Katrina, Plus 10 Years, Minus 12 Days

Today is August 17th. According to the National Hurricane Center:

"Environmental conditions appear conducive for development over the next severaldays, and a tropical depression will likely form by the middle of
the week while the system moves westward or west-northwestward near
15 mph.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...50 percent
* Formation chance through 5 days...high...70 percent "

That's a pretty darn good chance.

In 2005, on August 23rd, Hurricane Katrina slogged to life near the Bahamas. The rest is history.

I fervently pray that this particular history never repeats itself.

Late August still makes me anxious.

Moogie Dodges a Bullet, or a Mortar Round

The tornado warning sirens went off last night. Pepper, the dogs (after we convinced Mysti to come out from under the desk in Pepper's office), and I went downstairs to our "safe place" where we remained for a good thirty minutes as the sirens went off and back on. And off and back on. And off and back on. We're pretty sure the cell passed overhead nearby, but we were spared any damage -- we didn't even get any hail(to the relief of the newly planted plants!). The lights also stayed on -- just a couple of flickers. We lucked out.

The good people some 20 minutes from here didn't, including some of our long-time friends from the National Guard. This is near where their new house used to stand, next door to their son's home. Their new brick house. Both houses are now little more than piles of rubble.

Thank God they weren't physically injured. Many Guard friends, including us, offered them a place to stay, but they went to their daughter's. That's probably for the best. The death toll has been revised down to 14 from 16 (because two people were counted twice), but the Governor expects that number to increase.

Weather experts are speculating that the tornado will be classified as at least an EF3. Pretty powerful. It's so very hard to see all this devastation -- the poor town of Vilonia was wiped out yesterday after re-building following an EF2 that hit in 2011. The emotional toll is heavy -- even on those of us who were spared. All we can do to help right now is to donate money to relief agencies -- State Troopers and the Guard are keeping non-residents out of the hardest hit areas to prevent looting and other wrongdoing by scammers who invariably show up to capitalize on disaster. Or to gawk. Been there.

To lighten up a bit, this is a picture that Younger Daughter posted on Facebook after the all clear -- it's Grandbaby #5, and it's captioned, "Baby's first tornado. It's an Arkansas thing."

Sometimes we just need to hang onto a sense of humor. And to train our kids about storm preparation -- #5 has his flashlight and some fruit snacks.

Welcome home to Tornado Alley, Moogie and Pepper, after 14 years in Hurricaneville. I don't think I'd like to be our neighbor if given a choice -- we seem to be storm magnets.

A Post-Isaac Labor Day Tribute

You see what I mean about there being no hope for Moogie's hair? This was pre-restoration of the AC.

So.  As we await the refrigerator repair guy (yep, the ice chute cover keeps opening and closing all by itself, and the control panel keeps flashing -- the fridge either blew a circuit somewhere during all the plugging and unplugging for generator respites, or it needs an exorcism.  Or both.), and the roofers (who arrived yesterday to replace the fallen chimney cap and discovered enough shingle damage to require a big blue tarp), and the insurance adjusters who will tell us that the repair costs don't quite meet the deductible, we come to that annual contemplation of Labor Day.  And the Second Annual re-telling of What Labor Day means to Moogie (and, I imagine, to Elder Daughter, the new Mommy):

Monday, September 6, 2010

What Labor Day Means to Moogie

As I prepare to bake an apple-blueberry pie to take to a potluck this afternoon, my thoughts drift to the true meaning of today's revered holiday observation.

Labor Day -- the day we recognize and acknowledge all those hours spent in a hospital gown that exposes our backside to the world, hee-hee-heeing and blowing, then straining to push a human being out of our bodies and into this world. (Often described by male physicians as "experiencing some discomfort.")

What's that you say? Union labor?!?!

Oh.

In that case, contact your senator and congressperson today -- and tomorrow -- and explain just exactly why the Employee Free Choice Act is no more than a communist mechanism to screw the rank-and-file employee and the employer simultaneously, and a device to take contractual bargaining out of the hands of the real parties in interest and hand it over to not-totally-disinterested third parties, among other unpleasant things.

In the meantime, go have a picnic -- and call your mother.

 

 

Lit Up at Moogie's Mansion!

When one has air conditioning, she can believe she's invincible!

And, also having television/cable/internet restored makes Moogie pretty darn awesome.  Except for her hair.  The hair is a lost cause. 

Trust me on this one.

Birthdays and Hurricanes -- and Cocktails!

Moogie's Mansion is all shuttered up.  It's dark in here!

I spent my 2005 birthday in Little Rock, having evacuated for Katrina.  That's one birthday I'll never forget.

Pepper and I were just strolling down memory lane, trying to recall what we were doing when Hurricane Gustav blew in about this time in 2008. 

He was still running Disaster Management for Entergy back then (as a secondary responsibility to his regular position -- his last billet with Fifth Army was pretty much the same thing, except that the Fifth Army's responsibility for the Northcom region encompassed most of the central portion of the United States instead of just southeast Louisiana;  Entergy had flown him back to Baton Rouge from our evacuation in 2005 to manage the post-Katrina recovery as military liaison.  He apparently did a good job because they kept going back to him for subsequent storms -- and Russel Honore still gets on his last nerve.  Long story.), so he headed to the state EOC (Emergency Operations Center) in Baton Rouge while I loaded the car with a whole lot of stuff, plus three dogs, and set out for Little Rock.  In contraflow, the pace of which made snails look like Speedy Gonzales and his amigos.  The trip that usually takes 7 hours took more like 12, and there were no bathroom stops for the first 7 or 8 hours.  And I saw the remains of an enormous snake on the road, which meant that I had the heebie jeebies for the remainder of the trip.  And I had to walk three cranky dogs when I gassed up in Tallulah.  On my birthday. 

It turned out that Gustav hit Baton Rouge instead of New Orleans, and Pepper was stuck there.  Then, it tracked up into Arkansas and dumped a walloping amount of rain on me.

And Ike hit a week or so later, so I just stayed in Little Rock. In a house with three people, one bathroom, and four dogs.

Last year, TS Lee hit the weekend after my birthday, while our downstairs air conditioning was out of service.

We've decided that we're tired of celebrating my birthday in the company of hurricanes and tropical storms.

I think we deserved the fancy cheese tray during Cocktails with Isaac yesterday evening.

And , I think I really hope that Entergy doesn't call Pepper back from retirement to do one more round of consequence management, disaster or otherwise!

I think cocktail hour might arrive a little early today.

Isaac, the Unwelcome Guest

The timing is pretty lousy.

Pepper spent the morning nailing shutters closed while I picked up outdoor knick-knacks.  The generator is primed and non-perishable foodstuffs are at the ready.  We're going to Lowe's this afternoon to pick up a few solar lights -- they work great when the power goes out at night. 

Then we wait.

And try to keep a sense of humor:

But, the lousy timing -- the anniversary of Katrina -- is pretty bad.  I had to re-schedule my hair appointment!!

Cheers, y'all.  Keep us in your positive thoughts, please.