Friday, September 30, 2005

this sooooo needs a caption

"quit laughing, it's not funny!!!!" Posted by Picasa


feel free to leave your own in the comments.

carnival of the cats is up at Music and Cats this week.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

sooooo cold....

high yesterday? 104
high today? 75

but i won't be breaking the sweaters out yet. the forecast calls for highs in the 90's again in a few days.

it's been stormy here....

both outside and inside. had a pretty good thunderstorm roll through around eight, complete with hail. rto's mom called to check up on me cause she'd heard power was out in rowlett. it blinked here, but that was it. seems roxie took the hail as a sign it was time to chase the kitties. so i put her in her crate for a while. currently she and maggie are facing off. i love how they think i'm stupid. i yell at roxie for stalking the cat and she'll come sit next to me for a while and then get up and non-chalantly start heading for the cat. sometimes she doesn't even bother to sit, she just walks towards me and around the couch, like i don't know what she's doing. the goof.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

gradually, very gradually adding to my cooking skillz

i made scrambled eggs for dinner. yay! had them with mozzerella cheese in a wrap.

so here's my list so far:
rice
scrambled eggs

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

cause i always say "cash is for amateurs"





Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com


thanks to soldiergrrrrrrl for the link.

Monday, September 26, 2005

what do i know about agriculture?

absolutely nothing. but who am i to question rob b's judgment?

Sunday, September 25, 2005

even if you don't usually check out the carnival of cats....

you should this week. it's hosted by the HULK at meryl yourish's. too funny.

coming tuesday....

not that i'll go, but it's funny how these things happen:

Matisyahu
Matisyahu with special guest Mobius Band Tuesday September 27, 2005

Please note: The balcony is the only place that seats will be sold. All ofthe main floor will be standing room only.(So the "sold out" seats on the main floor are really standing area) Know that the farthest seat is only 90 ft. from the stage.

General Admission pricing is $18.00 in advance general admission, $20.00 Day of Show.

"He can really rip," agrees hip-hop producer and bassist Yossi Fine (David Bowie, Me'Shell Ndege-Ocello), who is himself part Israeli and Afro-Jamaican Jew. "He's extremely fierce, jumping around the stage. The only difference between him and a Jamaican rapper is that he takes the lyrics from the Bible instead of from Rasta. He changes 'Jah' to 'Hashem' [Hebrew for God]." - RollingStone.com

Combining the sounds of Bob Marley and Shlomo Carlebach, yet remaining wholly original, Matisyahu's performance is an uplifting, powerful experience for all in his presence. Even the most pessimistic in his audience is inspired by his ability to so honestly convey such a delicate, topic as faith/spirituality. It is his dedication to his belief and openness to others that compels one to respect his artistry and message. It's in that fleeting moment when our skepticism melts and our souls open up, that Matisyahu enters with his booming sound of faith. His Dallas date is fresh off a string of opening shows for Trey Anastasio!

Presented by Chabadof Dallas.com http://www.chabadofdallas.com/

*sniff sniff*

newlyweds.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

so far today....

it's pretty breezy. no rain yet, but the power just blinked out for a couple seconds. yay!

darn it!

rto better get home soon. i usually don't watch stuff that we both would watch if he was here so i don't risk spoiling things by talking about them. but this comment by jeff harrel is really tempting me. (and yes, i caught the warnings and set the tivo to record just over an hour)

Friday, September 23, 2005

watching hurricane rita coverage...

good lord! these reporters don't even have enough sense to get out of the rain. i keep waiting for one of them to get themselves killed.

i can't tell you how many times i've seen this particular scene played out. roxie just can't accept that the cats hate her. or maybe just carlos. i don't see her try to get close to maggie as much. but i think roxie thinks that she and carlos should be best buds. Posted by Picasa

didn't think i'd be sending care packages to rto again this soon....

but he made a plea last night for snacks. so i guess i DO have something to do today. that and i'll probably clear stuff off the patio. since his car is in OK there's plenty of room in the garage.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

survived audition....

it went....... well. they were very nice. i don't think i'm right for the show, but the two director types and the accompanist were very complimentary. asked if i'd auditioned for any internships with opera cos. i tried to explain that i was a little on the old side for that. (a lot of them cut off at thirty *sigh*) one lady said well, i didn't look more than 25 and people lie about their age all the time. (this would require doctoring some documents, which, i'm not keen to do) anyway, i lived. yay! there are a couple more things coming up in the next week or two.

