A tribute to Bruce Luzader

Brian's Eulogy to his Dad, spoken at the "Celebration of Life"

gathering held Dec 10, 2011 on Bruce Luzader's 84th Birthday.

Half a century ago, my sister Becky and I rode our bikes around the block,   
where we ran into those “Mean Denovo Boys.”  

They chased us down and yanked our bikes to a halt…

then drenched our little faces with squirt guns.

Crying and humiliated we rode home to our Dad,
who we knew,would help us fight back, and defend our Honor.

We told Dad of the horrific crimes against us, the water fight we didn’t even start and our quest for justice.

After pleading our case, we waited wide-eyed and anxious,
for the punishment those Denovo Boys would face.

But Gentle, and Wise Dad, who lacked a quest for retaliation and was slow to anger…instead… Pulled a couple of bucks from his wallet?

He said “Now…listen to me, Go back around the block, and invite those Denovo boys out for ice cream.” 

We were stunned by his verdict (WHAT?) the punishment, didn’t even fit the crime? 

But, seeing there was enough money for us to have ice cream too, we peddled back to tell the ‘Bad Brothers’ that after such a hard day of water wars, Dad wanted us… to take them… out for cones.

From that day forward, the Denovo boys became our friends and allies.

Our Dad should have been the neighborhood Secretary of State. 

He was, so well liked in our community, that I was always proud to tell people that "I was Bruce Luzader’s son."

Dad saw, only the good in people he met and returned that back to them.
He mirrored their best qualities,
so that he left a person
feeling BETTER, than he found them.

I always felt so connected to him, through his yearning to explore.

Whether it was the newest ‘technology of the times’, the top of a mountain, or an abandoned lighthouse, I was there, eager to be by his side.

 In his prime, Dad would see an interest and just set out to do it!

In his makeshift closet, he taught himself Morse code on an old ham radio.
He learned to fly, and took me on balloon, helicopter and plane rides. 
Being next to him was always an adventure.

He took up boating, then restored and created a commercial fishing boat that we operated, just for family fun.

He saved for a beach house where our family spent the summers making priceless memories together.

He made all, his new-found interests an adventure, and
He let me be a part of them... Which I now believe, has made me the person I am today.

 I always felt an unconditional love from both he and Mom,
(even when I made those lousy mistakes in my youth),

Later, as I aged while on a quest to set and find my own goals,

he opened his profession and business to me.

When I had children, he embraced them with the same love, he had given me.

And now that he has left his 'Aged Vessel';
the one that had slowed him down for so many years, he can voyage to a place we still … in our minds… cannot fathom.

"So, my Dear Dad… Today, on your Birthday,

I thank You, for giving me life and happiness...

from the brightest light of your charisma."

I believe that in some way…we will all rendezvous together in an amazing place.

-Brian Luzader  12-10-2011

Ashley's Thank you Letter to her Grandfather

Thank you for loving me from the beginning. 
Thank you for giving me my first bath. 
Thank you for letting me paint your face with water colors. 
Thank you for letting me build and glue wood in your shop.
Thank you for making chicken pox fun. 
Thank you for taking me clamming and on motorcycle rides. 
Thank you for playing with me in the hot tub. 
Thank you for letting me travel with you, and
taking me on trips and showing me new things. 
Thank you for letting me dig through your penny collection and
teaching me how to use chopsticks.
Thank you for teaching me fractions on grandma's lemons. 
Thank you for feeding me when I needed it. 
Thank you for taking a day to teach me how to drive,
then driving us home even though I passed my test.
Thank you for comforting me when I was scared. 
Thank you for being the Best Grandpa anyone could ever need and want.
-Ashley Luzader

Bruce's Oregonian Obituary

A travel through Preemie-time with Jack and Owen

We proudly introduce our twin grandson’s Jack and Owen and their enduring big brother Kaden. Today, the twins are either 4 months old, out of the womb or 5 weeks old from their due date; it depends on how you look at life?
As grandparents, it has felt like a 4 month life-time.

