Time for schizophrenic weather that starts out sunny and pleasant and turns deadly ugly in what feels like an instant. Oklahoma in the Springtime. Beautiful, and can be extremely terrifying.
It's the time of year when we check the batteries in all the flashlights & the weather radios, update the documents stored on our SURVIVOR flash drives, clean out our hidey-holes, and keep a wary eye on the horizon.
No severe weather in the offing today, but there are some spectacular clouds out there. Sun keeps coming and going. The sky to the East of us right now is ugly gunmetal gray. Looks like points East are getting stormed on. We have had thunder in the last few minutes.
I am a California girl. I grew up keeping a pair of hard soled slip on shoes under my bed where I could grab them and put them on quickly in case of earthquake. I had a sturdy desk (I still have it!) that I could hide under so as not to be hit by falling debris. I wish it were that easy to ride out a tornado. Tornadoes are worse because of all the weather forecaster drama that goes on before they even show up. Trying to figure out where they are going is nerve wracking. Earthquakes just show up. No advance drama. They're just THERE.
Tornadoes require crawling into the smallest, most reinforced space in your house, or a shelter, if you are lucky enough to have come up with enough money to get one. I do NOT want to go underground. Sorry. Too many geology classes and too much claustrophobia. The closet is bad enough. I really hate it, and I put off getting in there until the absolute last second. I throw all the stuff in there and we sort of sit on it/ hang onto it. (I sit on the firesafe lockbox that has all our ppw in it. I also plan to scan the most important papers and put them on the flash drive.) I don't take all the clothes out of the closet, figuring that all that cloth could be good protection. (Except my shoes will likely fall on our heads.)
The closet is heavily reinforced with prayer, and I do believe in the power of prayer. I also have my tablet computer, and my phone and keep track of the storm as long as the wifi lasts. Also keep in touch with my friends all over the world. That's what I did last year. My friends kept asking for updates, and that kept me sane. Matt was still at work, so I was in that closet all alone except for my online friends.
I was really upset last year because on May 20th, I had just grocery shopped. A month's worth of groceries had just been put away when the warning hit. I was just SURE the tornado would come and wipe out the house just because I had just put the groceries away. Fortunately, that did not happen. Tornado went around us and farther south. In 99 it went north of us. On May 31st, it also went north AND one went south of us. Yes, prayer works.
The whole town is a bit twitchy this time of year, especially as it has been less than a year since our last tango with tornadoes here in Moore. Everybody watches the skies on days like this, and listens for the weather warning alarms. Most of us at the library will have the weather radar up on our computers. I have a warning alarm app on my phone, we have portable weather radios in the house, we also have walkie talkies in case the cell service goes out. (Have those at each desk in the library as well.)
So, here we are facing another storm season. I guess I am about as nervous as the rest of the folks in town. We will just pray that there will be at least 10 years with no big tornadoes. May all the fierce storms stay out in the uninhabited areas where nobody will get hurt. Please.
Showing posts with label tornadoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tornadoes. Show all posts
Monday, April 7, 2014
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Fighting Monsters
One reason Pacific Rim seems to resonate so around here may be that we have monsters attacking us regularly.
Our monsters don't have bodies, they aren't trying to wipe us out to prepare the way for a new civilization, (at least, we don't think so), but they are just as deadly as any kaiju.
I tend to think of the storms that regularly threaten Oklahoma as monsters. High damaging winds their foul breath, tornadoes for teeth and claws, they lay waste to our homes with no regard for us at all. All we can do is hunker down and wait them out, or try to get out of their way. Just like the people in Pacific Rim do when the kaiju attack.
Jaegers might not be so effective against tornadoes, since tornadoes routinely throw objects around that one would assume were stationary. The one in '99 even pulled pavement up off the streets it crossed. Some houses were so thoroughly gone that even the slabs were no longer there. I am sure that happened in a few cases this time as well.
