Even though we have a generator, it’s so nice when the power is restored.  We lost power Wednesday for about 3 hours.  The outage was timed just right for me to be able to prepare lunch and dinner.  Then about 10:30pm the power went off again and didn’t come back on until about 11:30pm last night.

Thank you all for praying for us here in Louisiana.  We’re fine.  We have lots of pine needles and branches in the yard but no major damage.  Don’s little boat he uses to putter around in the pond sunk except for the motor end.  He’ll pump the water out and be ready just like new.  Vanessa sent me a text saying she needed to use his yellow boat so I sent her one back saying “ok” and included this picture.

She changed her mind.

This broken branch is about the worst tree damage I have found so far on our place.  There are lots of trees down in other places and water across roads still in our parish.

Please continue to keep the people of our state and others affected by this storm in your prayers and close to your hearts.  Especially say prayers for the community of Braithwaite, LA where the whole town is flooded to the rooftops and at least 2 people have lost their lives.

It’s pretty calm around here.  We’ve got some gusty breezes but no rain so far.    I haven’t been able to watch much about it on TV due to the guys taking over both of them.    Chris always gets anxious during hurricanes/tropical storms so I’ve been telling him to calm down.   Every time he see’s our parish name (Tangipahoa), he thinks it means mandatory evacuation even if that isn’t what it means.

We’re expecting lots of wind and rain tonight.  Don had me park my truck close to the barn and away from any trees that might fall on it.  Lol.  The car and his truck are over there also.  He’s got the tractor parked in front of the chicken house and has the tractor bucket holding down some sheets of tin to keep them from going air-borne.

Buttons and Jet aren’t concerned about the weather.

Molly Mae has better things to do than worry.

The chickens couldn’t care less.  They’re busy scratching for bugs in their yard.

Big Bird

Don named her Big Bird when she was a wee chick.   She’s a Barred Rock.  Her feathers are so soft.  She likes to be held and comes running when she hears my voice.  She will hop up into the window in the coop for me to pick her up when I open it.  Here’s a picture of her roaming in the yard in front of the chicken house today.  We let her come out front when we’re there to watch over her.  She loves to scratch for bugs and worms.  Sometimes, I don’t even have to pick her up to take her back into the chicken yard.  She’ll just wander in with me and go through the door when I open it.  Spoiled, rotten chicken!

So, that’s what’s happening in our part of the world today.

I want to say thanks to everyone who has responded.  Prayers are always welcome.   Just so you can see where we are in relation to New Orleans and the coast line, I found this map and put a purple star to show our location.  The map came from louisiana-map.org.

The purple star shows where we live.  Click on the map for a larger view.

Part of our parish is under mandatory evacuation but our area rarely reaches that point due to us not being in a flood zone.  I’m headed out to help Chris get the plants put up.

One of those consequences is being on storm alert every year summer & fall.  I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to Isaac because I didn’t think it was headed this way.  Wrong.  I haven’t checked on it today but last night it looked like it was coming head-on for us.

What that means is doing some things to get ready for power outages we know are going to happen.  With Katrina, we were without power for about 5 days.  After the 3rd night of stifling heat, DH got up early  (as if you could sleep in that heat) and stood in line at Lowe’s with a number in his hand to buy a generator.  After that, life was bearable because we had a window air conditioning unit in the kitchen and our bedroom and we could stay somewhat cool, watch TV and cook.  We still have the window unit in the kitchen to supplement the central system so we can hunker down in the kitchen/den.

We can plug up the fridge and freezers alternately to keep them charged so for that part, we’re pretty much covered.  Don still has to get more gas for the generator but he’ll do that this afternoon.  We have a 2 burner hot plate, an outside grill and a propane cooker so we can prepare meals.

Now…what kind of things do you think we do to get ready for storms?  Here’s a list of some of the things I do.

Make sure all the laundry is washed & dried.

Put all the potted plants, outside chairs, etc. under the back porch.

All vehicle gas tanks must be full and ready to evacuate if we’re told to.  We don’t evacuate unless the parish government instructs us to do so.  We just board up the windows and get ready.

Have plenty of flashlights, batteries, candles, and matches on hand.

Portable, battery operated radio.

Non-perishable food items stocked—crackers, nuts, canned soups & fruits, Vienna sausages (yep…a neccessity),  snack stuff, bottled water….etc.

This is just part of what I do to get ready.  Options has already activated the evacuation/shelter plan so I’ll go pick Chris up and we’ll probably stop by Lowe’s to pick up another couple of flashlights and maybe stop by the dollar store to get a new portable radio.  We’ll put together our hurricane box and start doing the outside things that need to be taken care of.

Some people have a generator installed to run their house and we may do that in the future.  It always helps to have someone on stand by in case you have to evacuate.  Judy has already called to check on me and we can go there if we need to.  We have family that we could go to…problem is with this storm….it’s projected to head straight up into their part of Mississippi.    I’m not expecting to have to run though.

I’m not blowing this thing off by any means, but we’ve been through this a few times in the almost 30 years we’ve lived here.  We do what we need to do to get ready and we start watching the local coverage so we can stay in the know.  We’re far enough inland that we don’t usually get the impact that those on the direct coastline do.

So, please keep those of us who live in these storm areas in your thoughts & prayers.