check out the blogmap....

it lists exactly one event nearby. i'm not sure how they qualify nearby. These guys (at least one of them) aren't THAT far from me. maybe i just have a weird sense of nearby being in Dallas. their map currently lists 427 events. woof.

update: okay, i checked it out, if i search within 25 miles i get 202 events. 10 miles i get four. one of which is Rowlett Doggie splash day! why isn't that considered nearby?! rowlett ain't.that.big.

update 2: yeah, so as soon as i make this post the event system goes down for maintenance. ugh.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

awkward segue

so how would you go from a story about there being no petting zoo at the fair this year to the weather?

the anchor here (channel 5) tried something like, "well, no one's going to be petting anything this weekend.... unless they really have to, um, it's going to be rainy." maybe my mind is just in the gutter, (okay, not maybe, it is!) that cracked me up. yep, lots of people stuck indoors.... no petting.....bwa ha ha ha haaaaaaaa. (insert ms. slocombe cat joke here)

because i'm just.that.bored.

from carin's

5 songs I know all the words to

know what? this one makes my brain seize, i'm skippin' it.

5 Snacks

nachos
popcorn
vanilla yogurt
pretzels
chocolate milk


5 things I'd do with a $100 million

take care of debt
produce an opera that i could star in. ;D
invest enough to live off income forever
add to our library
more kitties!!!!! (and someone scoopy the boxes)



5 Places I'd run away to

Tulsa
Guthrie
uh, i pretty much hate leaving the house, so i think that's it (sorry mom, i ain't that crazy about Florida) i guess it would also depend on why i'm running away..... in case of disaster what places would be left? probably wolf city, it's remote and the inlaws have lots o' guns.


5 things i'd never wear

anything orange
anything i'd have to pay more than $200.00 for (the wedding dress would be an exception, but then, i didn't pay for it.)
bikini
uh, i'm sure there's lots more things, but i can't think of them... at this point anything sized Small.
or medium.


5 favorite tv shows

new battlestar galactica (yeah carin, you rock!)
the avengers
sailor moon
house
coupling (brit original)

5 greatest joys

maggie
carlos
roxie
rto
piano

5 favorite toys

piano
laptop
digital camera
tivo
action figures, don't make me pick one.

okay, but which headshot do you like better?

just to get the pictures further down the page, i'm posting this comment that was left on the first pic:

Maggie,I am surpised at your lack of education.....Faux News as you call it, has over double the viewers, repeat after me, over double the viewers of their closest competitor, CNN and they are even in less households than CNN, about 20 % less...furthermore, FAUX news as you call it, employs far far far far far far more DEMS on their payroll, then do CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS AND ABC combined have Repubs..In case you doubt this simple irrefutable fact....I will name just a few that come to mind....Greta, a registered Dem, you conveniently tried to pass off as being a conservative, then you have COLMES, ESTRITCH, HENICAN, GERLADO, the same Geraldo who wanted to hug Clinton when he was being impeached, Lanny Davis, Dershowitz, Jeff Feiger, Mara Liason, Juan Williams, Keith Watters, Bob Beckel,Gloria Allred....can you name even half that many, on all the other networks combined? Get yOUR facts straight, misguided Leftist.

David in Michigan Email 09.21.05 - 1:18 am #




what a picture of my head has to do with this, i have no idea. i'm not even clear on where he got the idea i stated Greta van sustern was a conservative.(i may have, somewhere, jokingly, typed the words Faux News) i'll just add, for fun, that generally if i get tired of fox news i'll turn the tv off rather than watch any other "24 hour"news channel.(i'm up really late and know they don't always report new stuff in the wee small hours) rto would be disappointed in me otherwise.

and this is probably the second time in my life i can think of i've been called a leftist. the other time was by a coworker, and it was in jest. (this other guy we had to share the conference room turned cube farm with was a big fan o' pat buchanan and david duke (he wasn't racist, just misunderstood), so yeah, compared to him i was a "flaming liberal")

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

and here's the other. it used to be my profile pic. looking at it, i like it better than the other, but i'm not sure it will blow up to 8x10 very well as i don't have a high res version of it like the other one. i guess there's no harm in having a print made to fine out. Posted by Picasa

so here's the one i've got copies of already made. guy at classical singer convention said it was "too much head" i guess he means there's not enough blank space around me. and pose make me look, uh, "more fleshy" (fat) than i look in person (though, that may not be the case any more. Posted by Picasa

so i got nothin' today....