A travel through Preemie Time:

Fast forward and then rocket reverse while frozen numb in time

 

Easy-going Owen

Mighty Jack

Remember the phrase, ‘just take it in baby steps’ while we methodically stumbled through lifes most confusing or difficult moments and triumphed over a simple success?

On July 5, 2011 one unexpected moment in time, we welcomed our preemie twin grandsons Jack and Owen into this world. Greeted with bruising, slicing screams of terror and abundant tears of joy, they challenged our perception of what 'baby steps' meant in a 3 month premature life.  Our family has evolved into different people while traveling through the ‘Preemie Steps’ of life…

… Like walking on smooth stones, then sinking sand, landmines, sunshine or rainbows…it all depends on the day.

Grammie and Grandpa touching the twins for the first time

It was a beautiful summer day and Brian and I were out for a long bike ride with our neighbor when we received the call.  We peddled as fast as we could, strait to the hospital and arrived in a sweaty panic just before Christy and Travis were whisked off to the operating room.  The first sight of the twin boys, as they were rushed past us was both shocking and relieving. Their bodies were wrapped in plastic to keep their warmth, their heads; the size of an apple were bruised, tubed and wired. It was a miracle to us that they could survive and we cheered at their 2.4 and 2.5 lbs.

 Jack came into the world the usual way through the birth canal, but Owen struggled at the end and had to make an emergency exit as the doctors cut through the abdomen and womb to bring him into our world.  His birth caused trauma both in his body and his Mother’s, as the numbing epidural was not working at the time of incisions. Feeling the full effects of the cuts through her body, Christy screamed at the doctor to stop but there was no choice but to save Owen’s life. The operating crew got a bit of a bruising to restrain Christy, and Travis walked out of his first delivery room saying, “Wow Dad, that was intense. I can’t believe you did it three times?”  When Christy woke from the general anesthesia given to her at the moment of crisis, she simply wanted to know “what the F* happened and where are my babies?”  The babies were fine and her large supporting crowd was tearing with joy and relieved that she was going to be all right as well. Their and our first preemie breaths had been taken.

The twins began their life with the support of constant air flow, heart and breathing monitors and 24 hour professional care. Travis, Christy and Kaden stood over them every day without the opportunity to hold their babies or bond in an ordinary way.  They began to stabilize and we could touch them through the incubators, then the day came when Travis and Christy could hold them. It was a huge preemie step to have them out of their incubators, even if it were only for a few minutes of parental bonding. 
 

We were confident that the road to recovery was going to be smooth and felt like we were walking with confidence…until the call came that the doctors had found a hole in Jack’s heart.  He was immediately put on medication to see if the hole would heal or show improvement after treatment. We held our own breath for a week, watching him transition through the onset of constant needles and testing. He remained strong, always fussing and fighting as we stood vigilant at his side telling him to “Get tough Mighty Jack, we’re expecting great things from you,” and then we went home silently weeping for our tiny shriveled little man.  Our fears and tears were concealed from our kids as they needed only constant love and strength to endure this time. The days to follow, both boys began to turn yellow and needed blood transfusions and luckily had suitable donors. It was risky to have Jack go through the transfusion at such a vulnerable time of weakness. We kept our faith that his body would not get an infection or rejection from the new blood and sure enough, he immediately began to show his true fighting colors.  These preemie steps felt like we were on a slippery slope; reaching and falling back each time but they began to stabilize again and we were cautious and optimisticly moving ahead.

Travis, Christy and Kaden made a new life and a second home at Emmanuel Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We don’t know how they managed with Travis working overtime, Kaden dealing with the changes and Christy aching to have her family at home.  Their schedule left little time for home cooking, cleaning or family time outside of the intensive care unit. Kaden found other big brothers and sisters to play games with and achieved almost all levels of Mario Brothers while spending his entire summer in the NICU ward.  Brian and I found compassion attending a support group hosted at Emanuel for preemie families while Travis and Christy made a new extended family with the hospital staff. They took classes, tapped into resources and were gaining confidence in their new parental role. Their strength was amazing and the twins were making good progress, learning to breast feed, turn their heads, follow objects and were putting on some pounds.  We were walking on sunshine seeing steady improvements.

