Rising From Ruin

Interesting story about rebuilding efforts in Bay St Louis and Waveland MS.

There once was an Irishman

There once was an ole' Irishman who needed a drink. He arrived at the Pub in the early afternoon and there he sat enjoying his drink. From our table we saw him and really thought nothing more… until we finished our late lunch. As we began to leave we passed his table and noticed a small red electric-scooter (not a Moped). Apparently the ole' Irishman had driven it from somewhere – his home…his work. On leaving the Pub we didn’t see any cars or trucks which looked like they normally carried a scooter ...

… our thoughts and maybe even fears were that our little Irishman might find a telephone pole, be pulled over or something worse once he was done.

1 Down 11 to Go

I finished my first 5K of the year on Sunday. It was the Frostbite Run in Fletcher, NC. It was very close to actually being pretty frosty ... temperatures between freezing & 42 degrees not counting wind chill. Just an hour north the temperatures had been 10 degrees that morning and it was snowing at the time of the race. It was a fun little race with about 250 participants. I finished in 23:31 or so. The actually times haven't been posted yet but I know it was close to that. That put me 3rd in my age bracket 25-29 yr olds.

Until the actual results are posted I really never know how I did in comparison to the group. Maybe there were only 3 runners in my bracket... did I finish in the top third, middle third, or bottom third... when the results are posted I'll add a link. (Results)

The next BIG race I'm looking at is the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC on April 1st. I may run a smaller one in late March. It's a big race - the cutoff for participats is 50,000... hmmm.. If anyone is interested I'm looking for an individual or group to train or run with over the next 6 weeks.

On other news thought I'd share this link about some of the rebuilding process going on on the coast of MS.

Taxes

For the last couple of years I've had a CPA do my income taxes. Not that I couldn't have done them myself but that I find them absolutely frustrating. I love lots of things related to financial matters but Income Tax is by far not one of my favorite. This year the CPA sent me a thick packet of forms to fill out - so I figured if I was going to go to all the trouble to fill out the paperwork that I might as well do my own income taxes. Several of my friends and business owners have used TurboTax . So I tried it this year and have been pretty content with it so far. I found that the version you use Online is a little cheaper than what you can purchase at Office Depot. If you don't count the value of my time - using Turbo Tax saved me approximatley $50 over last year's CPA cost. I'm not sure what the his cost would have been this year but I believe it would have been higher.

Has anyone else tried it ... if so what do you think?

Creativity

I find myself often drawn toward individuals who have creative gifts and/or talents. It maybe that they are a woodcarver, a quilter, a woodworker, a painter, a musician, a potter, a photographer, etc ... (or a combination of several of them). The works created encourage me to develop my own interest. Many times I find the process or processes involved in getting to the final product to be just as amazing as the actual works that are created. The works I see end up being a bit of a lamp providing a insight into amount of creativity that I could harness with time and work.

Sonic Stop

There is something to be said for stopping at Sonic on a warm and sunny afternoon (in February) with your wife and infant son to get ice-cream or a Route 44 drink. Sitting in the car with the windows rolled down - watching the sunset in the late afternoon.

Trip to MS Gulf Coast

Recently my parents went to look at the MS Gulf Coast. Their trip was 5 months after Katrina hit. I think my mom did a great job on her reflections of their trip and took some great pictures. So you can click here to view the pictures and read below about her reflections...

Yesterday was a very interesting day. Harvey and I left at 830AM for the MS Gulf Coast and arrived back home around 9:30PM. I had heard so many stories from friends about their homes and about the conditions on the coast. Harvey’s grandparents had (before they died) a home in Gulfport so we journeyed to see if it was still standing. We felt that we really couldn’t mentally support our friends without seeing it first hand. Let me assure you that this was the most devastating conditions I have ever seen even comparing it to Hurricane Camille. With that comparison, Camille was nothing. We saw the Camille devastation within two days of the event. Today was five months after Katrina.

As we entered Gulfport, we saw the casino, it was not functional, the port of Gulfport was no longer and we began to see the devastation along Hwy 90. We found the grandparents home one block from the beach still standing but gutted. That was the condition of all the homes on that street. Within walking distance there had been a huge trailer park with bumper to bumper trailers but now trailers had been blown away, washed away or destroyed and piled up. The pharmacy, apartments, and little restaurants in the area are gone. I thought to myself, “How bad can it get”? That was answered very shortly.

We drove from Gulfport to Pass Christian (west)—there was nothing but slabs where nice homes, apartments, hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores had been just a few months back. This extended north for several blocks. We saw a few homes that had also been gutted and they would need to be torn down. We also saw a few cars that were turned upside down or bang up so badly no one could use them. We could not go pass the City of Pass Christian because the bridge is out between Pass Christian and Bay St Louis and it won’t be built back any time soon. We could tell that trucks had picked up the major debris from the area. We saw one area near Pass Christian with several large tents and some activity. It appeared to be a distribution area for what residents and workers that came by there. There were no residents to be found in the area west except for workers cleaning the beach and power company employees or contract workers trying to restore service to the area. Maybe the residents had moved north of town or had just left. On Hwy 49 there were some businesses open. This was our journey west.

Our journey to the east of Gulfport was even harder to visualize. The first thing that caught our eye was The First Baptist Church of Gulfport. It was standing but the lower portion had been gutted. It will not be used for a long time. That was not the first or last church building that we saw that had been destroyed in some form by Katrina. Steeples were torn off, buildings gutted, or they were totally demolished. The Veteran’s Hospital was gutted. The Beauvoir had been gutted and there was only about a third of the building left. I could keep naming areas that I know well but the stories would be the same. Many of the areas on the east trip had not been cleaned up because, and we were told, the casinos would be taking over some of the areas and the casinos would clean up. There were many areas 5 to 10 minutes north that appeared to be fine (hotels, restaurants, etc were operating.)

