We were walking the pups along a little tree lined lane when a baby squirrel jumped out in front of us as if to say,"Hey guys! Can I come with you?" We all froze - Roxie and Hansel deciding how to split up the feast, Sugar and I cinching up their leashes. We pulled them away before they could get a bite but the little baby squirrel seemed disappointed that we were leaving. I looked back half a block away and saw him standing there watching us.

I don't know about these dogs. Anything they can see, they go after. One dark night, we walked right by a fresh dead squirrel that they missed. Later, they didn't spot a cat sitting next to the street. Night vision must not be a Scottie trait.

It's been hard getting back into the swing of things since we came back from LA/MS. Everything here is so calm and orderly, even the weather cooled down. I saw some footage of Pass Christian before Katrina on HurricaneCity.com. There was a harbor filled with pleasure boats -- there was life there. When we went to the beach, everything was quiet and still and damaged. Truly, these people are going to need our help and attention for a long time to come.

In Pass Christian. MS, where the eye of the hurricane hit, we were picking up all sorts of personal debris from a yard across from a makeshift Point of Distribution. An index card with a handwritten recipe said, "It will mix and harden on the outside but be soft in the middle." All I could think of was all the people who are going through this ordeal. I imagine they will harden on the outside but be so soft in the middle for a long time to come.

Some impressions:

soft foggy morning
breakfast with the GA National Guard and other volunteers
plans to move to the Marine base today
going to Pass Christian today to distribute supplies
sorting medical supplies
getting ice and water
I think I'm going to get me one of them Assists.
My fingers don't hurt anymore and I have arthritis.
VMs sleeping in the computer rooms, one for men, one for women
VM Cavalcade trucks around town delivering supplies
The gratitude of the people we are helping.

Typing from the Harrison High School in Gulfport, MS. We arrived yesterday and spent the time at the Baton Rouge Mission. Drove over today and sorted medical supplies and found ice and water.
The devastation is powerful.

How interesting. I found this tool that tracks visitors to a website using Google Maps. My first trackee was out of San Diego. The map is a little harder to manipulate than regular Google Maps but it looks like you can get it down to a neighborhood. Now how would Google know where someone is viewing a webpage from? But I checked - they just arbitrarily position the pin on a street in the town.
Hmm. Interesting and entertaining.

I noticed that the crepuscule arrived by 7:45 or so tonight. Doesn't the process of day lengthening and shortening seem to lurch at times? Suddenly it's dark so early.

It looks like we'll be leaving for Baton Rouge in a couple of days to help with the relief effort. Some items I've been gathering might help out - like a solar powered/hand crank radio and a solar shower. I'm really drawn toward helping the helpers somehow and really wondering what it's going to be like.

Today I looked up from my screen to see a hawk that looked like this sitting on my fence. The little solar fountain we set up has been drawing lots of little birds, sometimes 20 at at time, but this is the first raptor I've seen in my yard.