Family fun day at Buckhorn Ranch

My school put on a family fun day for students and staff, and since we don't have any children, we thought it would be fun to "steal" my friend's kids. We had a BBQ lunch (which for us consisted of baked beans and potato salad,) and then went on a train ride. Kai, our friend Monika's little boy, loved it.

Dan and I then took Kai on the paddle boats. Either I am out of shape-or paddle boats are hard! We were all sweating and hot after 5 minutes. Kai was more confused than anything.

Kai and Dan getting situated in the paddle boat

It was HARD! (Maybe our boat was broken?!)

By the end we were all laughing!

We stopped for lemonade and then headed for the Carousal,

It's hard to get a good picture while the carousal is moving!

Me and Jaiden

Kai and Monika

After the carousal it was to the petting zoo, and then to the bounce house.

Goat, Kai and Dan

We stopped for a snow cone, and then it was time to go. We had such a fun time-Thanks Monika and kids for humoring us! (And thanks for some of the pictures I stole from your blog!)

What Would You Say?

I enjoy being a social worker but it is genuinely challenging. For instance, on a moments notice you might be asked a question you don't expect. Reaction time has to be quick and comforting. Afterwards you can't help but sit back and wonder, "Was that the right thing to say?" Here is a recent example.

The other day I was called to a new patient's home who wanted to sign a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate Order). I had never met this woman or her family. As I entered the musty, dark room her son turned on the light. The patient was in her early forties and was dying from cancer. I knelt down by her so we could see eye to eye. Her adult son, sister, and mother were also in the room.

I introduced myself and asked if she was in any pain. She was extremely gaunt, sickly, pale and was moving very slowly. We talked briefly about the DNR and a few other odds and ends but I could tell she was very tired and did not want to take much of her time. As I was finishing up she reached over, took my hand, and with tears in her eyes she looked at me in the eyes and asked me, a freckle faced social worker with thinning red hair that she just barely met, in front of her mother, sister, and son, a question I have honestly never been asked.

"Am I going to die?"

Well, what would you say? Keep in mind that this woman was indeed dying (She died this past weekend). She had a bleak prognosis from the beginning and since she had no insurance no doctor was about to even try chemotherapy or radiation treatment on such a "lost cause" knowing they would never see the fruits of their labor. In fact, when she came onto our service she had only been given 2-4 weeks to live. But still, she asked that unhappy question.

So, again, as I ponder my response I wonder if it was right. As soon as I left I drove a couple miles and parked in an empty parking lot and prayed that my answer was divinely inspired. But still, I can't stop wondering what else I could have said, so, what do you think? Imagine you were in the exact same scenario, what would you say?

A turtle named Ike

Needless to say this whole hurricane has been very weird for us. We were fortunate enough to not have hardly any damage to our apartment, our electricity is on (1.2 million Houstonians do not have power,) and our life has gone back to "normal." But as we drive around-everyone else's lives seem to be in chaos. Its very weird.

The gas line at a local gas station...you can't really see how long it is-it's long.

A big tree that fell across the street from our home. The concrete was torn up too. This is what most of the neighborhoods look like.

On Tuesday, as we were walking our dogs before heading home, Myla ran over and found this little injured turtle. We assumed he was thrown during the storm and injured his shell. We decided to take him home and nurse him back to health, and then to release him into the bayou by our home. In honor of finding him during this notorious week, we named him Ike.

Ike, with his little injured back. He has a big chunk missing from his shell.

Ike with Neosporin on his back.

Myla, upon finding the turtle, became so excited and started running around, unaware of her surroundings (O.K. she is a little stupid, what can we say.) Anyway, she fell into a storm drain and cut her leg pretty bad. We chalk it up to an injury caused by Hurricane Ike.

Poor Myla

You, can't really see, but this is a hole torn out of the back of Myla's leg.

Thanks to Hurricane Ike, I have been (let's say) blessed with an abundant amount of free time. Dan was lucky enough to go back to work on Wednesday, but my school will not open until Monday, due to the lack of electricity. Over the last three years or so I have been slowly working on this blanket. I finally finished it-thanks to Ike!

My First Natural Disaster

You haven’t lived until you have seen the destruction of a hurricane firsthand. The sheer power and destruction is humbling. Despite all of our advancements in technology and the ability to pick apart the earth piece by piece through the use of natural resources, land erosion, and animal extinction, the Earth can still smack us across the face and we can do nothing about it. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy who was pretty comfortable throughout the whole ordeal.

My work allowed me to evacuate Thursday since I was in a mandatory evacuation zone and with little traffic in the way we made it to my sister’s home about an hour inland. Early Saturday the storm hit and the power went out around 3am but was back on around 10am. When we finally drove back to our apartment on Monday there was no real damage and our power was on.

But the destruction in-between was intimidating. Power-line posts completely snapped in half like a twig, billboards bent in half, boats washed up on the road, trees twice my age completely ripped out of the ground, street light poles turned entirely around, about 25% of the roof of Reliant Stadium torn off, and we even got a glimpse of the 45-story JP Morgan Chase Building that had almost every window shattered on one side of the building.

