Time has passed and much has been done.
Physically we are fine (except for Steve…). I will not write this by dates,but I will be talking about a span of time from September 26 thru today October 23. Why so long, I have been without a computer nor proper conditions to write in. Today, Steve has just left to go play golf and I am sitting alone with not only a telephone, but internet (DSL in fact)
At this moment I am sitting in a townhouse that MI has loaned to us until the end of November. After that if we need it, we will be able to rent it until the little house is finished.
Our saga of ups and downs just continues on.

On the 26th we were told by Blake, an employee from MI, that six miles south of Abbeville, you could not get anywhere except by boat. He told us that he launched his boat and went to the area near Pelican Rd. to rescue his girlfriend. We did not know, but on Saturday a second surge came in behind the hurricane flooding the entire area south of Abbeville toward Henry and Intracoastal. This meant bad news for us and for MI in regard to the plant. The water started dropping fast and by Monday you could drive through some water in two places before Bancker. But when we got to the ferry, we were stuck. The entire Henry area had a smell of the beach. It was not a fresh brisk smell, but a stench. We found later that the water was full of salt and that a lot of cattle and wild life had been killed. Also numerous graves have floated up out of the ground. Sea gulls were quite prevalent looking for food. Some of the homes looked as if they had been hit by a bomb. Henry Elementary was in just a bad a shape as the homes around it. My friends home had moved to the edge of her yard. The water had lifted it and put it down. People had begun to clean out houses and piles of trash were lining the road thru Rose Hill and right before you turned to Bancker. http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/rita/henry/ This sight will show you the inside of the school.

At the ferry, the water was still extremely high on the road. No regular trucks could pass. While looking we saw several people. Ms. Nell, my best friend, has a daughter who lived in Intracoastal. She was there at the ferry landing and launching a flat boat to go down to her home. She had been here already and knew that there was a lot of work for her to do. She had at least 5 to 6 foot of water in her house. They plan to clean and repair despite this being their second time. We also met a young man named Chad Dartez. (His aunt was a Demarcy and she had lived on our property when she was born. They had worked for my Grandfather and probably lived in Cubie’s house.) Steve asked him if he knew someone with a boat that we could borrow. He told us he did and he thought he could launch it in Perry. It was a nice size boat, so he did not think he could launch it at Henry. We went back to his place in Perry, got his boat and eventually found we would have to try it down at the ferry. The water was high enough that we could ride through the ditch into the river.

The ride down was pleasant, because it was so hot on this day. The breeze from the boat made it pleasant. We did not see damage at the shipyard, nor at the Deharts, so we were still not sure of what we would find.

We rode up to Grandpa’s house and it looked perfect. I was so excited until we realized that there was a slight water line on the walls. Being white it was hard to tell. It did appear to be as far up as the window sills. It must have gotten at least a few feet in, because the light furniture was moved and turned over. We knew then we were in trouble. Grandfather Ramke’s house is higher than ours.

We walked quickly down to the place and saw the water lines on all the buildings. We found that at least four feet plus went into both homes. What amazed me was that the ground around the houses appeared dry. In fact, the Ramke Road was not wet at all. This has led me to believe that the water receded quickly to the swamp and field. It was still there on this day.

As per the pictures you can tell that everything was ruined. Refrigerators, stoves, beds, washing machines, dryers, some airconditioners, water heaters, etc. The list can go on forever.
We crossed over to Uncle Bud to find that he had the same amount of water as Grandfather’s house did. We did not try to walk in at this time, because we were too overwhelmed. Later that night, we felt the loss. We did not know what we were going to do.Except that we needed to do something- so we began cleaning.

I received a phone call from my principal that a decision had been made that we were going to merge with Herod elementary. We were to have a meeting on the 29th and 30th with the principal and teachers from Herod. Ms. Charlotte asked that we come in on Wednesday, and meet with her so that we could have a few minutes together to talk.