I remember standing on a ladder, helping Brian paint a house when we got the call.  Doctors had found internal bleeding in the brains of both twins. I felt faint and had to immediately sit down and gather myself.  The vessels in preemie baby brains are fragile and are susceptible to changes in blood flow and can break. Owen had a traumatic delivery, therfore showed a larger portion of bleeding.  Only over time, we will know how this may or may not have affected their development. At the moment, we just rushed to the hospital to be with our kids and educate ourselves about the diagnosis.  When fear of the unknown creeped into our heads, we filled it with faith and read whatever we could find, to encourage our family to be strong. We could not image what Travis and Christy were going through while we pretended to be strong.  Their lives were so different than one year ago as young lovers; planning their pregnancy and imagining their new young happy family. 
We sat together in the NICU as Travis read out loud to us, all the possible outcomes of minor and severe brain bleeding.  We closed the book, walked over to their incubators and told them “You’re going to be just fine.” Their little bodies were getting more perfect every day and our love will make them strong enough to get through anything that life gives them!  The next two scans came back with encouraging results showing no additional bleeding and it appeared that the bleeding could have been from the initial birth. As they develop, they will continue to have screening, to help us identify if they will need extra care. 

We normally watched over the twins nearly every day for the first month but one morning Brian and I woke up unusually anxious to get to the hospital early. We checked in, washed, sanitized and then entered the Bunny 1 and Bunny 2 cubicles wide eyed and scared.  Twin Owen was surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses and his incubator was elevated to an emergency position. They were poking, scanning, and inspecting his fragile and colorless body. I was  too terrified to speak and they didn’t know we were behind them until I could manage a simple, “what happened?” The doctor finished his examination and turned around to explain what they were doing. Somehow he managed to soothe our immediate fears while delivering the news of a neurosis of the intestines which needed immediate treatment and if not diagnosed and cured correctly, could be life-threatening.  Owen had several spells throughout the night where he stopped breathing and began losing his blood oxygen.  We stayed with him as they finished his brain scan, took numerous blood tests, poked at his tummy and finally resorted to putting him on life support.  We held back tears staring at our tiny lifeless-looking grandchild with taunt pale gray skin, now lying completely motionless, nearly naked and exposed, twisted in wires and tubes.  As if these twins had not been through enough already, on his one month birthday, Owen was now facing a life threatening disease and needed another blood transfusion. Our heart hurt for Owen, for Christy, Travis and Kaden and we shook our head when Travis asked, “How can they have every preemie problem in the book?” 

Tensions were elevated, sleep was lacking, and we were all emotional wrecks at this step of the preemie time-travel. I remember thinking that we did not have the energy to keep our chin up and give our kids the optimistic strength they needed. We were beginning to feel defeated by the whole preemie experience. When I asked super-mom how she was doing and what she needed this time, she admitted “Not doing so good any more. We need whatever good energy or prayers you can give us.”  I took one long breath and confidently replied, “You’ve got it. I’m on it.”  I quickly wrote a couple of lines celebrating the twins one month Birthday and sent it out to you, my favorite and loyal friends and family,

  

“I ask of you Today, and now, that you take this moment and send out your good thoughts of Health and Strength to them. Owen is especially in need of your positive thoughts, prayers and uplifting energy TODAY, as he is really struggling with health issues.”

The positive words, songs, phone calls, texts, messages of encouragement and prayers in response were overwhelming.  As they flowed in from all over the world, they were immediately copied and sent to Travis and Christy. Their ‘in box’ was full every day with your good energy and we all had a miraculous recovery because of it. We drew strength from your love and kindness and we still can’t thank you enough.  Owen responded well to his treatment and transfusion and was off life support within 5 days. 

