Gatlinburg Fire 2016

Being Thankful

04 December

My news feed is chock full of support, up to the minute info on where to help out, what needs still need met, and blessings from afar. I have a friend who is frantically planting trees and brainstorming ways to get them out when it’s time. I have friends planning agendas for the months to come to keep victim’s needs met.
If you are told a certain place needs volunteers and you get there only to be turned away, I beg you to be persistent. Things change constantly. You should be able to look for yourself and see what needs done. Take out the trash. Put a bottle of water in somebody’s hand if they look a little parched. (You’ll probably need to open it for them. If they’ve been working with their hands, they will appreciate the gesture. Trust me on this one.) I believe we’re all doing the best we can and our adrenaline is wearing out and it’s just plain exhausting. Give them a prayer if you can. It’s impossible to have a plan for something of this caliber.
If your news feed is filled with people bickering, complaining, and bitterness then perhaps you should reevaluate your friends.
And if you can do nothing else~if you can’t find the willpower to pray~please spread the word that the county, the National Park, and the city of Pigeon Forge is OPEN FOR BUSINESS. For the love of God, we need those tourism dollars. If we can’t rebuild, we’re ruined for sure.
Oh, and I have more good news: IT’S RAINING!!!

The Book Blog

The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

03 December

In order for me to digest a book I must first be able to concentrate.

I have not been afforded that luxury the last couple of weeks with all the trauma in our county, so I’m behind.

Words that come to mind to describe this novel: bland, pointless, dragging, boring. Maybe with all the fires and displaced families in my county right now a rich girl’s love life just didn’t do it for me with the hand kissing and drama with a furtive photograph.

I had high hopes for The Fortune Hunter but it fell short. I liked An American Heiress well enough. So why didn’t I like this? It had all the makings of what I normally love: historical fiction, well-off people, horses, etcetera. Maybe my timing was off. But I didn’t care for it. The only truly enjoyable character was Casper, he was brimming with life while the rest of them just seemed to drift by shrouded in fog. There were three predominant stories: one, Charlotte’s love for photography, the Empress’ love for Bay, and Bay’s love for Tipsy, his horse who jumps hedges supposedly 18 feet tall. Everybody else is filler, and the Lennox diamonds never got enough action for my taste. I was not excited to finish, and if I had to read one more word about Sisi’s lines around her eyes…

Not every book I read has the ability to lilt me to sleep, but this one did. And for that, I bequeath it two stars.

Another Day in Appalachia

Southern Guilt

03 December

“Start a blog,” they urged. 

“It’s easy!!!” they promised. 

“They” is y’all, and y’all are crazy. 

It is neither easy nor fun. 

And you better get to clickin’ when I share it so I can recoup my $300. 

Yes, I’m serious. 

I’m a writer, not a web designer, but to have a blog you have to be both, plus a photographer, a marketing executive, & a minor in computer programming is advised. 

So I’m irritated & frustrated & I start to cry because I’ve accomplished not one thing I’ve set out to do today, & I can’t concentrate on my book that I should have had the review turned in for at the absolute LATEST last Sunday, so I decide to decorate the tree we purchased Monday as the county turned into an inferno. It’s stood naked in the corner all week. 

Christmas lights. The absolute WORST idea when you’re already mad. 

So then I’m that much more upset because how ridiculous am I that I’m aggravated about untangling Christmas lights & setting up my blog when people in this county have NOTHING FROM THEIR FORMER LIFE. In some cases, no life at all. 

So then I’m crying so hard I can’t breathe, so I did what I do. 

I picked up my phone, not my laptop, & blurted out my crazy to my Facebook FRIENDS, but I’m tempted to make it public so they know I’m not a saint. I’m just another overwhelmed Volunteer State hillbilly.

Gatlinburg Fire 2016

Volunteer Nation

03 December

I have lots of things to say about yesterday. I plan to open a blog today to get it all out of me, & will share the link as soon as I have it.

