Well, i wanted to do...

...an Awww Monday post, but circumstances have deemed otherwise.

If you don't want the news, don't read any further. 

First, we are blessed.  #2 Son and Red-headed Alec have figured out how to keep the water in our house to a minimum.  It sure beats my old method, which was to have an alarm wake me every 15 minutes around the clock to use the shop vac.  Having to do that for days and days at a time in the past is what led me to have panic attacks, especially with rain.

As noted, The Big Boss had water in his house and lost the vehicles.

There are several areas flooded where they are evacuating people in boats.

Bigger Girl is agitated because she cannot get to her friend Vera, who is in a flooded area.

Young Jacob's grandmother was refusing to leave her home, which had water in it.  She was afraid she would be robbed while she was gone.  (Robbers in boats, i guess, in search of soggy sellables.)  They had to send the authorities to drag her out, and her daughter is driving in from Houston to get her and take her back to Texas until things settle down and they can arrange repairs.

#1 Son's friend Darcy was stranded at her mother's house with her own two-year-old and the two-month-old.  They couldn't drive out of the neighborhood, and the water was rising.  They had to wait for one of those huge military-style transport trucks to come through and get them.

Some friends of the family who just had their first baby 3 weeks ago and moved into their first house last week posted on Facebook that at least now they have the waterfront property and indoor pool they always wanted.  They are trying to laugh, like the rest of us, to keep from crying.

The husband of our church's music minister was kayaking through the neighborhood behind his on Saturday, helping with evacuations.  There's a rather nice area back there that has a lot of widows who didn't know to evacuate and had no one else to help them.  The creek that flooded that area is also what got The Big Boss' house.

The Wildlife and Fisheries Department with the State has just built a new facility.  It's taking on water before they could even move in, and our church friend who is second in command at that Department had to spend yesterday looking over the damage.

Last night was supposed to be the first meeting of people from our church with a church across town that is a different demographic, to try to foster understanding and friendships.  The other church flooded, and everything has been postponed.  On the good side, our church has already told them to let us know when we can bring work crews in to help.

Several members of the church had water in their homes, some a foot or two, some up to the roof lines.  There are lists at church of who needs help, who has room to house people for a while, and who can help in other ways.

  

Speaking of churches and helping, a local church opened as a shelter for evacuees, and then turned away any people who needed shelter but were not from their church!  They got slammed for it so badly on Facebook that they had to delete their account, and they deserved it.

One of my prayer partners at church left for work Saturday at the hospital and was told to bring clothing and plan to stay.  She did, and now cannot get back to her house.  She knows there's water in the house and that she does not have flood insurance because they are not in a traditional flood plain, but does not know what happened to her disabled husband and her daughter and the pets.

Why does she not know?  Because AT&T had a call switching station (or something like that) take on water, so no one with an AT&T mobile phone has any service in this whole region.  She, and we, cannot make calls or texts.  So there are people in flooded areas who need help and gave up their land lines and only have mobile phones and can't use them.  It's scary.

What's also sad about that is Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and all of the other carriers are working just fine, thankyouverymuch.  People are able to use their AT&T internet and U-verse to get online, and if they have a late-model iPhone can make calls over their wifi.  Those of us not so blessed with updated equipment are stuck, and AT&T is being very closed mouthed about what they are doing to fix the problem or how long it will take.  In fact, they were refusing to give answers to anyone until the State of Louisiana demanded to know what's up, and then the State broadcast the info about the water in the equipment.  Somehow i think there's going to be a big backlash about this, not just because of the outage but because of the refusal to keep people informed.

(On a related note, AT&T has a navigation feature on their phones that is free the first 30 days, then $10/month thereafter.  When he had misplaced his phone, #1 Son used our extra phone for the day, and turned on the navigation feature, intending to turn it off when he was done.  Turns out they make it impossible to turn the app off without calling them, in hopes that you will forget and leave it on.  As soon as we get service again, i have to call and get it turned off so i don't get charged for it.  We are not too happy with AT&T right now.)

If we can just dry out for a few days, i will be feeling much better.  And i am grateful no matter what, things could have been a lot worse. 



Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Poland

Asuncion Foundation Day -- Paraguay

Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary -- Catholic Christian Holy Day of Obligation
     Related Observances
          Coeur d'Alene Indian Pilgrimage -- Coeur d'Alene's Old Mission State Park, Cataldo, ID, US
          Dormition of the Theotokos -- Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Christian
          Ferragosto -- Italy (During the Roman Empire, a festival to Diana and a fertility and ripening celebration)
          Mother's Day -- Antwerp; Costa Rica
          National Acadians Day -- Acadians
          Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands -- Tenrife, Spain
          Irmandade da Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte Fiesta -- Bahia, Brazil (Festival of the Order of Our Lady of the Good Death)
          Festival of the Outremeuse -- Liege, Belgium
          Public Holiday or Publicly Observed -- Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Benin; Bosnia; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chile; Colombia; Côte d'Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus; East Timor; France; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Greece; Guadelupe; Guatemala; Guinea; Holy See; Hungary; Italy; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Madagascar; Malta; Martinique; Mauritius; Mayotte; Monaco; New Caledonia; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Reunion; Romania; Rwanda; Saint Barthelemy; Saint Martin; Saint Pierre et Miquelon; San Marino; Senegal; Seychelles; Slovenia; Spain; Switzerland; Togo; Vanuatu; Wallis and Fortuna     

Best Friend's Day -- sponsored by Thema Martin

Bon/Obon Festival -- Japan (biggest day of the festival in most parts of Japan)

