Back Online After Gustav

The power was out from Monday until late Saturday. Meanwhile, houses all around our 2-3 block neighborhood never lost power at all! That was a bit frustrating.

But my house came out of the storm untouched. Everything was fine. Not even too many leaves and twigs to pick up. Before the storm, we had tied a rope from the portable toilet to both the temporary electric pole and the nearby utility pole. A neighbor across the street described how the wind had the toilet leaning over on one edge. Only the rope was keeping it from tipping over and blowing down the street! Then the wind changed direction, and the toilet went upright and slid against the temporary pole for the rest of the time.

Here's a picture of the street I'm building on after the storm:

The power on this street also went out during the storm. It came back on earlier than my parents' house. I think they were back in business on Thursday.

Right behind Gustav is Hurricane Ike. It looks like that storm will graze Louisiana and go into Texas at this point. We don't need another one coming here right now!

Gustav in Progress

So far, so good. The power is still on and although you can tell there's a hurricane outside, the winds haven't been dangerously excessive. I got about 5 hours sleep before the noise from outside distracted me too much. There's still about 4-5 hours to go until the storm's eye makes landfall, but we're optimistic now that we won't even lose power. That would make all the difference in the world! Even if we do lose power, it seems that everyone prepared so well for this event that the restoration effort wouldn't take weeks like it did after Katrina.

Here is a photo of the house with all the windows boarded up:

And here's one from Friday showing the primer sprayed on the walls and ceilings. You're looking in through the front door:

I'll write more later, assuming I still have power and communications.

First Impact from Gustav

About 10 mins ago (7:25pm Central time), Gustav made his first impact here. We were outside and saw the dark band of clouds coming. Suddenly, the wind went from zero to very gusty, and the rain started to pelt us. There were a few pellets of hail right off the bat.

He's heeeeeerrree!

Battening Down the Hatches!

Gustav is coming!

It's the new hurricane sensation that's sweeping the nation! (Or at least, the Louisiana part of the nation...) The storm is expected to make landfall in about 48 hours just west of the greater New Orleans area. We'll be on the east side of the storm, and that's the worst side to be on. Gustav is not a wimpy hurricane. It could be as strong as a cetegory 4 when it hits land. For the first time, I have a house to worry about during a storm. We've covered most of the windows at this point (the rest will be done tomorrow), and installed plywood covering over my 18 ft wide garage door opening.

I trust that God will take care of things. He always does, even if we have to wait for the long term to look back and see it.

My family has decided to stay put at home for this storm. It's a decision I'm not at ease with, but I want to be where my family is for this. The Katrina evacuation consisted of a 15 hour bumper-to-bumper drive and a grueling week cooped up in a small hotel room in a small town with 4 people and 2 dogs. That was followed up by a 14 hour ride home and a week doing clean-up in the sun with no electricity. This time, I guess we're hoping to avoid the evac misery and just endure life at home with no power. I do not live in an area that flooded after Katrina, and there's very little chance we would be affected by flooding this time. So I'm not worried about my new house getting damaged, unless it's by a wayward falling oak tree. Did I mention that I know God will take care of things?