First off, I believe this is going to be my 556th post. I hope it's interesting enough..

My wife,Leslie,  left this morning to go to Pascagoula, MS to locate her cousin Sarah Jim. No one had heard from her so they were getting worried..She packed a few days' worth of clothes, her cosmetics case, a 5-gallon can of gas, and her Stagarms left-handed AR in the trunk of the convertible. She borrowed my big Maglite and put it next to her seat. My Ruger .40 is under the driver's seat. I handed it to her after cleaning it this morning as she left. She asked me,"Is a round chambered?" I said,"Check it." She pulled the slide back and let it fly home and said,"It's chambered now!" I had a "moment" in my pants when she said that.. The AR is in an Uncle Mike's tactical case with a magazine in place and a couple of spare mags in the outside pockets.

She ended up in a convoy with some Tombigbee Electric Co. trucks headed south. When she got to highway 10, she discovered that one side is closed due to damage, so the southbound lane has been turned into a two-lane highway. The National Guardsmen have been smiling and waving to her. She met a guy on the road in a Mustang convertible heading north. He told her,'Just wait until you get into town." That worried her a little. She had to drive about 35 mph or less. The damage wasn't bad until she hit Moss Point. She called me every once in a while, every time she called, I told her that I hoped she wouldn't have to shoot anybody. She said it was okay, it was pretty civilized. The stoplights were working, banks and insurance companies were working out of tents.

She got to her cousin's house a few hours ago and her cousin was cleaning up. Her cousin's house is bracketed by the Pascagoula River, Lake Yazoo, and Pascagoula's water treatment plant. Her house didn't get hit by a surge, it got flooded. There's mud and silt and stuff from the treatment plant all in it. There's a 5-foot high water mark on her first floor walls.  The house is okay, her first floor has to be gutted to the frame to clean it up and re-done. Some contractors are already roaming around doing estimates and gouging. One estimate came up to $100,000 for just the gutting, not including the restoration. Her vehicles were also destroyed.

Walmart is open, so my wife was able to get her some food and other things. She helped Sarah Jim wash her hair after helping her take her furniture outside to dry and air out. Some of the people that rode out the storm with Sarah are staying there because their houses were destroyed, they are watching her stuff for her. Leslie said she might need her rifle and pistol tonight. There are some enterprising people that are taking things from people's yards at night and putting their new-found articles in their own yards and claiming it on their insurance..

I told her to get a cheap flashlight and some duct tape to make a ghetto fabulous night light for her rifle..Don't worry, I'm going to get her a proper light soon..Our first anniversary is coming up..She asked for me to pay for her CCW, since the first anniversary is paper.

She is taking pictures of her cousin's house for the insurance as well as taking pictures of some of the unusual things down there..I was worried that her plan was half-baked. I mean, c'mon doing a relief mission in a Chrysler Sebring convertible? Her cosmetics bag next to her AR-15 case? Power is being restored, she's able to get gas and Cingular is working down there..

The Cingular rep told me on the phone at my work that Cingular is just about the only cell company that's working in the New Orleans/Gulf Coast area. If voice doesn't work, text messaging and wireless Internet service does.

I can't wait for her to come home tomorrow, I have a surprise for her. His and her "Small Arms Review" t-shirts came in today. The one with "How do I solve problems?" on the front. I feel she deserves it.

As I said in another thread, I had to stay behind to watch the kids. My father is hauling some RV's down to the coast for a church so he couldn't watch them for me.

"There are some enterprising people that are taking things from people's yards at night and putting their new-found articles in their own yards and claiming it on their insurance.."

Some assholes were caught doing that shit here after Ivan. One guy had is entire claim canceled by the insurer and was hauled into court. I didn't follow-up on the outcome, but serves the fucker right.

 

Her cousins name is Sarah Jim?

Yup. Sarah Jimmie. That's almost as ridiculous as the reason she stayed..
There was a duck that moved in with her after the last hurricane she rode out. She didn't want to leave the duck behind. The other people that stayed with her to ride out the storm had dogs that the shelter wouldn't take in..
She had just finished building her house next door to the duplex she owns. The duplex is okay, the bottom floor of it was a garage. She still had her apartment in the duplex, that's where they are staying, she's also got power.
Her furniture is just sitting in the yard, but it's ruined. She's got it outside for the insurance adjuster, but she's still got to guard it from the other people that want to steal it to rip the insurance companies off.

Quoted: That's almost as ridiculous as the reason she stayed.. There was a duck that moved in with her after the last hurricane she rode out. She didn't want to leave the duck behind.

Oh man, and your wife is related to her!

tag.