Semi-Normal

Well, things are back to a normalcy around here. We finally got open. We were closed for 2 weeks. That was the longest 2 weeks. I knew I should have been at work, I was a nervous wreck. It was far from relaxing. We finally got a new roof so all that is left at work is getting our new fixtures. I just talked to the adjustor for my house claim today. I think I will come out ok.
I have been doing a little stitching lately. I have done two exchanges. The first picture is of my needleroll exchange. I don't know if the recipient ever got it or not. She never posted that she had sent or received.
The second photo is the package I got from my exchange partner for the needleroll exchange.
The third picture is my halloween exchange. I stitched the little house from Frimousse. It was harder than it looks. Tons of thread changes and it was so little, I had a hard time putting it together.

Making Progress

My property manager has been super great! As I am typing this, my ceiling is being replaced. By the middle of next week I should be back up and running with a new ceiling, a new roof, and new carpet. My fixtures will take longer to process but, I don't have to have them to sell.
This town is still a mess. The power still isn't on in all places and debris is still everywhere. We are getting there. Everyone is working together to try to get back to "normal" as quick as possible.
Thank goodness Ike looks like it will be going to Texas. It could still turn but usually those hurricane predictors are pretty on target.

More Hurricane Stuff

I finally saw my property manager today. They got tarps put up over the entire shopping center roof and we should have a real roof by next week. They are going to dry and refloat my ceiling beginning today. I will have to get new carpet and fixtures but I have to get the ceiling in first. I moved out all the Vera so it wouldn't pick up any odor. I am so tired. I think a lot is emotional. After Katrina, I remember thinking that "those people" really are bad off. I sort of disassociated myself from it. Now is the reality. Today, some of the low lying communities started to flood. I think the rivers have just about crested so the water should start going down soon. I know we are on track for recovery. I will have to commend the state and the state government for stepping up to the plate.
One thing I heard over the course of the last few days was "Why do those people live there" The answer was "We love our land". I got to thinking about that and it is really true. I have written before about our state and I still wouldn't live anywhere else. We are community, we love our food, our crops, our river, our gulf, our seafood. We have beautiful old antebellum homes, we love to have fun. It is just different here from anywhere else in the country.
Things are so much better here and ......I think Walmart opens for limited hours tomorrow.

Aaahhhh, Power

As I write, it is 12:16pm on Wednesday night. I just got my power back on at my house around 30 minutes ago. Before I write anything else, let me just say how very blessed I am. It could have been so much worse.
Let me go back to Monday. We weren't sure what time the hurricane was going to come through. Sunday I picked up my yard and prepared. I was sort of afraid to go to sleep Sunday night. Monday morning I woke up and it was just raining, no problem. I wanted to sleep longer but I also knew I needed to get up and get dressed. I wanted to be dressed in case something happened and I needed to run outside. Around 1 in the afternoon Monday, my power went out. No biggie, just a few hours hahaha. After 1, the winds started to pick up. I was sitting in my den for a while and heard this loud boom. I looked out back and out front but I didn't see anything. I kept seeing my neighbor across the street go to her door. I ran outside only to see that a huge tree had fallen across two of my neighbors houses. That was the picture from my last entry I think. Winds were just a swirling and we were all outside. I came back in, soaked, and went and sat on my bed looking out my bedroom window into the back yard. I heard creaking and watched a tree in my next door neighbors house fall but thankfully just into her backyard. All of the fences in the back fell. Stats: wind of 64MPH for 4 hours with gusts of 91. It was pretty wicked. When things settled down Monday, mom and I went to check on the store. I am not going to expand on that tonight. We just came home and bathed and went to bed. The temp outside wasn't bad on Monday and it was still raining so my house was really pretty cool.
Tuesday morning we got up, still no power. I was really surprised because I can see the power station from my house. We were asked to not be on the road but there were so many people out. I got word Home Depot was opening at noon so I arrived around 11:20. There was a line all the way around the parking lot. My mom's neighbor went with me. He got a generator and I got tarps. They only let 10 people in the store at a time. Oh, HD is in Denham where my store is and we all had power there. I spent most of the day doing that, then Ryans was open to cook some of their food before it spoiled, so I went to get my grandmother and we went there to eat a hot meal. I came home and worked cleaning debris in my yard. We had some curfews to work around. Denhams curfew is 6 and East Baton Rouge's curfew is 8. When it got dark, I again went inside in the dark, took a shower and got in bed. My house was getting hot but not unbearable. It was just so dark. No lights except the fire station by my house has huge generators so I could see that light. At night it was so strange. Pitch black and quiet except for generator motors.
Today, I again got up and went to the shop. I drove around a lot today and took pics. It is so devastated. Again, I have so so much to be thankful for. It could have been so much worse. Very few stores are open because nobody has power. The stores that are open, open very few hours and just let a few people in at a time. We have to buy everything with cash. No credit cards. The highlight of my day was going two exits down the interstate to get a coke with ice.
Tomorrow I am going to try to be open. I still haven't heard from my landlord so I am going to try to get in touch with her again. I will start doing something at the store, not sure what. We will have to pretty much gut it and start from scratch. Again, it could be so much worse. I am pretty tired now. I am keyed up but after working in my yard for two days I am physically exhausted. I still have about half of my back yard to clean and I will be all done. I just need to find someone to put a tarp on my roof where the branch went through. I have lots of pictures for another post.

