Some Thoughts

As the recovery here in Bastrop, Texas continues we are all wrestling with our demons that were unleashed from the fire.  Some of us have had our homes taken from us in a matter of minuets and some of us are lucky enough to still have our homes.

We are witnesses to the best that human nature is and we are witness to the worst that human nature is.  Believe it or not there really was people going into the fire evacuation area through the hot spots and stealing from the people who have lost everything.  Believe it or not, there are really people giving their homes that they have thought of selling, and moving closer to family in another part of the state or country, to people who have lost their homes to the fire.  We are also seeing everything else you can imagine in between these two extremes.

As my family and I recover from the physical affects of the stress of having been evacuated, I have thought allot of my next post to my blog.  I do want to stress yes my home was still standing when we came back but we still have been through allot of "what ifs".  You know the kind the biggest is: What if the house is gone?  there are allot of families around us that are dealing right now with that "what if" right now.

Here is kind of a description of what we all went through here when we were told to evacuate:

First they were cutting the power off ahead of the fire so your power was cut.  Then the Sheriff or State Troopers came through your neighborhood telling you to get out, get out NOW.  Okay, do you have time to grab anything?  What do you grab? Clothes? Your dog/cat?  Photo albums? What about the hand prints from Kindergarten that you got for Mothersday/Fathersday from you children?  Their christening gowns?  Your grandmothers quilt?  Your jewelry?

What stays to be fire fuel what do you get to save for the future?

What if the fire was on you so fast, you did not get the warning from the law enforcement officers.  What if the only thing you could get out of your home with is just the clothes on your back?  What if you get to the end of your street and the fire has already beat you there and you just in the nick of time turn down the road to safety?  What if you did not beat the fire out?

What would you do?


The recovery here continues.

TTFN
The Lion

Special Alert

For my followers in the Bastrop area I just recieved this email from one of the local ladies.  I don't know if it is true or not but if it is true then we are in real trouble here.  Let's stay alert I think that we have lost enough!



For those of you who have people in the field, or at home, or on the roads, please pass this on to them:




If you are not aware there is an arsonist in the area. He or they (not sure how many individuals we are looking for) are setting fires in this area but we are not sure they are limited to this area. Attempts have been made three times on Watterson Road and once on Goertz Road and I’m sure there are more. My sister who runs the mail route in Red Rock just spoke to a DPS Officer and he asked her to keep an eye out for a white Ford Explorer, license plate number BLK-155. The vehicle was sold and never re-registered hence the reason they don’t know who the culprit is. If you see this vehicle or any suspicious activity in the area please call Robert Thorp (DPS Officer) at 979-716-0526. Mr. Thorp is currently camped out in Red Rock.

Bastrop, Texas Stash Replacement Efforts

As many of you ladies know by now I call Bastrop, Texas my home.  From my previous post everyone who follows my blog knows we have had a devastating fire.  There are lots of quilters and ladies who do the needle arts have not only lost their Stash but their homes also.

This first picture is of my friend Debbie H's home.  Debbie not only lost her home but her stash she is a sane quilter and a crazy quilter.  She also lost all of her Christmas ornaments, Christmas stockings, her award winning quilts.............All her memories.

This picture is of my friend Mary Nelle's home.  Mary Nelle is a sane quilter.  Mary Nelle lost her quilting stash along with her home.  She has lost Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Stockings, her award winning quilts...........All of her memories.

These are only two of the quilters here in the Bastrop area who lost everything.  A friend of mine in Colorado has taken over relief efforts for all of Bastrop County quilters who have lost their stash in this huge fire. The following is written by Kathy Shaw:

My friend Shari Jensen, in Colorado is organizing a needle-art donation effort for ladies in Bastrop, TX that have lost their homes (and therefore their stash of needle-art supplies). We are only concentrating on helping to replenish their sewing rooms...not their home. This is being done through Shari's Yahoo Group...StitchMAP. I personally vouch for Shari and know that these things will go to the ladies in Bastrop.




Shari's husband will drive a huge trailer down to Texas once the donations are all in. She and a couple of other members will be going along...and meeting up with the Texas members of our group that are available. All donations will be organized at a local spot (coordinating with the local churches and Chamber of Commerce to obtain a suitable location...large enough, and free of course!). Once the known members that lost their homes are helped...the other donations will go to any other stitcher in the area. Coordination with local guilds, needle-art shops, and the Chamber are underway to identify these folks. After this group has selected items from the donations...the remainder will be given to area charities to be distributed through their venues.



