House in Mississippi finally fixed! - 6:33 PM, May. 24, 2007

Hello, everyone!

Sorry I have been a bit out of touch lately, but I’ve been in Mississippi, helping prepare my parents’ house for their Christmas 2005 party (it’s a bit behind schedule, due to hurricane). When I first got there, the main thing that hurt me was to see the pine trees that were such a backdrop of life on the Coast, almost all dead. The salt water got to them in the storm surge, then, there was a drought right after the hurricane, and the pines’ shallow root system couldn’t handle it. Bark beetles came in and killed the ones that stood after the storm.

Well, I decided to take a moment from cleaning to pay homage to some of the pine trees. I drew two of them south of our house. They were dead but hadn’t fallen down.

The barren branches made an interesting, if bleak, pattern against an overcast sky. As I continued to help prepare for the open house/party, I found that one pine tree had survived both the hurricane and the beetles. It was a small pine, and it stood in lone vigil with the Gulf in sight behind it. The next day was partly cloudy, so I took another moment to capture the youthful vitality and perseverance shown in this young pine.

Surely, from this tree, more will sprout, and eventually, the pine forest will return.

            Preparing the house was quite an effort. The north and south-facing walls had to be rebuilt, but the color of the existing bricks couldn’t be matched. The whole house had to be re-done with new bricks, more red in color, but still nice. The front doors were much simpler, and the interior was completely re-done. Luckily, Mom and Dad had gotten both hurricane and flood insurance. Many people got one or the other, which usually wasn’t enough to cover all of the damage.

The Spring weather was quite pleasant, and everything was green. A lot of cleaning needed to be done, so the cool temperatures were welcome. The back porch had to be cleared of tools and other materials, furniture had to be put back in, and my uncle Edward came to put up draperies- a beautiful final touch.

The party was a huge success. More than one hundred friends and family came to celebrate the completion of the house, and that was the best gift my parents could enjoy. Of Mom’s side of the family, Uncle Edward and Aunt Patty and their two daughters Glynis and Tannis came. Also, Cousin Harley and his wife Debbie came from Arizona, for their first visit the Coast. Nephew Terry flew in with Emily and me, and Carla and Bob also came. We joined Shelly and Uncle Danny and his wife Trena, who live nearby. There is joy and laughter in the Schmidtling house once more.

All the best,

Ronnie

"Dino-guy" Ron Schmidtling
paleontologist, dinosaur songwriter
http://www.32blogs.com/blogs_ma/members/dinoguy/
www.dinosounds.com