Damage

I wanted to share a bit of the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. It isn't just the fallen trees, flooding and downed power lines. Those are a big part of what happened. 

The trees have been taken off both houses and repairs have started. 

The tree above is at the Jaycee Park. It is still in the same condition today. Since it doesn't block the street it isn't a priority. The problems extend far beyond that tree. 

The Tybee Island Post Office was damaged. Many of the residents do not have home delivery. They pick up their mail at their post office box. Tybee Island mail has been relocated to Wilmington Island Post Office until at least Thanksgiving. A typical wait for mail pickup is two hours and some residents report waiting 3+ hours for mail. 

Bonaventure Cemetery is closed until damaged trees can be removed. The city of Savannah crews have higher priority work so it may be some time before it reopens. They are not sure how many monuments have been damaged. They have assured concerned citizens that Gracie is undamaged. 

Finally, Fort Pulaski National Monument was flooded and damaged. There are hundreds of trees down on the island. They are unsure how long it will be closed. To understand the scope of the damage it is 8.27 miles as the crow flies from Bonaventure Cemetery to Fort Pulaski. The damage extends several more miles east and west and for hundreds of miles to the north and south. 

Seriously? No

Some days?, oh hell, most days I feel like this. 

I'm in a fantasy football league. This past weekend Mr. Blythe's team was my opponent. His team had the highest scoring total in the league this year. My team lost by the largest margin of any team in the league. Congratulations Mike! I will do this Friday to forget this loss and the one the Packers will put on the Bears Thursday night. 

My current comments on the presidential election. 

Halloween is coming up and my costume is picked out. If the weather is cold I'll have to stay home. 

The Underbelly

We live on the corner of Solomon and Anderson Court in the city of Tybee Island, Georgia.  In the past, up until sometime in the 1930's, Solomon was not not a street. The rail line ran from Savannah out to the beaches on Tybee and Solomon was the railbed. A little over a week ago hurricane Matthew passed just to our east in the Atlantic Ocean. There was considerable damage on our little island. Carol and I were headed to Benny's the other day for some social interaction and a beer or two. We got a couple blocks from home and noticed this tree. 

If you look closely at the roots you can see an object running off to the right. Here is a closer look. 

Being from a railroad town in Illinois the outline is clearly that of railroad rail. It had laid just below the surface since the rail line was removed at least 80 years ago. A storm revealed what had long been hidden. 

It struck me how it is a reflection of our current political process and the deep divisions within our population. We thought, or more realistically hoped, that we had moved beyond the racism of our past. That we had developed social programs to ensure the weakest among us were fed, clothed, housed and received adequate medical care. That the aged and infirm could live with dignity. That we continued to be an example to the world that people of all races, creeds, religions and cultures could live in peace. We were wrong. 

We are increasingly not "the land of the free and home of the brave". Too many of our fellow citizens are willing to trade some of their freedoms for the illusion of increased security. Willing to strip religious freedoms from those who do not worship the same "God" they do. They claim to be followers of "God" but do little to help the weak and poor their "God" commanded them to love. They fear immigrants. They are worried about terrorists sneaking in and attacking them. They cling to their guns claiming they are needed to protect themselves from their government, terrorists, criminals and anyone else they deem dangerous. They don't want anyone telling them how to live. If you are gay, lesbian, transgendered, or want an abortion they want control over your life. 

So, to me, it seems like the tree that fell here on Tybee. It pulled up what we thought was gone and buried forever. What we thought was changed in our country was the same. Barely covered, under the surface. A storm came along and revealed the truth. We had covered our problems up but they are not solved. We have not changed. The progress of decades can be lost in days, weeks or months. It is our sad and tragic truth. 

Busy

I have been absent from this blog for too long. The problems with blogging were numerous. We traveled to Illinois where data was limited. We had friends and family to visit. Beer to drink and pizza to eat at Budde's. There was also plenty of work to be done. We had intended to stay another week but hurricane Matthew appeared to be headed toward our house on Tybee Island. We completed our final task up north a week ago Monday by going to the courthouse to vote. When that was done we headed south spending the night in Lexington, Kentucky. Tuesday we arrived back on Tybee Island to the news that a voluntary evacuation was being recommended. Wednesday was spent preparing the house for the coming storm. Hurricane shutters were put on the windows, anything that could be blown away was stored. The evacuation order went from voluntary to mandatory. It does not mean they will drag you out of your home and force you to leave. It does mean that once the winds reach tropical storm level at 39 mph no city services are available. No police, no fire, no emergency responders. You chose to stay and take your chances. You chose to risk your life, not theirs. So Carol, Rose, Lily and I loaded the car and headed north to South Carolina. We were followed by Brian, Tammie, Bailey and Josephine to wait out the storm in Camden at Carol's sisters home. We were about 100 miles inland and got some wind and lots of rain. Power was off there for about six hours. We were able to return to Tybee on Monday. The return trip was filled with anxiety not knowing what we would find when we got home. You know what to expect with a Midwest tornado. There will be a relatively narrow swath of severe damage and lesser damage as you move out. We learned how different hurricanes are. The damage extends for miles. Power lines down. Trees uprooted from the ground. Roofs off houses. We made it through the checkpoint and back home. The house was still there and damages were minimal. Lots of debris and plenty to clean but no serious damage. Many neighbors have it much worse. The good news is that this is not just a city. Tybee is a community. We help each other. The cleanup will continue for weeks, perhaps months. The city estimates there is about 1,000 tons of debris to be removed. It will take time but we will recover. Rebuild. Replant. Renew. I will post pictures soon. For now, it is time to get back to cleaning and recovery. 