We moved on to Ocean Springs to check on the Walter Anderson Museum and the downtown area. Downtown and the museum were all in great shape. Several blocks away, the storm had done some damage. I am sure as you move closer to Pascagoula (and we didn’t) there was much more severe damage to the area. We decided to travel back to Bay St Louis after hearing so much about it. This is where many of our friends and their families had homes. We found out that water had risen to 28’ in some areas to the north of I-10. It was around 330PM when we left Ocean Springs and get back on I-10 west to get to the Bay.

We wanted to get to Engman Ave in Bay St Louis to see the area where are friends had homes. The area on Hwy 90 had some commercial establishments open but they had rec’d some damage or had remodeled quickly. That I promise was the good area. We found the area we were looking for by using our GPS system because there were no street signs and we knew if we found where the Casino Magic was, we could find our street from there. There was a guard at the Casino Magic and he allowed us to cut through their parking area to get on Engman Ave. Everything for blocks and blocks had been demolished by Katrina. At one of our friend’s previous homes, were only a few bricks from the carport area. This was the case from the Casino Magic on the west, to the Bay on the East, and north and south of us. There was one house after another lying on the ground and trees broken beside them. Roof tops and debris was all you could see. We saw maybe 5 campers or fema trailers in the area. Previously, there had been homes especially along Beach Blvd on 10 to 12’ stilts for parking underneath—these were no longer there. We spent time looking for one of the small churches that we remembered there in the neighborhood—but there was no way to locate it. Everything was gone—now what is left can be scooped up and hauled off with all the family memories of what was once a wonderful neighborhood.

We traveled back home with a better insight of what had happened to thousands of our fellow Mississippians including our close friends. It will take years for recovery.

Please continue your prayers for our coastal area and the many people who were affected and those who have worked diligently to help in the recovery. God Bless--

Sweet & Spicy Drummettes

2 to 2 ½ pounds of chicken drummettes (about 24)
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup of honey
1/3 cup dry sherry or white wine
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat over to 500 degrees

Rinse chicken & pat dry

In a large bowl, stir together soy sauce, honey, sherry, sesame oil, garlic, pepper sauce, Dijon mustard & Worcestershire. Place chicken in a zip-lock bag, and pour marinade over chicken. Marinate at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Lift chicken pieces from glaze, and reserve remaining glaze. Arrange in single layer on a baking sheet, and bake uncovered in oven until chicken is dark brown and meat near bone is no longer pink, about 20-25 minutes. Halfway through baking time, brush chicken with reserved glaze.

Pastry-Wrapped Havarti Cheese

I've recently found several recipes in the Anderson Journal that have turned out pretty well. They usually have a picture of the item and cooking directions. It's in the Cooking with Joree section.

Pastry-Wrapped Havarti Cheese

1 (8 oz) package of cresent rolls
8 oz Havarti cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons of honey
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch-thick slices
Crackers

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Remove dough from package and lay out flat on board. Pinch seams together. Place Havarti cheese on top, bring up all 4 corners, and pinch together. Make sure all seams are closed.

Place on a sheet pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on serving dish. Drizzle honey over the top of the cheese and serve with apple slices and crackers.

Opinion Polls

Opinion Polls grate on my everlasting nerve sometimes. I got to thinking about them the other day while I was at the YMCA. One of the news channels had over 30 minutes of straight discussion about various opinion polls on what Pres. Bush would talk about during the State of the Union address. The address was still 4 days away. The next several days there was more and more commentary and polls taken. There are now opinion polls on several web-sites - some that make sense and some that leave me shaking my head about why someone would waste their time writing the question much less answering it. Bunch of Talking Heads - needing to occupy air time without really saying anything. Do the people who reply to opinion polls - web-based or by telephone - really represent the opinions of the public at large - or are they selectively screened - or are the questions slanted to draw in a paticular audience ... I rather see a news station focus on actual news.

Children & Colds

Well it's now day 4 of Benjamin with his first significant cold. He's had a couple of runny noses before but nothing lasting more than 48 hours. I think (& hope) that he's about to come through it. Beyond the normal daily routine with him - the last 4 days I've wiped a whole lot of runny noses and not really left the house all that much. I figure if the roles were reversed and I were taking my realatively healthy child somewhere public, I wouldn't neccessarily want him to catch a cold from some stranger. The odds are that he would catch a cold anyway but if I have a choice and the time why not wait until he's over it before exposing him to others (espically children)

That brings me to a whole discussion - I'll try to keep it brief ... the premise is that some parents don't want to take their infant/child to daycare, mothers-morning out, the short duration child-watch at the YMCA, maybe even church ... because the child will be exposed to other children with colds... Not that I like to see anyone have a cold or any child really suffer but at some point they are going to have colds.... either when they are little or when the finally start daycare, during pre-school, or during actual school. I'm not saying expose them to a signifant amount of sick people - but some of the day to day things in the long run probably aren't that bad. Most of the places have policies that ask parent's not to bring their child if they are sick - whether this is inforced or not becomes the question. ... all that to say I'm not scared of my child getting a cold... it does change my routine ... it does make him uncomfortable for a couple of days ... but it also helps build his immunity up. And along with that if I have an option I'll opt to keep him home from church, the YMCA, mothers morning out - when he's sick - out of consideration for others.