As Heidi and I were driving around watching the truck drivers, firefighters, police officers, landscapers, general contractors, woodcutters, garbage truck drivers, ambulance drivers, nursing home workers among many others. (It’s ironic considering how many of these workers are illegal immigrants) The professional athletes and celebrities that so willfully and gleefully leach off of society making millions of dollars a year were entirely useless when a time of need arrived. Rather it was the “Regular Joes” that are making a difference. We thought of John Lennon’s song, “Working Class Hero,” they were the people making a difference.

As soon as you’re born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all,
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all,
A working class hero is something to be.

Finally, let’s talk FEMA. A lot of people are once again frustrated with that organization, as they don’t seem to be moving fast enough. But considering the budget they work with let’s give them a little credit. Below is a budget list of some government entities in descending order:

Department of Health and Human Services: 573.5 billion mandatory, 67.2 discretionary
Department of Defense: 439.3 billion ($1,450 per citizen)
Department of Labor: 59.7 billion
Department of Homeland Security: 44.9 billion
-FEMA’s cut: 8.02 billion
Department of Justice: 43.5 billion
Department of Education: 13.4 billion mandatory, 56.0 discretionary

As you can see we spend an incredible amount of money figuring out how to effectively kill people or invade foreign lands but relatively little to take care of our own people, whether they are victims of natural disasters or our children. What kills me is when people gripe and complain about FEMA but do not vote at all or if they do they vote for politicians who do not support the expansion of social service programs such as FEMA or education and if anyone ever suggests raising their taxes they scream and kick like children having tantrums.

I grew up in a place where very few voters support the expansion of social service programs and they would never vote for a social conscientious politician yet they greedily take advantage of Medicaid when a child is on the way. I have known families that have intentionally had several children and every single one of them was paid for by the US Government. Guess what, Medicaid and Medicare are socialized medicine! When the aid they receive is not enough they complain, just like those frustrated with FEMA but again, come November they would not be caught dead supporting politicians that would like to expand these programs. Oooh…this is so very frustrating to a social worker like myself!

But for now, well settle for the “Working Class Hero,” thankfully there are plenty of them around. As for my heroic sister Katrine, her husband John and their family for taking us in, two songs come to mind:

The window burns to light the way back home
A light that warms no matter where they've gone.
They're off to find the hero of the day
-Metallica

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

Kudos my hero leaving all the best
You know my hero, the one that’s on
-Foo Fighters

Peace to all, and God bless.

Some how we got Lucky

Luck is usually not on our side, but in the case of Hurricane Ike, it was. We evacuated early, without much traffic (thank goodness.) We've had a nice comfortable place to stay, with only a night without power (thank goodness.) And today as we returned home to check out the damage-we got lucky (thank goodness.) Our power is on, and the water works. However we are not returning home just quite yet. Unfortunately most of the community is without power and there is a lot of damage, and there is clean up that needs to be done. That also means that most of the grocery stores are not open, and almost all of the gas stations are not opened either. The gas stations that are opened have 2 hour lines-20 cars deep. But for now we are content to know that our "stuff" made it through.


When we drove up to the apartment complex we saw our building-and feared the worse. We were surprised that they already had crews cleaning up and trying to repair the damage.

We have some water damage in our living room,

And water damage by our front door. The front door is also warped.

These are some trees that fell.

Here is the other side of our building, and you can see some damage on the roof.

Brazos Bend State Park

Upon returning home after Hurricane Ike to check out the damage, I surprisingly found my camera cord. Yeah! Now I can post these pictures from our trip to Brazos Bend State Park, which was about two or three weeks ago. But hey, better late than never.

A little Armadillo Friend

Dan and the puppies

Swampy lake

Dan and Heidi, and Bentley's head

Bentley, Dan and Myla

Bentley, Heidi and Myla

Dan and Heidi (and the Dogs)

Against Bentley's wishes, we would not let the dogs in the water

Hurricane Ike

We've evacuated. We're safe. We're waiting for more exciting news. We'll keep you informed.

It's Flood Time!

To "celebrate" Hurricane Gustav I'd like to take a look back at the recent flooding in the mid-west. These good people were not as destitute as those in New Orleans but homes, farms, and prosperity were lost. A group from Farm Sanctuary, one of our favorite charities, went to the mid-west to rescue as many stranded pigs as possible. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands died but this kind-hearted group tried to save as many as they could, sure they didn't even save a hundred but it made a huge difference to those who were rescued. Please watch this short film on their experiences, it is a nice little educational piece and is worth a bit of your internet time and don't worry it is not a bunch of scary footage.



Good for Farm Sanctuary and all those who tried to rescue a few of God's creatures that are so often forgotten because they are born destined to be eaten by people. Fun fact I recently read, over half a billion farm animals were killed during and after Hurricane Katrina, can you imagine?

If you'd like to read more about the "Great Mid-American Pig Rescue" check out the following blog. You'll like the photos of all the piglets.

http://floodrescue2008.blogspot.com/