The Aftermath Part II

So today Scott packed up and headed out to go assess the damage for himself. Everyone we have talked to who has been there through this has assured us that we did not want to bring the kids back into it. My family rode out Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and it was MISERABLE in the following days! So, the kids, dogs, and I loaded him into the car and waved goodbye as he drove away and then came back into the lovely air conditioned comfort of Cindy's apartment. He is going to come back and pick us up once power is restored ~ poor Cindy! He rented a U-Haul trailer and stocked up on the things he knew he would need when he got back down there ~ new fence boards to rebuild our fence, gas cans and gas, and some shiny new coolers complete with 200 pounds of ice! I guess if he gets too hot he can always sleep in a cooler! He got home about 7:30 and immediately took all of the boards off the windows so he could open the them and also to have a little more light. Apparently parts of the neighborhood are getting power back, but they are pretty sure a tornado went through and did a lot of damage to the power infrastructure so Scott is still sitting in the dark at our house. He reports that the refrigerator in the house reeks ~ guess it would especially since there is still a gallon on milk sitting in it! GROSS! Had we not been packing up and leaving so quickly and totally last minute I would have at least cleaned the fridge out. I did have the foresight to empty out the ice maker and turn it off ~ that saved us some water on the floor at least. He said the inside of the house is alright, no water damage that he can see so we will assume that the roof suffered no damage ~ whew! He said he thinks he will pull the mattress from Hunter's bottom bunk off and put it out on the back porch to sleep tonight because the house is so hot inside ~ hope there aren't any new found snakes in the yard! I just talked to him and he was headed off to Home Depot to hopefully get some 2x4's that he will also be needing in the fence repair ~ apparently we didn't just lose boards the 2x4's snapped at the ground ~ lovely. I guess tomorrow will be a whole new day for him, but let me just say that he has just gotten there and is already less than impressed with the conditions! Imagine if we had never left ~ on that note thanks for the guilt trip mom!
And now on to the latest saga coming out of my parent's house. They have managed to hook a generator up to the garage apartment (probably about a 600 square foot apartment) and took the window unit air conditioners out of the garage and are running them up there so they are at least cool ~ all 500 of them currently residing in there are cool! Shacked up in this tiny little abode are my mom and dad and their 6 dogs, my brother and his family (wife, 7 year old daughter, and 2.5 year old daughter), and their 2 dogs! Talk about some cramped quarters! My dad said he slept out on the porch last night ~ can't say I blame him! Apparently the heat has just really done the 2 little girls in and they are quite unbearable ~ Bryce got a spanking last night before bed at the hands of my brother ~ my mom said it was only by him because he beat her to it! You know it has got to be bad when the grandmother starts threatening spanking ~ YIKES!
Over at my brother's house they went in and got all of the plywood off the windows so that they would have some light and be able to open the windows to start airing / drying the place out and mucking it out. Upon entry they discovered that the dog food bins had been floating around the house and left wet dog food everywhere ~ YUCK! My mom said that was just the icing on the cake to have wet nasty VERY STINKY dog food all over. They undoubtedly have a long remodel in their future ~ I guess they will be shacking up with my parent's during this process ~ I think we all know that this scenario will make for many entertaining blog entries!
On a more serious note we are all very thankful that we escaped with the minor damages that we did ~ it most certainly could have been far worse. We are all so very thankful and grateful that we all made it out and returned (most of us at least) safely. There is somebody up there looking after us!