Those of you who read Bayou Woman’s blog, know that I followed her home right after Hurricane Ike made landfall. She had been gone from home for about 2 weeks having had to evacuate prior to Hurricane Gustav making landfall.
We hightailed it south from my house to BigSis’s house, helped along the way by the strong winds as Hurricane Ike moved northward. With tornado warnings all around, we kept a watchful eye out for funnel clouds and held our breaths on the overpasses on I-49.
Sunday morning, the day after the storm, we left BigSis’s house early to meet Cap’n Droopy, a friend of Bayou Woman’s, who was to take us by boat to view her house and the cypress cottage, both of which had flooded. We had to go by boat, because the road at the head of the bayou was closed due to high water. It was impossible for most vehicles to pass.
As we pulled up in the bayou across the street from the cypress cottage, we could see the front yard filled with water and a muddy waterline above the front porch. I waded through knee-deep water, went through the front door, and was greeted by floors covered in a thin veneer of dark brown mud and water marks about 8 inches up the wall.
There was nothing we could do right then, and just as we were about to embark to head back, BW’s friend, Mechanic, happened by in his truck. He was headed down the bayou and would be going right past Bayou Woman’s house to check on another friend’s camp. He obligingly let us make the ride with him. Once we surveyed the house from the road (there was going to be no wading through that hip-high water!), we continued down toward his friend’s camp.
I want you to try to picture this. And if you’ve seen the pictures BW has posted, you’ll understand. When Hurricane Gustav came through there was a lot of wind damage. That means trees down, limbs down, debris tossed around. Most of the people who evacuated north before Gustav did not have time to come back down before Hurricane Ike struck. Hurricane Ike brought the high water which washed all of the downed limbs and debris and anything that would float and wasn’t tied down whichever way the water was flowing.
So, when I say we got in a truck and went down the bayou, it wasn’t like we were on a high and dry road. Travel was very slow due to the deep water on the road and due to the fact that nobody was sure what was under that water. There were times when we were all peering out the windows down at the road just to make sure we kept the yellow and white road markings in sight. We didn’t want to lose sight of those lines and drive off the road. As it was, we ended up with one flat tire and a nail sticking out of another one.
So, as we were creeping along watching carefully, we happened upon an entire family packed into the cab of a front end loader methodically trying to clear the road of debris. The family consisted of father, mother, and three children. I don’t know how much of the road they had attempted to clear before we caught up with them, but it appeared to be an exercise in futility.
We must have sat there for at least 20 minutes (there was no getting around them) while they scooped up debris and deposited it on the side of the road only to have it wash right back where it was before. Basically, they were just stirring the soup, not making much headway at all.
As we sat waiting for them to make a path, we spotted this…
We don’t know how long this puppy had been sitting on that crab box. She wasn’t wet and she wasn’t dirty. Nobody was home at any of the houses around her. Mechanic kept telling me that she surely belonged to somebody and that if we took her, we would be stealing her. I kept pointing out that somebody left her and that she was probably hungry and thirsty. Then we saw this…
This big fella was on the other side of the road in the bayou. But remember there was water covering the road. That didn’t really matter though, because alligators can travel by land…
And they’re fast when they wanna be fast. This, to me, looked like a tempting gator meal…
Well, Mechanic wasn’t as hard-hearted as I thought he was. As we pulled up alongside the puppy, he hollered to one of the guys in the back of the truck to get the dog. Asking no questions, said guy hopped out, sloshed through the water (with boots on), and retrieved the pup who was only too glad to come along.
We finally made it back up the bayou having been stopped short of Mechanic’s goal by a herd of cows. Once we reached the patient Cap’n Droopy to retrace the ride home, and convinced that neither BigSis nor our niece at whose home we were staying would take kindly to having a stray dog in their home, we put the pup out of the truck, gave it some water, and promised to return the next day with dog food.
We kept our promise, but the little pup was nowhere to be found. We kept an eye out as we traveled between cottage Camp Dularge and the house hoping to find her, but no luck. Then on Tuesday, as we were coming back up from the house, there she was on the side of the road wandering around in a field not far from the where we had put her out. Well, we immediately pulled over, but she was frightened and reluctant to come near.
Remembering the puppy food, I poured some out on the side of the road. That was all it took. She couldn’t resist, and as she ate the food, I picked her up and put her in the truck. So, let me introduce you to…
Ishi is a sweet, sweet dog. She had hookworms and an eye infection and she was skinny, but we’ve taken care of all that. She sits on command and has learned to shake – with either paw, she’s ambidextrous! She is full of energy like any puppy, but she rides well in the car and gave me no trouble at all on the 6 hour ride home. I’m not sure if I can keep her. I’d love to give her to Termite, but they need to repair the fence around the backyard at the cottage for her safety. Hmm, sounds like another project to go back down south for! I’m willing to provide the labor – anybody willing to donate money to help with the fencing materials?
