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The image's resolution is high, at 2.4 meters per pixel. It is posted in a format that allows quick viewing of any area a user zooms in on. Users can quickly see what areas are under water and what structures are still standing.

The initial image was taken Wednesday and supplied by the company DigitalGlobe. AP will offer updated satellite images as as they become available.

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/neworleanssatellite/index.html

The Emerald Coast Parrot Head Club just donated $7,500 to the American Red Cross through the Lowe's Matching Donation program.  With Lowe's matching donation, it totals $15,000 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane  Relief.  I called the Manager of the Crestview Lowes before writing  the check to make sure that the Donation Program was still in place.  The Lowe's Manager in Crestview faxed me a copy of their promotional piece which  stated that they matched donations up to $1 million.  We decided to write  the check before we held our benefit so that we would ensure the matching  donation.  We will recoup some (if not all) of the funds when we hold our  benefit within the next month.

When I wrote the check at the Customer Service Desk, the Manager in the  Fort Walton Beach branch had to be called to approve the check.  After  reviewing our club information and writing his approval on the check, he looked  up at me and shook his head with a smile and said "You gotta love it!".  I  must say I had a few tears in my eyes, along with a smile. 

Diane Rutledge, Treasurer
Emerald Coast Parrot Head Club

CONTACT LIST OF ANIMAL RELIEF AGENCIES

      Dozens of animal agencies have mobilized to extend services to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.  Here is a list of the agencies which are at the center of relief efforts.  Each has a role to play, and works in harmony with the others.  Their websites offer a wealth of information on the latest news and current situation.  They also accept needed donations.

Humane Society of the United States
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?

Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams (VMAT)
funded by American Veterinary Medical Foundation
https://secure.entango.com/donate/QF49DRBwTtZ

Noah's Wish
http://www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm

United Animal Nations
Includes updated list of animal shelters
http://www.uan.org/ears/action_report.html

American Kennel Club (AKC)
Hurricane updates and donations
http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2599

Houston SPCA
http://WWW.spcahouston.org/spcahouston/Default.asp

AnimalHelp.com
Hurricane updates
http://www.animalhelp.com/library/articlelist.cfm?topicid=60

Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association (LVMA)
http://www.lvma.org

LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu

Louisiana SPCA
http://www.la-spca.org/forms/donations.htm
Kathyrn Destriza   504-329-5209
Lorretta Lambertson   504-329-0701

Pet Shelter in Lafayette, Louisianna
Lafayette Parish Animal Control   337-291-5644

____________________________________________


PET LOSS SUPPORT HOTLINE

      So many people are struggling to cope with the unknown status of their animals and ultimately mourning their deaths.  If you or someone you know needs to talk with someone, please call the Pet Loss Support Hotline run by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
The toll-free number is (800) 565-1526 and there are people to answer the line everyday from 6:30pm to 9:30pm Pacific Time.  The school has added weekend shifts and will secure extra help over the next few weeks to staff the hotline, who will be instructed on dealing with victims of disasters.

____________________________________________

KATRINA VICTIMS DISTRAUGHT OVER LOST PETS
by Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

      ATLANTA, Sep 4, 2005 -- As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs.  She pleaded.    

     "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday.  They wouldn't budge.  She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant
recipient, needed to survive.

      Such emotional scenes were repeated perhaps thousands of times along the Gulf Coast last week as pet owners were forced to abandon their animals in the midst of evacuation.  In one example, reported last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from
one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans.

      "Snowball!  Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited.  The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.

      At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death.  He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.

      "The bigger dogs were fighting it.  Fighting the gas.  It took them longer.

      "When I saw that, I said 'I can't do it,'" said Bennett's husband, Lorne.  Valerie Bennett left her dogs with the anesthesiologist, who promised to care for about 30 staff members' pets on the roof of the hospital, Lindy Boggs Medical Center.

      "He said he'd stay there as long as he possibly could," Valerie Bennett recalled, speaking from her husband's bedside at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital.

      On Saturday afternoon, she said she saw a posting on a Web site called http://petfinder.com that said the anesthesiologist was still caring for the animals.      Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy, who was helping with relief efforts Saturday, said some evacuees refused to leave without their pets.