Still, the movie makes us all feel better because it shows humans fighting back against the monsters. We do this with technology and warnings, but if something like the Jaegers could defend us against tornadoes, you can bet someone here would find a way to build some.
Every time we have seen Pacific Rim at the Warren IMAX, the theater is either full almost immediately, or fills up fairly quickly after we are seated. Everyone cheers when the Kaiju are defeated. I don't think you'll find too many kaiju fans among the denizens of Moore, OK. We have known too much destruction to cheer for monsters. Yet, the tornadoes have their groupies. Storm chasers, who seek to collect data and understand the storms, much like Newt. They really admire the power of these storms, but don't really care to actually be IN one. Not when they meet it face to face.
We also have our very serious scientists, like Hermann, who work both for the government and for private companies, studying the data from every possible angle, trying to find a way to understand these storms better in order to defeat them. Would that they were as easy to defeat as the kaiju. Oh, I know, the kaiju almost destroyed the earth, but they could be traced to a single source. Our monsters often seem to come out of almost nowhere. They can strike anywhere, though they have their favorite haunts. (Perhaps they hate country music, and that's why they target Oklahoma so much. After all, LOTS of country stars have come out of here, and Toby Keith grew up in Moore. Played football at Moore High School.)
There are even a few like Hannibal Chau here, who profit off what the monster leaves behind. There are those who salvage destroyed homes, seeking the re-useable materials that they can sell. Often they have permission from the city and the property owners, sometimes they do not. We also have fly-by-night contractors who come out of the woodwork after storms trying to get people who don't need it to replace roofs or build shelters. Now, all of us need shelters, but it is better by far to sit on the waiting list of a reputable company that has been here for the long haul than to go with some jerk who shows up at your door with a slick sales pitch.
There is no real equivalent to Stacker Pentecost and his Rangers here. Closest we can come are our professional storm chasers and meteorologists who keep eyes on the storms and give us enough warning to get under cover. For most of us, Gary England is the one we trust to give us the best information. We've all been through a LOT of storms with Gary, he knows what he's looking at, and rarely loses his cool. Val Castor is the storm chaser to trust. He's been through a lot of big ones, too. I believe he would LOVE to have something like a Jaeger to meet those storms with. He'd fight them to the death, no question. He's seen too much of the damage they can do. He and his crew stop to help people when they come along behind the tornadoes. They make sure to do what they can until the local authorities show up. Most of the storm chasers do, actually. The ones who are dangerous are the ones treating these monsters like a tourist attraction. "Tornado tours" are very popular, alas, and the number of vehicles out chasing makes it dangerous for the ones who are SUPPOSED to be out there giving warnings and collecting needed data. Traffic jams on narrow country roads with tornadoes spawning are very, very dangerous.
Back to the movie. It was so very satisfying every time one of the Jaegers smashed the kaiju around. Helped us purge a little of the frustration we have with our own monster fight. This story touches us in a very vulnerable place right now. We are still recovering from our last kaiju attack. Evidence of it is visible as you enter and leave the theater. We really needed something like this movie to entertain us and also help us psychologically fight back.
Mr. Del Toro, your beautifully crafted masterpiece is very much loved by many of us here. We needed it, and now is the perfect time for it. I know you never really thought about our storms as monsters when you were working on it, but for us, it strikes a chord that resonates very deeply. Thank you so much for making this film. Thanks for getting it to us now, because it has helped a lot. In my case, anyway. I have my own Gipsy Danger figure standing watch over my desk as I type. Reminds me of our fighting spirit here in Oklahoma. We get the snot kicked out of us, and yet we stand up, dust ourselves off, and rebuild, and keep fighting. We always will.
This film speaks to the frightened child in each of us and says that yes, we can fight the monsters, and we may take some pretty bad hits, but we CAN win. We have to keep trying.
If you live in Oklahoma and you have not seen Pacific Rim yet, you need to. See how it makes you feel. Bet it makes you feel good.
Our monsters don't have bodies, they aren't trying to wipe us out to prepare the way for a new civilization, (at least, we don't think so), but they are just as deadly as any kaiju.
