Hurricane Gustav

September 1, 2008
It is 10:50 am. I have just sat down after a busy morning that started at 5:19am when my daughter woke me up - not meaning to. She was up to go get some water with her grandparents. I got up and started my day, not even stopping for my usual morning cup of tea. That - I am having now (10:50 am) while watching Gustav pound New Orleans on television. My heart breaks for the people who live there. I have canned 16 jars of pears, made some muffins, and made some bread. Grace has come in and given the cat a bath. At the start of the weekend, we had a rather long list of chores to complete before a possible power outage by Gustav in our area in Central Louisiana. We could get about 20 inches of rain and winds gusting up to 70 mph. I am proud to say that we have completed our chores. Now we wait. I hate that - the waiting part. I am still praying things calm down. At the moment there is a slight breeze outside and no rain. The sun was even shining. More later-hopefully.

It is 2:10 pm. It has started raining here. Had lunch and showered. Still hopeing that Gustav doesn't do too much damage where we live. Would like for him to go away completely. Not a big rain fan. Especially when it causes flooding. All is quiet in the house. Grace, along with Solomon and Jesse, are napping. I hope Solomon doesn't fall off the top level of his cat tree. He's hanging half off the perch. More later - hopefully.

It is 6:30 pm. Raining harder and wind blowing stronger. Lost directv signal. Had supper with mom and dad next door at their house. Ron has made it in. I doubt he'll work the next few days, but it would be nice if he could. Grace and dad are preparing to go out tonight. They are both members of our local volunteer fire department. I hope they don't have to. We'll wait and see. If they do have to go out, I hope they stay safe. The brunt of Gustav is suppossed to hit after dark. Why is that? Why after dark? I do not like that. Hopefully more later.

September 2, 2008
9:15 am on day 2 of Hurricane Gustav. We lost electricity last night at about 7:15 pm. It stayed off through the night and came back on this morning at 8:45 am. 13 hours and 30 minutes without power. I'm not complaining though. I thank God we made it through the night with no damage to our home and no harm to us and our pets. And we even got to stay in our trailer all night. At times I didn't think we would. That's how strong the winds were. But we did. Not much to do after the lights went off last night but lay around, which we did for a while until it got too hot. Got up and stirred around for awhile then went to bed at 10:30 pm. Slept fitfully through the night and got up this morning at 6:30 am. Slept with my hands over my ears last night trying not to listen to the wind. Got up this morning thinking this was going to be a long day without a source of information. Figured out how to plug my laptop into a phone jack and get on the internet that way - then the power came back on. YEAH!!! Still raining pretty good. Listening to Governor Jindal update the people on what's going on in Louisiana. And let me add - he did an awesome job during this crisis. I applaud him. Three cheers for Governor Jindal. A million cheers to God for watching out for us. I give God ALL the praise for His protection. Still have a wind advisory in effect. More later.

6:15 pm Had a pleasant day. Family went to the grocery store and Wal-Mart. Didn't see any damage. Just lots of branches and leaves on road and in yards. Seems to have stopped raining. Don't know for how long. Hopefully Gustav is out of hear. Grace and I took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. I think hubby might have layed down on the couch. Not sure since I was asleep. Ron is cooking porkchops for supper tonight. Smells yummy and sure it will taste the same. He's a good cook. Watching local news. Gave Solomon flea med and he's sleeping. That flea med always makes him sleep alot. Don't know why. Any way - alls well. Survived Gustav.
Footnote: Evacuees are not appreciative. All the ones interviewed on tv sounded very ungrateful. They complain about not having help during Katrina and now that they had help before Gustav - they complain because their every need is not met. Newsflash!! Your every need DOES NOT have to be met. Only your shelter and food. And our volunteers are doing what they can to give you that. Give the volunteers a break. They are doing the best they can do. I applaud all our volunteers.