It's BAD!

I have no power at home. Am at the store. This is my neighborhood. My store is really bad. I will have to completely redo. More later. Off to find something hot to eat.

Quick Update

My internet access has been iffy all day so I thought I would go ahead and update. Sorry, no pictures from the empty Walmart. I went today after church, camera in hand...oh gosh, I hear the ice cream truck, anyway, camera in hand and walmart was closed. It was about 10 till 12 so I guess they closed earlier than noon. They weren't supposed to close until tonight. I needed my blood pressure meds. Oh well LOL.
I locked myself out of my house today. I had gone to my back patio to eat my lunch and the sliding door locked after me. I had to call my mom to bring me a spare key (I went to mamaw's across the street to call). She coerced me into helping her clean her yard. Basically I just watched her. Then she came to help me in my yard. All the pots and the bbq are put up.
I have all my food, stuff to drink, and my yard is all picked up. Seems as if I am all set. I am trying to wash dishes, clothes, and clean the bathrooms, then I will shower and dress. I don't know when the power will go off. I may not be in touch before that though. My dsl only works when the wind blows the right way. I am hearing this storm will be one of the worst if it doesn't lose some strength. My house is on the emergency flight path between here and New Orleans. There have been helicoptors flying all day. I guess they are evacuating the critical. I know my church was housing two nursing homes. Anyway, if you are in the storms path, stay safe. If you are not in the storms path, please pray for those who are.

Still waiting......

Well, here we are on Saturday morning, still waiting. You definitely can feel that everyone here is in a holding pattern, just waiting for the big storm. Nobody is out shopping unless it is to get hurricane supplies. We are all in anticipation of what this storm is going to do. The state and LSU officials moved the game up to 10 am this morning. The contraflow is predicted to start around 6 am Sunday. During contraflow, all lanes of the interstate lead north. I heard this morning that not only are they setting 10, 55, and 59 to contraflow but also 49. Every interstate in the state will be heading north. I just watched the news and Gustav is hovering on the west side of Cuba with wind speeds at 115 mph. This makes this storm a Cat3 and it is still hitting land. When it gets to the gulf, they expect it to be a 4 or 5. There is a chance that the storm will turn but, the weather people see this all the time and they study this stuff, so they know what they are saying. There is and uncertainty about what it will do but all the predictors have it heading this way. This is a map of the state of Louisiana. Last I heard, the storm was set to land 20 miles west of Houma. If you look 20 miles west of Houma, then straight up, you will see Baton Rouge which is where I live. Again, hopefully by landfall, the storm will turn some so the impact wont be as significant.
Well, I am off to work. I am going to still try to go to Walmart this afternoon and take some pictures so you can experience hurricane preparations. It will be insane I am sure.