For now, it will have to be enough for me to say that the outpouring of generosity from ALL OVER AMERICA is something special. I moved chicken cages with a local friend, Donna Parton, a teenager from Georgia, & two guys from Knoxville. One of them had a broken arm but he was still helping.

I moved hay that was donated by a man from Jamestown with one of my old co-workers. His wife has manned the fairgrounds tirelessly since the county made the decision to open it to displaced animals.

Thank you David Majors for answering my tears & pleading with a MUCH NEEDED fork machine. And Gary was a welcome sight.

Thank you Co-op. It’s good to know people in the right places. Thank you Leanne Anke for taking the evacuated horses back to their home on your day off.

Thanks to the businesses who are donating their people, their products, & their dollars towards this catastrophic incident. Food City had sent a tractor trailer full yesterday, Borden Dairy another, & I didn’t catch the names of several others in & out.

 

I spoke with a gentleman at the Rescue Squad that Lisega (the new factory on Dumplin Valley Road in Kodak) had sent on their dime to work. Lots of local restaurants are keeping these volunteers fed. And fed well–I saw Krispy Kreme boxes but somehow missed their contents. Cyndie and Kay I hope you can stay sane. If not, we can go decompress again. I’m always game for that.

I swept floors & moved tables & sorted supplies with people whom I was too busy to get their stories. We laughed & we cried & we worked.

I directed volunteers & people with donations & loaded a truck for a pregnant girl who had been sent to get dog food from a hotel with guests that had been through hell with their pets. I teared up again & again as people who didn’t look like they had a dime handed over bags of supplies & the occasional envelope.

I reunited with old customers of mine who were there to lend a hand.

We were all there to help & our hearts were of one purpose. It was good to be together & safe.

Show up somewhere today if you can. I don’t know what you’ll be doing, but it will change your life & your heart, I will promise you that.

~Sevier County Fairgrounds, 752 Old Knoxville Highway Sevierville

~Sevier County Rescue Squad, 1171 Dolly Parton Parkway, Sevierville

~old Boyds Bears location, 149 Cates Lane, Pigeon Forge

~The Barker Lounge/ Pets Without Parents might also appreciate volunteers.

~New Hope on 66, (2450 Winfield Dunn Parkway, Kodak) needs help sorting & delivering to Boyds Bears. They are not a part of the Red Cross effort & all supplies are staying in the county.

~Leconte Landing (where the news has been stationed, Teaster Lane) is being run by Red Cross I do believe.


Postscript: I laugh as I think of a comment I heard yesterday: “I guess the red cross knows where to have their next disaster.” 

Yeah. It’s like that. And a lady I met with the Humane Society opened up to me a little & said she had a family member in another state that was willing to house horses. Of course I thanked her & ticked off five or six of my personal friends in the county who had already offered. She kinda cocked her head & smiled a little & said, “That’s right. Y’all take care of your own, don’t you?” 

I stood a little prouder & smiled. 

