'm much better now though, with flood watches and warnings - they hardly bother me at all. The same however, is not true of that daughter of mine. She worries worse now than two years ago.

Since I last wrote, she's added wind storms, snow storms and any other weather event to her list of fears. Try as I might, I'm not finding any magical way of getting her past those fears.

Our Real Estate contract thankfully ended last week. Someone came this weekend to pull out the sign post. For me it was a good thing - the ladies I retained did not do their job - at all.

Funny thing is - exactly one month before the contract was set to expire - I finally hear from them after many months of silence.

They emailed to tell me that they had a person very interested in our home. I guess I was supposed to be excited - I wasn't. I wrote back and reminded them to make sure they were pre-qualified to buy a house of this price range - "as per our agreement."

I knew what they were up to - that trick was sticking straight out of their sleeve. Tell her someone is interested and she'll extend the contract.

No way.

That didn't stop them though - exactly 5 days before the contract was to expire - my phone rang. Right on schedule.

She wanted to fill me in on that mystery person that just LOVES my house. I sat in silence and listened to her tell me how the ladies divorce lawyer had advised her now's not the time to buy a new house - wait until the divorce is final first.

"That doesn't exactly qualify her does it - to buy or view my house."

"No, but she plans to come as soon as the divorce is finalized!"

If I supposed to jump up and down hearing this - I didn't - just so you know. My feet and tone were flat and firmly on the ground.

It was then I explained I would not be extending their contract. I was polite - I didn't point out the fact that I was not pleased, that I'd never hire them for anything - not even to cat sit - nor did I even mention I think they are worthless at their trade and not worth the time of my day. Nope - I was patient and polite.

"Oh - what do you plan to do then? What if this woman calls in a couple months and wants to see your house?"

"I plan to have your sign removed and regroup - think about what I want to do next."

"But what if she calls?"

"I'll tell you what - if she calls, you call me. I'll let you know if I still feel like selling this lovely home at that point. But I am not extending the contract."

I was so glad to see February 6th come and go. That was the date I was able to remove those two Realtors from my life. So - now you understand why I was happy to see the post come out of the ground this weekend - good riddance, farewell and goodbye.

There's something that's hatching here, and hopefully I'll be able to tell you in a short time. It's one of those "time will tell" sort of things. The time-telling is growing long but it's still seeming hopeful.

Meanwhile, we really are enjoying our completely flood-recovered home. Not a day passes without a feeling of gratitude for that blessing and enjoyment.

I guess we still don't feel comfortable down in the Family Room - we never spend time there - never. It's beautiful, and cozy - but there it sits, week after week, month after month - totally unused.

That, of course, makes it easy to keep it sparkling clean - I guess that's a good thing.

We walk through it a few times a week, as we head for the car in the garage nearby. My daughter and I tell the room "hello" as we come and go. Neither of us ever feels compelled to stop and sit for a while though.

Now that Tool Room is another story - we are actually using that room often. It turns out it's a good "root cellar" of sorts. It's just chilly enough to store potatoes and oranges - along with a few bottles of soda too.

There is a good point to having a house listed on the Real Estate market - at least for me there is. I've been very good about keeping up with the dusting and cleaning - with my daughter's great help. I'd have to say the house looks just as good today as it did last summer when we first listed it. It's a great way of instilling that cleaning-motivation I often lack otherwise.

When the contract expired last weekend - I finally took a weekend off from keeping the house tidy. Wow! That felt really good! It also made it harder to decide it'd better be cleaned this weekend. The dirt won, the cleaning did get done yesterday - though grudgingly.

So what have we been doing all this time - let's think a moment.

We've been home schooling - she's still a straight A+ student. I've been teaching Sunday school each week too - otherwise I don't think my daughter would have one to attend. My students tell me I'm the best teacher they've had so far - I take that as a compliment, but at the same time have to wonder what the rest were like then.

When not schooling, we've been busy keeping the house in tip-top shape - but I've already covered that detail above.

We've been getting creative in how to make ends meet - how to create meals out of not much of anything. I've spent a lot of time trying to get creative with our budget so that we can pay the cost of the fuel oil for our heat this winter. Creating those cheap meals has so far allowed us to make ends barely meet - which is a good thing in that book of mine.