Work? Not to Me

We are back in Illinois for a bit to enjoy things we can do here we can't do in Georgia. Try getting a Midwestern pork tenderloin sandwich in Georgia. You know the ones. Those deep fried beauties that the golden fried loin is two or three times the size of the bun. Getting to go to your favorite bar to have the best pizza around and a lineup of craft beers to match with any meal. Maybe even the chance to ride in the combine while corn is being harvested. 

The young man we have mowing the acres of yard doesn't weed the flower beds. So when we came back they looked like this. 

After a couple of days crawling around pulling weeds and figuring out what flowers survived they now look like this. 

It might look like work to you. It didn't feel that way to me. There is something about getting out there and working in the dirt that always feels satisfying to me. We aren't done yet but the progress is clear and makes me feel good. 

I'm a Simple Man

I think I learned a long time ago what the key was to open the lock on happiness. It is quite simply, low expectations. Not low expectations for myself but of what I expected from everyone else and from life in general. 

I was thinking the other day about cell phones. I have an Apple iPhone. It does lots of things that I don't understand, don't need and don't use. I told Carol in keeping with my low expectations that I only want two things from my phone. It must be able to make and receive calls. It must not catch on fire and burn down my house or burn up my car. 

Isn't that an interesting turn of a phrase. Why does my house burn down and my car burn up? 

Is it wrong to want politicians to tell the truth? Talk about issues and not the alleged shortcomings of their opponent? I did however enjoy the comment last week about Hillary Clinton. An Hispanic follower of Donald Trump stated if she won there would be taco trucks on every corner. If I had been on the fence it would change my vote to Hillary. 

There are lots of jokes out there about Chuck Norris. I think my favorite is this one. Why does Chuck Norris sleep with a light on? Because the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris. Why are there no Bruce Lee jokes?

Seems reasonable. 

I kept going to McDonalds and being disappointed with the alleged food. Was it too much to ask that the meat, cheese and condiments be inside the bun? I realize these are low paying, low skill jobs. Don't they still demand the employee take some measure of pride I their work? I have determined the best solution is to never eat at McDonalds again. I doubt they will miss me. 

In closing, shoot low and you will never be disappointed. 

Leave That Alone and Eat Your Corn Flakes

In 1894 Dr. John Henry Kellogg and Keith "WK" Kellogg operated a sanitarium and health spa in Battle Creek, Michigan. John was the Superintendent and WK was the bookkeeper. The brothers were Seventh Day Adventists. They were fundamentalists who believed in strict Biblical literalism. The body was the temple of God and was o remain pure. They were also strict vegetarians.  

Treatments offered at the sanitarium included hot and cold water baths, hydrotherapy with water enemas, electric current therapy, light therapy, exercise and message. Clients included Henry Ford, Johnny Weissmuller and Emelia Earhart. 

John Kellogg was convinced that sex was impure and harmful, especially masturbation. He did marry but never consummated the marriage. He and his wife had separate bedrooms. John wrote several books condemning sex and promoting celibacy. His books described the evil health effects of masturbation which he claimed included epilepsy, mood swings and dementia. One of his books contained the following. "Neither plague, nor war, nor smallpox have produced results so disasterous as the pernicious habit of onanism. Such a victim dies literally by his own hand."  John Kellogg proposed treatments to prevent masturbation that included piercing the foreskin with silver wires to prevent erections and using carbolic acid to burn the clitoris to prevent it from being touched. 

His treatments to prevent masturbation included diet. He was convinced that meat and spicy food increased sexual desire. He prescribed a bland diet of whole grains and nuts. The two brothers experimented with different types of bread. They rolled whole grain dough into thin sheets to make toasted crackers. One day after cooking some wheat for rolling they were called away. When they processed the cooled wheat through the rollers each grain was crushed into a flake. They thought it was a wonderful health food and began to serve it to their patients. In 1898 they tried the same process with corn and "corn flakes" we're born. They served corn flakes to patients and WK wanted to add sugar to take away the cardboard flavor. He wanted to sell them as a breakfast cereal. They patented their flaked cereals and formed the Sanitas Food Company. In 1906 WK purchased the rights to make corn flakes from his brother. He changed the recipe to include sugar and formed theBattle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. After a later legal battle with his brother it became the Kellogg Cereal Company. 

So there you have the twisted tale of corn flakes. So keep in mind, one hand on your spoon and the other one on the cereal bowl. Be K-e-double L- o- double good and keep your hands above the table at all times.