#smokiesstrong #proudtobeatennesseevolunteer

Gatlinburg Fire 2016

Relief & Guilt

02 December

Every night I’ve tried to post a little update. I didn’t get to it last night. I was answering the 200+ comments from my last post that evidently went viral. It seems that people all over are hungry for information, & y’all seem to like to hear me tell it because then you know they aren’t alone in your thoughts & observations.
Last night brought me another dose of guilt, as I remembered friends in Gatlinburg that I have neglected to check on & now it’s so late it’s embarrassing.
I returned some pillowcases to Belk before I went to the library’s Christmas party. I feel like I understand a little bit of why soldiers returning from war are sometimes disgusted when they get stateside. The excess is appalling. I figured my stupid expenditure for frilly pillowcases would better be used elsewhere right now. I felt guilty for going to the Christmas party. I felt shame for enjoying it. I’m telling you, being thisclose to tragedy is a humbling experience. I’ll get another dose of that today, as I go where the Good Lord & Lorie Yount send me. I’m starting at the fairgrounds. I had big plans for cleaning, decorating my tree, & finishing my book today. These were things I mistakenly believed I needed to do.
I was wrong.
They were things I WANTED to do.
There was no way I could stay at home, cleaning my house when people in this county don’t have a home to clean.
I couldn’t decorate my tree with joy when I carried a heavy heart thinking of the families who won’t have a family to celebrate with this holiday season.
So in a little bit I’ll head back towards the mountains. I’ll see more of the cavalry leaving, which makes me anxious. Can’t we keep them a little longer, just in case? They’re taking their bulldozers & their engines & their tanker trucks & it’s upsetting. I’m stingy. I want them all to stay. It’s hard to feel safe. All these heroes rushed in to protect us for awhile…now it’s like taking off a bandage to see what the wound looks like for yourself. My shell isn’t hard enough yet.
So the firemen drag out, knowing they did their best, & we go in…exactly the opposite from Monday night, where we were driven out, fire burning on both sides of us, ahead and behind, ashes falling & trees crashing into our paths.
The news quit streaming up to the minute coverage Wednesday, but we are staying abreast through firsthand accounts of people we know personally still in the thick of it.
They tell us we’ll begin to mend today. People can go check on their properties but they can’t stay. And they tell us to get ready, to brace & put on our smiling face, because the visitors are coming back. And I hope they do. In true Southern tradition, we’re gonna wanna talk about it.
So y’all come.

Gatlinburg Fire 2016

The Day After That

30 November

This was the Facebook post that finally convinced me once and for all that I needed a blog. It had 1,617 likes/loves/sad/astounded emojis, over a hundred comments, and 1,331 shares. Totally by telling it like it is.
What’s going on in Sevier County, you want to know? You REALLY want to know?
Well, the fires aren’t out, unfortunately. They tell me that they keep popping back up from where it was so hot for so long. The fire travels underground, through root growth. Also, when we’ve suffered a drought for the last few months, four inches of rain in two days isn’t hardly enough. It’s better…but it ain’t over. And there are new problems concerning the ashes & rubble now washing into drainage ditches & storm drains clogging the whole system. But that’s less of an evil than what whipped through Monday night. The news isn’t telling it all. Maybe they’re afraid we’re too fragile. But we know.
The absolute generosity & outpouring of volunteers in the Volunteer State is truly mind boggling. Every morning & night I give Facebook a quick scroll & I’m astounded by what I see. The compassion & the prayers & the overall messages of “Where can I help today? Who needs what where? Does anybody need a shower & bed?” while I just go to work, driving by loaded trucks & trailers & the ever lit-up churches & fire departments bursting at the seams with supplies & people. People opening their homes, their businesses, their barns & their fields to displaced families & creatures.
Thank you Lord for the people.
Sure I’ve seen the posts from the misguided few that wish all the “hillbilly Trump lovers would burn burn burn” but those people aren’t worth getting feathers ruffled over.
So we’ll build back.
It really will be okay.
And we need more rain.
Please continue to pray for the lost, the faith of a community, & the resiliency of a mountain people not to be tarnished from the likes of the firestorm that destroyed all for some. Pray for our firemen, dead on their feet but unable to quench their desire to help, to seek out & destroy the last glowing ember. Pray for the officials who carry the weight of a town on their shoulders. A town that everybody has visited at one point or another. Good Lord pray for those dispatchers, still tethered in their own hell, some who have worked 32 hours in two days, a relentless screaming in their ears from people who have lost it all. And in the other ear, emergency responders trying to help. Trying to get there. I have no doubt they’ll hear those screams in their nightmares for years to come. That’s a harsh reality & side effect. Pray for the volunteers. I hope they know what a difference they’re making, a soothing presence in a sea of uncertainty.
So that’s what Sevier County is like right now. People still unable to go back to their home–or face the ashes of their home, perhaps. The sirens have abated, but the tears still fall.

