Had a Look Around: Rita Part 10
I just got back from a little drive with Hilda.
Some friends called eariler, looking for help with a downed fence. They’ve got dogs and wanted to make it safe for them to be out in the back yard. They offered to trade some barbeque for a couple minutes work, so I grabbed my hammer and nails, loaded Hilda into the car and headed over. I stayed on the feeder road down 290, even though traffic was moving quite well, so I could see the damage. By the time I got to Tidwell, there were large sections of the city that had no power. I took side streets to their house and, again, mostly there was no power, but occasionally there would be neighborhoods that still had traffic lights running. A lot of cars stopped out there, obviously out of gas.
I got there and socialized a bit, as did Hilda. She’s a little hyper for a dog that’s almost three years old, but she’s pretty happy, too. Everyone loves her. Then, I mooched my meal (which was delicious!) and got to work on the fence. I had the worst of it done in about fifteen minutes and then we nailed some plywood from their windows over the other part. It’s a temporary fix, but good enough to let the dogs out to stretch. And, tonight, I imagine it’ll actually be cooler outside than inside, if it’s not raining.
Then I headed home. Again, I stuck to side streets and the feeder. Every filling station I passed on the way to 290 had no gas, but dozens of cars lined up and parked outside, just waiting for gas. Thankfully, when I got home, my gauge was still on F. I got really lucky getting gas on Wednesday at lunch-time when I did. Heading West on the feeder road, I saw a convoy over a mile long of emergency vehicles coming into Houston from out of town to help. It was an amazing and beautiful sight. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulences, all with their lights going, three lanes across for more than a mile. And, in among them, I saw at least three tanker trucks coming in already with gas. I have to admit, I got a little choked up about that. We had very few problems here in Houston, especially compared to what happened with Katrina, but, still there were extra folks coming to help out the people who had been working 30+ hours without a break. Those professionals are just amazing.
God bless them.
