Autumn Anxiety

This has been a busy "first day of the week" having to run to Harvey's Fed to pick up hay and grain and stop in Wal-Mart for some supplies.

Sandi at Wal-Mart cashed me out but she kept holding her knee and I asked what was wrong. It seems that I am not the only middle aged woman who is screaming in pain because of my skeleton system and joints. She was in fairly bad pain and I felt deeply for her. I am still in excruciating pain and knew what she was going through.
Throughout the night my hips, spine, ankles, shoulders and neck caused such pain I would have happily walked out into the night and screamed my lungs out had I thought it would relieve the pain. And the migraine I have had for 3 days just happily pounded away.

My left hip is really starting to worry me. I just don't know how long it will hold up under these conditions.. there again, I have no idea how I have managed to hold up at all.

The member I have known from the Christian forum for almost a decade went to be with the Lord this morning at 10 am. Though I am deeply saddened for her husband and family.. I somewhat envy her. The swelling on Gracie's face is still the same though the hot wet compresses seem to be softening the tennis ball size lump. Becky told me to give Gracie children's Benadryl every 4 hours so I picked up a couple of bottles at Wal-Mart. Coming back to Alto I passed my daughter driving the ambulance towards Ruidoso Downs and my heart went into my stomach. Few people could be as careful driving as she is, and has always been. She started driving large hauling vehicles when she was 12 years old on a ranch. But, well.. the sight of her behind the wheel of an ambulance with sirens going always makes my stomach turn a little.
It's just a "mothers heart" reaction.

Meanwhile Texas burns.. again.

1,000 Homes Burned In One Week

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across rain-starved Texas, most of them in one devastating blaze close to Austin that is still raging out of control, officials said Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference near one of the fire-ravaged areas, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said more than 100,000 acres have burned in the drought-stricken state.

The Texas Forest Service says nearly 600 of the torched homes were in Bastrop County, some 25 miles from Austin. The agency said that blaze was still uncontained Tuesday. It was the most destructive fire of the year for a state that has had more than 3 million acres burned, said state emergency management chief Nim Kidd.

The number of destroyed homes is expected to go higher as officials assess hard-hit areas, Kidd said.

Perry, who interrupted his campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, toured one of the fire-ravaged neighborhoods Tuesday morning.

"Pretty powerful visuals of individuals who lost everything," Perry said. "The magnitude of these losses are pretty stunning."

Calmer winds Tuesday were expected to help in the battle against wildfires that flared up when strong winds fed by Tropical Storm Lee swept across Texas over Labor Day weekend.

Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Victoria Koenig said it was too early to say how much progress was made fighting the wildfire in Bastrop County overnight. The agency says the fire has grown to 30,000 acres.

"It's encouraging we don't have winds right now, not like yesterday," Koenig said early Tuesday.

Even with the encouraging conditions, Koenig said it was a "tough, tough fire" that was raging through rugged terrain, including a ridge of hills.

"You can still see the hills glowing quite a bit," she said.

At least 5,000 people were forced from their homes in Bastrop County, and about 400 were in emergency shelters, officials said Monday. School and school-related activities were canceled Tuesday.

In Bastrop, a town of about 6,000 people along the Colorado River, huge clouds of smoke soared into the sky and hung over downtown Monday. When winds picked up, flames flared over the tops of trees. Helicopters and planes loaded with water flew overhead, and firefighters along a state highway outside the city converged around homes catching fire.

The fire was far enough away from Austin that the city was not threatened, but it consumed land along a line that stretched for about 16 miles, Texas Forest Service officials said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, and officials said they knew of no residents trapped in their homes.

On Sunday, about 200 miles to the northeast in Gladewater, a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter died when a fast-moving wildfire gutted their mobile home.

Besides the wildfires we still have floods, tornadoes and other disasters slamming the United States with a vengeance. 2011 will go down in history for being the most destructive to life, limb and property in this country.

Those who have lost homes are shattered, bewildered at what they will do. Having lost my home I understand their plight. It's a heartbreaking path that destroys your self-esteem, dignity and leaves you desperate and deeply distraught.

The only thing left for me to do is to plead to the family members of Robert Huckins to intervene. If that be Michael Huckins, Dr.Kenneth Ogilvie ( Diana Huckins? Dominic Huckins? Malcolm Huckins? ) or Patricia Ogilvie-Huckins. If you would be caring enough, and humane enough to do so, please make your brother, son, cousin return the entire building fund he stole from us so that I can buy a home. I simply can't go on homeless. It is already September 2011 and my nerves are in shambles after over 3 years of hell, that should never have been allowed. I am devastated at the loss of my mother, my career, my home and all I want is what we have paid honest money for - and I beg for your mercy.

Today Robert Huckins has his own home...
He also has OUR home.....
He also has a lot of people's money...
And his freedom.

No women should be abused to this degree. I am homeless and I want to see my mum and return to my career, so I won't stop asking if I have to ask every single day until I die. Robert Huckins gave no-one an alternative, so I plead with sincerity for your mercy and intervention.

I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams. ~Jonas Salk