Gustav

Worried? Sure!
Its the hot topic down here. Everyone is talking about it. It's so different from a Nor'easter that we are used to. Forecasters give you all the hype, blah blah blah 12-24 inches of snow, you snuggle in and wake up in the morning to the sound of plows coming through. True sometimes it would take a few hours to shovel the driveway, but within a day we were back to normal.

This is different. There is so much time. We have been watching the weather channel for 3 days straight. Louisiana declared a state of emergency yesterday, and Pres. Bush declared us one today. The school systems have decided to close not only for the Holiday but Tuesday and Wednesday just in case.

When even the old timers, the ones that have grown up here and have gone through Rita, start talking about leaving, yes maybe its time to talk hotels.

Speaking of hotels, there is nothing available in Northern LA, seems we might have to go further North to find something. Everyone seems to be having the same idea. "Get out of Dodge and fast!"

Some people made reservations as early as a week ago, some are waiting till Sunday to see what happens.

My Neighbor lady told me that it took her about 2 hours to get what usually is a 10 minute drive during the evac of Rita. Hopefully we will make a decision to either stay or go before anything mandatory goes into effect.

Someone at Dance School said today that they had to go to five gas stations to fill up their car.

There isn't a D battery left on the store shelves. We looked. So much for the great idea of getting all of the kids their own flashlights in case we decide to stay. We have 5 brand new empty flashlights sitting on the counter.

We made a trip to Walmart last night to make our Hurricane supply kit. 10 gallons of water, lots of soup, comfort (read: junk) food. A wind up lantern/cell phone charger/radio.

As I write this Jim is outside cutting plywood for the windows.

I'll keep everyone posted through the blog. And update when we have reached a decision whether to ride it out here or head north.

Keep us in your prayers.