Hurricanes and our family, Victoria, TX, working on shells

Joshua was in the path of hurricane Harvey and it looks like Maggie will be in the path if hurricane Irma. If the stories I heard on the radio on the way to work are even half true, it looks like Irma will cause a huge problem if evacuations are made. One story reported that people were walking along the Florida Turnpike, passed the jammed traffic, to get to the rest stop so they could use the bathroom. One guest suggested that people not go too far, just to go far enough to get to higher, safer ground – a hotel, a friend’s house, etc.; not necessarily to go so far that you risk running out of gas or getting stuck in miles of stopped traffic with the storm looming so close. I do know that Sanibel Island, where Mama and I just spent a couple days, would not be someplace I would want to ride out a hurricane and many places in Florida are situated as vulnerably as that island is. Even a glancing blow from such a large, powerful storm will be a huge problem for many homes and businesses. I cannot imagine what will happen in the Keys. As for Maggie, we would love for her and the kids to come to us, but that is not a short trip.

The farm looked empty when I got home yesterday. The camper that has been a part of the landscape there since Cori and Nate arrived was gone. It left a pretty big hole. They will be back next week but it was an interesting sensation to see the spot so open. Mama wanted to meet them in Victoria, TX while they are there for the Mission’s Conference at Western Hills but we cannot afford the additional expense of the travel for her to go so soon after our trip to Sanibel. She is disappointed. One of our friends in the church offered a place to stay while she was in Victoria, but getting her there and back is the issue. At least we got to see our friends there a year ago when I went to Victoria for work and took Mama along. Every opportunity to see old friends is a blessing. That will be one of the amazing experiences of Heaven, to see all our friends again and have plenty of time to catchup on how good God has been to us.

Mama is still working through the shells she and I gathered when we were at Sanibel. Thankfully we have had good weather so the table on which she has the shells still being processed can sit just outside the garage while she tries to figure out where the bad smell is coming from. It is far less that when we packaged the shells to come home. She and the grandkids have found multiple small snails in the collection but there must still be one or two – or some portion of remains in one or two of them. We are still working through that issue. Overall, we got some great shells during our trips to the beach. Other than the lingering smell, Mama is quite pleased. After church last night, she and four-year-old Aliza Burns looked through a small portion Mama had brought to the school to share with the kids there. One of my coworkers had asked me about our time shelling and I told him about some of the more unusual shells we brought home. He had never heard of an Angel Wing shell. He looked it up and was amazed by it.

So are we – and I found a very large one on the Caya Costa beach.