Preparation

So, TFP is an avid storm tracker.  He's been following Mike's Weather Page for years.  So, yesterday morning I was worrying about work.  We were up early running errands.

And then, it was like everything kinda stopped.  TFP said that there was a storm about to form in the gulf & possibly hit us by Sunday!  So, then our day changed somewhat.  We were at Lowe's getting a sander (this is a possible subject for another post).  So, I said, let's get flashlights.  TFP was caught up in the excitement of a storm building.  I was looking in the front by the checkout lines and the entrance for flashlights.  We didn't see them, so we didn't bother to look in the aisles for them.

Then we went to Rouses.  We were getting ahead of the game.  We were getting supplies & no one else was.  We got canned soup, chips & some water.  TFP got stuff to make shrimp creole.  We didn't get a ton of stuff, but enough to last a couple days.  Then we had to drive all the way out to Metairie (again) to pick up our car.  It had a fuel pump recall & we had dropped it off at 8:30 am, then we had to pick it up during rush hour, again.

So, then we went home.  TFP made shrimp creole, and I was in the process of repainting the balcony. We ate some of our Hurricane snacks, but I figured I could go to the store again if needed.  It was hot and I was tired.  I had planned to get up early the next morning and finish the balcony.  We went to bed fairly early.  I had a good night sleep.  And then I woke up to rain.  How was I going to paint?!!?

So, I peaked out the window, and it was pretty damn stormy

So I got up anyway and looked at the rain, made coffee, etc.  A little while later, we were all up.  I looked out the front and said, "It's flooding".  Oh no!  We had had a big flood on Mother's Day, which almost kept us from catching a flight to Fort Lauderdale.  So, hopefully, it wouldn't be that bad....

But it got worse

And the crazy part, was that this storm was not on the radar.  It kind of formed in the middle of the night, and just happened.  No one knew it was coming.  Everyone woke up and started driving to work, but some people didn't make it.  But finally the rain stopped.  But the water wasn't going down.  And people were driving down the road too fast!  Those weren't our cars on the road, but I felt bad for the owners.  The truck is our neighbor's.  Which he came out and looked at the flood and casually said it was crazy, then went back in.  

Finally, after a few hours, which seemed like days, the water started to recede.  Then it was almost gone.  But, we were watching the local news (since we no longer have cable and can't watch The Weather Channel) and they were reporting about much worse flooding in other parts of town that were not going down, and cars stranded all over, and traffic.  And TFP was worried about getting to work, but he didn't even know if they were going to open.  

So, we went to walk the dog.  We walked up to the Canal on the other side of Broad Street & we were amazed at how rough and high the water was.

Anyway, there was scary loud lightweight and thunder nearby, so we hurried home before the next storm system which luckily never came.  TFP got the call that they were going to open, so he got ready and was going to walk, since we weren't sure which roads were clear.  

So, Rudy & I walked him to the corner of Claiborne & Canal.  And the traffic was horrendous.  Th traffic lights were out at the intersection, so cars were backed up from every direction.  So, it was probably better that we didn't drive.  

I went home & read the owner's manual for our generator that we got after Hurricane Irma in Fort Lauderdale.  We had never used it.  So, I saw that we needed 10W30 oil for it.  And we needed another extension cord, because the grounded cords we had wouldn't reach all the way out back where we would put the generator.  So, I remembered there was the auto parts store around the corner.  I walked there.  The guy was helpful & not condescending.  He said they had water to the counter, but then he just cleaned it up & then opened.  I went back & decided it was time to venture out in the car.  I topped off the gas in the Renegade,  I brought the gas cans & filled them.  We went to Rouses.  There were no carts in the store.  I had to go back out and ask a lady for her cart as she was finishing putting her stuff in the car.   I was not quite done when this happened

This was very devastating because these are my only good flip flops.  They helped immensely with my plantar fasciitis.  So I was limping around the store, holding the thong with my toes.  

Anyway, I finished that, then I got cash out and an ATM.  Then I realized I forgot to put air in one of the tires.  And yes, I could have asked at the dealership, but I forgot.  They would have probably tried to sell me a new tire anyway.  

