I typed one this morning and lost it...so trying again.

FEMA is supposed to finally be out in the morning. I have no great expectations on that. I have heard a lot...not all good. The main thing is, once they leave, we will prepare to go back home. It is difficult to live with someone else...even under the best of circumstances. I think Jodi has enjoyed having company. She takes care of her invalid mother and has no transportation and can't go anywhere anyway, unless someone sits with her mother. We have helped on that. Plus, I take her anywhere she needs to go...and have for a very long time.

She is an alcoholic and chain smoker and doesn't eat but a bite every couple of days, and that is a little tiring for us, since neither of us drink or smoke. She gets drunk every night. Not a mean drunk, but still....

Jody bought an old beater of a truck, just so we would have a way to get around but it has had to have numerous repairs. He put a new radiator on it today, and I think it is fixed now. I have been afraid to drive it to town...for fear it would make me have to walk the 15 miles home. ;)

A friend of mine gave me a truck and brought it to me today. It is a really nice truck...2005 dodge. Drives really good. She lives on a ranch and raises bucking bulls. She said she had four trucks and didn't need it any more. We went to school together. I hadn't seen her but twice in the last 52 years.

I have been blessed with the kindness of so many people and I am truly grateful. When we go home, we will be living like camping out, but I can handle that. Have so much to do in cleaning up, etc., that until I am there full time, I can't get much done.

The worst thing is the other building where almost all of my furniture was stored. You can't even walk inside of it. Everything is like giant pick up sticks....tossed in a pile with all kinds of debris all over everything. Our house had 3' of water in it, but this building is on a concrete slab and only up 6 inches, so it had close to 8' of water in it. The house is up off the ground almost 4 feet.

A friend of mine who went thru a similar flood in 1999, said to me, "It is all right to cry." Well, if I could cry, I would, but the only time I have cried was when I apologized to Amos for all he went through, and for losing his friends. Yes.....Amos is the donkey.

My plans are to just get in there and work at it. It will take a long time, but we will get it cleaned up. The worst part is losing my pictures....besides losing the animals. I am the only survivor in my immediate family, so I had all the pictures. I am glad that the last time our daughter came home, about six weeks ago, I gave her a bunch of her pictures when she was a baby and her school pictures. At least she has those.

I will be glad to get my horses home but we have to fix the fences. That lady who has given them refuge, has said, no hurry, but they are in two of her three pastures and I really don't want to keep them there longer than I have to, because she has horses too, and I am sure she needs the space for her own.

The ground is covered in up to six inches of silt in some places and about 2 inches over all. We have so much stuff washed in, since we are on a bend. Trying to find owners for a canoe, a kayak, a paddle boat, an aluminum boat and a pop up camper! Have a really nice wooden chaise lounge and wooden patio table. Lots of flower pots and a huge pot of Bird of Paradise. I see one of my water troughs at the neighbor's. I need to go pick it up tomorrow.

Another water trough that I had waterlilies growing in, washed out to the middle of a pasture....waterlilies still intact.

We will get things back in place and I hope better than before. It is going to take some time, but we will get it done.