due to her husband's work, they are headed back to Orange tonight. She watned everyone to know that she will likely not have phone service for quite some time. So possibly her husband could post updates at a yahoo site called orange-rita. I have looked and haven't found this site, maybe someone coudl help point the way?
She will miss everyone, and didn't want us worrying. She is just gonna rough it for a while LOL
tf
Update on Saint (araness)
Tamara, thanks for keeping us updated!
i just checked and it doesn't look like they will have mail service for a while either, but possibly fed ex and ups by the end of the week...
Wonder what they need? Wonder how we can find out?
i will try to keep you all updated, but curretnly she won't have ANY WAY to contact any of us. so for now, they need LOTS of prayers to get through the living ocnditions, etc, then i owuld say lots of cards of encouragement.
the houston PO was flooded, but i just called and signed up for a fedex account so i can have pickup service.
will update this, or dmail me questions. i asked and she doesn't want a buddy right now, but we are all her buddies really :-)
she has landline now! hubby just got home with a small generator & dorm size fridge!!!
still hot, but fan is going now :-)
no good news as far as FEMA. going to Ford Park in Beaumont tomorrow.
wish her luck LOL
tf
I'm sure she knows this, but PLEASE remind her not to run the generator indoors!! More deaths in this area from carbon monoxide poisoning when generators were used inside residences.
oh, thanks. might be in garage, i will call and check, even if i wake her up, it would be worth it!!!
i can't get an answer, they probably have the phone turned off.
it is a small 5500 generator, and they hooked it up to a small fridge and fan, so hopefully it is outside a window or in a garage.
everyone say a prayer for Saint & DH
you got it!
Thanks for updating us Tamara!
thank goodness! i haven't been able to get throught their phone line all night and morning! :-)
Can somebody post a link to the Rita check in for me cuz I feel dumb cuz I can't find it. Please.
-Juli
It's the top thread in the Weather Forum. making link never works for me.
This the one you are looking for?
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/546911/
Thank you! TamaraFaye- No word from Heycharlie?
-Juli
Yes, Julie, he posted in the check in thread. Even collage photos of course!
No word from Saint today, phones are down. Can only hope she got FEMA to do something...
There are so many threads going right now it's hard to find anyone in particular. I didn't see his collage. I'll have to go look through them all again.
-Juli
Don't know how to make a link out of it, but here's the thread with Charlie's check in photos. - [http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/547308/]
It's in the weather forum, Hurricane Rita #11, and quite a ways down the page.
Oh gosh Thank you!
-Juli
Three cheers for Saint's DH!!!
he climbed on the roof to put the tarps on. just before rain too!!!
they are sweltering in the heat, living in the "living room". they had to buy a generator because the one they borrowed was needed back :-( so available money is short, but she says they have everything they "need:" for now. (BOY, needs sure change after a hurricane, don't they?)
please hope and pray that she can get through to FEMA tomorrow, and get with her insurance adjustor this week. she is in good spirits, and very grateful that they have a generator (chained up OUTSIDE), and a small fridge, and some ice and a little food, mostly MREs everyday. you really don't have much of an appetite with these high temps. Even her dog has lost weight :-(
she said, believe it or not, even in the horrible heat, she would take phone over power, because at least she could make arrangements with her insuarnce. Orange is officailly open now, but many folks that didn't have to, haven't come back due to power outages. Saint is hopeful they are working hard and will have power the end of the NEXT week or first of the one after. In calendar terms that would be between the 14th and 17th. She is really hoping for phone sooner! (shes says "that;s only three and a half weeks, not bad!)
to go into walmart, or anywhere, you wait in line OUTSIDE, and only a certain number of customers can go in the store at a time. lInes are also at ice and MRE distributions, grocery store, etc. (I read somewhere recetnly from a Katirna victim's advice, that waiting in line just has to become a temporary way of life)
EDITED IN CAPS TO SAY:
mail should be running tomorow, but only to those with a MAILBOX STILL STANDING UPRIGHT :-) . So if you want to send her a card or ANYTHING (I am hinting here), her address is:
S. Sepulveda
2513 Northmont Drive
Orange, TX 77630
honestly folks, and i got her permission to state my opinion here, if you know of ANYONE who had to evacuate, whether they have returned or not, the one thing they are going to need the most right now for the coming months, is, frankly, CASH. This has been a costly hurricane to everyone regardless of situation prior to RIta.
I think we all are so grateful for what we have, and we are all honorable citizens. We don't need a Rita forum started to remind us to help our fellow DGers any way that we can. No fundraisers, no database, no helping victims forum, no buddy's and organizers (Trish I am not saying we shouldn't do those things, just that it ought not be necessary). Just love, an envelope, a stamp, and warm soft cash.
In the Weather Forum, there is an official check in list where you can see who was likely affected.