So, here I am, writing this blog post.  And we aren't super prepared for a storm, but as long as the house stays upright, we have enough stuff to last a few days.  Wish us and the state of Louisiana luck!  See you on the other side.  Hopefully, lol.

Searching the Web

I'm watching The Weather Channel, while searching the internets for news of beloved Nola and the gulf coast area.  The few people that I could contact, I don't want to waste their phone charge by texting them.  Hopefully everyone is safe and sound.

When I look at the photos from the times picayune website I know that each individual house has it's own fate.  One house on any given street could be fine, while the house next door could be in shambles.

We don't need to bring up the whole Katrina thing, do we?  It's the 7 year anniversary.  And for some people, this little cat 1 hurricane is turning out to be worse than Katrina.

Go figure.

It's so sad that I'm so helpless and really I don't know what exactly is going on up there.

I do see a lot of pictures of flooding and downed trees and power lines.  And I know that a ton of gulf coast residents are without power.  But really, what else do I know?  Not much else.

I'm so sad for that beautiful, old, dark, sunny, humid, crazy, tough, maddening, dangerous place that's forever in my heart.  But at the same time, I can't imagine living there and still having to deal with that worry.  I assume if we still lived there, or if we had moved back, we would have bought a house there.  I can't imagine what it would be like to prepare for a hurricane in New Orleans in a house that I owned.  When we used to prepare for hurricanes back in the day, we were never prepared.  We usually just tried to buy enough booze and smoked oysters to last us a couple days, but it usually only lasted a day or two tops.  We never once boarded one window.  We never sandbagged.  We never had a generator.  We were so unprepared.

I just can't imagine.

Out of the dark ages

So, I didn't blog yesterday because I didn't have cable or internets!

We were experiencing the effects of Isaac, yesterday.  So, while the power didn't go out, the cable did.  We had come home from work hoping to get on the internet and watch updates on the TV, and nada.

I tried to find a phone number for our cable - Xfinity - and on my primitive web browser on my phone, it was difficult.  So the FP had to look on his iphone.  And he found the number in a couple minutes.  So, he got the recorded message that said we should have our service back up by 11pm.

!11PM!!!!!

Needless to say, we were in bed snoozing way before the cable came back on.

Can I tell you though, how lonely and out of touch I felt?  I know, it's sad and losery.  But, that's the truth.  We don't have friends here.  We don't know our neighbors.  We don't have any "things" that we are a part of.  We don't even have a bar where we are regulars.  And as you know, I don't really talk on the phone.

So, the internet and the TV are my window to the outside world.  Sad?  Yes?  But true.

I remember when we were young and irresponsible and had friends and had bars down the street that we could walk to.  And we would wade to the bar.  We didn't do that yesterday.  Of course, we got home around 7pm.  So, we hung out in the lanai for an hour, then we had dinner, and we were in bed by 9ish.  So sad.

And now I just realized that the cable was out during Breaking Bad, so the DVR didn't record it! :(

Not a big deal, since I can get it on demand.  But it's sad.

We got off easy.  I just hope the gulf coast does too.

The Cone

My favorite kind of cone is a waffle cone.  The FP's favorite kind of cone is the cone of uncertainty, with spaghetti models spilling out of it.

So, it's ironic.  We are sitting to the right side of the cone.  So, we might not get a direct hit.  We might get a lot of rain though.  The ironic part, we are approaching the anniversary of Katrina, so this hurricane is due to hit Florida almost on the anniversary of Katrina.

That would be crazy if it hit us on the anniversary.  That would be a literary event.  I'm not saying that I want it to hit us, but it's damn interesting.

With all the hurricane watches and warnings that we have dealt with, you would think we would be prepared for a storm.

We are not, of course.  Our storm shutters are not lined up with the drill holes.  The storm shutters that are detachable, we've never tried to fit to the windows.  We don't know what would happen to this house in the event of a bad storm.  I don't know what we would do with our cars.  But, our tree is trimmed, at least.

Well, let's hope that we won't have to scramble to prepare for this.

Maybe it will just go into the water.

Or maybe it will head for New Orleans.  Now that would be crazy....