We stay home a lot now, all winter really. I've discovered if we stay home, amazingly - we don't spend any money! It's a new idea and I recommend it highly!

When we moved to this home, I eliminated all the debt I'd accumulated raising my older sons. I had a chance at a fresh start. I'll be darned if the too high of price of heating oil is going to get me back into debt. My goal this winter has been to learn to economize and so far I've managed it.

The state of the economy is worrying me - it's a sad mess we have gotten into all across the planet. I don't always agree with the solutions I hear about, but I also don't have the answers either. I don't really think anyone knows what will happen and maybe that's a good thing.

If the computer keeps working - I'll be back now and then. Maybe if I were to write about life in general while we sit and wait for a solution to our desire to move away from this flood-zone - I would find something to write about again. Maybe I'll give that a try - we'll see.

Today's thought : Spring is in the sunshine even if the air is still chilly and cold. There's something different about the rays and if you take a moment to notice, you'll see it too.

'Til next time, Pam

Holding My Breath along with Hoping For a Happy New Year

It seems I've been holding my breath, along with holding off on blogging - for way too long to be sure.

Lots has been happening here at the site of our now flood-repaired lovely home, and honestly right now I can't say there's been anything that's been bad news either.

It seemed sort of oddly fitting that I should finally sit down and blog once again on New Year's Eve night - heck - why not - we're heading into a new and perhaps an even brighter New Year.

I am almost sorry to see 2008 leave tonight, it turned out to be a good year here at our home. That's not to say the economic situation hasn't offered an impact of it's own - but overall it's been a year of good events and a nice measure of peace after living through the Invisible Flood of 06.

During 2008 - we finished our flood repairs, and every other possible repair, on our home. That in itself is room for a big celebration! It also brought a precious 5 weeks with my oldest son and his family and saw the return of that other son of mine - the one who labored away on the flood repairs with his mama.

We held our National Young Readers Day event in November too, a very successful one to boot. The house overflowed with students and "celebrity" readers, when the day began at 8:50 in the morning and never ended until after 8 in the evening. I suggested next year we might want to think about renting the church hall and instituting a time limit!

It's been a wonderful pleasure to have a house that is "whole" again - to walk anywhere within it's confines and only see lovely finished walls and floors. The house is much more than it was when we first bought it and much more of a peaceful pleasure to live in as well.

We had a different sort of Christmas this year, one with many, many less gifts and more focus on the "reason for the season" than in past years. To our great and happy surprise, we liked it better than all the previous celebrations. The lack of gifts didn't matter one bit, we didn't even notice.

The Christmas season held another first for this blogger, as a new Sunday school teacher since fall - I developed and produced my very first Christmas pageant for church. My Sunday school class grew a bit during the course of the fall and by December we had a nice group of students all excited to be participating in the pageant. The children drew wonderful applause at the end of their pageant and I am proud of each and every one of them for a great job!

As far as the house being up for sale and what's going on with that - well - that's where I'm holding my breath. The Realtor I chose has proved less than helpful or willing to work at selling this lovely home - though I know the market condition has not helped things either. As far as I can tell, we must be way back on some really back burner since I haven't even had any contact from the Realtor in many months - in truth I'm just waiting out the contract expiring.

In the meantime though, the house has been appraised and I'm happy to report that it was appraised for a tidy increased value from when I purchased it. Our hard work was well worthwhile, and now I can report that happy information. My asking price is very much in line with it's value. I guess that should go to prove that a home that has flooded can actually appreciate in value after all is said and done!

Not that knowing that bit of information is getting us out of here either. But it's still a pat on the back for a job well done for my son and I. It's one more reason to feel happy as this year comes to a close - at least in that book of mine.

My daughter continues to be an excellent student, holding on to her A+ scores all through the autumn. It's a pleasure to teach her, she has an inquiring mind - though at times that too presents it's own problems.

She was ill the last full week before Christmas, she ran a very high fever for almost a full week - and required two doctor visits and a change in antibiotics before one was strong enough to make whatever was making her run the fever release it's hold on her. With her health conditions, it required not only her pediatrician, but also her specialists stepping in to discuss the situation. You can take my word for it - it was a long week.