I tend to think of the storms that regularly threaten Oklahoma as monsters. High damaging winds their foul breath, tornadoes for teeth and claws, they lay waste to our homes with no regard for us at all. All we can do is hunker down and wait them out, or try to get out of their way. Just like the people in Pacific Rim do when the kaiju attack.
Jaegers might not be so effective against tornadoes, since tornadoes routinely throw objects around that one would assume were stationary. The one in '99 even pulled pavement up off the streets it crossed. Some houses were so thoroughly gone that even the slabs were no longer there. I am sure that happened in a few cases this time as well.
Still, the movie makes us all feel better because it shows humans fighting back against the monsters. We do this with technology and warnings, but if something like the Jaegers could defend us against tornadoes, you can bet someone here would find a way to build some.
Every time we have seen Pacific Rim at the Warren IMAX, the theater is either full almost immediately, or fills up fairly quickly after we are seated. Everyone cheers when the Kaiju are defeated. I don't think you'll find too many kaiju fans among the denizens of Moore, OK. We have known too much destruction to cheer for monsters. Yet, the tornadoes have their groupies. Storm chasers, who seek to collect data and understand the storms, much like Newt. They really admire the power of these storms, but don't really care to actually be IN one. Not when they meet it face to face.
We also have our very serious scientists, like Hermann, who work both for the government and for private companies, studying the data from every possible angle, trying to find a way to understand these storms better in order to defeat them. Would that they were as easy to defeat as the kaiju. Oh, I know, the kaiju almost destroyed the earth, but they could be traced to a single source. Our monsters often seem to come out of almost nowhere. They can strike anywhere, though they have their favorite haunts. (Perhaps they hate country music, and that's why they target Oklahoma so much. After all, LOTS of country stars have come out of here, and Toby Keith grew up in Moore. Played football at Moore High School.)
There are even a few like Hannibal Chau here, who profit off what the monster leaves behind. There are those who salvage destroyed homes, seeking the re-useable materials that they can sell. Often they have permission from the city and the property owners, sometimes they do not. We also have fly-by-night contractors who come out of the woodwork after storms trying to get people who don't need it to replace roofs or build shelters. Now, all of us need shelters, but it is better by far to sit on the waiting list of a reputable company that has been here for the long haul than to go with some jerk who shows up at your door with a slick sales pitch.
There is no real equivalent to Stacker Pentecost and his Rangers here. Closest we can come are our professional storm chasers and meteorologists who keep eyes on the storms and give us enough warning to get under cover. For most of us, Gary England is the one we trust to give us the best information. We've all been through a LOT of storms with Gary, he knows what he's looking at, and rarely loses his cool. Val Castor is the storm chaser to trust. He's been through a lot of big ones, too. I believe he would LOVE to have something like a Jaeger to meet those storms with. He'd fight them to the death, no question. He's seen too much of the damage they can do. He and his crew stop to help people when they come along behind the tornadoes. They make sure to do what they can until the local authorities show up. Most of the storm chasers do, actually. The ones who are dangerous are the ones treating these monsters like a tourist attraction. "Tornado tours" are very popular, alas, and the number of vehicles out chasing makes it dangerous for the ones who are SUPPOSED to be out there giving warnings and collecting needed data. Traffic jams on narrow country roads with tornadoes spawning are very, very dangerous.
Back to the movie. It was so very satisfying every time one of the Jaegers smashed the kaiju around. Helped us purge a little of the frustration we have with our own monster fight. This story touches us in a very vulnerable place right now. We are still recovering from our last kaiju attack. Evidence of it is visible as you enter and leave the theater. We really needed something like this movie to entertain us and also help us psychologically fight back.
