How's the weather there? The teacher next door to me has a DD, SIL, and new grandson (5 weeks old) living there. They have only been there about a year. He is a resident surgeon and has to stay at the hospital, so of course my friend is worried about DD and new grandson.
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. -- Bernice Johnson Reagon
The weather is still fine. The storm is still a tropical storm and should be over land for most of it's journey here, so I don't know if it will even turn into a hurricane. I've drawn down the pool and thrown the pool furniture in. My H will have to bring in the barbecue and heavy stuff. I'll help, but he's not coming home early to do it, so I guess he's not too worried. It really should not be too bad. Of course, even in regular thunderstorms some trees fall, so you never know. But I'm not expecting a very damaging storm.
Just tell her to fill an ice chest tonight with ice, in case the electricity goes out. And have a barbecue ready to cook the meat that might defrost from her freezer. Then flashlights, hurricane candles in glass, something to read by candlelight and plenty of bottled water and canned foods for a few days, in case she gets shut in. I like to have a bottle of something alcoholic to sip, but drinking through hurricanes is a Louisiana solution. i don't know if it's in favor here.
I have sconces with candles hanging in every room. I love it when the lights go out and we live by candlelight. One hurricane I read a whole Harry Potter book by candlelight. (I use my Chanukkah menorahs -- nine candles close together.)
The 2 AM forecast shows the storm going pretty far east of here. We're not likely to have any real storm activity. At least my H gets the day off of work. That's nice. Tomorrow I can fish the lawn furniture out of the pool.
You know what's worse than worrying about a hurricane that's projected to hit you? Worrying about a hurricane that's projected to hit your kid who is away at college.
So, the map doesn't look good. Gustav is headed for Louisiana. And it is west of New Orleans, but the east side of the storm is supposed to be the worse side, so unless they can push it further west, I'm still worrying.
And normally she would be with her roommate's family, so I wouldn't worry too much. But this weekend she is housesitting all by herself out in the country with 3 dogs and a cat. So if she did need to evacuate, she has responsibility for all those pets too.
And she isn't answering my phone calls. Why would she answer? She knows I want to convince her to do something other than what she's planning. My husband says if it really looks like the storm will hit her, that he will drive over there to housesit with her. That's a 9 hour drive. I guess I have to stop saying he doesn't have much of a relationship with her.