Hurricane Isaac

Hurricane Isaac is still with us.

Mother Nature's not happy.

Droughts.  Fires.  Earthquake tremors.  Hurricane Isaac.

Since home is where the heart is, just about everyone's heart has been affected by these extremes, either through personal experience or through the experience(s) of those near and dear.  For many, it's been a long, hot summer, even year or more, what with the droughts.

It's gut-wrenching to see Hurricane Isaac's impact.  In some cases, it's impossible to recognize roads my husband and I drove in May.  Yes, gut-wrenching. Very.  And tearful. Very.

As Labor Day Weekend approaches, I would like to say 'thank you' to the brave men and women who worked to control the fires out West.  We are fifty states.  But we are one country.  What happens in California or Oregon or Colorado or anywhere else tears at my heart.

As I type -- as the southern swath of my state, Louisiana, and my neighbor, Mississippi, are drowning from a type of hurricane never experienced before -- I'd like to say 'thank you' to the brave men and women who work to kick Isaac's butt.

I'd like to say 'thank you' to the teams of men and women and agencies and weather forecasters and everyone else involved in preparing for this hurricane season, a 'thank you' that includes the tax payer.  Re-building New Orleans wasn't cheap.  If everyone hadn't pulled together, Isaac's weird hurricane sky -- those streaks of wiggly white clouds -- well, it would be multiple times far worse.

Before Isaac hit, I called relatives and friends in South Louisiana,  Each said preparations for Isaac had been massive and well-coordinated, that the federal, state, and local governments were doing what they were supposed to do.  Hurricane Katrina killed 1,836 people.  No one wanted to see that happen again.