Blogging from boredom

There isn't much to do over here other than play on my computer, so you're in luck! You get another post today! Who knew it was your lucky day. We ventured out of the house today and went to a small convenience store a few miles away that opened on generator power and got a few 12 packs of soft drinks and some chips. We are ok for another day or two with food, so no worries there. A major grocery store opened up about 20 miles from us and has power (so you can use a debit card!!), so we will probably go there tomorrow or the next day, if we can.

Here is my hurricane posse - Bryce, Cameron, & Bradley:

Walter & I got the boys out in the yard today and we cleaned up all the branches, sticks, and junk that landed in our yard. Cameron & Bradley even went into the boat slip and the dock and dislodged some plants/weeds that have been growing under there for a couple of months, so they really cleared the place out!!

Our propane company brought their truck out today and topped off our propane tank, which is great. They have assured their customers that they will be out and getting the propane to us. I wont even tell you how much it is costing to run our generator, but it's worth it not to be sitting here in the dark, sweating, and worrying about losing everything in our refrigerator/freezer. Well, ok, maybe I will tell you since i'm looking at the bill - $50/day! Our neighbors have the whole house generator that runs everything in their house (A/C included) and theirs is costing $100 day! FEMA may reimburse these expenses, I'm told. Also, our mail and garbage service came today! How people get out and work in all this mess, not to mention the fact that their families probably have needs that aren't being met right now, is beyond me, but it was nice to see some normalness going on.

There is supposed to be a site set up a few miles from us where you can get MRE's, ice, water, etc. We went to see if they were giving anything out yet, but so far the "pods" haven't shown up yet. If we can get over to the grocery store, we wont need anything from the site, but it's nice to know that is an option. It's scary when you can't buy gas to get to wherever you need to go to shop for supplies.

I mentioned yesterday that the condo where we lived before moving to our house a year ago (where we lived during Katrina) lost it's chimney and has a gaping hole in the roof. Well, someone told us last night that the townhouse where we lived before that in Baton Rouge lost part of its roof during the storm!! So, the last 2 places we've been during hurricanes both had the roof damaged during the storm! That really seems like some kind of sign to me!!

Wednesday

So, here we are! And yes, we've been here many times before, but this seems to be the worst yet. The electric companies say that it could be 2 - 4 weeks before everyone has power again. Walter is certain after seeing the damage for himself that it will be a month before we have power again. I really don't think it will be that long, especially with all of the help that is coming from electric companies in other areas. We will have to wait and see who is right!! There are 2 main electric companies and fortunately, we are with DEMCO, the smaller of them. In Baton Rouge, Entergy has about 250,000 people without power, whereas in our area, DEMCO has about 90,000, so maybe our company will get to use quicker.

Regardless, we are doing fine with our backup generator. The propane for our generator is expensive though, and the truck will have to come at least once a week to keep our tank full. My next door neighbor's backup generator still isn't working, but someone is supposed to be coming out to look at it today. We had them over for some of Walter's homemade Gumbo last night, but they haven't wanted to stay here. They have a gas generator running their refrigerator, a fan, and a couple of lights. I will say again that our backup generator is probably the best investment we have ever made. I wish now we'd splurged and gotten one that runs the whole house (a/c and all), but we are far from being uncomfortable here and I feel extremely lucky to be riding out this time with a house full of power.

It is being said that the winds and wind gusts during Hurricane Gustav equal Hurricane Betsy's in 1964. Betsy was the worst storm here in many years. We are starting to see a few gas stations open and it looks like today there are more groceries stores opening using generator power. Walter & I did our hurricane supply shopping thinking it would just be the two of us here, then Cameron decided to ride the storm out here rather than his dad's house, then we adopted Bryce & Bradley through the storm, so i've been worried about running out of drinks and snacks (which obviously aren't necessities, but we enjoy them), but so far we are doing ok. I may try to get out tomorrow and pick up some more.

Cameron & I don't have school/work until at least Monday. I can't imagine that the schools will have electricity next week and there is no type of generator systems in the schools, so there is no way to go until all of that is back on. I guess they'll have to shorten our other holidays throughout the year to make up for the days or something.

All of our families and friends are doing ok. My brother-in-law, Ed, had some damage from falling trees at his house, but nobody was hurt. My parents were going to come out and stay with us today, but when I told them we had 3 teenage boys here, they decided to go to Houston to my sister's house. God forbid, someone have to spend time with teenagers, much less their own grandson! My step-son, Sean, & his girlfriend tried to come here from Baton Rouge yesterday, but they couldn't find gas to get here. I've kept in touch with my friends throughout the storm and everyone seems to be doing ok. I'm grateful for that!

I haven't left the house other than a couple of trips down the street. There are still trees and power lines in the roads everywhere you go and I really don't have any desire to get caught in that!! We went to visit with Cathy, Brent, & their house guests last night, and then Cathy & Brent came down here to drink hurricanes and get a break from their house guests! Today, Cameron, Bryce, Bradley & I will be cleaning up trash in the yard.

