Ilene, Well, from being married to a professional law enforcement officer for 27 years now and having a son who is a professional firefighter, I can tell you that there are many reasons different people resort to arson. Sometimes it is truly criminal--to cover up another crime like a theft, burglary or murder. Sometimes it is all about power and control--the arsonist likes creating havoc. Sometimes it is revenge against somebody for something real or imagined. Sometimes it is (and this sickens me) firefighters, volunteer or professional, who like to set fires so they and/or their departments can rush in, put out the fire, be heroes and 'save the day'. One estimate is that up to 45% of arsonists are affiliated (past or present) with some sort of firefighting organization. Finally, there is a (hopefully small) percentage of the population that gets a sexual high from starting fires although I cannot imagine how or why this occurs. As landowners/homeowners who lives in a very dry county where a high percentage of the acreage is grassland, we must always be vigilant about keeping tall grass and brush cut short in fire years. I practice some firewise landscaping practices, but not as strictly as I would if I lived somewhere like the dry parts of California. Strangely, I worry more about my veggie garden burning than about the house and outbuildings burning. My veggie garden has a lot of material that would burn--the wooden edging around all the raised beds, the cedar entrance arbor, the back gate, and the mulch which is a combination of chipped wood, old hay/grass clippings and shredded leaves. If the house burns, it and everything in it are insured for "replacement cost". If the garden burns, it is back to square one and starting all over again from scratch. And, of course, the garden is more likely to burn because it is surrounded by grassland, whereas the house and outbuildings have a rye grass envelope around them that is mostly green (hard to keep it looking good in this dry weather) and they have the gravel driveway and parking areas that would help slow down fire too. As far as I know, there's only been one fire dept. in our county paged out to fight a fire since the 4 alleged arsonists were arrested....and that fire was in the Lone Grove area in Carter County, not in Love County, so the dept. in question went to provide mutual aid. As for arsonists, they exist everywhere but I do think there often are more of them in smallish towns and sparsely populated areas. It boggles my mind that people resort to arson and, I have to tell you, the 4 young men arrested over the weekend are lucky it was the police who got their hands on them first. More than one volunteer firefighter from our county (and not just the young, hot-headed ones either) had plans to beat some sense into the arsonist or arsonists if they caught them setting a fire. Now that it is quieter here, and I am not spending all those hours in the kitchen cooking and baking so I can feed the firefighters, maybe I can get my Christmas stuff done and get back out to the garden a little more. Dawn

I had been getting my behind kicked trying to keep my yard and two others for neighbors watered for a week then the rains came every day for another week and I got sick and couldn't even do my own so yes it really saved me. We got nice soaking rain or at least a nice shower every day for a couple of weeks. Didn't get any the last couple of days though. Hope we get some more. I could get used to this, lol. One of my neighbors will be gone another week or so and he has even more plants than me so I hope we at least get a few more good showers, lol.

Lacura. I'll have to try it Jody Thank You. Pancake syrup is good Canned green beans good Quick cooking oats great Tandil Premium laundry detergent great Butter...actually better than some of the premium butters lately Olive oil good I don't buy any meat from Aldi. I also am not one to run to half a dozen stores on grocery day looking for the best buy. I will stop at Aldi and the local grocery store than Walmart for non food items all within seversl blocks of each other and all on my route. Except the farmers market in the summer which is the opposite direction, but nothing better than locally grown produce. Ok...I'm so getting off topic as usual.

No, not from me... I saw it on facebook. Jamie Mitchell Matuska My sister says I can use her FB page to get something off my chest if I identify myself lol. This is Lindsey Scott, and I'm astonished at the behavior of the Red Cross husband/wife team at the mid-county Jack Brooks airport yesterday. Who together accosted me and took turns berating me because I was trying to bring 400 warm hamburgers to our hungry evacuees, who according to them did not need the food because they had "already had a sandwhich." Yes, they had 1 sandwhich in 24 hours. They were desperate for a hot meal! The Red Cross proceeded to try and load the warm, ready to eat burgers into an ice chest. The pilot, who had donated his time, fuel, money, plane and arranged the delivery of the burgers was horrified at not being able to serve them (he actually came to volunteer as well). I confess I just stood there with my mouth gaping open, fighting back tears while they told me that I did not know what I was doing and they had not even seen me volunteering. This is not a normal reaction for me but either exhaustion or pregnancy hormones got the best of me because I simply couldn't find the words to fight back... The Red Cross was not there at 6:30 am when we got there to find we had no food to serve the 100s of evacuees who had sat on a bus all night and some who had not eaten in 24 hours. They were not there when the sun came up and they woke up hungry, angry, tired, scared, and frustrated. They did not see them fighting over donuts that OUR friends and family answered the call to bring at 7:00 am. They did not see the tears over dehydrated babies while we worked to arrange the delivery of pedialite and formula. They showed up HOURS later....when we had already coordinated the delivery of food and supplies with our LOCAL community members (who came out in droves) and The Sky Hope Network through our wonderful State Representative Dade Phelan after just a single phone call. And the reason they didn't see me (sweating and sunburned) is because I spent most of the day on the aviation side of the airport on the tarmac coordinating the landing, unloading, and transport of supplies the Sky Hope Network was flying in all day. (which was no easy feat considering the insane, chaotic state of the Jerry Ware terminal). I do not care they weren't there (I understand the vast, severe, damage that ranges from Corpus, Rockport, Houston all the way to Louisiana). I do, however, care how they treated the people of our community when they arrived! These supplies/donations were made by OUR LOCAL community members and the Sky Hope Network (not the Red Cross) and the Red Cross wanted them all shipped to their warehouse for processing and distribution. Apparently they don't do "local distribution." Say what?! We need these things here, locally, NOW. And while we refused to turn away anyone who came on foot or by other means (evacuee or not) or any other church, group, or organization asking for supplies...the Red Cross tried to prevent us from sharing OUR donations (contributed by our community for our community and surrounding areas). The kids that are barefoot need shoes NOW, not two weeks from now...and we had more than enough to share. And the way, these two representatives of Red Cross treated local people who were donating their time (many in the wake of having lost everything of their own) and spending countless hours away from their kids and families in the wake of such tragedy hurts my heart. I pray this is not representative of the Red Cross organization as a whole. People who donate their money would be horrified. I'm thankful for our local volunteers who continued to fight with them (when I could not) and saw that the burgers and supplies were distributed to ALL those that needed them. As, OUR motto was, we turn no one away. One thing I learned from this is THANK GOD I'm from TEXAS. Our men may spit, smoke, dip, cuss, and drink from time to time...but when the shit hits the fan, our husbands, brothers, dads, uncles, cousins, sons, and all the other men we know put on their boots, waders and get their boats and trucks and go to work! They aren't afraid to get dirty or work long hours in the dark. They aren't afraid of a little water, or snakes, or dogs that aren't kenneled. They are strong enough to carry you out of your home and they can deal with being hungry, wet, cold, and tired (they deal with this sitting in deer and duck blinds half the year). They have the know how to save your animals (horses, cows, etc) and they WON'T QUIT until the work is done. And our community will answer the call to donate, collect and distribute supplies and food wherever it's needed. I won't be waiting on the Red Cross. Rant over.