      "One woman told me 'I've lost my house, my job, my car and I am not turning my dog loose to starve,'" Kennedy said.    Kennedy said he persuaded refugees to get on the bus by telling them he would have the animals taken to an exhibition center.

___________________________________________


AREA GROUPS PROVIDE SHELTER
by Keri Kirby

      The Shreveport Times,  August 29, 2005 -- Sitting safely in his Shreveport home Sunday, Chris Riser flipped from channel to channel listening to news of the disastrous and deadly potential of Hurricane Katrina.
      "They were saying the shelters will not take pets and they're turning people away with pets," he said.  "I was ready to rent a U-Haul and head to New Orleans to save the pets that cannot go to the shelter."
      A pet owner himself, Riser said he could not imagine the additional anguish of being forced to leave a pet behind.
      "It makes me feel very sad," he said.  "If a hurricane hit here and I had a choice of leaving my home and being safe and letting my animals die, I'd stay with my children, which are my animals.  I'd have to die with them. I would not go to a shelter that would not take my children."
      Knowing that, Shreveport animal lovers are doing their part to accommodate both two- and four-legged creatures displaced by the storm.
      The Krewe of Barkus & Meoux, along with the Humane Society and several local veterinarians organized a tent to shelter animals of those evacuees being housed at the American Red Cross shelter in the LSUS Health and Physical Education Building.
      "This is the first time we've had an animal shelter available to us," said Michelle Davidson with the northwest Louisiana chapter of the Red Cross.  "They've been growing just as fast as we are."
      And that's a relief for both Davidson and the people she and Red Cross volunteers want to help.
      "That is often an obstacle for people to overcome when it comes to getting them to evacuate," she said.  "Unfortunately, we can't
accept animals (in Red Cross shelters)."  Having their pets so close by has been a great comfort for many evacuees, Davidson said.
      "They have appreciated the opportunity," she said.  "A lot go out and play with the animals to make them feel a little better and I think it probably soothes them as much as the animals." Nancy Bardwell with the Northwest Louisiana Humane Society said the community support of the evacuees and their pets has been tremendous.
      "We can accommodate a lot more than what's here," she said of the 30 animals including a parrot and a canary they were housing Sunday evening.  "If we run over, there are local animal shelters and horse stables that are ready to step in and help.  We've gotten so many donations, we can hold out as long as we need to."
      The Caddo Commission's animal services division sent several cages to the shelter at LSUS and also opened up its doors to help house evacuees' pets.  The parish began accepting dogs and cats free of charge about noon Sunday and would continue to do so until they filled up the 60 vacancies they had available, said Anita Mills, spokeswoman for the division.
      "The last time there was a major hurricane there were about 350 animals that came into the area.  They all did not come in to the shelter," Mills said.  "But they're expecting many more than that this time because of the severity of this storm."  The Times staffer James Ramage contributed to this story.

___________________________________________


LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, HELPING RELIEF EFFORT

      A Long Island animal shelter is preparing for the arrival of hundreds of homeless pets within the next few weeks as rescuers begin to pull them out of Hurricane Katrina's rubble.
      The first batch of 53 dogs and cats arrived yesterday at the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, from an Alabama shelter trying to make room for those still pouring in.
      "As soon as they saw that they were going to be loved, their tails started wagging," North Shore director Paul Greene said.
      "All they ask for is a home and some affection.  All they want is to be loved."
      North Shore has pledged to put 1,000 animals up for adoption in a temporary shelter.  You can learn more here: http://www.nsalamerica.org/

___________________________________________


PETS AND PEOPLE FILL SHELTER
by Kimberly Solet   <kimberly.solet @ houmatoday.com>