OK, end of my opinion, now back to Saint. Her poor tomato plants are hanging in there. it has been a week since severe heat stress, so she is going to give them some fish emulsion for a little boost. Her DH bought her some eggs and boiled them (in bottled water). She is getting the veggie MREs cause they have nutrition info on them so she can watch her sugar intake. DH's work gives him gas everyday, and he is carpooling so he can use the gas for the generator. They hooked up the washing machine to it today. time to wash some clothes after 10 days, EH?
Naturally, she wants to clean the house before the adjuster comes LOL. She said the leaves are blowing in because of the need to keep the door open. Poor little baby dog just wants Saint to fix all this heat and mess. Saint says she really misses everyone. She tried calling me from Walmart, that didn't last. Then called from the driveway, and she could hear me but not i her. So then it was across the freeway to an empty lot, and cell phone reception was fair (at least i had sense enough to finally stop yelling back LOL).
Hugs to everyone and thanks for being concerned. They are real troopers. She will try to keep in touch through someone to keep others posted. Misses everyone!
(Can you imagine being off DG this long, I would go into withdrawal LOL)
tf
This message was edited Oct 2, 2005 10:40 PM
God Bless you Tamara for keeping in touch with her.
Will send you a dmail.
-Juli
Yes Tamara, thanks for keeping us updated. It's hard to think of folks still waiting for electricity (esp AC), I'm glad she has such a great attitude about this particular time they are going through. We will be praying for her and doing what we can to help.
I don't think much of anybody in southern Alabama has electric back. Not much left to hook it up to in some towns. Kinda like southern Louisiana. Some of them are still under water or under water again. Great they got I-10 Pascagoula bridge open so soon. Commerce can roll.
Check this post!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/549035/
-
Much info regarding FEMA
Will post here under its own heading.
hurricanes' Aftermath
Charlie, I am so glad you checked back in! I was worried about you until someone said you had posted in the Weather forum!
Hey moo;
Thanks!
I am trying ta get rite heah.
Got humor huh?
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/549039/
I typed more tanite than usual.
Trying to tie it all in!
________________________________
Had over a thousand email, various accounts.
There were posts here on DG I still haven't read.
Last few days, many more emails, Spam.
First day after tha hurricane I seen, saw fireflies.....
Hummingbirds are back since we put their feed out. Wow!
I know your area from one thousand year ago lol.
One of tha best Ctappie fishing sometimes!
Thanks for caring............
Well, talk about withdrawals....
Saint got a new cell phone with a different company so that she would have a WORKING phone. But dones' have many minutes. So she will call someone from DG once a week
yep I said ONCE A WEEK.
but the good news is they will hopefully have electricity in two more weeks.
TWO MORE WEEKS
i was barely able to tell her that she has some boxes on the way from me and others...
we'll see if she can contain her response for a whole week, LOL
I HAVE OFFICIALLY DECLARED THIS HELP YOUR FELLOW TEXAN WEEK!
In addition to what you are already doing, pick someone (doesn't have to be from DG) and give them something, cash if you can. Come on, if I can, ANYONE can...
tf
Saint called. No minutes charge on weekends!!!
She finally got some help from the RC & FEMA. And she did some volunteer work at the RC, answering phones or something.
This is weird stuff, and i hope she doesn't mind my sharing it with you. Maybe it will give you an idea of what folks are going through down there:
although some parts of Orange have elctric, her area still doesn't. Their landline has begun to work VERY sporadically. When she was talking to me, they drove by a garbage collection truck, the first they had seen, THAT IS GOOD. She had her window down THAT WAS BAD. People had come back to town to tarp their roof and take out their trash (like spoiled meat, etc), and it has been sitting on the sidwalk for well over a week! I guess nobody told them it was supposed to be buried in a hole in the ground!
Their car payment has been deferred for this month, THAT IS GOOD. Their mortgage company will do no such thing with the house payment "we don't care if you had a hurricane". That is BAD. The mortgage co. did offer to add the October and November payment onto December's payment!!! OUCH! Many folks won't have much Christmas at this rate.
I read somewhere that the president requested that mortgage companies do this, apparently they don't have to comply, or maybe that was just for Katrina Victims...
They are happy to be getting mail service. Bills are coming in. They are just going to pay them and live on what is left. Guess after living without basic comforts, it becomes esasy to just live without nothing. But everybody has to buy FOOD!!! ARGGGGGH!
More GOOD news, the insurance adjustor is supposed to come out tomorrow.. Hope he shows...
And all the poor plants, trees, grass, etc is yellowing from damage from the salt water. :-(
But the weather is UNUSUALLY COOL right now at Saint's (and at my sister's too!)
I hope she will be receiving cards or packages or what not from people who read this. That would help them get through this. Thank goodness they have each other, and their little doggie, four walls and a roof. Perhaps soon it will begin to feel like home again...
