A Good Day After All....thanks Lora and BC

Our new deck covered in leaves. We are so thankful no big limbs hit this and damaged it as it about three days old!

This Helen and Dr. Dale's oak that fell across the drive way. I always hate to see pretty trees tipped over like that....one day it is fine, next day laying on its side.

Well.....it has been an interesting week so far. I never realize how spoiled I am until my creature comforts are taken away. We lost electricity on Monday night about 9:30 PM. so promptly got into the bathtub....what I do when I am worried...and Jim started playing the piano....maybe what he does when he is worried. I got my cell phone and I talked to some neighbors and found out the whole area was out of power. After locating the flash lights and lighting some candles we decided to play a hand of cards....which we do most evenings anyway. By ten thirty we were in bed and promptly heard a crash. Jim said a limb must have hit the deck, but we later found out it was a limb that hit the shed out back. About two thirty I got up to check out the status outside. I was listening to the wind blowing outside and that was scary. Several big trucks came dow the street and stopped in front of the Boersma's ....I couldn't figure out what was going on exactly, but once day break came I walked down to see a huge oak had uprooted and fell over and brought down the wires. That oak tree had stood straight and tall and it was hard to imagine why it would have fallen. We have an oak on our creek bank that looked like a better candidate for falling. I guess you just never know.


When we got up and dressed it was clear we were going to have to go find some coffee. Hubby, Jim, doesn't even act like a human until after two cups so we high tailed it to Starbucks. (He would have been happy at the U Pack It....but I wanted to go to Starbucks...there was only one other person there and it looked very inviting to me ....my hair was a wreck and the U Pack had bazillion (well several anyway) cars parked out front. I went in and got the coffee and we jumped back into the truck....it really was truck kind of day out....and decided to look around to see what sort of damage was in town. Sophie, the fluff, was interested to see as well.

There were several problem spots in town with trees and wires down and I started thinking about all those guys who risk life and limb in those bucket trucks to get our lives back to normal. I bet they are so, so tired.....and I am so thankful for them.

We checked back at the house and still no electricity :-( so grabbed my lap top and Jim and I headed for free wi-fi at the Cresant City Coffee house. (poor Sophie had to stay home.) While sitting in the coffee house looking at weather.com and checking the emails we saw people from all over Louisiana having coffee and beignets. (It was tough but I decided I didn't need a beignet.) Everyone had a lap top with them and was checking the news and looking at pictures of the southern part of the state. Many of these people were checking to see WHEN they would be permitted to go back home. We also saw other Rustonites who just like us were looking for some place with wi-fi and great coffee. It was a festive atmosphere because most people realized Gustav just didn't have the punch Katrina had and the inconveinence would be minimal as compared with last time.

Saw BC and he said he could tell from looking at us that we were without electricity...to be exact he could tell from MY hair. That is ok, BC, I will refrain making comments about your hair or lack there of....but actually he was speaking the truth. Gotta respect that. We were there about an hour and then left to go to Lowes. Jim's little truck automatically turns to go to Lowes without even directing it. We wrote down prices for materials for the deck railing. Jim is focused on getting the deck finished. We came home fully expecting to have electricity as we kept hearing that this one or that one had gotten their power restored....but on arriving at the house we realized the power was NOT on.

After checking on neighbors Helen and Dr. Dale and seeing everything was going well down there we decided maybe we needed to go to the store and buy a generator to save what was in our fridg. We just wanted something small, but alas everyone was out ....well, unless we wanted someting large from Honda. We ended up going and getting a small generator from Helen's kids, David and Rachel. Their power was working just fine. It was great to sit in the air conditioning in their well lighted home for a while.

Getting back home Jim promptly fired up the generator and not anytime too soon.....things were beginning to get a little soft in the freezer.....and the phone rings and it is Lora asking if we want to come over for chili dogs and we could watch the Republican National Convention.....and we could bring or fuzzy critter!!! It was the best news I had all day. Our house, while not really hot, was very stuffy and humid. We tried to arrange our scalpel coverings....(as my Dad used to say)..changed our clothes, made sure Sophie did her business....loaded her dog dishes and my lap top, some goodies and took off. How wonderful to be in their lovely home...with lights, air conditioning and computer access!!!! I even took a blow dryer to get my hair REALLY dry. Their new kitchen is just spectacular and looks even better in person. The granite counter tops are so unique....beautiful colors! BC and Lora's daughter-in-law's Mom, Sylvia, was there, too. It was nice to meet her....but I imagine she would have rather it be at a time when she wasn't fleeing from her home in Baton Rouge. Hurricane Gustav really disrupted a lot of people'e lives this week!!

We came home and found our street full of men in yellow slickers with three large trucks. Things were looking promising. About an hour later we had power....no cable TV or internet, but we could use the washer and turn on the air!! It was great. We called the cable people so they were aware of the cable situation and could jump on that first thing in the morning....and they did. The cable came on about 11:30 AM.....now life is nearly back to normal for us. Other than there being a ton of clean up to do in our yard....there are limbs all over, we are good to go. Tommorrow it is back to school and I am praying the roof didn't leak there!

We really are so thankful...thankful for no damage to our house....no tornadoes turned up in Ruston and most people will be able to return home soon....also we are thankful for good friends. We will be looking into the purchase of a little generator just to keep from losing frozen food in the freezer....nothing wrong with being a little better prepared.