      HOUMA, Sept 1 -- Hundreds of homeless New Orleans refugees and their pets at an east-Houma shelter continued to cope Wednesday with the aftermath of their harrowing Hurricane Katrina experience.
      But they were comforted by veterinarian Lauren Ellender of Houma, who gave check-ups to scores of dogs and cats cluttering the shelter floor and pronounced most of them healthy.
      The 300 evacuees and more than 50 of their pets were sent to the East Park Recreation Center Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
      The Park Avenue refuge in east Houma is one of few across the Gulf Coast that is accepting New Orleans-area evacuees and their furry loved ones.
      They are among 78,000 people and pets across south Louisiana and Mississippi that now call civic centers, churches, recreation centers and tent cities their homes.
      Earlier in the day, the abundance of pets at East Park was a concern to Ellender, who works at the Causeway Animal Hospital in Metairie and was worried some pets might be sick and the concentration of animals might pose a public-health risk.  If that was the case, Ellender said all the animals might have to be put to death, or taken to a nearby pet hospital or shelter for care.  Houma Police Capt. Greg Hood requested the necessary medical supplies in the event the animals were put down.
      Bobbie O¹Bryan, a Houma Police officer and shelter volunteer, said that would be a disaster for evacuees, who were plucked from their attics and rooftops early this week after losing their home and all its contents to the hurricane.
       What the New Orleans residents have piled around their skinny green cots is all they have left to their names, besides their pets.
      "These pets are the tamest I've ever seen," O'Bryan said.  A day of delivering check-ups to the leashed dogs and caged cats showed that, despite a harrowing journey that took them from New Orleans attics and rooftops to helicopters and boats to Interstate 10 and finally Houma, all but one animal was in relatively good health, Ellender said.
      A cat was sick with an unnamed disease that was not a threat to public health, but Ellender said the owner did not want to euthanize it. That was OK, said Ellender, because the evacuee was expected to leave the shelter Wednesday night.
      "All the animals are situated, and I've had tremendous cooperation," said Ellender, who was asked to assess the animals by Terrebonne Parish Councilwoman Christa Duplantis.  "Considering what they've been through, they're doing well."
      Part of the reason is that owners are taking better care of pets than themselves, said evacuee Lelia Wachtel, 83, a New Orleans resident from the Lakeview neighborhood who was sitting in the corner of the shelter with four collies, one of whom recently placed first in two show-dog competitions.
      "These pets are my family," she said.  "I love them like they're my kids."
      When local residents realized pets were being sheltered along with New Orleans residents at East Park, 30 boxes of cat food and enough bags of dog food to feed 100 animals for months were delivered to a back-door loading dock.  They were not the only supplies.
      From the time residents arrived at the shelter Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday night, a nonstop line of traffic wrapped around the community and recreation center as Terrebonne residents waited to drop off donations.  The gifts of good will included everything from pillows and blankets to clean underwear and children¹s toys.
      A Salvation Army crew from Texas made sandwiches and handed out cold drinks.  Jennifer Mohana said she planned to ship mattresses from the family-owned Louis Mohana furniture store in Bourg to give evacuees a more comfortable place to sleep.  The generosity has been overwhelming, but Houma Police Capt. Sidea Adams, who was helping at the shelter along with a sheriff¹s deputy and four National Guardsmen, said what¹s needed most at the shelter over the next few days are garbage bags and underwear.  Cash is also a necessity.
 

Here is some useful info to pass along to those affected by Katrina.

http://money.aol.com/special/katrinahelp

http://www.margaritavillestore.com/browse.cfm/4,1672.html

--
Fenton "Drifty" Moore
President
Parrot Heads In Paradise, Inc.
http://www.phip.com
email: phip.president@gmail.com

THE LAST BOAT OUT
by Robert LeBlanc, Jr.

      On Wednesday, August 31, my friend Jeff Rau and I rode a motorboat through New Orleans, pulling people out of the water.
      We ferried people all day between Carrolton Avenue and the Causeway overpass, about a mile and a half each way.
      Early on, we saw a black man in a boat with no motor.  He rescued people and paddled them a mile and a half to safety -- with nothing but a piece of two by four lumber for a paddle.  He then turned around and went back for more people.  He refused our help, saying he didn't want to slow us down. At 5pm he headed on another trip, knowing he would finish after dark.
      One group of 50 people we rescued that Wednesday afternoon was on the bridge that crosses over Airline Highway near Carrolton Avenue.  Most had been there with no food, water, or anywhere to go since Monday morning, with 10 feet of water all around them.
      One man had been there since the beginning, helping people reach the bridge and caring for them afterward.  He didn't leave the bridge until everyone got off safely, even deferring to people who'd just arrived.  This man waited on the bridge until dusk, leaving on one of the last boats out that night.  He risked not making it at all.
      In a really rough neighborhood, we came across five seemingly unsavory characters, one with scars from gunshot wounds.  We found them at a recreational center, one of the few two-story buildings around.  They broke into the center, not to do harm to anyone or
anything, but to gather as many people as possible from the neighborhood and lead them to safety.
      They stayed outside all day, helping people into rescue boats. We approached them at 6:30pm, obviously one of the last trips of the day.  Yet instead of getting in our boat, they asked us to continue on and get more people out of homes and off rooftops.
      These same five men were on the last boat out at sundown. They were incredibly grateful, repeating, "God is going to bless y'all for this."  One even offered us his Allen Iverson jersey, perhaps the most valuable possession he had.  We declined, but understood the depth of his gesture.
      The looting and shooting you saw on television tells but a small part of the story.
      By showing the worst effects of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that followed, news reports discouraged volunteers from helping.  But help was still needed and will be for a long time.
      In case it matters, I'm politically conservative.  I was impressed to see young and seemingly poor black people caring for sickly and seemingly well-to-do white people.
      We can sort out political issues later.  Anyone with a sense of compassion will agree that New Orleans needs help, people's lives need to be saved and families need to be put back together.  They now need all of our help.
      I want everyone to know how gracious these people were, despite being stranded and panicked.  This transcends politics.  It's about humanity.

