Kaitlyn,
As of this past Sunday the Democrats continued to blame President Bush and the Feds for their own ineptness. Indeed the blond Louisiana Senator said the reason the school buses weren’t used is somehow because Bush is opposed to mass transportation.
They screwed up in Louisiana. They took a chance.
It was a bad decision, simple as that.
One can fault FEMA for not doing the state’s job quickly enough. There is something to be said for the federal government having such a plan should the first responders themselves be unable to react.
The head of FEMA has essentially been terminated. For the crime of acting like every bureaucrat all across the fruited plains: being unable to think outside the box.
First of all, sweet Granddaughter, people that work for the government, so your Grandmother alleges, are generally not the quickest on the draw. Government work is steady and provides good benefits. Most people with ingenuity and incentive tend to go into private business.
Every American who ever had to deal with the government on ANY matter gets it.
It seems that once FEMA’s head Brown realized that the state of Louisiana was a basket case he, well he became a basket case.
Imagine that. A government employee without the ability to think on his feet.
I don't mind the negative press [well, actually, I do, but I try to ignore it] but it is really wearing out the family," Brown wrote, according to the E-mail obtained by the Rocky Mountain News.
Speaking of FEMA’s Brown, we discover this email from him to his family:
From the NY Daily News:
"No wonder people don't go into public service. This country is devouring itself, the 24-hour news cycle is numbing our ability to think for ourselves."
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Yet More Damaging Info
It would seem, Granddaughter, that Governor Jeb Bush, a man who has endured his share of hurricanes, offered assistance to the idiots in corrupt Louisiana.
Yet they insist it is the Feds fault.
Whatever your history book shows, Kaitlyn Mae, know that your Grandmother goes to all this effort to document it for you.
From the PalmBeachPost:
Gov. Jeb Bush, the head of Florida AHCA and the head of Florida wildlife (which is responsible for all search and rescue) all said they made offers of aid to Mississippi and Louisiana the day before Katrina hit but were rebuffed. After the storm, they said they've had to not only help provide people to those states but also have had to develop search and rescue plans for them. "They were completely unprepared -- as bad off as we were before Andrew," one Florida official said.
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An Interesting Fundraiser
Never let it be said, Kaitlyn, that Americans aren’t generous and innovative. Below is just one of the many fundraisers going on across the land to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
No matter their color.
"if any city on Earth seems to revolve around and exist for food, it (is) New Orleans. . . . New Orleanians live, sleep and breathe food and love their restaurants as much as the millions of visitors who came solely to eat there."
Now, with bayou stoves submerged in water, Mariani is helping spread word that top chefs here in Washington will join forces Monday as the soon-to-open Acadiana restaurant at 901 New York Ave. NW becomes "the po' boy headquarters of a fundraising effort."
Participating chefs serving up brown-bag carry-out po' boys for a donation of $25 include Jeff Tunks (Acadiana, DC Coast, Ten Penh and Ceiba), Robert Wiedmaier (Marcel's), Michel Richard (Citronelle), Roberto Donna (Galileo), Ris Lacoste (1789), Cesare Lanfranconi (Tosca), Frank Morales (Zola), Todd Gray (Equinox), Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve), RJ Cooper (Vidalia), John Besh (August, New Orleans), Jeff Buben (Vidalia and Bistro Bis), Kevin Scott (New Orleans Bistro), and John Wabeck (Firefly).
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First Katrina/Kaitlyn post-the Beginning-9/6/05
Grandmother's Evacuation Plan
Hilly's Katrina Kommission, Debit Cards
Satire, Folk Wisdom
Bugs That Crawl; Bugs That Fly
There are bugs in abundance here in Serendipity Shore.
Especially spider fellows.
It is a spider time of year, this early September 2005 in this year of our Lord. Not that I especially like spiders. I do not fear them in that manner of so many folks.
One such spider fellow has got it into his head that he is going to catch an actual human being!
Every morning, as husband walks to car, an enterprising spider fellow has spun a huge web spanning from garage over sidewalk then anchored on the hedge roses. A human must use the sidewalk to walk to any driveway vehicles. Hence, so the spider thinks, a human being must walk through my web.
Way we figure, this spider is after husband, who is sort of short and small and might make a nice evening snack.
Myself has also become ensnared in this guy’s web but alas, I would likely be too cholesterol laden for any self-respecting spider.
Another spider fellow got it into his head that he was going to build a handsome web spanning from porch pillar to porch pillar. This guy is pictured at the top of the picture below.
I got a picture of this busy fellow while I sat on my porch perch. I also got to watch, close up, this busy bug weave that web. My jaw was almost to my feet in awe.
Up and down, round and round, he created a thing of spider beauty that humans could never do without intricate instructions and fancy machines. It was the hummingbirds who handily tore down this spiderman’s fine web. They would have nothing to do with this impediment of access to the hummingbird feeders.
Another spider, a yellow bellied fellow of what spider breed I know not, has spun a web with a complicated “zipper” type of affair. He is pictured below along with his fine web.
A dragonfly has taken to parking itself on our bird feeder poles and I captured this pretty insect on camera as well. He loves to bask in the sun on the back deck.
All about the lot, butterfliew and bees and yes, Japanese beetles, are busy munching the abundant foliage.
For a few months I was beside myself with the abundance of all the bug people. Not to mention the damage they were doing to my pretty plants.
Lo and behold and a little patience. Soon enough a fine army of alternate insects and other predators showed up on the scene and I praise the Lord that I held my temper and kept my finger off the button of the can of insecticide.
For an army of praying mantis’ showed up on the scene. Many fine toads lounge around the compost pile and near the garden fountain. Of course the bird fellows, now all teaching their young to hunt for themselves, enjoy the bugs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
It’s hard, though not impossible, for one species of anything to take over an eco-system. Soon enough the opportunists will show up to take advantage of the marauders who destroy the vegetation.
Such as spiders.
Which get all busy this time of year that they capture some of the plentiful bug population with their handsome webs.
More Gardens and Bird posts HERE
The Egg
It was an early late-August evening. Dogs and myself retired to the porch for our ordinary end-of-day respite on the front porch.
While regarding the surround in that manner of gardeners across the fruited plain, mine eyes stopped at a most interesting sight.
A small egg, about the size of those small chocolate “easter eggs” one can get by the bag.
What bird, I asked the dogs, came from this egg?
Further, I continued with the dogs, how on earth did the egg end up in this strange place on top of my garden fountain?
The dogs, as is their wont, remained mute.
I’m supposing it is a hummingbird egg. Although those eggs would seem to be a bit smaller.
It surely was not any big bird’s egg, such as a robin or starling.
As for how it got on the fountain, could be it be the nestling hatched and the eggshell remained on it? And as the youngster flew about the egg fell off of its back and landed on my garden fountain?
But no, I tell the dogs. Nestlings remain in the nest for at least a few days. During which time I would imagine their egg shells fall off.
It will always be the mystery of the egg to me. The picture remains in my mind and on my hard drive.
Yon readers welcome to offer suggestions as to the origin of the mysterious egg.
The dogs proved pretty much useless on the matter.
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