13 October 2006

Gulfport, Mississippi Relief Work

So it just so happened that while I was home in Louisiana before taking off to Arizona my ward from Atlanta came down to Gulfport to do some Hurricane Katrina relief work so I joined them.
Karlita and I took the task of demolishing a bathroom similar to this one...
...into this. What you don't get to see in this picture is all the mold that was on the ceiling!
On the left is the lady who owned the house, Ms. Triplet. On the right is the 13-year old helper, Tyler, that came down with a member of the Roswell Stake. The kid already has a retirement fund. I'm 30 and I don't have a retirement fund! But besides all that, I was really impressed with this kid. He doesn't have the Gospel in is single-parent life and yet he's got such a good head on his shoulders. He's gonna be a force to be reckoned with if he stays on track!

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Katrina: T+14 months (New Orleans, LA)

My father and I drove along the Gulf Coast from Biloxi to Gulfport. The entire coast has nothing. Not even shells of places, just nothing. You can barely tell that houses and businesses used to line the scenic byway. New Orleans is like a ghost town. In some parts of New Orleans, you can drive streets and streets without seeing a business or residence that is inhabited. It's been over a year and there is still so much work to do. Most of it will probably never get done. There seem to be 4 options. #1) clean up your house and live in it. #2) clean up your house and sell it to FEMA for not even half it's worth. #3) attempt to clean up your house but you can't for a myriad of reasons one of which may be that you are required to raise your house 3 feet before you can get any money. Or #4) do nothing with your house, possibly never even come back to see it.
These were all pictures taken in New Orleans or on the way there along Hwy 90 from Slidell. There were so many photographs that I passed up. I just couldn't take them all in one outing. Among them were an endless number of boats randomly deposited along the roads, in trees, on houses and elsewhere.
This one shows the water line on the house as well as the markings made by the government agency that checked the house. I've been told that they top mark is the date, the left is where the agency is from, the right is the number of animals dead, the bottom is the number of humans dead. Luckily I never saw a house with any numbers on the bottom. I did, however, see things about cats and dogs and ducks and ponies. The earliest date I saw was Sept 5th. If I'm not mistaken, the hurricane hit on Aug 29th. An entire week earlier...
A trailer park filled with over 500 FEMA trailers. Tiny things, barely a window, but they have Dish Network! A Bible laying on the window ledge. The house itself looks like the owners are slowly being able to get it cleaned out. A few doors down from them is the next picture.
Living in a trailer and still cheerful enough to decorate for Halloween. I bet it will be better for Christmas. You can see the PVC piping connecting the trailer directly to the sewer. BTW, this one is not a FEMA trailer. This one is much too fancy!
Yes, that is a refrigerator stuck in a tree...
Standing on a broken up concrete slab representing a broken up house foundation looking at a broken up walking pier. The entire water way along Hwy 90 looks like this. Nothing.

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12 October 2006

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Temple

Mom and I got to go to the Baton Rouge temple together. It's a mini- temple so it is only opened a limited amount of time each week. Plus, it's an hour and a half away. When you go, you take advantage of it. We did sealings and an endowment session.
The front:
The back:

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06 October 2006

I made a bowl!

Or more accurately, my daddy made a bowl and I helped. This is me at the lathe turning my block of orange osage into the roundest piece I could. Of course with this flash photograph you can't see that the chunk of wood is turning really really fast.
Here's me with my finished bowl and a piece of wood similar to the one we started with. I made a bowl!
Here's my Padre in his domain. The garage has turned into his woodworking shop.

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03 October 2006

Family I Left Behind In Search Of Other Family

So I am moving to Arizona. All my mother's family lives there except I hardly know them. You see, my family was the only ones who didn't live in Arizona. While I am not moving to Arizona solely to be with that part of the family, it is a definite perk. Alas, to gain one thing there is usually the price of another to be paid. Such is the case with my family. As I move across the country in hot pursuit of what's next in my life, I leave behind family that I will hardly ever get to see.
My father's aunt and uncle Mel and Earleen in LaGrange, Georgia. Generally speaking, my father has no family so to meet these people and be able to spend time with them was a real treat. But that is no longer...
My parentals in Slidell, Louisiana. Gone are the days when I could jump in the car and drive 6 hours to be with them. Now it's to the advanced time and money planning stage. Let's hope I can make it home for Christmas!

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01 October 2006

Conference Oct 2006

He he...

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15 September 2006

Jack's River Falls

A 30 FOOT CLIFF!!! Let me repeat. A 30 FOOT CLIFF!!! It doesn't look that bad. Let me tell you, it's alot higher once you've actually swam across, scaled the side of the mountain to get up there and then had a chance to look down. The longer you think, the more scared you can make yourself. Go and do. That's my motto. Never let it get to ya. The scary part is that when you do make the jump you actually have time to think that you're never gonna hit the water. It's like when you're standing on a wall or something and you're gonna jump down, there's an acceptable distance that you are willing to risk. Well this thing is like 3 or 4 times that acceptable distance. Think about it like that!

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03 September 2006

San Diego 2006

The San Diego Temple (aka the Ice Castle).
The World Famous San Dieog Zoo.


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