Survivor Journal - Chapter 8

About to call an end to a gratifying weekend: Stations of the Cross and dinner with a couple other geographic bachelors; another tsunami cleanup trip and a soak in a hot bath afterward; and Sunday Mass, Adult RE and a quiet day at home.  Still feeling the effects of Saturday's exertion, but the aches are more than outweighed by the satisfaction of helping out some of those in need here.

Tsunami Cleanup - Trip #2
Well, here's the before and after.  Not quite as stark as last weekend...

Before

After

Here you can see how much sand we had to move to unbury the pile of ropes in the foreground.

And here's a glimpse at what a "little" tsunami can do...

Finally, here's a short video of some of the work we did.


Here's how the Misawa Helps crew recovers a fishing net from the sand piled on it by the 11 March 2011 tsunami. The location is Momoishi Beach just south of Misawa, Japan. The noise you hear is from the wind.

Sunday Brunch
The conversation still wasn't very lively, but I enjoyed the omelet a great deal more than the one I made two weeks ago.

Survivor Journal - Chapter 7

Yesterday
There was something especially interesting about the sky yesterday evening.  It must have been a precursor of the perfect, spring weather we had today.

Without too much planning, I found all the ingredients for spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans and garlic bread.

Signs of Spring
When I arrived home from work today, I found the changing of the seasons in our front garden.  The very last pile of snow is just a couple feet from the very first blossoms.  The late afternoon light shed an unusual perspective on the crocuses.

Dinner

It had to happen sooner or later...  I had ramen for dinner.  Of course, Wednesday is always a challenge, culinarily-speaking.  This time it was my own fault for not planning ahead.  I supplemented the shrimp ramen with salad and buttered bread.  My dear wife is shaking her head at the combination of noodles and bread.  She's right, of course, but it was the end of the loaf, it was getting stale, and it either needed to be eaten or thrown out.  I ate most of it...



What we were really doing that day...
Everyone else will remember 3/11 because of the earthquake and tsunami, but I'm choosing to remember it for what we were doing before the disaster struck.  We had the best day of skiing ever!  Maybe that's not saying much--it was only my fourth time.  Still, it was waaay better than the last time I really skied and ended up with a concussion!  Here we are at the top of a run at Hachimantai Ski Resort, which is at the base of Iwate-san (Mt Iwate).

I took this last picture of Matthew just a couple minutes before the ground started shaking...

Survivor Journal - Chapter 6

Today, I helped transport donations of food, clothing, blankets and toys to the Sisters in Hachinohe.  From there, the items will be distributed for disaster relief.  This effort is made possible by the strong ties between the Filipino communities in Misawa and Hachinohe.

All eight cars lined up at the toll plaza

Rich passing along a tricycle

The "load" from one angle

The "load" from the other angle

Father pointing out the location of the church

Survivor Journal - Chapter 5

Tsunami Cleanup
Volunteered to help with a tsunami cleanup project today.  We didn't have to drive very far, less than 45 minutes, to find some pretty serious wreckage.  We ended up at farm on the border of Oirase and Hachinohe.

Here you can see the result of our work.

Before

After

There were about 40 of us all together.

At least one of the greenhouses contained strawberry plants. Much of the fruit had been ready to pick.

One section of the greenhouses was buried under a foot of sand that washed in from the ocean.

Most of the debris in the foreground came from those trees in the background.

The first floors of all these houses were inundated.  If they're like the house of the farmer we were helping, they'll have to replace everything, including wall and floor boards.

Not sure where this hat came from, but it's another reminder of the human suffering caused by the disaster.  May the souls of all those who died rest in peace!

Survivor Journal - Chapter 4

Finished with the work week.  Probably won't work this weekend ;^)  Yeah, probably better take the time to rest.  It may not be so easy the remainder of the month, since I'm the acting division chief...

Heading back to base for Stations of the Cross in a little bit.  The Tomato Soup Surprise is heating in the crock pot.  I decided it needed something else, so I threw in dashes of onion powder, garlic powder and cumin.  I better try it one more time before I leave home.

I have to remember to stop at the store and pick up some rubber boots for tomorrow.  Hopefully, the weather will be like it is today--sunny and about 16°C (60°F).  It'll be my first opportunity to help with the relief effort.