TWO YEARS LATER

Photos of devastation in Mississippi that will make you not want to ever go through what Mississippi folks went through two years ago today.

And yes we still have several reminders of Katrina on our hill down here in the tomato capital of the world...Gosh it is hard to believe that it has been two years ago today that Katrina came into our lives. I honestly did not think that our State would still be recovering, but it is and I have not heard anyone say how much longer it will take to get Mississippi back up and going strong.

This tree was the tree that probablly should have landed on our bedroom, but instead it missed it by about 15 feet.

This is the tree two years ago...

This is the same tree today...
Not much of a difference.

I can remimber that day as if it were yesterday. My day started out like any other normal day almost. I headed into the office at my usual time of 0645 but carried a few extra items with me. I thought that I would put a few items in my car that I might need just incase for some reason or another that I could not get home. I was not at work but a few hours when my boss decided that we probably needed to head home. Me being me had to make sure that I left the office with my desk clean and everything handled.

It was probably the most strangest ride home ever. I watched the wind blow harder than I had seen it blow in a long time and the skies get darker by every mile I drove. It took much longer to get home that day because the interstate was flooded with all the folks coming up from New Orleans and the Coast areas.

I saw more utility trucks than I have ever seen before in my life parked at various staging locations in the Jackson area, just waiting to be dispatched to the needed areas. I thought to myself on that long ride home how stupid I was for even going into the office when I knew what was in store for us.

I finally arrived home and we gathered all the animals and hunkered down in the living room and we watched from our front door for what seemed like hours before it was all over with. The electricity was out by this time and the only thing that was working was the home telephone thank goodness, since I could at least communicate.

I can remember having my laptop fully charged and my webcam hooked up showing the guys in Iraq the damage it was doing. One of the guys in Iraq asks me to call and check on his wife and kids for him, and gosh I had no idea the damage that they were getting as we were on the phone. They were about an hour south of us, and it was right dead on them and trees were blowing down as I was on the phone with her. Not the kind of news I wanted to relay via instant messenger, but I knew he wanted to know how his family was.

I managed to get outside with the video camera and camera during the worst part to get some footage. Not very bright of me I know, but I wanted to be able to document it I guess.

After the worst was over, we ventured back outside and made our rounds with the camera and video camera again. We had no idea that huge tree had fallen. We knew that we were probably going to loose several trees, but just did not expect to have one fall so close to the house. Not sure why DH has still not done anything with that tree, and I just have not asks since the outside is his world. I actually think he left it for the cats to climb on.

So two years later Katrina still weighs heavily on some folks minds.

One day, maybe we can let August 29th go by without so many reminders...