             -- Robert LeBlanc, Jr.   <rlrenrec @ aol.com>

THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN
by Lynn Purcell Durham

      For seven long and lonely hours I watched and listened as the wrath of Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast.
      Hour after hour, hearing the continuous sound of the wind blowing and whipping non-stop at unimaginable speeds as the mighty oak trees snapped like twigs.  Each massive, broken limb sounding like a random gunshot and then hearing the loud sucking sound the trunks made as they fell only to be left suspended in the air with car size craters underneath.
      The massive but shallow rooted pines fell first, sounding like cannons as they landed on and caved in many neighbor¹s roofs, smashing cars and RV¹s and tearing down power lines that whipped and sparked like a Fourth of July fireworks show.
      The rain blew so hard that it sounded like a hail storm hitting the house.  The constant noise stretched nerves to their breaking point.
      It's as if God¹s wrath was wreaked on our Mississippi Coast in all His fury ­- frightening and glorious, intimidating and exhilarating -- all at the same time.  The nearest thing that I can compare it to would be the Book of Revelations in the Bible when fire, wind, rain and pestilence would rain down from the heavens.
      Here on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, it did.
      I held on to a porch pillar and watched all hell breaking loose around me.  Would our house stand?  Would the roof hold?  Would the trees continue to miss us?  Would we survive?
      The shingles were ripped from my neighbor¹s house and became lethal weapons sailing through the air at 150 mph.  My grandchildren¹s swing set was twisted and broken like silly putty in a child¹s hands.  Lawn mowers sailed weightlessly through the air like Frisbees.  Yard sheds were picked up intact and blown blocks down the street, before collapsing into rubble.
      Roofs were plucked from their buildings, many landing intact several streets over from where they belonged.  A child¹s tricycle was carried in the air on the wind, its wheels spinning furiously as if it was being ridden by a ghost child ­- so eerie to watch.  I prayed that its owner was unharmed.
      Finally, there was silence.  It was as deafening in a way, as the rage of the storm.  I watched as the Gulfshore water rose up our street, covering cars and houses halfway to their roofs.
      Our house was the last one to get water inside and again, we were lucky.  It only got ankle deep and it receded back down almost as fast as it came.  We stacked our furniture as fast as we could and lost nothing.   I watched the water rise halfway up the doors of my son¹s 1986 Cadillac destroying what he'd been so carefully restoring.  My car was on slightly higher ground and the water only got to the top of my wheels.  Salt water fish were jumping in the air as the water flowed inland.  Ice chests, furniture, toys, clothing, dead animals and so much more floated by, left to litter the yards and streets as the water receded.

