Aftermath

What a horrible tragedy occured yesterday in the gulf coast states. After watching a little of the during storm broadcasts first thing in the morning we turned off the tv to concentrate on our day. When I turned on the tv again to watch while cooking dinner I was absolutely floored. The stories I heard were stunning and shocking, but later in the night when DH and I were watching it was even worse. I cannot even imagine how the support organizations and government are even going to be able to start to provide the basic necessities for all the survivors. There is just such a large number of people who are affected and no land that is suitable for temporary housing. I want to do something, but until I have some idea of how the organizations are going to try to provide aid I am going to wait. I have seen to many times that organizations have done absolutely useless and expensive things in an attempt to "help."

On the same note, when hubby came home from work last night he told me that we needed to go ahead and top off the gas tank in the van. Several gas stations were beginning to run out of gas and close their pumps. Understand that my husban is not a "dooms-day" personality, but this time he firmly believes that gas prices will soar when the stations open back up. So after dinner we loaded up the car and headed to our local warehouse store. We went ahead and picked up meat and necessities for the next month or so and then headed to the member gas station. Then we waited in line. Many other people believed as my husband did, that last night was the night to fill gas tanks. When we finally got to the pump the attendent came out to tell us that they had run out of regular unleaded, but were selling premium at the cost of regular - which was a very nice thing for the company to do, all things considered.

Hubby and I also had a long talk last night about this coming winter. Our financial belts are going to be pulled and stretched and we need to make plans about how we are going to approach it. Groceries are climbing and are only going to get worse. Fresh, local grown produce which is normally a good option this time of year is not very good and much more expensive than in the past. (Our ag season was horrible around here - dry, flooding rain then dry again) Hubby commutes to work - 35 miles each way, we are already dreading those gas bills. Then there is heating our house. We have natural gas for heat, and every month we continue to receive notices about raises in gas prices.

I look at the list of affected prices and realize for one reason or another, the only thing that we can really control at this point is our house heating bills. We already do as well as I believe at the grocery store and I limit my driving and combine trips as much as possible, which stretches out trips to the gas station to about every 3 weeks. DH is going to put some new tires on his car and give it a tune up, but there isn't much we can do about his commute.

So, I think for right now our kitchen update is postponed until maybe Spring. Instead we are going to spend the fall doing window and door work to kind of weatherize those areas better. I think might buy one or two of the ceramic room heaters to use in our great room this winter, and just close off the rest of the house during the day. DH is also going to see about helping his dad clear some wood from their property and of course bring that home for our use.

This is going to be a long, hard winter for many, many people in the country.

Prayers for peace and comfort to all

Amy