Chauvin Day -- observed on Napoleon's birthday because his is unknown, the day is named for Nicholas Chauvin, whose blind devotion to Napoleon was immortalized in his name's use for absurdly intense attachments to any cause

Check the Chip Day -- the American Veterinary Medical Association reminds you to check your pet's microchip and make sure it is still working correctly and that the registration information is up to date https://www.avma.org/Events/pethealth/Pages/Check-the-Chip-Day.aspx

Dia de la Ley Fundamental -- Equatorial Guinea (Constitution Day)

Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (through the 18th, dates approximate)

Elwood Glass Festival -- Elwood, IN, US (glass factory tours and so much more; through Sunday)

Fathers' Day -- Samoa; Tokelau (a public holiday in both countries)

Festival of Vesta -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of the hearth)

Fete Nationale -- Republic of the Congo (National Day/Independence Day)

Fool's Dance -- Japan (part of the Awa Dance Festival; "it's a food that dances and a fool that watches, so if you are going to watch, you might as well dance!")

Independence Day -- India(1947)

Liberation Day -- both Koreas
     Gwangbokjeol -- South Korea
     Jogukhaebangui nal -- North Korea

Maras Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebration of the goddess Mara, cognate of Mary)

Melon Day -- Turkmenistan (the country that really loves its muskmelons


National Day -- Lichtenstein (a/k/a Liberation Day [1945])

National Failures Day -- some websites say the 16th, and may i suggest a book called "Fail Better", a small quotations book about how failure is just the beginning.

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

National Mourning Day -- Bangladesh

National Relaxation Day -- sponsored by Sean Moeller of Clio, Michigan; if you call in sick to stay home and relax, blame him

Panama La Vieja Day -- Panama (Founding of Panama City)

RSPCA Cupcake Day -- a fun and delicious way to raise funds to stop animal cruelty http://www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/

Shoro Nagashi Nagasaki -- Nagasaki, Japan (floating lanterns are released into the harbor in honor of the ancestors)

Sproshinki -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (end of the hay harvest festival)

Stay at Home With Your Kids Day -- begun by Work at Home Moms ezine in 1999, to encourage and support parents who work from home

St. Tarcisius' Day (Patron of altar servers, first communicants)

Tuva Republic Day -- Tos-Bulak fields south of Kyzuk, Tuva, Russia (celebration of the Tuva Republic, a Naadam festival of Mongolian wrestling, horse racing, and archery; held by the Tuva people, the closest genetic relatives to the North and South American Native Peoples)

Wafaa El-Nil -- Egypt and Coptic Church ("Fidelity of the Nile", celebration of the annual of Flooding of the Nile)

Weird Contest Week -- Ocean City, NJ, US (contests through the week include salt water taffy sculpting, wet t-shirt throwing, ear wiggling, french fry sculpting, chewing an artwork out of a huge cookie or TastyKake Pie, making a work of art from paper clips, a Little Miss and Little Mr. Chaos contest, and Mr. and Miss Miscellaneous contest for those who have always wanted to compete in a talent contest but maybe missed the bus or got stuck at a rugby game; through Friday)

Yukon Discovery Day -- YT, Canada


Anniversaries Today:

Woodstock, 1969
Buddy Holly marries Maria Elena Santiago, 1958
Panama Canal opens, 1914
Transcontinental US railway is completed at Promontory Point, UT, US, 1870


Birthdays Today:

Joe Jonas, 1989
Kerri Walsh, 1978
Ben Affleck, 1972
Debra Messing, 1968
Melinda Gates, 1964
Zeljko Ivanek, 1957
Princess Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, 1950
Jimmy Webb, 1946
Kathryn Whitmire, 1946
Linda Ellerbee, 1944
Stephen G. Breyer, 1938
Vernon Jordan, Jr, 1935
Phyllis Stewart Schlafly, 1924
Mike Connors, 1925
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, 1925
Rose Marie, 1925
Huntz Hall, 1919
Oscar Romero, 1917
Julia Child, 1912
Elizabeth Bolden, American Supercentenarian, 1890 (d. 2006)
Edna Ferber, 1885
Ethel Barrymore, 1879
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey, 1859
E. Nesbit, 1858
Sir Walter Scott, 1771
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Mainz Psalter(Publication date; first book with the publication date printed on the colophon), 1457


Today in History:

Battle of Roncevaux Pass, the Basques defeat Charles the Great (Charlemagne) and Roland is killed, 778
Macbeth defeats his cousin and rival King Duncan I, who is killed in the battle, and becomes king of Scotland, 1040
Battle of Lumphanan, in which King Macbeth is killed by the forces of Mael Coluim MacDonnchada, 1057
The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia, 1185
The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of 
the Three Wise Men, is laid, 1248*
The "Mainz Psalter" is completed, the earliest dated book, 1457
Founding of Panama City, 1519
Jesuit priest St. Francis Xaverius land in Kagoshima, Japan, 1549
Joseph Haydn departs England, never to return, 1795
Country of Liberia is founded by freed American former slaves, 1824
Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1842
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawai'i, is dedicated; it is the oldest continuously used Roman Catholic Cathedral in the US, 1843
San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed, 1891
A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home, 1914
The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon, 1914
Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash, 1935
The birth of stadium rock:  The Beatles play Shae Stadium, 1965
President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard, 1971
The "Wow! signal":  The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space, 1977
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090, 2007
The olinguito becomes the first mammal to be discovered in the past 35 years, 2013


*Yes, we just noted the other day the date of completion in 1880!