Gatlinburg Fire 2016

The Day After

29 November

What a day. The county burns on. Certainly humbled me to see the county banding together & helping in any way they can. I drove by the Rescue Squad going home & there were hordes of people donating loads of products. I understand chapstick, Tylenol or equivalent, & shampoo are among the most needed items this evening. There has never been a fire like this & helicopters were back & forth overhead all day, & sirens were a constant as additional crews blasted in from neighboring counties & states, lights & sirens blaring all the way here & through town. I didn’t know what I would wake to this morning but it was a somber mood, a tang of smoke lingering in the air, & alerts on my phone to “staff off” so more emergency calls could go through.
It puts life in perspective & I felt guilty sleeping last night, selfish for eating, & anxious being at my regular job. It’s just a sickening feeling. I thank the friends who have checked on me & my community. I haven’t lost anything personally, but plenty of people I know were displaced & everyone was scared. Hopefully we’ll learn from this time & prepare for future disasters. Thank you most of all for the prayers. This fire will be over when God says so. It has been a miracle that no more casualties have been found. Let the rain come.
May you all hear the sweetest words soon. For those of you who don’t know, that’s, “Central, this is Gatlinburg Fire Command. Show us as having control.”
God bless you all.

Gatlinburg Fire 2016

That Night

28 November

I worked at dispatch less than two years, but I can bet you a dollar to a doughnut they would be praying for rain harder than anybody in this county.
I say would be because they ain’t got time to pray. They’re calming screaming homeowners, they’re communicating with fire command, they’re ignoring the constantly ringing black phone that the media relentlessly calls, & they’re probably cussing firemen that aren’t answering their radio transmissions. They’re desperate to go pee, they’re tethered to their console, & somebody is manning the white board and tracking new blazes. They’re probably being very short with each other, relaying only the most pertinent information to one another so they don’t miss a single word on their radios.
There’s probably other shit going down too, you know, the usual mix of heart attacks, difficulty breathing, car wrecks, seizures, diabetic emergencies, & people fighting in Kodak. Oh, & all the punks that call 911 for the heck of it and hang up.
And this has been going on for DAYS.
They probably don’t know what time it is & just wish it would end. Rain cannot get here quick enough.
Firemen live for this, don’t let them tell you different. But I’d say they’re getting sick of it by now. Many of them aren’t paid, they’re volunteers & have probably missed some work to help. And now everybody is worn down & exhausted.
Stay safe y’all. Pray for rain. Pray for our emergency services. There’s no telling what we’ll wake up to in the morning.

Another Day in Appalachia

Post Turkey

25 November

Wanna feel better about yourself? Here’s what I’ve done today:

Read twenty pages of my book. Borrrring.

Sprayed oven with cleaning kill-you-in-a-can chemicals.

Put out one box of Christmas decorations before calling it quits. I’ve decided I don’t feel up to dusting this holiday season. (Don’t worry, I’m still participating in Christmas, just not on as grand a scale as we’re all accustomed). Wondered why Pandora was so long in the making. I believe it’s one of the best things to come into my life, ever.

Had a two lively conversation with two old friends.

Ate one platter full of leftovers. 

Retired to couch. 

Wondered how it got to be three o’clock with me not accomplishing jack squat.

Bought a piece of Lularoe. A navy Sarah. It proved to be quite elusive in the finding.

Played the addictive game “Two dots” until I ran out of lives. That’s the only reason I’m on here now, I can’t play any more. I even watched the three musketeers video to get a bonus life. 

Wonder if elves will come clean my oven if I take a nap. 

Now. Don’t y’all feel productive with all your running around?

Another Day in Appalachia

Decorating 

25 November

J went to Nashville today for a good deed. I stayed home to decorate for Christmas in comfortable pants. I totally forgot the whole reason I got married was to have a boy around to carry all these mega heavy storage containers up thirteen stairs. #ithinkilljustlayheretillhegetsback


This wasn’t really long enough to merit a blog post, but it was pretty funny, and, as I recall, true. I have mega decorations in casket sized totes.