September 26, 2005

"Rita bitchslaps Nacogdoches"


Many live in the Piney Woods of East Texas partly because of its natural beauty due to the numerous, tall, pine trees. 54 mph+ winds aren't particularly dangerous, in and of themselves. But, when you mix the two together, the situation can get ugly.

Nacogdoches? Almost.

Things haven't quite descended to a Lord of the Flies level here in Nac, but if my power had not come on last night (Sunday) at 7 (the power went out Saturday morning at 9:45 AM), what with the heat index up at 106° today (Monday)...I might have become something like Jack, running around the streets of Nac, dressed only in a loincloth, screaming for Piggy's blood.
Evacuees from Houston and the Golden Triangle have overwhelmed this little, East Texas town (Nacogdoches), and have cleared out our stores and gas stations of things such as bread, ice, water, and gasoline. Those people may now get the Hell out. Police have had to station themselves at many local gas stations, what with looting and rioting breaking out in places like nearby Lufkin. It was a fun weekend!
Nac was lucky in that nobody has died as a result, but we lost some big, old trees. Much like the M. Emmet Walsh character (named "Madman" in the cast listing) in The Jerk, and his hatred of "these cans" (in Navin's point of view), Rita, it turns out (who knew?), has some issues with several specific trees in the Nacogdoches area. She and they had words.
She hates these trees!!!
Stay away from the trees!!!
Some of the trees Rita selected were near power lines...
...and people's homes and property.
"Stuff" can be replaced. And we're lucky we got so little of what Rita dished out. I did wish several times over the last couple of days that either some of the evacuees, or a few seemingly absent electric company personel would've met with a harsher fate. Anyway, I'm as sick of hearing about Rita as I'm sure you are. The bitch...Future posts will be hurricane-free! Huzzah!

Oh! I nearly forgot. Caspar and Buddy fared just fine, and were happy and moist.
Caspar, right in the thick of it.
Buddy, keeping a safe distance and behaving oddly "cat-like".

4 comments:

Keith said...

Chris!!! Great to hear from you, brother! :D So glad you're OK (Caspar and Buddy, too! Buddy a black cat? I have one of those jobs as well).

Anyway, thanks for the amazing photo essay here! Just, wow. Great work on that. I'm sorry for you guys out there and hope the recovery and damage clean-up moves swiftly and smoothly and you can get back to normal life ASAP! Those pictures look rough. Man.

Well, talk to you later (incredbile stuff at yer blog here...I need to get back to visiting more regularly!). Peace. :)

Lisalia said...

Great Pics!

Chris said...

When your power is out, and the batteries in your digital camera are fully charged, what else is there for one to do, other than drive around and take pictures of destruction?

Anonymous said...

This is a random browse-by. Normally, I wouldn't leave a comment, except your white cat looks just like my cat... I know-- big whoop-- but my cat's name is ALSO Caspar!