Hurricane Isaac: Aftermath

Well Isaac has passed and we are all fine.  Couldn't ask for a better outcome, however it wasn't a good outcome for some of us.  We've been friends with this family for about 20 years, their son and our son were friends since they were six.  Well their boy, R and his wife K, lost their home in Braithwaite.  Sucks.

Hurricane Issac: FINALLY

We came very close to being the most hated people in our neighborhood/ street today.  In case you missed the last post, there is/was a tree down on a power line in our backyard as well as a transformer.  In order to get the power back on they have had to get our permission to enter the property.  Well, not just yes, but hell yes, so they removed the tree.

Today, I'm up in Slidell and J is at work so there is no one home to give permission and of course they want to get at that transformer to start things to working.  They pull up to the house, get out and knock on the door, and of course every neighbor is watching.  Salivating.  Drooling.  You get the picture.  When the guy turns around to leave he is met by my 69 year old neighbor, (Miss J.), who is literally running to stop him from leaving.  I figure she would have thrown herself in front of the truck if she needed to.  Anywhoo, she told the electric guy that J was at work and I was out helping my mom and to make a long story short, she gave him permission to enter our yard.  Thank Gawd!  It could have gone bad and you'd been reading about the little couple who were stoned to death by their neighbors for not being home.

J got home about five minutes after he left and was on the phone telling me about how we still didn't have any lights, when suddenly they came on.  He laughed and told me he could hear all the neighbors screaming for joy.  I'm so tired from trying to get back on schedule for putting this new house back together that it's difficult to put out more than a big grin.  : D

Our Little Isaac Adventure: During/After

So we are all sitting here running off a generator and for the past couple of days no phone, (not even cell), no Internet and no cable.  Funny thing is about a half an hour ago niece #4 notices the lights on the router were on and we are all now jumping for the computers.  Oh my gosh I had forgotten how isolated you can feel after a little hurricane.  The power, I'm hoping will come back on up here in a couple of hours.  Now as for my house on the Southshore, well, the levee was over topped in two different areas, one of which was three miles away from my house, but all is well.  Sadly one of my neighbors' sons got 5ft in his house in Braithwaite, (he only had 6 inches for Katrina).   Anywhoo I know this is all disjointed and whatnot, but I'm waiting for the cable to go out, (things tend to go on and off for the first couple of hours sometimes)

Mom's place.

Across the street from Mom's place.

My backyard.  It's gonna be a while before we see electricity.

One very unhappy kitty.

Forgot to shut the cat door.  Everything blew off the counter and the stool went down and of course water.

Buh bye car wash.

Our Little Isaac Adventure: Waiting...

Nothing much to tell.  The electricity went out for about an hour and then came back on.  We lost a small limb off the half of a tree left after Gustav.  The cat went missing.  We found him behind a tote in the closet.  Perhaps it will amp up a bit later on; right now it's just six people, (one very hyperactive child included), a gazillion cats, and we are already annoyed with each other.

Our one casualty.  A moment of silence for the limb please.

A couple of videos, ignore me in the second video, I was on the phone with the boy.

Our little Isaac Adventure: Prep

I've got a love/hate relationship with hurricanes.  The storms are awful for me because I HATE lightening, (Have I mentioned that I was indirectly struck by lighting while in the bathtub?), J and the boy are first responders so I am left to fend for myself, and I do not enjoy sitting there in the dark waiting for the roof to come off or the water to rush in.  I do love the storms for their power and beauty.  They are gorgeous creatures who command respect.  Just look at that sunset!  Nothing prettier than the purple, lavender, pink, red and gold sky before a storm.

I've packed up my stuff, loaded it into the car.  I've picked up the stuff in my yard so that the fern doesn't fly through Miss J's bedroom window.  Most people are staying this time around.  Everyone is trusting the levees.  I hope they're right.  I'd stay except I'm the one who can work the generator so I must head north to Slidell.

Sis #2, our awesome neighbors: Miss. J & her son P and J. The sky was literally lavender although you can't tell in this pic.   In the back you can see the dirt pile that never ends.  