Mr. Del Toro, your beautifully crafted masterpiece is very much loved by many of us here. We needed it, and now is the perfect time for it. I know you never really thought about our storms as monsters when you were working on it, but for us, it strikes a chord that resonates very deeply. Thank you so much for making this film. Thanks for getting it to us now, because it has helped a lot. In my case, anyway. I have my own Gipsy Danger figure standing watch over my desk as I type. Reminds me of our fighting spirit here in Oklahoma. We get the snot kicked out of us, and yet we stand up, dust ourselves off, and rebuild, and keep fighting. We always will.
This film speaks to the frightened child in each of us and says that yes, we can fight the monsters, and we may take some pretty bad hits, but we CAN win. We have to keep trying.
If you live in Oklahoma and you have not seen Pacific Rim yet, you need to. See how it makes you feel. Bet it makes you feel good.
 |
| Here is Gipsy, standing watch for me. |
Friday, May 24, 2013
A Little Bit of Normal
Today felt a little more "normal" around here.
Ralph and Julie went and started really salvaging things from their house. I went to work for my usual Thursday afternoon/evening shift. The computers were back up, thanks to our tech guys, the Cox tech guys, and some guys from AT&T who had been furnishing us temporary hotspots until Cox could get their fiber connections reconnected. (Had to tell the AT&T guys how much I love my U-Verse at home. Best, most reliable, fastest Internet we have ever had. Cox does a great job with business services and the library's service, but their home services were not so hot. At least not in our experience. AT&T U-Verse has performed much better for us at home.)
The day at work went by much faster than usual. There were friends I haven't seen since last week to catch up with , and Julie wasn't there, of course, so I sorted and checked in the delivery. I got to talk to several of our "regulars" on the phone who were worried about us, and since I've been there since the last big tornado, (14 years now), I was the one to talk to several of those who called, because they knew me.
Being on the desk this evening was a blessing. It was really quiet, but that allowed me to focus more on each customer who came in, and even if some were not our usual crowd, those that are our usual Thursday folks were so very glad to see us, so happy to see the library intact, it was hard not to get choked up. People kept calling, hoping the Zumba class was still on tonight, but all programs are cancelled until the traffic and roads clear up a bit more. (Nowhere much to park near us right now, the Community Center is a Red Cross shelter, the church next door a volunteer meeting point,and there are generous folks from all over cooking wonderful food right outside our doors. )
One of the men who was with the group cooking out front came in to thank us for letting them set up out there, and I thanked him and said it meant a lot that folks cared so much and wanted to help. He said he was so glad they could do it because everybody he met here has been terrific. I said, well, that's why this is such a nice place to live, even with tornadoes. Moore has an atmosphere of being a close-knit small town, even with its modern shopping areas and restaurants and theaters. You still see folks you know when you go out and about here. (Though, if the truth be told, the entire OKC metro area is one big small town. I see people I know a lot of places I go all around the metro.)
People called all day asking if we were open, was the building OK, were all of us OK, it was amazing. We knew we were loved, but we didn't know they loved us that much. Our Friends group called to check in. The Friends volunteers are pretty much all accounted for, so is our regular volunteer, Don, who is a retired AF enlisted man. Don's house was destroyed, but he and his wife are OK.
The mail has been delivered to our house every day this week, even though the Post Office that is diagonally across I-35 from the library has significant damage. Our local carriers have stepped up and gotten the mail out to anyplace that they can still safely deliver it. Today that mail brought me some goodies I had ordered. I got the new T-shirt I ordered from Listen+Breathe=Vision. It is the same design (Blue Sweater is the title of the painting on it) as the last one I ordered, but this one is on a navy blue shirt, and it's a large instead of an extra large. I really like this painting, and I am happy to report that the quality appears to be as high on this shirt as it is on the black one I already own. Michael M. Ornstein is the artist.
I also got the USB drive I ordered that has enough capacity to hold all the music I have purchased and have on this computer. I download my purchases from Amazon to the Media Player, and they are also available to me on the Cloud Player. I would still like to have all that music backed up somewhere, just in case.