Things were looking up again and there was a happy skip to our preemie walk. Christy finished the twins’ nursery, baby showers were bringing us together, both boys were off assisted air, eating, gaining weight and there was talk of the twins coming home soon.  We celebrated as they hit the 5 pound mark and the kids continued to take preemie classes for car seats, first aid, CPR and general care of their preemie babies.  We could see the pot of gold at the end of our preemie rainbow and we began to rest.

And then…The stress of preemie life parenting caught up with Travis. The body has a funny way of holding up when it needs to and then breaking down afterwards, screaming ‘what about me’. Travis was admitted to Emmanuel Hospital for three miserable nights with a severe tonsillitis infection which closed his airways.  The awesome hospital staff rolled in a bed for Christy and Kaden so that they could sleep at the hospital together as a family. Christy could go back and forth from the twins room to Travis, all under the same big roof for the first time and this made us happy in a peculiar way.

Preemie-day by preemie-day, the twins were able to feed, sleep and wake on their own, calling out for their needs. Travis and Christy understood their different personalities and comforts and became confident in their care. The twins were out of incubators and sleeping together for their first time since the womb. 
Life had shifted to a new and reassuring constant preemie pace and three weeks before their due date on September 7^th,  Jack and Owen went home. 

The twins adjusted well to the new environment of day light and dark, smells, sounds, cars, kids, tv, telephone, pets and visitors.  Everything was entirely new to them and they didn’t seem to care as long as they were fed and bed.  And then one afternoon, at the very same time, they both stopped breathing and turned purple.  While the ambulances raced them back to the hospital, they began to perk up and breathe again. We stood over them in the Emergency Room wondering what was going on?They looked fine and alert by the time they were admitted and we didn’t know what to think. Brian concluded that they were having a contest of ‘who could hold their breath the longest’ followed by a race of ‘who had the fastest ambulance’. Or maybe they wanted to see shiny lights and sirens? The doctors concluded that they had acid reflex and preemies did not know how to catch their breath.  They were sent home with parents who tirelessly watched over them breathe…moment by preemie moment while trying to maintain a functional family life.

Just when confidence was building and life was beginning a new normal, one terrifying night occurred, which will remain with us forever.  

Travis heard a twin start to fuss and went to get bottles ready so that Christy could rest.

He came back to see who was hungry and found Owen unresponsive, lifeless, cold and blue.  He pulled his baby boy from the bed and woke Christy. They ripped off his clothes to find that he was not breathing and without a pulse. While Travis called for an ambulance, Christy brought Owen to her lap and began preemie CPR, pressing her thumbs into his tiny chest and breathing her air into his lungs.  After what felt like a life-time and in one sudden moment, Owen released a small gasp and began to move. He choked and sputtered until he regained his full breath again while the paramedics rushed him back to the hospital. Owen was in isolated care for a week  and was diagnosed with acid reflex and sleep apnea, then went back home to his family. Both twins now have sleep monitors and alarms and parents are trying to learn to sleep again.  We celebrate Owen back to life every day and are grateful for his parents who learned and responded to the crisis.

I cannot even begin to write the despair these parents have gone through in the entire preemie process, or of finding their child lifeless and needing to resuscitate their baby back into our world.  Comforting them in my arms, I remember Travis saying “You don’t know... No one should ever have to do that.”  I can say that we are very proud of their strength and support in each other, while I share an ache for their frightening memories and the fear for what could have happened just a moment later. Travis, Christy and Kaden are recovering from the ordeal in amazing form and are regaining a new confidence, one preemie-moment at a time.  We are in awe of their never-ending commitment to their family, their determination to triumph over the preemie steps and double our respect for super-mom after we did our first 6 hour shift of twin-care last week.

Twins Jack and Owen are a healthy 8 pounds now, without an alarm episode for several weeks and are doing great.  They are normal babies, rolling over, smiling, swatting at toys and staying healthy.  These steps are not ‘giant steps for man-kind’ but they are huge steps in our preemie time-warp-world.

