I have power again!! No more cold showers. No more lukewarm sodas. No more fumbling with candles and flashlights. And internet, glorious internet!!! Hello folks! I've missed you!

Per whitecrow0's request, this is to let you know that the kitties came through the storm just fine. They freaked a little with all the winds, and mostly hid under furniture, except for Fiona, who kept following me around and begging to be held and trembling. Poor thing was traumatized. But she's back to her cheerful self now, and I think they like having ( Read more... )

Ok, so life is returning to normal slowly but surely. I'm still without power, and my electric company won't tell me if it will be 3 days or 3 weeks before I get it back. They're being less than helpful. Other parts of the city are slowly getting power back, however, and more and more places are opening, including this wonderful little bar/ ( Read more... )

So Gustav downgraded to a category 2 overnight, and seems like it shifted a bit further west, all good things for me. From what I can tell from satellite the eye is making landfall around Houma, LA, right about now. I'm in the middle of one of the outer bands. It's raining, but not coming down too hard. There's about 3 inches of standing water ( Read more... )

Ok, a seven-hour drive today means that I'm exhausted, so I'm shutting down and going to bed. I'm stocked up on food that doesn't need cooking, the major electronics are unplugged, the bathtub is filled with water if the pipes go out, I've got flashlights and batteries and a battery-powered radio that also has a power crank on it so I can keep up ( Read more... )

Ok, just a note to let y'all know that I made it back home safe and sound, and am all holed up and prepared for the duration. I'll be online for the next few hours, probably. It's raining a little now, but nothing really bad yet. The radio said we should start to see the first major effects around midnight here, and I figure I'll probably lose ( Read more... )

For those wondering. I am in Birmingham, AL, right now, but I am cutting my trip short (I was supposed to fly home tomorrow, but that flight got cancelled) and will be driving back to Baton Rouge this afternoon. I will be hunkering down with the kitties and will let you know how it goes as soon as I have email and/or phone contact when it's all ( Read more... )

Well, current predictions now have Gustav hitting Louisiana Tuesday morning instead of Monday, which means my flight home this weekend might actually happen as scheduled. Of course, I'll be flying into Louisiana at the same time that everyone else will probably be trying to get out, but that's ok :) Looks like if everything goes as expected I'll ( Read more... )