Ralph and Julie came by after I got home from work to collect Melvin and go to their son's house. They are going to stay there for awhile while they figure out the next steps. The cats are still with us, and they seem to be enjoying our house. Miss Lulu seems the most at home, but Mr. Peabody is adapting quickly. They didn't even freak out too much when I did some vacuuming this evening, and came back out from under the couch as soon as I stared putting the Evil Vacuum Cleaner Machine away. I will miss having Ralph and Julie here, and I'll miss Melvin, too. I will especially miss Julie because she won't be back at work right away, the the library doesn't seem right without her. We always tease her that the place will fall apart without her, and you know, it would be hard to function without Julie. She is our corporate memory, always keeping details straight, and keeping the rest of us up to speed on changes to certain procedures, and she and her sense of humor help keep the circulation staff going. Julie was the one who spent the most time training me 14 years ago, and we have been through a lot in those years. Parades, festivals, programs, tornadoes, spouses being ill, loss of pets, you name it. Julie and I have gone through it. Julie and Ralph have always been there when we needed them, I am SO glad to be able to offer what help I can now when they need us. That's what friends are for.
We also have to pay forward the help that other friends have given us over the years. The Rosenfelds were friends in Germany who helped us a lot when we needed it, and of course, we must try to be worthy of our friends the Rogerses. Mike and Nancy Rogers are superlative friends. They have done so many wonderful things,not just for us, but for all their friends, that we will never be able to repay their kindness. Being able to pass along the help and reciprocate the help you get from others is a great feeling. I don't think I deserve any special thanks or praise for helping, after all, they do US a kindness by letting us try to show how much we appreciate them. Since we were fortunate enough to still have our house, the LEAST we can do is offer the comfort of this house to friends who can't enjoy the comfort of their own house right now. Why else do I have this place and the stuff that makes it welcoming? It isn't just for us, it's to share.
I have just looked at the clock and realized that it is a good thing I am off work tomorrow. (Or I should say, today.)
Just some rambles from the town I have grown to love.
Hope they make at least a little sense.
As Ever,
Katie
Ralph and Julie went and started really salvaging things from their house. I went to work for my usual Thursday afternoon/evening shift. The computers were back up, thanks to our tech guys, the Cox tech guys, and some guys from AT&T who had been furnishing us temporary hotspots until Cox could get their fiber connections reconnected. (Had to tell the AT&T guys how much I love my U-Verse at home. Best, most reliable, fastest Internet we have ever had. Cox does a great job with business services and the library's service, but their home services were not so hot. At least not in our experience. AT&T U-Verse has performed much better for us at home.)
The day at work went by much faster than usual. There were friends I haven't seen since last week to catch up with , and Julie wasn't there, of course, so I sorted and checked in the delivery. I got to talk to several of our "regulars" on the phone who were worried about us, and since I've been there since the last big tornado, (14 years now), I was the one to talk to several of those who called, because they knew me.
Being on the desk this evening was a blessing. It was really quiet, but that allowed me to focus more on each customer who came in, and even if some were not our usual crowd, those that are our usual Thursday folks were so very glad to see us, so happy to see the library intact, it was hard not to get choked up. People kept calling, hoping the Zumba class was still on tonight, but all programs are cancelled until the traffic and roads clear up a bit more. (Nowhere much to park near us right now, the Community Center is a Red Cross shelter, the church next door a volunteer meeting point,and there are generous folks from all over cooking wonderful food right outside our doors. )
One of the men who was with the group cooking out front came in to thank us for letting them set up out there, and I thanked him and said it meant a lot that folks cared so much and wanted to help. He said he was so glad they could do it because everybody he met here has been terrific. I said, well, that's why this is such a nice place to live, even with tornadoes. Moore has an atmosphere of being a close-knit small town, even with its modern shopping areas and restaurants and theaters. You still see folks you know when you go out and about here. (Though, if the truth be told, the entire OKC metro area is one big small town. I see people I know a lot of places I go all around the metro.)
