We're very grateful

Here is an update on Ink Lady Tamra Norton, who lives in the northwest Houston area. Her family also owns a rental property near Galveston. She was able to get a text message to a friend, and said: We’re STILL without power, but managing. Tell everyone HI for me.

Another friend reported about Tamra: Her rental got water right up to the front door, but is okay. They had some leaks in the house but no trees fell on the house or cars. They are currently boiling water and waiting for electricity to come back on.

We're very grateful that Marcia and Tami came through Hurricane Ike without loss of life or limb.

What a Mess!

by Marsha Ward

While I was enjoying myself in Utah at the LDStorymakers Writers Conference, Nature was having fun in Arizona.

I'm sure the land slips and slides around all over the continent, but this slide occurred next to a highway--and not just any highway! The highway in the picture is the major link between where I live and the Phoenix area, where my family members live. With part of the mountain hanging so precariously over the roadway, the department of transportation has closed it.

There's also the problem of the pavement having buckled.

Pictured here are some heavy-duty chasms. I don't want to travel through there until a lot of earth is removed to some other place. Of course, that is the plan. There is no announced date for re-opening the highway, although some talk has gone around about using the other side for one lane each way come Memorial Day weekend. That's a long way off, when there are birthdays to celebrate very soon in my family.

There are alternate routes, adding over a hundred miles to the one-way trip, and doubling the time necessary to get to where I'm going. I look for prices to rise on basic things like food, water, soap, chocolate, etc.

I wonder if the earth roared when it let go?