Hate evacuating and despite surprising Sis #2 with how little I'm taking with me, I am surprised over how much I did pack into my little car.  Heck what business do I have being attached to any material item I own when I choose to live where there wasn't a spot of dry land after Katrina?  I'm going to do some purging after this.  Some people horde, and cling to each and every little piece of paper claiming that it holds some memory.  I've learned that those little mementos can be a burden when you have to evacuate every three years.  I've also been left with very little in the memento department after Katrina anyways so that helps. ; )

My stuff packed and ready to roll.

Poor Sis #2 she's lived away from Southeast Louisiana for several years and she must think we're all nuts.  She called me yesterday asking what color I wanted to paint the back hall in Mom's new house.  I'm all like, "Have you been to a store today?!"  She's all like, "No, " and I hear her calmly chewing ice over the phone.  I'm telling her the area is running out of gas and there is a frenzy for water and canned food and she just sits there calmly chewing ice and I swear I can practically hear her thinking we are over reacting.  So imagine her surprise when today she learns that traffic is bumper to bumper and that the only gas available is the premium priced stuff.  She's not experienced the post Katrina frenzy over a storm.  There was no heading out to Kenner to return a rental car today.  She found another place in Chalmette and she wanted to kill when they let the guy ahead of her off on filling the tank because he couldn't get gas.  Don't blame her.

Gas frenzy.

Boarding up frenzy.

Tomorrow the storm will arrive and I'm not looking foreword to the experience.  Anyone who says riding out a cat 1-2 storm is nothing hasn't ridden one out in a while.  It's nerve wracking and when you listen to all the call in radio shows it makes your hair stand on end.  There you sit and there is always some nervous nelly, (Mom), who jumps at every THWACK and THUMP and asks, "WHAT'S THAT?  Someone go check."  Yeah, suuurre I'll run right out to determine which of the seventy broken limbs flying about hit the house.  (Alright so it turned out a tree broke in half and hit the roof, but still what was I supposed to do about it in the middle of a storm?)  I prefer to sit in terrified silence pretending I don't hear anything.  Kinda like MiMi...

Shhhhh I don't want to hear about tomorrow's car ride!  Isn't that the cutest widdle brown nose ever?

Hurricane Preparation Vent

I believe Weight Loss Wednesday may not happen this week.  It all depends on Isaac.  J, who is with a local sheriff's department, could be called in as early as Mon. AM and so today we are scrambling to prepare.  I hate the scrambling part and it pisses me off that we have to scramble at all because on my end it's all organized.  I've got lists, pre-made hurricane totes with supplies, and more lists.  The one thing that's got me scrambling?  The damn generator.  We purchased a generator after Katrina and for Ike and Gustav that thing was a wonderful thing to have.  It has an electric start so that I'm not struggling with a pull cord, (the men in the family all seem to be in the EMS business and so us womenfolk are on our own) and can power a TV, freezer, microwave, and box fan all at the same time.  Basically it makes you feel like you are living the high life post hurricane while the other poor sots are fanning themselves praying for a non-existent breeze.

Anywhoo, the only thing I entrusted to my mother was the storage of a special generator cord, the charger for the electric start battery and the owner's manual.  I placed these important items in the armoire and told all to leave it there.  Of course it's not there and J, bless his heart, is heading up to the Northshore to set us up.  I'll be evacuating from the Southshore up to the Northshore so I won't be one of those folks you see on the news swimming in the street, unless the lake pours into Mom's place and so I have life vests in the attic along with the axe, (it's something Dad & Paw always had in the attic after hurricane Betsy).  I've given up on the search and J says we will have to go shopping for a new cord.  It's hard enough having to pull everything together to evacuate, but to have to evacuate, prepare J for the stay and then to prepare for us to hunker down is really overwhelming when the best part of the plan, (a generator), is a dud.

Weight Loss Wednesday: Quick like a bunny!!!

Gotta make this fast.  J says to make a quick shower, but instead I'm running the water and doing this, (bad me).  So here we go...

Exercise	Only if you count the million times a day I’ve gone up and down a ladder and stairs, and yesterday’s moving 10, 48 lb boxes of flooring from condo to truck and from truck up 14 stairs.
Water	Averaging 2 glasses a day.
Food	Fast.
Confession	It’s all bad.
Congratulations	I’m not dead yet.
Starting Weight	151lbs
Last Week	139.5
Current Weight	138 lbs
Weight loss	13 lbs
Dream weight	115