woo, just rambling here, rto being gone is killin' me. i mean, my sleepin' is off, there's nothing to look forward to during the day, it's just me and the kitties and puppy. it's either that or the fact that i scheduled an audition "just for fun" and now i'm thinkin' that was really stupid and these people are going to hate me for wasting their time and i'll never work in this town, ever. gotta get all my crap together again, tweek my resume, decide whether to use the headshot i've got or print a new one maybe i'll post them, so we can take a vote. wasn't even going to mention it so as not to jinx it, but to heck with that. i'm doomed! doomed! like the Cowboys. ugh.

Monday, September 19, 2005

so mom's birthday was friday. i sent a card and totally forgot about it. sent this too, it's supposed to be ipod sized, she confirms, that yes, it's about right. Posted by Picasa

see?! not twitchy! Posted by Picasa

Sunday, September 18, 2005

i give you exhibit A. carlos was not happy about this guy being outside. i shooed carlos off the counter and he went to another window to pace back and forth while keeping an eye on this kitty. Posted by Picasa

animals are creeping me out....

i swear it's like they don't want me to sleep ever again. the puppy has been demanding to go outside at odd hours. mainly to check behind the cabinet/ little shed on the porch. sometimes she barks and growls at it. then carlos likes to stare intently out the window into the dark. i keep telling myself it's probably neighborhood kitties, or possums. last night roxie kept pacing around, grumbling, i finally gave up trying to go back to sleep about five thirty and let her outside. why don't they listen to me when i tell them to chill?

Saturday, September 17, 2005

hmmmmm, not so witty as i thought.

Katharine Hepburn

You scored 7% grit, 14% wit, 61% flair, and 23% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.

classic dames test

redun is on leave?

if i'm understanding things correctly. um, anyway, he's posted a picture of rto. cute!

Friday, September 16, 2005

open letter to whoever left a dead snake in front of my mailbox...

you shouldn't have, really.

MK

maggie in the bathroom sink. Posted by Picasa


carnival of the cats is up at watermark this week.

i'm gonna be busy for a while....

soldiergrrrrrl, has a link to librarything. my prayers have been answered. i think i can spare ten bucks.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

paging jeff goldstein, will jeff goldstein please pick up the white curtesy phone?

okay, so something is digging under my house. rto filled up the hole before he left and then a few later, it came back. Posted by Picasa



i was telling mom about it, and she said dad might know something about it, so i sent him these pictures. Posted by Picasa


here's the response:

"Classic" armadillo hole. For some reason they love to dig next to houses. Take broom handle (or other long stick-like device) and poke in hole. If no one home, throw in bricks or large rocks to fill hole, then add soil. Bricks or rocks will discourage repeated digging. Armadillos will not bite, just scary to look at!!




someone, has some explaining to do.


update: i responded to dad that armadillos carry leprosy. and he said:

Considering the numbers of armadillos we have disposed of over the years, if they carried leprosy [my place of employment] would be a leper's colony right now. I did not instruct you to have "personal contact" with the critter !!

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

rosebud... Posted by Picasa

allergy ramblings...

someone mentioned their allergies bothering them over at gail's which reminded me about the appointment i had monday. may i just say i am most impressed with the allergist's office. almost everything is done by computer. they have little touchpads to check in on, and then the doctor just types stuff into your file during your visit. though really i don't feel it improves the service that much. maybe i'm just not assertive enough, but it seems like a lot of times they don't really listen to me.

one example, very first visit, we're talking about previous allergist encounters. i tell the doctor that years ago i'd had an xray of my head and was told that i have a deviated septum, if i'm remembering correctly one side of my nose is like 90% blocked by this, never had it worked on because i can breath okay, and not sure how it would effect my voice. doctor said, eh, i'm sure it's nothing. so then monday he's looking at my nose and says "wow, the left side is really blocked, you might consider getting that fixed" had me breath through each nostril and decides well, you don't seem to be too bothered by it, but it's something to think about getting fixed. *sigh* so the other thing is he originally prescribed a cortisol(? steroidal of some kind) nose spray, i took it for a couple weeks and then quit because my nose was bleeding too many times to keep track of on a daily basis. so this visit he's like, i'm gonna prescribe some more, cause i think you'll really want to use it come october when the mold gets bad. well, okay, maybe i'll try it on an every other day basis.

