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September 23, 2005
Walking the neighborhood
About 11:30 this morning, Mike and I decided to walk our street up to Oak Forest (about 1/4 mile) and just check on neighbors. We wanted to see who was staying and who was going. It turns out that about every second neighbor is staying. You know, I really miss doing the door-to-door neighborhood March of Dimes walk that I did years ago. I didn't collect a lot of money, but I stayed in touch with my neighbors. Some of these folks that I saw today I have never seen before.
As we walked toward one house, a car pulled up in the drive and a young woman announced to the people in her yard, "No ice and no bread." "We have ice and bread," we said. They said, "Can we buy some from you?" Buy? Please. We got to talking and out came the little not-so-lost chihuahua that Mike saw this morning. Three families and five dogs are staying in that house. A couple of the women decided to walk with us for something to do and to get acquainted with those who are staying. Across the street from them is a guy and his new wife, who is a building contractor. She had just gotten back from her business with a generator. She also said that she has a power saw, a big roll of plastic sheeting, and a big roll of roof felt on hand in her garage. Now that's a good neighbor to remember! Two other neighbors got to talking and discovered they were both in social work ministries. I love these kinds of people. They are such unconventional Christians in appearance and so straightforward in what they believe and do. We kept walking and knocking and folks came out in the yards to talk with one another. Everyone was pleased that we were checking and it helped everyone know that help is readily available if needed.
Toward the end of the block, I told Mike, "I'm going to check on Mr. Middleton. Surely his kids have come for him, but I'll go knock." The Middletons have lived on Chantilly as long as we have, if not longer. Occasionally we would walk with them as they walked their dogs around Oak Forest Park. They are older than us and we always had to slow our pace considerably to match theirs. Mrs. Middleton died of breast cancer a few years ago, but Mr. Middleton has continued to live with his five dogs in their house. He is 75, so I figured he was gone with his grown kids to Conroe. I knocked on his door and five yapping muzzles immediately snouted their way through the venetian blinds in a barking frenzy. Uh, oh. If the dogs are here, so is Mr. Middleton. Sure enough. He answered the door and as soon as he knew it was me, he came out to visit. No, he wasn't worried about the hurricane. No, he hadn't done much to get ready but he figured he would be okay. Yeah, he had food and water, but thanks for checking. Note to self: go check on Mr. Middleton after the hurricane.
Mike took a loaf of bread to the neighbors who didn't have any and they know where to come for ice when they need it. It is getting windier. That fool Rita now looks like she may come in through Galveston Bay anyway instead of coming in east of us. I'm going to vacuum the house and put the photographs of my precious Kevin and Madeline on the top shelf of my closet. Then I'm going to take what will probably be my last hot shower for some days to come. We're going to have to fill the bathtub with water in order to be able to flush the commode. All it takes is about 2 days without air conditioning, running water, and functioning plumbing to make a person wonder why Houston was ever settled in the first place. A good place for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses.
Posted by susan at September 23, 2005 03:01 PM