                             *                *               *

      August 29, 2005 ­- the day the Gulf Coast was changed forever, is a day of infamy that will never be forgotten by any of us that went through it.
      The hurricane is over and we have survived unharmed.
      So many others were not as lucky.
      It will be months before a death count will be completed and it will only be an approximate count because many were washed out to sea.  Lives were lost and new lives were started when young moms gave birth during the storm, many under horrible unsanitary conditions. One baby was born on a rooftop in the raging storm.
      You¹ve all seen the pictures of destruction on all the news channels.  But what you can¹t see or imagine watching television is the smell of rotting food, sewage, and the terrible odor of death that is in the air.
      You can tell who stayed behind to ride out the storm by looking in people's eyes.  The ones who stayed have blank stares with no emotion.  These are the people who lost everything and are still so overwhelmed that their minds have literally shut down.
      So many tales of courage will never be told because the reporters miss the smaller picture as they concentrate on the larger overall stories.
      For example, my friend¹s grandparents who are age 90, were from Gulf Hills -- a neighborhood of fine homes that were completely flooded by the 26 foot storm surge.  He is a victim of Alzheimers disease and she a tiny woman, who by some miracle, was able to get
him to swim with her to the safety of their neighbor¹s roof.  He hasn't spoken since the storm and he refuses to leave.  So she camps with him in a tent, eating the military rations and meals that the family brings daily.  Her love and loyalty to her lifetime mate survives their tragedy.  She tells her daughter to leave them be, because he is quiet there as long as no one tries to force him to leave.  I fear their time left is short but they are together and that's all that matters to her.
      A 7 year old child was found five days after the storm -- in an attic, alive with her dog, with only scratches and dehydration to show for her ordeal.  However, no one knows anything about her parents who put her in the attic and told her to stay there.  Her mental and emotional scars will run deep.
      A man swam back for his dog, after swimming his family to safety, because his children were hysterical over their pet.  He managed to swim back to his family with the dog paddling in his arms and both were safe.  When asked why he went back he says the dog was a part of his family and he intended to save ALL of his family.
      Another friend lived in a mobile home and spent hours on his knees, praying to God, as his home's tie downs came loose and his home floated for miles before finally coming to gently rest against someone's porch pillar.  His mobile home was undamaged.
      Many churches were destroyed except for the crosses and statues of Mary and the baby, Jesus.  They still stand unharmed.
      I¹ve seen three houses in a row numerous times with only the middle home destroyed and the other two untouched.  I cannot understand how that happened over and over again.  Down on our back beach, where so many mansions are flattened or left to stand as empty shells, a modest bungalow stands completely intact.  Because those mansions stood relatively unharmed through Camille, many chose to stay, never realizing that a 26 foot storm surge would come with this hurricane.
      One of the survivors stated, "Camille was a lady, Katrina was a real bitch."  All that is left of many of the homes are the ornate wrought iron stairways leading to no where.  An elderly man was found near the top of a Magnolia tree where he clung to life during the seven hours of hell.  His wife has yet to be found.  He said he held on to her as long as he could but the storm took her.