"Happy 4 Month Birthday Jack and Owen. Kaden we are so proud of you!
All three of you are perfect and we love you forever."

We are 2 in a Million- Marooned in Thailand

Flooding and collapsed bungalows in Thongnaipan Koh Phangan Island

29 March 2011 BREAKING NEWS: 1 Million people stranded as floods rage through Thailand’s South ...in Dry Season? 

Monsoon rains, winds and waves will typically pass over Thailand in November’s rainy season leaving large puddles, muddy roads and bored tourists. In the hot and dry season, you can expect to see the locals celebrating the heat wave, splashing and dancing with buckets of water in the streets.



Locals wading through main street Thongnaipan
photo courtesy of Miss Choi

 Two weeks before Songkran Water Festival (Thailand’s dry season celebration) one million people are trapped in knee to neck deep water sloshing through mud and debris searching for a roof that won’t drain on their head, a simple meal, siphoned fuel or worse, buried in landslides.

31 March 2011 BREAKING NEWS: Thai Navy rescues tourists stranded on flooding islands…In Dry Season?


Touists climing up the Navy ships
photo courtesy of Yahoo news



Desperate and scared Thais and travelers climbed up emergency nets dangling from the side of a Thai Royal Navy ship today while others were transferred by helicopter onto Thailand’s only Air Craft Carrier and transported to a naval base outside of heavily flooded mainland regions.

What are the chances Brian and Brenda would be stranded on that island? I’d say the chances were "Two in a Million" but we've always  been lucky.

Thongnaipan Boat Storm- morning after School Party

It was a weird season on Koh Phangan Island anyway with frequent short rains and cooler temperatures. We knew something was wrong as we sipped our coffee and watched from our sea view balcony, a phenomenon which was the beginning of a long stream of disasters. A calm turquoise bay suddenly turned from shades of blue to shades of black. Large rolling waves appeared on the horizon and boats danced on the water like a playground of teeter-totters. We ran to the beach to check the fishermen’s boats which normally drift gently behind a protected reef. Scanning the bay we could see about 25 boats dipping behind walls of water and reappearing in a white spray.

The traditional Longtail boats pulled against their lines until the sea cut them free. Fishermen swam into the waves avoiding a collision with drifting boats and started their engines. The roar of the engines mixed with the roar of an angry sea and then the roar of thunder surrounded the entire bay.

 

Pulling Longtail Boats to safety

Everyone watched the boatmen skillfully maneuvered the waves, then run the boats full speed aground onto the beach. With each landing, all the men ran to the boats to heave them onto the shore and secure them to palm trees. The entire morning sounded of engines, thunder, crashing waves and the cadence of 50 exhausted men pulling boats to safety.


Two speedboats tumbling onto the beach



The rain fell and the lightening cracked and Brian returned drenched and sore to a beachfront restaurant needing a rest. The head waiter paled with fear as the storm blew furniture around the restaurant while he told us of the dream he had during the night recalling tsunami waves and a washed out resort. We all stared through blustering plastic screens as the remaining speedboats in the bay began to break anchor and crashed into the shore. We could see there was no hope of recovery, for the large waves captured and tossed them through the sea until the tide left them in a heap on the beach surrounded by their broken debris.

beached boat



boat carnage




boat graveyard at PinJun Resort



Brian taking advantage of some windy days

The next week brought a small earthquake to northern Thailand but the weather calmed to gray skies with occasional sun and wind. We welcomed the change and sailed the bay on our wind board, confident that the dry season had finally arrived. We were wrong. Long dreary days of rain returned and we retreated to the indoors, boring ourselves of movies and books, then reserved our flight out of the soggy province.



Brenda getting cold,wet and grumpy



Sitting with friends we complained of the lousy rainy weather causing our inconsistent internet and power cuts saying “It has to get better soon, it can’t get worse.” We were wrong. A full day of downpours started cutting into the landscape and small flooding began in the center of Thongnaipan village. The new concrete road and manhole covers filtered the water but did not fully accept the capacity of this massive rain. The early morning was busy with sandbagging and blockades were put up to divert the flows. The power failed again and we waded through the streets looking for mobile signals knowing that it must get better as it couldn’t be worse.