Whenever my daughter just stays quietly on a couch, you know it's not a good thing. To experience a week of that was a bit worrisome on this mom's part. I was so thrilled when she finally woke up one morning full of her normal extra energy - I was glad to be tired that evening! And just in time for the holidays too! That was her only worry the entire time she was ill - "Will I be better in time for Christmas?" She was, and all's well that ends well.

I have something hatching that I can't share quite yet, but I want to - believe me on that. Now's not the time however and it's staying under wraps for the present time. Trust me, when the time is right, it will be blogged. And this is the little item that has me holding my breath currently - for the past several months in actuality. As curious as that might make you - I am just as excited for the time when I'll be able to share this little tid-bit of information.

In the meantime, I thank those blog readers who've continued to check now and then to see if a new blog has magically appeared. I know from several readers that they've looked and looked only to be disappointed time and again. I finally promised I'd at least touch base and let everyone know all is well in the land of the Invisible Flood of 06. It's actually been very well indeed.

I will try to be a little better about blogging in the New Year, but I won't make any promises either. It's that darn breath-holding I'm going through causing this dilemma and until I can finally exhale - I'm not sure what to say to expect.

My wish to all is a Happy New Year - may all these current economic troubles soon be fading memories for everyone.

And may the folks in the Middle East please, please, stop this violence against each other. If we all believe in God or a higher power, why is this happening? There are much better and much more peaceful ways of dealing with any disagreement. Isn't it finally time we all learned that?

Peace on Earth, good will towards all.

'Til next time, Pam

Move Over Blog - Grandkiddies Are Here

I'm sorry.

I haven't been blogging because I've been too busy enjoying my grandchildren! Forgive me for that wonderful blessing I've been enjoying the past 5 or so weeks!

Having two sweet little ones in my home has been the best post-Invisible Flood of 06 therapy anyone could wish to have - for certain!

I've heard from several people that they've checked for blog posts and have come up empty - honestly, it's been very far from my mind for weeks now and I can't recall how long of a lapse in time it's actually been at this point.

The good news - at least for folks who check up on this blog of mine, I should be back to writing very soon. Our visitors are soon to depart and once again I will have plenty of spare time to spend writing.

It's easy to forget - at least at the moment - about flooding potential. The Susquehanna is very low - in some areas it almost looks like it's drying up to nothing. Rain has been infrequent and far between - and I haven't even bothered looking to see what the river gauge might say since I believe our government has already abandoned it anyway. For months now, it reads less than 2 feet - I don't know if that's an accurate reading or the last one that registered before it was left behind in the dust.

During the past few weeks I've been having lots of fun with a couple young grand-kiddies and it has done me a world of good.

I've forgotten the house is on the market - and was a bit taken back when I had a call this week that someone wanted to view it. That has happened, the person loved the house and may - or may not - be back in another week to look a second time.

At this point - who cares. I have been enjoying our completely redone, repaired, lovely home and I am not real excited at the thought someone might actually want to buy it anytime soon.

That would mean we'd have to start packing up and start looking for a new place to live - during a pretty lousy time of year to do such a thing in this northeastern part of the good old USA. So - with that said - maybe we should figure with my luck, these folks might actually fall in love with this wonderful home just like we did.

Time will tell, just like it does with everything else in life. If we stick around long enough we get to have lots of adventures - and I like it that way.

Meanwhile, I am sorry I've been so tardy with blogging. At the very same time - it's been wonderful to realize that surviving a flooding event has finally - finally - become a thought that I actually can forget when something else comes along that is much more important.

Does this mean that PTSD has finally taken a backseat? Wow!

Today's thought: Family is more important than anything else in life - how is it that we too often forget that wonderful fact?

'Til next time, Pam

Money - Class 101

Like many other citizens of our great old USA - I've been following the latest and lousiest idea of our government - bailing out irresponsible bankers at the expense of 700 billion - a 'little' something more for the American public to swallow, right along with higher fuel bills and ever-escalating taxes - which is especially true here in NY State.

Saturday morning my oldest son asked if I knew what money is and from what source it originates. He realized it was something he'd never been taught in school - where money comes from - and wondered if maybe it might have been taught in schools back in 'my day.'