People called all day asking if we were open, was the building OK, were all of us OK, it was amazing. We knew we were loved, but we didn't know they loved us that much. Our Friends group called to check in. The Friends volunteers are pretty much all accounted for, so is our regular volunteer, Don, who is a retired AF enlisted man. Don's house was destroyed, but he and his wife are OK.
The mail has been delivered to our house every day this week, even though the Post Office that is diagonally across I-35 from the library has significant damage. Our local carriers have stepped up and gotten the mail out to anyplace that they can still safely deliver it. Today that mail brought me some goodies I had ordered. I got the new T-shirt I ordered from Listen+Breathe=Vision. It is the same design (Blue Sweater is the title of the painting on it) as the last one I ordered, but this one is on a navy blue shirt, and it's a large instead of an extra large. I really like this painting, and I am happy to report that the quality appears to be as high on this shirt as it is on the black one I already own. Michael M. Ornstein is the artist.
I also got the USB drive I ordered that has enough capacity to hold all the music I have purchased and have on this computer. I download my purchases from Amazon to the Media Player, and they are also available to me on the Cloud Player. I would still like to have all that music backed up somewhere, just in case.
Ralph and Julie came by after I got home from work to collect Melvin and go to their son's house. They are going to stay there for awhile while they figure out the next steps. The cats are still with us, and they seem to be enjoying our house. Miss Lulu seems the most at home, but Mr. Peabody is adapting quickly. They didn't even freak out too much when I did some vacuuming this evening, and came back out from under the couch as soon as I stared putting the Evil Vacuum Cleaner Machine away. I will miss having Ralph and Julie here, and I'll miss Melvin, too. I will especially miss Julie because she won't be back at work right away, the the library doesn't seem right without her. We always tease her that the place will fall apart without her, and you know, it would be hard to function without Julie. She is our corporate memory, always keeping details straight, and keeping the rest of us up to speed on changes to certain procedures, and she and her sense of humor help keep the circulation staff going. Julie was the one who spent the most time training me 14 years ago, and we have been through a lot in those years. Parades, festivals, programs, tornadoes, spouses being ill, loss of pets, you name it. Julie and I have gone through it. Julie and Ralph have always been there when we needed them, I am SO glad to be able to offer what help I can now when they need us. That's what friends are for.
We also have to pay forward the help that other friends have given us over the years. The Rosenfelds were friends in Germany who helped us a lot when we needed it, and of course, we must try to be worthy of our friends the Rogerses. Mike and Nancy Rogers are superlative friends. They have done so many wonderful things,not just for us, but for all their friends, that we will never be able to repay their kindness. Being able to pass along the help and reciprocate the help you get from others is a great feeling. I don't think I deserve any special thanks or praise for helping, after all, they do US a kindness by letting us try to show how much we appreciate them. Since we were fortunate enough to still have our house, the LEAST we can do is offer the comfort of this house to friends who can't enjoy the comfort of their own house right now. Why else do I have this place and the stuff that makes it welcoming? It isn't just for us, it's to share.
I have just looked at the clock and realized that it is a good thing I am off work tomorrow. (Or I should say, today.)
Just some rambles from the town I have grown to love.
Hope they make at least a little sense.
As Ever,
Katie
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Love Is Pouring In
"There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in" - Leonard Cohen
There must be a crack in Moore. There's lots of love and light pouring in around here today. I've been helping Julie run some errands today while Ralph is sorting through and salvaging stuff from their house. Everywhere we went, people were happy to help. The health department was offering free tetanus shots, so we went over there. Turns out, Julie had already had a recent booster. I had no idea the last time I had one, so they gave me one. (My records are all at Tinker.) The health department ladies all know us sort of because they used to be housed in the building right behind the library where we work. (The police station is there now.)
We reserved a trailer for Ralph to rent at the little U-Haul place that is at the gas station I always go to. The man there recognized me, and I told him Julie worked with me at the library. He had a trailer the right type and size for them to use, and told them right now it is 24 hour bookings only, but that's all they need. If they need it again, they can see if they can reserve it for another 24 hours.
