Ditto on that! Hugs!!!

seconding that....

Cathy and Gang, I'm just sitting here waiting for the massive amount of rain we are going to experience. I thought I'd jump on over to GW Cooking and see what my old friends are up too. And I see this post! It was meant to be that I peeked over here. Thanks for thinking of me! I sure do think of you all, all the time. Many memories were made here!

This is going to be a weird storm. Not like Rita that hit us 12 years ago. Rita hit like a wild banshee and left a lot of destruction in it's path. Harvey is going to hang around and cause complete havoc over an extended period of time.

We are well to the east and all will be well in our wet world.

Exciting times ahead for us in the coming year. We are going to put our place on the market and build another house. I think they call that downsizing. Well, whatever it is it will be a welcomed new adventure for sure. I'll have to make sure I check in more often...

Formerly riverrat1

Oh Karen, I'm so happy to see you back here again, I've missed you!!!

A new house? That's exciting. Since we're still remodeling our "new" house, I think maybe starting from new isn't such a bad idea. Stay safe and stay dry, until Harvey moves out....

Annie

Hey...you current house is lovely! I hope that new house is on the river so you can still be RiverRat.

Nice to "see" you.....check back...let us know how harvey treated you.

Annie, We've been remodeling the present house for 15 years. I feel ya! ;-) Just as soon as we get finished with one thing it's another.

Cathy, Thank you for checking in with us. Today we are meeting Harvey's outer bands. Watching closely because looks like he is gonna take another trip out to the Gulf, wind up a little more, and come closer to us. I have friends in Texas that are getting pelted! The new house will be close to beautiful bayou views. Not as grand as we have now but equally as nice. You'll have to come see next year!

Linda, I'll check in tomorrow and a little later in the week. This is a hanging around storm and ever changing. I think he has a split personality. ;-)

Hey Karen, hope Harvey continues on his ever so slow western track before turning north and doesn't decide to revisit the Gulf.

I hope so too, CindyMac. If we get it then you do too. Lot's and lot's of rain this summer! Our part of the river is steadily rising.

The latest on my twitter feed has the governor saying a Gulf reentry is no longer a probability. Hope that's true. We've had lots of rain this year too. Last year we broke all records with 90 inches --- 30" above the normal 60".

Karen, so great to hear from you! Can't imagine you leaving that gorgeous home of yours , although I get the downsizing part!

Clive and I have such fond memories of our visit with you and Charles. Especially our dinner with the Monsignor and the power outage !!!!

Then there was our wonderful dinner at the restaurant at the casino and those corizo stuffed dates.....do you recall my badgering of the poor waiter ! LOL

Our Rte 66 adventure holds so many good memories.

Love to you both

Sharon

Cindy, Thank goodness! I just got off the phone with a dear friend that lives in North Houston. There is a creek behind their house that the HOA built a levy around...it looks like it will overflow on Monday if the levy doesn't breech first. We may be having houseguest! YAY! And, they have 3 dogs, YAY! Somebody to drink wine with. YAY! lol

Chase, I think about our time with you and Clive often. It was a swift visit but so nice to be able to get to know you a little. Only on special occasions do I make those darn heaven forbid dates! Geeze, they are so good! I think the waiter was intrigued with you wanting the recipe. Like really? People really try to replicate recipes?! BTW, I totally forgot about the power outage. Isn't that always the way when you have special guest over?

Love to you and Clive

Karen

three dogs and houseguests? You'll NEED someone to drink wine with, LOL.

Have fun, and stay dry!

Annie

Mae/Lowspark is in Houston where it's really bad. Hope she is okay.

Things are getting hairy here. Harvey has made his grand appearance! We are ok but so many of my friends are not ok...there is water everywhere and no way they can get out. Scary times in Southeast Texas, Houston and Southwest Louisiana. Say a little extra prayer this evening for all of us in the path of this storm.

Karen, I've been praying hard, all the videos and pictures I have seen are pretty scary. Stay safe, and know I'm thinking of you.

Annie

You are in my prayers......stay safe.....and post again when you can. Up here in drought land we are thinking about all our soggy friends in the Gulf.

We're hearing terrible things here on the radio. Prayers to all affected.

Karen hope you are safe .....what a mother of a storm ! The devestation is horrific

Harvey seems relentless and deserves a serious wedgie.

Please, stay safe River, and all of those in its path.

Sol

I have been watching reports for hours/days. Today they specifically mentioned Lake Charles...be safe. Prayers are headed your way hopefully strong enough to get to you.

Prayers are always strong enough to get where they need to go, more are coming from Michigan.

Has anyone heard from May/Lowspark?

Annie

Hey guys, Thanks for thinking and praying for us. Yes, Lake Charles is forecast to get a lot more rain and the wind hits us tonight. Harvey is coming right up to Lake Charles. This is his 3rd hit on the Gulf coast and we're pretty tired of him! Hopefully, Harvey will get tired and just leave us with a quick hit and go away. For the month of August we have had only 2 days without rain. So, we are saturated and the water has nowhere to go.

I have tried reaching out to May/lowspark but we've not connected. Her area, in Houston, was one of the hardest hit. Water above every roof in that neighborhood. I do know that they had a mandatory evacuation for that area so I feel certain she got out in time.

I'm sure you all have seen the news. Houston is in a catastrophic devastated way! Many of my friends and family are suffering and it will be many years till they can get back to some normalcy.

We are going to be ok because we are very high, on a bluff, but surrounding areas are not high up. My heart is going out to all in this area and the state of Texas. Believe me, we can feel the love coming from all over. Continue to send it please!

Annie, ,Karen and I are trying to get hold of May but no luck. I hope they are on vacation and not in a shelter. We will keep trying.

River rat, you've been on my mind a lot as I keep track of this storm and check in with the La. relatives. It's a rough one!

I'm so glad we found May and Susan safe, healthy and sound. Thank you all for your much needed thoughts and prayers!

Hey coconut, What part of Louisiana does your family live?

It has been a rough one! As of this afternoon people are still being rescued out of Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur and many many other surrounding towns. Lake Charles had some flooding issues but we were able to take care of getting people out fairly quickly. As of today we (Lake Charles) were sheltering over 3000 people from Texas. The need is overwhelming.

Now we just gotta keep our eyes on Irma. Yikes!!

What do people need most?

Maggie, Immediate needs are met like their nutrition, health, clothing and shelter. What they need most will be cleaning supplies, gloves, masks, big huge trash containers, trash bags, mops, brooms, cleaning towels, hammers, scrapers, sheetrock saws, love and lots of neighborly help. There will not be enough contractors, builders and handy persons around to help everyone. Ask me how I know! LOL! This is when the faith group communities really helped! I saw so many churches come in, from all over the nation, and completely re-do a house in two weeks! Amazing work was being done. After Hurricanes Katrina (New Orleans) and Hurricane Rita (Lake Charles), hitting us within 3 weeks of each other, the Louisiana Gulf coast was destroyed. It's surprising how quickly humanitarian relief was in the Lake Charles and surrounding area. But, that soon ends once everyone returns home and tries to go forward with some sort of normalcy. This will take many years and may never be the same.

Please continue your thoughts and prayers. That's probably what's most needed right now.