i complain, but really this treatment has helped. though i still avoid going outside for extended periods of time, it's just such a habit at this point. i laughed when he asked me about doing yardwork. ha ha, that's a good one. though i may have to do some here in the next week. :P stupid hurricane.

so the really depressing part of the visit? i tipped the scales at 158, yay!NOT! few weeks ago in the paper someone said that your weight should be 100 for the first five feet and then five pounds for each inch over that. so my ideal weight would be, um, 110. i can't tell you the last time i weighed that little. i'm trying to ease into some exercise, i've done little ten minute routines two or three times a week the last couple weeks. i figure i can handle anything for ten minutes (or not) right? so now that that's out there maybe i'll be more motivated to keep up with it. sure.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

still getting roses. though i'm worried about the bush in the corner with st. francis, it hasn't bloomed much and maybe is overrun with turk's cap. Posted by Picasa

i'm a klutz....

i'd been looking for a while for bathroom stuff, you know, soap dish, cups, toothbrush holder, etc... a while back i found some i liked at tuesday morning, thing is they're ceramic, which i thought i prefered. (we've had this metal and glass/plastic stuff since we got married and parts of it were getting rusty, so no more metal) but rto and i, we're klutzy, or maybe it's just me, i think the cats broke his cup. i managed to find a replacement, bought two cups(to be on the safe side), and dropped one in the garage. last week as we were cleaning up the bathroom i dropped another piece. then there's the fact that i couldn't quite distinguish the very pale blue from the white. i guess really what i'm getting at is i'm still not quite happy with the bathroom accessories. and i may have to replace them all anyway if more get broken. i'm so picky about those things.

and speaking of kitties.... carlos has this thing about moving water. several times now i've watched him stick his foot in the water dish to move it before he'll drink out of it. for a while i had a little tea cup they liked to drink out of, but he broke it, he was always tipping it over anyway. so then the other night i'm taking my pills and a set my mug down and instantly his head is in it. gah! i'd let them drink out of one if i thought they wouldn't break it. maybe i should find a plastic one, but then there's still the matter of dumping the whole thing onto the counter. he's ruined more than one box of kleenex that way.

woo, just felt like rambling on that today. life is so exciting here.

Monday, September 12, 2005

music notes....

so ya know our anniversary was a couple weeks ago, rto gave me a couple cds, i've finally had a chance to listen to them, and i love them.

one is this guy recorded live in austin. what can i say, i love quirky stuff. the other cd was music from the chocolate lands from these people. i have yet to get a cd of theirs i don't like. yay!

i'd asked rto to send me music from the 'stan when he was there. he told me later he couldn't get any, the guys at the bazaar were like "nobody wants our music" the frg page had links to some afghan internet radio sites and i would occasionally listen to them. it's a lot like indian music. speaking of which, there is an indian am station in town, but i can't always pick it up.

one year that i was at uco they had a resident artist from india, so i learned a bit about their music from his lectures. mostly he talked about ragas and how they form the basis of much of their music. i think his wife was also with him and she would usually play things to demonstrate what he was talking about. i wish i had paid more attention. oh well.

sooo my sister sends me this pic, but i'm not allowed to really say anything about it, in order to protect the (not so) innocent. her hair's getting long. :p Posted by Picasa

today's horoscope....

A dramatic change is in order at your workplace. This could mean more money,
more responsibility, a bigger office -- or all three. It might mean something as
drastic as a change of locale. Whatever it is, you're up for it.
i think i need to subscribe to the jobless list. cause as it is, this makes no sense. i mean, not that my horoscope usually does, but come on!

Saturday, September 10, 2005

quick update...

rto called and he's on the ground in NO. that is all.

Friday, September 09, 2005

it's going to be a long indefinite amount of time....

rto left a few hours ago. the puppy is jumping up and running to the garage door everytime she hears a car outside, won't wait for the garage door sound like usual. oh boy.

Posted by Picasa


flat rugs do not good pillows make.

carnival of the cats is at blog d'ellison this week.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

rto on the phone....

i just found this entertaining, he's talking to one of his parents about going to NO.

RTO: yes, well, the school is in ball, la and is currently being used to house, well, i'm not supposed to call them refugees......... no, it's not, that's what they are........... well, it's better than calling them HOMELESS because a lot of them are..... yes, displaced persons is what we're supposed to call them.