The day after Gustav

What a mess! There is so much damage all throughout the state. I feel really fortunate that we are safe and didn't have any damage here. Our generator is working fine, but the house is hot, especially upstairs, because we can't use the window units when it's raining outside. The windows in our bedrooms are unusually shaped, so Walter had to use plywood around the window units to make them fit into the windows, but rain can come in too. Downstairs we were able to use the window units in the kitchen & the office to try to cool off the bottom floor. Walter & I slept on the sofas last night and the boys were happy to use several fans in the bedroom. This morning, the rain and wind has stopped, so I opened all of the windows upstairs. Hopefully, that will cool things off. I am expecting my mom & step-dad to come stay here as well as Walter's son, Sean & his girlfriend if they do not have power at their homes before long, so I am hoping we can have cool places for everyone to stay.

There was a surge of water in the rivers as predicted, but since we are up so high, that wasn't a problem for us. Our dock is underwater, but that isn't a big deal. I'm sure many houses in our area are about to get water in them, if they haven't already. Here is Walter out on our dock taking his lights off before they go underwater.

During Katrina, we lived in a condo down the street while we were building our house. We lived there until a year ago, when we were finally able to move into our house. We drove by the condo yesterday, and the chimney was ripped off the roof and there is a large, gaping hole in the roof!! I hope nobody lives there now and I'm glad we don't! I'm sure the place is full of water! Here is a picture of the condos with all of the boat house roofs ripped off on one side. Half of them are laying in the street on the other side! You can also see where 2 of the chimneys are laying on top of the roof. Our condo was on the other side, but the same thing happened.

Walter went to work this morning, but his plant is out of power, water, etc., so he came home and will go back when there is something he can do. The electric companies are saying there may be no power for weeks, so who knows when we will all be able to get back to school and work.

It's over!!

Gustav has come and gone, leaving us with a couple more days of rainy weather in the forecast. We are fine here, just a lot of cleaning up to do in the yard and waiting days or weeks for the power to come back on. We have our backup generator, so we have the use of all of our lights, fridge, freezer, computers, tv, etc. Really, everything but our air conditioner, but we have some small window units hooked up to keep the house cool. This generator is the best investment we've bought based on how well it worked when we really needed it. It is really not noticeable that we don't have electricity, and when it might take a week or more to come back on, this is priceless. We went through Hurricane Katrina with 1 fan and 1 small black & white tv for over a week, so this has been nice.

The news is saying that the damage is the worst they've ever seen in Baton Rouge & surrounding areas. We have seen a few houses with major damage in our area and feel fortunate that we escaped any damage. There are curfews in effect from 8pm until dawn, so hopefully people will heed that warning and stay inside.

Afternoon update

The winds have really gotten strong here and it's definitely the worst we've had so far. Walter thinks the winds are worse than they were during Katrina, but i'm not sure I agree. From what the news is reporting, this should be the worst of the storm and then we'll be left to deal with several days of power outages and lots of rain. I'm pretty sure everyone's power is out at this time. We've checked on our family and friends, and other than some trees down, everyone seems to be ok. Here is a video clip of our backyard from the little bit I could step outside and record.



The New Orleans airport has closed and all flights have been cancelled, which means that we do get a full refund for our tickets to New York! Yay! I think the final total was $814, so I am excited about that!

Power is officially out

It's official...we've lost power, but thankfully, our backup generator is working as planned. Our a/c doesn't run on the backup power, but all of our ceiling fans do and we can run window units once the storm passes, if needed. Also, as long as the internet company doesn't lose power, we should have internet (and phone) access as well. Walter is outside with the next door neighbor who's backup generator came on, but isn't running any of their electricity! I hope they can get it fixed because otherwise they'll end up over here, which is fine, except their extremely demanding 6 year old great niece is with them, and I don't think i'm into having her yell at me in my house for the next couple of days. Yikes.

The weather is definitely getting worse, but not nearly as bad as what i've seen in other storms. It is very windy and branches are falling every where you look, but so far, I think it's going to be ok. We have an odd thing happening with one of our picture windows in the living room. When a strong wind comes through, the window moves a little - sort of pops out just a little and then goes back to how it was. I've moved everything from in front of the window because I can see it breaking at some point if the wind gets worse. I hope not, but you never know.

Cameron, Bryce, and Bradley are doing fine with the storm. They were a little nervous sleeping last night, but there really wasn't much bad weather during the night. They are 15 & 16 years old, so I think they are paying more attention to the news and the storm than they have in the past.

I'm seeing on the news where the water is topping the levees in New Orleans and there are a couple of loose barges threatening to breach the levees. That's all bad stuff and I hope everything will be ok with that. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers here in Louisiana and hopefully, this storm will pass on through soon.

Monday morning

We had a quiet night with the heavy rain & wind starting around 6am. Our power is blinking often, so i'm sure it will be out before long. Fortunately, our backup generator should keep most of the power on in our house. As long as the internet service doesn't go down, we should still be able to have internet access. Usually, it's the power that goes out, but the phone/internet are usually still available if you have power. We'll see if that proves to be true this time. They say we're in for a rough day today and I think we're ready for it. Thanks again for your support and prayers! Keep them coming!!