Post Office road turing into rappids

We were wrong. Heavier unstoppable rains continued to fall, trees began to fall, power poles began to fall and waters began to rise. Thunder and lightning splintered the dark sky and then a mountain of waterfalls rolled down the hills, streets and pathways streaming into the village at increased speeds. The water formed rivers, waves and excavated falls through dirt roads while making its way to the sea.

Thick, brown debris filled water, tunneled below the new concrete road and broke off chunks of cement while the sidewalk and light poles collapsed in heaps.

Game Bar hosting Monsoon Rain Parties

We gathered at night with friends around candles telling stories and jokes trying to keep our spirits up, tolerating a few warm beers at our Early Songkran Party. In the beginning, we were entertained with white water kayaking through the village until the full force of combined water cut a deep crevasse through a resort, collapsing bungalows to the ground. These were the bungalows at PinJun Resort which we lived in for the 10 previous years and it deeply saddened our dampened spirits.

A final farewell to Pinjun Bungalows. RIP
(moment of silence please)

 

Paradise Garden Resort under water

For two days, flooding spread through the village, cascading through homes, shops and resorts while cutting new rivers, washouts and causing more damage. Along with the initial power failure, came the failure of electric water pumps to fill tanks. There was no running water, no flushing toilets, no showers and then the water table rose until the septic tanks were full. We went home each night, cold, wet, shocked and depressed into a dark, molding, stinking but safe house. We woke to long gray days, conserved our gas and candles and collected rain water from our roof to clean and store for the days ahead. We had an emergency plan, our bags were packed and we were ready to get off the island so that we could catch our scheduled flight to Bankok and back to the states. We knew it would be better soon, but we had already had enough.



Fishing- for debris?
photo courtesy of Miss Choi



Construction workers camp under water

We were wrong. High winds brought huge waves and we watched Mother Nature continue to devastate the bay. Water was tumbling from the hills behind us and waves were eating away the beach in front of us. Beach front restaurants and resorts were being undermined and we woke to fallen trees, a collapsed business and beach furniture debris scattered across the bay.

Andi next to Mr T's house

PinJun's new restaurant seating blown to the ground

The way to Ta's Shop and Pens Bunglalows

A few resorts on the bay had generators but they did not have access to additional fuel, so after siphoning fuel from vehicles, power was rationed as well as food and water. We ate what was available as the freezers thawed. There was no power for 5 days and no phones, internet or access into our saturated, dark, disaster zone.

collecting water in the miserable wetness

Tourists were already scared but when they realized that the only road out of Thong Nai Pan village was now washed out in two places, they slowly began to break down. Word of mouth news was arriving throughout the day reporting severe flooding and landslides burying entire villages on the mainland. We learned that all transportation to/from southern mainland Thailand was closed. Additionally the high waves prevented all ferry boats from getting to or from our island. There is no airport on ko Phangan island and we had no means of travel out of the village. Even if we could get off the island, there was nowhere to go. We were officially stranded and isolated on Thongnaipan bay.

bridge washout

As the contaminated waters flowed, fuel and food depleted and the risk of someone needing medical attention rose. It became apparent that Thongnaipan bay needed to be evacuated of tourists so efforts were made to build temporary bridges over the washed out rivers. Trucks transported guests to the first crossing and those that would walk the plank, made their way through the river with a hand rope. A hike through the mud and over the next bridge crossing would bring them to a truck that would be waiting to complete their journey through the jungle and into the main town. We bade them a safe farewell and were relieved to see them headed to better communication and some power. One step closer to the pier was at least a moving direction.

first log bridges accross the washouts
photo courtesy of Mr O

Except later in the night and after resorts were closed down, they came back completely exhausted, cold, scared and hungry. They told us that by the time they made it to the second bridge passage, the waters had risen to chest level and no one wanted to risk the journey in the fast moving water. They headed back to the first bridge but in the same time, the temporary planks there had washed out as well. They were stuck between the two washouts the entire day waiting in a monsoon storm for the road crew to build a different temporary solution. When guests from Longtail Beach Resort arrived back to a dark abandoned Resort, the staff offered lamps, washing water and delivered dinner to their rooms.