*sigh*

time waster

i've just spent the last ten minutes here. help me.

because rto is just. that. cool.

looks like he'll be going to new orleans after all. something about one of the guys OKNG took with them, he's been called away, so they thought "who would we like to have here?" and of course they thought of rto! who would have gone with them to begin with, but they thought he was gonna be going to school. come to find out the school is in louisianna and is currently housing refug... i mean, displaced americans. anyway, no details yet, just a "pretty sure he's leaving, not sure when" kinda thing.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

i knew i shouldn't have....

but had the tv on. naomi wolf is on fox news criticizing the fed response to katrina and compares it to a MOVIE!!!! Harrison Ford could do this, why can't the real president? MY GOD! how stupid and out of touch with reality can we get? okay, tv's off now probably for the rest of the day, unless i decide to find some cartoons. oh, and we'll probably watch "days" tonight.

oh, and i loved jeff harrel's take on this last week.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

so rto made fun of me for this picture. Posted by Picasa



it was one of those things where i had the camera handy, and happened to see something moving by the back fence. i didn't expect to get anything, but look!


it's a hummingbird! i swear!

will be sending email to Dallas morning news

have no idea who my carrier is, but Thank you very much for getting me a whole sunday paper yesterday. not sure what happened to it sunday(did my neighbors steal it?) was a bit miffed when i called and the automated system told me to forget it, i'd called too late. but i was pleasantly surprised to find a whole sunday paper with monday's paper on my sidewalk yesterday. thank you, you rock!

Sunday, September 04, 2005

hot water....

rto: (in the shower) hey, have you been having a problem with hot water here?

MK: no

rto: see if you can get some from the sink

MK: um, you have the

rto: check the sink!

MK: no, you have the

rto: SINK!!!!

MK: i've been taking hot showers in there the last couple days. remember it's backwards..... you have the knob turned the wrong way.

rto: (turns knob) it's getting colder.

MK:

rto: colder

MK: there's hot water coming out of the sink, you getting warm yet?

rto: no

MK:

rto:

MK:

rto: huh, i don't remember it being backwards.

MK: yeah, you made fun of me for not figuring it out shortly after we moved here. it's payback time!

Saturday, September 03, 2005

well, crap.

Chief Jusice Rehnquist has died.

military and rescue logistics....

Blackfive links to this site.

i suppose a few days from now this will make no sense. oh well. i don't feel like linking to so many different posts on one site. i'm lazy that way.

on a lighter note

get fuzzy has cracked me up the last couple days. Posted by Picasa


Posted by Picasa


thanks goodness my kitties can't use the phone.



and finally, i read this Mother Goose and Grim this morning and thought WRONG!
Posted by Picasa



i also have a tiger, but i'm not sure that counts. oh and Snowball 2 from the simpsons, though he has no moving parts so maybe he doesn't count either.

gail is embarrassing me....

she posted a comment i left late last night. i've since come across a few others discussing the timeline.

the anchoress in particular.

more at captain's quarters.

don't post angry....

i typically try to stay reasonable, but i've been seriously tested the last couple days. i don't react well to angry people, or maybe a better way to put it is angry people make me extremely uncomfortable, whether their anger is directed at me or not. i suppose that's why i'm up so freakin' early on a saturday. been leaving the tv on all night since rto's been gone(i know,i know, all of two nights, wooped-de-doo) left it on c-span, as they generally run or replay press briefings(so far as hurricane coverage goes) not that those are all sweetness and light, but it's better than watching reporters let people vent. i fail to see how that helps matters. anyhoo, cspan has a call in show in the mornings, whee! so i still can't avoid angry people. so many experts out there. oh well.

update: commenting? that's a totally different matter. ;p

fun observation.....

the sink will drain better when the drain is open.

background: i asked rto if we could get our bathroom cleaned up before he left (i know, i know, i'm a slavedriver) because it was one of those things that i'd look at, think, "i really should clear some stuff out, but where to begin? think i'll just go take a nap" anyway, not sure exactly how it happened, but rto decided the sink was clogged, it was filling up, but the water was murky so he couldn't see the bottom of it. so he dumps some drano in there, nothing happens. takes a plunger to it, still nothing. at this point i notice the little drain knob is up, check the other sink, the knob is down and the drain is open. but surely rto knew that......there's probably a problem with the thing. well, i stuck my hands in the water to feel the drain, rto yelled at me that my hands were going to be eaten by drano, but i did confirm that the drain stopper was down. ;D