I was thankful but apprehensive, because of my emotional state. I could be alright and then all of a sudden I would start crying because something had hit that nerve. I knew this was normal, but I was not ready to be around people beside family. I clinged to being with Trey, because I was scared to let go.Thank god, we were together thru this. I could not have handled it as well, if he had been in Lafayette and me in Slidell. I wish he would have spared the trauma and had been far away like David though. I do not believe this type of suffering is needed to build character.

I did survive the first meeting, but not without shedding a sew tears. One of our teachers was replacing a teacher on maternity leave. She was my rock. She had just lost her home and job to Katrina. But she informed me that it would be better. Time would ease the hurt and she and her husband were closer now than they had ever been. Our meeting together was very emotional. We had nine employees that had had flooding. Elaine and I had been talking. We knew how bad our situation was. She said her trailer was shredded. There was nothing left. She was staying with her daughter and mother in Abbeville. Of course, her mother had had flooding as bad or worse than ours.

I started school on the following Thursday, October 6th. Between that time we had plodded through cleaning the two houses. It was hot and miserable. We used gloves, but for the first few days, we had not used masks. We did not get shots either. We figured that if we had caught something we would already have it.

We applied for FEMA, but we were not sure what we were going to do besides get the $2,000. We had been so blessed with the people who were managers of the Hilton, that we did not even think too far ahead.

It took two full weeks plus a few days to clean both buildings. The major problem was Trey had to work the first week at the Hilton and then began school on the second week of October. We worked around his schedule most of the time.

Cleaning homes that are flooded has been the most traumatic experience I have encountered in my life. I am sure it will be for Trey and Amanda also. I hope that will be the worse for them. I look back on my sisters and mother dying and think that grief was a “piece of cake”. Here you are not only going through treasured things, but you are also saying “why didn’t I do this or that”. This continues throughout the entire experience no matter what you tell yourself. The guilt is burdening. People say…”The only thing that matters is you and your family are safe.” I will never tell anyone that ever. Yes, we know this is vitally important. BUT you suffer a great grief when you look at things that could have been saved–“if only”.

Michelle was able to come over the weekend of the 9th. She helped me save some pictures from Grandfather Ramke’s house, so that they would not ruin. We also went through Aunt Olga’s house and removed some pictures. We cleaned them and saved them in my storage unit. The most wonderful thing she did was be there in place of Marlene and Anna. I needed a woman to talk to and also needed her logic
and ablility to just listen.

Mike and Robb came over the 15th and helped Steve with the final cleaning and spraying. They also replace all the multitude of electric plugins. The one thing Steve and Trey have had a fun time laughing over was how many plugins dad put in his houses. He was determined not to be without a plugin in any room.

This last week should have been a piece of cake. We had decided to fix the chateaux and to begin fixing the main house while we lived in the chateaux. (We are determined to change that name to a special german name for little house)
Well, then the government and parish decided to start playing “tough” . They informed people that if they had flooded and they lived south of LA 14, they would have to get a permit to build. We would also have to raise our house well above flood level. Well, we all know that we can not raise our brick house without spending a fortune. It would pay us to rebuild rather than raise it. Who can afford that at our age’ Besides, some of the people that built really high, still had some damage to their homes. The homes on stilts in Cameron and Pecan Island all blew down. Now what are you going to say about them. Well, it was looking bleak. We got an appointment with our lawyer and Steve went to talk to the police juror over our area. Both told us that if we had started repairing to just continue. We did not have to get a permit. So we hope things will begin to level out.

Today, I feel better, October 23rd. There are still minor irritations. But we have had good luck along with the bad. We have a place to live. Hopefully we will be able to finish the chateaux and go on from there. (Especially, until we are ready to move to another place.) Trey has a place to stay. We have survived,and even though Steve is still smoking. He is handling things better than if he wasn’t. School is alright for the interventionists. And even though some of our Henry gang are complainers—they always will be—-things will go on.

The best thing is I HAVE A COMPUTER COMING, and WE HAVE INTERNET.
So until the next dramatic event, I leave you.