My short answer was that money probably doesn't actually exist, I told him I thought there probably wasn't really any gold in Fort Knox - and that the Federal Reserve most likely creates money from thin air.

This conversation started because my oldest son had come across a great video - related to money - and within a short time we were all sitting around the kitchen table watching it's fascinating story.

The video is titled "Money as Debt" and it does a wonderfully good job of explaining where money comes from - or rather - how money is just plain old magical thinking and it doesn't really exist anyway - we have just thought it was real. It's not, it's only an illusion.

You can easily find the video yourself by visiting My Money Blog, an interesting site where my son enjoys reading about all things related to money. I've visited the site myself, whenever that son sends me interesting articles he feels I should find time to read. The article with the video is titled "Where Does Money Really Come From?"

"Money as Debt" was created by Paul Grignon and if you enjoy the video and want to purchase a copy on DVD, or want to learn more about Paul Grignon or even read reviews of the film, this link should take you to that information.

The video is animated and about 45 minutes long. It's well worth the time spent watching it. It does take a while to load, be patient - you'll be glad you were once it gets going.

My 23 year old son was less than enthusiastic when I first told him there's a video he should watch - "I don't have time to watch videos" I was quickly informed. I emailed him the link anyway - figuring he needed a break from his studies even if he didn't think he did.

It wasn't long before he was sending IMs letting me know he was watching the film and thoroughly enjoying it.

Now that we've viewed "Money as Debt" - no one in our family will ever look at money in the same old way - now we know. Or at least now we know part of the story.

I think you - my blog readers - should know too - especially at the current time when we're about to be saddled with such a huge debt - in the form of this lousy bank bailout - which is about to be placed directly on our backs and the backs of our children.

Today's thought: Gaining knowledge is a wonderful thing.

'Til next time, Pam

The New Post-Flood Pet

It all started right about the same time the Realtor installed the 'for sale' sign in the front yard - maybe 6 or so weeks ago.

That's when my daughter informed me she had a new 'pet.'

"What pet? We don't have any new pets - and - we aren't getting any new pets right now."

"Mannolin, he's my new pet! I named him Mannolin!

"Who's Mannolin? Better yet - what is Mannolin?"

"I don't know what he is, but I named him Mannolin."

"Where is Mannolin? What does Mannolin look like?"

"He's about 1 and a 1/2 inches long and has lots of legs! He comes out of the heat ducts at night when we're sleeping!"

Out came the insect books and a search began - to figure out what exactly was paying nocturnal visits to our living space.

She couldn't decided, during that first round of searching the insect book, what Mannolin might be - she wasn't sure his picture was in that book. That didn't matter a bit to her, there was only one thing on her mind. "You won't kill Mannolin will you? You'll let me keep him, right?"

Every so many nights - during the past few weeks - I've heard of her "Mannolin sightings." Or I'd woken to find a note on the computer monitor: "Mannolin was in the bathroom last night!"

One very early morning I sat down to read the news on-line, only to find the latest 'Mannolin note" posted on the monitor: "Mannolin was on your headboard last night!"

When that daughter of mine finally woke that morning, I informed her Mannolin needed to be captured and released into the outside world where he belongs. I informed her of this once she stopped laughing at the memory of Mannolin sitting on my headboard as I slept. "Good thing you didn't have your mouth open while you were sleeping last night!"

Out came the insect book again, I figured by now she'd seen Mannolin enough times during his nocturnal visitations that she had to know by now what he looked like.

That's when she asked, "You don't think my mind is playing tricks on me do you? Maybe I'm really not seeing him?" I put the book away.

I decided to take a 'watch and see' attitude about this Mannolin character. After all, he didn't seem to show up any time I was awake - and I wake at 'nocturnal' type hours, surely I would have my own 'sighting' eventually.

Last week my oldest son and his family arrived for a much anticipated visit. Once all the hugging and kisses were accomplished, my daughter couldn't wait to let them know about her great new pet, Mannolin.

My daughter in law's eyes grew wide as she said, "Really? What kind of bug is he?" "Where is he?"

I explained to my lovely daughter in law that I'd yet to see good old Mannolin, and repeated the "You don't think my mind is playing tricks on me" comment for her. I doubt she was any more reassured than I'd been.