Friday, September 02, 2005

disaster thoughts....

what with rto being called up i got to thinking about the last time he was activated for relief efforts. it was in may of 1999 for the F5 tornado that hit Moore, OK. he spent a week standing on a corner and checking id's of people wanting to get into neighborhoods. and fried the tops of his ears off (i made sure he packed sunscreen yesterday, also some aloe vera gel in case he forgets to use it)

the other thing is rebuilding. driving through moore i can still tell where the tornado hit, there are still some empty lots, where there hadn't been before. and that is such a small area compared to what's going on now, i just can't quite wrap my brain around it.

cat bed

Posted by Picasa


let's just say that rto and i have been taking our sweet time getting our house arranged. we closed on it the day before he reported to go to afghanistan. so i got to move everything. (actually, rto did manage to do a lot of packing beforehand, and his mom and some of her friends helped me move some boxes before the movers came, and she unpacked the kitchen, like i used it ;P) anyway, carlos likes to sleep on this pile of rto's army stuff, it's quiet, and the puppy can't get to it. except now it's gone since rto was called up.

update: the carnival of the cats is up at conservative cat. felt i should correct ferdy's comments though. rto is in the army national guard in Oklahoma,was called up wednesday to go to louisiana.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

not sure how much i'll sleep tonight....

heard the gate squeeking earlier. it's right outside the bedroom window. lovely. i'm not going outside in the dark. that, and i have yet to be able to get that stupid gate to close. oh i know it's handy, but it still needs some work. maybe i could use the toilet to prop it closed. (yes, rto put it outside on the side of the house. grrrrrr)

but i have to get up tomorrow, made an appointment to get the car fixed. probably could have made it for later, but figured, what the heck.

thinking about changing up assembly on the afghan. see, right now it's kind of.... boring, making one brown square after another. so i'm thinking, maybe i'll mix it up and assemble the thing as i go, which means making some green squares and some green and brown squares. yeah, that should do it. :P

probably won't say much today....

rto left early, early this morning. says he'll try to keep me updated on where he ends up. quite a few bloggers are suggesting charities today links can be found here. personally, i'm a bit partial towards the United Methodists.

also received this email from a former symphony chorus member:


from former A1, Elizabeth Love Tu'uta, now back in home state of
Louisiana

A couple of you have written
to inquire about our well-being, and I thank you for your concern. My
family is all safe and well. However, both my husband and I are United
Methodist clergy and have many friends and colleagues from whom we have heard
nothing. We do not know if they evacuated safely or have died, or are just
in areas that cannot get word out. Folks do not seem to realize how many
communities extend far south of New Orleans. Our prairie grasslands and
swamplands are most definitely inhabited. As you can imagine, we are
desperate for news.
I know that you are wanting to
help the hurricane victims, and wanting to know how best to do so. Where
we live, in Shreveport, we have over 20,000 evacuees/refugees that have been
told to stay put for as much as 3-6 months. We are rallying to their aid,
and are even absorbing the children into our public and private school
systems. One can certainly send donations to the Red Cross, who is
operating the largest shelters here beautifully. There are many
United Methodist Churches that are also opening up space, even for as few as
8-12 folks, if that's all they've got room for. Additionally, you are
likely unaware that the national depot for the United Methodist Committee on
Relief is actually here, in South Louisiana. This is always one
of the first sources of massive aid that gets in to disaster areas all over
the world... in many, many cases, even before the Red Cross. (Almost
all UMCOR shipments worldwide come directly through this huge depot in
Louisiana.) Every dollar contributed to the UMCOR goes 100% to aid.
It goes straight to purchase needed goods. All work at the depot is
volunteer. No administrative costs come out of your donations.

All that being said, if you wish to help, I
encourage you to send donations to the Red Cross, the UMCOR at the following
address:

UMCOR
Sager-Brown
P.O. Box 850
101 Sager Brown Road
Baldwin, LA 70514-0850,

or you may also send it directly to my church, and we will personally go to
nour local shelters and furnish the needed items there. Send those
donations to:
Morningside UMC
Attn: Rev. Elizabeth Tu'uta
5500 Hearne Avenue
Shreveport, LA 71108

We covet your help, and your thoughts and prayers. As time
passes, we will have a need for mission teams and workers, but for now, we just
want to find all our people... living or otherwise. If you have questions,
don't hesitate to send a note.

grace and peace,
Elizabeth