Julie and I walked up to the Crest grocery store on the corner of 12th and Eastern and bought some stuff to make sandwiches for lunch. Ralph was back over here after picking up the trailer, so we all had lunch.
Turns out, we could have just gone over to the library parking lot and gotten BBQ chicken, or a burger, or hot dog, lots and lots of good food being cooked right there at the library/community center parking lot. We found this out when Julie and I went over to drop off the oatmeal-peanutbutter-chocolate chip cookies I made at the police station. I told the ladies there that Ted Belling, Jerry Cambpell, and Daniel Melendez could vouch for the quality of my cookies. They laughed. But they gladly took the cookies.
There are organizations from all over the country here cooking hot meals for people who no longer have kitchens, landlords that have offered unoccupied properties to victims needing a place to stay, college campuses opening the recently vacated residence halls, animal welfare groups working with local vets to set up a shelter for displaced pets at the fairgrounds, so very much love. People are not as awful as some would have us believe. People see something like this happen, and they want to reach out, they want to help. It is heartwarming when it is your town that needs the help.
What hurts is when the novelty wears off, but the aftereffects are still here to be dealt with. Then, we need the folks who are willing to help rebuild, to help sort out insurance and other legal details, to advise homeowners who are most likely still overwhelmed and overtaxed. There are local builders here in Moore who handled this before in '99 and 2003, and they are ready to do it all again. Our chamber of commerce has been through this before, too, and they have a new building because of the '99 tornado. They are gearing up to help with FEMA and SBA paperwork, help the local businesses get the help they need. Our library is already back open, offering a quiet place to sit and read, use the computer, find information they may need. Heck, today my boss was offering suggestions on driving routes that would help folks get where they want to go around the damaged areas. Our tech team has worked overtime, and just as Julie and I were leaving, internet connectivity was restored, which means we will likely be back to business as usual when I go in tomorrow at 12:30.
Our library will be there to offer whatever services, information, and comfort we can, just like we did last time. These are our neighbors. These are our friends. Some of those little children who died were ones I had come up and ask me to look up their card number when they came to the library. I will miss them. They, like most of our kids here, were polite and happy kids, fun to have around.
It is a shame, but often it takes something like this to remind us just how much we love each other. Friends who have been there when you needed them are precious. How much more precious it is to be able to offer the comforts we have to them when they need us. It makes me very happy that I can do this. I will smile a little more at the little ones who come in. How precious it is to have those children using their library, and coming to us rather than going someplace else to "hang out" after school. I will hug my coworkers and spoil them more because I really, really enjoy working with these people. They are dedicated and creative, and they all love books as much as I do.
Then there is our Warren Theatre. Bill Warren has already said the theatre will reopen on the 29th. He'd open earlier, but there are some supplies needed to do the necessary repairs that won't be available that soon. The Warren works with all community agencies on a regular basis, often partnering with the library to sponsor a "Big Read" movie night, when they show a movie that was made from the Big Read book, or is related to the subject of the book.
Our local Chic-Fil-A is going to reopen soon, but today they were handing out chicken sandwiches at the community center and other places around town. They are big supporters of the library, and are always asking what they can do to help.
One of the liquor stores in town, in my opinion the best one, and the only one I shop at, Moore Liquor, has a marquee out front which is rather infamous around Oklahoma for the jokes Brian posts on it every week. This week, because of what has happened, it is more sincere and less smart-ass.
I think he's right. We've done this before. It's been 14 years, and we've grown a lot since then, but we can do it again. We can rebuild it even better than it was. It'll take awhile, and sometimes it'll hurt, but "we'll be okay."
From Moore, America.
Katie
There must be a crack in Moore. There's lots of love and light pouring in around here today. I've been helping Julie run some errands today while Ralph is sorting through and salvaging stuff from their house. Everywhere we went, people were happy to help. The health department was offering free tetanus shots, so we went over there. Turns out, Julie had already had a recent booster. I had no idea the last time I had one, so they gave me one. (My records are all at Tinker.) The health department ladies all know us sort of because they used to be housed in the building right behind the library where we work. (The police station is there now.)