We hope to make this a huge effort!

Please contact Shari at: LadyJSpice@aol.com .
 
As I know more about our area quilters I will post.  Thank you for all the support that my blog followers have given to me and the Bastrop County quilters.
 
TTFN
The Lion

Bastrop, Texas

I know that many of you have heard about the Bastrop fires.  I am about to tell you the story from my point of view.

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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Dave and I woke up like we always do.  We had our big Sunday breakfast and talked about going to WalMart.  We did a few things and went to WalMart to get a few things about 10:00am.  Came back home Dave took a nap and I cleaned my kitchen.  You know one of those really good scrubbing cleans.  The things that women do when we can't stand it anymore.  Dave woke up and went to the store to get a soda and cigarettes.  When he got back he said I think that there is a fire.  Really?  Wow I hope that they get it under control.  I did not think more my daughter came in and said that her and Christina her friend were going swimming in the river to cool off and that she would be back later.

Thirty minuets later she is calling me stating that Thitian Village is being evacuated.  The fire is on its way to Thitian and her and Christina are coming here with Christina's dogs.  I go outside to something that looks like this over in the area of the Thitian sub division.

Only the smoke was closer as Thitian is only five miles from my home.  Lora gets here with Christina and they are really upset.  Dave and I try to calm them down.

I continue with my day.  I am making enchilada casserole for my son who wanted it for his birthday.  Our friends Juan and Michele call.  They are being evacuated.  Dave told them that they can come here that we are in a safe area.  They have to leave their subdivision and drive up 21 to 290 go to Elgin then come down 95 to get to our house.  We have dinner when Michele and their daughter Sugar get here.  This was one of the longest nights that we have ever spent in our lives.

Out over the trees where the fire is we watch the glow of the fire and listen as the propane tanks explode.  The explosions just keep getting closer.

All of us adults sit up until 2am worrying if the fire is going to get here and about all of our friends who may or may not be homeless at this time.

The next morning arrives and Juan goes into town to get money from the bank so he can go to Bryan to get his travel trailer from his moms house.  They are going to hole up here until it is over.  I am cooking breakfast for all.  Juan gets back from town and he comes saying that the fire has kicked back up and the fire is headed this way.  The electricity goes out. (The power company was turning out the electricity ahead of the fire.)

The word comes that we need to evacuate our home.  David and I grab everything that we can that means anything to us and clothes, bedding, the cat and her kittens and our three dogs.  We head to mom's house.  We are headed down 21 to San Marcus to her house in Dale and we pass through smoke.  Thick smoke.  Okay we are about 12 miles from the Bastrop fire now why is the smoke so thick?

There is another fire.  The Union Chapel Fire.  This one threatens to run us out of my moms house.  Where will we go after that?  Dads?  Houston with my sister?  As the sun goes down on Monday with us not able to get back into our house at least until noon on Tuesday.  Is our house still there even?  There are many Bastropians who are still going through the thoughts and emotions that my husband and I were going throught Monday night.

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David gets back into our subdivision at noon on Tuesday and calls me..................Our home is still there, there is no power, but it is still there!  We will take no power!

The house smells like smoke and we happily lived until Thursday at 10:30pm with out power.  We were lucky.

So many homes gone.  Allot of my friends homeless.  Allot of quilters have not only lost their homes but their stash.  I have talked to quite a few of them.  They are happy that they have their lives.  There is so much destroyed here.  I know that we have not lost as much as some of the flooding up north.  You have to think just like them we have lost part of our town.

The people of Bastrop have been on an emotional roller coaster since Sunday, September the 4th.  We are watching the Texas government and the National government play "pass the buck" with our lives and emotions.

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The world has to know that Bastrop is still here.  We will rebuild!  Any day that you are standing on this side of the ground you are doing okay!

I would like to share more pictures with my readers:

If any quilter out there wants to donate to help the Bastrop quilters rebuild their stash please stay tuned to my blog.  I will set up with our local quilt shop a donation station.  I will give more details in a later post.  If you want to contact me please email me at glynpg@yahoo.com .


I would like to thank BENOLINE.com, Holly B. photography and all the others who took the above pictures.

TTFN

The Lion