Come on People–it’s Time to Dig Deep and Help the People of Tennessee.

I never did get my blog post up, did I? Yesterday, I was exhausted. I sat down in a chair and couldn’t get back up to do anything for hours.

In spite of the fact that I worked like I had a demon on my back, this morning, there is some weird white fluffy stuff on the floor down there and I realized it was going to be more than I can handle. I am hopeful that my problems can be handled through my insurance who didn’t say yay, nay, or even indifferent but will have a claims handler call me soon. I think that yes they must be going to if a claims handler is coming, right?

That room and the bathroom off it have a dank damp musty smell that I don’t believe is going away anytime soon which makes me wonder what’s in the walls that I can’t see.

Here’s the email update I sent to some friends as far as the rest of my town is concerned:

School has been out since this happened. They’re talking about just cutting the school year short since it was so close to being out anyway. I think that wouldn’t be a bad idea all things considered. It’s not like they’re being taught much except indoctrination. The water is receding but the damage left in its wake is terrible. I was on Antoch Pike the other day and though the road has been cleared for traffic, a good bit of damage is apparent in what is off to the sides of the road. There was a small trailor park on that road toward Harding Place and all the ruined furniture is stacked up by the road. Logs (yes, logs) are pushed off to the sides, too, and all the businesses are closed along that stretch.

We are on half rations for water usage as we lost one treatment plant. Some are not following the mandate, when you’d think they’d be thankful to still having running water instead of having to find the Emergency Management sites to pick up bottled water but then there are always those types, aren’t there? I ceased looking at the news and image a day or two ago because I couldn’t stand it anymore so I have no links to share. It’s bad is all I can say.

I think the government has done a decent enough job but when I could no longer stomach the news coincided with somebody complaining about things which reminded me of New Orleans. It was somebody who wanted everything handed to her and hadn’t the first clue how to fend for herself but that’s the way it goes. Other than turning on the news long enough to get school updates, I’ve stayed away from it since Tuesday. There are only so many times you can look at the devastation and not be heartbroken. I didn’t spend much time downtown but I will miss Jack’s Barbecue. A lot of stars got their start in Jack’s, including some of the newer ones like Kenny Chesney. Damn good barbecue, too. I used to meet James for lunch there at least once a week when he was working on the Bailey’s Restaurant and Bar but that way before the construction industry bottomed out. I think the upper levels of that building were being renovated for a catering business at the same time.

I also think Mayor Dean is lowballing the $1 billion although I can’t say it will top 2 billion (update: estimates are at 1.5 billion now). Whole areas will have to be condemned and razed and built again. How much the entire affected area will cost I don’t think anyone has any idea yet because the damage is widespread over a lot of counties.

In addition to that copy and paste, there are a total of 25 counties affected here in middle TN and we should feel so honored that Janet Napolitano is going to make her appearance sometime tomorrow. No word, yet, whether president is even aware of our existence. He signed a declaration to make it a federal disaster area but does he even know what he signed?

Sorry to sound a little bitter but he along with others were so hypocritical of Bush’s response that you’d think he’d at least mention this state once in his daily press conferences. I didn’t think I’d miss Bush, as I wasn’t crazy about him from day one, but Barry has proven me wrong. There are some things a president can’t prevent but at least … aw, never mind.