One of my husband's two sisters lives near Tyler, TX. Her husband emailed me that they are all safe and sound. It is hard for me to visualize the reality of a storm (Rita) so huge that it could menace so large a part of a place the size of Texas. It is mind boggling..... I am glad to know they are all ok.

We had not been keeping in touch like we should have until recently. Odd how terrible things sometimes bring about good. My brother-in-law lost his dad a few months back and I got in touch with them to try and help his family in Indiana let him know about his dad. I found out both our nieces had gotten married. One of our nephews was working in New Orleans when the evacuation was ordered for Katrina. Thank goodness he had the good sense to head home to Texas. The youngest nephew is finishing high school this year. (I guess I still had this mental image of them all still being babies. )

They've invited us out there. We've only been to Texas once, when my son was a baby. It is a long way to go to say hi to somebody!

As a compromise--because my husband just is not into going to band competitions or high school football games, and I have no interest in Nascar (and not much in most country music)--we have decided to set the occasional weekend aside for finding things to do together that we BOTH like.....which basically means going to the movies, riding around (not with gas prices the way they are now), or having picnics/cookouts. (Even going to the lake is iffy because I like swimming and he wants to fish--which means we separate or one of us sits around doing nothing while the other one does his or her thing.)

Today we are going to the movies. (Afternoon matinees are ALMOST affordable if you don't EAT anything while you are at the theater.) Now and then when we do this I manage to talk him into seeing something on my "wishlist." That's why he slept through The Skeleton Key a few weeks back. Normally, as will happen today, he picks the movies we see. There's a reason for that other than me not wanting him snoring in the theater.

When we first started dating, we decided to be all egalitarian and take turns treating each other to movies because I was in college and we were both working--so we didn't get a lot of time off together and didn't have a whole lot of money, either. (The time off together is still precious. Some things never change! ) That worked okay as long as we stayed with action/adventure or sci-fi movies. But then one Saturday, when it was my turn to pick the show (and pay), I decided we would see a very popular R-rated movie (which will remain nameless). I promise, I did not know R-rated movies got THAT dirty. It got so bad that I was trying to shrink so I could hide in my seat until the thing was over! He finally asked me not to crawl into the floor because it was sticky down there. After we finally made it to the car, he just said, "From now on, I pick the movies." It has been that way ever since.
(I have seen so many bizarre sci-fi films and martial arts movies!!! )

So...........since the Guntersville competition was cancelled and I spent the last two Saturdays at band exhibitions, we decided on a date weekend. We are seeing Corpse Bride and Just Like Heaven.

My husband told my daughter she needed a refresher course in biology because he quickly discovered his puppy was not the male she had told him "he" was. SHE is still named Sparky, but he also calls her Sparkle sometimes, too. I told him Sparky was ok for either sex and that Sparkette sounded dumb!

My daughter said she never checked the gender, just accepted what her friend told her. Funny!

I don't have the words to express the horror and sadness of the last few weeks. I suppose that is why I have been avoiding this blog.

The devastation the hurricane brought was so horrific in parts of the Alabama coast and especially in Mississippi. So many people lost everything. I watched tv and cried and prayed until I couldn't take it anymore.

The ruin and disorder in New Orleans was not only sad, but also sickening. The political blame game makes me want to puke. I will NEVER vote for a democrat again, no matter what. The way they have twisted the truth and tried to make this terrible situation something to campaign on makes me sick and furious. Same thing with all the racial posturing. Sick, sick sick!

I loved New Orleans. I can't imagine it ever being the same again, no matter what they do. Not for such a very long time anyway. Maybe never. No doubt some changes would be for the better anyway.

We have quite a few families here in Cullman who are evacuees, some from Mississippi, but most from New Orleans. Anyone who knows the reputation Cullman once had for being so full of prejudice would be very surprised, I think, at the way so many people are trying so hard to make these folks feel welcome to make Cullman a permanent home.
It is about time people started seeing other people as PEOPLE! It warms the heart. I think lots of folks around here have always been basically good hearted, but all it takes is a few hate-filled jerks in robes to make the whole community look bad.