Front yard
Back yard (above)
The cleanup crew (above)
Cable wires went down early (above)

Just a note to let you know that we fared well. We were without power from somewhere between noon and 2 p.m. on Monday (yesterday....Labor Day) when the worst of Gustav that WE saw was blowing through. Our local Baton Rouge airport (which is about 10 miles south of us) did record a few gusts of 91 mph but that was rare. We were prepared to be without power for several days with gas for our generator, fuel for our oil lamps and propane for our gas grill and camper!!! But at 8 a.m. we were watching tv and sipping coffee and the power came on! Hooray...AIR CONDITIONING!


The wind blew pretty hard for a few hours but "MacGyver" is related to us (Remember the MacGyver tv show from the 80's? He encounters all types of dangers and escapes from them not with weapons, but with his ability to create gadgets out of everyday objects.) Jake, Christie and Emmie showed up Sunday evening armed with things like generators, huge battery packs, a weather station, a bunch of cable, inverters, and a laptop connected to the internet via his cellphone. He had us wired up within moments of the power failure and we watched cable until cable went out. Then he connected HIS satellite receiver to our old dish (still in place on the eaves of our house) and we watched satellite tv and stayed connected to the internet for the duration.


At about 5, Heather, George and the girls showed up with a bag of chicken legs and a bottle of bar-b-que sauce and we fired up the gas grill in the carport. We threw on burgers, hot dogs and chicken legs and pulled out the potato salad and baked beans I had prepared earlier and ate by oil lamp light! They headed back home by 8 p.m. and we watched tv until 9:30. Jake had fired up the generator earlier on and had our freezer, refrig, tv and lamp all running. By 9 we had rain and wind...but nothing severe, so we opened windows and headed to bed.


Now it is a bit after noon on Tuesday. We are catching the trailing bands of severe weather with heavy rain and thunderstorms and threats of tornados, so we are still watching the weather closely. We just wanted you all to know that we are in one piece, high and dry and comfy.


Thanks for your concerns!

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