We reserved a trailer for Ralph to rent at the little U-Haul place that is at the gas station I always go to. The man there recognized me, and I told him Julie worked with me at the library. He had a trailer the right type and size for them to use, and told them right now it is 24 hour bookings only, but that's all they need. If they need it again, they can see if they can reserve it for another 24 hours.
Julie and I walked up to the Crest grocery store on the corner of 12th and Eastern and bought some stuff to make sandwiches for lunch. Ralph was back over here after picking up the trailer, so we all had lunch.
Turns out, we could have just gone over to the library parking lot and gotten BBQ chicken, or a burger, or hot dog, lots and lots of good food being cooked right there at the library/community center parking lot. We found this out when Julie and I went over to drop off the oatmeal-peanutbutter-chocolate chip cookies I made at the police station. I told the ladies there that Ted Belling, Jerry Cambpell, and Daniel Melendez could vouch for the quality of my cookies. They laughed. But they gladly took the cookies.
There are organizations from all over the country here cooking hot meals for people who no longer have kitchens, landlords that have offered unoccupied properties to victims needing a place to stay, college campuses opening the recently vacated residence halls, animal welfare groups working with local vets to set up a shelter for displaced pets at the fairgrounds, so very much love. People are not as awful as some would have us believe. People see something like this happen, and they want to reach out, they want to help. It is heartwarming when it is your town that needs the help.
What hurts is when the novelty wears off, but the aftereffects are still here to be dealt with. Then, we need the folks who are willing to help rebuild, to help sort out insurance and other legal details, to advise homeowners who are most likely still overwhelmed and overtaxed. There are local builders here in Moore who handled this before in '99 and 2003, and they are ready to do it all again. Our chamber of commerce has been through this before, too, and they have a new building because of the '99 tornado. They are gearing up to help with FEMA and SBA paperwork, help the local businesses get the help they need. Our library is already back open, offering a quiet place to sit and read, use the computer, find information they may need. Heck, today my boss was offering suggestions on driving routes that would help folks get where they want to go around the damaged areas. Our tech team has worked overtime, and just as Julie and I were leaving, internet connectivity was restored, which means we will likely be back to business as usual when I go in tomorrow at 12:30.
Our library will be there to offer whatever services, information, and comfort we can, just like we did last time. These are our neighbors. These are our friends. Some of those little children who died were ones I had come up and ask me to look up their card number when they came to the library. I will miss them. They, like most of our kids here, were polite and happy kids, fun to have around.
It is a shame, but often it takes something like this to remind us just how much we love each other. Friends who have been there when you needed them are precious. How much more precious it is to be able to offer the comforts we have to them when they need us. It makes me very happy that I can do this. I will smile a little more at the little ones who come in. How precious it is to have those children using their library, and coming to us rather than going someplace else to "hang out" after school. I will hug my coworkers and spoil them more because I really, really enjoy working with these people. They are dedicated and creative, and they all love books as much as I do.
Then there is our Warren Theatre. Bill Warren has already said the theatre will reopen on the 29th. He'd open earlier, but there are some supplies needed to do the necessary repairs that won't be available that soon. The Warren works with all community agencies on a regular basis, often partnering with the library to sponsor a "Big Read" movie night, when they show a movie that was made from the Big Read book, or is related to the subject of the book.
Our local Chic-Fil-A is going to reopen soon, but today they were handing out chicken sandwiches at the community center and other places around town. They are big supporters of the library, and are always asking what they can do to help.
One of the liquor stores in town, in my opinion the best one, and the only one I shop at, Moore Liquor, has a marquee out front which is rather infamous around Oklahoma for the jokes Brian posts on it every week. This week, because of what has happened, it is more sincere and less smart-ass.
From Moore, America.
Katie
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