It's 9 days after Katrina and I am putting the first group of pictures on a slide show to share with those who can only imagine ' or who cannot imagine at all. I am very behind on reading my e-mail. I am very behind on everything that is normal, but back to my e-mail. I am a member of a listserv of Realtors that share everything from opinions (many are very opinionated!!!) to ideas to thoughts, prayers, humor, concerns and sorrows. I have been able to check my e-mail occasionally through borrowed access and currently through the fax line at our office. We are hoping for our DSL any day now. That would be as exciting as when we got a few phones lines and almost as exciting as when we got electricity. I'm not a professional writer so I am sure I will veer off many times on this account, so please bear with me. Anyway, back to the listserv. I have seen a lot of subject lines that concern Hurricane Katrina. I have read as many of them as time and my nerves can allow. I started out wanting to share what is was like from the edge, so to speak, which I will do, but I have ended up wanting to share what is really going on in the small communities of Bayou La Batre and Coden, Alabama. Before I share what I have seen and heard I thought it would be appropriate to share what I lived. So that is where I will start. August 29, 2005. It started like any other day on the Gulf Coast when there is a hurricane in the Gulf. That probably sounds odd if you don't live on the coast, but if you do then you know what I mean. We live here because we love the Gulf Coast. We live in an average brick ranch house on a canal that leads to Halls Mill Creek, that leads to Dog River, that leads to Mobile Bay, that leads to The Gulf of Mexico. As is true with everyone, for the most part we take for granted where we live. It has its benefits and its drawbacks. The benefits are too numerous to mention here. Its drawbacks are mainly the heat and the hurricanes. Last year it was Ivan. This year to start out with Tropical Storm Arlene, then Tropical Storm Cindy, and then Hurricane Dennis. The media warned us to stay in during Arlene, but we had an anniversary reception and a wedding, so we ventured out and everything was okay. Then we had Cindy and Dennis within a week of each other. They really scared us with Dennis and nothing happened here. Early the morning that Dennis came ashore the hurricane was a 5 and headed straight for us. I can't even tell you how many people left town and it veered east and weakened and we were spared. My children and grandbaby were at the house with us and we cooked all our chicken, potatoes and eggs, ate a lot and watched the storm pass us by. Some people have been boarded up most of the season this year and there has not really been any reason. Then here comes Katrina. It was headed to Louisana. It was a big storm. But how bad could it really be? We didn't even board up this time.

The children and grandbaby were assembled again to ride out another hurricane. We joked about not having any chicken or potatoes. We watched the water rise from the canal, but high tide was 9:30 so we figured it would start going down after that. Everyone in the driveway had moved their cars to the street by 9:30 because the water was sure getting high. We thought it might really be a close one. We now understand what a storm surge means. In no time at all the water was entirely too high. When it started coming in the house it was coming in from all directions! Not just the door. I first saw it on the floor between my bedroom and bathroom. Suddenly it was everywhere! Luckily my daughter lives around the block, in the right direction, on higher ground and in a house on piers. My daughters and their husbands grabbed my grandbaby and headed for the cars. They wanted us to come with them but we stayed behind to move the low stuff. At this point we realized our floors were all going to get wet, but we really didn't expect more than that. As fast as we could move things higher the water rose. We put stuff on top of beds and tables and then the beds and tables started floating. It was so beyond anything we had every imagined. Now, thinking back I can really understand the people in Louisana and Mississippi that stayed. They didn't in their widest imaginations think this would happen. Our house was at least 50 years old and it had never flooded before. It has been though plenty of hurricanes and we not only felt safe, we invited our children over. People across the country wonder why people didn't leave. You really don't think something like this is possible. And if it is possible it certainly is not likely. It's almost like being worried about getting stuck by lightning.

I spent several hours sitting on the kitchen cabinets hoping I would not have to sit on top of the freezer or refrigerator. At one point we saw our neighbors floating down the street in their boat. A rescue boat took out our mailbox! That's not a site you see every day. The highlight of the morning for me was when I discovered the chocolate cake on the kitchen cabinet!!! At times it was like a really bad David Letterman episode of 'Will it float?' One couch did. The other one didn't. It turns out most stuff does. When the waters finally started going down I reached over to the legal papers next to me and called my insurance company and started the flood insurance claim. I always thought they were ripping me off making me pay flood insurance on a house that had never flooded and I thought never would. I am really glad the mortgage company made that a requirement

I'm going to add to this but not tonight. This is enough for one evening. We are okay. Much better off than many. I will talk about that next time.

As you can see, we do not live on a big body of water. It's a canal that flows into Halls Mill Creek that flows Dog River that flows into Mobile Bay that flows into The Gulf of Mexico. Usually you cannot even see the water from our house. It really shows you how incredible the surge from Hurricane Katrina were! 10 months later the sheetrock has been removed throughout the lower four feet of our house, the insulation and the sheetrock were replaced. The flooring was all removed. We have all new flooring, new sheetrock half way up, all new paint, new cabinets and new countertops. With that much re-modeling also comes new light fixtures, new appliances, electrical work, etc. Our solid wood furniture has been stripped and refinished. The rest of our furniture has been replaced. I also had to replace my vehicle, my computers, my clothes and shoes and too many miscellaneous things to name here. Before it never really sounded bad to have all new stuff, but when it's forced on you it really isn't a lot of fun. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. We were so much more fortunate than many people I know. We have been able to replace the things we needed. It's just one of those things that is too weird to understand if you haven't done it. We lived in my office for over five months. The first morning I woke up in my house it felt like I was in The Twilight Zone. I was home, but everything was just a little bit off. The walls were a different color, and my bed and furniture were different. It was like living in a parallel universe. I almost expected a strange man to walk into the room and say "Good morning, dear." Luckily the only strange man to walk into my room was the same one that had been around for over 20 years, so that helped. It has taken a while for it to seem like home. I no longer feel the urge to ask someone where things go, though I do still occasionally look for things that are no longer there. The headaches are mostly over for us at this point. The value of the property in our neighborhood is on the rise. We are very fortunate that were not displaced like so many people in Louisiana, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and in Bayou La Batre and Coden, Alabama. I know there are a lot of people that are still living in a nightmare. Even though the chance of another Hurricane Katrina is believed by most to be very slim, I think there is a lot of tension in people on The Gulf Coast everytime the word hurricane is mentioned on the TV or radio. And from now on, the old expression "If the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise" will always have a very different meaning than before.