Signs of Resilience:Why Texas Rocks





Creativity's a fine thing. And coupled with a sense of humor, it can form the backbone of survival. For your browsing pleasure, I've compiled some photos submitted by readers of the Houston Chronicle, whose coverage of all things Hurricane Ike has been first-rate.

A few notes: Centerpoint is the major power company. And I don't have a photo for my favorite sign, from the battered Galveston Bay community of San Leon, where we once owned property.

For a town with such severe devastation, it maintains a sense of humor.

One couple used red spray paint to write FEMA YARD OF THE MONTH on the side of their damaged wooden cottage. Some had more stern warnings: Loot on this street, die on this street.

"We are the outlaws of Galveston County," said Scott Lyons, the assistant chief for the town's volunteer fire department, driving past a home with a fake coffin in the front yard and a sign that said: Looter Vacancy.


Gotta love that Texas attitude!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Love the signs, Colleen!!!! Thanks for the laugh.
Joni Rodgers said…
Ha! Gotta love the Anderson Cooper groupies.

We had power for twelve glorious hours but are now unplugged again.
TJ Bennett said…
Colleen, love the signs. I also loved our local town paper's front page. The pull quote for the picture said something warm and lovely like: "Something like this really brings us together as a community and that's what's neat about [our town]." Under the quote was a picture of a hand-painted notification leaning on a stop sign saying, "Looters will be shot."

Mixed messages, but soooo Texan. :-)

Joni, if you get desperate for electricity, we've got power up here finally. Happy to lend out our plugs to ya, and make you a home-cooked meal (if you don't mind mini-corn dogs, that is). We went shopping yesterday, finally, trusting our power would hold after being on for two days, and I keep opening the fridge and fondling the ice cubes.

But maybe that's a personal problem... :-)

TJB
Suzan Harden said…
Loved the beer and BBQ sign!! After10 days, we finally got power back yesterday afternoon. Bless the friends who brought ice and let us use their washer/dryer. And Bless the Centerpoint guys who've been working non-stop since the 13th.
Anonymous said…
Colleen, I saw another good one outside a house with every soaked and sodden thing in the whole house piled up in the front yard. It said, "Yard Sale. Everything Must Go. Make Offer."
Jo Anne said…
Donna, Kay & I saw that one, too. Talk about a sense of humor. :-)

Gotta love Texans. Not much problem with looting here. Our mayor (Bill White), who has done a fabulous job, simply made it clear. "This is Houston TX, we do not tolerate looting. Period."

Of course, there was the redneck in Pasadena who pulled a gun on someone who tried to cut in a gasoline line and the guard cop had to shoot him. I wonder if they're counting him in the 20 Ike fatalities? Idiot.

We had power almost immediately, then starting having rolling surges on Thursday due to a line fuse out. So - we either run the air conditioner or the computers, but not both. Hard to complain...

Keep grinnin'. If you live on coast of Texas you get to do this every now and again (last one this bad in Houston was Alicia in 1983).
That's a good one, Donna. Someone e-mailed me about another, also mentioned in the Houston Chronicle, where a resident stuck a coffin in his front yard with the sign "Looter Vacancy."

Glad you have your power back TJ and Suzan. Hope you get yours permanently restored soon, Joni. Until then, my door's open, too.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone!
Ciara Gold said…
Too funny. Humor has a way of lessening the trauma. Thanks for sharing.
What a trip! People can be such incredibly clever creatures even in the face of the scary stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Christie Craig said…
Colleen,

Thanks for the chuckle.

I find laughter always helps in tje midst of stress. And what was Ike, if not a big storm of stress?

CC
Teri Thackston said…
Thanks for the laugh, Colleen. There are a lot of creative people out there.
Teri