A few mornings later my daughter in law had breaking news - "Mannolin was in the bathroom last night - he's real!" "And he's quick too!"

Apparently my son had tried to catch Mannolin, but Mannolin had other ideas - he quickly vanished into the wall cabinet where the water pipes share space with the 'scrubbing bubbles.'

Once more - out came the insect book and now we all learned that Mannolin is actually what I'd suspected - a centipede. A full-sized, adult, many-legged centipede.

"Isn't his picture in the book great! It looks just like him!" my daughter boasted.

Friday night, my son was ready. Mannolin showed up in the bathroom again. Quick as a flash, that son of mine captured Mannolin in a plastic container.

Not before - however - breaking one of Mannolin's legs off accidentally. "He broke his leg off!" shrieked my daughter, "And it's still moving!"

Of course that son had to bring me the leg on a tissue to confirm the movement - a bit more information than I really cared to know about or felt the need to confirm.

What I wanted to see was Mannolin! That new pet of my daughter's had kept me on edge for enough weeks, I wanted to make his acquaintance.

I also wanted to make sure Mannolin was released outside - where he belongs! I'd worried long enough about how a potential house-buyer might react if Mannolin were to step out to introduce himself - it was time for Mannolin to move out.

As you can see - Mannolin is a healthy specimen of a centipede - except for the fact he's now missing one leg.

My daughter worried about that leg - until I explained he had plenty of other legs to pick up the slack. Besides - he was quickly zipping around the container - proving he didn't even noticed he'd lost a leg.

Mannolin spent the evening in his new home, the container. My son made sure there were enough tiny air-holes to keep him supplied with oxygen overnight.

Early Saturday morning my daughter and I trekked over to swampland - to the furthest point we could reach from our home.

My daughter had a farewell speech written, and she read it to Mannolin as a few tears rolled down her cheek.

I opened the container on the ground and Mannolin zipped out quickly. He paused for a moment to get a sense of location - and then slowly ventured into the underbrush of swampland. He didn't even look back and wave goodbye - he was content just being free and once again outside.

"Goodbye Mannolin! You were a great pet! I'll never forget you!"

My daughter was OK with Mannolin's release into nature, she knew it had to happen eventually.

She was even more OK about it when later that evening she found "Mannolet" - a tiny, tiny centipede - on the stairwell wall.

"Mannolin must have had children!" she gleefully informed me. "I wonder how many they have at one time?"

I wonder that too. I'm already envisioning a host of little 'Mannolets' sitting on my headboard singing me to sleep.

Today's thought: Rather than kill those bugs - why not just help them get back outside where they belong. They too are a part of this circle of life.

'Til next time, Pam

I Don't Like Ike And He Needs To Go Away

I've been watching good old Ike and I don't like him. The more I read, the more I'm keeping the folks in Texas in my prayers. He's itching to be destructive and it shows.

It was disturbing today to watch video footage of people driving through the beginnings of his storm surge - what were they thinking? No wonder NOAA started mentioning the cost of the damage to cars.

I will be holding the 'hold-outs' - those choosing to stay - in my prayers tonight, though I do not support their decision. Even they deserve our prayers. Apparently they do not feel it's their time, or this storm warning means them. We all make mistakes, I don't want this one to cost anyone their life.

Even more so - I will be holding those that have evacuated in my heart and thoughts. I can only begin to imagine what they will face once Ike has his fun and does his damage. This evening I saw videos of homes ablaze along the shoreline, water spilling over flood-walls. It's so very sad to know what some people will soon be facing.

I want to encourage those folks though - they will survive this ordeal. They are Texans after all - they will emerge from this low point and recover. It may be hard work ahead, but survive they will. I would expect nothing less of such strong folks.

With that said - I will ask my blog readers to please consider a donation to the Red Cross, they need our help now. They are there to help anyone who faces disasters, no matter what type, and right now they need our support. Please, take a moment and make a donation - even a few dollars can make a difference - it all adds up.

Today's thought: Please offer your support to the folks impacted by Hurricane Ike, whether it is the folks in Cuba, Haiti, Texas or any point within it's immense storm span - they need our help and prayers today.

'Til next time, Pam