Good bye and Good Luck
photo courtesy of Mr O

The road crew continued to work with the ever changing situation of fallen trees, shifting rivers and constant heavy rains until new temporary bridges were made through and over the three different washouts. The next afternoon, guests braved the journey one more time. This time Brian accompanied with safety gear and was prepared to rig a zip line and harness system if the situation allowed or called for it.
The first plank crossing was built higher but above a deep raging river and without possibility of hand lines. Brian and other local Thais bounced across2x6 planks carrying the guest’s luggage while a stream of 30 trembling tourists followed behind making their way safely across the river.

The road out of Thongnaipan
photo courtesy of Mr O

Guests were told to remain while Brian and the guys hiked about 2 kilometers through the jungle and mountains to evaluate the safety of the next crossing and find a truck to send back to those waiting. At the next bridge the Thais had rigged a supply trolley line and were floating barrels of fuel across the river. Overnight, a tree had fallen down river making a partial walkway. It was a dodgy two part crossing through a pineapple plantation up a submerged tree and across a final stretch of planks. They had made it safely so far and were determined to continue on. Beyond a few fears and tears everyone finished the journey into town.

Brian and Kim seeing that guests cross safely
photo courtesy of Mr. O

Unfortunately Thongsala Town and pier is as far as they could go until the next day when the Thai Navy responded to the crisis and arrived to the islands. Helicopters hovered above and evacuated the hospitals. The ship was nearly full from evacuating Koh Tao, a neighboring island but made room for an additional 200 sick and needy people. Over a thousand Thais and tourists lined up hoping for the chance to make another leg of the journey. Those that went were loaded on frigates, and climbed up the side of a Navy Vessel on emergency ladder nets.

The Royal Thai Navy has returned and is continuing to offer assistance and transport while delivering food and water to the islands and providing temporary shelters to millions affected by the storm.

Flash floods and landslides still remain a problem everywhere in the south with sporadic heavy rain fall. The water is draining out of the mountains, the skies are looking a bit lighter, the main street in the village is almost above water today and we are hopeful. Electricity has just come back in waves, and we are thankful to have mobile phones and random internet again. Our flight to Bangkok was canceled as the airport we were booked on, remains under water. We missed our flight to the states but it’s all being rearranged and we should be home in about 10 days. We will wait to leave the island until we know that our home is safe, the village is recovering and we are not needed for clean up.

fallen trees, sliding boulders and dangling power poles
make the way to the pier a dangerous route

For now, we are simply thankful that no one on the bay was injured and ever more thankful for imitation light, running water, a hot shower and access to the world outside of Thongnaipan village. Our small scale disaster is nothing in comparison to the devastation in Japan but we have learned much about our community and friends here in Thailand. We are grateful for our extended Thai and expat family who have supported us through this adversity. We feel fortunate that these friends are some of the Million that we were stranded with.
"Indebted thanks to Thailand for an organized, painless and safe evacuation of the islands."

"And thanks for the invitation, but we’ll skip the dry season's Songkran Water Festival this year."



Thanks to Mr A
for always taking care





Thanks to the entire Longtail Beach
Resort Staff for feeding us













 



 


 

 

Thanks to 'Meenu Man' and
Havanna staff for their friendship
& taking care of our
communiction needs

A BIG Thank you to Mr O
manager of Longtail Resort
Proven to be a true leader
through difficult times











First mobile service and calls out to family
Thanks to Miss Nok for pre-cooking the entire fridge



Regrets to Miss A for another big loss at PinJun and
Thanks to Miss A and Miss Choi for their support
Thanks to Andi at Nu Bar for never ending friendship



To our Big PinJun Family: Thanks for the Memories