S. Sepulveda
2513 Northmont Drive
Orange, TX 77630
smiles to all!
Tamara
Saint is sitll hanging in there. Serg posted last week on the weather check in thread. They got electricity, and he temporarily fixed their back fence (stray dogs and coyotes had been coming through!). So their little dog Zepeta is happy once again LOL She is working at the RC as a volunteer. She thinks it is funny they are getting utility bills for during the time they had none?! Life is far from normal, but the insurance claim is moving along... Not having cable/internet/landline is the absolute worst. I remember she specifically told me she would prefer to get phone even before A/C! Didn't happen :-(
She sends her best to everyone!
tf
Thanks O'Toole (tf)
I'm sure many thank ya for that update!
I got online before land line or power was restored here.
Satellite. No I can't afford it!
Powerplant after 3 days of heat and misery.
Can't afford that either but Fema might pay for part of that.
__________
Interesting note; for tha future!
A couple of places on the upper East-Coast are bringing internet [broadband] through power lines. If ya got electricity you have broadband connection.
Working on bringing tha phones on too.
-
Other parts of tha country are looking at it.
In my case, tha satellite & power plant let me stay in contact with tha rest of tha world.
Haha, our original Fema claim was turned down because we wern't in a designated disaster area.
Woops!
Nope, I don't think ya can find [shepherd texas in La lol]
Once I might understand.
Twice; I explain, ya might try looking at ya keyboard, or at least what you're typing on tha screen.
Officially, we are in tha works. Haha haven't check in a couple of days.
Maybe not!
_______________________________
ADVICE:
For smokers, especially for oxygen users.
Oxygen on demand is one thing.
Constant flo is another.
Sitting here one night, a little tired, slightly weary, bubble in me brain, not paying attention I can guarantee tha fire is hot.
Melted plastic ie cannulas in your nose is a problem. Hard to get out with all that swelling.
[If ya smoke, don't breath]
Your nose won't appreciate twin flame throwers
Smile! True story, got pic's.
I am entitled.
Its my nose. Lol My Stupidity!
-
Heard one time; You're to stupid to breath.
(Was that hand writting on tha wall)
_____________
Tell tha Army brat from Bama heycharlie said Hi
will do!
i got ot talk to Saint on the phone today. life is very dreary, nothing to do. store shelves are pracitcally bare of any entertainment, video games, copmuter games, dvds, etc. so they still goto bed early LOL
they are gearing up to be without electircity again. briefly, after the grid is fully restored, those who had power will lose it!!!
so, basically, she only bought a little butter at the store :-)
i am sure she said more, but darned if i can recall at the moment! maybe i can talk to her again and give a better update. oh, yeah, they said three more months before internet is restored!!! no, i am not hallucinating. she says serg is trying to sell himself so they can get a satellite dish, but can't get enough LOL. and it would have to wait till the roof was repaired anyhow :-(
that measn she won't be back onlin till...
NEXT YEAR! can you imagine???
so keep those cards coming. btw, she had a nice birthday!
tf
Well folks I guess all the nasty names I've been calling Roadrunner worked! We have net! I'm not sure if it will be a constant or if we will go in and out like the phone did before finally dying but while I have it I'm posting like a fiend!
Want to say thanks to all of you for all the nice post and keeping track of DH and I. Things are far from being normal but we really are very lucky. Our neighborhood wasn't hit as hard as some and we only had one house that I think was a total loss and 4 that are about 50-65% totaled. We of course lucked out and only have to replace our roof, gut the garage, replace the fence, downstairs floors and some of the siding and coil. Not expecting any hassle from the insurance company but am a bit miffed at the length of the process. Every day that passes I'm farther down the "roofing" list which I think now is about 9 million names long. We hope to hear back from USAA (our insurance) by the middle to end of November so keeping my fingers crossed I get a new roof for X-mas. Went today and signed up for Blue Roof via FEMA to get a pro's hand at the tarping since we will be entering into the "rainy" season soon.
I have been doing work with the RC and really enjoy it, taken the last few days off due to not feeling up to dealing with it but plan to start back soon if I can since we still have tons of people to sign up and help here in Orange County.
Thanks Again,
Saint
Saint, it is so good to see you posting! I hope your internet service will hold, and you are certainly still in my prayers. It's good to hear the specifics though. Hang in there, girl!
:-)
just to clarify, Roadrunner is referring to her Internet Service Provider, not to Jo...
tf
Yeah, that had me going for just a moment, then I figured it out, lol. good to clarify that!
LOL forgot about RR on here! Oops yep I'm calling Time Warner nasty names not Jo
Oh Saint! It's so good to hear from you again! I've been offline for a bit due to some things here but I'm glad to read your post! Tamara Faye has been a good friend to keep us very informed of how you've been doing. God Bless her!
-Juli