Help is on the way!

Kelly's mom and step-father live in Cleveland, Texas. Until a year or so ago they lived outside of Cleveland, in the country. Hurricane Rita, in 2005, left them without power for about 2 weeks. So, they had a large generator installed, one that would run the whole house, I think. Last year, they decided that taking care of everything in the country had become a little more than they wanted to handle, so they found the home in town and sold the one in the country.

Here comes Hurricane Ike and knocks out their power. No generator at this house. It might be two weeks before power is restored. Maybe less, maybe more. Who knows? Wayne's brother Bobby bought a brand new generator a while back. Since he doesn't need the generator, Wayne asked if he would let Kathy and John use it. Of course, he said yes. Wayne picked it up Sunday and they loaded it into Kelly's truck this morning. He stopped by to pick up the cake I was sending...wouldn't you want a cake?...and I saw that in addition to the generator the back of the truck was filled to capacity with coolers of ice and containers of gasoline. Kelly said his hope was that if he got into an accident the melting ice would put out the gasoline fire.

There were multiple calls between me and Wendy and Kelly and Kathy to determine what else they could use. I offered flashlights (with batteries,) water, instant coffee, crackers, chips, cans of vienna sausages, peanut butter, and other things that escape my memory now. They really didn't need any of that, but Kathy needed Diet Coke. I understand that completely. When Kelly stopped by here, he put a diet coke in one of the coolers so his mom could have an icy one as soon as he got there.

I talked to Wendy at 12:30; she hadn't heard from Kelly, but she had been in class. He should have been there by then. I know they were happy to see him. We offered the bay house to them, but the logistics of moving themselves, Kathy's mom Shorty, 2 dogs and 2 parrots in addition to clothes and supplies seemed pretty daunting. They're riding it out in Cleveland.