                             *                *               *

      I drove around yesterday and am amazed at the difference a week makes.
      The streets are cleared of debris, bulldozed to the curbs waiting for pickup and the clean up is well underway.  Some areas are condemned due to disease hazards from the dead bodies, rotting fish, pork and chicken that came from broken storage containers on the docks.  But the authorities are letting people salvage what few possessions they can before bulldozing everything to the ground.
      Cholera and typhoid are a real and present danger.  So are the presence of poisonous snakes and alligators that have washed inland.  Triage tent hospitals and clinics are set up in vacant parking lots.
People are directed to various tents according to their ills and injuries.  Emergency surgery is being done there daily.  One man had the stitches removed from his stomach from a cancer surgery he'd had before Katrina.  Everyone is encouraged to get tetanus shots.  These
triages are being run by volunteer physicians that have come from all over the states bringing their own supplies, surgical instruments, medicines, etc.  They, too, are unsung heroes.
      Driving through the mass destruction in the family neighborhoods, we saw signs of humor that survive undaunted.
      A hand painted sign points towards the beach saying "waterfront property for sale."  Another says, "You got my home but I¹m still standing."  Another says, "You destroyed my home but not my spirit."
      Yes, we've had some looters out plying their trade.  One hundred have been arrested and will serve fifteen years each for their crimes.  Of all things to steal in these circumstances, electronic equipment, digital TVs and computers, seem to be high on their lists of priorities.  These things were covered by the flood water.  They will never work again so I'm baffled at the stupidity in stealing them.  I understand people taking what groceries they can find to survive, but the other is just "stuff" that won¹t operate.  It makes you wonder at the mentality of these lowlifes.
      Pets are displaced, injured and lost, starving on a daily basis and only now are some of the shelters opening to try to reunite them with their owners or to get them adopted.
      I've fed and shared our water with all the strays that have come to my yard because I cannot bear to see them suffer so.  The veterinarians are swamped with dying animals that drank the water and ate contaminated food.  Injuries abound from broken limbs to massive cuts.  I do what I can to help them, and my vet takes all with no questions asked.  He treats their injuries and will house them in his kennels free of charge until homes are found.  These men and women are more of the unsung heroes.
      Neighbors that never met before are now fast friends and we all share all that we have.  I make a daily run to the Ocean Springs Middle School and drive through the National Guard line with my trunk up.  They ask how many people I'm supplying and then put in cases of bottled water, cases of military rations and last, but not least, sixty pound bags of ice.
      I bring it all home and distribute it to others in the neighborhood that lost their vehicles and have no way to get supplies.  Out of state family members have loaded trucks with supplies and brought them to my neighbors and they share with the rest of us.  Today, my next door neighbor brought me tomatoes, sliced cheese, a bag of chocolate cookies, and apples.  Things that we've always taken for granted have now become luxuries to us.  We all say, "Thank you God" a dozen times a day for the little things that come our way.
      I slept on my driveway for five nights and was just as comfortable as if I was in my bed.  I was asked if I wasn't afraid of looters and had to laugh.  My dog, Sister, slept at my head and
protected me.  Looters don't go where there are barking dogs, especially big barking dogs.  I got up with the sunrise and went to bed at sunset totally exhausted.  If my bed was hard, I never noticed.
      It has taken a week to get all the debris and huge limbs cleaned up and to the curb.  We have an 8 foot high pile of debris that runs completely across our front property line.  We also had to pull up all of the wet stinking carpet and pad and drag it to the curb, then sweep out the water left in the house.  We had to mop over and over with Clorox and finally, got the smell out by mopping with pure vinegar.  It was a mess, but again, we were lucky -­ we had a house to clean.  Thousands do not.
      I cooked on our grill every evening.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were our breakfast and lunch.  Because I¹ve been through several hurricanes before, we were well prepared with ample water and supplies.  Both freezers were packed tight with ice so we were able to cook and eat most of the meat.  I had loaded two large ice chests in advance so our spoilage was minimal and had stored 12 gallons of water so we had enough to share with friends and the neighbors until emergency supplies arrived.
      I have power now and with that came air-conditioning, a blessed relief from the heat and humidity.  You can call in on our phone, but we can't call out.  The water is not drinkable but we can flush our toilets and if we pour bleach in a tub of water and let it stand for thirty minutes we can actually have a bath.  If we shower we are warned to rinse completely with bleach water because of the flesh eating diseases that flourish in these conditions.
      I've been telling my son how lucky we were and he was griping because he lost his car and his job.  The Magic Casino where he worked was destroyed and will have to be rebuilt.  He went with some friends to our back bay to help salvage what they could from his friend's destroyed home.  The house was two blocks from the Gulf and normally you couldn¹t see the water from there because of the many oaks and pine trees.
      When Corey came home he was gray and I could see the stress in his face and eyes.  He said, "You were right, Mom, we are lucky."
      He told me that you could now see the Gulf from his friend¹s house and that it was filled with floaters.  I asked what floaters were and was told that it was dead bodies.  That has put scars on his soul that will never heal.

                             *                *               *

      I have not been able to cry in front of anyone, but often when I'm in my car alone, the tears come out of nowhere.  Not for myself, but for the devastation of so many others.
      The day after the hurricane, I was driving alone and was about to break down.  An SUV turned in front of me and printed on its wheel cover were three words.  LIFE IS GOOD.
      You bet it is!  I was able to burst into laughter instead of tears.  Another "Thank you God" moment.
      People are already planning to rebuild -­ bigger, better, stronger.  Some plan to leave here and never look back, but the majority plan to stay.
      The South is filled with courageous people that refuse to be whipped by man or nature.  They are a tough bunch -- proud and too stubborn and obstinate to lay down and quit.
      They truly believe that whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger.      

      THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN in all her glory!  She's already started, and for now, my family has chosen to be a part of it.

             -- Lynn Durham   <lynnd @ cableone.net>

HIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND YES, I CRIED