Hurricane Rita and Grandma

Last week was a tough one. My Grandma in Lake Charles, LA, who had been sick for some time, died last Monday. My Grandmother was a great woman. She could teach many on how to spoil their grandkids. She sure spoiled us. I'll miss her. My Mom and I planned on going out to the funeral on Tuesday and returning on Saturday. We could not fly into New Orleans. That left Houston. There was only one small problem. Hurricane Rita was forecast to hit the Houston area on Saturday morning and would pass through the gulf the same way that Katrina had. I strongly suspected that it would grow to at least category 4, maybe more.

We had a very difficult decision to make. In addition to the storm, there were no hotels or rental cars available in the whole of the Lake Charles and Houston area respectively. These problems were easily solved with the help of my family. The hurricane issue was not. As the week progressed, it became very clear that Houston would be hit hard. By Thursday, the storm was turning North and instead of worrying about a funeral, my relatives were boarding up their houses and making plans to evacuate.

Lake Charles bore a good portion of Rita's wrath. My Uncle ended up in Lafayette with another Uncle and they weathered the storm fine there. Returning to Lake Charles on Saturday, he found his house whole. There were downed trees everywhere. Most of his neighbors did well too. A few things did get hit by the trees but they are definitely counting their blessings. They have a working phone (always keep a landline phone in your home, not chordless and nothing that needs batteries) but no power, or gas and little water. It looks like they'll be roughing it for the next few months. I'm going to try to send a generator to him. We'll see. Oh, they had to chase some looters away from the neighborhood as well. My Uncle is a former Marine Sgt and packs a lot of persuasion. The looters did not stay long and left empty handed.

Anyway, I don't know when the funeral will be. It doesn't look like there will be a service, just an internment. Between losing my Dad a few months ago and Grandma in this manner, I hope that my family stays healthy for a while. I do count my blessings, however. Every day I read about people who lost everything. The people of Louisiana are in my prayers. God bless.